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Much of today’s defense-tech debate focuses on visible platforms: drones, loitering munitions, interceptors, lasers, autonomous vessels, and robotic systems. Each new system attracts headlines, procurement attention, and investor capital. Yet a deeper competition is taking shape in the digital layer that connects these systems into a battlefield network. The next defense-tech race is for the operating system of the battlefield.

A military operating system is the architecture that connects sensors, shooters, satellites, drones, AI models, data, compute, and command-and-control into one adaptive ecosystem. Its value is measured by operational learning: how quickly the force can understand what happened, update the network, and integrate new capabilities.

This matters because the battlefield is filled with sensors and effectors. Some are expensive and exquisite. Others are cheap, disposable, and deployed in large numbers. The harder problem is turning that density into coherent action. 

A drone that sees a target creates value only if its data can be trusted, transmitted, fused with other sources, processed at the edge or in secure infrastructure, and translated into a decision that a commander can use. The platform is the visible element. The operating layer determines whether the network behaves like a collection of assets or like a force.

Ukraine has become one of the clearest examples. According to Reuters, Ukraine is already using AI across drone operations, combat planning, and the analysis of Russian missile-attack data. 

Danylo Tsvok, the head of Ukraine’s Defense AI Center, described the next phase as a “war of operating systems,” in which advantage will go to the system that holds more data, understands it better and can propose operational solutions faster. Ukraine has also opened controlled access to battlefield datasets for allies seeking to train drone AI software, turning annotated combat data into a strategic resource. Battlefield data is now a weapons-development asset.

The United States is moving in the same direction through procurement. In June 2026, the US Army selected Anduril, working with Palantir, to lead the common data layer baseline for its Next Generation Command and Control initiative. 

The architecture centers on an edge-to-cloud data mesh using Anduril’s Lattice and Palantir’s Foundry, with additional tools for data registries, transformation, and federation. This is the practical language of the battlefield operating system: common data, software deployment, edge connectivity, integration, and continuous access to operational information.

The Atlantic Council’s Commission on Software-Defined Warfare gives this trend a useful name. Its work argues that armed forces need to adopt modern software practices across existing and future systems. NATO’s testing of uncrewed and counter-uncrewed systems in Latvia points to the same operational challenge: faster experimentation, validation, and adoption across domains.

For investors, this shift changes the logic of defense technology. A drone, sensor, or interceptor is a product. An operating layer can become a platform. Every new sensor connected to the network increases its value. Every engagement creates data that can improve models, tactics, and interfaces. Every software update can upgrade multiple systems at once. The most strategic defense-tech companies may be those building autonomy stacks, data platforms, simulation environments, secure edge computing, and modular command systems.

Production lines, supply chains, cost-effective mass, and ruggedized systems remain decisive. The emerging advantage will belong to those who connect hardware, software, and operational learning into one repeatable cycle.

For Israel, the question is immediate. Israel has deep operational experience, strong defense engineering, and a fast-growing defense-tech startup ecosystem. The IDF’s establishment of the Alumot unit under the C4I and Cyber Defense Directorate, focused on AI and information-processing capabilities for frontline forces, shows that the direction is already understood. 

Israeli startups are moving in the same direction. Kela, for example, has been described as developing an open and modular software platform designed to integrate commercial technologies such as AI models, sensors, and edge devices into existing military systems. Defense-tech companies working with Israel’s Directorate of Defense Research and Development (MAFAT) raised more than $1 billion in exits and funding in the past year, according to Israel’s Defense Ministry.

This momentum is significant, and it now needs discipline. Israel’s strength has always included operational improvisation: reservists, engineers, commanders, and technologists solving urgent problems under pressure. That culture is a national asset. It saves lives. It produces capabilities faster than formal processes often allow. The next phase requires converting wartime creativity into durable architecture.

Improvisation is not architecture. A bridge built under fire can solve an immediate operational need, yet the national system still requires common interfaces, data standards, cybersecurity rules, testing environments, and procurement models that reward interoperability. Without that discipline, every major program builds its own stack, and the broader force remains fragmented.

Procurement has to change. Defense acquisition traditionally knows how to buy platforms: a vehicle, a radar, a missile, a communication system, a command post. Software-defined warfare evolves through feedback loops. It requires continuous updates, operational testing, red-teaming, integration with legacy systems, and close contact between users and developers. A procurement system that treats software as a one-time delivery will struggle to support a learning battlefield.

Governance matters as much as speed. As AI moves deeper into command-and-control, military organizations need traceability, validation, auditability, escalation procedures, and clear human responsibility. Human control cannot be reduced to a slogan. Commanders will need systems they can understand, challenge, and supervise under pressure. The operating layer must be built with accountability from the beginning.

Israel should treat the battlefield operating layer as a strategic national capability. That means government-owned interfaces where necessary, open architectures where possible, secured data foundations, edge computers suited for classified and disconnected environments, and simulation environments that allow rapid testing before operational deployment. It also means backing horizontal players alongside vertical platform companies.

The strategic risk is that Israel continues to produce excellent defense platforms while others define the operating layer that connects them. In defense, as in civilian technology, the integration layer shapes who can innovate, who can scale, and who controls the pace of change.

Israel has the talent, the urgency, and the operational experience to lead this field. The decision now is whether to organize those strengths into a common architecture.  

Israel has extended the ban on flights to Dubai until the end of October, as many international airlines continue to suspend operations or reduce service to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to the security situation in the Middle East. 

The extension comes amid concerns over escalation between Iran and the US, which continues to affect aviation activity in the Middle East. 

While Israeli airlines still cannot operate direct flights to Dubai, local carriers such as flydubai and Etihad continue to operate most of their flight routes. However, they are also advising passengers to check their flight status before arriving at the airport, as route changes and congestion may cause delays. 

Foreign airlines avoid multiple Middle Eastern countries

Israeli airlines are not the only carriers still waiting to return to normal operations. Many international airlines have extended the suspension of flights to the UAE, including Lufthansa, British Airways and Cathay Pacific. 

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) continues to recommend that airlines avoid flying through the airspace of Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon until at least the end of August. Although there is currently no recommendation to avoid flying over the UAE itself, many airlines continue to conduct independent risk assessments and route around certain areas, which extends flight times and sometimes leads to delays in both direct and connecting flights. 

Passengers planning to fly to Dubai or travel through it in the near future are advised to follow airline updates even after completing check-in, to confirm the status of any connecting flights and to arrive at the airport earlier than usual. 

Aviation industry officials stress that schedules may still change at short notice depending on security developments in the region. 

The attack on Sana’a International Airport during the attempted landing of an Iranian Mahan Air flight on Monday came as the Houthis grew increasingly emboldened in their violations of international law, according to statements by Yemen’s Saudi-backed government and international representatives at the United Nations Security Council on Monday.

The flight on Monday, which made international headlines after it prompted strikes on Sana’a, was eventually able to land in the Houthi-controlled Hodeida International Airport. It was notably not the first Iranian aircraft to visit the war-afflicted country in recent weeks. Officials condemned a seemingly connected Iranian flight in early July which is understood to have transported a group of Houthi representatives to Tehran, where they held high-level meetings during the days-long funeral procession of Ali Khamenei.

President Dr. Rashad Muhammad al-Alimi, chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council of Yemen, noted last week that an Iranian Revolutionary Guard aircraft had turned off its tracking system over Yemeni airspace, according to reports in Yemen’s state Saba News Agency. While investigations are ongoing into the craft’s cargo, Alimi said that initial information suggests the flight was carrying persons and equipment beneficial to the terrorist group.

According to Alimi, those aboard the vessel included military and security personnel, Iranian experts specializing in drones and missile system development, electronic and communications equipment, and technologies with potential applications in command and control systems, as well as Yemeni personnel who had undergone security training in Iran.

Though the Houthis initially claimed that the visit was humanitarian in nature, Alimi said that the use of a Mahan Air aircraft, owned by the Mol-al-Movahedin Foundation, a widely sanctioned economic entity linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the aircraft’s behavior suggested otherwise.

“The indicators are not limited to the nature of the passengers and cargo. Frequent interruptions in the aircraft’s tracking signals were detected while it was crossing Yemeni airspace, a behavior that contradicts the militias’ claims that it was a humanitarian flight. This necessitates an independent international investigation to uncover the circumstances and objectives,” he said.

UN special envoy calls for de-escalation

Addressing the Monday flight from Mahan Air, UN chief’s Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg asserted at the United Nations Security Council meeting that there needed to be swift de-escalation.

The Houthis fired missiles at Saudi Arabia after accusing the kingdom of bombing an airport under their control on Monday, breaking a four-year truce in the conflict between the kingdom and the Iran-aligned group.

Though Yemen’s Defense Ministry claimed responsibility for the strike on Monday, announcing that its armed forces had targeted the runway at Sana’a Airport to prevent an Iranian plane from landing, the Houthis have threatened to escalate the conflict beyond Yemen’s territory. The group issued a threat against airlines flying over Saudi airspace until the “siege” on Sana’a Airport was lifted.

🎥 ورود خلبان محاصره‌شکن به فرودگاه امام

هواپیمای ایرانی که محاصره یمن را در میان بمباران فرودگاه الحدیده شکست، به تهران بازگشت و در فرودگاه امام به زمین نشست و خلبان و تیم پرواز آن وارد سالن فرودگاه شدند. https://t.co/kRlkyD7muN pic.twitter.com/Xb0qbctmRx

— خبرگزاری فارس (@FarsNews_Agency) July 13, 2026

Two US officials told Axios that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman received US President Donald Trump’s support for military action against the Houthis.

Yemen ambassador warns Iranian flights are dangerous precedent

Yemen’s Ambassador Abdullah Ali Fadhel Al-Saad, who requested the UNSC meeting, said the recent Iranian flights constituted “a real test” of the principles of sovereignty and non-interference, arguing that the unauthorized flight constituted an “extremely dangerous precedent.”

“We are dealing here with a deliberate attempt to impose a fait accompli,” he warned.

US representative to the UN Tammy Bruce acknowledged that the Iranian flight on July 3 had been purposed with transporting Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel, including drone and missile experts in support of Houthi terrorism, Russian representative Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva claimed that the use of the Houthi-controlled airport remained essential for humanitarian operations.

The Russian representative, while acknowledging that the flight should have been coordinated beforehand, disregarded concerns and told the council that the flight was “strictly humanitarian.”

Notably, the Houthis detained an aircraft belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to one of the country’s ministers during the alleged Iranian humanitarian flight standoff on Monday. 

Bruce noted that the Houthis’ leadership celebrated the flight as a “successful evasion” of international efforts to isolate them.

Yemen expert Inbal Nissim-Louvton, from the Open University and the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, told The Jerusalem Post that the fact that two Iranian flights were able to land in Houthi territory was a major development and that strikes would not be adequate in deterring further escalation and future violations.

Asserting that she wasn’t sure that the violation was something the Saudis could accept, and definitely not a situation that Israel could, Nissim-Louvton noted that the issue extends to the larger civil conflict in Yemen and was part of a wider narrative employed by the Houthis to achieve its own goals.

Houthi media in recent months has aired a number of documentaries and visuals blaming Saudi Arabia for Yemen’s ongoing financial crisis, depicting it as a foreign force depriving Yemen of access to its own natural resources in partnership with the US and Israel, she explained. The media campaign highlights how the Houthis are directing blame for absent civil servant salaries toward Riyadh rather than absorbing responsibility themselves.

The attacks on Saudi Arabia, she continued, are at least partially in response to the Houthis’ own domestic troubles. Nissim-Louvton noted that Saudi Arabia has previously paid off some of the Houthi civil servant debt, out of a desire to keep things quiet, and that was at least part of the reason behind the attack now.

“The Saudis said they were willing to pay the salaries of civil servants, but through a mechanism that would ensure the money went directly to their bank accounts, or that they received it in a way that the Houthis would not be able to get hold of the funds. The Houthis did not agree to that,” she reasoned. “This is still something ongoing, but there were many times when the Saudis eventually did pay in some form and were able to keep the Houthis quiet enough to allow Saudi Arabia to promote its own issues, including projects under MBS’s Vision 2030 and other initiatives. Some of those projects had to be delayed because they were unable to proceed. The Saudis have to remember that if they return to Yemen and renew the civil war, it will probably cost them much more than paying the salaries of those civil servants.”

Outside of domestic troubles, the Houthis have the capacity to escalate the Hormuz crisis by restricting the Bab al-Mandab Strait. A return to civil war now would likely mean involving regional actors, escalating the existing war, she said, adding more weight to Houthi demands at the negotiation table. 

The Horn of Africa is becoming an increasingly important extension of Middle Eastern strategy as governments on opposite shores of the Red Sea deepen their involvement through military agreements, port investments, energy projects, diplomatic recognition, and political alliances.

Egypt’s new maritime cooperation memorandum with Somalia is one part of that transformation. Turkey has built an extensive military, economic, and institutional presence in Somalia while retaining strong ties with Ethiopia. Saudi Arabia is expanding its defense and maritime relationship with Mogadishu, while the United Arab Emirates has invested heavily in ports and logistics, most visibly at Berbera in Somaliland.

Israel’s recognition of Somaliland has added a diplomatic dimension with potential security implications because of Somaliland’s position on the Gulf of Aden. Sudan, meanwhile, offers the clearest warning of how external competition can deepen instability when it becomes entangled with a domestic war.

