News Roundup - July 7, 2025

You are listening to an art media podcast.

It's 9.30 p.m.

on Sunday, July 6th here in New York City.

It is 4.30 a.m.

on Monday, July 7th in Israel, as Israelis await await news on whether we will soon see the beginning of the end to the war in Gaza, or any news on a ceasefire and return of hostages, or any sign of new normalization deals with other countries in the region.

Perhaps Syria?

I think there will be news on all of these fronts in the days and weeks ahead.

We've decided to hold off on recording a full Call Me Back episode until tomorrow, which is bound to be a big day for Israel-related news.

This is, of course, because Prime Minister Netanyahu is set to meet with President Trump Monday in D.C., where we assume the leaders will discuss the path to an end to the Gaza war and the Middle East geopolitical landscape emerging after the recent war with Iran.

So, until then, here's a brief news roundup to help you keep up to date with the recent developments and know what to keep an eye on in what will likely be a very consequential week in D.C.

First, the backdrop.

Hours ago, Israel carried out a fresh wave of strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen after issuing evacuation orders for several areas of the country.

The Israeli Air Force conducted its airstrikes against targets in the ports of Hodea, Ras Issa, and Salif and the Ras Khatib power station, among others.

According to the IDF, these sites were used by the Houthis to transfer weapons and orchestrate terror attacks against Israel and other countries and private enterprises in global shipping.

This operation was following last Tuesday's Houthi missile fired at Israel, which set off alarms at Ben-Gurion Airport and in areas like Modein and Rishon Latseon and some areas of the West Bank and Jerusalem.

As some of you will recall, that was where my mother was attending an engagement party that was disrupted by sirens when they all had to go into their safe room.

The missile...

Fortunately, was successfully intercepted with no injuries and no damage.

Over the past week or so, we've been hearing a lot of noise from American and Israeli leaders about a hostage ceasefire deal, as I mentioned earlier, with President Trump saying Israel had agreed to terms for a 60-day ceasefire earlier last week, and with reports that the ceasefire would include the return of 10 living hostages and 18 deceased hostages.

And of course, the deal would also involve some number of Palestinian prisoners being released from Israeli prisons.

On Friday, Hamas announced that it had submitted a positive response, albeit with reservations, some of which are presumably related to how the deal lays the groundwork for a permanent end to the Gaza war, which has been the most intractable issue in previous talks thus far.

While there were indirect negotiations in Doha, Israeli leaders are indicating that Hamas's, quote, reservations are more than just reservations.

As many of you will recall from our episode with former Biden advisor Brett McGurk, Hamas has a pattern, both during the Biden administration and in the Trump administration, to getting the headline benefit, the pop of saying they've agreed to a deal, and then buried in their announcement that they've agreed to a deal are all sorts of reservations, which have actually proven to be that they didn't actually agree to the deal at all.

We hope that will not be the case here.

Now, against the backdrop of these negotiations, this past Saturday night saw tens of thousands of Israelis take to the streets in Israel, urging the government to reach a deal that would free all remaining hostages, not just doing it in this phased approach.

As Israeli officials reportedly work on crafting a list of hostages, which would be prioritized in a phased deal, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum demanded a comprehensive deal to end the war, with all hostages released at once, again, rather than in these phases.

Those Israelis advocating an end to the war are not only talking about the hostages, many have been lamenting the mounting toll the Gaza war is taking on IDF soldiers.

We tend to focus on this podcast and in a lot of the press coverage in Israel on the Milawim soldiers, the reservists who've spent two and 300 days in service away from their families and jobs and businesses.

But it is important to remember that many soldiers in the standing army, not the people in their mid-20s or mid-30s or older, but the 18, 19, and 20-year-olds who have spent 500 and 600 days fighting the war.

Just this past Friday, the IDF announced that two soldiers, Asaf Zamir from Demona and Yair Eliyahu from Ezer,

were killed in separate incidents in the Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll of Israelis fighting in this war since October 7th to 444.

Both Asaf Zamir and Yair Eliyahu were just 19 years old.

While the post-Iran war conditions have brought revamped ceasefire hostage talks, they've also potentially opened the door for resumed normalization talks with Saudi Arabia, something that would be considered a major win not just for Israel, but for President Trump and the U.S.

Saudi normalization, as well as the potential for future normalization between Israel and other Arab countries, is a topic likely on the agenda for the U.S.

administration meetings with the delegation led by Prime Minister Netanyahu in the days days ahead.

Again, I think we should look out for some possible news on that front, in addition to an end to the Gaza war.

In fact, before boarding his flight to Washington, Netanyahu told reporters that Israel has an opportunity to, quote, expand the circle of peace far beyond what we could have imagined, end quote.

During that same press gaggle before boarding the plane, the Prime Minister also said that Israel would not agree to any deal in Gaza that allows Hamas to remain the governing force of Gaza.

In other news, this past week has been particularly frightening for Jews in the diaspora, especially in Australia.

On Friday evening, an historic Melbourne synagogue was targeted in an arson attack while people were davening, praying, worshiping inside.

Thankfully, everyone in the synagogue managed to escape unharmed.

But just minutes later, also in Melbourne, a mob of anti-Israel protesters vandalized vandalized the Miznon restaurant, which is one of the restaurants in the world-famous Israeli Miznon chain.

Witnesses said the rioters were heard chanting death to the IDF.

This comes just over a week after musician Bob Villen called for death to the IDF in front of thousands of cheering and adoring fans at the Glastonbury Music Festival.

These are all just reminders of the connection between incitement can turn into violence.

That is all for now.

We will be watching closely as Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli delegation get to work in DC.

And of course, we'll be back this week to unpack all that comes out of these meetings.

And also, please be sure to listen to the most recent episodes of For Heaven's Sake and What's Your Number, both available on the ARC Media Network.