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US President Donald Trump made a joke about the popularity of the name Mohammad in the Muslim world as he mocked Iran’s presidency during a campaign speech on Friday.

“You know, if you’re in doubt about somebody’s name from the Middle East, just say ‘Mohammad,'” Trump told a crowd in Dalton, Georgia. “You have about a 65% chance. ‘Hello, Mohammad.’ I’ve done it for years now. I’ve never been wrong.”

Mohammad is one of the most common male names among Muslims, who often name their sons after the Prophet Mohammad, the founder of Islam.

Trump made the comment as he was discussing Iran during a rally in a hangar at Dalton Municipal Airport in Georgia, where he campaigned for Republican political candidates ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.

“Iran is the only country where nobody wants to be president,” Trump said, then pretended to ask several people named Mohammad whether they wanted the job. Masoud Pezeshkian has been president of Iran since 2024.

The Georgia crowd gave the joke a muted response.

Muslim advocacy groups criticize Trump for mocking muslims

Muslim advocacy groups have repeatedly criticized Trump for rhetoric that they claim mocks Muslims, immigrants, and ethnic minorities.

He has repeated such rhetoric during the midterm campaign season, particularly against Somali and Muslim Americans, including Muslim Democratic ‌US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and Representative Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat.

Trump repeated his vow that Iran would never get a nuclear weapon, seven months after the United States and Israel launched a war on Tehran aimed in part at crippling its nuclear program.

On the eve of Sukkot, I find myself not in Jerusalem but in Kissimmee, Florida, in a gated vacation home community called Encore at Reunion.

Our youngest grandchild, Ye’ela, now seven, has convinced her family that it’s her turn to visit Disney World. Her older siblings have already been. My son, daughter-in-law, and their four children can all take off the days of Sukkot. My physician son even has a lecture to give for Hadassah in Miami. We decide to go for it.

I admit to having a weakness for Disney World. Walking down Disney’s Main Street, U.S.A., riding through the African savanna on Kilimanjaro Safaris in Animal Kingdom, and watching For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration in Hollywood Studios when the snow comes down (twice!) offer an invigorating vacation break from the Middle East. I like refilling my Disney popcorn bucket at every stop, eating Mickey Mouse-shaped ice cream, and being silly enough to decorate my hat with a Minnie Mouse headband.

Seven-year-old Ye’ela has spent most of her life either in a pandemic or wartime, and I want to see her pose with those Disney princesses and ride the Slinky Dog Dash roller coaster with her siblings.

So I take on the job of logistics, which has to include Sukkot observance, of course.

Where to stay? We want a house, not a hotel, partly because it’s less expensive, but also because we can prepare kosher food for kids used to Israeli cuisine and celebrate the holiday our own way. There are literally tens of thousands of vacation home rentals in the Orlando area, but only a handful of rental communities allow or tolerate the building of those strange shacks called sukkot on their property. Hence, we decide on Encore at Reunion.

For most of the year, Encore is a regular vacation resort village for American and foreign guests. But on Jewish holidays, particularly Sukkot and Passover, hundreds of observant Jews abandon their already chilly backyards in colder states to erect their sukkot in Florida.

Encore is 18 km. from the Magic Kingdom and closer to the other three Disney parks. It is not only sukkah-friendly but has an eruv, making carrying possible on Shabbat. Over the last decade or so, this has become a popular holiday venue for religious Jews. The resort also includes shuttles to the parks and a large, free water park with impressive waterslides for all ages.

I arrange for an unassembled sukkah to be delivered by one of several local suppliers (Klein’s, if you’re interested). Ironically, we live on a Jerusalem street with a bustling Four Species marketplace, but fear violating import laws by bringing an etrog into the Citrus State. So I order the Four Species from a pop-up Chabad distributor, also at Encore.

We bring some pots and pans and buy others. With 337 km. separating Miami International Airport from Encore, I search for and find a reliable, reasonably priced van service (DNR Limousine Services, in case you’re interested; ask for Vladi) that also stops at a kosher supermarket so we can pick up our large online order of food supplies and sushi lunch.

By the day before the holiday, the nondescript vacation village has been transformed into a Sukkot hub. Thatched-roof booths are ubiquitous, mostly in driveways, but also in backyards beside the private swimming pools.

Nearly all those rental homes also have golf carts in their driveways, not for golfaholics, but for families to use as transportation and entertainment on the resort’s streets. Many of the drivers look dangerously underage.

Despite jet lag, we spend our first two happy days in Disney parks. Then it’s Sukkot eve. Our sukkah is up and, thanks to my daughter-in-law, our holiday food is sizzling on a hotplate delivered by Amazon Prime.

One neighbor insists that we come inside and eat a plate of cholent. Another invites my husband to walk with him to one of the pop-up synagogues for the Mincha prayer. My granddaughter Eliana, 18, and I try to follow them soon after candlelighting, but never find the synagogue.

The air is balmy, with no Florida hurricanes threatening tonight. There are few cars on the street. Passersby wish us “gut Shabbos” and “gut yom tov.”

‘Strange and unexpected’

“How strange and unexpected it is to be in Florida and to be surrounded by religious Jews,” Eliana says.

Most of those strolling like us are girls and women, their cooking done, their menfolk off to synagogues. The teenage girls look a lot like Eliana, in holiday dresses, long hair, and welcoming smiles. We stop to chat with a few of them along the way.

Then, when we are alone, Eliana says something that changes the mood.

“I see these girls. In most ways, they’re just like me, but none of them has been through what we teenagers in Israel have gone through. We’ve dodged rockets, cared for families where the father was gone for months, and, worst of all, we’ve gone to so many funerals and shiva calls. We’re all going to national service and the army. How different our lives have been.”

We walk quietly after that, her words bringing us back to Israel, to her hometown of Modi’in.

Modi’in has suffered devastating military losses during the war. So many young residents have fallen that the military cemetery has required expansion. When you’re 18, you know many of the soldiers from school or youth movements. The names on the gravestones are not strangers.

Eliana herself is spending the year at Tzahali, a pre-military preparatory academy for religious young women, founded in 2006. The academy is named in memory of combat navigator Tamar Ariel, whose youth group was led by Eliana’s aunt and uncle. Its program combines Torah study with preparation for meaningful leadership and service in the IDF.

Eliana already has her future army placement.

Our somberness fades as we sit around the holiday table, enjoying the home-cooked food and the novelty of having our own sukkah so far from home. Sukkot is, after all, the holiday of joy, reaffirming our reliance on the Almighty. Through the thatched roof of our Florida sukkah, the same stars we see at home are abundant and reassuring.

Little Ye’ela does get to see the princesses. She turns out to be a roller coaster enthusiast, riding with siblings Matan, 10; Ariel, 16; and Eliana on the famous roller coasters.

By the time we reach the finale, the magnificent fireworks over the Magic Kingdom, no one thinks of comparing them to the Iron Dome squiggles of light that have so often illuminated the heavens over Modi’in. Watching the bursts of light align in the air to create hearts and Disney characters, the children are able to look up at the sky and focus on the beauty.

We, too.

The writer is the Israel director of public relations at Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. Her latest book is A Daughter of Many Mothers, cowritten with Holocaust survivor and premier English-language witness Rena Quint.

A Norwegian teenager who flew to Britain to commit murder after being recruited online by a Swedish organized crime group linked to Iran was jailed on Friday for 20 years.

British prosecutors said Johannes Natland, now 19, was recruited by the Foxtrot Network, a Swedish criminal group that pays young people to carry out “violence as a service” on behalf of clients, including the Iranian state.

He was convicted in July of conspiracy to murder. Natland had not been told the identity of the person he had agreed to kill in return for a payment of 270,000 Norwegian kroner, around $28,600, prosecutors said.

The case was one of a number in recent years involving young adults who have stood trial in Britain over serious criminal acts carried out after being recruited online. Britain says some of them have ended up acting as unwitting proxies for foreign states such as Iran or Russia.

Foxtrot has been linked to several murders across Europe, and Britain and the US allege the group was behind attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets on behalf of Iran, which denies the allegation.

Teen said ‘it will be cool to kill’

Natland had only just turned 18 when he flew from Norway to Britain, having responded to an advert which offered money to kill and said “nothing can go wrong.”

He admitted possessing a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver and ammunition, but denied conspiracy to murder, saying he did not intend to carry out the plan and had considered shooting himself in the foot to get out of it.

But prosecutors said Natland was an enthusiastic recruit, who boasted to a friend that “it will be cool to kill someone.”

Judge says she was sure Natland would have carried out attack if not caught 

Natland was sentenced at London’s Woolwich Crown Court to detention for 20 years by Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb, who said she was sure he would have carried out the murder if he had not been arrested by police.

“This was not an impulsive act lasting a few moments … your conduct demonstrated purpose and persistence,” she said, adding that Natland would serve at least 13 years in custody.

Natland’s Norwegian lawyer Farid Bouras said in a statement: “Our priority now is to bring him home. We will be working to secure his transfer to Norway as quickly as we possibly can.”

Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said there was no evidence of any direct link to Iran in Natland’s case, which served as a warning to those who may be recruited to become criminal proxies.

“As Natland found, the people orchestrating these crimes will not protect you from the consequences,” she said.

US President Donald Trump indicated that he could pursue criminal investigations or release damaging information about former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden if Democrats attempt to impeach him for a third time, during an interview with Rob Finnerty on Newsmax’s Finnerty on Thursday.

Trump claimed he had previously declined opportunities to pursue criminal investigations against his political opponents but suggested he could reconsider if Democrats regain control of Congress in the November 3 midterm elections and launch another impeachment attempt.

“I could have done numbers on Hillary Clinton,” Trump said. “I could have done numbers on Bill Clinton. I do like Bill Clinton. I could have done numbers on Barack Hussein Obama. Still could, I still could, I could do big numbers if I wanted to.”

“I’m talking about go after them criminally, or I could have done something having to do with their reputations [and] destroyed their reputations,” he said.

Trump claims to possess damaging information on Democratic rivals

Trump also claimed that his administration possessed potentially damaging information about Clinton, Obama, and Biden, although he did not provide evidence or specify what the information involved.

“I could have done something having to do with their reputations, destroyed their reputations,” he said. “We have a lot of information about Hillary. We have a lot of information about Barack Hussein Obama. We have a lot of information on Sleepy Joe Biden.”

When Finnerty asked whether he intended to act on that information, Trump appeared to leave open the possibility of doing so.

“Well, I mean, I guess not. Probably not. But I think if they impeach me again, you know, again,” Trump replied.

“Things could get ugly,” Finnerty interjected.

The president made similar remarks during an Oval Office event on October 7, saying he had refrained from pursuing political opponents out of respect for the presidency.

Democrats weigh impeachment as midterm elections approach

The remarks come as Democrats seek to regain control of Congress in the midterm elections, potentially setting the stage for renewed investigations and oversight of the Trump administration.

Democratic leaders have not committed to pursuing impeachment if their party regains control of the House of Representatives.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said last month that Democrats had neither ruled out nor committed to another impeachment effort, while House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar has said impeachment is not among the party’s top priorities.

Trump, who was impeached twice during his first administration and acquitted by the Senate both times, questioned what grounds Democrats could use to launch a third impeachment effort.

“The only thing they can impeach me for is making our country really strong,” Trump said.

He also suggested that another impeachment effort could ultimately benefit Republicans politically, arguing that his previous impeachment proceedings had not damaged his standing with supporters.

“And I [have] become good at anti-impeachment. I call it the anti-impeachment movement,” he said.

Former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Yoram Cohen, who holds the second spot on the Yashar party’s electoral list, warned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could deliberately escalate security tensions ahead of Israel’s October 27 election for political reasons, during an interview with Liat Regev on Kan Reshet Bet radio’s Friday Midday program on Friday.

Cohen said he was concerned that Netanyahu might seek to escalate tensions on one of Israel’s security fronts to improve his electoral prospects, especially given the proximity of the elections and the prime minister’s standing in the polls.

“I don’t want to make unequivocal statements, but a justification for a security situation and escalation can always be found. Unfortunately, I cannot rule it out,” Cohen said, adding that Netanyahu has demonstrated in the past that “his decisions are influenced by ulterior motives, and that is very troubling.”

Cohen warns of stagnation in Gaza

Cohen also criticized what he described as Israel’s “complete stagnation on all fronts, a static situation,” particularly in Gaza, while addressing Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot’s pledge to end Hamas’s rule in the enclave within 18 months of becoming prime minister.

He argued that the current government was failing to implement US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza, warning that without a viable plan for the “day after” the war, “there will be no choice but for Israel to take active measures.”

“Hamas essentially controls the territory, receives money, grows stronger, and recruits people. We must stop this before it reaches the scale it had before October 6,” he warned.

Cohen responds to Liberman’s rejection of minority government

Turning to the upcoming elections, Cohen addressed Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman’s statement on Thursday that his party would not support a minority government under any circumstances, including as a temporary arrangement.

בימים האחרונים נשאלתי כמה וכמה פעמים לגבי ממשלת אחדות לאומית. עמדתנו חדה וברורה: אנחנו נקים קואליציה המורכבת ממפלגות ציוניות בלבד. בלי רע״מ, בלי המשותפת, בלי ש״ס ובלי יהדות התורה. הליכוד בלי נתניהו יכול להיות שותף משמעותי. עם נתניהו – שיתהפך העולם לא נשב בשום מצב. לא נתמוך בשום ממשלת מיעוט, גם לא בממשלת מיעוט לתקופת מעבר. אני מאמין שנגיע לרוב מוצק בבחירות הקרובות, למרות הסקרים. וחוץ מזה, אני מכיר כמה ח״כים מתוך הליכוד שמבינים את גודל השעה, מבינים שביבי הפך אותם לקבלני משנה של גולדקנופף ודרעי, ולכן יהיו מוכנים להשלים את המניין ולהצטרף לקואליציה ציונית.

— אביגדור ליברמן (@AvigdorLiberman) October 15, 2026

“We are working to establish a government of 61 Zionist, statesmanlike Knesset members,” Cohen said.

“If, God forbid, for some reason this is not possible, then we will establish a government with a clear Zionist majority.”

Cohen also questioned Liberman’s decision to rule out supporting a minority government, arguing that the statement could undermine the opposition bloc’s efforts to form a government.

“I don’t understand why he said that. I don’t think it helps the bloc.”

Two rivals in the pivotal race for New York’s 17th Congressional District are aggressively courting Jewish voters, each seeking to present themselves as a champion of Israel and a defender against antisemitism.

Rep. Mike Lawler, a two-term Republican incumbent, and Democratic challenger Cait Conley are neck and neck in polls, with both within the margin of error, in a race that could help determine which party controls the House in the last two years of President Donald Trump’s second term. 

Continued Republican control of Congress would give Trump a more favorable setting for advancing his legislative agenda. A Democratic House majority would give the opposition control of House committees and their investigative powers.

NY-17 comprises Putnam and Rockland counties and parts of Westchester and Dutchess counties. An estimated 19% of the district’s residents are Jewish, according to a 2024 study commissioned by the Jewish Electorate Institute.

Each candidate is trying to tie the other to polarizing figures in their respective parties. Lawler is asserting that Conley refuses to separate herself from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the increasingly progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Conley is accusing Lawler of being a rubber stamp for Trump’s legislative priorities. 

Jewish voters emerge as key constituency in New York House race

For Conley to win, she’ll have to convince Jewish voters that not only is she a staunch Israel ally and determined to protect the Jewish community from antisemitism, but that she can distance herself from the left wing of the Democratic Party and the members of the Democratic Socialists of America, such as Mamdani and others who have been widely critical of Israel.

One reason is that most Orthodox Jews, a major constituency in Rockland County, identified as Republican or leaned Republican, according to a 2020 Pew Research national survey. Another is that a September poll by the Jewish Electorate Institute found that 57% of Jewish voters believe antisemitism is increasing within the Democratic Party, despite about 70% of Jewish voters favoring Democrats. The same national poll found 60% believed antisemitism was increasing in the Republican Party.

When the two candidates squared off in a televised debate hosted by PIX11 on Wednesday night, Lawler brought up the New York City mayor’s statement on Oct. 7, which mourned those killed and abducted on the third anniversary of the Hamas-led attacks before accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza and saying US tax dollars funded war crimes.

Lawler, noting that Conley repeatedly declined to condemn Mamdani in their previous debate, said the mayor issued “the most vile antisemitic statement on Oct. 7th, blaming Jews for their butchering on Oct. 7th.” Turning to Conley, Lawler asked, “Do you denounce Zohran Mamdani’s recent statement on Oct. 7th, which blamed Jews?”

“Yes, I do denounce Mamdani’s statement on October 7th, a day that we should be honoring and mourning the loss of life, the greatest loss of life to our Jewish community since the Holocaust,” she responded. “I condemn antisemitism from any party or anyone.”

Lawler, Conley clash over Mamdani, support for Israel

Both candidates spoke strongly in support of Israel. Debate moderator Dan Mannarino asked if US taxpayer money should still be used “to send offensive and defensive weapon funding to aid Israel.” 

“Israel is our greatest ally in the world,” Lawler replied. “The fact is, they’re the only democracy in the Middle East.” 

He then accused the Democratic Party of ambivalence toward Israel. “I am opposed to any effort by the Democrats and the DSA to defund the strategic partnership between the United States and Israel, and I will fight it tooth and nail,” he said.

Conley agreed with Lawler that the US should continue funding offensive and defensive weapons for Israel.

“I believe in Israel’s right to exist,” she said. “It is the only democracy in the Middle East. It is a strategic partner for American national security, and I believe America has a responsibility to help ensure the safety and security of the Israeli people.”

New York House candidates diverge over Netanyahu, Iran war

Even so, she sought to distinguish herself from Lawler by affirming her willingness to chastise the Israeli government when warranted. “I also will criticize the Netanyahu administration when I believe it is doing the wrong thing for Israel and America,” she said.

Conley said that although she supported the Trump administration’s military strikes on targeted locations associated with Iran’s nuclear weapons development program, she believes that the “feckless execution” of the war has drawn the country “into this reckless conflict without clear military objectives or an exit strategy.”

Lawler defended voting against congressional efforts to end the war, while trying to tie Conley to Iran’s ability to fund terrorism. He argued that while Conley served as director for counterterrorism on President Joe Biden’s National Security Council, the US “eased sanctions on the illicit oil trade between China and Iran, allowing them to accumulate hundreds of billions of dollars. That’s what funded Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis. That’s what financed the October 7th terrorist attack.”

Conley defended her record by noting that the head of ISIS was killed during her tenure. She also said that similar attacks on Iran have been on the table for both Democratic and Republican administrations for decades, but they were never carried out because those administrations determined such attacks would threaten national security. 

Over the past two weeks, the IDF destroyed dozens of monuments and signs commemorating terrorists during multiple counterterrorism operations across the West Bank, the military announced on Friday.

The operations focused on targeting hubs associated with various terrorist organizations involved in inciting terrorism and supporting Hamas’s October 7 massacre. 

The monuments and signs, frequently created to glorify terrorists deemed to be “martyrs,” were destroyed as part of the IDF’s efforts to thwart terrorism and crack down on violent incitement.

Over the course of the five operations, the IDF searched thousands of locations, arresting dozens of wanted individuals and issuing multiple warnings.

Israeli troops also seized thousands of shekels in terror-related funds and weaponry, including handguns and drones.

In a statement regarding the operations, the IDF vowed to continue carrying out counterterror measures and combatting incitement in the West Bank in pursuit of safeguarding the security of Israeli citizens.

IDF busts terror funding fronts in West Bank

On Wednesday, the IDF announced that it had conducted raids on multiple alleged charities in the West Bank that acted as funding fronts for terrorist organizations, including Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Five terrorist collaborators were arrested during the raid, and computers, documents, and checkbooks bearing Hamas-associated markings were seized as evidence. 

Jonah Davidov contributed to this report.

Missiles struck Aden International Airport in southern Yemen on Friday, while a Saudi-led military coalition said it had intercepted a ballistic missile headed for the Red Sea city of Yanbu, a key Saudi oil hub that allows exports to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.

The coalition said it had also destroyed two cruise missiles over the Red Sea and three drones in Saudi Arabia’s Southern and Riyadh regions. It did not identify those behind the attacks.

In Aden, two missiles landed on the airport grounds, the Aden Security Department said, blaming the Iran-backed Houthi group. It said the incident was the second attack on the facility in less than a week. The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility.

No casualties were reported. A Yemenia Airways flight bound for Cairo was preparing for takeoff when the missiles landed, the security department said.

Yanbu key to Saudi oil exports

Yanbu is a key outlet for Saudi oil exports, allowing the kingdom to ship crude to international markets via the Red Sea without passing through the Strait of Hormuz, where heightened regional tensions and security threats have raised concerns over the safety of shipping.

Brent crude briefly touched $110 a barrel on Friday for the first time since May, as worries over escalating Middle East tensions raised concerns about tighter global supplies.

Saudi Civil Defense authorities earlier issued alerts in the Jazan region and the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait, where such warnings have become frequent since fighting resumed last month.

Houthi attacks raise concerns over deteriorating humanitarian crisis

Fighting between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s government has raised fears of a further deterioration in the country’s humanitarian crisis. Aid agencies have warned that conditions are worsening rapidly.

The Yemen conflict has become another front in the wider regional war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February. Yemen’s war began in 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and forced the internationally recognized government south. A Saudi-led intervention began the following year, leading to years of stalemate before a 2022 truce that held until this year.

The Houthis have repeatedly launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia since the conflict reignited, targeting airports, oil facilities and other infrastructure. In recent days, the group has also targeted sites in government-held parts of Yemen, including Aden airport and the presidential palace in the interim capital.

A spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry said on Friday that 124 civilians had been killed and 327 wounded in what he described as “Saudi aggression” since the escalation began on September 3. Reuters could not independently verify the figures.

Elbit Systems Sweden AB announced on Wednesday that it plans to establish the Israeli defense company’s first European production and maintenance center for laser warning systems (LWS) in Sweden, as part of efforts to strengthen European defense manufacturing and support the security needs of NATO member states.

The facility, expected to become operational in 2027, will provide local integration, assembly, maintenance, and long-term technical support for laser warning systems supplied to European customers.

The initiative is part of Elbit Systems‘ long-term strategy to expand its industrial presence across Europe and strengthen local manufacturing and technological capabilities. The company said the facility would help improve system availability, shorten delivery times, and enhance support for European customers.

The establishment of local production capabilities also comes as European countries increase defense spending following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and pressure from US President Donald Trump for NATO allies to raise their military expenditure. Local manufacturing could strengthen Elbit’s position in European defense procurement programs that prioritize domestic or regional industrial participation.

Elbit Systems to produce next-generation laser warning technology in Sweden

The planned facility will focus on Elbit Systems’ next-generation passive laser warning systems, designed to immediately detect and locate laser threats directed at military platforms. The technology provides crews with additional time and operational flexibility to deploy protective measures.

According to the company, the new systems are designed to integrate seamlessly with existing command-and-control infrastructure. Their decentralized architecture reduces the number of components, minimizes modifications required to military platforms, and is intended to improve reliability and operational durability.

Armed forces worldwide already deploy Elbit’s laser warning systems as key components of advanced self-protection suites for military aircraft, vehicles, and other platforms.

Sweden becomes a key hub for Elbit’s European defense operations

Established in 2020, Elbit Systems Sweden has become an increasingly important part of the company’s European operations, employing more than 100 people across the country. The subsidiary serves as a regional hub for Elbit’s activities in Northern Europe and works closely with Sweden’s defense industry.

In recent years, Elbit Systems Sweden has supported the Swedish Armed Forces through advanced defense and digitalization programs, strengthening its position as a long-term industrial and technology partner.

The expansion follows other Elbit initiatives in Europe. In June 2026, the company conducted major demonstrations of its digital battlefield networking capabilities in Sweden for representatives of NATO militaries and European defense companies.

Elbit has also expanded its European business through defense contracts involving Greece and Sweden, reflecting growing demand for Israeli-developed military technology and locally supported defense systems.

