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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken directly to the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, saying, “We have not forgotten you.”

The prime minister’s office announced earlier on Friday that loudspeakers on the Israeli side of the border would broadcast Netanyahu’s speech into Gaza as part of what it calls an “informational effort.”

“We will not rest until we bring all of you home,” Netanyahu said in both Hebrew and English, telling Hamas “lay down your arms” and free the hostages now.

“Israel will hunt you down,” Netanyahu warned.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in what Netanyahu called an act of “unspeakable savagery”.

Hamas took 251 people as hostages, and is currently holding 48, of whom 20 Israel believes are still alive.

“Israel is fighting your fight,” Netanyahu said, citing what he called the rise of radical Islamism in countries across the world.

Netanyahu also held up a map showing what he called “the curse of Iran’s terror axis,” saying much of Tehran’s proxies had been decimated by Israel’s military, citing Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Yemen’s Houthis as examples.

“Our enemies hate all of us,” Netanyahu said, denying that genocide is happening in Gaza, saying Israel has let 2 million tonnes of aid into the Strip.

Netanyahu entered the chamber to rowdy applause and cheering, prompting repeated calls for order. But dozens filed out of the room as he made his way to the podium.

No mention of West Bank annexation

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he would not allow Israel to annex the occupied West Bank, offering strong assurances that he’d block a move that Arab leaders in the region have staunchly opposed.

Asked about Israel officials suggesting in recent weeks that their government could move to seize control of at least some parts of the West Bank, Trump was blunt.

“I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank,” he told reporters in the Oval Office while signing executive orders unrelated to foreign policy. “I will not allow it. It’s not going to happen.”

Possible annexation has been floated in Israel in response to a string of countries, including key US allies like the United Kingdom and Canada, moving to recognise a Palestinian state.

France, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Andorra and Belgium also recognised Palestinian statehood at this year’s General Assembly.

Trump said he’d spoken to Netanyahu and that he’d be firm in not allowing annexation, adding, “It’s been enough. It’s time to stop now.”

Trump has been a staunch supporter of Israel but has also sought to broker an end to the fighting against Hamas in Gaza.

His comments on Thursday constituted a rare instance of potential pushback against top Israeli officials.

Earlier this month, Netanyahu signed an agreement to push ahead with a controversial settlement expansion plan that will cut across land that the Palestinians hope would form the basis of a future state.

“There will not be a Palestinian state,” Netanyahu said during a visit to the Maale Adumim settlement in the West Bank.

“This place belongs to us…We will safeguard our heritage, our land and our security. We are going to double the city’s population.”

Israel’s Higher Planning Committee gave final approval for the E1 settlement project in the occupied West Bank in August.

The plan, on an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, was under consideration for more than two decades but frozen due to US pressure during previous administrations.

The timing is also fraught, given that Israel is waging a major military offensive in a bid to seize Gaza City, while expanding settlements in the West Bank, illegal under international law.

Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War in 1967. The Palestinians want all three territories to form their future state.

They, and much of the international community, say annexation would all but end any remaining possibility of a two-state solution, which is widely seen internationally as the only way to resolve decades of Arab-Israeli conflict.

Netanyahu is scheduled to visit the White House on Monday, his fourth trip to Washington since Trump’s second term began in January.

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The Netflix series, House of Guinness, which only premiered yesterday (September 25), is already facing severe backlash over its historical accuracy despite featuring some impressive locations, reports the Irish Mirror.

Molly Guinness, a direct descendant of the Guinness family and an author, has criticised the show, stating that the writers “got it all wrong” and she felt a sense of “righteous fury” while watching it.

She commented on the portrayal of her ancestors in the programme, stating that it suggested Sir Benjamin Guinness was harsh towards his children, when in reality he was a “loving father”.

She further criticised the depiction of her great-great grandfather Edward (played by Louis Partridge) and his brother Arthur (portrayed by Anthony Boyle), describing them as “knaves and fools”.

Additionally, she labelled Arthur Guinness’ gay love storyline as “invented”, while the romantic entanglements of Edward and Anne Plunket (played by Emily Fairn) were deemed “inappropriate”.

In The Times, she concluded: “All the characters come straight from a bingo card of modern clichés around rich people.”

However, Molly Guinness isn’t the only one criticising the show. Ed Power, writing for The Irish Times, described House of Guinness as a “wildly unfaithful retelling” of events.

He also criticised creator Steven Knight’s understanding of Ireland under colonialism as “rudimentary”, before comparing James Norton’s character, foreman Sean Rafferty, to a “steampunk Mr Tayto”.

Another critic for The Independent, Katie Rosseinksy, remarked on how House of Guinness was “exhausting, try-hard and far too dark” in a two-star review.

Variety’s Aramide Tinubu offered a more balanced assessment, noting the show was “lacking the sharpness” of Knight’s earlier productions.

“Despite the stunning cinematography, punchy music and slick stylization [sic], by episode five, it becomes tedious and repetitive, droning on and on to extend itself into eight episodes,” Tinubu remarked.

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Nevertheless, there was a more enthusiastic response elsewhere with The Guardian’s Jack Seale awarding the show five stars and hailing it as a “career peak” for Knight.

Seale said: “House of Guinness matures into a romp that you can hardly resist, especially when it makes such good use of its time and place.”

The BBC’s Clare McHugh was equally effusive about the drama and likened it to a pint of stout: “Like the dark beer that for so long was synonymous with Irish pubs and older men, and yet now enjoys fresh popularity among the young, this Guinness story has an energy, and a soundtrack, that is anything but staid. Plenty of people will happily gulp it down.”

The Telegraph’s Anita Singh delivered another glowing review and branded Norton’s performance as Rafferty as “magnetic”, lauding Knight’s signature stylisation, featuring “swagger, menace, a modern soundtrack, actors walking in slow motion while wearing stylish hats.”

House of Guinness charts the journey of the four Guinness offspring Arthur, Edward (Louis Partridge), Anne and Benjamin Junior as they take charge of the family empire following their father Benjamin Lee Guinness’s death in 1868.

Each episode opens with a disclaimer stating: “This fiction is inspired by a true story.”

Knight had previously discussed his approach to creative freedom during a Netflix interview: “I would say there are two forms of reality in this. One is being faithful to the truth of the characters, and I think it is very true to the characters.”

He continued: “In terms of the events, the chronology is pretty spot on, I’m picking stepping stones of actual events to leap between and in the leaps between it are invention, and not just invention but speculation, maybe that happened, maybe that would have happened, so it’s a mixture, but I hope that if those characters were alive now they would recognise themselves.”

House of Guinness is streaming on Netflix now