Matzav

At a summit held in Cairo on Monday, leaders from France, Egypt, and Jordan delivered a shared message urging that the Palestinian Authority be placed in charge of governing Gaza after the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas concludes, according to AFP.

In a joint declaration, they stated, “Governance, law and order, and security in Gaza, as well as in all Palestinian territories, must be the sole responsibility of a strengthened Palestinian Authority.”

While appearing with President Sisi in Cairo, French President Emmanuel Macron voiced strong support for a regional plan to rebuild Gaza and insisted that the local population should not be forcibly displaced. He referred to an Arab League initiative as a starting point for creating new leadership for the Palestinians in the area.

“Our government has done crucial work on this plan, which offers a realistic path to the reconstruction of Gaza and should also pave the way for new Palestinian governance,” Macron said.

He made it clear that there is no place for Hamas in the future leadership of Gaza, declaring, “Hamas must have no role in this governance (of Gaza), and must no longer constitute a threat to Israel.”

Although Hamas has suggested it might be willing to let independent experts handle civil matters in Gaza, the group has not consented to give up arms or step aside entirely.

The meeting also featured a collective demand to reinstate a ceasefire in Gaza. A previous truce, arranged in January by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States, fell apart after Hamas declined to release additional hostages or approve a proposal presented by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.

Macron’s participation in the summit emphasized France’s support for Egypt and Jordan, both of which have rejected a plan floated by U.S. President Donald Trump that involved the United States managing Gaza post-war and relocating its residents to nearby countries.

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi stressed that real peace cannot come without fulfilling the Palestinian Arab demand for self-determination. “There will not be lasting peace and permanent stability in the Middle East without a just solution,” he said.

King Abdullah of Jordan reinforced the call for peace through mutual recognition, pushing for a two-state outcome. He urged the pursuit of “a just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution,” and voiced support for a Palestinian state existing beside Israel.

{Matzav.com Israel}

On Monday night, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stated that Iran and the United States would engage in indirect negotiations regarding Tehran’s nuclear activities, contradicting President Donald Trump’s assertion that the talks would be face-to-face.

Posting on the social platform X, Araqchi announced, “Iran and the United States will meet in Oman on Saturday for indirect high-level talks.”

He also commented, “It is as much an opportunity as it is a test” and emphasized, “The ball is in America’s court.”

Earlier that same day, while standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu at the White House, President Trump had given a different account: “We are having direct talks with Iran. On Saturday we will have a very big meeting and we will see what can happen. I think everybody agrees that a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious, and the obvious is not something that I want to be involved with, or frankly that anyone here wants to be involved with.”

Trump warned that the matter was entering a volatile phase, saying it’s “getting to be very dangerous territory. Hopefully, those talks will be successful, and I think it would be in Iran’s best interests if they are.”

When questioned by a journalist about the possibility of military action against Iran, Trump replied, “I think if the talks are not successful with Iran, Iran is going to be in great danger. If the talks are not successful, I actually think that will be a very bad day for Iran,” Trump said.

Later that day, three Iranian officials familiar with preparations for the discussions told The New York Times that their understanding differed from what President Trump had described during his White House remarks.

According to these Iranian sources, the meetings set for Saturday in Oman would be indirect, with Iranian and American envoys stationed in separate rooms while Omani intermediaries relayed messages between them.

The officials also told The New York Times that Tehran might be willing to consider face-to-face discussions with Washington if the initial indirect engagement proved fruitful.

Not long ago, Iran had declined a proposal for direct negotiations from Trump. That proposal had been conveyed in a letter sent to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

After the rejection, Trump issued a stern warning, saying that “bad things” would befall Iran if it refused to reach a nuclear agreement.

He later escalated his rhetoric, cautioning that “if they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing — and it will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”

In response, Ayatollah Khamenei declared that any aggression from the U.S. would be met with a “strong blow.”

Just three days afterward, Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, said he was confident that Iran wanted direct talks with the United States about its nuclear program.

{Matzav.com}

A German court announced on Monday the death of Irmgard Furchner, a 99-year-old who had served as a secretary at a Nazi concentration camp and was found guilty in 2022 for her role in Holocaust crimes.

Furchner stood out as one of the final individuals likely to be held legally accountable in Germany for involvement in the atrocities of the Nazi regime during World War II.

She was handed a two-year suspended prison term after being convicted of assisting in the killing of more than 10,000 people at the Stutthof concentration camp, which was located in Nazi-occupied Poland. Although she challenged the verdict, her appeal was denied in 2024.

Her defense attorneys claimed that she worked at the camp merely as a civilian clerk with no knowledge of the mass killings, and they argued that she should be exonerated.

The court in Itzehoe, which oversaw her trial, officially confirmed her death. The case gained significant attention as she became the first woman in many years to be tried in Germany over Nazi-related offenses.

Despite the passage of nearly 80 years since the Holocaust, German authorities have continued to pursue justice against former members of the Nazi infrastructure. Still, numerous investigations in recent years have ended prematurely due to the advanced age or death of the accused.

From June 1943 through April 1945, Furchner was employed at Stutthof as the personal secretary to commandant Paul Werner Hoppe. Her duties included taking dictation and managing his correspondence. Her husband also worked at the camp as part of the SS.

Stutthof, which was situated near modern-day Gdansk, Poland, was the site of approximately 65,000 deaths, many of them Jews who had been deported there.

Just before her trial was scheduled to begin in September 2021, Furchner fled the senior home where she was living. She remained at large for several hours until she was apprehended in Hamburg.

Because she was under 21 when the crimes occurred, she was prosecuted under juvenile law.

Germany’s renewed pursuit of Nazi collaborators was largely reinvigorated by the 2011 trial in Munich of John Demjanjuk, who was convicted for complicity in the deaths of 28,060 people at the Sobibor death camp. He received a five-year sentence and died the following year in 2012.

In 2020, a Hamburg court convicted 93-year-old Bruno Dey, a former Stutthof guard, of 5,232 counts of accessory to murder — the same number as the estimated victims killed at the camp during his time there in 1944 and 1945.

Then in 2021, prosecutors in Germany charged a man who was 100 years old at the time, accusing him of working as a guard at Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp where over 100,000 individuals were killed.

In several instances, those who were found guilty of Nazi-era crimes died before they could be imprisoned and thus never served time.

Some investigations have also been terminated when the accused passed away or were deemed medically unfit for trial.

For instance, in June 2024, a court in Hanau ruled that a 99-year-old suspected former guard from Sachsenhausen was not healthy enough to face legal proceedings.

{Matzav.com}

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