Trump blocks Israeli plan to expand control in Gaza following ceasefire violation

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/417032

US President Donald Trump vetoed an Israeli proposal to shift the yellow line in the Gaza Strip and expand IDF control in response to a serious ceasefire violation by Hamas that resulted in the death of Master Sergeant (Res.) Yona Efraim Feldbaum.

In the aftermath of the incident, Israel had planned for the IDF to assume control of the targeted area, contingent on American approval. However, Trump ultimately blocked the initiative.

The decision raised eyebrows in Israel, particularly as it followed Trump’s own remarks in which he appeared to support a strong Israeli response.

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For example, the abort rate among American bombers leaving England for daytime sorties over Germany was found to be unnaturally high,""about 20 percent. The pilots gave a variety of explanations for failing to reach the target: a malfunctioning electrical system, a spotty radio, or illness. But a closer analysis of the data led McNamara to conclude that these reasons were “baloney.” The real explanation, he said, was fear. “A helluva lot of them were going to be killed, they knew that, and they found reasons to not go over the target.”""McNamara reported this to the commanding officer, the notoriously headstrong Curtis LeMay, who responded by flying the lead plane on bombing missions and vowing to court-martial any pilot who turned back. The abort rate, McNamara says, “dropped overnight.”"

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Netanyahu orders ‘forceful’ strikes in Gaza, testing ceasefire

 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/28/benjamin-netanyahu-israel-gaza-strikes-ceasefire-00625432

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday ordered his military to conduct “forceful” airstrikes in Gaza, his office wrote on social media, putting new pressure on a weeks-old ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

Netanyahu’s office said hours earlier that remains that were recently returned by Hamas were actually just additional remains of a hostage who was already previously recovered “in a military operation about 2 years ago.”

“This constitutes a clear violation of the agreement by the Hamas terrorist organization,” the prime minister’s office said earlier Tuesday. “Prime Minister Netanyahu will hold a security discussion with the heads of the security establishment to discuss Israel’s steps in response to the violations.”

Trump: ‘Nothing’ will jeopardize Gaza ceasefire, Israel ‘should hit back’ if troops killed

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/vance-downplays-israel-hamas-flareup-argues-gaza-ceasefire-is-holding

US President Donald Trump declared Wednesday that “nothing is going to jeopardize” the ceasefire in Gaza, but added that Israel “should hit back” if its soldiers were killed. His remarks came a day after an exchange of fire between Israel and Hamas, and as Jerusalem and the terror group accused each other of violating the ceasefire deal.

“They killed an Israeli soldier. So the Israelis hit back. And they should hit back,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One.

A senior Trump aide told reporters earlier this month that US special envoy Steve Witkoff and fellow Trump adviser Jared Kushner provided a verbal assurance to Hamas that Washington would hold Israel to the terms of the deal and not allow it to resume the war so long as Hamas kept its end of the agreement.

Trump has claimed that Hamas officials told his aides Witkoff and Kushner that they would disarm, but the terror organization has repeatedly said otherwise.

The new pirates of the Caribbean

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/28/boat-strikes-piracy-illegal-hegseth/

Attacks against alleged drug boats are lawless.

There’s a name for attacks on civilian ships on the high seas: Piracy. That’s also an unfortunately plausible description of the Trump administration’s bombings of vessels around South America that it says are carrying drugs.

Trump hasn’t bothered seeking Congress’s approval for these attacks, probably because a majority wouldn’t approve of the intentional killing of noncombatants. The made-for-social-media boat explosions will likely continue, but they should be called what they are.

Red Cross slams Hamas for staging fake hostage recovery

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/416981

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) issued a rare and sharply worded statement on Tuesday, criticizing the Hamas terrorist organization for staging the recovery of a hostage’s remains in Gaza.

Footage released by the IDF on Tuesday showed Hamas terrorists burying the body in the ground before summoning Red Cross personnel and then retrieving it in their presence, creating the false impression of a genuine discovery.

It was later announced that the remains that were handed over to Israel were those of hostage Ofir Sarfati, whose body was retrieved by the IDF in a special operation two years ago.

