All News (Page 122)

French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Syria on Monday evening, making him the first Western leader to visit the nation since last year’s rise to power of Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former member of al-Qaeda. 

Macron flew into Damascus for the historic visit on an Air Force jet equipped with Elbit Systems’ Directed Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM) designed to defend aircraft against infrared-guided missile threats, particularly those launched from man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS). 

The fully automatic and autonomous DIRCM system employs an advanced electro-optic turret and laser technology to disrupt or jam the missile’s tracking ability by optically breaking its lock on the target. This interference aims to prevent the missile from maintaining its course toward the aircraft – thereby protecting everyone on board.

Haim Stern, a director of Business Development and Marketing at Elbit Systems, was quoted in a company blog as saying that the DIRCM systems provide “a fundamental level of protection” against surface-to-air missiles which is “important for virtually all aircraft, regardless of their mission or region.” 

In its mission to provide defense to aircraft, the company supplies security systems to Israeli commercial aircraft as well as for the IDF. 

Outside Israel, Elbit has also supplied its technology to many other nations. In total, its systems have been active on planes and helicopters for over a combined 500,000 hours. Several NATO nations such as Germany and Italy, and others such as Brazil, use it extensively in their respective air forces.

French-Israeli defense relations 

The presence of Israeli defense technology on Macron’s flight to Syria comes despite French opposition to IDF technology and to Israel’s defense industry in recent years.

In June 2024, France banned Israeli defense companies from the Eurosatory military defense exhibition in Paris, and at last month’s 2026 event, several Israeli stands were boarded up by French authorities. Many in Israel’s defense industry believe that the moves are partly based on economic interests, such as eliminating competition for French arms companies.

Although Macron came out in support of Israel and its right to self-defense immediately after October 7, France’s view of Israel has shifted since then, evidenced by its decision to halt the flow of military aid to the Jewish state in the autumn of 2025. France is also opposed to Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon. It was among the countries that declared a Palestinian state in 2025, joining Norway, Spain, and Ireland’s 2024 recognition. 

Historic visit

Macron’s trip this week is aimed at furthering economic and political relations between Syria and France – as well as discussing developments in the Middle East, most notably the Israel-Iran conflict. He later flew to Turkey for the 36th NATO summit in Ankara.

The French president’s visit represents an opportunity to continue the work that Syria and France began in May 2025, when Sharaa – who has also begun building positive relationships with other Western leaders, such as US President Donald Trump – visited Paris to discuss lifting sanctions on Damascus. 

It is the first visit by a French president to Damascus since 2009, symbolizing a significant next step in the partnership between the two countries.

“I have come to express France’s commitment to the Syrian people” “for a sovereign Syria, united in its diversity and at peace with its neighbors. Together, let’s open a new chapter of stability and peace,” Macron wrote in a post on X/Twitter.

Despite these optimistic words, just minutes after Macron left to meet Sharaa in the presidential palace on Tuesday morning, explosive devices detonated near his hotel, injuring at least 18 people. Macron didn’t hear the explosions and arrived safely at his meeting with the Syrian president.

Like neighboring Lebanon, Syria was a French Mandate territory after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Lasting from 1923 to 1946, the French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon partitioned the territories into the modern-day independent nations of Syria and Lebanon. 

The French president’s visit to Syria comes as Paris hopes to support the Middle Eastern country. Macron has made several visits to the region, notably to Lebanon in January 2025 and Saudi Arabia in December 2024. 

American Jews view NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani more favorably than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research revealed Tuesday.

The survey, carried out on 1,022 Jewish adults nationwide between June 11 and June 17, found that 44% of American Jews view Mamdani either very favorably or somewhat favorably, whereas just 32% of respondents said they have a favorable opinion of Netanyahu.

39% of US Jews viewed Mamdani unfavorably, and 59% viewed Netanyahu unfavorably.

A strong majority of US Jews viewed Donald Trump unfavorably (70%), whereas only 29% had a favorable opinion. This differed from the national average (including Jews and non-Jews), which was 38% favorable and 59% not.

The respondents were then asked whether they approve or disapprove of the way Trump is handling a variety of issues.

Majority of Jews do not approve of Trump policies

A strong majority of Jews did not approve of how Trump is handling the economy (74% disapproval), immigration (69% disapproval), and Iran (73% disapproval). The question of Trump’s handling of Israel led to a narrower split, but nevertheless a majority (58%) of Jews disapproved.

When asked how important Israel is to them personally, a majority (58%) of US Jewish adults answered “extremely or very important,” and 28% said “somewhat.” Only 12% said Israel was not an important matter for them personally.

Interestingly, 38% of Jewish respondents said they felt the US was “too supportive” of Israelis. 28% said Israelis are not supported enough by the US, and 32% said the support is at the right level. A majority of 43% of Jewish respondents said the US is not supportive enough of Palestinians.

Among Jewish adults, 33% were in favor of an independent Palestinian state that includes the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, and 36% opposed. 30% were neutral.

7% of US Jews say Hamas’ October 7 was justified

Perhaps the most extraordinary results came from a series of questions asking respondents whether actions of Israel and Hamas were justified.

7% of US Jews said Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 was justified, and 14% said Hamas’ refusal to disarm after the ceasefire in October 2025 was justified.

Nevertheless, a strong majority (79%) said Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 was not justified, and another strong majority of Jews (73%) said Israel’s immediate military response to Hamas’s attack was justified.

When asked whether they believe Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, 49% of US Jews said no and 30% said yes. 21% declined to answer.

It is worth noting that the majority of Jewish respondents in the survey were not religious.

When asked how often they attend religious services, 34% said never, 18% said less than once a year, and 16% said one or twice a year.

Only 10% of respondents were Orthodox, whereas 43% of respondents identified as Reform and 23% as Conservative. 19% said they had no particular denomination.

Unemployment data in the hi-tech sector are reaching new highs, with more than 16,000 workers recently registering as unemployed, Inbal Mashash, director general of the Israel Employment Service told 103FM on Tuesday.

“We are seeing a trend of an increase in the number of job seekers in hi-tech. This is a record number for normal times. If we look at trends in recent years, compared with 2022, this is a threefold increase. That is definitely concerning and indicates a problem,” she said.

Regarding the profile of the job seekers, Mashash noted that the damage is felt most strongly among developers. “Half of them are software workers, where there is very high exposure to artificial intelligence. That is why we are seeing a very strong correlation and connection between the fact that the number of job seekers has risen and the expansion of the use of artificial intelligence. These are people from the core of the industry, with more than eight years of seniority and experience.”

During the interview, Davidov asked how the Employment Service helps those experienced workers who lost their jobs to new technologies. Mashash replied: “In the era of artificial intelligence, everyone must undergo upskilling, and this is not only about the hi-tech sector. Our role is to look at the labor market as a whole, which is changing at a very fast pace.”

“The hi-tech sector is the engine of growth for the economy. We see that there are about 14,000 open positions in the sector, and another 4,000 technology jobs outside it. We assume that some of the people who undergo certain training programs will find themselves back in the sector.”

