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The Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) has renewed its warning against diving and snorkeling near sharks gathering off the coast of Hadera, as the marine predators return to the waters surrounding the city’s power plant for their annual winter aggregation.

The authority emphasized that swimming is prohibited in the area and that entering the water poses significant risks due to strong currents and whirlpools created by the power plant’s warm-water discharge. Fishing equipment, including loose hooks and fishing lines, also presents a danger to divers and swimmers.

Dozens of sharks gather near Hadera power plant each winter

Sharks gather near the Hadera power plant annually between November and May, with the group typically numbering several dozen individuals.

However, the INPA stressed that the sharks are not confined to the power plant area and have also been observed at other beaches along Israel’s coast.

The public has therefore been urged to avoid approaching sharks while diving or snorkeling at other beaches.

The authority warned that shark encounters are unpredictable and cannot be controlled. In April 2025, an encounter between a shark and a person who entered the water near Hadera ended in a fatality.

Sharks are protected species under Israeli law

The INPA reminded the public that sharks are protected wildlife in Israel and that harming, harassing, or feeding them is prohibited by law.

Violations of these restrictions can result in criminal penalties.

Two shark species are known to gather off Israel’s coast: dusky sharks and sandbar sharks.

In Israeli waters, dusky sharks can reach about three meters in length and weigh up to 150 kilograms, while sandbar sharks typically reach about two meters and weigh about 70 kilograms.

Sandbar sharks are endangered in the Mediterranean Sea, while insufficient data are available to determine the conservation status of the region’s dusky shark population.

Researchers examine why sharks gather in Hadera’s warm waters

So far, research findings suggest that sharks travel to Hadera to rest and warm themselves in the water discharged by the power plant.

The warmer temperatures may help accelerate physiological processes, including digestion and reproductive functions.

“Shark populations in the Mediterranean Sea have declined significantly due to overfishing and accidental capture in fishing operations,” said Yigal Ben Ari, head of the INPA’s Marine Unit.

“Sometimes sharks that are accidentally caught are thrown back into the sea dying or already dead,” he explained.

Ben Ari emphasized that sharks are protected in Israel and play a crucial role in maintaining healthy marine ecosystems.

“As predators, they reduce the number of weaker and slower animals in the ecosystem, thereby strengthening other species and the marine environment as a whole,” he said.

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UN aid sent to victims of the coastal massacre and Alawites displaced by sectarian violence in Syria is being redirected to the same Sunni militias responsible for the attacks, some of which are affiliated with the new Sharaa regime, several displaced families told The Jerusalem Post.

Sharing photos of armed gangs patrolling UN aid distribution points, as well as posts by SARC aid workers that supported the massacre of ethnic and religious minorities in Syria, a Syrian source said the situation was becoming increasingly desperate.

The Post was asked not to share images taken inside and around aid sites, as the individuals feared being identified and targeted for speaking to Israeli media.

SARC is one of several major Syrian organizations responsible for distributing UN aid in the country. The source claimed that, by relying on an organization biased against Alawites, whose aid workers had expressed support for massacres, international organizations were failing both to ensure that aid reached its intended recipients and to ensure that displaced communities could safely access the resources they needed.

R., speaking on behalf of her family and two other families she shared a two-room apartment with in rural Hama after being displaced by the attacks in Latakia.

Alawites accused of Assad affiliation  

She said that her family had been told by their community leader to register at the SARC center to receive assistance with mattresses and blankets. However, when she arrived at the center, gangs and individuals wearing Amn al-Aam (Syrian General Security) uniforms accused them of being remnants of the former regime and denied them aid. R. insisted that neither she nor her family members had served in or been affiliated with the Assad regime in any way.

“We went to the center, and then when we entered the center of the SARC plant, [we] saw the army of Jolani (Sharaa)… They started to tell [us] that, ‘You are Alawites, you are, you are linked to the old regime, you are criminals,’ and these kinds of things,” she recounted. “So even though we registered our name and the staff told us, ‘We will call you to come and take some assistance,’ after a while, the UN with the SARC, they came to the community, and they started to distribute to the Bedouins who actually looted and stole the houses, and not for the Alawites.”

She said that both her family and their neighbors saw their names replaced on the list of aid recipients with those of local militias or people whose family members were affiliated with SARC, a claim the source said they had also observed.

R. said that her family had submitted multiple complaints to UNHCR, though the agency did not confirm whether it had received the complaints in its response to the Post.

A UNHCR spokesperson said that they did not have information about specific complaints but that anyone with concerns about possible misconduct by UNHCR staff or associated entities should contact the agency’s Inspector General’s Office.

The spokesperson added that UNHCR’s non-food item assistance in Syria was distributed according to assessed humanitarian needs and established eligibility criteria, without distinction based on religious, ethnic, or other community affiliations.

“Our aid has reached diverse communities across Lattakia and Tartous, irrespective of their religious, ethnic, or any other backgrounds; these include IDPs and returnees (both refugees and IDPs), as well as Syrian households affected by emergencies,” the spokesperson said, adding that aid recipients were identified through assessments, household visits, and eligibility verification, with distribution lists checked for duplication and implementation monitored through field visits and recipient feedback. 

Any concerns identified through these processes were reviewed and cross-checked to ensure adherence to humanitarian principles, they continued.

Alawites faced increasing persecution, massacres following fall of Assad

The Assad family was ethnically Alawite, as were many of the soldiers who served in the military before Damascus fell to Ahmed al-Sharaa’s Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in December 2024. Since then, Syria’s ethnic and religious minorities have faced continued persecution and large-scale massacres.

A UN investigative team confirmed last year that war crimes were likely committed by members of both the interim government’s forces and other parties during the coastal massacre in March 2025, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,400 people, the majority of whom were Alawite civilians. 

R. had witnessed the violence, and her cousin was killed during the attacks.

“A year ago, the entire village was looted, and some of their neighbors actually had their houses burned completely. So they were forced to leave the entire village they used to live in, and the Bedouins actually came to take it,” she said, explaining that militias forced her to flee again after she arrived in Hama, where they burned and looted more homes.

UNHCR, SARC complicit in violence, Alawite Syrian says

T. began his interview with the Post by swearing that he had never had any connection to the Assad regime. During a video call last week, he also showed the reporter the rough bandages wrapped around his foot, which had been shot while he attempted to flee the massacre in Jableh, Latakia, and reach a Russian military base for safety.