This emerging regional order cannot be divided neatly into two blocs. The same governments may cooperate to protect maritime navigation, compete for ports and influence, and take opposing positions on Somalia’s territorial integrity or Sudan’s civil war. African governments are also pursuing their own interests, using external partnerships to secure investment, infrastructure, military assistance, and diplomatic support.

“The Horn of Africa has emerged as one of the most strategically significant regions in contemporary international politics,” Dr. Aly Tarek Metwally, a political affairs and regional security analyst, told The Media Line. “Positioned at the intersection of Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian Ocean, the region has become a focal point where maritime security, international trade, geopolitical competition, and regional diplomacy increasingly converge.”

Shiri Fein-Grossman, CEO of the Israel-Africa Relations Institute and former head of regional affairs at Israel’s National Security Council, said the region now attracts powers pursuing a broad mix of security, economic and diplomatic interests.

“The Horn of Africa has become one of the principal intersections between African, Middle Eastern and global geopolitics,” Fein-Grossman told The Media Line. “Turkey, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Iran, and Israel all have growing interests in the region, alongside China, the United States, the European Union, and others.”

Those interests range from maritime security and trade to energy, infrastructure, food security, and diplomacy.

A connected Red Sea arena

Ships traveling between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean must pass through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and continue toward the Suez Canal. The route is vital to global commerce but has become increasingly vulnerable to war, piracy, and attacks originating from Yemen.

Middle Eastern involvement in the Horn is not new. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Turkey have maintained relationships there for years. What has changed is the scale of their activity and the degree to which events in the Middle East now shape alignments on the African side of the Red Sea.

“Developments in the Horn of Africa can no longer be viewed in isolation from the wider strategic environment of the Red Sea and the Middle East,” Metwally said. “They form part of an interconnected regional security landscape in which stability, economic prosperity and international navigation are mutually dependent.”

That interconnected map includes stronger Egyptian-Somali relations, Ethiopia’s search for maritime access, Turkey’s presence in both Somalia and Ethiopia, Israel’s growing interest in the Red Sea and expanded Gulf involvement.

Metwally said that competition need not be the region’s only organizing principle. The same developments could support a cooperative security framework based on international law, mutual respect and shared responsibility.

Israel and Somaliland

Israel’s recognition of Somaliland is a significant recent change to the region’s diplomatic landscape.

On December 26, 2025, Israel became the first, and currently only United Nations member state to formally recognize Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state. Somalia rejected the decision as an attack on its sovereignty, while Egypt, Turkey, Djibouti, and the African Union reaffirmed their support for Somalia’s territorial integrity.

Somaliland has governed itself since 1991 and maintains its own institutions, security forces, and political system. Somalia continues to regard the territory as an integral part of the country.

For Israel, geography is central to the emerging relationship. Somaliland’s coastline faces the Gulf of Aden opposite Yemen and lies near the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, placing the relationship squarely within Israel’s concerns over Red Sea shipping and the threat posed by the Houthis.

“Israel’s recognition of Somaliland should be understood as the convergence of diplomatic, security and economic considerations,” Fein-Grossman said. She pointed to Somaliland’s relative stability, functioning institutions, and interest in long-term international partnerships.

“At the same time, its location on the Gulf of Aden, opposite Yemen and adjacent to the Bab-el-Mandeb, gives it exceptional strategic importance,” she said.

Somaliland’s defense minister said in June that Israel was helping train some police and military personnel, while denying that the sides were negotiating an Israeli base. Somaliland has also promoted potential cooperation in agriculture, water, renewable energy, healthcare, and technology.

Fein-Grossman said the Houthi threat had become more prominent in Israeli strategic calculations after attacks on commercial shipping and direct threats from Yemen, but cautioned against viewing recognition only through a military lens.

She also described an affinity between two societies that have struggled for security, international legitimacy, and national development under difficult conditions.

Egypt views the issue from a different starting point: the defense of Somalia’s internationally recognized borders.

“Central to Egypt’s regional policy is its unwavering commitment to the principles of territorial integrity and respect for the sovereignty of states,” Metwally said, describing those principles as pillars of both the UN Charter and the Constitutive Act of the African Union.

The dispute reflects the central divide over Somaliland. Israel views its stability and institutions as grounds for recognition and cooperation. Somalia, Egypt, and most African Union members see unilateral recognition as a threat to Somali sovereignty and the wider principle of territorial integrity.

Fein-Grossman said Israel should manage those disagreements through sustained dialogue with Cairo, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi rather than expect regional actors to adopt a common view.

Berbera and the UAE’s port network

Israel’s relationship with Somaliland is developing alongside a much older Emirati presence centered on Berbera.

Dubai-based DP World, an Emirati multinational logistics company, has committed up to $442 million in a phased plan to develop Berbera Port, an associated economic zone and a transport corridor intended to connect the Somaliland coast with Ethiopia and the wider Horn.

The investment gives the UAE a long-term commercial position near one of the world’s most important shipping routes. It also strengthens Somaliland’s economic relevance despite its limited diplomatic recognition.

For landlocked Ethiopia, Berbera offers a potential alternative to its heavy dependence on Djibouti. For the UAE, the port is part of a logistics network linking the Gulf, East Africa, and the Indian Ocean. For Somaliland, it provides revenue, jobs, and a platform for attracting additional investment.

“Berbera has the potential to become one of the Horn of Africa’s most important logistics and commercial gateways, serving not only Somaliland but also landlocked Ethiopia and the wider region,” Fein-Grossman said.

Emirati investment and Israeli recognition do not necessarily represent a coordinated policy. The UAE has not formally recognized Somaliland. Still, its investments have strengthened the territory’s commercial position and increased Berbera’s relevance to Israeli calculations involving Red Sea security and maritime trade.

The arrangement also shows that outside governments do not always work exclusively through internationally recognized central authorities. The UAE has cultivated direct ties with Somaliland and other regional administrations, while Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have placed greater emphasis on Somalia’s federal government.

Egypt and Somalia deepen cooperation

Somalia’s cabinet approved a maritime memorandum with Egypt on July 9 covering transport, ports and the development of Somali maritime infrastructure.

The agreement follows a broader expansion of bilateral relations, including defense cooperation and Egypt’s proposed participation in African Union peace-support efforts in Somalia.

Cairo regards the Red Sea and the Bab-el-Mandeb as a strategic continuation of the Suez Canal. Its policy is also shaped by its long-running dispute with Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and its opposition to actions that could weaken Somalia’s territorial integrity.

“For Egypt, engagement in the Horn of Africa is not driven by aspirations for regional influence but by an enduring commitment to safeguarding regional stability,” Metwally said, adding that Cairo has consistently viewed the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea as a natural extension of its strategic environment.

He described secure navigation through the Suez Canal and stability at Bab-el-Mandeb as components of both Egyptian national security and the global economy.

The memorandum, he said, goes beyond technical port cooperation. It forms part of a strategic partnership intended to strengthen Somali institutions, maritime security and economic development.

Egypt’s security role is also tied to the African Union’s operations and to cooperation with Somalia’s federal government. Metwally characterized that involvement as part of Egypt’s long-standing participation in collective African peacekeeping rather than a unilateral military deployment.

The relationship is nevertheless viewed partly through the prism of Ethiopia’s January 2024 memorandum with Somaliland, which triggered a sharp dispute with Mogadishu. Turkey later mediated between Ethiopia and Somalia through the Ankara Declaration. Both governments reaffirmed respect for sovereignty and agreed to pursue arrangements that could provide Ethiopia with access to the sea under Somali sovereign authority.

Metwally said Egypt’s closer relationship with Somalia should not be interpreted solely as an effort to counter Ethiopia. Cairo, he said, continues to advocate negotiations and international law as the proper framework for resolving regional disputes.

Turkey works with both Mogadishu and Addis Ababa

Turkey has built one of the most extensive Middle Eastern presences in the Horn.

Its relationship with Somalia began with humanitarian assistance and expanded into defense, infrastructure, education, healthcare, aviation, trade, and energy. Turkey operates a major military training facility in Mogadishu and signed a defense and economic cooperation agreement with Somalia in 2024 that includes maritime-security assistance.

At the same time, Ankara has preserved substantial political and economic ties with Ethiopia. Its ability to work with both governments enabled it to mediate after the Somaliland agreement caused a rupture between them.

“Turkey is one of the most significant external actors in the Horn of Africa, but its engagement should be understood within the context of a much broader, decades-long Africa strategy,” Fein-Grossman said.

Through the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency, the Maarif Foundation, Turkish Airlines, the Presidency of Religious Affairs, business associations, and an expanding diplomatic network, Ankara has built relationships extending beyond military or government-to-government contacts.

Its mediation between Somalia and Ethiopia also reflects an ambition not merely to participate in regional affairs, but to shape them.

Saudi Arabia expands its Somali partnership

Saudi Arabia has accelerated its own engagement with Somalia.

The two countries signed a military cooperation agreement in Riyadh on Feb. 9, 2026, followed later that month by a separate agreement covering maritime transport and port development.

Saudi interests are driven by Somalia’s location opposite the Arabian Peninsula, the need to protect Red Sea shipping and concerns about instability spreading from Yemen and the wider Horn.

Riyadh has also supported Somalia’s territorial integrity, placing it closer to Egypt and Turkey than to Israel on the Somaliland dispute.

Fein-Grossman cautioned against portraying Saudi or Egyptian engagement as a response to Israel. Both countries, she said, have operated in the Red Sea and the Horn for decades because of geography, trade, food security and regional politics.

Metwally said Saudi and Emirati investments in logistics, food security, and maritime infrastructure demonstrate the growing interdependence of Gulf and Red Sea security, even when the two states pursue different political relationships.

Sudan shows the dangers

Sudan represents the most destructive example of Middle Eastern interests becoming entangled with a domestic conflict.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia are widely regarded as closer to the Sudanese Armed Forces. The UAE has repeatedly been accused by United Nations experts and American lawmakers of supporting the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Abu Dhabi denies backing the RSF or either side in the war.

Those differences have become part of a wider Saudi-Emirati rivalry extending across Yemen, Somalia and the Red Sea, although both Gulf governments continue to participate in diplomatic efforts seeking an end to Sudan’s war.

“The experience of Sudan offers an important lesson for the wider region,” Metwally said. “Local conflicts can become considerably more complex when regional rivalries overlap with domestic political crises.”

Preventing external competition from reinforcing internal divisions, he said, is one of the central challenges facing African and Middle Eastern policymakers.

African governments are not passive

Describing the Horn solely as a contest among foreign powers risks reducing Somalia, Somaliland, Ethiopia, and Sudan to passive arenas.

Somalia is diversifying its economic and security partnerships while defending its territorial claims. Ethiopia is seeking alternatives to its dependence on Djibouti for maritime trade. Somaliland is using Berbera, its political institutions, and its strategic location to seek recognition and investment.

“African governments are not passive participants in this process,” Fein-Grossman said. “They actively shape the strategic environment, diversify their partnerships and choose the relationships that best advance their national interests.”

She also warned that discussions of ports, bases, and strategic rivalry often overlook the people whose futures are most affected.

“The people of Somaliland, like people across Africa, seek peace, opportunity, education, healthcare, investment, and the ability to build a better future for the next generation,” she said.

Metwally similarly argued that international partnerships can support development, security, and stronger institutions only when they preserve local ownership and sovereign decision-making.

Middle Eastern involvement can bring port infrastructure, investment, military training, energy development, and diplomatic mediation. It can also sharpen sovereignty disputes, deepen internal conflicts, and force African governments to navigate rival alignments.

Egypt’s agreement with Somalia, Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, Turkey’s position between Mogadishu and Addis Ababa, Saudi Arabia’s expanding partnership with Somalia, and the UAE’s investment in Berbera are not isolated developments. They are part of a strategic realignment stretching from the Suez Canal and the Arabian Peninsula to Bab-el-Mandeb, the Gulf of Aden, and the Indian Ocean.

Whether that space develops through cooperative security or competing spheres of influence will depend not only on the ambitions of Middle Eastern governments but also on the ability of African states and societies to retain control over the decisions that shape their future.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is focusing his efforts on preventing the opposition bloc from reaching 61 seats and unseating him in the coming election, former communications adviser to Netanyahu, Avi Bushinsky, told 103FM on Tuesday.

“Netanyahu’s goal is one thing. If we ignore for a second Filber’s polls, in which Netanyahu gets something like 80 to 90 seats, depending on which day you wake up, then the goal is really to ensure a political tie in order to get to another election, or maybe reach ideal conditions, and then of course as long as there is a political tie you are the sitting prime minister and under the best conditions, namely a transitional government, then there is not even a Knesset on your back,” he said.

Bushinsky stated he didn’t believe there would be room in the upcoming Knesset for all the smaller parties being formed, noting that when Benny Gantz and Dedi Simchi talked about joint leadership, they could barely cross the electoral threshold.

“There are more cardinal problems here. To come and say, ‘We will unite,’ ‘We will join,’ ‘We will do’ and ‘a broad national [front],’ there is a fundamental problem here in the State of Israel, the story of October 7, a state commission of inquiry, and so on, but right now there is something much bigger, which is where we are headed, and that is the issue of enlistment,” he said.