Employment Service working to integrate people in traditional industries

The director general of the Employment Service added about the organization’s active efforts that, “We are working in cooperation with the Innovation Authority, the AI headquarters and the Manufacturers Association, and are working to integrate them into non-technological sectors, such as traditional industries. There is a double benefit when those people are integrated there.”

Toward the end of the interview, Mashash assessed that the negative trend has not yet run its course: “We expect there will be another increase in the coming months, and then it will gradually moderate.”

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he felt that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Iran was nullified following overnight strikes between the US and Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. 

“To me, I think it’s over,” he said at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, in comments to the press.

Trump also stated he felt the US had “wasted a lot of time” negotiating with Iran, and he did not wish to continue talks.

“I don’t want to deal with them [Iran] anymore. They’re scum. They’re sick people.”

BREAKING: Trump says Iran ceasefire is over for him.

He adds that he doesn’t want to deal with the Iranians anymore. pic.twitter.com/mXyzbDJuJa

— Clash Report (@clashreport) July 8, 2026

“I’m with you [on Iran],” responded NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

Earlier, Rutte had insisted the US strikes were “absolutely necessary,” noting that Iran had violated the ceasefire, which was signed three weeks ago.

“When you have a ceasefire and Iran is basically violating the ceasefire, I think it is totally crucial that the US forcefully react,” Rutte told reporters.

US-IRGC trade strikes once again, MoU collapsing

On Tuesday night, US forces began “a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway,” according to US Central Command (CENTCOM).

In response, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) confirmed it targeted US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait in response to the US strikes in southern Iran that targeted air defense systems, coastal surveillance, and missile and drone launch sites.

When asked about the strikes, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten stressed the importance of showing Iran that breaches of the “fragile” ceasefire in the Middle East will not be accepted.

“At the same time, you must apply maximum diplomatic pressure to make sure talks continue, and a solution is reached,” he said.

Breaches of ceasefire must be met with force until diplomatic pressures prevail

Senior diplomatic advisor to the president of the UAE, Dr. Anwar Gargash, said in a statement on X/Twitter that he believed Iran was unable to commit to peace. 

“The Iranian attacks on Qatari and Saudi commercial tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, and the repeated aggression against the two sisterly nations of Bahrain and Kuwait, are a clear indication that Tehran is still unable to commit to the requirements of de-escalation and turning the page on war,” he wrote.

“The Arab Gulf states cannot remain a target for Iran’s hesitation between the logic of escalation and the path of rationality, stability, and peace.”

Kuwait’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement on X, condemning Iran’s actions with its “strongest denunciation of the repeated heinous Iranian aggressions against the State of Kuwait.” 

The ministry affirmed that “continuation of these brazen aggressions, at a time when regional and international efforts aimed at de-escalation are underway, constitutes a systematic undermining of efforts to reduce tensions and strikes at the supporting international will for this path.”

It also emphasized that Kuwait maintains the right to take all necessary measures to preserve its sovereignty and security.

Oman also condemned attacks on Kuwait, calling for restraint and diplomacy to contain the escalation and promote peace, according to Iran International, an independent news agency. 

Reuters and Esther Davis contributed to this report.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth canceled a planned visit to Israel on Wednesday in which he was meant to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, a source told The Jerusalem Post.

Hegseth, who is in Ankara alongside US President Donald Trump for the NATO summit, was expected to make a brief visit against the backdrop of the American strikes against Iran.

The US strikes took place overnight, in response to a series of attacks carried out by Tehran against three commercial tankers in the waters of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran reports injuries after US strikes

Iranian state media reported several injuries after US forces began launching what CENTCOM described as “a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”

Later, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed they targeted 85 US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait, “in response to US ceasefire violations,” shortly after Kuwait’s military reported sirens due to hostile missile and drone attacks.

The strikes also came hours after Washington announced it was canceling sanctions relief on Iranian oil sales, one of the main steps included in the memorandum of understanding between the sides, in a move it said was intended to punish Iran for the attacks and renew economic pressure on it.

Esther Davis contributed to this report.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Wednesday called on the government to disobey a High Court of Justice ruling that ordered a new Knesset vote for the appointment of the attorney Michael Rabello as state comptroller.

“Attorney Rabello should assume the position,” Levin said in a Kol Berama interview, calling to ignore the High Court ruling that Rabello’s election had a fundamental defect to it and was invalid.

“There should not even be any consideration for the possibility of holding new elections. I think there is no one from the entire coalition who holds a different stance [on the matter],” Levin also said.

Levin’s remarks come after the High Court of Justice had ruled unanimously on Thursday that the Knesset’s controversial vote to appoint Rabello as state comptroller was invalid and that new elections must be held.

There has still been no response from Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana on how he will respond to the High Court ruling regarding holding the revote, after he previously rejected the last proposal to redo the elections.

No sitting state comptroller since the revote decision 

The High Court’s decision to hold the revote came just days before Rabello was due to begin his term; therefore, since Sunday, there has been no sitting state comptroller in the country. 

In its ruling, the court stated that a “fundamental defect occurred in the secrecy of the ballot” that requires the annulment of the vote and the holding of a new election. The ruling was made through a unanimous vote by a five-judge panel.

By law, the process for electing the state comptroller must be done through a secret ballot to keep the integrity of the vote intact and remove political pressure from the appointment.

During the vote in June, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party had reportedly ordered its lawmakers to document themselves casting their vote for Rabello – who is also Netanyahu’s personal attorney – as a way to place pressure on them.

Rabello was elected after a disputed two-round Knesset vote. In the first round, retired Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron received 60 votes, and Rabello received 57, leaving both candidates short of the required 61-vote majority.

A second round was then held. Opposition lawmakers alleged that coalition MKs had been asked to photograph or film their ballots behind the curtain, despite the requirement that the state comptroller be elected by secret ballot.

The vote was halted and restarted, after which Rabello defeated Elron 61-57.

A series of petitions followed, including those from Yesh Atid and the Movement for Quality Government in Israel. The petitioners argued that documenting votes turned the secret ballot into a loyalty test and could have prevented MKs from voting freely.

Eisenkot: The current government will ‘dismantle the foundations of democracy’

The tensions also come amid the government’s escalating rift with the judiciary.

On Sunday, the government unanimously approved a proposal declaring it will not comply with a High Court of Justice ruling regarding the Second Authority Council, following petitions arguing that appointments to its membership were political. 

Such a rejection of a High Court ruling marked a first in which the government openly defied such an order and could lead to a constitutional crisis if the government does not accept the Second Authority Council’s decisions, thereby going against the High Court.

Levin and Communications Minister Sholomo Karhi had issued the government proposal. 

Opposition party leaders in the bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming elections condemned Levin’s statements regarding the state comptroller revote, warning that they could cause severe democratic harm.

Yashar Party leader Gadi Eisenkot said that Levin led the Judaical reform “at the cost of tearing Israeli society apart while Netanyahu hid behind him, and is one of the leading contributors to the lowest point in the State of Israel’s history. “

“He is an enemy of Israeli democracy.”

“Netanyahu and his government continue to dismantle the foundations of democracy on the eve of the most consequential elections in Israel’s history,” Eisenkot added.

Democrats Party leader Yair Golan said that the justice minister was “behaving like a common criminal and calling for defiance of a High Court ruling.”

“Why? Because they are terrified that Israel will have a state comptroller who will actually do the job.”

“They want a puppet on a string, and they are willing to burn the country down, break the law, and create a constitutional crisis in order to appoint one,” Golan added.

Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report. 

IDF soldiers killed a Hezbollah terrorist in the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil on Tuesday as part of an exchange of gunfire carried out while a soldier was conducting a search of a structure where a reservist was wounded last week, the Israeli military said Wednesday.

The military initially said the terrorist opened fire at Israeli forces operating in the building before being shot down. It added no soldiers were wounded in the incident, though a IDF military working dog was shot dead during the exchange of fire before his handler returned fire.

Later on Wednesday, the IDF said it would “investigate all the details of the incident, including the manner in which the terrorist was eliminated,” after an Army Radio report questioned the military’s account of the events.

According to Army Radio, citing soldiers present at the scene, Israeli troops initially wounded the terrorist before attempting to negotiate with him in an effort to convince him to exit the structure.

The terrorist had refused, and was shot at by one of the soldiers after he had moved closer to his weapon, Army Radio added.

“The IDF is investigating all the details of the incident, including the manner in which the terrorist was eliminated,” an IDF statement read. “The matter will be investigated and lessons will be learned. At the end of the investigation, the IDF will present the findings transparently.”

The military also said that any inaccuracies in its initial statement describing the incident were the result of “human error.”

Separately, Border Police officers operating in the Jerusalem area detained a terrorist brandishing a knife and throwing stones at security forces from the direction of Bethlehem, Israel Police confirmed.

While officers worked according to protocol to arrest the terrorist, the suspect continued to pose a threat, leading officers to fire at his lower body.

The suspect was then arrested and taken in for further questioning.

One of multiple West Bank terrorism incidents in recent days

On Tuesday night, the IDF confirmed it was investigating reports of gunfire near Kiryat Arba, near Hebron. 

Troops found a bullet that had struck a building in the area and began conducting searches to determine the circumstances of the incident and locate possible threats.

Shin Bet Director David Zini sparked the largest controversy of his term late Tuesday night when I24 News released selected excerpts from a speech he gave earlier to his Yeshiva alma mater, in which he discusses the importance of loyalty to the executive branch and also attacks the legal establishment.

While Zini did intend to express support for following the political echelon’s directives and also intended to criticize the legal establishment, The Jerusalem Post has received the full recordings of his remarks, which leave a somewhat more moderate and nuanced series of messages

Speaking about when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed him, with his entering office as Shin Bet chief in October 2025, Zini said, “When the prime minister asked if I wanted to be the head of the Shin Bet,” Zini’s many critics would have demanded that he refuse the offer. Instead he explained that he accepted the role, but did also tell the prime minister, “that there are also candidates who could be better than me from within the Shin Bet – why won’t you make an offer to them?”

Continuing, Zini said in the full recording, “And the reason that I agreed was for a reason that maybe I am better than the others. For my ability to remain loyal to the elected echelon, not that it matters what their ideology is. It could be others [other than Netanyahu].”

“The elected leadership is not really empowered to manage” areas which are under their authority because unelected professional experts in the government ministries or the defense establishment “have become confused about their role.”

Next, he said in frustration that ministers can issue an order, the order can be approved by other relevant officials, and yet “it will take eight months for the order to be implemented.”

He said this was a significant problem which needed to be addressed: “There is a danger of people who come [into bureaucratic government roles] with a [politicized] agenda and a worldview… Many people talk in slogans about democracy, but living it on a day-to-day basis is not that easy.”

According to Zini, many senior bureaucratic officials in government take over a metaphorical train where their post is to be the train conductor and manager, but they then get lost in thinking that they are supreme, when really they still must receive orders from the elected echelon about which direction to take the train in and what the train’s destination and mission should be.

While Zini’s remarks do show a clear loyalty to Netanyahu and a belief that his predecessors in the Shin Bet and other government officials have put their own personal views far above the elected echelon, it is also clear from his remarks that he would be ready to serve under a new prime minister who is not Netanyahu, if that person should be elected in the upcoming elections.

Regarding the legal establishment, Zini stated, “With all due respect to the lawyers and jurists,” they are meant to be an ancillary tool to assist with specific issues. “I am not speaking about the Justice Ministry, I am speaking about all of the other things.”

At this stage in the video, the audience suddenly started to cheer and clap, after which he pushed back, saying, “No, my friends, don’t take this to that kind of a place. A country with no law and with no legal establishment would be a destroyed state. Don’t take it to that place,” which silenced the applause.

“Not that I do not have criticism [of the legal establishment, but that is not the topic [of this speech]. I want to speak about the deeper issues at the heart of the matter,” in which he lectured the group about the importance of details and nuances.

Once again, Zini clearly placed himself on the side of the spectrum that views the current legal establishment as overly activist in addressing policies from the elected echelons, but his statement that “no legal establishment would be a destroyed state” seems to moderate those views as compared to the intensity of some of the recent coalition attacks on the legal establishment.

Golan says Zini’s statement ‘dangerous’

Democrats party leader Yair Golan called Zini’s statement “one of the most dangerous statements ever made by someone who headed Israel’s security system.”

הוידוי המוקלט של זיני חושף את אחת האמירות המסוכנות ביותר שנשמעו אי פעם ממי שעמד בראש מערכת ביטחונית בישראל.

ראש שב״כ אמור להיות נאמן אך ורק למדינת ישראל, לביטחונה ולחוק. נקודה.

מי שנכנס לתפקיד עם אג׳נדה פוליטית ומצהיר שתפקידו לשרת את השלטון ולא את המדינה, הוא סכנה לביטחון… https://t.co/wTAIqgPoPT

— Yair Golan – יאיר גולן (@YairGolan1) July 7, 2026

“Anyone who enters the role with a political agenda and declares that their job is to serve the government and not the state is a danger to the country’s security,” Golan stated in a post on X/Twitter.

“We are at the start of an election campaign. A security service led out of loyalty to the political echelon and not to the law could turn from a tool that protects democracy into a tool that serves a government that wants to cling to power. This is not just a threat to the integrity of the elections and to public trust in the state’s institutions – it’s a real security threat that could harm the country’s stability and its ability to deal with threats from within and without.”

In contrast, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir praised Zini for what he said, saying that it was “the fundamental thing in a democratic country.”

סוף סוף ראש ארגון בטחוני בכיר, אומר את הדבר הבסיסי במדינה דמוקרטית, שהפך לחריג באדיבות טירוף בג״צ והיועמ״שית: ״אני כפוף לדרג הנבחר״.

כעת תראו את מטורללי השמאל וכת חנפי החונטה המשפטית תוקפים אותו בחמת זעם.

אל תירא דוד, אל תירא!

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) July 7, 2026

“Now watch the left-wing lunatics and the sycophants of the judicial junta attack him in a fury,” Ben-Gvir wrote. “Don’t fear, David, don’t fear!”