Elbit Sweden CEO highlights local manufacturing and NATO supply chains

Tobias Wennberg, CEO of Elbit Systems Sweden, said the initiative represents an important step in expanding the subsidiary’s industrial capabilities and strengthening its ability to develop, deliver, and manufacture systems locally.

“This initiative represents an important step for us and reflects our commitment to strengthening our capabilities to develop, deliver, and produce locally,” Wennberg said. “It also aligns well with our core technologies and enables us to expand our scope going forward.”

“Through the establishment of this center and the transfer of advanced technologies, we aim to support Swedish, European, and NATO customers with reliable, long-term, and locally supported self-protection solutions with secure and sovereign supply chains,” he added.

What if Israel is winning the military battles but losing the war that ultimately determines its survival?

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has demonstrated extraordinary military capabilities. Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran have suffered significant blows.

Yet the fundamental question remains: Has military superiority brought Israel closer to enduring security? This may be one of the most important questions for Israelis in the upcoming elections.

Or, perhaps the question should be: Are we fighting the wrong war? It is fascinating that this question is not a significant part of the political debates leading up to the decision regarding who will lead the country.

The early Zionist movement understood something that modern Israel may have forgotten.

Nation-building was a generational undertaking. Theodor Herzl, Chaim Weizmann, and David Ben-Gurion invested decades in diplomacy, institution-building, immigration, and international legitimacy.

They understood that establishing a Jewish state required more than winning individual confrontations.

Today, Israel often approaches existential threats through military operations measured in days, weeks, or months.

Our ideological adversaries are operating on an entirely different clock.

Consider the historical memory of the Crusades. European armies conquered Jerusalem, but ultimately lost their foothold in the region.

The lesson for movements committed to a generational struggle is straightforward: survive today, regroup tomorrow, and eventually your enemy will lose his will to fight and leave.

Iran’s revolutionary leadership has demonstrated comparable strategic patience, investing decades in regional proxies, ideological networks, and the pursuit of influence.

Israel cannot assume that its adversaries define victory, defeat, or acceptable sacrifice as we do.

That brings us to the first strategic trap: deterrence.

Traditional deterrence assumes that sufficiently painful consequences will discourage aggression.

But what happens when an adversary embraces martyrdom, accepts devastating casualties, or considers organizational survival itself a victory?

Yahya Sinwar understood that October 7 would provoke an overwhelming Israeli response. Yet the resulting devastation did not necessarily negate the broader political and ideological objectives of his attack.

Israel must then employ increasingly substantial military force to defeat an adversary willing to absorb extraordinary losses.

Now introduce the second trap.

When terrorist organizations embed military operations within civilian environments, Israel faces difficult operational choices. Protecting civilians, as international law requires, by definition extends military campaigns.

Civilian casualties and destruction, whatever the military circumstances, produce images that travel around the world within seconds.

A Hamas command center may be the military objective. A destroyed building becomes the television image.

CNN, Al Jazeera, TikTok, Telegram, and countless smartphones transmit those images into millions of homes.

Military time and political time are no longer synchronized.

The longer Israel fights, the more international pressure can accumulate. The more force required, the greater the potential reputational consequences. And the more international legitimacy erodes, the less strategic freedom Israel retains.

Israel can win the battlefield while losing the conditions necessary to achieve and sustain victory.

But there is another battlefield, one extending thousands of miles beyond Israel’s borders.

The Jewish Diaspora

Jewish communities in New York, London, Paris, and elsewhere are increasingly drawn into conflicts they neither initiated nor controlled.

As the war continues, images of Palestinian suffering circulate globally, accompanied by accusations against Israel that can spill over into hostility toward Jews generally.

And what is their response?

Too often, they follow Israel’s traditional hasbara (public diplomacy) playbook.

More facts. More explanations. More historical context. More attempts to correct the latest accusation.

Necessary? Absolutely.

Sufficient? Clearly not.

Because while we are explaining yesterday’s military operation, our opponents are organizing tomorrow’s political campaign.

An October 10 Fox News investigation by Asra Nomani exposed the organizational machinery behind a coordinated international anti-Israel mobilization starting this past October 8 to the 15.

The investigation identified 179 participating organizations and 322 scheduled events across three days. Organizers had prepared graphics in seven languages, common slogans, media guidance, and political demands.

The campaign extended beyond street demonstrations into universities, workplaces, corporations, and government institutions, calling for sanctions and arms embargoes.

This was not simply spontaneous outrage. It was evidence of a prepared, interoperable international network capable of transforming individual demonstrations into coordinated political pressure, just as it did on October 8, before Israel even responded to the attacks of October 7.

Our enemies have spent years building what we now know is an extremely effective ecosystem.

Not every participant shares the same ideology. But organizations with different political identities can cooperate around common objectives without surrendering their independence.

That is the power of an ecosystem. And it exposes another weakness in our approach.

We are fighting not merely an information war, but a competition for meaning.

Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Dr. Viktor Frankl described the existential vacuum: the emptiness people feel when they struggle to find meaning and purpose.

He suggested that our modern society, with all its technological advances, was driving this feeling of emptiness among millions.

Ideological movements can fill that vacuum by offering something more compelling than information: identity, belonging, community, moral purpose, and agency.

Their message effectively becomes: Here is who you are. Here is what is wrong. Here is who is responsible. Here are your people. And here is what you can do.

This is why a “Free Palestine” chant at a huge Ed Sheeran concert so quickly engaged tens of thousands both at the concert and via their social media platforms.

Traditional hasbara too often responds: Here are the facts you should know.

You cannot defeat a meaning system merely by correcting its facts. This is where Israel’s strategic doctrine requires fundamental reconsideration.

Military superiority remains indispensable. But Israel and global Jewry also need a permanent, decentralized, interoperable global ecosystem supporting Jewish safety, Israel’s legitimacy, and long-term societal resilience.

Further strengthened by those who realize that the anti-Israel ecosystem is focusing on Israel first, with the West next in line.

Not another government-controlled public relations campaign.

Not another emergency fundraising appeal following an antisemitic incident.

And certainly not an organization demanding that everyone agree with their view of the world.

Instead, an international network of independent Jewish and non-Jewish institutions, educators, influencers, researchers, philanthropists, cultural leaders, public-private initiatives, and civil society organizations connected by a shared agreement on fundamental principles.

The Jewish people’s historical continuity matters. Jewish safety matters. Israel’s legitimate existence matters. Human dignity and coexistence matter.

Participants can disagree on politics while sharing those foundations.

Such an ecosystem must operate continuously, building relationships, credibility, community, and meaningful participation before the next crisis erupts.

It must strengthen the Diaspora rather than leave Jewish communities perpetually defending military decisions made thousands of miles away.

And it must become an additional dimension of deterrence.

An adversary contemplating aggression should encounter not merely a formidable Israeli military, but a society and international network capable of enduring political pressure, resisting isolation, and sustaining legitimate security interests.

The Zionist movement understood the importance of building the future before the decisive moment arrived.

We must rediscover that strategic patience.

Israel cannot fight a generational ideological conflict exclusively through military campaigns measured in months.

Our military protects our ability to survive in the short term. Our ecosystem must help protect our ability to endure for the long term.

The writer is a global strategist and a strategic adviser at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. Follow him on X: @jeffkahn2020

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he spoke by telephone with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa during deadly clashes in southern Syria in July 2025, claiming the conversation helped stop the killings. Damascus has not confirmed the call, which Netanyahu disclosed less than two weeks before Israel’s parliamentary elections.

Netanyahu made the announcement on October 15 at a Likud campaign gathering with members of Israel’s Druze community in Yarka, a northern Israeli town. He described the conversation as brief and tense but did not explain how it was arranged or provide further details.

The Israeli prime minister also discussed Israeli military operations during the violence in Syria’s predominantly Druze Sweida Governorate, including airstrikes against the Syrian Defense Ministry building and a target within the presidential palace compound in Damascus.

Violence erupted in July 2025 following clashes between Druze and Bedouin groups, with Syrian government forces and tribal fighters subsequently becoming involved. Israel carried out strikes against Syrian military positions, saying it was acting to protect the Druze community.

In its first response to Netanyahu’s announcement, the Syrian government neither confirmed nor denied the conversation. An unnamed official source quoted by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) rejected attempts to involve Syria’s Druze community in Israeli election campaigning, describing it as an integral part of the country’s national fabric.

The source accused Israel of interfering in the July 2025 violence and arming an unauthorized armed group to destabilize Sweida. The allegation has not been independently verified.

According to the Syrian government, Israeli airstrikes during the clashes prevented Syrian forces from intervening to restore order. Damascus maintained that US mediation, rather than Netanyahu’s reported conversation with Sharaa, had brought those strikes to an end.

Syria also reaffirmed its cooperation with the United States and Jordan on a roadmap intended to restore stability in Sweida and called for international pressure on Israel to comply with the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.

The Media Line sought comment from Ahmad Mowaffaq Zaidan, media affairs adviser to Sharaa, and Mohammad al-Jafal, adviser for Afro-Asian affairs at Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates. Neither had responded by publication time.

Israel, Syria continuing to pursue security negotiations

The disclosure comes as Israel and Syria pursue US-mediated security negotiations despite continuing disagreements over Israeli military deployments and Syrian sovereignty.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and expanded its military presence in southern Syrian territory following the fall of Bashar Assad’s government in December 2024. Damascus demands that Israeli forces withdraw from areas entered after Assad’s removal and that both countries return to the arrangements established under the 1974 agreement.

Israeli authorities maintain that their military operations and deployments are necessary to protect the country’s northern border.

Although Israel and Syria have no formal diplomatic relations, contacts between senior officials have become an important part of efforts to prevent further confrontation.

In August, Reuters reported, citing informed sources, that Mossad chief Roman Gofman spoke with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani on August 14 about Turkey’s military presence in Syria.

Jordan subsequently hosted US-mediated talks between senior Syrian and Israeli delegations on August 23, according to SANA. Those discussions addressed Israeli military operations, measures to reduce tensions, and the possibility of reaching a security agreement.

Netanyahu’s disclosure suggests that contact may also have occurred directly between the countries’ leaders, although Damascus has yet to acknowledge such an exchange.

Netanyahu-Sharaa call could signal willingness to reduce tensions

Syrian political analyst Firas Allawi told The Media Line that the reported conversation could signal a willingness to communicate despite the deep disagreements between Damascus and Israel. He cautioned against interpreting it as evidence of an approaching peace agreement.

“Any political contact between the two sides could represent an initial step toward reducing tensions, but it does not necessarily mean that a peace agreement is close,” Allawi said.

“The issue depends on the willingness of both sides to address outstanding matters, foremost among them Syrian sovereignty and the Israeli military presence. The timing of Netanyahu’s announcement also calls for an examination of his domestic political calculations, without overlooking the possibility that these contacts are part of broader efforts to reshape the regional landscape.”

Allawi’s comments come as Netanyahu campaigns ahead of Israel’s October 27 parliamentary elections. The prime minister made his announcement before Druze voters while describing his government’s efforts to protect members of their community in Syria.

The timing raises questions about the political purpose of the disclosure, although the contacts reported between Israeli and Syrian officials in recent months suggest that discussions have continued beyond the immediate circumstances of the 2025 clashes.

For retired Syrian military pilot and analyst Khaled Mansour, the value of direct political communication depends on whether it can lead to practical arrangements that reduce the risk of further fighting.

“Moving from military confrontation to political understandings requires tangible measures on the ground, including ending escalation, limiting military operations, and establishing clear security arrangements that prevent renewed clashes,” Mansour told The Media Line. “The success of any negotiation process will also remain tied to addressing the Israeli military presence inside Syrian territory and providing mutual security guarantees that do not undermine Syrian sovereignty.”

The dispute over the buffer zone established under the 1974 agreement remains a central obstacle. Syria seeks the withdrawal of Israeli forces from territory entered after December 2024, while Israel insists on security arrangements intended to prevent hostile forces from operating near its border.

Mansour said sustained negotiations would require more than occasional direct contacts between senior leaders.

“Political contacts may help prevent military miscalculations and establish channels for containing crises, but building lasting peace requires enforceable understandings and clear mechanisms for monitoring compliance, not merely contacts or political statements.”

Despite continued US diplomatic involvement, Israel and Syria have yet to reach a comprehensive agreement governing military deployments and security arrangements along their shared frontier.

