In my last blog, I wrote that we were hoping for a deal soon. That was in July. Here we are, more than three months later, and we seem to have finally reached some sort of deal that will see the return of all of the live Israeli hostages and an end to this current war with Hamas, at least for now.
I have not had the chance to go through the deal in detail yet - I am not sure it is even available in full. However, I think we can take several key points from the detail:
1. All of the live hostages will be returned immediately, as early as Sunday or Monday of this week, all at once. No more deals of releasing one or two a week or anything like that. This was apparently not something that Hamas had been willing to agree on earlier - though I am not sure anyone really knows.
2. In return, Israel will release some prisoners from its jails (these are mostly, if not all, convicted murderers and terrorists who have killed or tried to kill Israeli civilians). However, Israel (for now at least) won't release some of the highest profile prisoners (like Marwan Barghuti) and won't return the bodies of Yahyah Sinwar or Mohammad Def.
3. Many of the subsequent details have yet to be agreed upon. However, Israel will pull back its troops from some of their current positions and Hamas will agree that a new - international supported entity will take over the administration of the Gaza Strip - even though that may take time to implement.
4. President Trump used his extraordinary influence (or whatever else) to get Turkey, Egypt, Qatar and others onside. I don't think we know what he promised each of them at this point, though I am quite sure that it is something significant. It remains to be seen how harmful these promises may turn - some articles claim that Trump agreed to supply Turkey and Egypt with new, very sophisticated military airplanes. Apparently, there are also stronger assurances of defence for Qatar - though I am not sure Qatar has agreed, in exchange, to stop sponsoring worldwide terrorism.
I am sure that more details will emerge in the coming days. For now, we are hoping that the initial phase goes ahead as planned and that the 20 hostages will come home alive and that they can be rehabilitated. Many of them have probably been tortured, starved and suffered all kinds of injuries, physical and psychological. Israel is also seeking the remains of the other 28 hostages who were captured but Hamas is claiming that it only has 13-15 of those bodies at this point.
I am definitely concerned about the prospect of terrorist attacks - in Israel and around the world at Jewish sites in the coming days - especially with so much of the BDS and terror supporting crowd opposing this deal. I hope that our security forces here and around the world will be on full alert and will prevent or minimize any such attacks.
Meanwhile in Israel, the deal itself still has to approved by Israel's cabinet, which is expected to take place tonight. By all accounts, it is anticipated that the deal will pass by a significant majority. Cabinet ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich still have not announced their positions, but they may well oppose the deal. However, this will not bring about the fall of the government, since there are enough votes to pass the deal and keep the government in power, for now.
What's Next:
Israel is due to have elections by October 2026. It is unlikely that Prime Minister Netanyahu would ever be in a better position to win an election than he would be shortly after the return of all of the hostages and so there is a strong prospect that elections will take place earlier.
There is one "little" problem - Bibi's criminal charges. One option is a plea bargain deal. However, I don't believe that the State Prosecutor is prepared to recommend a deal that Bibi could live with - i.e. the dropping of all the charges - or a guilty plea to some very inconsequential offences. The Prosecution continues to insist that, at a minimum, Bibi plead guilty to offences that are deemed more serious under Israeli law and would bar him from running for office for 7 years, even if he avoids jail time.
An alternative would be a pardon from the President of Israel - Isaac Bougie Herzog. Up until recently, President Herzog maintained that he would not grant an unconditional pardon. However I believe that Herzog may now be willing to provide one under conditions that are much less severe. In other words - we could see a guilty plea of some sort, combined with a pardon - that would free Netanyahu to run again.
Ultimately, once Netanyahu has received a pardon - he may be willing to leave public office at some point. I believe that he would like to first secure a peace deal with Saudi Arabia - but that is pure speculation on my part.
Many Israelis, a large majority according to many polls, would like to see a full public inquiry into what happened on October 7, 2023 - with every issue, every failure and every event subject to full examination. Only with this type of inquiry will we be in a position to address security issues and strengthen our borders and our military readiness. For now, Netanyahu has strongly opposed this type of inquiry.
Other Stuff to Mention
There are so many things that I could write about since so much has been taking place. But I have been very busy - with personal celebratory events (thankfully), with work and with many other things. We are in the midst of the last holiday of the holiday season - the holiday of Sukkot - which is also known as the "time of our happiness." It culminates in the holiday of Simchat Torah - the "Rejoicing of the Torah" but that is also the day on which the horrible massacre of October 7th occurred.