Democrats MK Naama Lazimi said that Zini was “Loyal to the king and not to the kingdom.”

She added that, particularly in a time before elections and while the government was “rebelling against the rule of law,” Zini’s words were an “existential threat to democracy and the security of the state.

נאמן למלך ולא לממלכה.
ההקלטות של זיני מבהירות מעל לכל ספק: ההפיכה המשטרית כבר עמוק בתוך השב״כ.

רגע לפני בחירות, ובשבוע שבו הממשלה ממרידה נגד שלטון החוק – מדובר בסכנה קיומית לדמוקרטיה ולביטחון המדינה.

ראש ארגון חשאי שמשרת אג’נדה פוליטית של השלטון במקום את אזרחי ישראל, הוא נשק…

— Naama Lazimi – נעמה לזימי (@naamalazimi) July 7, 2026

“The head of a secret organization that serves the government’s political agenda instead of Israel’s citizens is a weapon aimed at the public and a real threat to the integrity of the elections,” Lazimi stated.

Yesh Atid MK Rami Ben Barak warned Zini not to get confused.

זיני – אל תתבלבל מהתפקיד.
ראש שב״כ כפוף קודם כל לחוק ואח״כ לממשלה הנבחרת.
אין אג׳נדות פרטיות לאף ראש ארגון במדינת ישראל. https://t.co/18SjDlJOxq

— Ram Ben Barak (@Ram_Ben_Barak) July 7, 2026

“The Shin Bet chief is subordinate first and foremost to the law and then to the elected government,” she wrote. “There are no private agendas for any head of an organization in the State of Israel.”

Former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen also criticized Zini’s statements, saying that “The sole loyalty of a security body head, and of every public servant, is first and foremost to the State of Israel, its laws, and its citizens.”

ראש השב״כ זיני השמיע בקולו הערב ביקורת חריפה ומדאיגה על המינוי שלו עצמו.

לדבריו מונה לתפקיד ע״י נתניהו, בגין כישור בולט לעומת מועמדים אחרים – היותו ״נאמן לדרג הנבחר״, זאת תוך התעלמות מדאיגה ממושגים קריטיים להצלחת ארגוני הביטחון שהם שמירה על הממלכתיות והחוק.

הנאמנות היחידה של…

— יורם כהן (@YoramCohen_) July 7, 2026

Zini, Cohen stated, was “alarmingly ignoring critical concepts for the success of security organizations, which are upholding statehood and the rule of law.”

Likud MK Ariel Kallner said that Zini’s words on his loyalty raised a serious suspicion that “on the next October 6th, he will wake the Prime Minister.”

דבריו של דוד זיני על נאמנותו לדרג הנבחר מעלה חשד רציני שבשישה באוקטובר הבא הוא יעיר את ראש הממשלה.

געגועים לרונן בר…

— Ariel Kallner אריאל קלנר (@ArielKallner) July 7, 2026

Kaller added that he missed former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.

In contrast, MK Simcha Rothman said that Zini’s statements were “self-evident to anyone who cares about the rule of law or democracy.

“Governmental power must be in the hands of an elected government and not in the hands of a closed junta of a bureaucratic and judicial oligarchy,” he stated.

ראש השב”כ אומר דבר שמובן מאליו לכל מי שמעניין אותו שלטון החוק או דמוקרטיה.

הכח השלטוני צריך להיות בידיים של ממשלה נבחרת ולא בידיים של חונטה סגורה של אוליגרכיה פקידותית ומשפטית.

תראו מי תוקף אותו ותבינו מיהם הפאשיסטים המסוכנים שאסור לתת להם להתקרב לשלטון.

— שמחה רוטמן – Simcha Rothman (@rothmar) July 7, 2026

“Look at who is attacking him and you will understand who the dangerous fascists are whom we must not allow to come near power.”

Iran possesses chemical weapons, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed during an interview on Newsmax’s The Record With Greta Van Susteran on Tuesday.

“They definitely have chemical weapons,” he said. “That I can tell you. And that is another threat that they pose.”

“They definitely have chemical weapons, that I can tell you.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the continued danger that the Iranian regime poses to the world on Tuesday’s “The Record with Greta Van Susteren.” @netanyahu @greta pic.twitter.com/jLmTiixE7v

— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) July 7, 2026

He also said that Iran had lost its capability to produce nuclear weapons during Operation Roaring Lion.

“We destroyed a lot of their infrastructure, a lot of their centrifuges, a lot of the associated factories and facilities that they use for manufacturing nuclear weapons, and we knocked out 20 of their top nuclear scientists – 20 of their top nuclear scientists,” he explained. “So we pushed it back considerably.”

However, he also warned against complacency towards the regime.

“It doesn’t mean that they’re left to their own devices; they’ll go back to it. It’s like, you know, when you excise a piece of cancer, a lump of cancer from your body, you know, it may come back. But you know one thing: if you wouldn’t do it, you could die.”

US was threatened by Iranian missiles, Netanyahu says

The United States, Netanyahu said, had been threatened by Iran as well, which is why US President Donald Trump chose to join the war.

“America was threatened with a very great danger. Because if this regime that chants death to America, death to Trump, will destroy America and so on, if you give that regime the ability to have ballistic missiles that could reach the United States ultimately, and they could arm it with nuclear weapons, then every single American would be in danger,” he said.

“That’s why President Trump decided to do this. He does what he thinks is good for the United States. And in this case, I would say it was essential for the security of the United States.”

The Iranian government was also oppressive to its own people, Netanyahu said.

“Understand, this is a regime that has, you know, there are about 90 million people in Iran, and the vast majority, like 80%, hate this regime,” he said. “They basically consider it theological thugs who took over the country and, you know, hold them at gunpoint. In fact, they shoot them. They murdered and maimed over 40,000 Iranians who are praying for their liberty.”

“Friends can have agreements and disagreements.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed his relationship with President Trump and his distrust of Turkey and Iran on Tuesday’s “The Record with Greta Van Susteren.” @netanyahu @greta pic.twitter.com/d7ykltwVfQ

— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) July 7, 2026

Iran weakened by US, Israeli strikes

Overall, Netanyahu said, the Iranian regime had been heavily weakened by the US and Israeli strikes, with much of their infrastructure destroyed.

“Iran is tottering. The IRGC, the revolutionary guards that basically control Iran, they lost a lot of their money machines. That is, the various industries they used to milk for funds and give them money.

“The Iranian people are in abject poverty,” he added. “And the dictators and their goons who tyrannize them, they live like kings. By the way, the same is in Gaza, the same with Hezbollah, with their proxies, the same thing, you know. They take care of themselves, and they care nothing for the people. So I don’t think this will last. I think eventually the people will throw them out. We’ll have to give them a little assistance.”

US President Donald Trump did not announce in Ankara on Tuesday that he was selling F-35s to Turkey; he did something more important: alongside Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the opening of the NATO summit, he explained why, in his view, opposition to the deal is no longer self-evident.