“All the old people who are disabled, they couldn’t move… These people who were unable to walk… they stayed in the houses while we saw that they were killed,” he said. “They actually were not able to move or to be displaced, so they were killed. And I was injured.”

He said that he had personally witnessed his community hand over all its weapons, only months before militias wearing the country’s official military uniforms began the attacks.

T. said he believed that UNHCR and SARC were complicit in the violence, describing how aid delivered to his neighborhood in front of cameras was allegedly stolen by the same militias that shot him just two hours after the delegations had left.

He described the aid distribution efforts as little more than a photo opportunity, saying that the lack of protection around distribution sites had cost his family dearly. T. said that his paternal uncle was killed while attempting to collect UN aid in town.

“They brought Bedouins in front of the cameras under the United Nations. They started to distribute some food to the Bedouins…, and later on, they gave all the assistance to those Bedouins. So, in front of the United Nations, they were giving to other people,” he said. “We have not received anything from the UN or the SARC, and my family and our neighbors were attacked.”

T. also said that he had registered for aid with the UN under the guidance of Latakia’s Al Mukhtar (local governor), but had not received any assistance.

“The current situation is very bad. Alawites who worked in government, including doctors and other employees, were kicked out of their jobs. We are now jobless and have no money. Not only that, but they looted our houses, burned our land, and cut down our olive trees,” he said.

“They destroyed everything we had to eat or earn a living from. All of this happened in front of the entire world. International reporters and television networks documented everything, but they did nothing.”

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It has been 1,131 days since October 7. Hamas continues to control all 2 million civilians in Gaza, as it did prior to the massacre.

Today, Hamas controls around 30 percent of Gaza, and all the civilians have been forced to move to this small area it governs.

The US-backed ceasefire and peace plan of October 2025 envisioned having an international force in Gaza with a technocratic committee running the enclave. However, Israel’s elections and the Iran war have postponed most progress in Gaza.

On Monday, the Board of Peace, created as part of the peace plan, posted a statement about the winter conditions in the enclave. It said that there had been severe flooding in Gaza.

This has harmed tens of thousands of people who are stuck in tents. “These people were already living in precarious conditions, exposed to cold and unsafe conditions,” the board noted.

BoP enables humanitarian aid, says it’s not enough

Meanwhile, the board says that it has been enabling humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, but warned that “the gains are not enough. They must be protected and accelerated.”

It noted that it has urged the Israeli government to authorize the entry of essential materials for temporary shelter. The statement also said Hamas should lay down its arms.

In other words, the Board of Peace believes Israel’s response is insufficient. It said that the “time for assurances without implementation has passed.” It argued that the civilians in Gaza “cannot afford continued inaction.”

The challenge in Gaza is that most of these problems were well known. A year ago, the peace and ceasefire plan was new. Hamas was still handing over the bodies of hostages.

By January 2026, the US had received backing from the UN for the peace plan. There was also the US Central Command-backed Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat that was helping with the logistics of humanitarian aid entering Gaza. A lot seemed to be working well.

High hopes at the time envisioned the International Stabilization Force (ISF) coming into being in the spring of 2026. Around five countries were believed to be committed, and more were expected to agree.

However, the beginning of the Iran war in February 2026 appeared to put some of these plans on hold, or at least slow them down. Kosovo and Albania did send a handful of personnel to examine how they might deploy forces. The US supported a new logistics center near the Gaza border. The basic elements of the next steps were in place by the summer of 2026.

However, that summer saw another round of postponements for what might come next. Ostensibly, this was because of Israel’s elections. The theory was that the governing coalition couldn’t be pressured to do anything because it wouldn’t want to appear “soft” on Hamas.

The governing coalition’s policy prior to October 7, 2023, had been to transfer cash to Hamas as part of the theory that paying Hamas would “deter” it from war. After the terrorist organization’s invasion, there was a brief period of unity in Israel when the rhetoric in Jerusalem argued that Hamas was similar to ISIS and that there wouldn’t be Hamas in Gaza after the war.

However, that narrative changed by 2024, shifting to a mission of degrading Hamas’s “military and governance” capabilities.

Essentially, Hamas would remain but be weakened, similar to the “mowing the grass” concept before October 7. From that point onward, any suggestion of a “day after” plan or enabling civilians in Gaza to move to civilian “bubbles” or “pilot zones” where they would be free of Hamas was shelved. There would be no possibility of civilians leaving the Hamas area.

Most of Hamas military command killed

It should be noted that by the fall of 2024, most Hamas commanders had been killed. This included almost all Hamas platoon, company, battalion, and brigade commanders.

By 2025, some of Hamas’s commanders had been replaced, but the new faces were killed off as well.

Nevertheless, even a weakened Hamas continued to recruit. The IDF tactic in Gaza was to call on civilians to leave areas so that Hamas and the civilians would then leave an area and the IDF would conquer it.

This happened up to seven times in some cases. In Zeitoun in Gaza, for instance, the IDF conquered the area seven times. In other places such as Jabalya, the IDF captured it at least three times. Over the course of the war, the IDF began to raze many of the areas in Gaza, systematically destroying most of the homes.

The result was that the civilians all had to move to an area around the central refugee camps in Gaza. Perhaps a million civilians had moved several times during the war.

They had to evacuate Gaza City when the war began and move to southern Gaza. Then they had to move back north when the IDF went into Khan Yunis and Rafah in 2024.

Then they had to leave the north again in the fall of 2024. Then, in March, they had to leave southern Gaza again, and in August and September, they had to leave Gaza City again.

This led to Hamas basically moving around Gaza, from the north to the south, to the center, to the north again, to the south again, and then to the center again.

The result when the ceasefire deal began in October 2025 was that Hamas continued to control the central refugee camps area and parts of western Gaza. The IDF controlled the rest. This was about half of Gaza.

Since the ceasefire, the IDF has expanded its control, overseeing around 70% of Gaza. Anyone who leaves the Hamas zone is viewed as a possible terrorist. Civilians have no way to leave.

The plans envisioned by the Trump administration and the Board of Peace, such as deploying the ISF and reconstruction, have not materialized. It seems that Washington may be waiting to see the results of the Israeli elections. The Trump administration also has its own issues after the US midterms.

The result for people in Gaza is that they are in limbo. Israel does not seem ready to work with any kind of technocratic committee. No real progress is being made. Progress is plausible in the future, but it will require commitments from various countries.

Hamas has said it has agreed to some ceasefire and peace-deal concepts. However, it is unclear how it can be disarmed. The IDF does not want to go into the rest of Gaza and try to disarm around 10,000 Hamas gunmen hiding among 2 million people.

