Nearly two years after the October 7 massacre, Leon and Ina, the parents of 24-year-old Sapir Bilmes, opened up in a wrenching interview about the final moments of their daughter’s life. “She appeared on every list, here, there. And I told myself: until she calls me, I don’t know where she is,” Ina recalls. Looking back, they are still trying to reconstruct every detail from conversations with police investigators. “I wanted to know if the end was quick.”

For nearly 77 years, Israel has treated the global battle for hearts and minds as a necessary evil, something to endure rather than to master. It is time to drop the apologetics and launch a sustained offensive, one that tells our historical story while clearly presenting the facts.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated that Israel must reestablish a civilian presence in the Gaza Strip but not only by returning to Gush Katif, the former bloc of Israeli settlements evacuated in the 2005 Disengagement Plan. “That’s too small, too crowded. It needs to be much bigger.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea cautions government must act decisively to strip the terrorist group of weapons or face dangerous escalation.