🇮🇱 Axios PM: Israel's "victory picture"

Plus: The biggest pumpkin | Thursday, October 17, 2024

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Instagram   Axios PM By Mike Allen · Oct 17, 2024 Good afternoon. Today's newsletter, edited by Sam Baker, is 528 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.     1 big thing: New hope for hostage deal   People dance and wave Israeli flags as they celebrate the news of the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya today. Photo: Jack Guez via Getty Images Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar's death creates an opportunity to resume negotiations for a deal to release the 101 hostages still held by Hamas and establish a ceasefire in Gaza, Israeli and U.S. officials tell Axios' Barak Ravid. Sinwar's death is a huge blow to Hamas, which has lost most of its military and political leadership. It also provides Netanyahu the "victory picture" he's been looking for since the Oct. 7 attacks and gives him political space to move toward a deal. Israeli officials said other Hamas leaders and commanders — unlike Sinwar — might be more ready to surrender and even go into exile as part of a deal to end the war. 🔎 Driving the news: Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces in a house in Rafah, Gaza. An infantry unit of 19-year-old soldiers who were on routine patrol in the area exchanged fire with three armed militants and killed them. It was a coincidental encounter that wasn't based on intelligence. It's unclear what Sinwar was doing in the house. Israeli and U.S. intelligence believed for a long time that he was hiding in deep underground tunnels with hostages around him. Go deeper.     2. 📖 McConnell's harsh words for Trump   Former President Trump gestures during a Univision Noticias town hall yesterday. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images   Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) privately lambasted former President Trump as "despicable" and a "narcissist" after the 2020 election, according to a soon-to-be-released biography. The forthcoming biography of McConnell — "The Price of Power," by Michael Tackett, AP's deputy Washington bureau chief — draws from years of interviews with the Senate leader as well as his recorded diaries. 💬 Following the 2020 election, McConnell privately called Trump a "despicable human being" and said he was "stupid as well as being ill-tempered." "It's not just the Democrats who are counting the days" until Trump leaves office, he added. Go deeper.     A message from Instagram New Instagram Teen Accounts: Automatic protections for teens     Instagram is launching Teen Accounts, with built-in protections limiting who can contact teens and the content they can see. Plus, only parents can approve safety setting changes for teens under 16. The impact: More protections for teens, and peace of mind for parents. Learn more.     3. Catch me up   Janet Yellen speaks on stage last month at The Atlantic Festival. Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for The Atlantic 🏛️ Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made a forceful case against tariffs in a speech this afternoon. While her words implicitly target former President Trump, they also signify shifting intellectual currents within the Democratic Party. Go deeper ... Read her speech. 🚬 Teen tobacco use is at a 25-year low. Go deeper. ⚖️ Trump's attorneys asked a judge to delay the public release of evidence in his criminal trial until after the election. Go deeper.     4. 🎃 1 for the road   Travis Gienger, of Anoka, Minn., celebrates after his pumpkin weighed in at 2,471 pounds to win the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Monday. Photo: Jeff Chiu/AP This pumpkin weighs 2,471 pounds, making it the winner of the 51st World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off. Travis Gienger, a Minnesota horticulture teacher, captured the biggest-pumpkin crown for the second year in a row, but this year's gourd fell 8 pounds short of beating the world record he set last year. Data: Miramar Events; Chart: Kavya Beheraj/Axios     A message from Instagram Teen Accounts: A new protected experience for teens, guided by parents     Instagram Teen Accounts have automatic protections for who can contact teens and the content they can see. Plus, only parents can approve safety setting changes for teens under 16. What this means: Built-in protections for teens, and peace of mind for parents. Learn more.   Are you a fan of this email format? Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Advertise with us. Axios, PO Box 101060, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. To stop receiving this newsletter, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: