During the meeting, lawmakers emphasized their support for the released hostages and their families, and their commitment to continued efforts to return the three remaining deceased hostages from Hamas. Congresswoman Haley Stevens said, "You carry with you a burden, a story, an experience you didn't ask for. We will continue to be your allies and your friends forever – we will continue wearing the pin and telling your story." Congressman Craig Goldman said, "We were with you from the first day – we thought about you, waited for you, prayed for you every evening." He emphasized the memory of those who didn't return home and the significance of meeting with the released captives.

Congressman Brad Schneider addressed the significance of Hanukkah and the aspect of returning from captivity, saying, "Hanukkah is a holiday that brings families together. It's a holiday of light, and I know that for a hostage to come from darkness to light is huge. Your pictures were on our walls and in our hearts, and we continue wearing the yellow ribbon. We're here, both parties, and there wasn't a moment when we weren't all committed to bringing the hostages home." Schneider added, "On a dreidel, there are four letters, here they say 'a great miracle happened there' – but that you're here with us is completely 'a great miracle happened here.'"

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The meeting on Thursday with President Donald Trump is expected to clear the way for Turkey to acquire everything from Lockheed Martin and Boeing aircraft to liquefied natural gas worth more than $50 billion, according to Turkish officials, who requested anonymity because the agreements have not yet been finalized.

The largest portion of the potential agreements on Thursday is expected to be in aviation. Boeing and Lockheed Martin may receive orders for up to 250 commercial airplanes along with additional F-16 fighter jets, Turkish officials said. The purpose of the new aircraft purchase is to modernize the Turkish air force's aging fighter fleet and adapt it to the challenges of the coming decade.

More importantly, Trump said last week that there is a chance to resolve the long-standing impasse regarding the F-35 stealth jets. Turkey was an original partner in the Lockheed's most advanced fighter jet program, but was removed after it acquired Russia's S-400 air defense system. This acquisition resulted in congressional sanctions, known as CAATSA, which are directed at Turkey's defense industries and still remain in effect.

Dr. Assa Ophir, a Turkey expert from the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Ariel University, explained, "The issue that should concern Israel most is Turkey's desire to rejoin the stealth jet project and receive the F-35 aircraft. The US expelled Turkey from the program in 2019 because of its purchase of the Russian S-400 defense systems. Stealth jets in Erdoğan's hands could lead to the loss of Israel's air superiority in the region, and this is a very undesirable outcome for it."

However, Dr. Ophir said, "But the path for Turkey's return to the stealth project and the receipt of the aircraft is still long. Erdoğan will need to overcome two serious obstacles that do not depend solely on Donald Trump – CAATSA, which imposes sanctions on all countries that buy military equipment from Russia, and the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), both of which are laws that must be passed through the US Congress where there is a hostile atmosphere toward Turkey."

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President Donald Trump will deliver his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, AP reported, marking a significant moment in his controversial return to power as Americans remain sharply divided over the direction of the country. The address comes as nationwide protests against the Trump administration's policies have been organized across all 50 states and Washington D.C., timed to coincide with the president's speech.

The speech comes as Trump continues to consolidate his control in Washington, where Republican-led chambers of Congress have done little to check his administration's rapid policy reversals and executive actions. With firm control of his party following his survival of impeachments and criminal prosecutions, the president has moved aggressively to reshape the federal government.

According to AP, the White House described the theme of Trump's address as the "renewal of the American dream." Senior Adviser Stephen Miller said the speech represents "an opportunity for President Trump, as only he can, to lay out the last month of record-setting, record-breaking, unprecedented achievements and accomplishments."

While Democrats largely avoided Trump's January inauguration, they've opted not to boycott this address. Instead, they're bringing guests who've been directly affected by the administration's policies, including fired federal workers and individuals who would be harmed by proposed budget cuts to Medicaid and other programs.

Several Oregon Democrats are bringing fired federal workers with them to President Donald Trump's address to Congress on Tuesday, in apparent protest of the cuts Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has sought to make to the federal workforce.https://t.co/VGlqGQnM7K pic.twitter.com/xNDlMczEsh

— Lower Main Street Neighbors (@MainStNeighbors) March 4, 2025

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer criticized the president's priorities in a statement, saying, "Rather than focusing on American families and kitchen table issues, President Trump's first month in office has focused on tax cuts for billionaires, paid for by the very people he promised to help."

The address comes amid significant foreign policy shifts, with Trump having frozen US military assistance to Ukraine following what AP described as "an explosive Oval Office meeting" with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The president is reportedly pressuring Ukraine to pursue peace talks with Russia.

In the Middle East, ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas have stalled, with Trump suggesting controversial approaches including "permanent displacement of Palestinian civilians" and American "takeover" of Gaza territory – positions that undermine longstanding US support for a two-state solution.