Netanyahu orders "powerful" strikes in Gaza as ceasefire breaks down

 https://www.axios.com/2025/10/28/israel-break-ceasefire-hamas-bodies-rafah

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that he had ordered "powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip immediately" in retaliation for what Israeli officials say was a Hamas attack on Israeli forces in the city of Rafah.

The big picture: The deal to end the war in Gaza was easily President Trump's biggest diplomatic achievement this term. It's now looking incredibly fragile.

The hostage crisis takes new turn – What are Israel's options?

 https://www.israelhayom.com/

Israel examining punishment measures after terror group returned additional remains of Ofir Tzarfati, who was not among 13 deceased hostages remaining in Gaza. Events have triggered renewed pressure from Right to escalate military action.

Israel strikes Gaza after it accuses Hamas of violating ceasefire and staging hostage discovery

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/28/middleeast/israel-military-strikes-gaza-latam-intl

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the military to carry out “immediate, powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip,” his office said in a short statement. The US was notified of the decision to carry out strikes in Gaza, a US official told CNN.

A military official said Hamas had attacked Israeli troops east of the so-called yellow line, which separates Israeli-occupied Gaza from the remainder of the territory. The troops, in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, had come under RPG and sniper fire, the official said.

Trump, 79, Gets Confused Explaining Water to the Navy

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-gets-confused-explaining-water-to-the-navy

The president went on a baffling rant about the scientific properties of water on board the USS George Washington.

Donald Trump went on a deranged rant about the power of water to destroy magnets during a rambling address to the U.S. Navy just off the coast of Japan.

Speaking aboard the USS George Washington aircraft carrier during his tour of East Asia, the president appeared to suggest—in a largely incoherent speech—that he is pushing for aircraft carriers to use “steam for the catapults” and hydraulics for elevators, while wrongly claiming that water can disable magnets.

Wall Street Journal editorial board: Trump ‘wrong’ on Reagan, tariffs

 https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5575025-wall-street-journal-slams-trump

“Mr. Trump is wrong about the Reagan speech, and he was wrong when he said on social media that ‘Ronald Reagan LOVED tariffs for purposes of National Security and the Economy,'” the Journal wrote in an editorial published on Sunday.

“The Gipper was a free trader. In the 1987 speech, Reagan was trying to explain why he was making an exception to his free-trade policies on semiconductor imports from Japan,” the newspaper argued. “Mr. Trump has been fortunate that his tariffs haven’t triggered much retaliation, which has spared us from a global trade war. But the tariffs are doing economic damage by raising costs for consumers and businesses and by dampening animal spirits that should be soaring with his tax bill and deregulation.”

Trump reacted in anger to the ad, which featured remarks from Reagan that criticized tariffs, calling the spot “fake” and terminating all trade negotiations with Canada over the ad.

“He can boast about tariffs all he wants,” the Journal added. “But he shouldn’t get away with taking Reagan’s trade beliefs in vain.”

Trump 'taking Reagan's trade beliefs in vain': WSJ editorial board slams tariffs on Canada

Ford doubles down on Reagan ad that got Trump fuming

 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/27/ford-doubles-down-reagan-ad-trump-tariffs-00624042

 Ontario Premier Doug Ford has no regrets about being a pain to the Trump administration.

Trump abruptly terminated trade talks with Canada on Thursday night over an ad paid for by Ford’s government that used excerpts from a 1987 radio address by Reagan in an effort to sway public opinion on tariffs in Republican-held districts. The ad, Trump claimed, was intended to interfere in the Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling on whether the president can unilaterally impose tariffs.

Republicans Want Zohran Mamdani to Win: ‘Leftist Agenda in Action’

https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-want-zohran-mamdani-to-win-leftist-agenda-in-action-10946752

 Zohran Mamdani is poised to become New York City's next mayor — and some high-profile critics are already licking their chops, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

“Assuming he gets elected, Mamdani will be the most prominent Democrat in America the day he takes office,” DeSantis posted on X. “Voters across the country will be able to watch his leftist agenda in action and know that his path is the Democrat path nationally.”

A victory on November 4 by Mamdani, who leads former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican challenger Curtis Sliwa in polls with early voting already underway, will “be good for Republicans, bad for New York City,” DeSantis said.