“This is a decision we are going to make,” he said, adding that the US would consider the move because its relations with Turkey are better, in his words, than with other countries that Washington thought would be more loyal. Erdogan quickly completed the message, saying Turkey had already been promised five planes and that Trump “always keeps his commitments.”

There, more than in the formal statement itself, the real argument was exposed. Trump does not see Erdogan the way Israel does. To him, Turkey is a NATO power with a strong military, a country that could have chosen “a different path” regarding Israel and Iran, and chose not to do so. He praised Ankara for not joining the fighting “on the other side,” and hinted that it may have refrained from doing so because of him.

In Israel, the reading is entirely different. Ankara hosts Hamas, is intensifying the diplomatic confrontation with Israel, considered – according to the US president – attacking Israel alongside Iran, clashes with Greece and Cyprus, and is trying to expand its influence in the eastern Mediterranean. Behind the debate over the arms deal lies a much heavier question: what is Erdogan’s Turkey today in the eyes of Washington, and in the eyes of Trump?

The F-35s have become a symbol of that dispute. Trump wants to bring Turkey back to the center of the Western system. After years in which Ankara paid a price for purchasing Russia’s S-400 system, such as US sanctions imposed in 2020 under CAATSA and removal from the F-35 program, he is signaling that this chapter, in his view, can be closed. “I don’t want to sanction friends,” he said, opening the door to easing pressure on Turkey and to a more forgiving approach toward a wayward but still vital ally.

His logic is not complicated. Turkey controls the passage between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, has influence in Syria, knows Iran well, fields one of NATO’s largest armies, and, in Trump’s view, may help stabilize the region, curb Russian influence and keep Ankara within the Western camp. In his eyes, pushing Turkey away did not change its behavior; bringing it back into the American framework may, perhaps, better serve US interests.

Turkey expanding influence, cannot be seen as ally

In Israel, it is hard to accept that interpretation. Erdogan’s Turkey is no longer seen in Israel as a complex Western ally whose deviations can be tolerated. Over recent years, it has gradually become a regional rival. Political support for Hamas, the harsh statements against Israel since October 7, the involvement in Syria, the disputes with Greece and Cyprus, and Turkey’s ambitions in the eastern Mediterranean are not seen in Jerusalem as a random collection of crises.

They, in Israel’s view, point to a pattern of behavior in which a state expands its influence at the expense of its neighbors. The Israeli question, therefore, is not limited to Turkey’s NATO membership. It concerns whether it can still be regarded as a “normal” Western ally.

That is also the source of Israel’s opposition to the deal, which is not limited to the air force. In recent years, the security establishment has come to view the maritime arena as one of the main friction points in the coming decade. Gas discoveries, shipping lanes, energy facilities, and the project to connect Israel to the European electricity grid via an undersea cable through Cyprus and Greece have made the eastern Mediterranean a strategic asset.

At the same time, Turkey is advancing the concept of the “Blue Homeland,” which expands its claims and influence in the maritime sphere and challenges some of the existing arrangements. The concern in Israel is that Turkey’s military strengthening will affect not only the air balance, but also Ankara’s confidence as it applies pressure around those strategic assets.

Israel signaling Turkey’s threat towards region

Against this backdrop, Benjamin Netanyahu’s highly public appearance alongside the commander of the navy shortly after Trump’s and Erdogan’s statements does not appear accidental. It was a deliberate signal. Israel wanted to make clear that it does not see Turkey only as a future aerial threat, but as a broader strategic challenge, one that could affect freedom of navigation, energy infrastructure, and the growing cooperation with Greece and Cyprus. In Athens and Nicosia as well, developments are being closely watched. For them, the issue is not only the number of aircraft Turkey may receive, but the renewed legitimacy Washington may be giving Ankara’s regional policy.

For Erdogan as well, the F-35 is much more than a plane. A return to the procurement track would be a diplomatic victory for him. He would be able to argue that despite the S-400 affair, despite the sanctions and despite the clashes with Israel, the US recognizes Turkey’s status as a regional power without which the new order cannot be shaped. For him, opening the door is almost as important as the deal itself, because it restores Ankara to the status from which it was pushed years ago.

Still, the gap between Trump’s statements and a signed deal remains large. The S-400 is still a legal and political obstacle, and opposition in the US Congress is expected to be significant. Beyond the political consideration, there is also professional opposition: the fear that a Russian system deployed in Turkey could help gather information on the F-35’s stealth capabilities, thereby harming not only Israel but all countries operating the aircraft. Even a determined president would find it difficult to turn the Ankara statements into a deal without a complex fight in Washington.

Even if the deal is not completed soon, the message Trump delivered in Ankara is clear. For years, it seemed that preserving Israel’s qualitative military edge was the starting point for every American discussion of advanced weapons sales in the region. His remarks suggest a shift in emphasis: Israel remains a close ally, but it is no longer the only consideration. In Trump’s view, Turkey too is a strategic asset that must be brought back into the center of the game.

That is why the debate over the F-35 goes beyond the aircraft itself. It touches on the way the US balances between two of its most important allies in the eastern Mediterranean. If Trump does succeed in returning Turkey to the F-35 track, the significance will not be limited to another arms deal. It will be an American declaration that the new regional order will also be built around Turkey. For Israel, this is not only a security problem, it is a possible change in the starting point of American policy in the region.

Explosions were heard in the city of Bushehr in Iran on Wednesday morning, Iranian news outlets reported.

Earlier, US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that the United States had struck southern Iran on Qeshm Island, in Bandar Abbas, and in Sirik overnight.

Iranian state media reported several injuries after US forces began launching what CENTCOM described as “a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”

Later, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed they targeted 85 US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait, “in response to US ceasefire violations,” shortly after Kuwait’s military reported sirens due to hostile missile and drone attacks.

U.S. Central Command forces have begun launching a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway. The U.S. strikes are in response to Iranian attacks on three…

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 7, 2026

Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported 10 explosions in Sirik and four in Mesen on Qeshm Island.

One US official told Reuters that the strikes targeted Iranian air defense systems, coastal surveillance, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles, and drone launch sites.

The strikes on Wednesday were four or five times bigger in scope and power than the strikes 10 days ago, another US official told Axios.

US revokes license authorizing Iranian oil sales

The Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned a US Treasury move to revoke the temporary suspension of sanctions on Iranian oil sales, saying that Iran “holds the United States responsible for violating the memorandum of understanding, and will take any measures we deem necessary to safeguard our interests and national security.”

Iran’s foreign ministry added that “The US has repeatedly violated the terms of the memorandum of understanding over the past 20 days, either directly or through the actions of the Zionist entity against Lebanon.”

On Tuesday, the US revoked a general license that authorized the sale of Iranian oil, as a US official warned that Iran’s actions in the Strait of Hormuz were “wholly unacceptable.”

A source with knowledge of the attacks told The Jerusalem Post that Iran was responsible for launching at least five drones and missiles at three ships in the strait over the past day.

The US move came after three tankers reported being struck by unknown projectiles in and near the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, the British navy-affiliated agency UKMTO said in a report.

