The Times of Israel is liveblogging Monday’s events as they unfold.
Waltz touts good chances for Israeli-Saudi normalization under Trump
The incoming US national security adviser speculates that there are good chances that there will be a Saudi-Israeli normalization agreement.
“I think it’s a natural next step,” Mike Waltz says during a podcast interview with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, reiterating Donald Trump’s belief that the deal would have already been forged had the president-elect won in 2020.
“The reordering was focusing on Iran as the common enemy that they are… versus putting the Palestinian issue right in the center,” he says, summarizing the idea behind the Abraham Accords. Waltz asserts that Iran saw how close the sides were to a deal “and lit the match with Hamas [that led to] October 7… [which] put that issue right back into the center.”
“We’ve had a lot of good discussions with the Saudis [about] normalization,” the top Trump aide notes, adding that he is still reviewing the issue.
“The overall prospects of moving that relationship forward — get our [hostages] out, get the issue of Gaza to a better place — at least for now — and then we absolutely are talking about a broader deal,” says Waltz.
Top Trump aide vows to redesignate Houthis as Foreign Terrorist Organization
US President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser pick Mike Waltz knocks the 2021 decision by Joe Biden’s administration to remove the Houthis’ designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and pledges to reverse the move, which had been pushed by progressive Democrats due to fears that it was hampering international efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians in Yemen.
“I guarantee what you’re going to see very soon is a redesignation of them for what they are — a terrorist organization,” Waltz says in a podcast interview with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro.
The Biden administration did restore the Specially Designated Global Terrorist designation for the Houthis last year, but stopped short of reviving the more severe FTO label for the same reason that Biden removed it.
Waltz acknowledges that a humanitarian crisis does exist in Yemen but insists that Democrats took the wrong approach.
On Iran, the top Trump aide says the Islamic Republic now faces a choice.
“Is this a moment where they say we are completely exposed, therefore we rush towards a nuke? Or is this a moment they say, ‘We are completely exposed. [Let’s not] provoke the Israelis by rushing toward a nuke? We’ll see which way they go… I don’t want to reveal our hand, but we’re watching very closely,” Waltz says.
Trump’s national security adviser: Those who take US hostages may get ‘a bullet in the damn forehead’
US President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser pick warns that those who take American hostages will think twice come January 20 because the costs will outweigh the benefits.
In a podcast interview with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, Rep. Mike Waltz notes that the four remaining American hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have been held longer than the captives during the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979.
“That’s totally unacceptable, and I think writ large, there has never been enough consequences,” says Waltz. “That’s what we need to be talking about with these people. [If] You take an American,… There is going to be all hell to pay. There are going to be nothing but consequences for you financially, and maybe even a bullet in your damn forehead.”
“The next time you think about it… a lot of these groups are going to say, ‘Woah, it’s just not worth it under Donald Trump,'” he predicts.
WATCH: @realDonaldTrump’s incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz warns the world:
“You take an American, you illegally detain them, if you're a nation state or if you're a terrorist, you hold them hostage there is going to be all hell to pay! There are going to be nothing… pic.twitter.com/PAMKFnLKbO
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) December 22, 2024
“If the bad guys are incentivized to take more because they keep getting more, then they’re going to keep doing it. If the bad guys feel nothing but cost and pain for taking our people, they’re going to stop doing it,” Waltz summarizes.
Later in the interview, the top Trump aide hails Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in particular for the operation that simultaneously detonated Hezbollah’s communication devices en masse in what resulted in the maiming of thousands of its operatives.
“There’s going to be some amazing movie about that one day — one of the gutsiest, most effective covert action ops in modern history. Because of that, taking down Hezbollah, [which] everybody said couldn’t be done and would be too provocative — [it] expos[ed] Iran’s air defenses so that they literally are naked right now and on their back foot,” Waltz says, adopting much of the talking points used by Netanyahu and adding that Hamas is now isolated more than ever.
“Hamas has every exit blocked except one, and that’s to release our hostages if you want to live,” he says, appearing to not rule out the possibility that the terror group can limp on if they release the hostages — a trade-off that Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected.
Sleeping woman killed when set on fire on New York subway train, US police say
US police have arrested a man they say set a woman on fire while she appeared to be asleep on a New York City subway train on Sunday morning, killing her.
The woman, who has not been identified, sat motionlessly aboard a stationary F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station in Brooklyn at about 7:30 a.m. local time, when an unknown man approached her and used a lighter to set her clothing on fire, the New York Police Department says. Police say there was no interaction before the attack and they do not believe the two people knew each other.
The man got off the car as police officers on patrol in the station rushed to the blaze.
“What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames,” New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch says at a press conference.
The officers used fire extinguishers to put out the fire and the woman was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency responders, police say.
Police arrested a suspect, who has not been publicly identified, as he rode the subway later in the day.
Police say they are still investigating the victim’s identity and the reason for the attack.
Trump picks billionaire Stephen Feinberg to be deputy defense secretary
US President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate billionaire investor Stephen Feinberg to serve as deputy secretary of defense.
Feinberg, who is Jewish, is the co-chief executive of Cerberus Capital Management LP, a private equity firm he co-founded in 1992. He served on an intelligence advisory board during Trump’s 2017-2021 White House term.
Feinberg would serve as the No. 2 official at the Pentagon under Trump’s choice for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host who faces questions about allegations of alcohol abuse and sexual misconduct. Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing.