The Times of Israel is liveblogging Thursday’s events as they happen.

US President Donald Trump singles out freed hostage Matan Angrest in his comments during a meeting at the White House with a group of former Israeli captives.

“Because of his service in the IDF, Matan was subjected to severe beatings, even at times losing consciousness. Alone and under special guard, he went through hell,” Trump says in a video from the meeting shared by the Hostages Families Forum.

במהלך הפגישה עם שורדי השבי, הנשיא טראמפ פנה למתן אנגרסט: "עברת גיהנום אמיתי; אתה עדות לחוסן של העם היהודי"@michalpeylan pic.twitter.com/ZXs84v8kSL

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) November 20, 2025

“Matan never broke, and today he’s a living testimony to the toughness, heart, and faith of the Jewish people. I’m telling you, you’re a great inspiration to everybody,” Trump adds.

Addressing the group, which includes 26 former hostages, including 17 who were freed last month, the US president says that “it’s an honor to get to know all of you, I know some of you already, I know some of the previous hostages that we got out very well. We love you all, and our country loves you all… you’re amazing people.”

Trump also hands each of the freed hostages his presidential challenge coin, according to footage shared by the White House.

Jonathan Pollard says he sought the recently revealed meeting with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee to thank the Trump envoy for his efforts to secure his release from prison after the former US Navy analyst was convicted of spying for Israel.

He speculates in an interview with i24News that the meeting that Huckabee kept off the books was leaked to The New York Times by those in the Trump administration who are more isolationist or hostile to Israel to discredit the US ambassador and possibly have him removed from office.

“If I could guess, I would say it’s that [the American intelligence] community, particularly the CIA station in the embassy, that probably was the one that initiated this whole effort to discredit the ambassador,” Pollard says.

While Pollard defends Huckabee, he says he “despises” Trump’s other top aides, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff.

“For people like that to carry on with terrorists who murdered our people and who have organized efforts to discredit Israel, I find abhorrent,” Pollard says.

“Steve Witkoff can meet with the people who ordered our people to be butchered on October 7, and nobody seems to think that’s a problem because, ‘Well, he’s working on peace.’ No, he’s working on his bank account,” he continues.

“They did everything in their power to prevent us from winning in Gaza. They are representatives — not of the United States, but of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and secondarily, Turkey,” Pollard claims.

“If immediately after the living hostages were released, we unleashed, as he said, ‘hell’ on Hamas and finished them off. I would have said that everything that had led up to that point in terms of negotiating and discussions to secure the release of the hostages would have been worthwhile,” Pollard adds.

“But right now, the 20-point peace plan that the president has imposed on us undermines our independence and threatens the security of our country.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will reopen the Rafah border crossing after it receives the three remaining deceased hostages from Gaza, adding that Israel is “very close to completing” the process.

“We agreed that we will open the crossing after we receive all our hostages. We are very close to completing this process — it’s set to happen — and once that is........

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