Chuck Holton
Politics • Culture • News
Chuck Holton is an American war correspondent, published author, and motivational speaker.
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Hostage Rescued Alive

This is a statement by Daniel Hagari about what happened.

An Israeli hostage was rescued alive by IDF troops from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip earlier today, the military announces.

The rescued hostage is Qaid Farhan al-Qadi, 52, from a Bedouin community near the southern city of Rahat, who was working as a guard at a packing factory in Kibbutz Magen on October 7. Al-Qadi was abducted by Hamas terrorists from the nearby community of Mivtahim.

Al-Qadi was found alive inside a tunnel by commandos of the Navy’s elite Shayetet 13 unit. The operation was led by the IDF Southern Command, Shin Bet security agency, and the IDF’s 162nd Division.

He is said to be in good health.

It is now believed that 104 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 30 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

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Israel fills Hamas tunnel with cement.

That’s one way to make sure it doesn’t get used again

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Dust storm in Phoenix, Arizona
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On the Shores of Issyk- Kul

Today I got a chance to check out the second largest saltwater lake in the world

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Episode 622 - Field Producer Dennis Azato and Chuck Reminisce

My erstwhile field producer and cameraman Dennis Azato has accompanied me on ten years of adventures across the globe. Today he joins me in Ukraine and we spend some time remembering our many trips together.

Episode 622 - Field Producer Dennis Azato and Chuck Reminisce

I respect Donald Trump so much for making the decision to go after Iran's WMD program. No one was willing to do it for twenty years because they knew the Iranians would inflict consequences. Donald Trump knew that he would become an even bigger target of Iran for doing this and he did it anyway.

When facing evil, there are two responses: you face the evil, change occurs, and you get stronger, OR you make peace with evil out of fear, back off, and your witness is destroyed. Scripture tells us that a righteous man who falters before the wicked is a murky spring or a polluted well. Righteous men who do not stand up against evil are polluting their own witness.

Standing up to evil has its own reward. We have to accept that this can lead to consequences. We should NEVER back off from doing the right thing. Evil is everywhere and sometimes we have to make the decision to confront it, especially where the lives of innocent people are affected, who may not have the courage to say anything even ...

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“Venezuela THREATENS To Sink American Ships, Then THIS HAPPENED!!!
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Words Matter - Busting Lies about Gaza
What the Data Really Shows

For nearly two years, the war between Israel and Hamas has been framed in the starkest moral terms. Activists, NGOs, and even governments have accused Israel of genocide against the people of Gaza. The word “genocide” carries immense legal and moral weight — it evokes Rwanda, the Holocaust, the deliberate attempt to wipe out an entire people. But when a term this powerful is misapplied, it loses its meaning.

A new, in-depth study from the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, authored by historians, military analysts, and legal scholars, takes a hard look at the genocide allegations and finds them built on sand. The report’s aim is not to excuse Israel’s mistakes or downplay suffering in Gaza — but to sift fact from fiction.

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September 03, 2025
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Drones, Deterrence, and a Nuclear “Flex”: This Week’s Middle East Reality Check

There’s a lot to cover, and it all connects.

1) Shin Bet Foils Drone Assassination Plot on Israel’s National Security Minister

Israel’s Shin Bet and the IDF broke up a Hamas-directed cell out of Hebron that was plotting to assassinate National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvirwith drones.

  • How it was supposed to work: The cell bought multiple commercial drones (think DJI FPV/Avata and Mavic-style platforms) and planned to mount explosives or use them as high-speed kamikaze vehicles.

  • Who was really running it: Instructions and direction were coming from Hamas operatives in Turkey. Let that sink in—a NATO country is the rear area for a terror org that just tried to take out a sitting Israeli minister.

  • Why this matters: Small drones aren’t “toys” anymore. Strap a grenade under a 250-gram quadcopter and you’ve got a precision drop weapon. Rig an FPV racer and it’s a guided missile at 60–100 mph. We’ve seen versions of this in Ukraine, Syria, and even the attempted hit on Maduro in Venezuela.

Bottom line: Counter-drone is no longer optional around VIPs—or your neighborhood, if things ever go sideways. The threat isn’t theoretical; it’s here.

 

2) Gaza: Hostage “Proof of Life,” Civilians Blocked, and the Coming Push

Just before we went live, Hamas released a new proof-of-life video for one of the Israeli hostages. Same old psychological warfare; same refusal to release Red Cross access.

On the ground:

  • The IDF is staging for expanded operations in/around Gaza City—calling up tens of thousands of reservists, forward-positioning armor and engineering assets, and mapping humanitarian corridors and aid points away from combat zones.

  • Reports on the ground say Hamas has blocked families from leaving areas Israel has warned will become active battle spaces—human shields all over again.

Translation: Israel is telegraphing the safer routes and stocking them with food/medical aid; Hamas is trying to keep civilians in the crossfire. That tells you everything you need to know about motives.

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September 03, 2025
Israel’s Decapitation Strike on the Houthis — and the Real Genocide Nobody’s Talking About

Reporting from Panama’s Pacific coast, at the very drop zone where my Ranger unit parachuted in during the 1989 Panama invasion.

Over the weekend, Israel executed what can only be called a decapitation strike against the Houthi regime in Yemen. According to initial reports coming out of Sanaa, the prime minister, the Houthi chief of staff, and most cabinet ministers were killed—with only a handful left alive, one badly wounded, and the rest fleeing the capital. Israel had warned that if the Houthis kept firing at Israeli civilians, there would be “a blow to the firstborns.” Biblical language, yes—but now you see what they meant.

The Houthis are vowing revenge. What can they actually do? Short answer: missiles and drones—because marching an army to Israel is off the table. And even those missiles keep breaking up over Saudi Arabia or getting intercepted before they get close. That doesn’t stop the Houthis from claiming victory on TV (more on the “perception war” below), but reality is stubborn.

 

The Information War: Manufactured “Genocide,” Manufactured Outrage

While Israel hits real military targets, aid agencies and UN-adjacent NGOs have been coordinating press pushes to browbeat global media into labeling Gaza a “genocide” and “famine.” We’ve dismantled that claim repeatedly here:

  • Genocide has a definition. Israel is not “erasing a people.” In fact, Israel pushes aid into Gaza, warns civilians with calls, leaflets, and roof knocks, and routinely pauses operations for humanitarian corridors—steps no genocidal regime takes.

  • Famine is weaponized rhetoric. There’s more food entering Gaza than most hot zones on earth, and we’ve all seen the videos of aid discarded in the streets when it isn’t the brand preferred by looters or Hamas handlers.

Meanwhile, the very people chanting “genocide” against Israel are silent about a very real, very measurable catastrophe:

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