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While Iran continues to weave its global web of terror, its apprentice, Hamas, continues to hold Israelis, Americans and foreign nationals hostage. Hamas leverages skillful propaganda and manipulates media to stoke the flames of antisemitism worldwide, inciting violent and even deadly attacks on Jews in the U.S. Despite the challenges and threats, in defiance of evil, the Jewish people continue to oppose terror and demand freedom for the hostages. Through the joint efforts of the IDF and the U.S., many of the hostages have been freed, yet more than 50 – some alive and some dead – remain in the dark tunnels of Hamas captivity.
Iran and Hamas remain partners in shared goal of destroying Israel
Iran is the head of global terror, but Hamas is its most lethal arm – working in partnership for the shared goal of destroying both the State of Israel, which they label “little Satan” and the U.S., “big Satan.” They make threats and declarations while continuing the enrichment of uranium far exceeding limits for peaceful use. Iran’s supreme leader has openly called the U.S. rude and arrogant for trying to stop its nuclear goals, vowing to not stop enriching:
“The proposal that the Americans have presented is 100% against our interests. The rude and arrogant leaders of America repeatedly demand that we should not have a nuclear program. Who are you to decide whether Iran should have enrichment?” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a televised speech.
Iran has been repeatedly caught by nuclear watchdogs testing its nuclear weapons delivery systems as well as hiding enriched uranium storage areas from UN nuclear weapons inspectors. While denial and secrecy run in the background, in the foreground, Iran continues to stall negotiations and refuses to consider any proposed diplomatic solution with the U.S. In efforts to gaslight and shift the world focus from them to Israel, Iran has boasted that it has acquired and soon will release a “treasure trove” of secrets about Israel’s nuclear capabilities.
Hamas and Iran are partners in terror and murder. President Trump just revealed that Iran has been involved in ceasefire negotiations between Israel, the U.S. and Hamas. In a recent phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss the U.S. nuclear talks with Iran, Trump, pointing out the challenges of the negotiations, added, “It’s tough. They are great negotiators. They’re just asking for things that you can’t do. They don’t want to give up what they have to give up. They seek enrichment. We can’t have enrichment. We want just the opposite. And so far, they’re not there. They have given us their thoughts on the deal…it’s just not acceptable.”
As history has shown, Iran and its proxies mean what they say, and they openly state future plans to cause death and destruction on a massive scale. This threat is substantially increasing as Iran’s atomic chief just announced that Russia has agreed to construct eight new nuclear plants in Iran – potentially tripling the terror giant’s nuclear capacity.
Hamas – Iran’s terror arm in Gaza – mimics its tactics
In the same way Iran has refused any compromise on its uranium enrichment in nuclear negotiations with the U.S., Hamas has mimicked that strategy and also refused compromise – turning down various ceasefire plans by U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff. Hamas has responded to the U.S. ceasefire and hostage exchange offers by delivering fake plans and demanding major changes to the timeline of hostage releases – forcing them to remain in captivity even longer.
Hamas refuses to disarm and give up its power over the Gaza strip – demanding a seven-year ceasefire with zero commitment to end its terror campaign against Israel. To further terrorize the families of the hostages, Hamas periodically releases proof-of-life videos of hostages to cause psychological harm to Israelis. While Israel has agreed to every offer by Witkoff, with the hopes of freeing its captive citizens, Hamas’ continual refusals have forced Israel to increase its military campaign in Gaza.
Prior to the recently discovered body of Hamas military leader Mohammed Sinwar in a tunnel under a Gaza hospital, the IDF recovered the murdered bodies of two elderly American hostages. The IDF exposed Hamas for using a place dedicated to preservation of life as a command center from which to plan murder and the starvation of its own people. A few days later, soldiers recovered the body of slain Thai hostage Nattapong Pinta. Pinta had been kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz by another terrorist group operating within Gaza – the same group that murdered Shiri Bibas and her two young sons.
Like the approximately 30,000 workers from Thailand who came to work in Israel prior to the events of Oct. 7, Pinta had left his wife and young son in Thailand a year and a half before the Hamas onslaught to work on an Israeli farm. Israel and Thailand have had a bilateral agreement easing the way for many workers from Thailand to come to Israel for jobs. Pinta was among the 31 Thai nationals working in agriculture who were abducted by terrorists on October 7. While many had hoped that he was still alive, he had been killed shortly after being kidnapped to Gaza. He now is counted among the 46 Thai workers murdered by Hamas since the beginning of the war.
Discovery of tunnel network under Gaza hospital proves IDF claims
The bodies of Mohammed Sinwar and the Thai national were discovered in yet another underground tunnel network Hamas had built directly under the European Hospital, which is funded by UNWRA and the EU.
Israeli forces gave a small group of foreign reporters a tour of the tunnel that had been uncovered beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis, which IDF spokesperson Effie Defrin said was a major command and control compound for Hamas.
“This is another example of the cynical use by Hamas, using civilians as human shields, using civilian infrastructure, hospitals, again and again,” said Defrin. “We found underneath the hospital, right under the emergency room, a compound of a few rooms. In one of them we found, we killed Mohammed Sinwar.”