Our Rosh Hashanah was a bit more low key than usual with a few of our family members out of the country. Days later, we conducted our Ra'anana Yom Kippur tefillot (prayer services) outdoors in one of the family's backyards - with about 50 participants. It was intimate, inspiring, participatory - and particularly comfortable (weatherwise this year). Yom Kippur, the day of awe, is actually quite awesome in Israel - to see the country come to a complete standstill - other than people taking the streets to walk or bike around.
We were a bit slow off the mark to get our Sukkah put up - but we managed to stop by the annual Ra'anana sukkot market - buy a lulav set with an etrog - that we could wave around in all the different directions - and now the sukkah is ready for an event or two.
Around the World
The news of all kinds of outrageous anti-Semitic and anti-Israel activity around the world is simply shocking.
In Canada, our extremist Prime Minister (yes it is fair to call him extremist on this issue) has recognized a Palestinian State - without negotiations, borders, concessions, terms.... In fact, just a year prior, the House of Commons voted down such a step. But the Prime Minister did not put it to a new vote. Prime Minister Carney, bolstered by some even more extremist cabinet ministers, like Minister Anita Anand, has joined the ranks of some of the most extreme anti-Israel world leaders - in places like Ireland, Sweden, Spain and Turkey. I think one can only say that this is frightening, sad and very concerning about where Canada might be headed in the future. And do not think that this is only an issue affecting Israel and the Jewish community. Supporting Muslim extremism can have disastrous long term consequences in a range of other issues.
There were several demonstrations across Canada by pro-Hamas agitators mixed together with extreme leftists (those in the Syd Ryan /CUPE camp) - in support of the October 7, 2023 massacres - and very little outrage, that I saw, other than from the leader of the opposition Pierre Poilievre and a handful of others. Imagine widespread demonstrations across the U.S. or Canada in support of the 9/11 attacks. Or commemorating the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in a positive way. That is what we are talking about.
In a North York High School, on October 7, 2025, the two year anniversary of the October 7, 2023 massacres, Earl Haig High School played the Canadian national anthem - "Oh Canada" on its speaker system in Arabic. Yes this is true! The principal explained that this was organized by a student group, that they were commemorating "Islamic Heritage Month" and that they didn't know it was related to October 7th. Give me a break! It's obscene. Simply obscene. A celebration of, indeed, an encouragement of the terrorism that took place on October 7, 2023.
We have seen attacks on synagogues, Jewish high profile figures, university students and other Jews and Jewish institutions all over the world since October 2023 - even while leaders in some places - rail on about "islamophobia." This is simply unjustifiable. I hope that countries like Canada and others will take steps to assure the safety of their Jewish communities in the face of these vile activities. But often, these issues require leadership from the top. We need leadership that will make it clear that these types of activities - from shutting down universities to vandalizing Jewish owned businesses - to protesting outside synagogues are not permitted and will stopped. And the perpetrators will be prosecuted, fully.
I hope that the current deal will bring about a change for Israel and for its friends and allies around the world.
Sports News
I can't write one these blogs without a few sports comments.
First of all, Israel will be playing Norway and Italy on Saturday night and Tuesday night respectively in World Cup qualifying games. These are crucial games if Israel is to have any chance of making it to the World Cup. There has been a great deal of pressure on FIFA from anti-Israel countries and some football players to try and expel Israel from FIFA. But to date, FIFA has rejected these demands. Israel's chances of qualifying are still quite low - since Norway is a very strong side but I think that it is fair to say that these are some of Israel's biggest football games in quite a while.
Last night, as I was watching the breaking news from Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt and Washington D.C., I was also watching the Blue Jays clinch a trip to the MLB American League Championship Series - a best of seven semi-final - with the winner going to the World Series. It was super exciting and I am hoping that I will be able to get to an ALCS or even a World Series game in the coming weeks.
While this is not sports news - I wanted to mention that those same anti-Israel protagonists - especially Ireland and Spain, have been clamouring to kick Israel out of the annual Eurovision song competition. Fortunately, Germany and a few others have apparently stood up to this pressure and refused to given in to this anti-Israel sentiment and kick Israel out. So as of now, Israel will participate in the 2026 Eurovision contest - Israel placed second last year - winning a large majority of the popular vote
Airline News
Air Canada is scheduled to restart direct flights to Israel today - almost as if they knew that this is when the war would end. I always believed that Air Canada (unlike so many other airlines) would only begin flying when there was a cease fire deal. Now there is one - and perhaps Air Canada will now be back on track with regular direct flights.
There is so much more to write but my time is limited. I wish everyone a Chag Sukkot Sameach. Hoping that the deal with proceed, that the hostages will be returned and that the war will end and usher in many years of expended peace with all of Israel's neighbours.
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