“I do not think that if by some miracle two or three MKs come together and form a centrist party, that will move the country. In my assessment, no such midstream party will be formed. Not one of [Gilad] Erdan and [Yu;o] Edelstein, and not one of [Chili] Trooper. I think he, Trooper, expects to find himself with [Gadi] Eisenkot,” he concluded.

Creation of Trooper, Hendel’s new party, Yesodot Yisrael, is not ‘major breakthrough’

In the same interview, Roy Kuncol, who decided last week to leave the Reservists Party, addressed the formation of Chili Tropper and Yoaz Hendel’s new party, Yesodot Yisrael, and said he saw no major breakthrough there. 

“Without referring to the personal issues between them, on the political level, it is impossible to understand this split. Two people who ultimately say the same thing, are in the same political space, and want to do the same political thing, there is no reason in the world to see them as two different forces, two parties. I analyze this as part of issues of ego and grievances, or that [Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai] Chikli is trying to move within the political space to another place,” Kuncol said. 

“That is fine, legitimate, okay, but public trust in their political space is very low, not because people do not want it, but because it is hard to launch something new in Israeli politics. To spread this into even more shards of parties is a huge mistake. The game in politics is about joining forces, not splitting apart,” he emphasized.

“Whoever makes the decisions concerning these laws will bear responsibility,” Channel 12 military analyst Nir Dvori said yesterday. “They will not be able to say, ‘I was not aware, I did not know.’”

That is wrong. Even if disaster strikes, government leaders will say that no one told them, no one woke them in the middle of the night, and no one warned them.

I know this because that is what already happened. The October 7 massacre took place nearly three years ago. Afterward, politicians dodged all accountability with brazen audacity and without a single ounce of conscience or responsibility in their bodies. They said they did not know, that no one had told them.

Even though they were told, warned, and alerted.

IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi pleaded with them to listen to him, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused. Senior security officials wanted to meet with Netanyahu together to highlight the severity of the situation, and he refused. Coalition members refused to listen to military representatives who came to the Knesset. Military intelligence sent three warning letters to the prime minister, who dismissed them with contempt.

Political leaders were warned on Oct. 7, claimed it was an ‘exaggeration’

When Yinon Magal asked Netanyahu about the warning of a multi-front war, he said that “there is a great deal of exaggeration.” The head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) personally warned him about war, but he did not listen. Avigdor Liberman warned him. Yair Lapid warned him. Gadi Eisenkot warned him. And he did nothing. Netanyahu put on his rose-colored glasses, and the government continued sailing like the Titanic toward the iceberg.

All the commentators, not only Dvori, believe that after all of these warnings, the government will no longer be able to dodge accountability. I say that they will. These politicians have a metaphorical laundry machine that washes away responsibility while simultaneously smearing others and shifting the blame onto them.

We can see it. It is here, rattling away without pause, constructing indictments and conspiracy theories against everyone, except for those who are actually responsible. Except for Mr. Security, who held the wheel and determined policy for a generation.

Current government may have skewed priorities

This month, I mark 40 years of working in journalism. I never believed we would reach this point, when an elected government defects from its responsibilities to the people and becomes a “government of the bloc,” attacking the state itself. This is an immune system failure, an autoimmune attack by the body against itself. It is a sustained, powerful attack, devoid of restraint or shame.

Look at all the lackeys surrounding Netanyahu, who leads this gang, and ask: what has happened to these people? How can a nonentity like Boaz Bismuth, who has done nothing in his life other than blather and flatter, attack the chief of staff over his warning letter and claim that it was sent too late, even though he knows that representatives of that same chief of staff sat before the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee with all the warnings, all the data, and all the red flags?

Look at Defense Minister Israel Katz, the low-skilled political operator who abandons the IDF to fade and falter, while prioritizing the interests of party members over those of reservists and combat soldiers.

Look at Likud as a whole. At the politicians who continue fighting over reserved slots, favors, and the spoils of government while the country falls apart and the public watches in despair.

There was once such a thing as shame. People did not take pride in this kind of conduct conduct. They were afraid to leave their homes or be seen in public. Today, even that is gone. They are proud of themselves. They carry their lies with honor and their disgrace with pride. They believe that nothing can ever shake them. Just as they believed on the eve of October 7, 2023.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday it seemed very unlikely that peace in Ukraine would be reached soon, and he expected Russia to extend the conflict at least until the winter.

He said he had discussed the situation with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“At this point, it seems unlikely that a ceasefire or peace agreement will be reached in the near future, given the rigid stance of Russia and Putin,” Tusk told journalists in Paris.

“Everyone expects an escalation of actions from Russia at this time, and it’s quite likely that Russia will want to prolong this war at least until the winter.”

Tusk said Poland would host military exercises with French and British troops in the autumn so that they can be prepared to ensure security for Ukraine and the region after a peace agreement or ceasefire is eventually reached.

Poland is joined by others in preparing to protect Ukraine

“These will be exercises that prepare the entire coalition (of the willing) gathered today in Paris for such real security guarantees for Ukraine, but also for the region,” he said.

Some 100 Breslov Hasidim entered the Palestinian village of Kifl Haris on Monday night to protest the lack of access to the graves of Yehoshua Ben Nun and Caleb Ben Yefuna, according to Israel Police.

The Hasidim, followers of convicted sex offender Eliezer Berland, claim that Palestinian residents threw stones at them, injuring two, according to N12.

The two declined to be transported to the hospital, fearing arrest for draft evasion, N12 wrote.

Police and IDF forces were called to the scene, but those involved had already left the area by the time they arrived. Forces found damaged Palestinian vehicles and stones at the scene, the Police stated.

An investigation was opened, revealing the identities of several individuals involved. Five suspects, Jerusalem residents between 16 and 20 years old, were arrested near the Hizma crossing.

Hasidim break into Joseph’s Tomb

This comes months after dozens of Breslov Hasidim broke into Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus, barricading themselves inside after crossing into Palestinian-controlled territory without IDF coordination in March.

Nablus is classified as Area A, under the security control of the Palestinian Authority.

Efrat Forsher contributed to this report.

The Health Ministry published two reports on wait times for MRI examinations and 19 types of planned surgeries in public hospitals, noting that many factors beyond the requested service affect wait times.

The reported data shows that how long a patient waits in a clinic or hospital depends not only on the type of test or surgery, but also on the health insurance company they belong to, their area of ​​residence, and the hospital where they will be treated.

In 2025, half of patients underwent an MRI scan within 35 days of their physician’s referral, while the other half waited longer. A quarter of patients waited more than 80 days, and the average waiting time stood at 55.1 days.

The results varied across insurance providers, with Clalit recording the longest average time, 63.7 days. The average was 50.6 days in Maccabi, 46.4 days in Leumit, and 35.5 days in Meuhedet.

There were also differences within the process itself, with Leumit holding the longest time period between physician referral and insurance approval for an MRI, 19 days. On the other end of the spectrum, Maccabi averaged just one day before approval. 

From the time the appointment was scheduled at the health institute until the scan was performed, the longest average was recorded at Maccabi, 45.9 days. Meuhedet recorded 44.7 days, Clalit 38.2 days, and Leumit 35.5 days.

After the scan, Meuhedet members waited an average of 10.8 days for the reading, Maccabi members 10 days, Leumit members 9.8 days, and Clalit members 8.5 days.

Age and type of scan also affected the wait. Among children aged 14 and younger, half waited up to 42 days from referral to the scan, and a quarter waited more than 95 days. Among those 65 and older, half waited up to 39 days and a quarter more than 85 days.

For breast scans, half of the women waited up to 43 days and a quarter more than 105 days. For abdominal and pelvic scans, half waited up to 46 days and a quarter more than 99 days, compared with 27 days for musculoskeletal scans.

The second Health Ministry report focused on surgical procedures

The second report deals with planned surgeries performed in 2024 at 28 public hospitals. The findings showed that for cataract surgery, half of patients waited up to 202 days at Carmel, compared with just 22 days at Laniado. At Ziv and Shamir, the wait was 27 days, and at Barzilai, 31 days.

For hernia repair, the wait was 114 days at Carmel, 112 days at Beilinson, and 106 days at Emek Medical Center. The shortest wait was at Barzilai, at 13 days, followed by Bnei Zion and Ziv, at 26 days.

Among common pediatric surgeries, month-long waits were revealed. For myringotomies, which are ear tube surgeries, 129-day delays were recorded at Soroka, 118 days at Carmel, and 111 days at Hadassah Mount Scopus and Hadassah Ein Kerem. At Ichilov, half of the patients waited seven days, at the Northern Medical Center 30 days, and at Rambam 40 days.

For tonsil and adenoid surgery, 154-day waits were recorded at the Galilee Medical Center, 130 days at Emek and 117 days at Hadassah Mount Scopus, compared with seven days at Ichilov, 15 days at Hillel Yaffe and 28 days at the Northern Medical Center.

The national waiting time for a septoplasty stood at 89 days, and nearly half of patients waited more than three months. At Hadassah Ein Kerem, 260 days were recorded, at the Galilee Medical Center 250 days, and at Kaplan 198 days. The shortest wait was recorded at the Northern Medical Center, 35 days, and at Ziv, 36 days.

Large gaps were also discovered for orthopedic surgeries. For knee replacements at Soroka, the wait time was 166 days, 108 days at Emek, and 98 days at Carmel. Ziv had the shortest wait, 14 days, followed by Hasharon with 35 days and Wolfson with 36 days.

For hip replacements, half of the patients waited 135 days at Soroka, 104 days at Meir, and 101 days at Laniado, compared with 20 days at Ziv, 29 days at Wolfson, and 34 days at Beilinson.

For thyroid removal, patients waited 123 days at Emek, 114 days at Meir, and 106 days at Beilinson. The shortest times were at Hillel Yaffe at 16 days, Hadassah Ein Kerem at 29 days, and Wolfson at 30 days.

For prostate removal, 104 days were recorded at Carmel, 90 days at Emek, and 88 days at Sheba, compared with 18 days at Shamir, 23 days at Wolfson, and 28 days at the Galilee Medical Center.

Israel is ahead on waiting times compared to OECD countries

Compared with the developed OECD countries, the Health Ministry says Israel is relatively well positioned on waiting times for several major operations.

For example, for cataract surgery, the waiting time in Israel stands at 50 days, compared with an OECD average of 68 days, and the share of people waiting more than 90 days is lower in Israel.

For prostate removal, the waiting time in Israel is 50 days compared with 61 days in the OECD, and for hysterectomy, 43 days compared to 69 days.

The gap is also notable in orthopedic surgery: For hip replacement, the waiting time in Israel stands at 57 days compared with 110 days in OECD countries, and for knee replacement, 70 days compared with 199 days.

The share waiting more than three months is also lower in Israel in all five procedures examined: 23.6% compared with 36% for prostate removal, 23.7% compared with 44% for hysterectomy, 32.2% compared with 54% for hip replacement and 37.2% compared with 63% for knee replacement.

Going forward, the Health Ministry plans to expand the measurement to include the time from the doctor’s decision until surgery. 

A remarkable discovery was made during a Jewish summer camp in Russia, when children digging in the historic courtyard of the town where the Chabad movement began uncovered a rare pocket watch and old coins.

Russia’s chief rabbi described the find as “evidence of the triumph of the spirit.”

While thousands of children across Russia are spending their summer vacation at recreational camps, a group of campers from Moscow’s Gan Israel camp had an extraordinary experience this week.

During an educational visit to the town of Lyubavichi, the birthplace of the Chabad Hasidic movement, the children took part in an archaeological preservation project in the historic courtyard where the dynasty’s rebbes once lived and worked, and where the renowned Tomchei Temimim yeshiva was established.

During the excavation, a genuine treasure was suddenly uncovered: a rare and luxurious pocket watch that had been buried in the ground for decades, alongside old ruble coins.

The items were transferred for examination to Rabbi Gabriel Gordon, director of the local Chabad House.

Following an initial inspection, Gordon said that, given the watch’s high quality and elaborate craftsmanship, there was a strong possibility that it had belonged to a member of one of the rebbes’ families who lived at the site.

The discovery sparked an outburst of joy and spontaneous dancing among the children and the staff accompanying them.

From red necktie to symbol of a new generation

The moving discovery came alongside a visit by Russia’s chief rabbi, Rabbi Berel Lazar, to the main summer camp outside Moscow.

During his meeting with the children, Lazar received a gift carrying profound symbolic significance: an original, 100-year-old red Pioneer necktie. The necktie had been worn by members of youth movements under the communist regime, during a period in which systematic attempts were made to erase Jewish tradition.

Beside it was a green necktie, the symbol of the modern Hasidic summer camp.

“This opposite that,” the organizers said, emphasizing the message of the triumph of the Jewish spirit over historical attempts at repression.

“Our greatest success as a community is seeing how we take care of the next generation,” Lazar told the campers, the overwhelming majority of whom are children of Chabad emissaries serving in remote Russian cities, where they are often the only Jewish representatives in their communities.

Tradition that crosses borders

Chabad’s summer camp project in Russia, operated by hundreds of rabbis and emissaries, has in recent years grown into an extensive network focused on education and community building.

Alongside the Moscow camp, additional programs operate throughout the country, including a girls’ camp in the city of Nizhny, directed by Rebbetzin Frady Lerman.