That seems an impossible task. Armored and infantry brigades are not good at disarming a few fighters hiding among civilians. It is an impossible task.

On the other hand, letting civilians leave the Hamas area could deprive Hamas of its ability to “swim” amongst the civilians.

This worked in the Mosul operation, enabling the defeat of ISIS. In fact, historically, this is how wars are won. Civilians can leave the area, and the enemy is defeated.

Various concepts in Gaza that envisioned a different scenario have not panned out. For a while in 2025, there was talk of “militias” running part of Gaza. The militias proved a failure. They didn’t help civilians. This is because militias usually act like a mafia, and mafias aren’t good at creating the conditions for civilian life to thrive.

The current situation is that there is no initiative to create an area for civilians to live free of Hamas. This has the result of leaving them all under Hamas rule, just as it was before October 7.

The Board of Peace wants to see change. However, it will also need to give its activities teeth, such as deploying the ISF and rebuilding parts of Gaza to show what the future can look like.

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Israeli laser defense systems will be more integrated for any war scenarios by the end of 2026, sources have told The Jerusalem Post.

Many in the Israeli public were puzzled that the Iron Beam laser defense system did not play a larger role in providing air defense to Israel during the early 2026 war with Iran.

On May 1, the air force said that the Iron Beam laser defense system was used less in the 2026 war with Iran because the military needs 14 batteries to have a significant enough impact.

Previously, on March 12, the IDF had acknowledged that it was not using the Iron Beam laser for regular use during the ongoing Iran war.

This admission came despite the fact that various forms of Iron Beam were used to shoot down around 40 Hezbollah drones in fall 2024

Israel building additional Iron Beam platforms 

The Post understands that Israel is making strong progress in building additional Iron Beam platforms compared to what it was able to deploy in December 2025, when it made its first announced deployment.

This could mean the laser would be used more actively for air defense in any future conflict with Iran or Hezbollah, though still in tandem with the Iron Dome.

In 2025, Defense Ministry Director-General Amir Baram said deployment of the Iron Beam laser marked, ” the completion of our high-power laser system development – a historic milestone for Israel’s defense establishment and defense industries. This is the first time in the world that a high-power laser interception system has reached full operational maturity, completing numerous interceptions across various simulated operational scenarios.”

Also in 2025, the ministry’s head of the Directorate of Defense Research & Development (DDR&D), Danny Gold, said, “the Iron Beam laser system is expected to fundamentally change the rules of engagement on the battlefield.  Simultaneously, we are already advancing the next-generation systems.”

Already in June 2025, the ministry and Rafael, the lead company of multiple defense tech companies involved, including Elbit and others, had announced that Lite Beam, a smaller relative of Iron Beam, was operational.

In mid-September 2025, the Defense Ministry announced that Iron Beam was operational and that a full series of batteries would be fanning out across the country to provide cutting-edge new air defense capabilities within the coming months.

Back in June 2025, the ministry already disclosed that Israeli laser defense systems had shot down around 40 Hezbollah drones in October 2024.

Iron Beam has more power, a longer range, and can be used to defend against a wide array of threats compared to Lite Beam, a shorter-range version of the system.

Iron Beam can specifically shoot down drones, missiles, rockets, mortars, when ready

Second, Iron Beam, if and when it is ready, can specifically shoot down not only drones, but also missiles, rockets, and mortars, making it far more formidable than if it were only capable of shooting down drones, a relatively slow- moving threat.

In 2025, the ministry and the IDF said they had expected Iron Beam to immediately start reducing the cost of shooting down aerial threats, an issue which has been out of control for Israel during this war in which tens of thousands of threats have been launched through the air at Israel on six fronts.  

Firing Arrow interceptors can cost millions of shekels, Iron Dome interceptors can cost tens of thousands of shekels, but firing the Iron Beam is as cheap as turning a light on.

Some sources have said that any move for Iron Beam to truly move ahead of Iron Dome as the lead short-range air defense could still take a number of years.

Using lasers to defend against long-range threats, such as Iran’s ballistic missiles, could take that much longer, with some projecting 5-10 years or longer.

This is because shooting down such missiles could require air-based or space-based lasers.

Israel develops new techniques to deal with Hezbollah FPV drone threat

Meanwhile, Israel is far more ready now for the Hezbollah FPV drone threat than it was in early 2026, but there is still a learning curve, the Post has learned.

According to sources, the IDF has deployed special kinds of short-range guns for shooting down drones, nets, kamikaze Israeli drones, and electromagnetic warfare, and has also improved detection of FPV drones, which was an enormous issue in early 2026.

Israel is also working on direct-energy, microwave-style weapons that could “fry” and neutralize the machinery of an FPV drone

The Post understands that the Defense Ministry held a large series of tryouts in the South recently, with two companies winning a competition for new techniques to combat drones.

One threat which Israel is also working on, but has had less attention to invest in due to the massive number of larger threats, is Iran’s cluster munitions.

Israel is certainly working on combating the cluster munitions. But they do not cause anywhere near as much damage as ballistic missiles or drones.

Adding that, along with the fact that they are difficult to stop if they are not destroyed along with the ballistic missile that usually carries them, it is not clear that Israel will have substantially improved its defense against these munitions in any near-future Iran conflict, though it will have a better chance in a medium-term conflict.  

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Israeli laser defense systems will be more integrated for any war scenarios by the end of 2026, sources have told The Jerusalem Post.

Many in the Israeli public were puzzled that the Iron Beam laser defense system did not play a larger role in providing air defense to Israel during the early 2026 war with Iran.

On May 1, the air force said that the Iron Beam laser defense system was used less in the 2026 war with Iran because the military needs 14 batteries to have a significant enough impact.

Previously, on March 12, the IDF had acknowledged that it was not using the Iron Beam laser for regular use during the ongoing Iran war.

This admission came despite the fact that various forms of Iron Beam were used to shoot down around 40 Hezbollah drones in fall 2024

Israel building additional Iron Beam platforms 

The Post understands that Israel is making strong progress in building additional Iron Beam platforms compared to what it was able to deploy in December 2025, when it made its first announced deployment.

This could mean the laser would be used more actively for air defense in any future conflict with Iran or Hezbollah, though still in tandem with the Iron Dome.

In 2025, Defense Ministry Director-General Amir Baram said deployment of the Iron Beam laser marked, ” the completion of our high-power laser system development – a historic milestone for Israel’s defense establishment and defense industries. This is the first time in the world that a high-power laser interception system has reached full operational maturity, completing numerous interceptions across various simulated operational scenarios.”