Israeli PM Netanyahu announced Sinwar’s death last month, but Defrin said they now had his DNA which proved beyond a doubt it was him.
Gazans: Hamas’ other captives
Hamas also holds hostage in Gaza the civilians it claims to advocate for. Israel and the U.S. have worked to ensure that all humanitarian aid reaches the people of Gaza. Hamas continues to intercept the aid – robbing it from those it is intended for. Hamas threatens the people of Gaza who travel to accept aid and murders its own civilians.
“Hamas has never seen Gaza as a society to build or protect, but as a tool to elevate themselves in the eyes of unelected monarchs and ideological overlords….to secure long-term contracts of power and protection from the patrons they truly serve…[f]or the Qatari ruling elite who fund the fire from a safe distance, then host the [Hamas] arsonists as statesmen. Hamas offers Gaza as a sacrifice… because they know that a Gaza in ruins keeps them relevant, funded, and feared.” — Hamza Howidy, a Gaza-born peace and human rights advocate, X, June 6, 2025.
Media reporting manipulated by Hamas propaganda
Hamas has controlled much of the news and information being sent from Gaza. It was recently reported that the spokesperson for the Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip in charge of releasing information and damage assessments in Gaza, was secretly an active Hamas terrorist. He abused his role – spreading fabricated and unverified information to international media, while falsely attributing war crimes to Israel. This misinformation has resulted in grossly exaggerated fatality numbers coming out of Gaza, as well as many falsified news stories – distorting the reality on the ground. One such report was that the IDF was firing upon innocents who came to get aid. The Washington Post then released a story echoing the false report and later redacted it after the truth about the incident was revealed.
Hamas and its allies have continuously used the false narratives and inaccurate information given by Hamas to create international pressure on Israel to force an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, but without any requirement that Hamas disarm, lose its power or release hostages immediately. The U.S. recently vetoed a UN resolution to this effect.
Hamas influence has maintained an international reach. A recent rally held in Boulder, CO, to advocate for the release of the hostages from Hamas captivity, was firebombed by an Egyptian national who supported Hamas, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, living in the U.S. As he threw homemade Molotov cocktails, he screamed “free Palestine!” When interviewed later by authorities, he stated that he wanted to “kill all Zionist people.”
Many organizations and events have been held across the country in an effort to show solidarity with the Jews of Boulder. The Boulder Jewish Festival at the Pearl Street Mall in Colorado was held in a location not far from the site of the horrific attack. That same day, over 500 Americans and Israelis lined the streets of Aventura, Florida in a solidarity march organized by the sister organization of the Boulder Colorado event, Run for Their Lives, where they marched in advocacy for the release of the hostages. In New York’s Central Park, hundreds of people gathered to support the hostages in Gaza and to pay tribute to two of the Americans killed by Hamas.
World Zionist Congress – U.S. Voting Results Come In
The World Zionist Congress called Jews from around the world to participate in the largest modern grassroots vote of its kind to set the direction and priorities for world Zionism for the next five years. It brings together delegates from Zionist organizations and groups around the world—representing a wide range of political, religious, and ideological perspectives—to oversee the allocation of hundreds of millions of dollars toward Zionist and Jewish educational initiatives.
American Zionist Movement (AZM), the umbrella Zionist organization that oversees the voting, announced a record‑breaking U.S. turnout for the 39th World Zionist Congress election— over 240,000 American Jews cast ballots between March 10 and May 4, marking the largest participation in history. The 152 U.S. delegates elected will join global representatives at the 39th WZC in Jerusalem this October to help direct more than $1 billion in annual funding for Israel and Jewish communities worldwide. Final results are expected to be finalized and announced within a few weeks. This historic vote reflects strong national interest and the vitality of Zionism in the U.S.
“American Jews have spoken — through their record-breaking turnout in the 2025 World Zionist Congress election, they have powerfully demonstrated that Zionism in the United States is not only alive and well but stronger than ever,” said AZM executive director Herbert Block in a statement. “Thanks to this historic participation in the election, U.S. Jewry is poised to make an indelible mark when the World Zionist Congress gathers in October.”
Stories Impacting American Jews
Stories Impacting the U.S. and Israel
In Memoriam: Marthe Cohn, a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany, Dies at 105
For five decades, Marthe Cohn said little about her intelligence work during World War II, but Cohn, born in Metz, France, near the German border, spoke German fluently and posed as a nurse to gather intelligence on Nazi troop locations. Cohn’s bravery helped the Allies breach the Siegfried Line. After the war, she moved to the U.S. and only later shared her story. She was decorated by France with one of its highest war honors, the Croix de Guerre. She was 105 and had lived in Ranchos Palas Verdes, CA. The daughter of an Orthodox Jewish family, she also was named a Chevalier of the Order of the Legion d’Honneur and the Verdienstkreuz, or the Order of Merit, from the German government.
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This content is developed by The Focus Project in partnership with MERCAZ USA. The Focus Project distributes weekly news and talking points on timely issues concerning Israel and the Jewish people, including antisemitism, anti-Zionism and the delegitimization of Israel. It represents a consensus view across a spectrum of major American Jewish organizations. MERCAZ USA recognizes and respects the diversity of views on these issues among its readers and the community at large.