For the children, who come from the most remote corners of the Russian Federation, the experience is far more than a vacation. It provides an opportunity for social connection and spiritual renewal ahead of the school year.

When the children return home in several weeks, they will take with them not only memories of summer camp, but also a sense of connection to the distinguished Jewish history of the Lyubavitch family. The watch discovered in the ground has now become the most vivid and moving testimony to that history.

The most powerful storm to strike mainland China this year forced more than 260,000 people to evacuate their homes in northeastern Liaoning province, as Typhoon Bavi brought intense flooding.

Heavy rain is expected to persist through Tuesday, with extreme downpours in some areas, authorities said as Bavi draws vast amounts of tropical moisture northward, creating a sustained flow of humid air into northern China.

In Shenyang, Liaoning’s provincial capital, a lighthouse severed its high-voltage power line and began drifting through floodwaters along main roads and crossing under a bridge, according to videos posted on Chinese social media.

All schools and training institutions have been ordered to suspend classes, while transport services have been largely disrupted in northeastern cities including in Shenyang and Jilin.

Bavi, ​covering an area the ⁠size of France, formed in the Pacific Ocean 13 days ago. Its structure remained largely intact on Monday even after making landfall in eastern China on Saturday night, making it the longest-lasting tropical cyclone in the Asia-Pacific region this year.

260,000 people evacuated, more intense rainfall expected

Its longevity is largely due to its unusually well-preserved warm core, Chinese meteorologists ⁠say, allowing ​Bavi to retain much of its moisture as it churns north towards the Korean peninsula. ​Intense rainfall is expected when Bavi, currently classified as a tropical storm, slows further and starts to release all the moisture that it has been holding.

A Chinese-born American seismologist who has published US-funded work on detecting North Korean nuclear tests has been detained in China for nearly two years and faces trial on spying charges, according to his wife, US lawmakers and two hostage advocacy groups.

The case of Youlin Chen, reported here for the first time, adds an irritant to the tense relationship between the nuclear-armed rivals and comes as US President Donald Trump seeks to keep the relationship steady following last year’s trade war.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on March 19 designated Chen, 54, as “wrongfully detained,” making his release a top US priority. The Trump administration has withheld a public announcement to allow space for high-level diplomacy aimed at securing his freedom, according to his wife, Yufang Rong.

A US source familiar with Chen’s case said the administration was “focused on gaining his release from his unjustifiable detention.” The source spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic talks.

Chen, who became a US citizen in 2011 and lives in Boston, Massachusetts, is the only American currently held in China designated as wrongfully detained, according to his wife and hostage advocates.

Rong said she has been told by the White House and the State Department that during a state visit to Beijing in May, Trump raised her husband’s detention with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who promised to look into it. Xi’s government, however, has taken no action, she said.

The US source did not directly confirm that Trump discussed Chen with Xi. But the source said the pair have a “very good personal relationship. This is one of many facets in the US-China relationship. No one issue is defining.”

In a Reuters interview, Rong expressed concern that Beijing has decided even before putting Chen on trial to find him guilty of espionage, a crime that in China carries a possible sentence of up to life in prison or even the death penalty for cases deemed especially grave.

“I believe they will convict him no matter what and the trial will be behind closed doors,” said Rong, who is also a seismologist but does not collaborate on her husband’s work.

At least 12 Americans held unjustly in China

The Foley Foundation, a hostage advocacy organization that has been tracking Chen’s case, believes that Chen is among at least 12 Americans unjustly held in China, including people under exit bans, said Elizabeth Richards, the group’s director of hostage advocacy.

“President Trump has been clear that he wants every American detained abroad to return home, and he has reunited over 100 individuals with their families since taking office this term,” said deputy White House press secretary Anna Kelly.

The Office of the US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs and the Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

US embassy officials have visited Chen several times, but Chinese officials are always present, preventing him from speaking freely, said Rong. She retained a Chinese lawyer, but he was allowed to see Chen only after he had been detained for more than 13 months.

Chinese officials have interrogated her husband more than 100 times about his work on the seismographic signatures of North Korean nuclear tests, said Rong.

Eric Lebson, a former US national security official whose hostage advocacy organization, Global Reach, is advising the family, said he believes China wants to use Chen’s expertise to improve its ability to conceal underground nuclear weapons tests through a technique called decoupling.

Lebson said a similar concern was expressed by nuclear testing experts consulted by his group.

US accuses China of hiding nuclear tests

The Trump administration in February accused China of trying to mask a low-yield underground nuclear test blast on June 22, 2020, using the technique in which a device is detonated inside a large underground chamber to reduce the magnitude of the shock waves it produces.

China, which like the US has signed but not ratified the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, denies conducting the test.

Lebson said that Chen is employed by a US government contractor and has never had a US security clearance or performed classified work.

His research on seismic waves from North Korean test blasts has been funded by the State Department and the Air Force Research Laboratory, said Lebson. He added that it was done in collaboration with Chinese academics, it used publicly available Chinese data and is viewable on the internet.

A December 2020 paper by Chen, reviewed by Reuters, examined the magnitude of North Korea’s six known nuclear test blasts and ways to distinguish their seismic signatures from those of earthquakes.

The cover page states that the paper was written for the State Department’s arms control bureau and “approved for public release.”

Human-rights groups have argued that under China’s state-secrets law, Chinese authorities retain broad powers to retroactively classify public data, such as official statistics, as national security secrets, potentially implicating anyone who possessed or shared previously open-source information.

Chen was arrested by Chinese state security officers on November 5, 2024, at Beijing International Airport as he prepared to fly home to Boston after visiting family and lecturing on his work at two universities, according to Rong and Lebson.

Chinese-American detainee sees harsh conditions, wife says

At the beginning of his detention, said Rong, Chen was subjected to “harsh conditions,” including being forced to sit all day on a hard stool without being allowed to stand, read or exercise, and was unable to obtain medications for his diabetes and other health problems.

Since then, she said, it has been difficult to learn the conditions of his confinement, but she added that he has lost 30 to 40 pounds, is given insufficient food with little protein, fruits or vegetables, and receives only poor-quality medications.

He was charged with espionage on May 1, 2025, but has not yet stood trial. The case will likely come up again during a visit that Trump has said Xi will make to Washington in September.

US Senator Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who led two other senators in a December 17, 2025, letter urging Rubio to designate Chen as wrongfully detained, said he was “deeply concerned about Dr. Chen’s safety and wellbeing.”

“It is my hope that increased attention on his unjust detention will force the Chinese government to do the right thing and release Dr. Chen,” Markey said in a statement.

A new policy paper published by the Jerusalem Center for Applied Policy called on the Israeli government to take a series of steps to reduce the Turkish consulate’s activity in Jerusalem and limit the status of its representatives.

Among the recommendations are revoking diplomatic benefits, canceling work visas, restricting freedom of movement in Israel, removing immunity from diplomatic vehicles, and reexamining the activity of Turkish institutions operating in the city.

The paper, written by retired ambassador Ran Yishai, who heads the center’s research division, includes 10 policy recommendations. According to the author, their purpose is to reduce what he defines as hostile Turkish influence in Jerusalem and strengthen the implementation of Israeli sovereignty in the city.

At the center of the document is the claim that the Turkish consulate in Jerusalem does not function as an authorized representative office to the State of Israel, but rather as a body operating mainly with the Palestinian Authority. For that reason, the paper argues, there is no justification for Israel to continue granting its representatives the full range of benefits normally extended in diplomatic relations between states.

Yishai says that for years Israel allowed the Turkish consulate to operate in Jerusalem in a manner that went beyond its official status. In his view, the consulate serves as a central hub in Ankara’s policy in the city and acts in a way that denies Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem.

“For years Turkey has undermined Israel’s sovereignty, while Israel turned a blind eye,” Yishai said. “The Turkish consulate in Jerusalem is the locomotive driving Turkey’s hostile policy toward Israel in the city, one that denies Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem and seeks to restore Turkey to a leading status in the city.”

He added, “For decades Israel has allowed the consulate to operate in Jerusalem as if it were an embassy to the Palestinian Authority. That situation must end.”

JCAP recommends Israel deny Turkish embassy diplomatic privileges

One of the main recommendations is to deny diplomatic privileges to representatives who are not accredited to the State of Israel. The paper proposes canceling their work visas, limiting their movement within Israel, and removing the immunity granted to the vehicles they use.

The document also recommends canceling reserved parking spaces allocated to the mission, stripping tax exemptions, and reviewing the property tax exemption granted to buildings used by the Turkish consulate in Jerusalem.

Further recommendations concern the activities of Turkish bodies operating in the city under the consulate’s patronage or with its support. Among other things, the paper calls for a review of the activities of the Turkish cultural center Yunus Emre and the work of the Turkish aid agency TIKA. The Jerusalem Center for Applied Policy also wants allegations of illegal construction on compounds linked to these bodies examined. According to the recommendations, if violations or construction offenses are found, the authorities should issue orders and exercise their enforcement powers.

Another issue raised by the paper is the situation in which diplomatic staff officially accredited to the State of Israel simultaneously hold positions within the Turkish consulate in Jerusalem. The paper’s authors recommend ending this dual role, which they say blurs the distinction between the Turkish embassy accredited to Israel and the representative office operating with the Palestinians.

The document presents Ankara with a diplomatic alternative: if Turkey wants to maintain a full diplomatic presence in Jerusalem, it should move its embassy in Israel to the city, as the US did in 2018. In that case, it would have to close the consulate that operates with the Palestinian Authority, the paper argues.

Turkey, Israel face diplomatic tensions

The recommendations reflect a tougher line toward Turkey’s activity in Jerusalem, against the backdrop of tense relations between the two countries and Israeli criticism of Ankara’s involvement in east Jerusalem and its support for Palestinian bodies in the city.

The Jerusalem Center for Applied Policy says Israel has for years limited itself to protests and statements, while refraining from using the administrative, legal, and diplomatic tools at its disposal. It is now calling on the government to move from a policy of restraint to one of active enforcement.

According to the center’s staff, the goal is not necessarily to bring about the immediate closure of the consulate, but to change the rules under which it operates and make clear that a foreign mission operating in Jerusalem cannot enjoy Israeli benefits while at the same time acting in a way that does not recognize Israeli sovereignty in the city.

The paper is not binding on the Foreign Ministry or on other authorities. Still, it offers a range of practical steps that could be implemented gradually, from revoking individual privileges to a fundamental change in the status of the Turkish mission in Jerusalem.

The paper concludes that after years of restraint, Israel must set clear limits on foreign diplomatic activity in its capital. The message its authors seek to establish is simple: anyone who wants to operate in Jerusalem as a full diplomatic mission must do so while recognizing the sovereignty of the State of Israel in the city.

American influencer Braden Peters, known online as Clavicular, has stirred controversy in recent days after visiting Israel, with many asking why he was even allowed to enter the country after making several public antisemitic remarks.

Artificial intelligence was used to determine if Clavicular’s mere presence in Israel constituted a crime, or if Ben-Gurion Airport was right in allowing him to enter the state.

Peters was seen at Tel Aviv clubs during his visit and was also photographed speaking with Prime Minister’s adviser Topaz Luk, who said the meeting was coincidental and that Peters apologized to him for the antisemitic remark attributed to him. Other reports claimed Peters was removed from a beach club after a person accompanying him filmed customers, confronted them and refused to stop.

The uproar is tied to a video filmed in January 2026 at the Vendôme club in Miami Beach. In the video, Peters and other influencers, among them Nick Fuentes, Andrew and Tristan Tate and Sneako, are seen singing and cheering while the song “Heil Hitler” by rapper Ye, formerly Kanye West, was played. One participant was filmed giving a Nazi salute. After the video was published, the club said the incident was unacceptable, fired employees and barred those involved from the venue.

According to the reports, Peters did not initially distance himself from the incident and even said he was not sorry and would do it again. Luk, by contrast, said after meeting him in Tel Aviv that Peters apologized for the antisemitic remark. It was not reported that Peters sang the song, gave a Nazi salute, or publicly expressed support for Nazi crimes during his visit to Israel.

Why was he not arrested in the United States? 

According to the artificial intelligence models, Peters was not arrested after the Miami video because of the broad protections the First Amendment grants to free speech in the US. There is no general offense of “hate speech” in the US, and even racist, antisemitic, or Nazi expressions may be protected as long as they do not amount to a real threat, unlawful harassment, or direct incitement to immediate illegal action.

Under a test set by the US Supreme Court in Brandenburg v. Ohio, a person may be punished for incitement only when the speech is intended to bring about immediate unlawful action, and there is a likelihood that the action will in fact occur. 

A shocking remark or singing a Nazi song is not enough on its own to meet that strict test.

The law could be different if the expression includes a real threat against a specific person, an immediate call for violence, assault, disorder, or words aimed directly at a person that could lead to a violent confrontation. But the reports about the Miami incident do not indicate that the authorities determined the singing itself crossed the American criminal threshold.

Unlike countries such as Germany and Austria, Israel does not currently have a sweeping criminal ban on all use of Nazi symbols, all Nazi salutes or the mere utterance of the words “Heil Hitler.” Israel does have other, more targeted laws that may apply depending on the content of the remarks, the speaker’s intent and the circumstances in which they were made.