There was no immediate comment from Tehran or any claim of responsibility.

Reuters and Amichai Stein contributed to this report.

The International Olympic Committee provisionally lifted its suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee on Tuesday, marking a significant step towards Russia’s reintegration into the Olympic fold ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Games.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the ROC was suspended in October 2023 for recognizing regional Olympic councils in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine – Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

The IOC said on Tuesday its executive board had lifted that suspension, which will see Russian athletes back in many international competitions including LA28 Olympic qualifiers, but had not yet decided whether Russia could display its flag and colors or have its anthem played at the Games.

“We don’t condone any wars, including this one. We will continue to support Ukraine like we have since this started. But I don’t believe athletes should pay the price,” IOC President Kirsty Coventry told a press conference. “We don’t want to hold athletes accountable for the actions of their government.”

The decision marks the latest step by the IOC to ease Russia’s return to international sport after urging federations in December to readmit Russian and Belarusian youth athletes (under-23s).

“We made it clear that all athletes had the possibility to compete at the Olympic Games. This is what this decision speaks to. It allows Russian athletes to take part in sports competitions. We thought it was really important for athletes to have that possibility,” Coventry said.

Russian sports minister Mikhail Degtyarev said the IOC’s decision should clear the way for Russian athletes to make a full return to the international sporting stage.

“Our country’s return to the Olympic family is a green light for international federations to reinstate all our athletes,” Degtyarev said.

Russian athletes competed as neutrals at the 2024 Paris Olympics and at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games.

A ‘shameful decision’

But there was criticism, with Ukraine’s foreign ministry calling the decision ‘troubling’ and urging countries hosting competitions to uphold a ban on Russian state symbols.

Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych, who was disqualified from the 2026 Winter Olympics over a helmet carrying a message about Ukraine, told Reuters the IOC’s decision was “absolutely shameful”.

Athlete-led advocacy group Global Athlete and FairSport said the decision showed little accountability by the IOC amid an ongoing conflict.

“This decision represents a fundamental departure from the principles of Olympism. By welcoming Russia back into the Olympic fold despite its history of state-sponsored doping and its ongoing war against Ukraine, the IOC has chosen to rewrite, to lower, its own standards for stakeholder accountability,” they said in a joint statement.

Fragmented participation?

The decision, however, is unlikely to trigger a full participation of Russian athletes across all sports, with many international federations still maintaining separate bans for them.

The World Athletics Council last week reaffirmed its decision to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competition, four years after it initially imposed sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

World Athletics voted to end its eight-year doping ban of the Russian Athletics Federation in 2023, but the separate ban over the invasion of Ukraine has kept out their athletes.

Several other international federations have similar suspensions in place.

Asked whether the IOC’s decision could lead to a fragmented participation of Russian athletes ahead of the LA Olympics, Coventry said: “We don’t foresee any patchwork.”

Olympic qualifying events have already taken place for some sports, with most kicking off their qualifiers later in 2026 and 2027.

The IOC had said in imposing its ban in 2023 that Russia recognizing regional Olympic councils in occupied parts of Ukraine violated the Olympic Charter and the territorial integrity of Ukraine’s Olympic Committee.

On Tuesday it said: “The ROC confirmed that it does not, and will not, conduct any activities in these territories. The IOC EB will continue to closely monitor the situation relating to any ROC activities in those territories, and reserves the right to take any further measures if deemed necessary.”

Russian doping scandals

In addition to Russia being ostracized over its invasion of Ukraine, its athletes’ return to competition comes against the backdrop of one of the most damaging doping scandals in Olympic history.

The country has been under scrutiny since a 2015 World Anti-Doping Agency-commissioned report found evidence of systematic doping in Russian athletics, followed by findings that a state-sponsored cover-up operated around the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

The IOC said all Russian athletes now returning to international competition would have to meet relevant anti-doping requirements.

Russia was barred from competing under its flag at several subsequent Games, with many athletes admitted only as neutrals, and WADA imposed a four-year ban in 2019 after Moscow was found to have manipulated laboratory data – a sanction later cut to two years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Russian officials have repeatedly denied the existence of a state-backed doping program.

“We ask to ensure that adequate testing is done on Russian athletes coming into the LA28 Games,” Coventry said.

Utah prosecutors played a video on Tuesday that an investigator said showed the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk last year in a sniper’s position on the roof of a university campus building from which the prominent conservative activist was shot.

The evidence was presented during the second day of a preliminary hearing in Provo, Utah, in which prosecutors are trying to convince District Court Judge Tony Graf to bring Tyler Robinson, 23, to trial.

Investigators allege he shot Kirk, 31, at Utah Valley University while the ally of US President Donald Trump debated with students.

Robinson faces seven criminal charges, including aggravated murder. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty in one of the nation’s highest-profile homicide cases.

Utah investigator David Hull, testifying as the video was shown, said the images were recorded as the shot was fired, “and the individual then stands up and then moves across the building to the north.” Hull identified the person as Robinson.

The hearing, expected to last all week, is the first public test of prosecution evidence concerning Kirk’s September 10, 2025, assassination, one of a series of attacks that have intensified concern over US political violence. Erika Kirk, his widow, was in the courtroom for a second day. She has taken over leadership of Turning Point USA, the influential youth conservative network her husband co-founded.

Alleged shooter Robinson yet to plead guilty or innocent

Robinson has not yet entered a plea. His lawyers have yet to comment on his guilt or innocence.

Dressed in a red T-shirt and shorts, blending in with students, Robinson made contact with representatives of Turning Point USA the day of the shooting, Hull said, citing surveillance video. He gave no further details on the interaction as the group set up for one of Kirk’s trademark events where he challenged college students to question his conservative views.

Video from September 10 also showed Robinson checking out access to the roof from where the shot was fired and having lunch at a fast-food restaurant at the university, Hull said.

In the first two days of the hearing, the defense has tried to raise doubt that Robinson was responsible by suggesting someone else may have been involved.

Lawyer Kathryn Nester asked Hull on Tuesday about a handgun found in a backpack on the campus after the shooting. Hull responded that investigators determined the handgun was not evidence in the case.

Another prosecution witness, Utah investigator Jennifer Faumuina, said FBI testing found Robinson’s DNA and his roommate Lance Twiggs’ DNA on a screwdriver recovered from the sniper position and a towel wrapped around a rifle believed to be the murder weapon.

Casting doubt on the results, defense lawyer Michael Burt called FBI forensic examiner Amanda Bakker as a witness and questioned her for over two hours on the reliability of the DNA tests she carried out on the evidence.

Motives investigated, stances on sexuality and gender questioned

A possible motive was raised on Tuesday during arguments on whether a friend of Kirk could enter a statement into evidence.

The statement from Turning Point USA board member David Engelhardt says Kirk’s political views were informed by his religious beliefs.

Prosecutors said they believe Robinson targeted the activist because of Kirk’s religiously conservative stances on sexuality and gender. The defense said the conflation of religion and politics could prejudice potential jurors.

In texts to his roommate included in earlier court filings, Robinson said he killed Kirk because “I had enough of his hatred.” Prosecutors have quoted Robinson’s mother as saying his political views had moved left recently and he had become “more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented.”

