SAN DIEGO (SDJW) — Regarding the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump issued a threat on social media calling for them to be released before he assumes office Jan. 20, 2025, or “there will be all hell (his emphasis) to pay in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against humanity. Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America.”
Trump’s threat was prompted by news that Omer Maxim Neutra, 21, an American Israeli who had been thought to be among the living hostages in Gaza, actually had been killed Oct. 7, 2023. He was slain during a battle in Nir Oz, a kibbutz in the municipality of Sha’ar Hanegev, which is San Diego’s sister city in Israel.
Omer’s parents, Ronen and Orna Neutra, had been under the impression since the battle that their son was alive, but the IDF on Monday announced its finding that Omer, a tank platoon commander, had been killed on the day of the massacre, in what Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said was a heroic battle at the kibbutz. Oren’s body thereafter was transported into Gaza by Hamas terrorists.
U.S. President Joe Biden, who previously had met with the Neutra family, issued a statement saying he was “devastated and outraged” learning of the death of Omer, whom he described as “a Long Island native [who] planned to return to the United States for college. He dreamed of dedicating himself to building peace.”
To the families whose loved ones are still being held hostage in Gaza, Biden said: “We see you. We are with you. And I will not stop working to bring your loved ones back home where they belong.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented, “Omer was a man of values, blessed with talents and a Zionist in every sense of the word. He immigrated to Israel to enlist in the IDF, chose a combat path, and was chosen to command and to lead.” Netanyahu pledged to bring Omer’s body back to Israel for burial.
A family spokesperson said “The Neutra family is deeply grieving and devastated with the news. They are currently requesting the public who has been very supportive throughout this journey to please respect their privacy until they are formally ready to announce the next steps.”
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INTERNATIONAL
Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, dined with U.S. President-elect Trump Sunday evening at the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach.
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Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz hosted his Argentine counterpart, Luis Alfonso Petri, over the weekend at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv. Petri carried a message from Argentina’s President Javier Milei reaffirming “Argentina’s steadfast support for Israel’s right to self-defense.”
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Romania’s Ambassador to Israel, Radu Ioanid, is a Holocaust scholar and the son of a Jewish father and Christian mother. He said on Sunday that Israel’s Minister for Diaspora Affairs, Amichai Chikli, owes the current Romanian government an apology for talking by phone with Calin Georgescu. Ioanid described Georgescu as a “Romanian political candidate who is loudly and proudly glorifying historical figures who were directly responsible for mass murder of Jews.”
He referred to Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, leader of Romania’s Legionnaire Movement in the 1930s, and Ion Antonescu, Romania’s prime minister during World War II, who subsequently was executed for war crimes.
Rabbi Andrew Baker, director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee, expressed alarm over Georgescu’s first-round victory in Romania’s presidential election. Baker described Georgescu as a “person who fuels the flames of antisemitism, who personally promotes Holocaust revisionism, and who, through his political views, defies the essential purpose of NATO.”
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Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar summoned Australia’s Ambassador Ralph King after Ayelet Shaked, Israel’s former Interior Minister, was denied entry to Australia on the grounds that she would be a disruptive influence. Sa’ar told King that Australia’s move was “based on baseless blood libels spread by the pro-Palestinian lobby in Australia, and it is a shame that a friendly country like Australia chose to base itself on them instead of on the longstanding friendship between the countries.”
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Citing two Hezbollah projectiles fired at Mount Dov, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday called it a “serious violation of the ceasefire, and Israel will respond forcefully. We are determined to continue enforcing the ceasefire and to respond to any violation by Hezbollah—whether minor or severe.” U.S. Envoy Amos Hochstein, who brokered the ceasefire, meanwhile, warned Israel that its surveillance drones flying over Beirut are a violation of the ceasefire. France earlier issued a similar warning.
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Howard Lutnick, President-elect Trump’s designee for Secretary of Commerce, joined Trump and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at their Mar-A-Lago dinner on Friday night to discuss Trump’s threat to increase tariffs on Canadian goods unless that nation takes action to deter illegal immigration and drug smuggling across its borders with the U.S.
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NATIONAL
North Carolina’s Republican-dominated state Senate overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper of a bill transferring the authority to appoint members of the state election board from the governor’s office to that of the state auditor. Democrat Josh Stein is the incoming governor of North Carolina. The House will act next on the legislation, which also would strip Stein of the power to appoint members of the state utilities commission as well as the commander of the North Carolina Highway Patrol, among other changes.
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President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter for any crimes Hunter “committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024” is potentially a political embarrassment for California’s Democratic Senator-elect Adam Schiff.
While a member of the House of Representatives and a leader of the impeachment effort against then President Trump, Schiff and Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada introduced legislation, which was not approved by Congress, that would have required the Department of Justice to provide Congress with the evidence gathered in its investigation of a pardoned President or a member of the presidential family.
The pardon drew fire from Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, who stated on the social media platform X: “… I am disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country. This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later Presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation. When you become President, your role is Pater familias of the nation. Hunter brought the legal trouble he faced on himself, and one can sympathize with his struggles while also acknowledging that no one is above the law, not a President and not a President’s son.”
Conservative podcaster and news commentator Ben Shapiro commented, “I get it, you’re a dad. But you’re also a super corrupt dad. None of these excuses hold water. You don’t get to claim that you agree with the justice system while you simultaneously undermine it through one of the most corrupt pardons in American history.”
Here are comments by other Jewish public figures:
Congressman Dan Goldman (D-New York): “I wish the president had not stated after the plea agreement fell through that he would not pardon Hunger Biden. It is discouraging that he has now gone back on his word on that.”
Congressman Greg Landsman (D-Ohio): “As a father, I get it. But as someone who wants people to believe in public service again, it’s a setback.”
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Compiled by the San Diego Jewish World staff