Beyond those disagreements, the possibility of direct communication between Netanyahu and Sharaa has raised hopes among some Syrians that dialogue could eventually help end decades of conflict.

Bakhour Shmantoub, head of Syria’s small Jewish community, told The Media Line that he hoped contacts between the governments could develop into a broader peace process.

“Yes, it could open the door to peace. The region is tired of wars, and peace is necessary,” Shmantoub said.

As Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar affixed a mezuzah to the entrance of Colombia’s new embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday, the two countries were exploring another step in their rapidly improving relationship. Colombia is considering applying to join the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), Israeli Ambassador to Colombia Vivian Aisen revealed to The Media Line.

Aisen said Sa’ar and Colombian Foreign Minister Omar Bula Escobar discussed the possibility during Bula’s visit to Jerusalem. Colombia adopted the IHRA working definition of antisemitism in June 2022, but it is not currently a member or observer country. No formal application has been announced.

The alliance promotes Holocaust education, remembrance, and research. Countries seeking full membership must first obtain observer status and then proceed through an intermediate liaison stage.

Colombia inaugurated its Jerusalem embassy on October 14, becoming the 10th country with an embassy in the city, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, and the fourth Latin American country to do so, following Guatemala, Honduras, and Paraguay.

The opening was the most visible part of a broader diplomatic reversal under Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella, whose government has restored full relations with Israel, lifted reciprocal visa requirements, removed restrictions on coal exports, and renewed implementation of the countries’ free trade agreement.

At a Foreign Ministry reception later Wednesday, attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bula announced that Colombia had formally requested to withdraw from the Hague Group, a coalition established to coordinate diplomatic and legal measures against Israel over the war in Gaza. He also announced plans for a national initiative to combat antisemitism.

Colombia’s Jerusalem embassy signals diplomatic reversal

The embassy opening fulfilled a promise made before de la Espriella’s election. Sa’ar said the two met in Buenos Aires in November 2025, when the future president pledged to relocate Colombia’s embassy to Jerusalem if elected.

“He made a promise, and he kept it,” Sa’ar said. “Just two months after he took office, we inaugurated the Embassy of Colombia in Jerusalem.”

The embassy occupies a stone building dating to 1920. The inauguration brought together Bula, Sa’ar, Colombian Ambassador to Israel Tania Gilinski Bacal, Aisen, and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion.

Palestinian officials criticized the decision. Palestinian Vice President Hussein Al Sheikh condemned the move, saying it disregarded international law and Jerusalem’s disputed status. Jordan’s Foreign Ministry also objected, describing the embassy opening as a violation of international law and relevant resolutions.

Israel considers all of Jerusalem its capital, while the Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. Most countries maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv or nearby, arguing that Jerusalem’s final status should be determined through Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

For Aisen, who arrived in Bogotá eight weeks ago, the initial assignment was to rebuild diplomatic ties after former Colombian President Gustavo Petro severed relations with Israel in May 2024 over the war in Gaza.

“We did not come with the intention of returning to what we were,” Aisen said. “We came to strengthen our relations and go much further.”

The countries have since restored their diplomatic representation, appointed ambassadors, and resumed practical cooperation. Reciprocal visa requirements ended on September 1, while Colombia lifted Petro’s prohibition on coal exports to Israel.

Israel and Colombia restore trade and security cooperation

The free trade agreement required a more technical process. On October 13, the governments completed an exchange of diplomatic notes restoring the agreement, which originally took effect in August 2020.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry described the move as reversing Petro’s termination of the agreement. Aisen explained that the previous Colombian government had attempted to cancel the treaty but had not completed the country’s domestic procedure for withdrawing from an international agreement. The new government therefore needed to reactivate the existing accord rather than negotiate a replacement.

The renewed economic relationship builds on decades of commercial and security cooperation. Colombia has long used Israeli military equipment, and the governments are discussing expanded ties in cybersecurity, technology, agriculture, and other fields.

In a recorded message to Wednesday’s reception, de la Espriella described Israel as a friend and strategic partner. He identified security, intelligence, counterterrorism, organized crime, agriculture, science, innovation, and trade as priorities.

Colombia distances itself from international action against Israel

Colombia’s diplomatic realignment also extends to international institutions.

On September 18, Bogotá notified the International Court of Justice that it was withdrawing its declaration of intervention in South Africa’s case accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention during the Gaza war.

The court confirmed the withdrawal four days later. Colombia had intervened in April 2024 to submit its interpretation of the convention. Its withdrawal does not end South Africa’s case against Israel, which rejects the genocide allegations.

The court decision is separate from Colombia’s request to leave the Hague Group, which Bula announced at Wednesday’s reception.

“We reject that approach,” Bula said of the coalition.

He presented the request as another step toward restoring a relationship that began when Colombia recognized Israel in 1949 and established diplomatic ties in 1957.

Antisemitism concerns emerge amid renewed Israel ties

Bula said Colombia’s Foreign Ministry would work with other government ministries and the Confederation of Jewish Communities of Colombia to develop a national initiative against antisemitism.

The effort would also draw on advice from the US State Department’s Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, he said, while seeking Israeli participation.

During Wednesday’s reception, Bula criticized the previous administration for what he described as its failure to condemn terrorism clearly and accused it of contributing to “what may be the most virulent wave of antisemitism in Colombia’s recent history.”

“The government of President de la Espriella, this Foreign Ministry and this foreign minister will not remain silent,” Bula said. “We will not let this scourge go unchecked and unchallenged across the country.”

Aisen said attitudes toward Israel became increasingly polarized after the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza. She said some anti-Israel rhetoric had drawn on longstanding antisemitic conspiracy theories.

“If you open my Twitter account, you will see comments that go back to medieval antisemitism,” she said.

One example she cited concerned Israel’s humanitarian response to Colombia’s devastating earthquake in August. Israel deployed approximately 80 rescue and medical personnel and sent additional medical equipment following the disaster.

Aisen said online allegations had circulated claiming that Israeli rescue personnel had come to Colombia to take children. She described the claims as an example of antisemitic conspiracy theories directed against Israel.

Her particular concern is that hostility toward the Israeli government can extend to Colombia’s Jewish population, with Jews held responsible for Israeli policies or actions.

“The Colombian Jewish community became guilty for everything that the State of Israel does,” she said. “That antisemitism has to be confronted.”

Yet Aisen said her personal experience in Colombia had been markedly different from the hostility she encountered online.

“I feel extremely welcome by everyone I meet, not only people in the government but also members of the general public,” she said. “They thank me for Israel being back in Colombia. They feel that Israel can contribute a great deal to the country and that those two lost years were regrettable.”

Marcos Peckel, executive director of the Confederation of Jewish Communities of Colombia and commissioner to combat antisemitism at the Latin American Jewish Congress, attended both the embassy inauguration and Wednesday evening’s reception.

“For those of us who know the history of what this means, it gave us goosebumps,” Peckel told The Media Line. “It shows that President Abelardo de la Espriella is completely determined to take the relationship between Israel and Colombia to its highest level.”

Peckel, who has served on the World Jewish Congress Executive Committee since 2013, said Colombia’s population, regional influence, and history of commercial and security cooperation with Israel give the embassy decision considerable diplomatic weight.

Peckel’s concern is whether the renewed relationship can survive future changes of government.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Colombian cities on October 14 to protest de la Espriella’s domestic policies, with some also opposing his renewed partnership with Israel and closer ties to the United States.

Aisen acknowledged that Israel has become part of Colombia’s domestic political divide. The Jerusalem embassy, one of de la Espriella’s most visible foreign policy decisions, could become a target for his opponents, she said.

“As an Israeli, it hurts me to see that Israel became an issue that divides the public,” she said. “It should not be that way.”

Peckel believes cooperation in agriculture, water management, scientific research, trade, and other practical fields could make bilateral relations more resistant to political shifts. He wants partnerships with institutions and influential sectors of Colombian society that can endure beyond the current administration.

“These changes have to outlast governments,” Peckel said. “The challenge in Latin America is to create very strong roots with the people and with important sectors such as agriculture and water, so that if another government comes, it cannot simply undo what is being built.”

British police said on Friday they were assessing a social media post after the wife of National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell appeared to express support for Palestine Action, a pro-Palestinian group banned as a terrorist organisation.

Journalist and author Sarah Helm, who is married to Powell, responded on X/Twitter to a post about the Irish novelist Sally Rooney, who this week announced her books would no longer be sold in Britain over her plans to use her royalties to support Palestine Action.

Helm said in the post: “God help us authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action.”

God help us authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action. Sounds like Adam would have all our books swept off the shelves in a jiffy.

— Sarah Helm (@SarahHelm1) October 15, 2026

In response, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said the post is “being assessed to determine whether any further police investigation may be required”.

Palestine Action proscribed under UK terrorism laws

Palestine Action was proscribed under terrorism laws last year, so expressing support for the group constitutes a criminal offence.

Asked for comment, a government spokeswoman said: “These views are held by an individual who does not represent the government in any capacity.”

Palestine Action has carried out protests including vandalism in support of Palestinian causes, and denies that this amounts to terrorism. Four members of the group were jailed in June over a 2024 raid on a factory ​operated by defence firm Elbit, which caused more than £1 million of damage.

Amnesty International says more than 3,500 people have been arrested in Britain for alleged support of Palestine Action since it was banned last year, many of them for holding up placards.

Palestine Action challenged the government’s decision to ban the group, but the Court of Appeal ruled in June that the proscription was lawful.

Former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) deputy director Israel Hasson called for an investigation into the failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, following statements by the then-Prime Minister’s military secretary, Maj.-Gen. Avi Gil and then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar that contradict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s accounts of events before and after the attack.

Speaking on 103FM, Hasson addressed the conflicting accounts and questioned how Israel had reached a point where senior security officials and political leaders were publicly disputing responsibility rather than conducting a comprehensive examination of the failures.

“I sat through the Shin Bet’s investigation for four and a half hours,” Hasson said. “An investigation is measured by whether there are questions that were not asked.”

“I told them, ‘I salute you. I don’t have a single additional question that you haven’t asked yourselves, but I’m leaving here without an answer.'”

Hasson pointed to the scale of the October 7 attack and the absence of specific intelligence warning beforehand.

“Three thousand people participated in this attack, and we had no concrete warning,” he said.

Former Shin Bet deputy chief explains intelligence available to Netanyahu’s military secretary

Hasson emphasized that the prime minister’s military secretary has access to a broader intelligence picture than any single intelligence agency possesses at a given moment.

“Avi Gil has the complete intelligence picture, which is not available at every moment within the Shin Bet,” he explained.

“There are 15 officers in the military secretariat. All of Israel’s intelligence information is available to them. His picture is much more comprehensive and complete.”

According to Hasson, the military secretariat is responsible for consolidating intelligence assessments from different agencies and presenting them to the prime minister in an organized manner.

“To avoid a situation where, in quotation marks, everyone is confusing the prime minister, the information goes through a channel that can say: ‘This is what the Shin Bet says, this is what Military Intelligence says, this is what the Mossad says, and what another hundred bodies are saying.'”

Hasson says inquiry must establish responsibility for October 7 failures

Hasson expressed frustration over the public disputes surrounding the events of October 7, arguing that a formal investigation is needed to determine where the failures occurred.

“It is so sad that we have reached this point,” he said. “It is so sad that we are fighting in public instead of going and investigating this matter.”

He said a commission of inquiry might not necessarily uncover information unfamiliar to experienced security officials, but would provide the public with a clearer understanding of the failures and their causes.

“A commission of inquiry probably won’t discover something I don’t already know,” Hasson said.

“But it will show the public where the problem was and what caused it. Conclusions will have to be drawn and corrections made to prevent something like this from happening again.”

Hasson cites Agranat Commission on political and military responsibility

Hasson acknowledged that not all intelligence sources can be disclosed to the public, but questioned whether withholding certain information would undermine the ability to establish responsibility.

“It is perfectly legitimate that you and I are not given access to all our intelligence sources,” he said. “The question is whether that currently affects the conclusions.”

He referred to the Agranat Commission, which investigated the failures surrounding the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and its findings regarding intelligence assessments and political responsibility.

