Chuck Holton
Politics • Culture • News
All 20 Hostages Freed: A Day of Rejoicing in Israel—and Questions About What Comes Next
13 hours ago
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I’m coming to you today as we watch live feeds from Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva, where freed Israeli hostages are arriving after more than 700 days in Hamas captivity. It’s one of those rare days when the cameras catch something other than destruction or outrage—today we get to see relief, tears, and reunions.

At 8:00 a.m. local time, Hamas began transferring the first group of hostages. By 10:28 a.m., the last of the twenty living Israeli captives crossed out of Gaza and into Israeli hands. The Red Cross handled the official transfer, and the Israeli Defense Forces escorted them to safety.

This is a moment of celebration for Israel—and a key milestone in the Trump-brokered Gaza peace framework. Streets across Israel are lined with flags, music, and families hugging for the first time in two years. And honestly, I couldn’t be happier to say this: I was wrong.

Weeks ago, I said I didn’t think we’d see these hostages alive without a negotiated deal. I still think the odds were slim—but the fact that they beat those odds, thanks to President Trump’s diplomatic push, is something we can all be grateful for.

 

The Cost of Freedom

Israel held up its end of the bargain—releasing roughly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, including many serving life sentences for terrorism. Only a couple dozen of the most notorious offenders were withheld. None of the October 7th attackers were freed.

In exchange, Hamas released all of the remaining living hostages.

But not all promises were kept.

Out of 28 deceased hostages Hamas had pledged to return, only four have been recovered. Hamas now claims it “cannot locate” the rest—saying the bodies may be buried in rubble or collapsed tunnels. That may sound like an excuse, but as Vice President J.D. Vance said yesterday, it’s likely true that some remains may never be found.

Still, for the families waiting on closure, that’s cold comfort.

“Every Israeli mother and father wants to bury their child,”
said one member of the Hostage Families Forum.
“This deal is not finished until every one of them is home.”

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17 hours ago

Praise God the living Israeli hostages are finally home after two years of hell in the underground dungeons of Gaza. Many of us have been watching, waiting and praying for their release for so long. It’s been such a spiritual battle of good versus evil. Finally there is some victory, the light has broken through. And we mourn with those families whose loved ones are the deceased hostages, yet to be returned.

For those who might be interested, I’m sharing this heartfelt news coverage and analysis from one of the few media channels in Australia, Sky News, which have shown compassion, boldness and intelligent reporting on the multi-front battles Israel’s been dealing with these past two years.

Chuck ofcourse goes into much more depth in his wonderful podcasts on ‘Hotzone with Chuck Holton’, but hopefully he doesn’t mind me sharing this Aussie news channel!!

I wonder how the events happening right now in the Middle East would be different had Kamala gotten elected. Believe me, it’s not requiring much effort to wonder about this!

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Five Warning Signs America Should Be on Alert

I’m going to be blunt: the indicators for a large, coordinated attack inside the United States are stacking up. This isn’t doom-scroll drama. It’s a pattern, and it’s getting clearer by the day. Here’s what you need to know—fast.

 

1) Open Calls for Violence in U.S. Streets

On the anniversary of October 7th, a New York rally leader literally urged people to “show up stronger” than Hamas did the first time—and to “globalize the intifada.” That’s not “speech I dislike.” That’s incitement. When thousands chant “from the river to the sea,” they’re calling for Israel’s destruction—and the spillover of that violence here. This is radicalization in the open.

 

2) SIM-Farm Networks Enabling Covert Comms

The Secret Service uncovered huge SIM farms around NYC—hundreds of thousands of active cards tied to encrypted, anonymized messaging. That takes money, logistics, and state-level tradecraft. If it’s in New York, bet on parallel nodes in Chicago, L.A., D.C., Seattle, Portland. You don’t build that to share cat videos. You build it to coordinate.

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How This War Ends—and How Israel Could Still Lose the Peace

Today’s a heavy one. It’s the anniversary of October 7, 2023—the biggest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust—and Israel is still absorbing rockets from Gaza and drones out of Yemen even today. The war isn’t over. But the question we have to ask is: how does it end—and how does Israel avoid losing the peace even if it wins the war?

Even people on the left are starting to admit the obvious: Israel is held to a different standard. Scott Galloway—no conservative firebrand—recently pointed out that when America was attacked (Pearl Harbor, 9/11) we prosecuted war hard and nobody called it “genocide.” Israel fights more humanely than most modern campaigns—yet is told it can defend itself only up to a truce, never to victory. That’s a double standard, and it costs lives.

 

Two Years That Rewired the Region

I flew into Israel right after the attack. The scenes at Kibbutz Be’eri and elsewhere were beyond anything I’ve covered—murder and desecration. Israel’s response was righteous self-defense against an enemy that embeds in civilian neighborhoods and counts on Western outrage to do the rest.

Two realities have taken root inside Israel:

  1. Never again, for real this time. There will be a buffer between terrorists and Israeli families—permanently. Security is getting layered, redundant, and domestic; foreign goodwill is nice, but it won’t be Plan A.

  2. Humility after hubris. Israel missed it. Warnings were there; they bet the north would ignite first; they were wrong. That lesson is now baked in.

Regionally, Iran’s proxies have been smashed hard—Hamas degraded, Hezbollah leaders targeted, Iraqi militias cowed, Houthis still lobbing but bloodied. It’s reshuffled politics from Lebanon to Syria, where Iranian scaffolding has wobbled and local power centers are recalculating. Meanwhile U.S. forces have quietly absorbed hits while manning missile defenses that keep Israel breathing.

Bottom line: Israel has won a lot of battles. But on the global stage—diplomatically, informationally—Israel is bleeding support. That’s how you win the war and lose the peace.

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