Section 3 of the Law for Prevention of Holocaust Denial states that a person who publishes, orally or in writing, words of praise, sympathy or identification with acts committed during Nazi rule, when these are crimes against the Jewish people or crimes against humanity, faces up to five years in prison. The law does not prohibit every mention of Hitler or every performance of a song with Nazi content, but requires a connection between the publication and praise, sympathy or identification with the crimes themselves.

That means singing “Heil Hitler” may serve as evidence of sympathy with Nazism, but it does not by itself guarantee a conviction. Investigators and prosecutors would have to examine the lyrics, the participants’ behavior, what was said before and after, any salutes made, the place, the audience and the explanations given by those involved.

The claim that it was done “as a joke” does not provide automatic immunity, but it is one of the circumstances a court may consider. There is a difference between presenting a clip in a report, a performance or a historical discussion, and a celebratory song meant to express admiration for Hitler or identification with the extermination of Jews.

Can Israel investigate an act carried out in Miami? 

In an unusual case, the answer is yes, at least in principle. Section 13 of the Penal Law states that Israel’s criminal laws may also apply to a foreign offense that constitutes an offense under the Law for Prevention of Holocaust Denial. In other words, even a person who is not an Israeli citizen and who carried out abroad an act that could be considered in Israel as a publication of sympathy for Nazi crimes may, in legal terms, be investigated and prosecuted in Israel.

However, the theoretical possibility does not make the process automatic. Section 9 of the Penal Law states that prosecution for a foreign offense may be brought only by the attorney general or with her written consent, and only if she finds that there is public interest in doing so. The Law for Prevention of Holocaust Denial itself also requires the attorney general’s consent for filing an indictment.

The authorities would need to prove that the filmed act indeed meets the precise definition in Israeli law, that the video is authentic, that Peters was aware of the song’s content, and that his conduct expressed praise for or identification with Nazi crimes, rather than mere provocation, taunting, or participation in an event. The very fact that the behavior arouses public revulsion is not enough in criminal law.

Even when there is suspicion of an offense, arrest is not an automatic response. Under Israel’s arrest laws, there is usually a need for reasonable suspicion of an offense and a separate ground for arrest, such as danger to the public, concern about obstructing the investigation, tampering with evidence or flight from justice. Even when there is a ground for arrest, authorities must examine whether the purpose of the investigation can be achieved in a less restrictive way.

Therefore, even if the Miami video had been reviewed, it would not have meant Peters had to be arrested immediately upon landing in Israel. The authorities could have summoned him for questioning, taken his testimony, examined the videos, or sought conditions that would prevent him from leaving the country, depending on the evidence and the specific concern.

Why was he allowed to enter Israel? Entry into Israel by a tourist is not an absolute right. The Entry into Israel Law grants the interior minister and the Population and Immigration Authority broad discretion over visas, denials of entry, and cancellations of residency permits. An ETA-IL approval allows a tourist to come to border control, but does not guarantee entry into the country.

However, there is no provision in the law stating that anyone who has previously expressed antisemitic views or sung a Nazi song abroad will automatically be blocked from entering Israel. Refusing entry or canceling a stay requires an administrative decision by the authorized bodies, based on information and considerations such as public safety, state security, the purpose of the visit and the visitor’s conduct.

As of now, it has not been reported that Israeli police opened an investigation against Peters over the Miami video, that the attorney general was asked to approve criminal proceedings, or that the Population and Immigration Authority decided to cancel his visa. The only report about his removal from a place in Israel concerned his being thrown out of a private club after, according to the owners, he and a companion filmed customers and provoked confrontations.

Had Peters sung in Israel a song praising Hitler, given a Nazi salute, and expressed identification with the murder of Jews, that could have justified opening an investigation on suspicion of publishing sympathy for Nazi crimes. If the remarks had included a call to harm Jews or another group because of their origin, suspicion of incitement to racism could also have been examined.

If the singing had taken place in a club, in the street or at a memorial site and led to a confrontation, threats or public disorder, police could also have intervened under offenses related to public order. In such a case, removing him from the place, detaining him or arresting him would depend not only on the words of the song, but also on his conduct and the danger created at the scene.

Two national tankers were targeted by two Iranian cruise missiles in the southern lane of the Strait of Hormuz in Omani territorial waters, killing one Indian crew member and wounding eight others, including four seriously, the UAE‘s Defense Ministry said early on Tuesday.

Six of the wounded were Indian nationals, and two were Ukrainian nationals, the ministry said.

The UAE’s Defense Ministry said two tankers, the Mombasa and Al Bahiyah, were damaged after fires broke out on board. The fires were brought under control on both ships, the ministry added.

It also condemned the attack as a serious breach of international law and said the UAE retained its full right to respond and take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty and security, adding that it is on “high alert and fully prepared to deal with any threats.”

UKMTO reports struck tankers

In a separate incident, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) said in a post on X/Twitter that it received a report of an incident northeast of Qalhat, in Oman.

A tanker was struck by an “unknown projectile,” according to UKMTO, which added that no crew members were injured in the incident. 

UKMTO WARNING 085-26 – ATTACK

Click here to view the full warning ⤵️https://t.co/rcdh4TaPa7#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/tVjWdLcAq9

— UKMTO Operations Centre (@UK_MTO) July 13, 2026

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US was reinstating its blockade of Iranian shipping in the Gulf and would ensure the strait remains open. 

“We’re going to keep the strait, and we’ll probably run it. We’ll become the guardian of the strait. Maybe we’ll call it the guardian angel of the strait. And we should be reimbursed for that,” Trump said.

Iran’s top joint military command said the US had no role in determining the future of the waterway and would not be allowed to intervene.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say two supertankers hit, disabled in Strait of Hormuz, local media reports

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Tuesday took responsibility for striking the two “offending supertankers” that were hit and disabled in the Strait of Hormuz after the ships ignored warnings, turned off navigation systems and attempted to pass through “a mined route,” Iranian media reported citing a statement from the Guards.

The Guards, in its statement to Iranian media, said the US was “inciting vessels to use an illegal route” and that cooperation with the “aggressor enemy” would result in damage, delays in reopening the strait and a global energy crisis.

Iran claims damage in Bahrain, Kuwait

Additionally, Bahrain’s interior ministry reported that sirens sounded in Bahrain on Tuesday morning. The media adviser to Bahrain’s King said that “Bahraini air defenses have intercepted and destroyed Iranian aerial attacks.”

The Patriot radar, the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet air-control radar, and the C-RAM (Counter-Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar) early-warning radar system were destroyed in the strikes, the IRGC claimed. 

Iranian state media also reported on Tuesday that Iranian drones had struck critical infrastructure at US military bases in Kuwait.

CENTCOM Spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins said the Iranian claims, which alleged having damaged communication systems and ammunition depots, were “lies.”

IRGC strikes US air base in Jordan

The IRGC confirmed it targeted a US air base in Jordan with ballistic missiles on Tuesday in a statement published by Fars News, calling on the Jordanian people to dismantle American bases in their country.

“You know very well that not only do we not have any enmity with your country, but we also love you, the noble people, who understand the pain and oppression of the Palestinian people more than any other nation,” the statement said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Fourteen suspects have been arrested after police uncovered a smuggling network suspected of being used to manufacture explosive devices for terrorist organizations in the West Bank on Monday.

A joint operation between Border Police, IDF intelligence units, and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) exposed a network suspected of smuggling dual-use materials for terrorist organizations, according to a statement from the Israel Police spokesperson. 

The covert operation, which was led by the Border Police Investigations Division and the Tax Authority, took place over several months.

It was launched in response to a rising threat of explosive devices in the West Bank, which had caused injuries and fatalities in the IDF and Border Police forces, the statement explained.

The investigation found that an Israeli citizen, working with several Palestinians, allegedly smuggled millions of shekels worth of dual-use materials into the West Bank.

At least 175 kg of explosive materials seized

The suspects didn’t fully report the resulting income to tax authorities, and the materials allegedly reached terrorist organizations who used them to manufacture explosive devices.

Eight suspects involved in the affair were initially arrested. During the overt phase of the operation, six additional suspects were arrested.

During the operation, approximately 175 kg of materials suspected of being used to manufacture explosive devices were seized.

The investigation is ongoing, and further arrests are expected depending on developments.

Every new document about Hamas’s preparations for the October 7 massacre makes the same question harder to escape: How did Israel fail to see what was being built in front of it?

The latest revelations about Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s plan are horrifying – not only because of what they show about Hamas, but also because of what they show about Israel’s failure to understand the enemy it was facing.

According to newly revealed documents, Hamas contemplated an invasion force of up to 10,000 fighters against more than 200 southern communities and IDF outposts. The actual invasion involved about 5,600 attackers across several waves, according to the report.

That is almost unbearable to absorb. October 7 was the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust: More than 1,200 people were murdered, and 251 were taken hostage.

And yet, according to these documents, Hamas had imagined something even larger, and that is the scale of the failure that must be understood. If what happened on October 7 was not the upper limit of Hamas’s planning, but rather the scale it managed to execute, then Israel owes itself something much deeper than what it is currently getting.

For nearly three years, Israelis have been asked to live with the consequences of the October 7 massacre without being given a full national accounting of how it happened. There have been internal military inquiries, State Comptroller’s Reports, arguments in court, political proposals in the Knesset, and repeated promises that the time for a broader reckoning will come later.

But later has become both a policy and a shield, a way of ensuring that responsibility is postponed until it is blurred. That is unacceptable.

Oct. 7 involved widespread failures 

The failures of October 7 were not limited to one unit, a command post, an intelligence assessment, the border fence, or a ministerial decision. They involved intelligence assumptions, political policy, military deployment, deterrence doctrine, border defense, and the relationship between the political echelon and the security establishment.

No single internal probe can answer all of that. The High Court of Justice already has made clear the depth of the problem. More than two and a half years after the massacre, no appropriate mechanism had been established to investigate the disaster and draw lessons from it.

The High Court limited the state comptroller’s ability to examine some of the most central questions surrounding the October 7 massacre, including Israel’s Hamas policy, Gaza border defense, intelligence handling, and the conduct of the political, military, and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) leadership during the terrorist attack.

That ruling only strengthened the case for a state commission of inquiry. This is a basic obligation of the state to its citizens and one that everyone deserves.

A state commission of inquiry is about establishing facts, identifying failures, assigning responsibility where responsibility belongs, and ensuring that Israel does not enter the next war with the same illusions that led it into the last disaster.

This is precisely why the current political maneuvering around an alternative inquiry framework is so troubling. An investigation into October 7 cannot be born inside the same political battlefield it is meant to examine. A commission whose composition is shaped by politicians cannot command the gravity of an independent state commission established under the existing legal framework.

Israel is now heading into an election season. On October 27, citizens will go to the polls, more than three years after the deadliest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust. Parties will campaign on security, leadership, unity, responsibility, hostages, war, religion, cost of living, and power.

But before politicians ask the public for another mandate, the public is entitled to ask them a simpler question: How can you ask to govern again before the state has properly investigated how its representatives failed so catastrophically last time?

Oct. 7 investigation must be priority of next gov’t

If a state commission of inquiry is not established before the election, then establishing one must be among the first acts of the next government. Immediately.

The October 7 massacre was a terrorist invasion by Hamas. It also was a collapse of Israel’s most basic promise to its citizens: that the state would protect them.

Hamas planned, prepared, deceived, and struck. Israel must now investigate, learn, repair, and take responsibility. Anything less would be a second failure.

Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protesters blocked roads and tried to damage the light rail construction site on Bar Ilan Street and near Zaks Junction in Jerusalem on Monday night, Israel police announced.

When the gathering became riotous, police on the scene declared it a public disturbance and instructed the protesters to clear the road. After the protesters failed to comply, police began using crowd dispersal measures to restore public order. 

Additionally, police received reports of traffic disruptions caused by roadblocks and deliberately set fires in areas adjacent to the road. Officers arrived at the scene to restore public safety.

Haredi protesters disrupt light rail construction, block traffic 

On Sunday, protesters disrupted light rail construction and blocked traffic on the street, according to Israeli police. 

Video footage seen by The Jerusalem Post appears to show several haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protesters loitering on the tracks and preventing construction crews from working.

The incidents come following weeks of protests aimed at blocking light rail construction on the street, a major route that runs through a heavily haredi neighborhood.

Haredi protesters have cumulatively caused over NIS 400 million in damage to the Jerusalem light rail’s unfinished Green Line since construction began about six years ago, an N12 report revealed. 

Syria’s newly formed People’s Assembly on Sunday elected constitutional law scholar Dr. Abdul Hamid al-Awak as speaker, while Mustafa Moussa and Dr. Madona Suhail Bashara were elected deputy speakers during the legislature’s first session since the fall of former President Bashar Assad, marking the launch of Syria’s first legislative body in the country’s transitional period.

The session, attended by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, saw 206 lawmakers take the constitutional oath before electing the assembly’s leadership and forming a temporary legal committee to oversee parliamentary procedures.

The 210-seat legislature consists of 140 elected members and 70 members appointed by the president. Four seats remain vacant—three allocated to Suwayda province, where elections could not be held, and one representing Idlib following the death of a member.

Al-Awak, originally from Hasakah province, is regarded as one of the most prominent legal figures to emerge during Syria’s transitional period. A constitutional law professor and former judge who defected from the previous government, he chaired the committee that drafted Syria’s constitutional declaration governing the transition.