“The Agranat Commission said that when there is intent and capability, you do not wait for a warning,” Hasson said.

“They established that. They also established that if the military echelon says one thing, it does not absolve the political echelon of responsibility.”

Hasson argued that security decision-makers should prioritize precautionary action rather than wait for definitive intelligence before responding to a potential threat.

“It is better to call off a state of heightened readiness than to start looking for a reason to act,” he said.

He also referred to previous recommendations to target Hamas leaders in the years leading up to October 7.

“I know how many times in the five years before 2023 there were demands to strike Hamas leaders,” Hasson said.

“There were demands to neutralize them. They said the money was going toward armament. They said everything they said.”

Former Shin Bet deputy chief addresses Ronen Bar’s lawsuit against Netanyahu

Hasson also addressed the lawsuit filed by former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar against Netanyahu, describing the dispute as extending beyond the former agency director personally.

“In my view, this is not Ronen Bar filing a lawsuit against the prime minister. This is the Shin Bet filing a lawsuit against the prime minister,” Hasson said.

He sharply criticized Netanyahu’s allegations against Bar, calling the extremely serious.

“He attacked him at a level that amounted to betrayal,” Hasson said.

The decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay – who chaired a UN commission that concluded Israel was committing genocide in Gaza – should be a wake-up call. Whether intended or not, the award signals how receptive the world has become to that accusation. Israel’s strategic environment is changing dramatically, and our future is at stake.

Israelis are divided into two camps. One believes the country is doing well. After recovering from the October 7 massacre, Israel’s security position is stable – even stronger than before, as the Yellow Lines in Gaza and southern Lebanon attest. The economy is thriving despite three years of war – witness the strong shekel. And despite our bitter divisions, civil society remains vibrant, enterprising, and marked by solidarity – witness Israel’s high ranking in the World Happiness Report.

The other camp sees a country in crisis. The war drags on, with no diplomatic settlement in sight to ensure lasting stability. The flawed strategic assumptions that preceded October 7 remain unexamined, as no official commission of inquiry has been established to date. This leaves us vulnerable to another disaster. The ultra-Orthodox community shirks its share of the national burden, threatening our economic and security future. Trust in state institutions is eroding, and social tensions are mounting – to the point that some fear civil war.

Yet both camps must confront a danger that transcends their differences: Israel stands on the brink of severe international isolation. That could trap us all in a harsh new reality with potentially grave consequences. This strategic warning demands a fundamental change of course at home, across political lines.

Israel is on the brink of international isolation

Europe, Israel’s largest trading partner, is moving toward sanctions that could seriously damage our economy. Britain and 11 other countries, including Canada, have announced or are considering restrictions on trade in settlement goods. But Israel’s economy does not stop at the Green Line. Almost every major Israeli company could find itself exposed to looming sanctions.

That could trigger a chain reaction. Businesses worldwide might avoid trading with Israel for fear of being branded sanctions violators. Even friends of Israel could pull back – not out of hostility but out of commercial caution. A creeping de facto boycott could transform BDS – boycott, divestment, and sanctions – from a radical fringe cause into a sweeping movement that reshapes life in Israel. We could become a pariah state alongside Russia, North Korea, and Iran.

The United States is Israel’s principal security and diplomatic anchor. Relations with American administrations have sometimes been tense, but broad bipartisan public support held firm. Today, the reverse is true – and this is the heart of the strategic warning.

Cooperation with the current administration is impressive. But it offers tactical reassurance while obscuring a troubling strategic shift: American sympathy for Israel is eroding. The decline extends beyond Democrats, reaching younger Republicans and even young Evangelical Christians.

Anti-Israel attitudes once associated with the radical Left and the fascist Right have gained a foothold in the mainstream. For the first time in decades, Americans are no more likely to sympathize with Israelis than with Palestinians. They are David; we are Goliath.

Israel is on a slippery slope toward a dangerous defeat – economic and diplomatic, and perhaps even in the security arena when a new US administration takes office in just over two years. No one can know how likely each part of this scenario is to materialize.

Shifts in public opinion, national interests, and governments abroad could still work in our favor. But we cannot cling to the complacent belief that “everything will be okay,” or to the illusion that an isolated, self-sufficient “Sparta” could survive. A sudden diplomatic collapse – a “6:29 a.m.” moment echoing the shock of October 7 – is a real possibility.

The forces driving these developments are complex, and not all are within Israel’s control. Still, coalition and opposition alike have a duty to weigh every action, every statement, and every failure to act in light of the long-term implications for Israel’s diplomatic standing, national security, and economy.

This is not a call for Israel to sacrifice its vital interests to appease world opinion. But there is ample room for constructive action. We can take steps most Israelis support – such as stamping out Jewish terrorism – and refrain from rhetoric most Israelis reject, including calls to flatten Gaza or force its residents to emigrate. Israelis in both camps share an overriding interest in preventing this strategic warning from becoming a tragic reality.

The writer is president of the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) and professor emeritus of law at Bar-Ilan University.

Israelis will vote on security on October 27. The Torah portion read 10 days earlier tells them what security is, and who has failed to deliver it.

Ten days before Israelis vote, the Torah portion of Noah tells of two catastrophes: the flood and the Tower of Babel. Twice humanity undoes itself: first by tearing itself apart and then by forcing itself into one mold.

The destruction is not done by an enemy at the gate. It is inflicted from within.

The Torah charges the flood generation with a word no Israeli can hear without flinching: “hamas.” The Malbim explains it as the robbery of justice and fairness: stolen courts and stolen fair dealing, the two things that stand between ordinary people and the strong.

Israel has met “hamas” from outside with courage, at a terrible price. This election asks about the other kind.

Israelis will vote, as always, on security.

A reservist friend of mine, a Mizrachi father of three, told me: “I don’t vote Likud because I admire [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu. I vote because I want my kids to sleep, because I don’t trust the alternatives to keep us safe, and because I’m tired of being spoken about like I’m a problem.”

He is not a problem. He deserves an answer, not a lecture.

What makes a country secure, not merely powerful?

Power is the capacity to strike, and Israel has it in abundance. Security is a society’s capacity to absorb a blow, hold together, and sustain itself. Power did not save Be’eri or Nir Oz.

The prophet Isaiah teaches that peace, quiet, and lasting security are the work of righteousness. Security is not where a nation begins but what it harvests.

Israel’s founders built the state on “the foundations of freedom, justice, and peace.” Three stones. Test any government against them.

The first is freedom, which lives or dies by the rule of law, binding the ruler as tightly as the ruled. Without it, freedom is a favor, withdrawn at will by whoever holds power.

Babel is the Torah’s portrait of its absence: one language, one purpose, and a power from which nothing would be withheld. That is not a strong government, but an unrestrained one. Nobody living under it is free.

The outgoing coalition set about building that tower, changing how judges are chosen and legislating that from January 2027 the attorney-general’s opinions will not bind the government. The tower was visible from Gaza.

In March 2023, Yoav Gallant, then the defense minister, warned that the rift over the judicial overhaul posed “a clear and immediate danger” to the security of the state. The next day Netanyahu announced his dismissal.

In July, the head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) warned him of war, judging that our enemies saw weakness. On October 7, our enemies acted on what they saw.

Avi Gil, Netanyahu’s military secretary that morning, broke his silence last week: recommendations for targeted operations in Gaza were not accepted.

He also said the prime minister prioritized his coalition over a deal to bring home living hostages. Netanyahu claimed Gil chose not to wake him.

I cannot tell you whose account is true. Neither can you, because three years on, there is still no state commission of inquiry.

THE SECOND stone is fairness: a society invested in the other is the opposite of “hamas.” When Reuben and Gad asked to settle beyond the Jordan River, Moses asked whether they would sit at home while their brothers went to war. They promised to march at the front.

In July, while reservists served round after round, the coalition passed legislation to protect draft evaders from arrest. In September, the Supreme Court struck the law down as an unconstitutional injury to equality.

Meanwhile, one Israeli in six lives in poverty. Men and women do not fight hardest for a tower built on their backs. They fight hardest for a home where everyone counts.

The third stone is peace, and here the record is starkest: for 15 years, Netanyahu’s governments claimed they could “manage the conflict,” containing Hamas with periodic blows and Qatari cash he allowed into Gaza from 2018, by his own reported account, to keep the Palestinians divided.

Molad’s study, The Failure of Deterrence, concluded that this concept “planted the seeds of the catastrophe.” Quiet bought is not peace built.

Tamir Heyman, former head of Military Intelligence and now head of the Institute for National Security Studies, described an unwritten security doctrine taking hold since October 7: war as a permanent condition; peace no longer a goal but a means; separation from the US as “inevitable and even essential;” and the state’s Jewish identity placed above its democratic one.

The Declaration of Independence David Ben-Gurion read says the opposite: a Jewish state built on freedom, justice, and peace, with equal rights for every citizen.

Ben-Gurion taught that the state is built in the quiet between wars; this doctrine builds it by and for war. It was never put to the people. It is being put to you now.

Washington is already answering: 60% of American adults view Israel unfavorably, and in June, US Vice President JD Vance said that in Israel’s place, he “might not be attacking the only powerful ally” it has left.

Israel used to count on both American parties. Thanks to this government, it cannot count on one.

Three foundation stones, and on every one the record runs the wrong way. That is the opposite of security.

After the flood, God set a rainbow and promised never again to destroy the world. He undertook what He would not do, and nothing about what we should do. The rainbow is no guarantee of our safety. It is a transfer of responsibility.

I have spent enough years close to politics, including as chief executive of Britain’s Conservative Party, to be wary of politicians’ promises, and I cannot promise you the opposition is equal to every task.

But the test is not who sounds toughest.

Ask three questions: Who will restore institutions every citizen can trust? Who will share the burden fairly, so the reservist no longer carries it alone? Who will rebuild the alliances and political horizon that turn power into lasting security?

Noah’s father named him with a prayer: that this child would bring comfort from the toil of their hands. Every Israeli parent prays the same: that the children sleep, the sirens stop, and the uniform can finally be hung up.

My reservist friend deserves that comfort. He will not get it from the man who has promised it since 2009 and delivered the polar opposite.

On October 27, when we vote on security, we must vote for the real thing: the foundation stones that enable us to be a free people in our land.

The writer is co-founder of The London Initiative, a former chief executive of the Conservative Party, and a former chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council.

Israel’s media is reporting astonishing news this week: in the polls, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc has overtaken that of Gadi Eisenkot.

After all the failures, disasters, scandals, and debacles of recent years, could Netanyahu really be heading for another victory? According to the reports, apparently so. In reality, not so much. We are seeing a misreading of the polls.

According to recent surveys, Netanyahu’s bloc has about 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, while Eisenkot’s bloc stands at 51 or 52 – but only because of artificial exclusions.

When all the parties opposed to Netanyahu’s continued rule, meaning the right-wing and haredi (ultra-Orthodox) bloc, are counted together, the total reaches about 67 seats. That is a solid parliamentary majority, six seats above the threshold required, and virtually unprecedented in Israel’s modern political era.

For at least the past half-century, since the end of Mapai’s one-party dominance era, a prime minister whose opponents held 67 seats two weeks before an election would have been described as heading toward defeat.

Instead, the public is being told that Netanyahu is leading.

How does this happen? Quite simply, the political blocs are being counted in a way that serves Netanyahu.

Parties opposed to him are excluded from the change bloc because they are not considered natural coalition partners, prefer a national unity government, or because they have ideological disagreements with other opposition parties.

The result is the false appearance of a close race, or even a right-wing advantage, when the numbers themselves tell a very different story.

Herein lies the fundamental mistake: a solid political bloc and a governing coalition are not the same thing. Elections first determine the balance of power in the Knesset. Only afterward do negotiations over forming a government begin.

A party can oppose Netanyahu without committing to join an Eisenkot government, and it can support a government from outside the coalition without becoming part of it. A recommendation to the president is another matter entirely.

The conflation of these concepts has become a powerful political tool in Netanyahu’s hands.

Three factors illustrate just how misleading the conventional arithmetic has become: the Reservists party, the Arab parties, and Ofer Winter’s party.

Start with the Reservists party. This new outfit, which receives four seats in some polls, is excluded from the change bloc because its leaders favor a national unity government. Fine.