Also in 2025, the ministry’s head of the Directorate of Defense Research & Development (DDR&D), Danny Gold, said, “the Iron Beam laser system is expected to fundamentally change the rules of engagement on the battlefield.  Simultaneously, we are already advancing the next-generation systems.”

Already in June 2025, the ministry and Rafael, the lead company of multiple defense tech companies involved, including Elbit and others, had announced that Lite Beam, a smaller relative of Iron Beam, was operational.

In mid-September 2025, the Defense Ministry announced that Iron Beam was operational and that a full series of batteries would be fanning out across the country to provide cutting-edge new air defense capabilities within the coming months.

Back in June 2025, the ministry already disclosed that Israeli laser defense systems had shot down around 40 Hezbollah drones in October 2024.

Iron Beam has more power, a longer range, and can be used to defend against a wide array of threats compared to Lite Beam, a shorter-range version of the system.

Iron Beam can specifically shoot down drones, missiles, rockets, mortars, when ready

Second, Iron Beam, if and when it is ready, can specifically shoot down not only drones, but also missiles, rockets, and mortars, making it far more formidable than if it were only capable of shooting down drones, a relatively slow- moving threat.

In 2025, the ministry and the IDF said they had expected Iron Beam to immediately start reducing the cost of shooting down aerial threats, an issue which has been out of control for Israel during this war in which tens of thousands of threats have been launched through the air at Israel on six fronts.  

Firing Arrow interceptors can cost millions of shekels, Iron Dome interceptors can cost tens of thousands of shekels, but firing the Iron Beam is as cheap as turning a light on.

Some sources have said that any move for Iron Beam to truly move ahead of Iron Dome as the lead short-range air defense could still take a number of years.

Using lasers to defend against long-range threats, such as Iran’s ballistic missiles, could take that much longer, with some projecting 5-10 years or longer.

This is because shooting down such missiles could require air-based or space-based lasers.

Israel develops new techniques to deal with Hezbollah FPV drone threat

Meanwhile, Israel is far more ready now for the Hezbollah FPV drone threat than it was in early 2026, but there is still a learning curve, the Post has learned.

According to sources, the IDF has deployed special kinds of short-range guns for shooting down drones, nets, kamikaze Israeli drones, and electromagnetic warfare, and has also improved detection of FPV drones, which was an enormous issue in early 2026.

Israel is also working on direct-energy, microwave-style weapons that could “fry” and neutralize the machinery of an FPV drone

The Post understands that the Defense Ministry held a large series of tryouts in the South recently, with two companies winning a competition for new techniques to combat drones.

One threat which Israel is also working on, but has had less attention to invest in due to the massive number of larger threats, is Iran’s cluster munitions.

Israel is certainly working on combating the cluster munitions. But they do not cause anywhere near as much damage as ballistic missiles or drones.

Adding that, along with the fact that they are difficult to stop if they are not destroyed along with the ballistic missile that usually carries them, it is not clear that Israel will have substantially improved its defense against these munitions in any near-future Iran conflict, though it will have a better chance in a medium-term conflict.  

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Tehran and Washington are more likely to reach an agreement to end the conflict now than they were two months ago, Sima Shine, a senior researcher and former director of the Iran and Shiite Axis Research Program at the Institute for National Security Studies, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. 

However, she stressed that negotiations could still fall through if the US refused to bend on giving Iran the right to uranium enrichment or if personal egos got in the way.

Shine, who was head of the Research & Evaluation Division of the Mossad until 2007, assessed that both, due to the results of the midterm elections and because of the coming winter season, US President Donald Trump and Iran’s negotiation team had to avoid a return to military clashes.

Trump told CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday that both opposition to Israel and the Iran war are what handed the Democrats major wins during the midterms.  

“I think we can understand this from Trump’s declarations and behavior, as well as the fact that he acknowledged that the defeat in the Senate and Congress was because of the Iran war. All these things together make it quite understandable that he would prefer to close this issue and spend the next two years focusing on other matters,” she said. “As for the Iranians, they also don’t want to remain in the current situation. We heard President Pezeshkian say that the Supreme Leader’s instruction is not to allow the current state of ‘no war, no peace’ to continue.”

Winter, fuel shortage puts added pressure on Iran’s struggling economy

On the Iranian side, Shine noted that the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has been largely successful and, now entering winter, their fuel shortage could prove a major issue for the already struggling economy. Iranian lawmakers this past week have already begun advising households to cut energy use in anticipation of the drop in temperature in the coming weeks.

Though both Washington and Tehran have their own reasons to want to end the war, Shine said that there were still major obstacles that remained and Iran was unlikely to accept any agreement that did not allow it to continue pursuing uranium enrichment, an issue Trump has stated he is set against.

“You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon. I think, historically, this will be a very good decision. Is it a good decision for today and tomorrow? Maybe not. But you know, I have to go with what’s right for our country. If they had a nuclear weapon during my term, I would be excoriated far worse than what’s happened,” Trump said on Sunday.

Despite the potential gap, Shine said she believed, based on leaked information, that there is a good chance there will be an agreement.

“It will not be a good agreement, nor the best agreement that could be achieved,” she continued, suggesting that a better agreement could have been made two years ago. “I think the Iranians understood from the beginning, when they started negotiating with Trump, that he might decide to use the military option. It wasn’t just talk, and I think they were much more willing to compromise on different issues, believing they could overcome the differences and reach some kind of agreement. They had been talking about postponing enrichment for five to seven years or something along those lines, although I don’t think they are at that point today.

“But what matters is where we are today, not where we were in the past. Today, it looks to me like there is room for an agreement, unless someone on either side decides that the demands are impossible to accept.”

Shine theorized that pressure from Gulf states had also pushed Trump to be more flexible.

Asked whether, given the lack of support for the Iran war in the US, Iran might be emboldened by an agreement and become a greater threat, Shine appeared confident that it would be moderated by its state of uncertainty.

Explaining that Israel had surprised Iran with its capabilities during the wars, and, given the transitional period Israel is currently in after the elections, Iran would be unlikely to risk making a move that could embolden caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s camp.

Trump’s actions without agreement remain uncertain

She added that there is also uncertainty surrounding what Trump will do next if an agreement is not made, especially should Pickaxe Mountain become a target. 

According to The Sunday Times, citing a health ministry official, iodine tablets are already being distributed to communities near nuclear facilities as a precaution against possible radiation exposure should the attacks go ahead.

