Speaking publicly months after his release from Gaza, Segev Kalfon accused Israel’s leadership of prosecuting the war against Hamas while leaving him to pay the personal price.
In an interview aired Wednesday on Kan public radio, Kalfon — who spent 738 days in Hamas captivity before being freed in October — said he was seized from inside Israel and questioned why he was left behind as the fighting continued. Hamas, he said, “took me from within the country’s borders. Why did I have to sit and pay the price? Why did I have to bear the cost of this war?”
Kalfon claimed the decision-making at the top treated the war effort as more important than the lives of captives. “If they’d gotten me out, they’d have had to stop the war — they didn’t want to get me out, because they made [the war] their first priority, above human lives,” he said.
Appealing to religious and ideological values, he challenged lawmakers on the right. “Where is [the religious obligation of] redeeming captives?” he asked. “You’re a right-wing government. Where are all the religious people who sit in the Knesset?”
Describing the dangers he faced while being held, Kalfon said Israeli airstrikes repeatedly put his life at risk. The army, he said, “bombed me so many times,” leaving him convinced that death could come from either side. “I got to a place where I said, ‘Great, if I don’t die at [Hamas’s] hands, maybe I’ll die by accident, at the hands of my own army.’”
He recounted being pulled alive from debris more than once. “Twice, I emerged from ruins. They bombed me eight, nine times. Think of it. It came to where I wanted to go down into a tunnel,” he said, adding that he was eventually taken underground.
Beyond the battlefield, Kalfon criticized the state for what he described as inadequate financial support for former hostages. He argued that even the most limited period of captivity should entitle survivors to full, lifelong care. “Even someone who spent just one day in captivity, is entitled to sit on a beach in Mexico with a coconut in their hand for the rest of their life — and for the government to pay for it all,” he said.
His remarks followed a coalition vote last month that blocked opposition-sponsored legislation to provide a one-time NIS 4 million ($1.2 million) assistance package to released hostages and their families.
Kalfon also reiterated a claim he has made before: that statements by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir during the war worsened his treatment in captivity. According to Kalfon, when Ben Gvir publicly boasted about tightening conditions for Palestinian security prisoners, his Hamas guards responded by beating him more severely.
He said that during his imprisonment in Gaza he was sometimes allowed to listen to the radio, and that about 16 months into captivity he heard his mother’s voice advocating for his release. That moment, he said, transformed his resolve to stay alive.
“For the first year and four months, I lost hope many times. I got to a place where I thought I’d commit suicide, because I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of killing me,” he said.
“But then, after a year and four months, I received the sign from my mom, and I understood that at the end of the day it wasn’t just a sign from my mom, but from God, who wanted me to keep surviving despite the hardship.”
Since returning home, Kalfon said the psychological toll remains heavy. “I wake up a lot in the middle of the night; I don’t sleep much,” he said, noting that he is in therapy. “I’m in therapy — I have a therapist — but no one’s been through what I’ve been through.”
He described giving himself space each night to confront the memories. “I give myself an hour, two hours, at night, to fall apart if I need to. My eyes saw things, my ears heard things, my body felt things that you can’t erase,” he said.
Kalfon, a resident of Dimona, was abducted on October 7 after fleeing the Nova music festival as Hamas terrorists attacked the area, killing more than 360 people and kidnapping dozens amid a broader assault that left about 1,200 dead and 251 taken hostage. While trying to escape, he crossed Highway 232, where the gunmen spotted him and dragged him into Gaza.
{Matzav.com}At a ceremony marking the induction of new pilots, Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu outlined a far-reaching plan to bolster Israel’s domestic defense production, saying the country intends to sharply cut its reliance on foreign suppliers.
Netanyahu said the government plans to allocate 350 billion shekels, about $110 billion, toward developing an independent arms capability, stressing that Israel will still procure certain necessities abroad even as it expands local manufacturing. “We will continue to acquire essential supplies while independently arming ourselves,” he said at the event.
Acknowledging the limits of full self-sufficiency, Netanyahu said Israel would nevertheless aim to maximize homegrown production. “I don’t know if a country can be completely independent but we will strive … to ensure our arms are produced as much as possible in Israel,” he said. “Our goal is to build an independent arms industry for the State of Israel and reduce the dependency on any party, including allies.”
{Matzav.com}
The Powerball jackpot has surged to an eye-popping $1.7 billion, placing one of the largest lottery prizes ever offered in the United States within reach of players nationwide.
The surge came after Monday night’s drawing failed to produce a jackpot winner, clearing the way for the prize to roll over once again and climb sharply.
The drawing is tonight at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time
Despite the excitement, the odds remain daunting, with a one-in-292.2-million chance of hitting the jackpot.