But a preference regarding the composition of a government is hardly equivalent to supporting Netanyahu’s continued rule.

The Reservists’ positions on the judicial overhaul, equality in military service, the political system, and even the Palestinian issue are considerably closer to those of the camp seeking to replace Netanyahu than to his alliance with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and the haredi parties.

Even if they are unwilling to commit in advance to an Eisenkot-led coalition, there is no political logic in portraying them as an entirely neutral force.

At the very least, they should be regarded as potential members of the change bloc, even if they would be reluctant partners who set conditions. Their preference for unity does nothing to change the fact that the current government is a long way from the political vision they present.

Arab parties and Ofer Winter

The second distortion is much larger and more consequential: the Arab parties.

This may be Netanyahu’s most impressive political achievement.

For years, he has managed to persuade large sections of the public, including his political opponents, that the votes of Israel’s Arab citizens somehow count for less when determining who has won an election.

The Right is allowed to count all its natural allies, while the Center-Left is expected to behave as though a substantial portion of its potential majority simply does not exist.

There are, of course, profound ideological differences between the Arab parties and the Zionist parties of the Center and Left. Israel’s Jewish character creates discomfort, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and national security present genuine difficulties.

It is also clear that Eisenkot, Avigdor Liberman, and Naftali Bennett are reluctant to form a government dependent on Arab parties, or even to be seen as willing to do so.

But this is where the confusion Netanyahu has so successfully cultivated begins: whether a particular party will join a coalition is a different question from whether its seats can prevent Netanyahu from forming a government.

Israeli history has already provided examples. In 1992, Labor and Meretz won 56 seats, while the five seats held by Hadash and the Arab Democratic Party gave Yitzhak Rabin’s camp a parliamentary majority of 61. Nobody doubted Rabin had won.

Rabin formed a government with Shas, but after its departure he relied on outside support from the Arab parties.

In 2021, Yair Lapid succeeded in assembling the coalition that removed Netanyahu from power, with the four seats of the Islamist Ra’am party forming an essential part of its majority: 61, to which Bennett, much like Shas in Rabin’s day, simply added his seats.

Netanyahu, by contrast, is never required to explain why the haredi parties, which oppose drafting their young men into the military and demand budgets and privileges that provoke widespread public resentment, are legitimate partners in his bloc. Their seats are counted automatically.

But when it comes to Arab parties, ideological disagreements suddenly become grounds for excluding them from the calculation. Suddenly, unlike in years past, they have disappeared from the opposition bloc in the media’s pie charts.

Netanyahu has managed to turn this double standard into a political convention.

The third factor, and perhaps the most intriguing of all, is a new party led by firebrand Brig.-Gen. (res.) Ofer Winter.

Winter has declared that he will recommend to the president that Netanyahu be tasked with forming the next government, so it is natural to count him initially with the Right.

Although Winter is an unmistakably right-wing figure, he also supports drafting haredi men into the military, a position that puts him on a collision course with Netanyahu’s haredi partners.

How can he sit in a government dependent on parties that oppose one of the central reforms he wants to advance?

Suppose Winter recommends Netanyahu, as promised. Even with Winter, however, Netanyahu reaches only 53 seats, according to the numbers under discussion. He is eight short.

A presidential recommendation cannot manufacture parliamentary seats that do not exist, and if Netanyahu cannot recruit additional partners, he cannot form a government.

At that point, another possibility could open up for Winter: joining a government of change focused on rebuilding the country.

There is no guarantee he would choose that path. But there is also no reason to assume that a declaration of loyalty to Netanyahu during an election campaign necessarily determines his behavior under every possible post-election scenario.

Urgent national tasks

The next government of change would face an enormous agenda, much of which would not require agreement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It would need to repair Israel’s foreign relations, address the military draft crisis and relations with the haredim, restore basic standards of good governance, combat rampant crime, and establish an independent state commission of inquiry into the failures of October 7.

These are urgent national tasks on which broad agreement could emerge, even among people with radically different views about the future of the territories.

Winter would not be a natural partner for a major diplomatic initiative with the Palestinians. But such an initiative is unlikely to get underway in the first year or two of the next government anyway.

During that period, simply preventing further damage would be an important achievement: curbing Jewish terrorism in the West Bank, halting the establishment of illegal outposts, and avoiding measures that would deepen Israel’s international isolation.

Agreement with Winter on some of these issues would be difficult, but there is no reason to assume in advance that every compromise is impossible.

Eisenkot, Bennett, and Lapid are projecting growing confidence that they can form a government based on a Jewish parliamentary majority, without relying on the Arab parties. Clearly, that confidence rests on precisely the scenarios described above.

And with the addition of outside support from the Arab factions, something they have already promised free of charge, such a government could conceivably enjoy an enormous parliamentary majority.

The coming election could therefore very well bring Netanyahu’s rule to an end.

That possibility may be considerably closer than the public realizes, simply because the media continues to present the political landscape according to rules that Netanyahu himself has managed to establish.

Caution is necessary, of course, because polls are not votes cast at the ballot box. But it is equally important to read the polls correctly. That matters if the change bloc is to find the fighting spirit needed to bring masses of voters to the polls.

And there is room for hope. As Theodor Herzl famously put it, “If you will it, it is no dream.”

Especially when the alternative is failure and Netanyahu somehow remaining in power, which would be a catastrophe threatening the very future of the state.

The writer is a former Cairo-based Middle East editor and London-based Europe/Africa editor of the Associated Press. He served as chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem and authored two books about Israel.

US President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that Saudi Arabia would likely accept assistance from Israel in its fight against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, adding that efforts to bring the kingdom into the Abraham Accords could be revived.

When asked whether Saudi Arabia should accept the assistance Israel was offering against the Houthis, Trump replied, “Yes, I think so.”

“I think they will do it. Absolutely,” Trump said when asked whether he had spoken with Saudi Arabia about the possibility. “Israel has been very helpful to Saudi Arabia, and yes, they would certainly do it,” he added.

Trump raises possibility of expanding Abraham Accords to include Saudi Arabia

Trump also expressed confidence that the Abraham Accords could gain renewed momentum with Saudi Arabia.

“Perhaps more than ever,” Trump said when asked whether the accords were back on the table with the kingdom.“The Abraham Accords are one of our greatest achievements, and yes, I would say perhaps now more than ever,” he said.

“But Saudi Arabia is very happy to receive support from Israel and from us,” Trump added.

Saudi Arabia has not established diplomatic relations with Israel, and the kingdom’s potential participation in the Abraham Accords has remained a major goal of Trump’s Middle East policy.

Trump previously said that a US-Saudi civilian nuclear cooperation agreement was contingent on Saudi Arabia joining the accords and normalizing relations with Israel.

The comments came as the Houthis intensified attacks against Saudi Arabia. The Houthis struck Saudi Arabia’s presidential palace complex on Thursday, killing five, and in a separate attack struck Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, killing 17 and injuring over 300.

Reuters contributed to this report.

For thousands of years, Jews lived in exile, far from the land of our ancestors. Scattered across the world, we dreamed of returning to the country we had once inhabited. Wherever Jewish history carried us, our hearts remained attached to the same place.

We lived in countless countries, spoke different languages, and belonged to different cultures. Through centuries of wandering, one truth remained unchanged. There is only one Jewish homeland.

The first Zionist

Though there is only one Jewish homeland, there are many roads that lead home. This was always true. Terah, the father of Abraham, was raised in a world of idolatry. Yet he felt an inner tug to leave Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq, and journey toward the Land of Israel. He received no Divine command. He did not believe in the one God, yet something stirred within him, drawing him toward a distant land.

Ironically, he was the first Zionist, the first person described by the Torah as setting out for the Land of Israel from his homeland. His motives are unknown. He gathered his son Abraham and other family members and traveled toward Canaan. Along the way, Terah settled in Haran, where he eventually died.

His son Abraham later heard the voice of God commanding him to continue the journey his father had begun. Abraham traveled to the Land of Israel with a religious mission: to spread belief in the one God. Yet his pagan father had begun the journey.

Evidently, God implanted within the Jewish soul an instinctive attachment to its homeland. He gave us the ability to respond to the pull of land, peoplehood, and historical destiny even without religious commitment or prophetic revelation. At history’s dawn, this attachment could awaken even in a heart that had not yet awakened to faith.

The age of “isms”

This ancient echo reemerged millennia later. The 19th century witnessed a dramatic weakening of organized religion. The Enlightenment and the Age of Reason promised to lift humanity out of the ignorance and suffering of the medieval world. Science, discovery, and individualism propelled humanity toward an era of progress.

Organized religion, and Christianity in particular, was increasingly blamed for centuries of human suffering. Its unholy alliance with monarchy and political power had contributed to bloodshed and feudalism. Religion’s walls were crumbling.

Into this widening void emerged new ideologies. Society abhors a vacuum, and ideologies rushed to replace religion. Socialism, utilitarianism, communism, and other movements competed for the hearts and minds of Europeans.

It was the great age of “isms,” as new systems of thought offered competing visions of human identity, social order, and historical progress.

Yet perhaps the most powerful “ism” of all was nationalism. Increasingly, people defined themselves primarily by their nation rather than their religion. “John” was no longer primarily a Protestant who happened to live in England, but a proud Englishman who happened to be Protestant.

“Gustave” was no longer primarily a Catholic who happened to live in France, but a proud Frenchman who happened to be Catholic. National identity swept across a continent long shaped by religion and religious rivalries.

A Jewish awakening

Unfortunately, Judaism did not fare much better than other religions. With Emancipation, for the first time in our long exile, we were invited to become full-fledged members of an enlightened European society.

Many combined these newfound freedoms with traditional Jewish observance, but others abandoned their Jewish roots entirely.

Many Jews look back with reverence upon the great age of the yeshivot, when brilliant young men devoted years, sometimes decades, to intensive Torah study. This remarkable era helped lay the foundations for the phenomenal growth of Torah study in the modern world.

Yet there was another side to this history. Far more Jews were drawn into the universities and intellectual circles of Europe than into its great yeshivot. For many, the door swung in only one direction: away from Jewish religious life.

Millions of Jews faced the threat of losing their Jewish identity and disappearing into the surrounding culture. Traditional religious appeals no longer spoke to them. If Jewish identity depended exclusively upon religious commitment, an enormous portion of the Jewish people was in danger of being lost to history.

As Jewish identity weakened across Europe, God awakened that ancient echo. In the age of nationalism, Jewish nationalism emerged, offering Jews a way to identify with their land, their people, and their history. It captured the hearts of Jews, including many who had drifted away from religious observance.

Secular Zionism was a Divine impulse, awakening an ancient attachment to our land and people that had lain dormant for centuries. As religious commitment weakened, God stirred a different form of Jewish consciousness. Millions of Jews today express their deepest connection to their people through their commitment to our national project of return and to the modern State of Israel.

Oct. 7 demonstrated how deeply the State of Israel stands at the center of contemporary Jewish identity and how much more vulnerable Jewish life would be without it.

This became even more evident in the subsequent eruption of anti-Zionism and its frequent convergence with antisemitism, which further underscored Israel’s centrality to Jewish identity and the Jewish future. Israel has become a powerful anchor of Jewish belonging, even for Jews whose connection to religious observance is limited.

Thousands of years ago, Terah felt the pull of our land without profound religious conviction. Thousands of years later, countless Jews, far less detached from God than Terah had been, followed a similar path. They felt drawn to the same land, the same people, and the same historical destiny.

Across the centuries, Jews have found their way home through countless different journeys, shaped by different convictions, circumstances, dreams, and personal attachments. There is one home, but there are many roads which lead home.

Another road home

The roads leading to our homeland are as varied as the Jewish people themselves. Some are paved with religious conviction, others with national identity and historical consciousness.

Many Jews harbor a lifelong dream of aliyah and eventually fulfill that dream by building their lives and families in Israel. Still other roads emerge unexpectedly, shaped by circumstances, personal attachments, and the bonds of family.

My mother, of blessed memory, passed away this past Sukkot. She took a different road to our one homeland. We were raised in a Zionist home, though not an especially ideological one, and Zionism was not a central part of our upbringing.

