US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that the United States disagrees with his controversial remarks comparing Israel’s actions in Gaza to the Holocaust, a US official said Wednesday.
Blinken “made clear we disagree with those comments” in a more than 90-minute meeting with Lula, a senior State Department official told journalists, saying the pair had a “frank exchange” during the sit-down at the presidential palace in Brasilia.

Switzerland's government said on Wednesday it wants to ban Hamas after the Palestinian terror group's attacks in Israel last year, which killed nearly 1,200 people and sparked a war in Gaza.
Bern said it was taking action after the attacks on October 7, which killed two Swiss nationals and resulted in nearly 250 people being taken hostage.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday told the Conference of Presidents at a meeting at the ministry's headquarters in Tel Aviv that, “Our goal is simple – victory. Only victory against Hamas will allow us to achieve normalization and regional integration.”
Gallant was providing a security situation assessment to 50 leaders of the top North American Jewish organizations and prominent communities.

Husein, 31, spoke to the Jerusalem Post on Thursday from the Druze town of Usfiya and insisted on showing the magnificent greenery of Mt. Carmel around him.
“This is the western neighborhood of town. People from all religions and even people from abroad come and live here due to the proximity to Haifa University. It’s a microcosm of Israeli society.”