According to the game’s website, the eventual winner will have a choice between receiving the full $1.7 billion through annual payments spread over 29 years or opting for a one-time cash payout estimated at about $781.3 million before taxes.
The current prize ranks as the fourth-largest jackpot in Powerball history and among the biggest ever offered by any U.S. lottery, heightening anticipation as ticket sales continue to climb.
Monday’s drawing did not produce a grand-prize winner, but it did yield nine secondary prizes worth $1 million each across the country.
The biggest Powerball jackpot on record reached $2.04 billion, claimed by a ticket sold in California in 2022, which also stands as the largest U.S. lottery prize ever won.
{Matzav.com}For the next several weeks, U.S. military activity will be centered almost entirely on blocking Venezuelan oil exports, following a directive from the White House, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
According to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the instruction orders American forces to concentrate nearly all their efforts “on the quarantine of Venezuelan oil for at least the next two months.”
The administration views this approach as the preferred method of applying pressure on Caracas, prioritizing sanctions enforcement over immediate military action. “While military options still exist the focus is to first use economic pressure by enforcing sanctions to reach the outcome the White House is looking,” the official said.
The emphasis on economic measures could cool expectations of near-term U.S. ground operations against Venezuela, something President Donald Trump has said remains possible.
U.S. officials believe the oil restrictions are already taking a heavy toll. “The efforts so far have put tremendous pressure on (Venezuelan President Nicolas) Maduro and the belief is that by late January Venezuela will be facing an economic calamity unless it agrees to make significant concessions to the U.S.,” the official said.
{Matzav.com}
Israel’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations says it has uncovered a vast, structured system inside the UN that channels enormous resources toward activities focused almost entirely on Israel. According to figures released by the mission, roughly $100 million a year is devoted to reports, debates, special mechanisms, and communications efforts that consistently single out the Jewish state, the Jerusalem Post reports.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said the findings demonstrate that the effort is neither incidental nor marginal. “Today we actually showed that these are orchestrated campaigns, well-funded and well-established within the UN budget,” he said. “These $100 million, which will be approved in the coming days in the new UN budget, are spent on activities against the government of Israel and against the IDF.”
Danon noted that while some of the initiatives are openly labeled as addressing Palestinian issues, others are presented under broader or less transparent frameworks. “Sometimes they do it directly, such as through committees that address Palestinian issues. Many times it is disguised under different names and organizations, but the actual activities are pure propaganda against the State of Israel,” he said.
The assessment, prepared by Israel’s Permanent Mission to the UN and International Organizations, points to specific UN entities whose stated mission centers on advancing the Palestinian narrative, including the Division for Palestinian Rights and several General Assembly committees dedicated exclusively to that cause.
According to the analysis, the UN produces dozens of debates and at least 100 reports every year dealing with Israel and the Palestinians. Many of these documents are described as repetitive, politically slanted, and lacking balance. Each report can cost tens of thousands of dollars to prepare and translate, while debates add thousands more in expenses. When travel and staffing costs are included, the total climbs into the millions annually.
Israeli officials say a central pillar of this structure is UNRWA, whose annual budget request stands at approximately $86 million. Of that sum, about $80 million is drawn from the UN’s regular budget, with roughly 60 percent earmarked for international staff salaries.
While other UN bodies have been subjected to budget cuts and reform efforts, UNRWA has largely avoided such measures. This continues despite repeated disclosures of Hamas infiltration into the agency and longstanding questions about its neutrality.
Asked whether Israel is attempting to bring greater scrutiny to the UN bodies receiving this funding, Danon acknowledged the challenge. “We are always trying,” he said in response to a question from The Jerusalem Post. “But unfortunately, most countries tend to ignore it. And even though we exposed this, the UN will continue to fund these activities.”
Beyond the General Assembly framework, Israel has also highlighted the role of the Human Rights Council in Geneva and its commission of inquiry on Israel, established in 2021 with an open-ended mandate. That mechanism alone is estimated to cost about $4 million per year and, according to Israeli officials, has increasingly adopted language associated with delegitimization, accusations of genocide, and economic pressure campaigns.
The commission has compiled a so-called blacklist of companies operating in Israeli-controlled areas and works alongside special rapporteurs who receive UN support while advancing explicitly political agendas. Israeli officials argue that these activities feed international legal actions against Israel and bolster global BDS efforts.
Israel’s mission stressed that exposing these funding patterns is not an attempt to undermine humanitarian assistance or silence legitimate criticism. Rather, officials say, the goal is to dismantle a system that has institutionalized discrimination, rewarded bias, and consumed vast sums of public money.
“We are sharing the information, and we are grateful to the US mission, which is taking a moral stand against the funding of these bodies,” Danon said. “Despite the huge amount of money directed against Israel, we will continue to stand strong and proud against the bias of UN organizations.”
{Matzav.com}