“The situation is very fragile, and all sides are suspicious of one another. There is no trust at all between the Iranians and the Americans, or vice versa. But I think that, at the end of the day, it is up to the Trump administration, and Trump himself, to decide what direction things will take,” Shine concluded. “If he decides to reach an agreement, I think he will make sure that Israel does not attack.”

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Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli met this week with senior officials from Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), indicating further warming relations between Israel and the party, despite the latter’s Nazi roots.

The meeting was the first of its kind between an Israeli minister and senior representatives of the party, which remains officially boycotted by Israel.

However, it follows a landmark speech by FPÖ chairman Herbert Kickl in September in which he announced the party would unanimously adopt the full IHRA definition. Kickl also defined October 7 as “a crime against humanity, not resistance” and pledged that a government under his leadership would move Austria’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The speech was praised at the time by Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who said Kickl’s remarks “provide an opportunity to begin substantive, open and candid dialogue.” He also thanked Kickl for his apology to Austria’s Jewish citizens, victims and survivors of Nazism, their descendants, and the Jewish people.

The FPÖ was founded in 1956 by former Nazis: Its first leader, Anton Reinthaller, had been a senior Nazi official who held the rank of SS Brigadeführer, and his successor, Friedrich Peter, had served as an officer in an SS unit.

What does the FPÖ stand for?

Since its founding, the FPÖ has moved between nationalist liberalism, far-right politics and populist conservatism. It won Austria’s parliamentary election for the first time in its history in September 2024, securing approximately 29% of the vote. Kickl subsequently sought to form a government with the ÖVP, but coalition negotiations collapsed in February 2025.

Israel has long been hostile to the FPÖ due to its historical origins and the antisemitic associations of some of its members and affiliated organizations.

When the FPÖ entered Austria’s government in 2000, Israel recalled its ambassador and downgraded diplomatic representation, marking the start of an official boycott which persisted even when the party returned to government in 2017, and despite Israel having restored relations with Austria in 2003.

However, this week, on the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, Chikli and Likud MK Ariel Kallner traveled to Austria for a brief visit led by FPÖ politician and Member of the European Parliament Harald Vilimsky, whom Chikli called his “friend.”

Chikli meets FPÖ on eve of Kristallnacht

In the Austrian Parliament in Vienna, Chikli met with National Council President Walter Rosenkranz and with Styria Governor and former Defense Minister Mario Kunasek – both also FPÖ politicians.

The visit concluded with a Kristallnacht memorial ceremony at the synagogue in Graz, in the presence of Jewish community chairman Elie Rosen and members of the community.

During his speech at the ceremony in Graz, Chikli said that “In Europe today there is great respect for dead Jews. As for living Jews, in large parts of the continent the attitude has not changed”.

He lamented the introduction of import sanctions in the Netherlands (“where roughly 75% of the country’s Jews were murdered in the Holocaust”), and other such boycotts in Belgium and Britain.

“The voices seeking to deny Israel’s right to exist are growing stronger, in a combined assault by two forces: Palestinian Islamo-Nazism and the progressive left,” he said.

Chikli argued that the Freedom Party and other “conservative” parties in Europe are “the last chance for European nation-states to stop the slide before reaching the point of no return.”

“Anyone who thinks the lesson of the Second World War is that we must deny the peoples of Europe the German, Austrian, French or English the right to sovereign national life, and replace that life with some progressive post-national mishmash, will bring ruin upon European civilization.”

Chikli’s language was warm; he described Likud’s “partnership” with the Freedom Party and described Vilimsky as his friend.

He also said he was “deeply grateful” to the members of the Freedom Party, who, alongside adopting the IHRA definition, chose to emphasize the Jewish people’s historical connection to all parts of its homeland, “especially Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem.”

He also referred to Kickl’s speech last month as a “historic turning point in a process of building trust that began roughly two years ago” and praised Kickl for “breaking a decades-long taboo in the relationship between Israel and the FPÖ.”

Following the visit, Vilimsky reciprocally expressed warmth towards Chikli, calling him “Dear Minister” and saying it was an “honor for us to host you here in Austria.”

Chikli’s ties to far-right European politicians

Over the last few years, Chikli has received criticism both domestically and from Diaspora Jews who believe his push towards friendship with far-right European parties and political figures is a betrayal of Jewish history.

Last year, politicians from far-right parties in Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands were invited by Chikli to speak at the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism in Jerusalem.

Among the invitees were Jordan Bardella, head of France’s National Rally Party, which was co-founded by a former member of the Nazi Waffen-SS. Bardella and Chikli met in 2025 in Washington, D.C. Chikli also invited Spain’s Hermann Tertsch, a Vox politician whose father was an Austrian Nazi leader in Spain.

Until recently, Israel’s decision to end its longstanding boycott of far-right parties in Sweden, France and Spain did not extend to similar parties in Austria and Germany, such as FPÖ and the AfD.

This new relationship between the Likud minister and FPÖ signifies that the longstanding boycott of the Austrian right may be set to end.

Nevertheless, on the cusp of a new government, it is hard to determine whether an official policy change will occur from Israel’s side, even if the FPÖ is seeking to establish itself as a defender of Jewish communities and Israel.

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Tehran and Washington are more likely to reach an agreement to end the conflict now than they were two months ago, Sima Shine, a senior researcher and former director of the Iran and Shiite Axis Research Program at the Institute for National Security Studies, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. 

However, she stressed that negotiations could still fall through if the US refused to bend on giving Iran the right to uranium enrichment or if personal egos got in the way.

Shine, who was head of the Research & Evaluation Division of the Mossad until 2007, assessed that both, due to the results of the midterm elections and because of the coming winter season, US President Donald Trump and Iran’s negotiation team had to avoid a return to military clashes.

Trump told CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday that both opposition to Israel and the Iran war are what handed the Democrats major wins during the midterms.  

“I think we can understand this from Trump’s declarations and behavior, as well as the fact that he acknowledged that the defeat in the Senate and Congress was because of the Iran war. All these things together make it quite understandable that he would prefer to close this issue and spend the next two years focusing on other matters,” she said. “As for the Iranians, they also don’t want to remain in the current situation. We heard President Pezeshkian say that the Supreme Leader’s instruction is not to allow the current state of ‘no war, no peace’ to continue.”

Winter, fuel shortage puts added pressure on Iran’s struggling economy

On the Iranian side, Shine noted that the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has been largely successful and, now entering winter, their fuel shortage could prove a major issue for the already struggling economy. Iranian lawmakers this past week have already begun advising households to cut energy use in anticipation of the drop in temperature in the coming weeks.

