SAN DIEGO (SDJW) — Edan Alexander, a 20-year-old Israeli born, U.S.-raised hostage held by Hamas since Oct. 7, 2023, was shown Saturday on a Hamas-released video scolding Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for allegedly neglecting the hostages. He said in Hebrew, “Do not neglect us. We want to return home. Far and isolation is killing us. Do not forget us.”
Then, in English, he called upon U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to “please don’t make the same mistake Biden has been making. The weapons he has sent are now killing us, the unlawful siege is now starving us. I do not want to end up dead like my fellow U.S. citizen, Hersh.” That was a reference to Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
The consensus was that Alexander’s message was dictated by his Hamas captors. Netanyahu’s office said he spoke with Alexander’s family following “the release of the brutal psychological warfare video in which Edan gave an important and moving sign of life.
Yael Alexander, Edan’s mother, said “the clip we received this afternoon shook me and my family. Along with the hope it gives us, it also shows how hard the conditions are for Edan and the other hostages. And how they are shouting and pleading that we save them. Now.”
She also said that in his call to her, Netanyahu “promised me that now, after there is an arrangement in Lebanon, the conditions are ripe to free you all and bring you all back home.”
Her advice to Netanyahu: “All eyes are now on you, hoping that you will make the courageous decision. And especially that you be strong in the face of those in your government who oppose a deal, because most of the people support you.”
Sean Savett, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, called the Alexander video “a cruel reminder of Hamas’s terror against citizens of multiple countries including our own.”
In a statement, Savett added “The war in Gaza would stop tomorrow and the suffering of Gazans would end immediately—and would have ended months ago—if Hamas agreed to release the hostages. It has refused to do so, but as the President said last week, we have a critical opportunity to conclude the deal to release the hostages, stop the war, and surge humanitarian assistance into Gaza. The deal is on the table now. President Biden and the United States will continue to work around the clock to secure the release of our citizens including through diplomatic efforts and by increasing pressure on Hamas terrorists through sanctions, law enforcement actions and other measures.”
*
INTERNATIONAL
Avichay Adraee, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, has warned civilians in 60 Lebanese towns close to Israel’s border to refrain from returning to their homes “at this stage” of mutual withdrawal from the area between the Lebanese-Israel border and the Litani River. The IDF “does not intend to target you,” Adraee said in a message to the civilians
*
President-elect Trump has selected Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, as the next U.S. ambassador to France. Kushner, a real estate investor who was convicted of tax evasion and witness tampering in 2005 and served 14 months of his two-year sentence, was pardoned by then-President Trump in December 2020. In 2023, Kushner donated $1 million to a Trump super PAC.
*
NATIONAL
U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-Rhode Island) reported he and his family were among the Democratic officholders who received bomb threats at their residences. “We are safe and there was no evidence of a bomb on the property,” he said.
*
U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, David C. Weiss, who initially was appointed by then-President Trump and retained by President Joe Biden, subsequently was appointed as a special counsel by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. Weiss thereafter successfully prosecuted the President’s son, Hunter Biden, for illegally possessing a weapon as a drug user and on federal tax charges. Hunter Biden faces sentencing December 12. Between then and January 20, his last morning in office, President Biden faces a decision about whether he will pardon his son. The White House has said the President will not exercise that presidential power, but the President’s love for his son might otherwise prevail.
*
In his new book, Citizen, former U.S. President Bill Clinton states that he never visited Little St. James Island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, an infamous, vacation home of the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Clinton said he was out of office when he accepted flights on Epstein’s private jet while doing charitable work for the Clinton Foundation. They discussed politics and economics, he wrote, and “traveling on Epstein’s plane was not worth the years of questioning afterward. I wish I had never met him.” Epstein reportedly committed suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
LOCAL
San Diego County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk Jordan Marks reported on a disclosure form that he may have been responsible for the $1.16 million contribution from the Realtors Relief Foundation for local victims of the floods that displaced some residents last January. He told the San Diego Union-Tribune that he couldn’t be certain that the donation was made at his behest, but that he reported it out of an abundance of caution. Government officials are required to report contributions made to non-profit organizations that were made by third parties at their suggestion. The newspaper reported that Marks also listed an $8,300 contribution by the Larry Himmel Neighborhood Foundation to replace the large menorah outside Chabad of SDSU that was vandalized.
*
San Diego Jewish World staff report