A prominent advocate of the separation of powers and stronger parliamentary oversight, al-Awak drew attention as an architect of Syria’s transitional constitutional framework who is now leading the country’s first post-Assad legislature.

Yet what drew the greatest attention among Syrians was not the election of the assembly’s leadership or President al-Sharaa’s address, but what was absent from the opening session.

For the first time in decades, the president delivered his speech without the prolonged applause that had traditionally accompanied the arrival of former presidents Hafez Assad and Bashar Assad at parliamentary sessions. Many Syrians viewed the absence of applause as a symbolic indication of an emerging political culture inside the legislature.

The session also featured several symbolic firsts, including the presence of the first Kurdish woman and the first veiled woman to serve under the assembly’s dome, while Bashara’s election as second deputy speaker placed a woman in one of the new legislature’s highest leadership positions.

In a post on X following the session, al-Sharaa described the launch of the People’s Assembly as “an important national milestone” toward strengthening consultation, responsibility, and institution-building based on dialogue, competence, and the rule of law.

For more than five decades, Syria’s parliament was closely associated with public displays of loyalty to the president. During the presidencies of Hafez and Bashar Assad, parliamentary sessions routinely began with lawmakers standing and applauding for extended periods before the president addressed the chamber, often followed by speeches praising his leadership and endorsing government policies.

Legislature criticized for lacking independence from president

Throughout those years, opposition figures, researchers, and human rights organizations frequently criticized the legislature for lacking independence, arguing that it largely approved government legislation without exercising meaningful oversight or facilitating substantive parliamentary debate.

Against that backdrop, many Syrians viewed the absence of applause during Sunday’s session as more than a procedural change, seeing it instead as a symbolic attempt to redefine the relationship between the presidency and the legislature.

The moment quickly became one of the most discussed scenes on Syrian social media. While many users described it as a symbolic break from the parliamentary traditions of the Assad era, others argued that the new assembly should ultimately be judged by its legislative performance rather than its opening ceremony.

Bashar al-Hawi, a member of parliament representing Aleppo province, said the symbolism of the opening session was deliberate rather than spontaneous.

“The absence of applause was not accidental,” al-Hawi told The Media Line. “It reflected a firm conviction that parliament should be a legislative institution where there is no place for glorification or applause for the president. We wanted the first session to present an image different from what Syrians had become accustomed to over past decades.”

He added that the new legislature seeks to regain public confidence by genuinely representing Syrians, noting that many of its members “came from among the people and lived through the same hardships experienced by Syrians during the war.”

Regarding female representation, al-Hawi acknowledged that greater balance is still needed but stressed that the women who entered parliament did so on merit rather than as a symbolic gesture, expressing confidence that they would play an active role in the coming period.

Meanwhile, Nour al-Din Ismail, editor-in-chief of the Syrian state-run newspaper Al-Thawra, said the assembly’s first session contained several unfamiliar features in Syria’s parliamentary life, including the way proceedings were managed, the election of the leadership, and the absence of applause for the president.

However, he cautioned that these developments remain largely symbolic unless they evolve into lasting institutional practices.

“The success of any parliament is not measured by its inaugural session,” Ismail told The Media Line, “but by the legislation it passes, its ability to hold the government accountable, encourage genuine debate, and represent diverse social interests.”

Real difference lies in independence, authority

He added that the real difference from previous legislatures would depend on the assembly’s independence and authority.

“If parliament succeeds in becoming a platform for public debate, legislation, and government oversight,” he said, “it will have broken with the model of previous parliaments, which were often criticized for merely endorsing government decisions rather than shaping them.”

Under Syria’s constitutional declaration, the People’s Assembly will exercise legislative and oversight powers throughout the transitional period until a permanent constitution is adopted and new parliamentary elections are held.

The inaugural session also drew international attention. Claudio Cordone, the UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria, welcomed the opening of the People’s Assembly, describing it as “a pivotal milestone” in the country’s political transition. He said the parliament would play a vital role in passing urgently needed legislation during this critical phase and reaffirmed the United Nations’ readiness to provide the necessary support.

Meanwhile, Turkish Ambassador to Syria Nuh Yılmaz congratulated the Syrian people on the launch of the assembly, saying the country had waited decades to restore popular sovereignty after years of sacrifice.

Ambassador Eli Vered Hazan was appointed the Next World Chairman of Keren Hayesod, the organization announced in a statement on Monday. 

Hazan serves as Israel’s Ambassador to Singapore and was previously Vice President for Public Diplomacy at the Jerusalem Institute of Justice. He “played a key role in strengthening Israel’s international relations and deepening ties with leaders and Jewish communities around the world,” Keren Hayesod said. 

Hazan will succeed Sam Grundwerg, who has led Keren Hayesod over the past eight years. “Eli brings impressive public leadership experience and years of service to the State of Israel and the Jewish people, and I have no doubt he will lead Keren Hayesod successfully,” said Grundwerg. 

He added that “it has been a privilege to lead this organization over the past eight years, and I am proud of what we have achieved-especially in strengthening ties with Jewish communities and Christian friends of Israel, while significantly increasing our fundraising results.” 

The organization, established in 1920, aims to strengthen Israeli society, promote Aliyah, and enrich the Jewish Diaspora, according to its website. 

Its new chairman was selected following a “thorough and extensive process,” according to the organization, and was “subject to formal approvals by various bodies of the World Zionist Organization and Keren Hayesod.”

Appointment is a ‘great honor,’ says Hazan

Hazan called the appointment a “great honor,” adding that he “appreciates the confidence in me expressed by Keren Hayesod’s leadership.”

He also thanked Grundwerg for his “outstanding leadership,” and says he “looks forward to building on this strong foundation for the benefit of the people of Israel.”

Bruce Leboff, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Keren Hayesod, congratulated Hazan for his new role, saying he holds “exceptional diplomatic experience, profound commitment to the Jewish people and the State of Israel, and a strong record of leadership and professional excellence.”

He also thanked Grundwerg for having led Keren Hayesod “through one of the most challenging periods in Israel’s history with tremendous dedication and unprecedented accomplishment.”

Former Vice President Mike Pence has weighed in against antisemitism after officials in his Indiana town say a costly fire may have been caused by arson to an Israeli flag displayed on a local barn.

The alleged arson broke out early Friday morning, damaging a historic home in Zionsville, Indiana, where Pence lives, and causing an estimated $150,000 in damages, according to the Zionsville Police Department.

Zionsville Mayor John Stehr said during a press conference on Friday that officials believed the fire began when an individual set fire to an Israeli flag that had been displayed outside the building alongside an American flag.

The town later announced that the FBI had joined the investigation and that officials were examining whether the arson “may have been motivated by bias” but said no determination had been made.

“Absolutely despicable,” Pence tweeted on Sunday. “There can be no tolerance in America for Antisemitism or political acts of violence, and it is heartbreaking to see in our adopted hometown of Zionsville, Indiana. We thank God no one was hurt and urge anyone with information to contact law enforcement.”

Pence has long cast himself as a staunch supporter of Israel, including after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, and has also repeatedly spoken out against antisemitism in the conservative movement and beyond.

Zionsville’s Jewish community held a rally condemning the flag being burnt

Republican Indiana Sen. Jim Banks also condemned the alleged arson in a post on X Saturday. “Antisemitism will not be tolerated. Not in Zionsville. Not in Indiana. Not anywhere,” Banks wrote. “Thank you to the federal, state, and local officials working to bring the perpetrators of this despicable arson attack to justice.”

On Sunday, the Jewish community in central Indiana hosted a rally condemning the alleged arson attack, chanting, “We will stand up,” according to local outlet Fox 59. While Zionsville does not have a large Jewish community of its own, other suburbs of Indianapolis have significant Jewish populations, and Zionsville is also the longtime home of a Reform movement summer camp, the Goldman Union Camp Institute, which is in session now.

“The founding fathers founded a country where we have the ability to resolve differences among each other; we don’t do it by firebombing homes,” rally organizer David Schiller told Fox 59. “It’s inexcusable and unacceptable.”

The Zionsville Police Department did not respond to an inquiry from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency about the status of the investigation on Monday.

The president of PEN America resigned over the weekend in protest of a report on boycotts targeting Jewish and Israeli authors, part of yet another round of internal division over Israel at the literary free-speech institution.

Dinaw Mengestu, an Ethiopian-American novelist and Bard College professor, told The Atlantic he was stepping down because he believed the PEN report, “A Silent Moratorium,” failed to defend the free-speech rights of participants in the movement to boycott Israel.

“It’s the First Amendment that allows all of us to engage in boycotts, not PEN America,” Mengestu told the publication. “PEN America as a free expression organization is supposed to defend that right.” 

The author did not respond to multiple Jewish Telegraphic Agency requests for comment, but in an Instagram post Monday alluded to an interest in creating a new organization to rival the prominent nonprofit, which defends the free expression rights other writers. 

In response to an interview request, PEN sent a statement to JTA saying it was “grateful” for Mengestu’s leadership and would “respect” his decision. The statement also alluded to PEN’s own past turmoil: “We tell hard stories, in politically challenging moments, about writers from a range of perspectives, even when it’s uncomfortable for us given our own recent history.”

The PEN report said Jewish and Israeli writers feel ‘shut out’ of the literary world

In its report, published on its blog, PEN described “Jewish and Israeli writers who feel that the mainstream literary world is increasingly shutting them out because of their identity, nationality, or views.” Interview subjects include several Israel critics, as well as literary agents who assert that they face more difficulties signing Jewish authors after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and amid the subsequent war in Gaza. The report also repeatedly cited a JTA report about a 2024 viral list of “Zionist” authors to boycott. 

Among other details, PEN’s report revealed that Israeli novelist Etgar Keret and public radio host Ira Glass had cancelled a planned live event in Australia over fears of threats and protest. 

“This silencing and exclusion of writers is a threat to what PEN America is fundamentally committed to defending: a culture of free expression for all,” according to the report.

In addition to the report, PEN also altered its institutional policy toward cultural boycotts, which the organization has long opposed. Although its report on Jewish authors asserted that boycotts “threaten the free expression rights” of their targets, the revised guidelines say that the group will also defend the right of writers to participate in boycotts. 

Menegstu resigned as a result of the report on Jewish and Israeli writers

Mengestu’s resignation comes at a perilous moment for Jews facing cultural boycotts, both within the standard-bearers of PEN and elsewhere. PEN’s Jewish former longtime CEO stepped down in 2024 following months of blowback from rank-and-file authors who felt the organization was insufficiently critical of Israel and caused PEN to cancel a festival for global authors. 

Since the leadership change, PEN leadership has published and retracted a condemnation of a boycott effort trained at an Israeli comedian and also published a report cataloguing Israel’s “cultural destruction in Gaza.”

Mengestu had assumed the role of board president in 2025. But PEN’s report about Jewish and Israeli writers on Thursday, he wrote, “makes clear that [change] will not happen.”

The Anti-Defamation League said it was “deeply troubled” by Mengestu’s resignation Monday. “Freedom of expression means opposing efforts to boycott, silence, or exclude writers because of their identity or nationality,” the organization tweeted, saying that the author’s decision to leave PEN over his objections to the report on Jewish authors “sends a chilling message.” Jewish authors also objected.

“Imagine running a free expression org and resigning because it refuses to blacklist authors based on their nationality,” the author David Zweig wrote on X, musing whether Mengestu would object to boycotting authors from his birth country: “Ethiopia doesn’t exactly have a good human rights record.”

Responses to Mengestu’s resignation

In response to The Atlantic’s story that quoted sources from inside PEN who were critical of his resignation, Mengestu wrote a lengthy Instagram post Monday in which he stated, “This piece is about trying to suppress constitutionally protected speech,” criticized past PEN reports critical of the BDS movement, and added, “What PEN America fails to understand is that boycott is a form of dialogue.” 

He announced his intention to “help make something better,” receiving affirmative comments from notable authors including Viet Thanh Nguyen, Angela Flournoy, Jewish pro-Palestinian novelist Jess Row and Pulitzer Prize-winner Benjamin Moser, author of a forthcoming history of Jewish anti-Zionism.

Other Jewish authors on the left were among those defending Mengestu’s decision to step down.

“Dinaw is one hundred percent correct that this kind of fake victim propaganda can be used to support anti-Boycott legislation which violates the First Amendment and is everywhere as popular support for Palestinians grows,” author Sarah Schulman wrote on Facebook. Calling PEN’s blog about Jews “one of those fake anti-semitism pieces,” Schulman added, “If PEN wants to survive, they have to get out of the Israel/Zionism business.”

The price of oil jumped more than 3% on Monday as renewed military strikes between the United States and Iran raised fresh concerns about the movement of energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, a major route for global oil and gas shipments. 

Brent crude futures gained $2.39, or 3.14%, to $78.40 at 1321 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude rose $2.17, or 3.04%, to $73.58 a barrel. Both contracts had climbed more than 4% earlier in the session. 

During peacetime, around 20% of the world’s oil and gas is transported through the Strait of Hormuz, making disruptions to shipping a key concern for energy markets. 

“The focus will remain on the number of inbound tankers as a lower number could impact production, so currently we see a risk premium and a disruption risk supporting prices,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said. 