Though both Washington and Tehran have their own reasons to want to end the war, Shine said that there were still major obstacles that remained and Iran was unlikely to accept any agreement that did not allow it to continue pursuing uranium enrichment, an issue Trump has stated he is set against.

“You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon. I think, historically, this will be a very good decision. Is it a good decision for today and tomorrow? Maybe not. But you know, I have to go with what’s right for our country. If they had a nuclear weapon during my term, I would be excoriated far worse than what’s happened,” Trump said on Sunday.

Despite the potential gap, Shine said she believed, based on leaked information, that there is a good chance there will be an agreement.

“It will not be a good agreement, nor the best agreement that could be achieved,” she continued, suggesting that a better agreement could have been made two years ago. “I think the Iranians understood from the beginning, when they started negotiating with Trump, that he might decide to use the military option. It wasn’t just talk, and I think they were much more willing to compromise on different issues, believing they could overcome the differences and reach some kind of agreement. They had been talking about postponing enrichment for five to seven years or something along those lines, although I don’t think they are at that point today.

“But what matters is where we are today, not where we were in the past. Today, it looks to me like there is room for an agreement, unless someone on either side decides that the demands are impossible to accept.”

Shine theorized that pressure from Gulf states had also pushed Trump to be more flexible.

Asked whether, given the lack of support for the Iran war in the US, Iran might be emboldened by an agreement and become a greater threat, Shine appeared confident that it would be moderated by its state of uncertainty.

Explaining that Israel had surprised Iran with its capabilities during the wars, and, given the transitional period Israel is currently in after the elections, Iran would be unlikely to risk making a move that could embolden caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s camp.

Trump’s actions without agreement remain uncertain

She added that there is also uncertainty surrounding what Trump will do next if an agreement is not made, especially should Pickaxe Mountain become a target. 

According to The Sunday Times, citing a health ministry official, iodine tablets are already being distributed to communities near nuclear facilities as a precaution against possible radiation exposure should the attacks go ahead.

“The situation is very fragile, and all sides are suspicious of one another. There is no trust at all between the Iranians and the Americans, or vice versa. But I think that, at the end of the day, it is up to the Trump administration, and Trump himself, to decide what direction things will take,” Shine concluded. “If he decides to reach an agreement, I think he will make sure that Israel does not attack.”

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that he told G7 allies the US economic sanctions and naval blockade are working so well that President Donald Trump does not need to conduct major combat operations against Iran.

Speaking to reporters in Paris after two days of meetings with G7 allies, Rubio repeatedly pushed back on the assertion that not returning to military action would amount to a stalemate or status quo.

“The economic pain that is being inflicted on Iran right now is extraordinary, and it compounds. It’s growing every day,” Rubio said. He added that Trump has also received input from regional allies in the Middle East confirming this assessment.

“We don’t need to conduct military strikes if we’re achieving the same objective through economic means and economic pressure. That’s not a stalemate,” Rubio said. “Never has Iran ever faced the inability to sell energy in the global market like they are today.”

On Monday, Trump said he plans to hold off on military strikes against Iran after appeals from ​countries in the region, including from Qatar’s prime minister in White House talks, and that he did not believe military action was needed. 

“At this point, taking the military action doesn’t seem to be a very necessary thing. But we’re locked and loaded, ready to go for any reason that changes,” Trump said.

Trump convinced tenable deal not possible, source says

Some of Trump’s top advisers also prefer economic pressure over military strikes, namely newly installed White House chief of staff Stephen Miller and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a person familiar with the thinking said. Vice President JD Vance prefers a deal with Iran, but Trump is for now convinced that a tenable deal is not possible, the person said.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump has acknowledged ​the Iran war was one reason for Republicans’ defeat in last week’s midterm congressional elections, while Vance, seen as a potential successor to Trump when his term ends in two years, was more definitive, saying, “The reason we lost is the war.”

The US ​has maintained sanctions against Iran for decades, ⁠most of which have been aimed at curtailing the country’s oil revenue, acquisition of weapons components and at cutting off funding for business enterprises controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a dominant force in the Iranian economy.

Tehran has weathered the sanctions, but the naval blockade that the US imposed has inflicted severe economic damage on the country.

Iran’s top security official says no talks underway with US

Iran’s top security official Mohsen Rezaei said there are currently no negotiations taking place between Tehran and Washington, in an interview with pro-Iran broadcaster Al-Mayadeen.

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that he told G7 allies the US economic sanctions and naval blockade are working so well that President Donald Trump does not need to conduct major combat operations against Iran.

Speaking to reporters in Paris after two days of meetings with G7 allies, Rubio repeatedly pushed back on the assertion that not returning to military action would amount to a stalemate or status quo.

“The economic pain that is being inflicted on Iran right now is extraordinary, and it compounds. It’s growing every day,” Rubio said. He added that Trump has also received input from regional allies in the Middle East confirming this assessment.

“We don’t need to conduct military strikes if we’re achieving the same objective through economic means and economic pressure. That’s not a stalemate,” Rubio said. “Never has Iran ever faced the inability to sell energy in the global market like they are today.”

On Monday, Trump said he plans to hold off on military strikes against Iran after appeals from ​countries in the region, including from Qatar’s prime minister in White House talks, and that he did not believe military action was needed. 

“At this point, taking the military action doesn’t seem to be a very necessary thing. But we’re locked and loaded, ready to go for any reason that changes,” Trump said.

Trump convinced tenable deal not possible, source says

Some of Trump’s top advisers also prefer economic pressure over military strikes, namely newly installed White House chief of staff Stephen Miller and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a person familiar with the thinking said. Vice President JD Vance prefers a deal with Iran, but Trump is for now convinced that a tenable deal is not possible, the person said.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump has acknowledged ​the Iran war was one reason for Republicans’ defeat in last week’s midterm congressional elections, while Vance, seen as a potential successor to Trump when his term ends in two years, was more definitive, saying, “The reason we lost is the war.”

The US ​has maintained sanctions against Iran for decades, ⁠most of which have been aimed at curtailing the country’s oil revenue, acquisition of weapons components and at cutting off funding for business enterprises controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a dominant force in the Iranian economy.

Tehran has weathered the sanctions, but the naval blockade that the US imposed has inflicted severe economic damage on the country.

