News Review 01/11/2023

Hamas Issues Hostage Release Terms

Mossad director David Barnea visited Qatar over the weekend and met senior Qatari officials to discuss their efforts in trying to secure the release of the more than 235 ‘Israeli’ and foreign nationals who were taken hostage and brought to Gaza during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. Qatar is currently the main mediator between the Jewish entity and Hamas over the issue of the hostages. The Biden administration is also working with Qatar on this issue because several of the hostages Hamas is holding are Americans. Hamas told the Qatari officials it is still in the process of finding out where all the hostages are located and their identities. Representatives of the families of the hostages who met with Netanyahu and Gallant in recent days said they want the government to agree to an "everyone for everyone" deal with Hamas. As part of such a deal, Hamas would release all the hostages in return for the release of the more than 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in the Jewish entity’s prisons.

Leaked ‘Israeli’ Intelligence Ministry Document Proposes Complete Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza

A leaked document drafted by ‘Israel’s’ Intelligence Ministry proposes the ethnic cleansing of the approximately 2.3 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip as a potential solution to the Jewish entity’s war against Hamas. The document, dated October 13, was published by the Hebrew language website Sicha Mekomit, and the ‘Israeli’ government has confirmed its authenticity. According to “The Times of Israel,” ‘Israeli’ government officials are downplaying the document, saying it only represents “initial thoughts” and that they are currently focused on the war effort. The proposed plan would involve pushing the Palestinians out of Gaza into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. They would first live in tent cities until permanent structures are built. The plan also includes a several-kilometer-wide “sterile” buffer zone inside Egypt so the Palestinians could not live on the border. While the Jewish entity’s government officials are downplaying the document and its existence does not mean it’s a policy the Jewish entity will implement, some parts of the proposal are being carried out. The document says the first phase of the plan would be to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip, which the Jewish entity has ordered, and to focus airstrikes on the north before a ground invasion.

U.S. Seeks to Develop New Version of Nuclear Gravity Bomb

The U.S. Department of Defense announced Friday that it will begin working on the development of a new nuclear gravity bomb known as the B61-13. The Defense Department clarified that the decision, which is dependent on Congressional approval and funding, has been made after an extensive period of assessment and review, and is not a reaction to any current event. The primary objective of this decision, as stated by the agency, is to respond to the shifting security landscape and evolving dynamics in the global security arena. In a press release announcing the plans, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb emphasized the need for this new kind of weapon. According to the Federation of American Scientists, the explosion of a 360-kiloton-yield weapon would lead to considerable radioactive fallout that would encompass vast geographic areas. The extent of this fallout, in the event of a B61-13 detonation in North Korea, could reach as far as halfway across South Korea, contingent on the specific target location and prevailing weather conditions.

Anti-Jewish Mob Storms Daghestani Airport as Flight from ‘Israel’ Arrives

A large crowd occupied the runway at the Makhachkala Airport, located in the capital and largest city of Russia's southern Dagestan region, preventing the deplaning of a flight from Tel-Aviv, ‘Israel’, Moscow. Following statements from the head of the Dagestan Republic, who — without providing evidence — said the riots were organized from Ukraine and that participants would "definitely" receive an "appropriate" response from law enforcement agencies. Similar incidents could become more common in the future amid the Kremlin's disallowance of any real political dissent, normalization of aggressive rhetoric and violent action amid the war in Ukraine, and elevated levels of rhetorical and political support for Hamas since the ‘Israel’-Hamas war. Authorities' forceful dispersal of the crowd and promises of prison time will help deter similar events in the future, but Moscow will likely exercise leniency toward participants and may seek to discontinue flights between Makhachkala and the Jewish entity to avoid similar incidents. There is, for now, no evidence that the incident, despite widely being described as a pogrom, will lead to a concrete alteration of the Jewish entity’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policy toward Russia, but it could later help to serve as justification for potential future political repositioning.

Background: Local police arrested dozens of individuals on Oct. 30 in Makhachkala following the incident. Muslims make up over 96% of the residents of Dagestan and a higher percentage of neighboring Chechnya. On Oct. 29, the Jewish entity summoned the Russian ambassador in protest of an Oct. 26 meeting between a Hamas delegation and the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister in Moscow.