Secretary of State Marco Rubio firmly rejected a suggestion made by CBS “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan, who had awkwardly claimed that “free speech” was “weaponized” by Nazi Germany in carrying out the genocide of Jews during the Holocaust.
“I have to disagree with you: Free speech was not used to conduct a genocide,” Rubio responded quickly to Brennan. “The genocide was carried out by a totalitarian Nazi regime that was also driven by genocidal hatred, particularly against Jews, minorities, and others on their list of targeted groups. But the primary target was the Jews.”

Arab media reported on Monday that the individual killed in Lebanon was Muhammad Shaheen, who headed Hamas’ operations in the region. Shaheen was targeted in a precision airstrike by the Israeli Air Force, just one day before a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was expected to be finalized after a prolonged trial period.
An Israeli source commented on the strike, confirming, “A Hamas official in Lebanon was eliminated.” The source further explained, “The official planned to carry out attacks on Israelis, and was therefore eliminated.”
Preliminary reports suggested that the strike was carried out by an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle, which targeted a car near the entrance to Sidon, a city in southern Lebanon.

This morning. Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu arrived at the Tel Aviv courthouse to begin his tenth day of testimony in the legal cases against him, with a primary focus on Case 4000, which involves the Bezeq-Walla scandal.
During the session, Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman remarked that Netanyahu’s testimony had become repetitive, pointing out, “We feel that there should be a change in the main testimony. You are repeating yourselves.”
Netanyahu’s lawyer, Adv. Amit Hadad, sharply defended his approach, stating, “How can you say such a thing? If I don’t go over all details, I won’t be doing my job properly. I am not enjoying this, but there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Shami Calderon, the uncle of freed hostage Ofer Calderon, shared distressing details in the Knesset on Monday regarding his nephew’s condition after his release. He revealed that Ofer had been battling a severe case of the flu and pneumonia, and as a result, he was isolated and unable to see his children. Calderon also disclosed that “three months before Ofer was released, he weighed 25 kilograms less.”
“There was a scale in the tunnel where Ofer was kept,” he continued, shedding light on the harsh conditions Ofer endured during his captivity.

Rabbi Berel Lazar, Russia’s Chief Rabbi, disclosed the significant role Russia has played in the hostage situation, along with the ongoing diplomatic actions spearheaded by President Vladimir Putin. In an interview with Bechadrei Chareidim, Rabbi Lazar shared details of the President’s personal involvement, emphasizing that Putin is not only aware of the situation but is actively working to resolve it.
“The President not only asked to deal with it; he is personally following it and is very interested in resolving the matter,” Rabbi Lazar said.

Ella Yechiel, a midwife at Assuta hospital in Ashdod, shared a powerful message in Arabic to Hamas, marking the 500th day since the terrorist group’s assault on Israel.
In a video filmed in one of the hospital’s delivery rooms, Yechiel highlighted the resilience of life amidst the horrors of war, revealing that 8,910 babies had been born at Assuta since the start of the conflict on October 7, 2023. These births, symbolizing new beginnings, stand in defiance of the destruction and chaos Hamas sought to bring.
She concluded her message in Hebrew, saying: “Am Yisrael Chai.”
WATCH:

Five hundred days after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, all the evacuated residents of the country’s Tkuma Region have returned home except for those of 13 small communities that are still being rehabilitated, the government said on Monday.
The 13 locales—including kibbutzes Be’eri, Kfar Aza, Nahal Oz and Nir Oz—are currently uninhabitable because their infrastructure was so badly damaged, the Tkuma Directorate wrote in a status report they published on the 500-day mark from the attack.

Israeli Defense Minister Yisroel Katz informed a bipartisan delegation of visiting U.S. senators on Sunday that Israel “will never agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger its existence.”
During the meeting, Katz outlined Israel’s key priorities: preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, securing the release of hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas, and dismantling the terrorist group in the Strip. After achieving these objectives, Israel intends to pursue a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia, Katz told the senators.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan “is the only one that can guarantee security for the residents of the south and the State of Israel after the lessons learned from the events of Oct. 7,” said Katz.

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is set to convene the Security Cabinet on Monday to discuss Israel’s stance toward the Phase 2 talks with the Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip.
Following a phone call with U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff on Sunday evening, Netanyahu “instructed the negotiations team to leave for Cairo tomorrow to discuss the continued implementation of the first stage of the deal,” the statement said.
The Jewish state’s negotiators in Egypt and Qatar are currently only focused on the implementation of the first phase of the Gaza truce.
According to the announcement, after Monday’s Cabinet meeting, “the team will receive instructions for the continuation of the negotiations regarding the second stage.”

On Sunday, President Donald Trump suggested that he might have a meeting with Vladimir Putin “very soon,” expressing his belief that the Russian leader is genuinely interested in ending the conflict in Ukraine. “No time set, but it could be very soon,” Trump told the press shortly after Secretary of State Marco Rubio worked to temper expectations about high-level talks in Riyadh aimed at resolving the war.