‘Iran does not control’ Strait of Hormuz, CENTCOM says

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it completed a wave of strikes against dozens of targets in Iran using precision munitions. The military said the operation was intended to limit Tehran’s ability to carry out attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. 
CENTCOM said the targets included Iranian air defense and coastal radar systems, missile and drone sites, and small boats. 

“The Strait of Hormuz is a vital maritime corridor for global trade. Iran does not control it,” CENTCOM said. 

Iran, however, maintains that it exercises full control over the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran claims the waterway is Iranian sovereign territory and says foreign commercial and military vessels must obtain explicit permission and authorization from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps before passing through it. 

Between foreign reports, public confirmation by former head of the Military Intelligence Directorate Tamir Hayman, and The Jerusalem Post’s own Western sources, it has been known now for some time that the Mossad sought to replace supreme leader Ali Khamenei with former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The New York Times had previous, more speculative reports on the issue, which were eventually confirmed by Hayman to the Public Broadcasting Service. That created space for the Post to receive confirmation, although Israeli journalists often cannot publish all that they know.

Hayman had told PBS: “Regarding Ahmadinejad, there was a sequence of special operations, very, very unique that was supposed to happen. And Ahmadinejad was a part of that sequence. The rest of the operations are not fully disclosed to the public, except for the Kurdish invasion.”

Questioned why the plan to replace Khamenei with Ahmadinejad had failed, Hayman replied: “Because the centerpiece of all the sequence should have been set off with the Kurdish invasion. According to what was published, [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, who really considered the Kurds as a strategic threat to the stability of Turkey, convinced [US President Donald] Trump that it was a bad idea to give the Kurds a state. Backing the Kurds goes against the interest of Turkey, and I think that had something to do with the decision of Trump to cancel this operation.”

Hayman has been used before to grandfather in sensitive information about Iran, which Israeli authorities had previously kept under wraps, according to foreign reports. They include the 2022 public admission by Hayman of a concrete role played by Israeli intelligence in the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.

Mossad’s Ahmadinejad recruit attempt involved striking residence, evacuating him

But the latest exposure by the Times of the tactics used by the Mossad to recruit Ahmadinejad, including its picking him up mid-war under the cover of an attack around his residence, and his walking away from the operation after being unhappy about the circumstances of the war, has not come from Israeli sources.

Whether the leaking of the story is revenge for the Israeli leak of its attempt to assist Trump in avoiding his aircraft being targeted by Iranians, or to push back against Israel’s opposing Trump’s sale of F-35s to Turkey, or whether the leak occurred earlier, to otherwise humble Israel and put it in its place as it tries to pressure the US to take a harder stance on Iran, the leaker’s message to Israel and the Mossad is clear: We don’t trust you, so back off.

Leakers seek to silence Israel on Iran 

The Trump administration, or parts of it, still has close ties to top Israeli officials. However, many of these Israeli officials, including some from the political echelon and the Mossad, have made enemies since the Iran war fell off a cliff. They have alienated US Vice President JD Vance, many of the non-generals in the Pentagon, probably some in the CIA, and certainly anyone affiliated with former National Intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard or special envoys Jared Kushner or Steve Witkoff with their inflated expectations.

There are also, doubtless, Turkish officials who helped block the move and are happy to share whatever they know.

While Israeli defense officials can make a viable argument for the latest war having worked out for some of Israel’s interests, pushing off the nuclear and ballistic-missile threats and weakening the Iranian military for years, the Trump administration and the United States increasingly see it as a failure.

The economic harm to the US has been devastating, the political harm to Trump will be lasting, and nearly five months after starting the war, there still is not a stable situation in the Strait of Hormuz, the basic nuclear-weapons goals are nowhere close to getting nailed down, although those goals still very well may be reached at some later point if Trump has the patience to see them through.

Clandestine funds sent to aides, Ahmadinejad-Mossad meetings leaked

So, while for the Times and the average reader of spy novels, the latest leaks about wild meetings with Israeli officials and Mossad agents in Guatemala, Hungary, and elsewhere, with Ahmadinejad managing to lose his minders multiple times, and clandestine funds being sent to his aides, are spellbinding and mind-twistingly fun reading, for the leakers, this is all about slam-dunking the Mossad and Israel into silence.

Look at how far your fancy tricks and plots did not get you when it really mattered in bringing about regime change, the leakers are telling their Israeli counterparts. Stop talking about regime change, and stop trying to rock the boat with Iran and with Lebanon, they are saying. Remember that we are your last friend in the world, Vance himself said in a far more public fashion.

All of this means that while it is exciting to hear how the Mossad got as far as it did in recruiting Ahmadinejad, once Israel’s greatest hater, a man who many times called to wipe Israel off the map and went out of his way to host Holocaust-denial conferences,  the end of this story for Israel is not a good one like it was with Soleimani and other operations.

The end and purpose of this latest story for the American public is to seal into its consciousness that, however brilliant the Mossad may be with its exploding beepers and other operations, at the higher-stakes geopolitical level that the US and Iran are now playing, it should remain on the sidelines with Israel.

The Iranian-backed Houthis appear to be seeking a new conflict with Saudi Arabia. This comes after they claimed that Riyadh targeted Sana’a airport in Yemen, an area the Houthis control. This is the second incident in two weeks in which the Houthis claimed they would retaliate if Saudi Arabia prevented flights from Iran. The Houthis are seeking to open an air bridge to Iran. The goal is for them to show they can break the “siege” on Sana’a. If they bring in planes, then they could also bring in weapons.

The Houthis have been clear that they might retaliate if Riyadh tries to prevent planes from landing. The Houthis claimed on July 13 that they targeted the southern Abha Airport in Saudi Arabia. They have targeted Saudi Arabia many times over the last decade since Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen in 2015 in support of the Yemeni government. Over the last several years, there has been a de-escalation and a kind of ceasefire in Yemen. This reduced Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent years. However, the Houthis appear intent on returning to the conflict.

The Houthis attacked Israel numerous times after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. They increased their attacks in 2025 as other elements of the Iranian-backed axis weakened. They have so far refrained from picking a fight with Riyadh. The Houthis were likely pleased to see Saudi Arabia distracted with a controversy with the UAE over control of a part of Yemen in December 2025. The UAE has backed the Southern Transitional Council in Aden in Yemen. The UAE and Saudi Arabia were partners in 2015, but over time their interests diverged. Their interests also diverge in Somalia and Sudan in the Horn of Africa.

More than meets the eye

As such, there is a lot more going on than may meet the eye. The Houthis have been biding their time amidst the Iran war. Between 2023 and 2025, they carried out attacks in the Red Sea. They stopped the attacks with the October ceasefire in Gaza. The Houthis had claimed to be backing Gaza. In recent weeks tensions grew. An Iranian envoy to the Houthis appeared in public again in Yemen. Other pieces have fallen into place with the US strikes in the Strait of Hormuz and Israel’s increased role in the Red Sea. Israel recognized Somaliland, for instance.

After the July 3 incident at Sana’a airport and also the Houthi Deputy Foreign Minister, Abdulwahid Abu Ras, meeting in the Houthi capital of Sanaa with the Iranian Ambassador to the militia, Ali Mohammad Rezaei; it was clear that a rising crisis was emerging. July 13 began with many open-source intelligence accounts tracking IRM1199, a flight bound for Sana’a. The Flight left Iran and flew over Oman on its way. This flight was said to be operated by Mahan Air.

The Houthis claimed that Saudi Arabia targeted the airport so the plane could not land. It apparently diverted to Hodeidah airport, which is also controlled by the Houthis.”In a flagrant and brazen act of aggression, the criminal Saudi enemy has targeted Sana’a Intl Airport with a series of airstrikes, thereby ending the de-escalation phase and bearing the consequences of its aggression,” the Houthis said. Other reports noted that it was the Yemen government, backed by the Saudis, that had carried out the attacks. This meant Saudi Arabia was not directly responsible. The Houthis disagree and are blaming Riyadh.

An X/Twitter account claiming to represent Sanaa airport noted that “Mahan Airlines is just one of dozens of airlines that have been approached to operate flights to and from Sana’a International Airport, as part of the airport’s reopening and the expansion of travel options for citizens. Sana’a Airport needs to open up to all airlines serving passengers, not to continue its siege under political slogans.”

An article in Al-Ain provided some insights. It noted that the officially internationally recognized Yemeni government had carried out the strikes on the airport. The government described the strike as a defensive measure designed to protect Yemen’s sovereignty and stop unauthorized flights that it says violate the country’s airspace.

Houthis cite truce violations

The Houthis claim the attacks are a violation of a UN-brokered truce of 2022. Although fighting has continued in parts of Yemen, the strike on Sana’a airport marked one of the most direct confrontations over Iranian support for the Houthis in recent months.

Now the Yemen government of President Rashad al-Alimi has said the Houthis were attempting to change things by receiving Iranian flights despite Yemen’s government objections. It’s worth noting that the Houthis have been in rebellion in Yemen for more than a decade. Yemen’s government said that they won’t let the Houthis serve Iran’s regional interests. Al-Alimi emphasized that the government would not allow aircraft to violate Yemeni airspace and announced the creation of a crisis management team to coordinate military, diplomatic, legal, and media responses, Al-Ain noted.

On July 3, an Iranian aircraft carried a Houthi delegation from Sana’a to Tehran for the funeral of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. On July 7, another Iranian aircraft reportedly landed at Hodeidah Airport hours after the strike on Sana’a. The United Nations expressed concern over the latest escalation. 

Darline Graham Nordone, sister of the late US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, was appointed on Monday by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster to serve the remainder of Graham’s term, which ends in early January. 

“Today, under the law, it’s my duty and honor to name someone to serve in the place of this irresistible man, this irreplaceable man, this extraordinary man, for the remainder of his term,” McMaster, also Republican, said at a news conference. “Lindsey took care of his little sister in years long departed. It’s my honor to ask his little sister Darline Graham to finish his work for him now.”

Graham Nordone thanked McMaster during a news conference for selecting her. “It is such an honor. Lindsey has always been there for me, and now I will be there for him,” she said.

US President Donald Trump had recommended Graham Nordone to serve as the state’s interim senator, calling the appointment “a fabulous tribute” to the longtime Republican lawmaker in a post on Truth Social.

“I recommended, to Governor Henry McMaster, Lindsey Graham’s wonderful sister, Darline, to serve as interim Senator from the Great State of South Carolina. This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!,” the President said in his Truth post. 

Graham, one of Trump’s closest allies in the Senate, died over the weekend after a brief illness. Trump has repeatedly paid tribute to the South Carolina Republican, praising his longtime ally’s service and urging McMaster to appoint Nordone as his interim replacement.

According to the Associated Press, a person familiar with the appointment process said that an interim senator would be sworn in on Wednesday, and that Senator Tim Scott, who had spoken with Graham’s sister multiple times since his passing, would be present at the announcement.

CBS News cited sources saying that McMaster will indeed tap Nordone to fill the seat at a conference scheduled for 4 p.m. on Monday.

A special election will be held next month to pick a new GOP nominee to fill Graham’s seat.

Graham, who had been seeking re-election for his fifth term, left a void in South Carolina’s Senate seats, with Republicans from the state finding themselves clambering for the suddenly empty position.

The IDF detained several Israeli civilians in the Golan Heights on Monday after they attempted to cross into Syrian terrority, the military said.

The Israelis were then transferred to the Israel Police for further handling, according to the IDF.

The military emphasized that illegal border crossings are dangerous and a “serious offense,” noting that it expects Israeli law enforcement to prevent such incidents in the future.

The incident follows similar occurrences on Wednesday and Thursday when right-wing “HaBashan Pioneers” movement activists attempted to cross the border in promotion of the establishment of a Jewish settlement in the area.

On July 5, about 100 such activists crossed into the Syrian side of Mount Hermon and were subsequently detained by the IDF.

Activists accuse IDF of ‘severe violence’

In that case, the activists accused the military of using “severe violence” to detain them.

They added that the IDF confiscated their phones, despite their “complete passivity.” 

The movement claims its actions come amid attempted attacks by Syrian terrorists against northern Israeli communities.

“The events appear to be part of a slow but consistent deterioration and erosion of Israeli control in these areas by the terrorists and the hostile population in the area,” said HaBashan.

Eli Ashkenazi contributed to this report.

Democratic senators led by Kirsten Gillibrand called on Monday for President Donald Trump’s administration to disclose within the next week the findings from a US military investigation into a February 28 strike at a girls’ school in Iran.

Reuters first reported on March 5 that an initial, internal US military investigation showed US forces were likely responsible for the fatal strike in Minab on the opening day of the war with Iran.

The group of more than two dozen US senators, including the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Jack Reed, requested the US military finalize its investigation, brief Congress and present a plan to ensure such a mistake does not happen again.

“There is no justification for withholding an unclassified accounting of what happened, what went wrong, and what the Department is doing to prevent recurrence,” the letter said.

Asked for comment, a Pentagon official told Reuters: “The investigation is ongoing. We do not have any updates to announce at this time.”

Senators seek release of investigation findings

The strike killed more than 175 children and teachers, Iranian officials say. The lawmakers’ letter notes that would make it the US military’s largest civilian casualty incident since 1991, when it mistakenly bombed a shelter in Iraq, killing more than 400 civilians.