Iran’s top security official says no talks underway with US

Iran’s top security official Mohsen Rezaei said there are currently no negotiations taking place between Tehran and Washington, in an interview with pro-Iran broadcaster Al-Mayadeen.

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Hungary has detained the brother of former prime minister Viktor Orban during its investigation of a people-smuggling case, Prime Minister Peter Magyar confirmed during a speech in Berlin.

Monday’s comments came after the Hungarian anti-graft body, said in a statement it and police had detained four people and searched homes at several sites in Budapest and Pest county as part of the case.

“Three out of the ex-ministers of Orban are already in custody,” Magyar said on the sidelines of a speech in the German capital.

“Already his brother today went to custody,” he added, referring to the former prime minister’s sibling, businessman Aron Orban, 49.

Writing on Facebook, Viktor Orban dismissed his brother’s detention as an instance of political revenge.

“In this dirty game, the aim is the elimination of the political opponent and the establishment of a one-party system. I am the target, my younger brother is just a tool,” the former prime minister wrote.

In Monday’s statement, the National Asset Protection and Recovery Office did not identify the suspects detained and police also declined to do so in an emailed response to Reuters.

The body was set up to investigate allegations of corruption ⁠during Orban’s 16-year rule, which the latter has denied.

It was established by Magyar, who ousted Orban in an April election, and is central to his government’s anti-graft campaign, which he has dubbed “Operation Purgatory.”

Detainees suspected of aiding Vietnamese citizens to reach Western Europe

Monday’s statement said the four detained were suspected of helping Vietnamese citizens reach Western Europe for several months in 2024. 

The perpetrators charged visa applicants a so-called recruitment fee at Hungary‘s foreign missions in Vietnam, which they then shared, the authorities said.

The woman and three men held are suspected “of human smuggling committed as part of a criminal conspiracy for the purpose of financial gain,” police said.

In September, the NVVH said “selling political connections to obtain residence ​permits for employment.” was among the first four cases it planned to investigate.

Two former ministers from Orban’s government and former central bank chief Gyorgy Matolcsy are currently ​under arrest over graft accusations in separate investigations.

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Iranian author and dissident Marziyeh Amirizadeh recounted her imprisonment and threats of execution for converting to Christianity in a conversation last week on The Jerusalem Post‘s Sits Down With podcast.

“My life is in God’s hands. It’s not in yours,” she recalled telling the judge who threatened her with execution, speaking to Jerusalem Post News Editor Alex Winston. Amirizadeh added that she also told the judge, “You are not fighting with me. You’re fighting with God.”

Amirizadeh was arrested in 2009 after years of running underground churches and secretly distributing Bibles across Tehran. She recalled how she and a fellow Christian distributed some 20,000 Bibles throughout the Iranian capital, often slipping them into people’s mailboxes at night.

Following her arrest, Amirizadeh said she was held for 14 days in an underground detention facility before appearing in court, where a judge accused her of apostasy and threatened to have her executed by hanging.

Reflecting on her childhood under the Islamic Republic, Amirizadeh also recalled being forced to chant “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” at school. She said the chants contradicted the values she learned at home, where her parents taught her love and respect for others.

The full article detailing Amirizadeh’s conversation on the podcast is set to be published next week, along with the second part of the interview on YouTube.

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Exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi was honored with the prestigious King Solomon Award during the European Jewish Association (EJA) memorial dinner in Krakow, Poland, on Monday evening ahead of its delegation to Auschwitz. 

The annual conference gathered international diplomats, Jewish community leaders, and journalists to address rising antisemitism and global security threats. 

Accepting the recognition, Pahlavi reflected on the historic ties between the Persian and Jewish peoples while emphasizing the shared responsibility of democratic nations to confront contemporary tyranny and ideological extremism across the globe.

Islamic Regime wants to ‘finish what Hitler has done,’ Pahlavi warns

Earlier on Monday, Pahlavi addressed reporters and international delegates at an EJA press conference, warning that the current regime in Tehran poses an active, existential menace to global stability and human dignity. Framing the ruling Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) apparatus as a unique threat requiring decisive action, he drew a direct lineage between historical fascism and the ideology behind the current Iranian regime.

He cautioned that the international community is repeating the fatal error of ignoring explicitly stated genocidal intentions.

“When you hear ‘never again,’ this regime, in its viral sense, wants to finish what Hitler has done,” Pahlavi stated emphatically, stressing that “you have a regime that has the combination of the three worst forms of governments all at once. It is totalitarian in some respect. It is racist in some respect. It is fascist in some respect. And yet, nothing has been done to counter it.” He called for a moral awakening, arguing that ideological extremism left unchecked inevitably expands beyond its borders to imperil all humanity.

Upon receiving the King Solomon award at the EJA memorial dinner on Monday evening, Pahlavi recalled in his address the twenty-five-century-old relationship between Persians and Jews rooted in the legacy of Cyrus the Great, who liberated Jewish captives from Babylon and facilitated the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. 

Building upon his previous historic visit to Israel, where he met with national leadership and prayed at the Western Wall, Pahlavi argued that lasting regional normalization cannot be fully realized while Tehran remains under clerical dictatorship. 

He proposed elevating existing diplomatic agreements into a comprehensive framework he calls the ‘Cyrus Accords,’ noting that “without Iran as a partner in that process, there is no way the Abraham Accords could have stood on their own.” Under this vision, a secular, democratic Iran would serve as a cornerstone of regional security, economic integration, and Judeo-Persian partnership, restoring bonds that predated the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The symposium concluded with the international delegation’s formal visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau state museum and memorial on Tuesday. Crown Prince Pahlavi attended a solemn ceremony at Birkenau alongside his wife, Yasmine, joining prominent diplomats and Jewish community figures. 

Delivering a moving address at Birkenau, EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin reflected on the solemnity of the site, stating, “Here, in this place, words are almost too much. We stand at Birkenau. There are no tombstones here, no names upon the earth… Those who built this place wanted more than just our death; they wanted us to be completely erased… They failed, because we are here, Jews from across Europe, children and grandchildren of survivors, standing alongside the leaders of European nations on this very soil. That, in itself, is an answer.”

Pahlavi expresses solidarity with Jewish community

Crown Prince Pahlavi also delivered remarks during the memorial service, expressing solidarity with the Jewish community by declaring, “We stand with you… to ensure that this never, ever happens again.” He emphasized the collective imperative of unity and moral clarity, adding, “We stand together, not only to honor those we have lost, but to ensure a future of peace and brotherhood, and an end to evil.” 

