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Ben Gvir Threatens to Abandon Netanyahu if Gaza Offensive Lowered

An Israeli artillery unit shells targets in the Gaza Strip near the Gaza border on Thursday (EPA)
An Israeli artillery unit shells targets in the Gaza Strip near the Gaza border on Thursday (EPA)
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Ben Gvir Threatens to Abandon Netanyahu if Gaza Offensive Lowered

An Israeli artillery unit shells targets in the Gaza Strip near the Gaza border on Thursday (EPA)
An Israeli artillery unit shells targets in the Gaza Strip near the Gaza border on Thursday (EPA)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered firm stances last Wednesday saying Israel intends to “continue the war on the Gaza Strip until the end” only following threats of the far-right wing in his government, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, political sources in Tel Aviv revealed.
Ben Gvir spoke directly to Netanyahu and said his Otzma Yehudit party is the most loyal to him in the ruling coalition, even more than the Likud.
However, the minister affirmed that if anyone intends to halt the Israeli Army before Hamas has been defeated and all the hostages have been returned, then the PM should take into account that Otzma Yehudit will not be with him.
Netanyahu therefore understood that Ben Gvir would join efforts by some right-wing parties to change Netanyahu and to appoint a new Likud leader.
This is the reason why the Israeli PM said Wednesday there would be no ceasefire in the Gaza Strip until the “elimination” of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Netanyahu's remarks came amid reports saying Israel is negotiating in an attempt to reach a new prisoner swap deal with the Hamas group.
In a statement to the media on Wednesday, Netanyahu said, “We’re continuing the war to the end. It will continue until Hamas is destroyed — until victory.”
He added: “Anyone who thinks we’ll stop is unmoored from reality... We’re raining fire on Hamas, hell fire. All Hamas terrorists, from first to last, face death. They have two options only: surrender or die.”
But it seems that Ben Gvir and his partner, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, are not satisfied with Netanyahu’s announcements. They want more.
“The idea of reducing activity in Gaza is a failure of war management by the small [war] cabinet. It should be dismantled immediately,” Ben Gvir said in a statement.
“The time has come to restore the reins to the wider [security] cabinet,” he added.
Smotrich, who is also a member of Israel’s war cabinet, expressed his rejection that Mossad spy agency chief David Barne be sent to Egypt to discuss freeing high-level Palestinian security prisoners in return for Israeli captives in Gaza.

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World

Still a Long Way to Go in Talks on Ukraine, Russia's Lavrov Says

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting with Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Mahmoud Thabit Kombo (not pictured), in Moscow, Russia, 09 February 2026. EPA/RAMIL SITDIKOV / POOL
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting with Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Mahmoud Thabit Kombo (not pictured), in Moscow, Russia, 09 February 2026. EPA/RAMIL SITDIKOV / POOL
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Still a Long Way to Go in Talks on Ukraine, Russia's Lavrov Says

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting with Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Mahmoud Thabit Kombo (not pictured), in Moscow, Russia, 09 February 2026. EPA/RAMIL SITDIKOV / POOL
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting with Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Mahmoud Thabit Kombo (not pictured), in Moscow, Russia, 09 February 2026. EPA/RAMIL SITDIKOV / POOL

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that there was no reason to be enthusiastic about US President Donald Trump's pressure on Europe and Ukraine as there was still a long way to go in talks on peace in Ukraine, RIA reported on Tuesday.

Here are ‌some details:

The ‌United States has ‌brokered ⁠talks between Russia and Ukraine ‌on various different drafts of a plan for ending the war in Ukraine, but no deal has yet been reached despite Trump's repeated promises to clinch one.

* "There is still a long way to go," Lavrov ⁠was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

* Lavrov said that ‌Trump had put Ukraine ‍and Europe in their places ‍but that such a move was ‍no reason to embrace an "enthusiastic perception" of the situation.

* Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said that any deal would have to exclude NATO membership for Ukraine and rule out the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine, Izvestia ⁠reported.

* At stake is how to end the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two, the future of Ukraine, the extent to which European powers are sidelined and whether or not a peace deal brokered by the United States will endure.

* Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine, triggering the biggest confrontation between ‌Moscow and the West since the depths of the Cold War.

 

World

Iran Security Chief Visits Oman after Talks with US

FILE PHOTO: Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani speaks after meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon August 13, 2025. REUTERS/Aziz Taher/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani speaks after meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon August 13, 2025. REUTERS/Aziz Taher/File Photo
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Iran Security Chief Visits Oman after Talks with US

FILE PHOTO: Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani speaks after meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon August 13, 2025. REUTERS/Aziz Taher/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani speaks after meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon August 13, 2025. REUTERS/Aziz Taher/File Photo

The secretary of Iran's top security body arrived in Oman on Tuesday, days after a new round of nuclear talks was held in Muscat between officials from Washington and Tehran.

Ali Larijani, who heads the Supreme National Security Council, will hold talks with Haitham bin Tariq, the Sultan of Oman, and Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported.

They will discuss the latest regional and international developments as well as economic cooperation between Iran and Oman, the news agency said.

The visit comes after Iran and the United States resumed dialogue in Oman on Friday for the first time since the 12-day Iran-Israel war last June, which was briefly joined by the US military.

World

US Justice Department Opens Unredacted Epstein Files to Lawmakers

This combination of three undated pictures provided by the US Department of Justice on January 30, 2026 as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files show an Austrian passport Jeffrey Epstein used under the assumed name of Marius Robert Fortelni (AFP) 
This combination of three undated pictures provided by the US Department of Justice on January 30, 2026 as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files show an Austrian passport Jeffrey Epstein used under the assumed name of Marius Robert Fortelni (AFP) 
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US Justice Department Opens Unredacted Epstein Files to Lawmakers

This combination of three undated pictures provided by the US Department of Justice on January 30, 2026 as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files show an Austrian passport Jeffrey Epstein used under the assumed name of Marius Robert Fortelni (AFP) 
This combination of three undated pictures provided by the US Department of Justice on January 30, 2026 as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files show an Austrian passport Jeffrey Epstein used under the assumed name of Marius Robert Fortelni (AFP) 

The US Justice Department opened the unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files to review by members of Congress on Feb 9 as several lawmakers expressed concern that some names have been removed from the publicly released records, according to AFP.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), passed overwhelmingly by Congress in November, compelled the Justice Department to release all of the documents in its possession related to the convicted sex offender.

It required the redaction of the names or any other personally identifiable information about Epstein’s victims, who numbered more than 1,000 according to the FBI.

But it said no records could be “withheld, delayed, or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.”

Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, is among the members of the House of Representatives questioning some of the redactions in the more than three million documents released by the Justice Department.

Khanna posted examples on his Facebook page. The name of the sender of a 17 January 2013 email to Epstein is blacked out in the released files.

“New Brazilian just arrived, sexy and cute. She is 9 years old,” the message said.

The name of the sender of a 11 March 2014 email to Epstein is also redacted. “Thank you for a fun night,” the message said. “Your littlest girl was a little naughty.”

Khanna said the names of the senders of the emails need to be revealed.

“Concealing the reputations of these powerful men is a blatant violation of the Epstein Transparency Act,” he said.

Epstein, who had ties to business executives, politicians, celebrities and academics, was found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking minor girls.

Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend, is the only person convicted of a crime in connection with Epstein. She was convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking underage girls to the financier and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Republican committee chairman James Comer said Maxwell had invoked her right to not incriminate herself, guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.

“As expected, Ghislaine Maxwell took the fifth and refused to answer any questions,” Comer told reporters. “This is obviously very disappointing.”

“We had many questions to ask about the crimes she and Epstein committed as well as questions about potential co-conspirators,” he said.

Maxwell's lawyers told the House panel that the former British socialite was prepared to testify only if she was first granted clemency by President Donald Trump, Comer said.

The lawyers had pushed for Congress to grant her legal immunity in order to testify, but lawmakers refused.

Trump fought for months to prevent release of the vast trove of documents about Epstein – a longtime former friend – but a rebellion among Republicans forced him to sign off on the law mandating release of all the records.