Archived copies of the Iranian school’s official website show the school is adjacent to a compound operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the military force that reports to Iran’s supreme leader.

Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter, has reported that US officials responsible for creating targeting packages appeared to have used out-of-date intelligence.

US Admiral Brad Cooper, head of Central Command, which is directing the war effort, testified in May that the investigation was “complex” given that the school was located on an active Iranian cruise missile base.

Trump, however, has cast doubt on whether the US military will ever know what happened given the amount of military activity at the start of the war.

“Somebody said it was our missile, maybe it wasn’t our missile, but I have seen nothing to lead me to believe it was,” Trump remarked on June 24, adding: “I don’t think it was us.”

Iranian officials have pointed to the strike on the school as a US war crime. The US has said it never intentionally targets civilians.

Investigation centers on deadly school strike

In the letter, the lawmakers ask Cooper and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to submit an unclassified version of the findings to Congress and the US public. They also ask for a prevention and remediation plan “that identifies the specific corrective actions the Department will take to ensure this does not happen again.”

“The United States military has a legal and moral obligation to take all feasible precautions to prevent civilian harm,” the letter said.

“When a US strike kills civilians, the Department owes Congress, the American people, and the victims’ families a clear accounting of what happened and a credible plan to prevent future failures.”

The Knesset’s plenum passed on Monday the contentious legislation advanced by the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties that will enshrine Torah study as a fundamental value in the country’s Basic Law.

The bill passed in its final readings with 63 lawmakers in favor and 52 against.

Critics argue the Basic Law: Torah Study bill encourages draft evasion and changes the status of yeshiva students who do not serve, enabling them to continue receiving state benefits even amid the IDF’s severe manpower shortage.

Its passage comes after weeks of threats from haredi party leaders to boycott coalition voting and disrupt the legislative agenda in an attempt to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to rapidly advance a series of haredi-backed bills.

The bill states that “Torah study is a fundamental value in the heritage of the Jewish people and in the State of Israel.” Israel does not have a constitution. Instead, it has a series of Knesset-legislated basic laws on various subjects that hold a high legal status.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid and a group of other opposition party leaders signed a letter ahead of the vote calling on coalition Knesset members to “act responsibly and not vote in favor of legislation that would severely harm the IDF during wartime, in defiance of the dramatic warning issued by the IDF chief of staff.”

“The shameful role of those who support the draft-evasion law will remain forever before the eyes of the citizens of Israel who serve in the military and participate in the workforce,” the letter said.

Coalition blitzing to pass legislation before Knesset recess

The bill is part of the coalition’s legislative blitz to pass its legislation during the Knesset’s last week before it goes into recess ahead of the elections.

The agenda has been packed with contentious bills, such as the bill to weaken the role of the attorney-general, along with legislation for a sweeping reform of Israel’s broadcasting sector.

Haredi parties have boycotted votes on coalition legislation when their bills were not advancing quickly enough.

The Torah Study bill had previously called for “creating a balance” in Torah study as a fundamental value, leading to severe legal warnings.

That clause threatened to stall the bill’s progress before it was removed after a coalition agreement with the haredi parties last week.

Both coalition and opposition lawmakers have warned that even with the change to the wording, the essence of the law has not been altered.

The Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) warned that a concern remains that “elevating Torah study to constitutional status could be used as a basis to justify future attempts to exempt haredim from the IDF and to continue funding yeshivas and subsidies for haredi draft evaders, as well as [for] education institutions that do not teach the core curriculum.”

The Torah study bill is part of a series of haredi-backed bills being advanced, amid numerous reports of agreements between the haredi parties and Netanyahu.

There had also previously been contentious wording in the bill’s proposal that equated those who study Torah with those who serve in the IDF. This comparison has since been removed from the legislation’s new draft.

Critics argued that the legislation could implicitly allow the comparison despite the change in wording.

Coalition members publicly opposed legislation

Lawmakers in Netanyahu’s coalition have publicly opposed the legislation and voted against it.

Netanyahu arrived at the plenum last month to vote in favor of the legislation when it passed its first reading.

The haredi parties have continuously encouraged the coalition to advance legislation that would not increase haredi enlistment. The IDF has repeatedly warned of an urgent manpower shortage after more than two years of war.

In April, the High Court of Justice ordered that the state take concrete steps to revoke key financial benefits from draft evaders and move toward criminal enforcement against haredi men who evade military service.

In March, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said the IDF could soon collapse if no solution was found for the manpower shortage.

Separate legislation has been advanced that would temporarily freeze the arrests of haredi draft evaders.

The bill to freeze such arrests is set to be voted on in the Knesset plenum in its final second and third readings after a week of marathon committee meetings on the matter.

Zamir warned on Monday that the bill to freeze the arrest of draft evaders would harm recruitment and create serious security risks for the IDF, penning a letter to Defense Minister Israel Katz on the matter.

CENTCOM on Monday night renewed its counter-blockade on Iran at the Strait of Hormuz following several days of conflict between the US and the Islamic Republic over freedom of travel through the waterway.

Tehran had attacked a number of US-allied ships last week.

Initially, the US undertook limited targeted counterstrikes at Iranian assets around Hormuz to convince Iran to back down.

However, each time the US struck the Islamic regime, Tehran also attacked US bases and allies across the region, from Kuwait to Jordan to Bahrain.

Eventually, US President Donald Trump ordered CENTCOM to “resume blockading maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports on July 14 at 4 p.m. ET.”

CENTCOM redirects 140 ships, disables nine

“CENTCOM forces will enforce the blockade against vessels transiting to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas. The US military continues to support traffic flow through regional waters for all vessels not violating the blockade,” said the US military.

Next, CENTCOM stated that, “The resumption of the US blockade against Iran follows the initial implementation from April 13 to June 18. CENTCOM forces redirected more than 140 compliant vessels, disabled nine non-compliant ships, and allowed over 50 commercial vessels supporting humanitarian aid to pass through the blockade during the two-month period.”

“All mariners are advised to monitor Notice to Mariners broadcasts and contact US naval forces on bridge-to-bridge channel 16 when operating in the Gulf of Oman and Strait of Hormuz approaches,” said CENTCOM.

It was unclear whether the reinstituted blockade will lead to a return to open war between the parties, to an extended period of “chicken” in which both sides blockade the other to see which side blinks first from the economic harm they are suffering, or whether both sides will shortly return to negotiations over both fully opening Hormuz and addressing Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Both the IDF and members of US Representative Ro Khanna‘s entourage released additional information on Monday about the incident last week in which he was detained (his entourage and their vehicle were prevented from traveling) for around an hour during a visit to the West Bank.

According to both on- and off-the-record information, extensive questioning of both sides and newly released video evidence, this picture that emerges is in some ways less worrying than the original reports, but in some ways shows what a quagmire Israel has tangled itself in in parts of the West Bank and in its crashing levels of support in the US.

It seems in the end that the Jewish settlers who stopped Khanna’s vehicle from leaving the area it was in did believe that he had traveled illegally into a closed military zone.

But this point does not really work in Israel’s favor.

Khanna had said his group’s van was surrounded by settlers wielding M-4 rifles, while touring Khirbet Zanuta – whose Palestinian residents were forcibly displaced by settler raids in December 2024.

In the end, it turned out that the area was no longer a closed zone, and even when it was, it probably had been so to keep vigilante settlers away from harassing the Palestinians there, not to prevent a prominent US Congressman from touring the site.

However, Khanna did not do himself any favors here either.

Khanna did not coordinate with IDF

He did not coordinate his travel through the area with the IDF, such that not only was there no official protection for him, but IDF officials also did not know he was in the area to give special instructions to soldiers should they by chance encounter him.

But this also does not really help Israel, as vigilante settlers do not have the right to take the law into their own hands and detain people.

Maybe they could report the incident to the police, as they did, and even keep an eye on someone suspicious, but not detain them.

What follows next is a series of confusing and incompetent actions, which somewhat gets Israel off the hook of accusations of deliberate harassment, but does not entirely help since Israelis are in charge in the area, and so responsible for messes.

The settlers reported a suspicious car in a closed area to the police; the police reported it to the IDF, which sent some young soldiers to check out the situation.

Soldiers did not actively remove settlers

Contrary to original IDF reports, the IDF soldiers did not really actively try to move the settlers out of the area, as they viewed them as having helped them and the police locate a suspicious car.

As far as the soldiers were concerned, they were babysitting the suspicious car temporarily until the police showed up to handle the situation.

However, since it in the end was not even a closed zone, the soldiers had no right to keep Khanna until police arrived.

Moreover, at one point, Nadav Weiman, who was with Khanna, approached the soldiers and informed them that Khanna was with the entourage and that the entourage had spoken to the police headquarters, which had said the soldiers should let Khanna leave.

Not only did the soldiers not let Khanna leave, but one of them asked Weiman whether he was an official in Breaking the Silence (he is), as if ready to punish Khanna to get back at Weiman for being a member of a group many in the IDF dislike.

The soldiers said they would wait for a police official to show up physically before letting Khanna go.

This part of the standoff went on for either 20 or 40 minutes, depending on which side you ask.

Eventually, a police official arrived, and minutes earlier, the settlers had run from the scene, as if to signal they understood they should not have been there.

The IDF has said it identified at least one settler, who was an IDF officer off duty and is “clarifying” with him regarding his role – something which sounds like a small censure, but not major disciplinary actions.

What the soldiers could have done, once they heard a senior US official was there, was to call the police headquarters themselves if they did not believe Weiman, instead of making Khanna wait until a police official arrived.

Or they could have just let them go, given that Khanna was a senior US official and, other than driving into an area that might have been questionable, appeared to pose no threat.

Going forward, Israel would need to ensure that settler vigilantes cannot detain third parties outside of their specific village security zone, and to prosecute settlers who take the law into their own hands, well-intentioned or not. Also, IDF soldiers would need to be ready to treat US officials and other Western diplomats as the VIPs that they are, not leaving them sitting and detained for an hour out of a failure to understand the situation.

This is important not only as a matter of competence, but to avoid falling into the trap of future visitors who may seek to set up Israeli soldiers for a fall so as to embarrass Israel in the global sphere.

After several months in which it seemed possible that elections would be called earlier, Israel now has a date for its voters to head to the polls to pick a new government. 

The Knesset House Committee on Sunday affirmed an election date of Oct. 27, the latest allowed by law, following months of political maneuvering by both the opposition and the governing coalition to force an early collapse of the government.

The determination puts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on track to be the first to complete a full term in more than half a century, with the Knesset set to disperse on July 17. 

The timeline means that the intense final weeks of campaigning will overlap with the three-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that is looming large over the race, particularly for Netanyahu, who was in charge at the time.

It also means that Israelis living abroad – who number more than ever before – now know when they must be in Israel if they wish to vote. Unusually, Israeli law does not allow for absentee voting except in a narrow number of situations, meaning that almost anyone with an Israeli passport who lives outside of Israel must travel back to cast a ballot.

In past elections, Israelis abroad have faced tough decisions about whether to fly home to vote – most recently in 2022, when Israel had a fifth round of elections in four years.

This time around, there are even greater pressures. A record number of Israelis have moved abroad in recent years, with 70,000 leaving in 2025 alone, resulting in an unusual net migration loss for Israel. Flights, meanwhile, are historically expensive, owing to cancellations by foreign carriers amid war-induced uncertainty. At the same time, the stakes of the election are high, with analysts and politicians of all ideologies warning that Israel’s democracy is at an inflection point.

Polls show opposition in lead

Netanyahu and his supporters say reelecting him is the only way to keep Israelis and Jews around the world safe, while a wide range of opposition parties say only they can safeguard the country’s future, For now polls suggest that the opposition has a majority of voters’ support – though it’s not clear which bloc will have the necessary votes to form a government and, within the opposition bloc, which parties will command 

Recent polls have shown a new party formed by Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief whose son was killed during the Gaza war, leading among the opposition and rivaling Netanyahu’s own Likud party in its share of voters. A joint party led by the former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid also has support from significant numbers of voters, as does a left-wing party led by the retired army general Yair Golan. Parties will hold primary elections in the coming weeks.

Some initiatives are already underway to help Israelis abroad get home for the election. The AID Coalition is collecting information from interested Israelis with the goal of potentially chartering flights to boost the number of people who can make the trip – though each voter will bear his or her full costs.

‘Don’t let distance silence your voice’

“Don’t let distance silence your voice,” the group tweeted on Sunday, after the election date was announced. 

Meanwhile, Israeli academics have scheduled a slew of conferences in the days before the election across dozens of fields. Israeli Science and Academia Week says it “seeks to leverage the arrival of thousands of Israeli researchers from abroad to Israel during the Knesset election period to create professional meetings, encourage research collaborations, reveal new academic opportunities, and strengthen the international status of Israeli academia.”

It may also have the effect of enabling Israeli academics working abroad to get their institutions to subsidize their travel and permit them leave during the school year.

Israelis posting to social media are already noting a spike in ticket prices just ahead of Oct. 27. But many are also sharing screenshots of their ticket receipts that show the number of days until their trips – and the election.

“My entire feed is full of screenshots of flight tickets to Israel for election day. People spending money, taking time off, and coming specifically just to vote,” tweeted Avi Edelson, an anti-government activist whose LinkedIn account identifies him as working at El Al, Israel’s main airline. “It reminds me how much people care about the future of this country.”