An apple in a child’s lunchbox is still a good choice. Cherries, peaches, and apricots can also be part of a healthy diet. But inside some of the sweetest fruits hides a chemical defense mechanism the plant developed for itself, and it is found precisely in the part most of us are not supposed to eat: the seed or pit.

The main substance is called amygdalin. It belongs to a group of cyanogenic glycosides, natural compounds found in the seeds of several fruits from the rose family. When a seed is chewed, ground, or crushed, amygdalin can be released and broken down, eventually producing a small amount of cyanide. Cyanide is a known and dangerous poison that impairs the cells’ ability to use oxygen.

Here it is very important to be precise. Eating a whole apple is not dangerous. Even if a child accidentally swallows one or two apple seeds without chewing them, in most cases the seeds will pass through the digestive system without breaking down in any significant amount. The problem is not accidental swallowing, but deliberate chewing, crushing, or grinding of a large quantity of seeds.

Apricot seeds contain a higher concentration of amygdalin, which is why they have drawn special medical attention. For years, apricot seeds or amygdalin extracts have been sold in different places around the world with false promises of treating cancer. This is a dangerous and unsupported claim, which could expose people to cyanide poisoning instead of real medical treatment.

Symptoms of cyanide poisoning can include headaches, dizziness, confusion, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, weakness, seizures and, in severe cases, loss of consciousness. These are rare in the context of ordinary fruit, but they are possible after unusual consumption of crushed seeds or dubious supplements. Children are especially sensitive because of their lower body weight.

Pits must be removed before giving fruit to children

The guidance for parents is simple: there is no need to remove apples from the house, but children should be taught not to chew seeds or crack pits. In cherries, apricots, and peaches, the pits should be removed before serving them to young children, both because of the choking risk and because of amygdalin. In toddlers, round and hard fruits require age-appropriate cutting.

There is also a cautionary point for adults. People who make smoothies, purees, liqueurs, or homemade jams should not grind fruit pits into food. Seeds are not a health supplement. They do not “cleanse the body,” do not strengthen the immune system, and are not a natural treatment for disease. They are part of the fruit meant to stay off the plate.

There is also a difference between a small apple seed and the hard pit of an apricot or peach. The large pit has a hard shell and an inner kernel. Some people crack it open and eat the inner kernel, and that is where the risk is greater. The more crushed the seed is, the more available the active substance is for breakdown.

Not every natural thing is good for you

The health message should be balanced. Fruit is a recommended food. It provides fiber, water, vitamins and polyphenols, and contributes to a varied diet. There is no reason to turn apples into a danger. But there is reason to stop treating every part of a plant as edible just because it is natural.

If a child chewed a large number of seeds or ate crushed apricot seeds, and symptoms such as vomiting, weakness, unusual sleepiness, dizziness, or difficulty breathing appear, medical advice or contact with a poison center should be sought immediately. In most cases of accidental swallowing, there is no need to panic, but when in doubt, it is better to ask.

The fruit remains healthy. The seed, on the other hand, is meant to protect the plant, not nourish us. Sometimes the line between food and poison lies exactly in the tiny part we are used to throwing away.

The coffin of Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei arrived in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf on Tuesday after funeral ceremonies in Iran, bringing a multi-day procession to one of Shi’ite Islam’s most sacred sites following the leader’s death in a February 28 US-Israeli strike.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and senior Iraqi officials received the coffin at Najaf International Airport ahead of funeral ceremonies and a mass public procession, state TV reported.

Najaf holds special significance for Shi’ites worldwide as the burial place of Imam Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammad.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also arrived in Najaf to participate in the ceremonies.

The official reception at the airport was attended by Iraqi political leaders and Shi’ite religious figures, before the coffin is carried through the city in public mourning events expected to draw large crowds on Wednesday.

Processions a religious commemoration and propaganda opportunity

Iran’s state-organized funeral ceremonies, which began on Friday, have been designed as both a religious commemoration and a demonstration of continuity by the Islamic Republic following the death of the leader who ruled Iran for nearly four decades.

The procession moved from Tehran to the Shi’ite seminary city of Qom before arriving in Iraq.

Iraqi authorities tightened security around Najaf ahead of the arrival as large numbers of mourners traveled from across Iraq and neighboring countries.

The procession is due to continue to the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala before the coffin returns to Iran for burial in Mashhad later this week.

The pursuit of Greater Israel is a corrosive fantasy, veteran Democratic politician Rahm Emanuel is expected to tell a Tel Aviv audience on Wednesday, calling it “destructive and fanatical” as the chant “from the river to the sea.”

Emanuel, who has held multiple top roles in the Democratic Party, in Congress and in the Obama White House, is a potential 2028 presidential candidate. 

He will warn that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leading the country to a “dead-end” that has turned the country into a “pariah” and is threatening Israel’s historic alliance with the United States, according to an advance copy of his speech shared with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Tuesday.

He blamed as “our mistake” America’s assumption that “the best thing Washington could do for Jerusalem was to blindly and silently stand behind your government, without conditions, without demands, and without consequences.” That path has led to policies including Israeli extremists terrorizing West Bank Palestinians and Gazans suffering from a lack of food that means “Israel has never been so isolated,” a situation that he terms “a countdown clock” for Israel’s security.

Instead, his remarks state, “we need a fundamentally new and different approach to the alliance.”

Emanuel also criticized Palestinians for creating obstacles to peace

At the same time, he criticized the Palestinians for what he said were mistakes and obstacles to peace over the years. He lambasted their supporters in the US who support replacing Israel with a Palestinian state stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

“Those chanting ‘from the river to the sea’ need to hear this loud and clear: they will never have their way,” he declares in his prepared remarks. “But those calling for a greater Israel must also hear this loud and clear: you’re never going to have your way, either. Both are fantasies chanted by fanatics.”

Emanuel, who is a former US congressman from Illinois as well as a former Chicago Mayor and served as White House Chief of Staff under President Barack Obama, is considering a presidential run in 2028. His trip has garnered media attention given that his ideas on Israel could signal the direction of his party on the issue, particularly as they come from a Jewish politician with close ties to the country. Emanuel once volunteered as a civilian with the Israeli army and his father was an Israeli citizen.

His trip to Israel to underscore the importance of the Israeli-US alliance and to advocate for a new regional diplomatic initiative comes at a time when politicians in his Democratic Party are increasingly disavowing Israel to gain an edge in upcoming elections as the country’s reputation plummets.

A Pew Research Center Poll published in April found that 60% of Americans had an unfavorable view of Israel, but its standing was worse among Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents, where 8 out of 10 had negative views about Israel.

Topics of Emanuels speech

According to his prepared speech, Emanuel is set to highlight his deep connection to the Jewish state and his family’s sacrifice in bringing about its creation, noting that his uncle, who was a member of the pre-state underground, is buried on Jerusalem’s Mt. of Olives. His father, Benjamin, was born in Jerusalem in 1927 and fought in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence before immigrating to the United States, where he raised his family in Chicago.