Our family grew up in Brooklyn during the 1970s, when it was a thriving center of Modern Orthodox Jewish life, with flourishing synagogues, schools, and communities.

Moving to Israel was never part of her plan. However, her children developed a deep attachment to Israel, and all eventually moved here and built their families.

Wanting to be close to her children, grandchildren, and eventually great-grandchildren, my mother and father moved to Israel at an advanced age.

Their aliyah was not the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. It was not driven primarily by ideology or Zionist conviction. It was driven by a deep love of family.

Yet leaving behind a familiar world and beginning a new life so late in life required enormous courage and determination. I will always be grateful to my Mommy for making that sacrifice and giving us those precious years together. My mother made that journey, and now she is buried just a few minutes from our home in Gush Etzion.

There are many roads that lead home. Some are paved with ideology, conviction, and Zionist dreams. Others are paved with something simpler and more personal: the love of family.

May God bless her soul, and may her love and devotion continue to inspire our family for generations.

The writer is a rabbi and educator at Yeshivat Har Etzion (Gush). Find his latest book, Echoes of Rashi: Bereishit, at mtaraginbooks.com

Thai law enforcement authorities conducted a multi-agency inspection of the Chabad House on Chang Khlan Road in Chiang Mai on Wednesday, led by Deputy Provincial Governor Boonlue Thammatharanurak, finding no legal violations or irregularities at the Jewish community center.

At a press conference after the inspection, the deputy governor said Thai law does not clearly regulate premises that also serve as Jewish places of worship. He noted that gatherings primarily take place on Fridays and Saturdays, attracting approximately 100 to 200 participants, mostly Israelis attending communal meals, and recommended that the center maintain a “low-key” approach to its activities.

The inspection involved representatives from the provincial administration, military, immigration police, provincial cultural authorities, Chiang Mai Municipality, and the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC). Authorities reported finding no violations, with the deputy governor describing the visit as a “routine inspection” that had not been prompted by any complaint.

Officials examined the legality of the property’s lease and operating licenses. According to local media reports, Chabad rents restaurant premises from a local resident under a lease valid until 2028 and holds a food service license covering up to 200 square meters, as well as an alcohol license issued by the Excise Department.

Chiang Mai Chabad inspection follows raids on Jewish institutions in Bangkok

The Chiang Mai inspection differed significantly from the raids carried out in Bangkok on October 8, when Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI) conducted searches under judicial warrants, with the involvement of the justice minister and several government agencies.

The Bangkok operation involved police, tax authorities, immigration officials, the Lands Department, and the Anti-Money Laundering Office, among other agencies.

During searches at the Chabad Foundation, the Jewish Association of Thailand, and related offices, investigators seized documents, identified foreign workers from Myanmar and Laos without valid work permits, and found dozens of companies registered at the same address.

The operation formed part of an investigation into suspected nominee ownership arrangements, property holdings, and financial activities involving Israeli-linked businesses.

Unlike the Bangkok raids, the Chiang Mai inspection was presented by authorities as a routine enforcement visit, with no reports of search warrants or seized materials.

The Chabad House in Chiang Mai has operated since 2004 and has undergone inspections over the years. However, a coordinated inspection involving so many enforcement agencies had never previously taken place at the center in more than two decades of operation.

Thailand expands investigations into Israeli-linked businesses and Chabad centers

The inspection comes amid a broader wave of enforcement operations involving Chabad institutions across Thailand, including Phuket, Bangkok, and other locations.

The operations, expanded partly under instructions from Thailand’s deputy interior minister, are linked to investigations into business and property networks associated with Israeli nationals.

Authorities have raised concerns regarding foreign ownership, financing arrangements, and commercial practices, against a backdrop of public tensions involving Israeli tourists.

Israeli Ambassador to Thailand Dr. Alona Fisher-Kamm visited the provincial government building and met with the deputy governor approximately one month ago. She also visited the Chiang Mai Chabad House separately during the same period.

Thai authorities said they would continue monitoring the premises but emphasized that there were currently “no irregularities.”

Journalists were not permitted to enter the building during the inspection. According to reporters at the scene, Chabad security personnel prevented them from entering.

Chiang Mai Chabad rabbi says center operates in full compliance with Thai law

Rabbi Yossi Pikel and his wife, Chani, have served as Chabad emissaries in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, for 17 years.

The couple welcomes Jewish visitors and travelers to the city, providing assistance, guidance, and support throughout their stay.

The Chabad House offers prayer services, Shabbat and holiday meals, and classes on Hasidic teachings and the weekly Torah portion.

The center also operates a synagogue, a kosher meat restaurant offering packaged food for travelers, a women’s mikveh (ritual bath), a travelers’ shop, and additional services.

Speaking to Walla, Rabbi Pikel said the inspection had been coordinated in advance. He explained that inspections take place periodically but acknowledged that a joint visit involving so many agencies was unusual.

“I’m glad they came to inspect, and I’m glad they saw that everything was in order,” Pikel said. “We operate by the book and try to do everything properly.”

The rabbi also emphasized his efforts to build positive relations with the local Thai community, noting that the restaurant is open to Thai residents as well as Jewish and Israeli visitors.

He said that all visitors are welcome, subject to the center’s security screening procedures.

“The place is open to everyone,” Pikel said.

Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was wounded during a Friday altercation between extremist settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank, with the IDF confirming the account later on Friday.

Footage seen by The Jerusalem Post appears to show Levine kneeling on a path in a press jacket and helmet, as colleagues run over to carry her to safety.

Police launched an investigation into the incident after receiving an IDF report of the West Bank clashes, according to an Israel Police spokesperson.

Palestinian media reported that Levine was beaten, sustaining fractures and cuts in the violence near Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah. Israeli sources have not independently verified this.

Levine, speaking from a hospital bed, said that she had been kicked “about 50 times,” adding that if she hadn’t been wearing her black jacket and helmet, she “probably wouldn’t be here at all, because they just kept kicking me again and again.

“After about 10 minutes, they tried to make me get up; they pushed me back to the ground and continued kicking me,” she said. “I tried to hold on to my cameras and my side bag, but in the end they just ripped everything from me and kept kicking me.”

According to the IDF, soldiers initially fired warning shots into the air in an effort to disperse the crowd upon arriving on scene, eventually targeting an individual who approached them with a sharp object.

PMO: ‘Serious questions remain,’ facts ‘unclear’

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) condemned the attack in an X/Twitter post later on Friday, noting that the facts “remain unclear and are under investigation.”

“Israel unequivocally condemns violence against anyone – Jews, Arabs, Christians, or journalists,” the statement read. “Those responsible will be held accountable.”

The Prime Minister’s Office: The facts surrounding the confrontation near Abu Falah, during which Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was allegedly assaulted, remain unclear and are under investigation. Israel unequivocally condemns violence against anyone—Jews, Arabs, Christians or journalists. Those responsible will be held accountable. But serious questions remain. Reports indicate some 200 Arabs and far-left activists confronted approximately 40 Israeli youths. Footage shows masked individuals on both sides hurling objects, amid reports of fireworks fired at Jewish youths. Other footage appears to show Levine knocked down and immediately helped to her feet by the same unidentified individual. The investigation must establish the facts, including who initiated the violence. We will not allow disputed incidents to be exploited to demonize the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria. The facts must determine the conclusions. Not the headlines.

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 16, 2026

The statement indicated that “serious questions remain” regarding who specifically was responsible for the attack on Levine, emphasizing the presence of “200 Arabs and far-left activists… (and) approximately 40 Israeli youths” at the site of the attack.

“The investigation must establish the facts, including who initiated the violence,” the statement continued. “We will not allow disputed incidents to be exploited to demonize the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria. The facts must determine the conclusions. Not the headlines.”

Washington Post editor-in-chief Matt Murray also condemned the incident in a statement earlier on Friday, according to N12 News, accusing Israeli settlers of having attacked Levine, whom he emphasized “was wearing prominent identification marks that clearly identified her as a journalist.”

“We are appalled by this unjustified attack on a journalist who was doing her job,” he said. “We call on the authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and act on its findings.”

In addition, the US Embassy in Jerusalem told N12 that it is aware of the incident and is “monitoring the situation.”

“We condemn criminal violence and call for the investigation and prosecution of those responsible,” it said.

Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot also responded to the incident in a post on X/Twitter, calling it “unacceptable” and referring to the perpetrators as “violent lawbreakers.”

התיעוד של פורעי חוק אלימים תוקפים את צלמת ה״וושינגטון פוסט״, היידי לוין (בת ה-64), הוא בלתי מתקבל על הדעת. קומץ הפורעים הזה אינו מייצג את הציבור בישראל. מעשיו של קומץ זה מכתים מדינה שלמה ופוגע קשות בביטחון של אזרחי ישראל ולוחמי צה״ל כולם. אני מגבה את צה״ל בגינוי החד והברור לאירוע. חובה על משטרת ישראל לנקוט בצעדים קשים כלפי האלימות הפושעת הזו.

— Gadi Eisenkot – גדי איזנקוט (@gadi_eisenkot) October 16, 2026

“This handful of rioters does not represent the public in Israel. The actions of this handful stain an entire nation and severely harm the security of all Israeli citizens and IDF fighters,” he said. “I back the IDF in its sharp and clear condemnation of the incident. It is incumbent upon the Israel Police to take harsh measures against this criminal violence.”

Mateh Binyamin Regional Council accuses PA of bringing terrorists to attack Israelis

The Mateh Binyamin Regional Council provided a different course of events.

According to the council, the Palestinian Authority “led hundreds of anarchists and terrorists into a direct confrontation with Israelis near Abu Falah, all under the cover of the olive harvest.”

“Footage from the scene shows terrorists launching fireworks directly at people and hurling stones at Israelis, while journalists stand behind them, documenting this deliberate provocation,” the council said.

“The event was orchestrated by the PA; its patrol vehicles were present and highly visible at the scene, even though it is in Area B, where Israel holds responsibility for security,” it added.

“Clashes broke out between Arabs and Israelis, eventually being dispersed by Border Police officers who arrived at the location. According to reports, several activists were injured during the confrontations,” the council said.

The council did not explicitly comment on Levine’s reported wounds.

The event was part of four incidents of nationalist-motivated violence and clashes between Israelis and Palestinians which were reported overnight and on Friday morning at several locations across the West Bank, including several olive groves.

The incidents reportedly involved vehicles being set on fire, attacks on Palestinian olive harvesters, and attacks on Palestinian homes.

In the village of Burin, a confrontation broke out during the olive harvest. Additional incidents were reported in the village of Burqa, east of Ramallah, and in Turmus Ayya. The incidents reportedly included at least four vehicles being set on fire, one of which was a civil defense vehicle, and attacks on Palestinian olive harvesters.

In a separate incident, shortly before midnight, settlers reportedly attacked Palestinian homes in the Wadi al-Sheikh area of the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said that two wounded Palestinians, a 63-year-old woman and a 40-year-old man, had been treated and taken to the hospital. Another Palestinian was reportedly shot in the knee. 

Israeli security forces arrest fleeing suspect following manhunt

Israeli security forces arrested a suspect after he fled an olive grove near Kafr Kara, Israel Police announced later on Friday.

The police and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) conducted a manhunt for the suspect lasting several hours prior to his arrest.

An M-16 rifle was also found in the vicinity.

Defense Minister Israel Katz and senior military, police and prison officials have been placed under investigation in Italy over the treatment of Gaza flotilla activists, Italian prosecutors said on Friday.

The move expands an investigation that was previously focused on far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The case concerns suspected torture, kidnapping, personal injury, robbery and damage when Israeli forces intercepted small fleets of boats headed towards Gaza in 2025 and 2026, the Rome prosecutors’ office said in a statement.

Investigators opened the probe after complaints from 50 Italian citizens who were detained by Israeli authorities following two Global Sumud Flotilla missions in September to October 2025 and April to May 2026.

Katz did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ben-Gvir in June dismissed news that he was under investigation, saying he would “continue to stand proudly alongside our fighters.”

Death threats and beatings

Prosecutors said activists detained after the first mission had reported beatings, injuries, death threats, insults and accusations of terrorism.

Activists involved in the second mission reported even harsher treatment, including beatings in the dark, the use of tasers and rubber bullets, the statement said.