Economic uncertainty adds another dimension to the speech, as Trump implemented significant tariffs just hours before his address. A 25% tax on goods from Canada and Mexico took effect after midnight Tuesday, reportedly to address fentanyl trafficking, while tariffs on Chinese imports rose to 20%. These moves have already triggered retaliatory measures from trading partners.

First Lady Melania Trump will attend the address, having held her first solo public event of her husband's new term just Monday, advocating for legislation against revenge pornography. Her guests will include 15-year-old Elliston Berry, a victim of deepfake explicit imagery.

Republican lawmakers are also using their guest invitations to make political statements. Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa announced she would host Scott Root, whose daughter Sarah Root died in 2016 in a vehicle crash involving an undocumented immigrant.

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is expected to attend alongside other senior administration officials as the president outlines his vision for continued policy changes, including efforts to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and roll back accommodations for transgender individuals.

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Representative Ilhan Omar, a prominent member of the progressive "Squad" in Congress, has successfully defended her seat in Minnesota's 5th District Democratic primary, according to projections reported by BBC. The closely watched race concluded with Omar securing over 56% of the vote, solidifying her position as the party's nominee for the November election.

With 99% of votes counted, Omar received more than 67,000 votes, comfortably outpacing her closest rival, Don Samuels, a former Minneapolis City Council member. Samuels, who had narrowly lost to Omar in 2022, garnered just under 43% of the votes in Tuesday's primary.

Rep. Ilhan Omar wins her primary election in the 5th Congressional district of Minnesota!

Omar has defeated The 75-year-old Black man named Don Samuels, winning 56% of the votes or 67,524 with 95% of the votes in.

pic.twitter.com/GVfq0JBadC

— EXECUTIVE MEDIA (@EXECUTIVEXMEDIA) August 14, 2024

The victory comes at a time when other members of the "Squad" have faced significant challenges. Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri and Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York both lost their primary races earlier this year, with pro-Israel groups investing heavily in their opponents' campaigns.

Unlike the races involving Bush and Bowman, the Super PAC operated by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) appeared to stay out of Omar's contest. However, The Intercept reported a last-minute effort by wealthy pro-Israel donors to raise six-figure sums in support of Samuels.

Omar, one of the first Muslims elected to the US Congress, has been a vocal critic of Israel's policies, particularly regarding the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Her stance on Israel has been a source of controversy throughout her tenure in office.

In February 2023, Omar was removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee by the Republican-controlled House, citing previous comments she had made about Israel. Democrats decried the move as political retaliation for similar actions taken against Republicans when Democrats held the House majority in 2020.

The congresswoman's campaign received support from high-profile figures, including Senator Bernie Sanders and Vice President Kamala Harris. An internal poll conducted last month had suggested Omar held a 30-point lead over her challengers.

In the same primary elections, Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, who has served in the US Senate since 2007, also secured victory in her primary challenge.

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The American website Breaking Defense reported that, according to the U.S. Congressional report, the United States needs to expand its military industry and acquire more aircraft, ships, and submarines. The website states that the Pentagon's current national defense strategy is outdated, the U.S. military is inadequately structured, and the American industrial base is insufficient to address the dual threat of Russia and China, according to a new, powerful formal review.

"The U.S. public are largely unaware of the dangers the United States faces or the costs (financial and otherwise) required to adequately prepare" for a global conflict, reads an early page from the final report of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy, published today. "A bipartisan 'call to arms' is urgently needed so that the United States can make the major changes and significant investments now rather than wait for the next Pearl Harbor or 9/11. The support and resolve of the American public are indispensable."

According to Breaking Defense, the commission was established by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022 to review that year's national defense strategy. Beyond presenting a troubling picture of America's national security, the 114-page report offers several recommendations for policymakers in the White House, strategists at the Pentagon, and legislators—primarily advocating for an aggressive approach. The boldest suggestion is a call for the creation of a "multi-domain force" to address the current "outdated" version.

"he Commission believes the United States needs a force-planning approach that is both global and prioritized. … An exclusive focus on a single adversary or single region, as some have suggested, is a fundamentally flawed response to the global nature of challenges posed by such adversaries as China and Russia and to the growing cooperation between adversaries across regions," the report stated. "That said, the United States' force-planning approach must be prioritized to effectively and efficiently allocate finite resources, address threats of varying scope and scale, and ensure a mix of U.S. instruments of national power that are tailored to specific strategic objectives."

Breaking Defense notes that the report describes changes needed in the U.S. defense system, including acquiring more ships and shipbuilding infrastructure for the Navy and more satellites for the Space Force. It also supports the Air Force's effort to acquire a next-generation air superiority aircraft, a project currently facing an uncertain future.

Regarding the Indo-Pacific theater, the commission calls for more underwater assets - "eparticularly Virginia-class submarines but also large, uncrewed underwater vessels" - as well as more long-range bombers and long-range munitions.