Following the speeches, Pahlavi walked through the historic grounds and laid a wreath to honor the millions of Holocaust victims, reinforcing his calls throughout the conference for global vigilance, solidarity, and moral leadership in the face of modern extremism.

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Chinese Ambassador to Israel Xiao Junzheng rejected as “baseless” allegations of Chinese military assistance to Iran, following claims by former senior Israeli security officials that Beijing helped Tehran develop its missile and nuclear capabilities.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on the sidelines of SIGNAL Group’s annual conference on Israel’s China and Indo-Pacific policy on Thursday at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Xiao defended China’s relationship with Iran.

“I have to say, the kind of baseless arguments I heard today actually also came up at this conference last year,” Xiao said.

Among those raising the allegations was Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior IDF intelligence officer.

“In the past, when I was in the Prime Minister’s Office, I was more optimistic about the relations with China. I worked very hard to help improve those relations,” Amidror said. “Now, when I see the relations between China and some countries in the region, mainly Iran, I’m not so optimistic.”

Iran turns to China to rebuild military infrastructure during war with Israel, US

Amidror alleged that following Israeli strikes against Iran’s missile-production infrastructure, Tehran turned to China to help restore its manufacturing capabilities.

“We succeeded in our attacks to destroy part of the Iranian capability to manufacture missiles that can reach Israel. But then they bought from China the ability to reproduce it,” he said.

“The Iranians could not resume their capability to produce missiles without help from China,” Amidror added.

He acknowledged that he did not know whether the assistance originated from China’s civilian or military sector.

Asked by the Post whether he could unequivocally deny that Iran was receiving Chinese military equipment, Xiao defended Beijing’s export policies.

“China maintains normal relations with Iran within the framework of international law, just like European countries do.

“And according to the internal export control law of China, China does not sell weapons to any party to an armed conflict. And China also strictly regulates exports of dual-use items.”

“If some people believe they have evidence that China is transporting lethal weapons to Iran, which would pose a serious threat to Israel’s security, I think the Israeli government will let us know.”

The comments came amid mounting scrutiny of China’s ties to Iran and reports of Iranian purchases of Chinese military-related goods.

A September Reuters report, citing five sources, said Iran had used a barter-like arrangement involving oil revenues to purchase billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese goods, including alleged military equipment.

The sources cited by Reuters said that the arrangement had been used at least once in the previous year in connection with multimillion-dollar air-defense contracts.

China’s Foreign Ministry said at the time that it was “not familiar” with the arrangement described by Reuters, and the outlet noted that it could not independently verify the alleged military transactions.

The following month, another Reuters investigation found that a network of more than 5,000 Iranian Defense Ministry-linked agencies facilitated imports of at least $2 billion in equipment, explosives, and other military-related goods since January 2025.

Rocket fuel, industrial machinery, heavy-duty vehicles for missile, drone production

The imported materials included rocket-fuel ingredients, industrial machinery, and heavy-duty vehicles that could be used in missile and drone production.

China, along with other countries including Russia and Germany, was named in the report as being among the countries from which the goods originated.

Experts consulted by Reuters, however, noted that some materials also had civilian uses, and the investigation did not establish whether Beijing directly authorized the transfers.

Former Mossad director Efraim Halevy, who also spoke at the conference on Thursday, raised allegations about China’s historical assistance to Iran’s nuclear program.

Recounting a 1993 visit by former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin to Beijing, Halevy asserted the visit was “occasioned by necessity to demand that China desist from affording scientific support to Iran in the nuclear field.”

He added that Rabin, accompanied by then-Mossad director Shabtai Shavit, presented Chinese president Jiang Zemin with “detailed intelligence on the subject,” which the Chinese president “flatly denied and rejected.”

Halevy added that following talks with the US, China appeared to take steps to halt its assistance in the nuclear field.

“Nevertheless, to this day, a building in Isfahan, Iran, contains equipment providing UF6 scientific support for the processing of high-level uranium,” Halevy said.

This building, the former Mossad director asserted, “has a plaque thanking China for its contribution affixed to its outer wall in Farsi and Chinese languages.”

The Post could not independently verify Halevy’s claim about the plaque.

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European nations have taken no concrete steps to strengthen shipping protection in the Red Sea, Italy’s defense minister said on Tuesday, adding that governments have failed to respond to his calls to bolster the bloc’s naval mission in the area.

In September, Guido Crosetto urged the European Union to bolster its Aspides mission, launched in 2024 to protect commercial shipping from attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis that have escalated as part of the Middle East conflict.

“I have yet to see anything concrete,” Crosetto told Reuters, although he said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas had “fully understood” the importance of Italy’s request.

Following Crosetto’s appeal, Kallas wrote to the bloc’s 27 member states, urging them to increase their contributions, saying more than 10 warships would be needed for the mission to be truly effective.

Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported that talks among EU states on boosting contributions have so far been inconclusive, partly due to the reluctance of some members with limited resources to deploy assets.

Third of European operations depend on Italian contribution, minister says

“About one third of European operations depend on Italy’s contribution. Other countries, far larger than us, contribute much, much less,” said Crosetto, a senior member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government.

“If it is right to invest in missions, then it is right that everyone contributes,” he added, speaking after an event in Rome.

The US-Israel war on Iran has disrupted maritime routes that are vital for global trade and energy supplies, including the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Strait of Hormuz, contributing to higher shipping costs and adding to inflationary pressures.

According to Assarmatori, one of Italy’s main shipowners’ associations, around 40% of the country’s trade with the rest of the world passes through the Suez Canal at the northern end of the Red Sea.

The Houthis have intensified attacks on commercial shipping and strategic infrastructure, while Saudi Arabia has also carried out strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in his address to the Knesset on Tuesday that Iran is working to renew its nuclear threat, and that “the only way to permanently remove this existential threat is through the downfall of the Ayatollah regime.”

Netanyahu also warned that Israel will imminently face international pressure to accept Iran as a nuclear power and “to tolerate the terrifying regime seeking its destruction.”

The prime minister also added that Israel can be expected to be pressured to “retreat from its monumental achievements and from the major progress made regarding security zones.”

He pushed for Knesset members to set aside other priorities and considerations in order to form a national unity government, insisting that only such a government is capable of facing such challenges.

Netanyahu’s speech was interrupted by former prime minister and B’Yachad MK Naftali Bennett, who shouted at him, “What about your Qatari advisers? What about investigating October 7?”

Bennett’s remarks drew an inaudible response from Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, and son, Yair, who were in attendance.

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