Investigators had identified various individuals forming the military and police chains of command involved in the operations, prosecutors said.

Besides Katz and Ben-Gvir, prosecutors named 12 senior Israeli military, police and prison officials as suspects, including military chief Eyal Zamir.

Zamir also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors said they had sent Israel a request for judicial assistance in June, seeking information needed to reconstruct events and establish individual responsibility. They did not say whether Israeli authorities had responded.

The prosecutors said they also held talks with the European Union’s judicial cooperation agency, Eurojust, because similar investigations into the two flotilla missions were underway in other unnamed European countries.

Under Italian law, crimes committed abroad against Italian citizens can be prosecuted in Rome.

Being placed under investigation in Italy does not imply guilt and does not automatically lead to a trial. However, if the probe determines that charges are warranted, prosecutors could lodge a formal request for trial.

Flotilla organizers say they aimed to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza by delivering humanitarian assistance. Israel says its naval blockade on Gaza is lawful.

The IDF killed Hamas Nukhba cell commander Maher Walid Omar Al-Husseini in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the military announced on Friday.

According to the IDF, Al-Husseini infiltrated the Kibbutz Re’im military base as part of Hamas’s October 7 massacre.

Since the 2023 attacks, the terrorist has continued his involvement in planning terror attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians, the military noted.

The announcement follows two separate Gaza strikes on Thursday, which killed an additional Hamas commander who participated in the October 7 massacre and a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist.

The Hamas commander, Mohammed Mohammed Abd al-Khalek Hala, was killed in northern Gaza, while the PIJ terrorist, Ahmad Jabrin Tawqif Dalhan, was killed in Khan Yunis, the IDF said earlier on Friday.

According to the military, Hala produced weapons for Hamas and advanced its presence in Gaza, and Dalhan advanced attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Gazan terror weapon smugglers killed in joint IDF-Shin Bet strike

On Thursday, the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) jointly announced that they killed two terrorists in Gaza on Wednesday who were allegedly involved in the smuggling of weapons and other military assets into the strip.

The Khan Yunis strikes killed Basel Nabil Abd al-Rahman Kashta and Ahmad Raja al-Shaer, with the statement describing them as having posed an immediate threat to IDF soldiers operating in the area of the Yellow Line, as well as Israeli civilians.

Esther Davis and Asher Smith contributed to this report.

When Israelis head to vote on October 27, they won’t just be picking the next government; they will be deciding whether Israel becomes “a secular Hebrew democracy, or a rigid, rabbinical theocracy,” Garry Kasparov, a Russian chess grandmaster, political activist, and writer, wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times published on Thursday.

“Just as Abraham Lincoln observed that the government could not persist ‘half slave and half free,’ Israel cannot go on half theocratic and half secular,” Kasparov, whose father was Jewish, argued.

“Americans resolved that contradiction over four years of brutal civil war. Israel’s election on Oct. 27 offers a bloodless way out of this morass,” he wrote.

“Democracies are built on compromise,” Kasparov said. “But sometimes a compromise can turn dangerous.”

Growing up in the Soviet Union shaped Kasparov’s view of Israeli democracy

He explained that his upbringing in the Soviet Union shaped his perception of both the US and Israeli democracies. “I see this dynamic at play in two democracies with which I closely identify: the United States and Israel.”

“As a young Soviet with a Jewish father, I grew up to become a staunch supporter of Israel, an outpost of liberalism surrounded by illiberal, Moscow-backed Arab states,” Kasparov wrote.

“While I rejected the anti-Americanism and anti-Zionism of the Communist regime under which I was raised, I also sought a textured understanding of the United States and Israel.”

Israel faces a breaking point, risk of permanent rupture

“I learned early on that the United States had reached a breaking point just 84 years after independence. America’s founders included men who owned slaves and men who did not. They could not both midwife the union and challenge the ‘peculiar institution.’ This guaranteed the birth of the United States but cursed the young nation with an affliction that nearly caused a permanent rupture.”

Kasparov believes that Israel is also facing this affliction and risk of permanent rupture. Rather than the divisive issue being slavery, the divisive issue that Kasparov says has placed Israel at this crossroad is the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) draft to the IDF. He clarified in the NYT that “There is, of course, no moral equivalence between the haredim, as the ultra-Orthodox are called in Israel, and slave owners.”

He cites then-prime minister David Ben-Gurion’s original agreement with the haredim as the thing that set in motion the aforementioned split. In 1948 Ben-Gurion approved a temporary agreement with haredi yeshiva students, granting 400 people an exemption from army service to study Torah. Today, upwards of 50,000 people evade IDF draft to study Torah.

“The pact haunted their descendants and today is sustained by a nationalist far right and an unscrupulous prime minister willing to bend the law to stay in power,” Kasparov said.

Haredi draft is ‘corroding’ Israel’s social compact

“In Israel today, ultra-Orthodox political power is corroding the social compact that holds the country together.”

“Israelis of Ben-Gurion’s generation may not have understood the kind of foundation they were laying,” Kasparov argued. “They may have presumed they were simply handing out draft exemptions to a few hundred young men. Many of the American founders similarly expected slavery to peter out over time.”

“Instead, slavery expanded significantly after 1776, just as religious influence in Israel exploded in the decades following 1948. The draft exemption became especially infuriating to secular Israeli Jews after Oct. 7 and the war in Gaza.”

The haredi draft is not the only way Kasparov thinks that religious influence is corruptive to Israel. He argues that their power over Israeli law, from marriages, divorces, and funerals to transportation and public services on Shabbat, is “toxic” and unfair to the millions of Israelis who do not observe Shabbat.

“The ultra-Orthodox parties in the Knesset are so single-minded that it seems they will support anyone, no matter how clouded by accusations of misdeeds, who preserves their special privileges,” Kasparov wrote in the NYT. “This is how the haredim have become indispensable accomplices and supporters to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition.”

Netanyahu’s relationship with the haredim in Knesset

“Without the ultra-Orthodox, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not have backing for many of his authoritarian endeavors,” he argued, and similarly, “Without Mr. Netanyahu, the ultra-Orthodox would lose their protected status.”

Despite his comments that Israel is choosing between secular democracy or rigid theocracy, Kasparov added that he does not want religion and culture to be suppressed. “When I was growing up in the Soviet Union, Communist thugs enforced atheism and suppressed Jewish culture. This is not what I want for Israel.”

“I simply believe in equality before the law and an Israel that embodies its founders’ aspirations of being a ‘light unto the nations,’ rather than an international pariah held back by far-right and religious special interests,” Kasparov wrote.

“Israel’s election on Oct. 27 offers a bloodless way out of this morass.”

Police detained India’s ‘cockroach’ movement founder Abhijeet Dipke on Friday, live images from his group showed, ahead of a protest called by him in capital Delhi’s central business district, the latest rally to demand the resignation of India’s election chief.

The youth-led ‘Cockroach Janta Party‘ (CJP), opposition groups, and student organisations have held almost daily protests this month demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over a revision of voter lists that critics say favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

More than 130 million voters were deleted during the revision but the Election Commission has denied favouring any party and said wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol. The BJP has accused rivals of trying to undermine democracy by wrongly questioning legitimate electoral processes.

Dipke called Friday’s protest in support of two CJP leaders detained and sent to jail this week for five days for demonstrating at a protest site in violation of a ban.

The group and left-wing student organisations had urged supporters to gather at the Central Park in New Delhi’s busy Connaught Place shopping and food district on Friday evening to wave and hoist the national flag.

Police officers detained Dipke as he left a house

The live video on CJP’s Instagram handle showed Dipke coming out of a house and walking towards the street, where police officers stopped him and, after a brief argument, hauled him into a police car and drove away.

“We are detaining you right now,” a police officer could be heard telling Dipke.

“I have not broken any law right now…how can you detain me,” Dipke asked the police officers as he was taken away.

There was no immediate comment from the police on the detention.

Earlier on Friday, police met Dipke and warned him against going ahead with the protest.

Iran has managed to export some liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and jet fuel since July, despite a US naval blockade, shipping intelligence showed and people involved in security said.

Tehran has in recent weeks been concealing such cargoes among a growing volume of ship-to-ship transfers by other Gulf producers off Oman, four people in maritime security who track Gulf oil movements told Reuters.

The Iranian exports and methodology are reported for the first time here. While a fraction of its former energy exports, the cargoes are rare evidence of petroleum products getting through a blockade that has halted Iran’s crude exports.

Analysis by US advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), which monitors Iran-related tanker traffic using ship and satellite tracking, shows at least eight gas tankers carrying Iranian LPG have left the Gulf of Oman since mid-July.

Another tanker carrying Iranian jet fuel reached Myanmar in September, additional satellite imagery and analysis by maritime intelligence group SynMax show.

The US imposed targeted sanctions in 2023 on Myanmar’s jet-fuel industry, citing military airstrikes on civilians that the United Nations says have killed thousands of people. Myanmar’s military government has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, saying its operations are directed against armed groups.

Approximately 4.1 million barrels of LPG made it through the blockade

Six of the eight gas tankers and the jet fuel tanker are under US sanctions for transporting Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products, a Reuters analysis of the vessels and sanctions imposed on ships by the US Treasury showed.

“What we have seen passing is a handful of tankers carrying Iranian LPG, but the overwhelming majority of tankers laden with Iranian products have been redirected by US forces,” said Jemima Shelley, senior research analyst with UANI.

Shelley said some Iranian LPG tankers transferred cargoes near the Omani coastal towns of Shinas and Sohar, while others waited in the Gulf of Oman before heading past the US blockade, which US Central Command has said sits across the Gulf of Oman near the Iran-Pakistan border.

The total amount of these LPG cargoes was estimated at 4.1 million barrels, Shelley said.

Shelley said the shipments were driven “more by opportunism” than showing a new trend of Iran trying to export its oil and petrochemicals by using smaller ships.

Most of the cargoes sailed to Malaysia’s Eastern Outer Port Limits to conduct further STS transfers for likely destinations in China, Shelley said, based on UANI’s analysis.

The Iranian government did not respond to a request for comment. Myanmar’s military-backed government did not respond to a request for comment on whether the country had received Iranian jet fuel.

US Military describes blockade as ‘ironclad’

The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said its naval blockade, which was first imposed on Iran-related oil exports on April 13, is “ironclad.” The blockade was lifted in June after the US reached a draft understanding with Iran, but it was reimposed on July 14 following the collapse of the agreement.

A US military official told Reuters that the passage of a vessel does not necessarily mean it had evaded the blockade. Every ship was assessed individually, including through a review of its papers, and some vessels could be allowed through for humanitarian reasons, the official added.

The official said the appearance of a vessel on US sanctions lists is not the only factor to make it subject to the blockade, adding that US forces are also closely monitoring some ships without taking action against them for operational reasons.

Centcom said in an update on October 13 that during the three months of the latest blockade, four commercial vessels had been disabled and 135 ships had been turned around by US forces.

The US military has turned around ships from Asia and also seized some tankers, previous Centcom statements said.

Washington has coupled its blockade with a sanctions campaign aimed at severing Iran’s remaining financial links and depriving it of revenue. Last week, it imposed fresh sanctions on 17 vessels involved in transporting Iranian crude, petrochemicals and petroleum products.

US Treasury questioned shipping data

A US Treasury spokesperson questioned shipping data suggesting vessels had evaded the blockade, saying ships could spoof their locations or use false identities when loading.

Such data “should be taken with a grain of salt,” the spokesperson said.

The Treasury spokesperson said Operation Economic Outcast, together with the blockade, was “suffocating the Iranian regime.”

Torbjorn Soltvedt, principal Middle East analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, said although there was no sign of Washington easing its blockade, worsening economic conditions in Iran could push Tehran to take greater risks.

“If Iran can move product tankers through, even in small numbers, jet fuel may be a good option. Iran’s aviation industry is under increasing pressure from US sanctions, with a growing number of planes grounded, and a potential surplus of jet fuel at Iranian refineries,” Soltvedt added.

Iranian crude exports fell to zero in September, according to Kpler, the first month without a shipment since the analytics firm began tracking the producer in 2013.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said the blockade prevented most Chinese purchases of Iranian oil and left Iran unable to deliver crude to customers.