In Europe, the report says that the National Defense Strategy has underestimated the Russian threat. "Ultimately," it states, "the goal is for Europe to take on a larger role in providing for its defense, with assured and critical support of the United States. In light of the potential for simultaneous conflicts, capability targets apportioned to European allies through the NATO Defense Planning Process should be intentionally selected to reduce overreliance on the United States for key capabilities enablers."

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In his address to the US Congress on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brought attention to several Israeli soldiers and citizens who exemplified courage and sacrifice during and after the October 7 attacks. These individuals, present at the speech, "come from every corner of Israeli society, every ethnicity, every color, every creed, left and right, religious and secular. All are imbued with the indomitable spirit of the Maccabees, the legendary Jewish warriors of antiquity."

Netanyahu introduced Lieutenant Avichail Reuven, an officer in the Israeli paratroopers of Ethiopian descent. When "Avichail heard the news of Hamas' bloody rampage. He put on his uniform and grabbed his rifle, but he didn't have a car. So he ran eight miles to the frontlines of Gaza to defend his people." He received a standing ovation from the crowd.

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 Master Sergeant Ashraf al Bahiri, a Bedouin soldier from the Israeli Muslim community of Rahat, was also recognized. During the attacks, Al Bahiri defended his military base and nearby communities, including Kibbutz Be'eri. "Like Ashraf, the Muslim soldiers of the IDF fought alongside their Jewish, Druze, Christian, and other comrades in arms with tremendous bravery," Netanyahu praised.

The prime minister acknowledged Lieutenant Asa Sofer, who lost his right arm and vision in his left eye while protecting fellow soldiers from a grenade. Despite his injuries, Sofer plans to return to active duty as a tank company commander. Additionally, Netanyahu mentioned Lieutenant Yonatan Ben Hamo, who continued fighting after losing a leg in Gaza.

The speech also honored Yechiel Leiter, father of Moshe Leiter, an officer "killed when a booby-trap mine exploded in a tunnel shaft right next to a Mosque. At his son's funeral, Yechiel, whose own father escaped the Holocaust, said this: 'If the State of Israel had not been established after the Holocaust, the image engraved in our collective memory would have been the photograph of that helpless Jewish boy in the Warsaw Ghetto holding his hands up in the air with Nazi rifles pointed at him. But because of the birth of Israel,' Yechiel continued, 'because of the courage of soldiers like my son Moshe, the Jewish people are no longer helpless in the face of our enemies.'"

Netanyahu used these personal stories to illustrate the diversity and resilience of the Israeli Defense Forces, describing the soldiers, saying, "These are the soldiers of Israel – unbowed, undaunted, unafraid. As the Bible says, 'עם כלביא יקום' – they shall rise like lions. They've risen like lions, the lions of Judah, the lions of Israel."

The prime minister concluded by reaffirming Israel's commitment to the phrase "never again," pledging that the sacrifices made would not be in vain.

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In the Congress hall, there were hundreds of senators, congressmen, family members of hostages, bereaved families, Israeli ambassadors to Washington and the UN, advisors and senior aides to Netanyahu, his close associates, and more. Among the notable names in the audience were Noa Argamani, an Israeli hostage rescued from Gaza, Senators Marco Rubio, Mitch McConnell, John Fetterman, Jon Tester, Kenneth Kelly, entrepreneur Elon Musk, and others.

"It's a clash between barbarism and civilization. It's a battle between glorifying death and those who cherish life. America and Israel must stand together. Because when we stand together, something very simple happens, we win, they lose. I came to assure you, my friends, of one thing, we will win," Netanyahu started.

"America and Israel must stand together," said Netanyahu, wearing a yellow pin expressing solidarity with Israeli hostages. "When we stand together something really great happens: we win, they lose."

Netanyahu added: "October 7 is a day we will remember forever. Thousands of young Israelis were celebrating at a music festival, and suddenly, when children were sleeping in their beds in towns and kibbutzim near Gaza, it turned into hell. Thousands of Hamas terrorists broke in and massacred thousands of Israelis from 41 countries. It was as if 22 September 11 attacks happened in one day. Hamas' monsters raped women and beheaded men."

"We are committed to the Israeli proposal that President Biden welcomed. Our position has not changed. The second thing, which does not contradict the first, we will not end the war until we eliminate Hamas.", he said to Congress.

This is the fourth time Netanyahu has addressed Congress. An official in the Prime Minister's entourage told "Israel Hayom" before the speech: "There will be innovations in the speech because it is a new vision for the Middle East and a way to confront Iran." Many members of the Democratic Party announced in advance that they would boycott the Prime Minister's speech.

Netanyahu's first speech to Congress was shortly after he was elected Prime Minister in 1996. The second speech took place during his second term as Prime Minister in 2011, and the third in 2015, when he addressed Congress against the wishes of then-President Barack Obama.

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Protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress turned violent on Wednesday, with demonstrators burning American flags, attempting to breach police lines, and vandalizing public property near the US Capitol.

If you burn an American flag in America, nothing will happen to you...

But if you burn a rainbow flag... you'll be investigated for a hate crime. pic.twitter.com/0qx3Hex8bQ

— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) July 25, 2024

The New York Post reports that thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Washington, DC, just blocks from where Netanyahu was speaking to a joint session of Congress. The demonstration quickly escalated, with rioters pushing against security barriers and forcing Capitol Police to deploy pepper spray and other defensive measures.

According to the Post, protesters tore down American flags flying outside Union Station, replacing them with Palestinian flags before setting the US flags ablaze. Video footage shared on social media showed a man attempting to rescue a burning American flag from the center of the protest, nearly being tackled as others shouted, "Get him!"

The chaos extended beyond flag burning, with demonstrators vandalizing monuments and public spaces. The Christopher Columbus statue outside Union Station was defaced with graffiti reading "Hamas is coming" and "Free Palestine." Other spray-painted messages included expletives directed at Israel.

Inside the Capitol, six people were arrested for unlawful conduct during Netanyahu's speech, Capitol Police reported. Netanyahu's address marked his fourth speech to Congress, setting a new record. He is scheduled to meet with President Biden on Thursday and former President Trump on Friday.

The protests began peacefully earlier in the day, with speakers including Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein addressing the crowd. Demonstrators carried signs accusing Israel of "genocide" in Gaza and constructed large effigies of Netanyahu with hands dripping red paint.

The situation escalated as Netanyahu's speech approached, with some protesters attempting to break through the security perimeter established around the Capitol.

The unrest wasn't limited to the streets. Overnight, anti-Israel activists reportedly dyed a city fountain near the Capitol blood-red and released insects at the Watergate Hotel where the Israeli delegation was staying.

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Dozens of protesters rallied outside the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC on Monday evening to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the United States. On Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of demonstrators staged a flashmob-style protest in the Cannon Building, which houses offices of House of Representatives members. Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden and give a speech on Wednesday before a joint session of Congress.

The protesters made their presence known by projecting messages onto the hotel's exterior, including his face with the caption "Wanted arrest, Netanyahu." They also chanted slogans expressing their opposition to the Israeli leader.

Outside the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC.

Apparently Netanyahu shifted rooms… pic.twitter.com/KxR6SnFrgj

— Greg J Stoker (@gregjstoker) July 24, 2024

Organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, protesters wearing red T-shirts that read "Not In Our Name" took over the Cannon building, sitting on the floor, unfurling signs and chanting "Let Gaza Live!"

After about a half-hour of clapping and chanting, officers from the US Capitol Police issued several warnings, then began arresting protesters, binding their hands with zip ties and leading them away one by one.

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In a scathing rebuke, a group of distinguished Israelis has condemned the US Congress's invitation to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session on July 24. The critics, spanning various sectors of Israeli society, argue that this gesture rewards Netanyahu's "scandalous and destructive conduct" towards Israel, in The New York Times opinion piece on Tuesday.

The authors, who hail from various sectors of Israeli society, including science, technology, politics, defense, law, and culture, contend that Netanyahu's government is "driving Israel downhill at an alarming speed" and that the country may eventually be lost as a result. They contend that Netanyahu's government is rapidly driving Israel towards ruin, citing his failure to end the Gaza war and secure hostage releases as prime examples of his ineffectiveness.

"Inviting Netanyahu will reward his contempt for US efforts to establish a peace plan, allow more aid to the beleaguered people of Gaza, and do a better job of sparing civilians," the authors write in The New York Times. They argue that the invitation should have been contingent upon resolving these issues and calling for new elections in Israel.

The critics also accuse Netanyahu of repeatedly rejecting President Biden's plan to remove Hamas from power in Gaza through the establishment of a peacekeeping force, a move they believe could lead to a broader regional alliance and a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They assert that such an outcome is not only in Israel's interest but also in the interest of both political parties in the United States.

Furthermore, the authors contend that Netanyahu has failed to take responsibility for the blunders that allowed the Hamas assault, initially blaming security chiefs before quickly backtracking. They call for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, headed by a Supreme Court judge, to investigate the fiasco.

The opinion piece also highlights the ongoing nationwide demonstrations in Israel, with participants demanding an immediate release of the hostages, an end to the war, and immediate elections. Polls cited by the authors indicate that a majority of Israelis support these demands, reflecting a growing loss of faith in Netanyahu's government.

"Giving Netanyahu the stage in Washington will all but dismiss the rage and pain of his people, as expressed in the demonstrations throughout the country," the authors write, urging American lawmakers to reconsider the invitation and ask the prime minister to stay home.

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