Emanuel plans to recount Israel’s history of overtures in the name of peace and in the face of Palestinian violence during the second intifada and the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.

He will explain that he understands Israel’s cynicism regarding any future arrangement with the Palestinians since Israel’s past offers of Palestinian sovereignty in exchange for security were frequently met with violence.

“I understand why, even if you oppose the Netanyahu government, you’re so prone to dismiss criticism from the outside world,” Emanuel wrote, underscoring that a “corrupt Palestinian leadership has never lived up to the Palestinian people’s legitimate aspirations for sovereignty and self-determination.”

Still, he wrote, Israel’s future can’t be “held hostage to a past defined exclusively by recriminations,” warning that such a stance will endanger its “historic alliance with the US,” which is now “at a crossroads.” Israel must embark on a path that pairs military and diplomatic efforts, rather than relying solely on military prowess, he wrote.

Israel is isolating itself from international allies

“Israel will be alone if its leaders choose to attempt to annex the West Bank and pursue the fantasy of a greater Israel,” Emanuel plans to say.

“America will not and cannot be complicit or complacent in that endeavor,” he wrote, explaining that it has erred in the past by “blindly and silently” supporting Netanyahu’s government.

The speech calls for an end to the “American taxpayer’s subsidy of Israel’s defense budget,” maintaining that Israel should buy US arms with the same financial terms and restrictions as every other ally “that abides by our laws.”

The speech laid out a broad-based policy with regard to a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that rejects extremist Israeli violence against Palestinian civilians and illegal West Bank settlement building but does not spell out prescriptions for divisive issues such as the future of Jerusalem or using the pre-1967 lines for determining the borders of a Palestinian state.

Emanuel does not mention the US-based political advocacy group J Street in his speech, but the text picks up on the 23-state policy idea that J Street put forward last year, involving 21 Arab states, alongside Israeli and Palestinian ones, that would include recognition of Israel by the Arab League.

Such a regional integration would allow for Israel and the larger Middle East to become a technological and transit hub for trade between Europe and India, he plans to say.

A plan for regional peace

To achieve this regional peace, Emanuel continues, the Arab states would have to support a Palestinian governing entity that would accept the Jewish historic connection to Israel, stop teaching its children to hate Israel and end the “heinous practice” of financially rewarding terrorists who kill Jews.

Israel, he wrote, would have to halt unilateral actions in the West Bank, stop nurturing harmful organizations and support “real partners in pursuit of peace.”

This scenario rests on a three-part US policy in the region that would leverage the Arab world’s desire for stability, Israel’s need for security, and Palestinian demands for sovereignty.

“The political benefits for all parties would be far greater than a two-state solution could ever offer. But to get there, everyone would need to make good on their piece of the bargain,” he wrote in his speech.

The alternative path, he wrote, is one that has seen Israel isolated and turned it into a pariah state.

“Israel has failed to convert its military wins into strategic advantages,” Emanuel is expected to say, noting that the country has “lost Europe” and its support in the US is plummeting. US unconditional support for Israel without demands and consequences has been a mistake, he added in his speech, in which he blamed Israel’s poor global standing on Netanyahu’s policies.

A centrist Jewish Democrat embracing a policy promulgated by J Street, a group founded in 2008 to counter the influence of what was then the mainstream pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, illustrates the degree to which the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its credo of creating a bipartisan consensus of support for Israel has eroded.

Emanuel plans to recall his own tensions with Netanyahu, who during his time as White House Chief of Staff labeled him a “self-loathing” Jew for opposing West Bank settlement construction.

Netanyahu, he wrote in his prepared remarks, “cannot fight indefinitely against a world that has stopped believing you have the right to fight. You must instead find a new sustainable path to peace, security, and prosperity.”

Alternatively, he wrote, the US would stand “shoulder-to-shoulder” with Israel as it pursued peace and security.

Israeli sports-tech company Pixellot has renewed its partnership with the Maccabiah Games to provide worldwide broadcast coverage of the world’s largest Jewish sporting event through a dedicated interactive streaming channel, allowing families, athletes and fans around the globe to follow the action in real time.

The partnership, valued at tens of thousands of dollars, marks the second consecutive year of the broadcast initiative and builds on Pixellot’s long-standing support of the Maccabiah by expanding access to competitions across multiple sports, age groups and skill levels.

Using Pixellot’s automated production technology and digital platform, competitions in basketball, football and a variety of other sports will be captured and streamed on a globally accessible channel. Alongside the live events, viewers will also have access to additional features and wraparound programming designed to bring the atmosphere of the Games to audiences in Israel and throughout the Jewish diaspora.

“We are pleased to partner with the Maccabiah Games once again and support this remarkable celebration of sports and community,” said Pixellot CEO Doron Gerstel. “Our technology was built precisely for moments like this –giving athletes at every level the platform they deserve, while keeping families and communities globally connected, even when they cannot be there in person. This is a prime example of how Israeli innovation makes sports truly accessible to everyone.”

The initiative is designed to ensure that parents, relatives and supporters who are unable to attend the Games in person can still follow athletes throughout the tournament, creating an interactive viewing experience that connects communities across continents.

Maccabiah CEO: Pixellot to make Maccabiah ‘more accessible than ever’

Maccabiah CEO Roy Hessing said the partnership reflects one of the event’s central missions of strengthening ties among Jewish communities worldwide.

“The Maccabiah is all about uniting Jewish communities from around the globe, and our goal is to ensure that geography is no barrier to experiencing the games,” Hessing said. “Through our collaboration with Pixellot, thousands of families, friends and fans can follow the competitions and athletes in real time, becoming an active part of the world’s largest Jewish sporting event.”

“This initiative allows us to broaden our reach and make the Maccabiah more accessible than ever before,” he added.

The digital platform is, as expected, providing comprehensive coverage throughout the Games, giving participants across all divisions greater exposure while enabling supporters around the world to share in the Maccabiah experience regardless of where they are.

NATO leaders unveiled arms deals worth tens of billions of dollars in Turkey on Tuesday, driving home the message that they are heeding US calls to spend more to defend Europe even as President Donald Trump said he felt let down and renewed his push to control Greenland.

Leaders were convening for a summit in the capital Ankara, hoping to project unity after another bruising year, in which the Iran war once again exposed cracks in the alliance that has underpinned Western security since the end of World War Two.

In a meeting with President Tayyip Erdogan, Trump said he might have boycotted the NATO summit altogether had it not been for his warm relations with the Turkish leader, and did not rule out further troop withdrawals from Europe.

“Well, we’re going to see. I was very disappointed with NATO,” he said, singling out Britain, France, Germany and Italy for not doing enough to support the US war on Iran.

Trump added that “we weren’t treated well” by the allies, even as he reiterated that he did not want or need their help.

“Before I asked, they said they wouldn’t be there, and we’ve invested trillions of dollars in NATO,” Trump said.

Trump said he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy before the summit about ending the war that started in February 2022 when Russia invaded its neighbor.

“I think they both want to make a deal. It’s too bad it took so long … Something’s going to come out,” Trump said.

While sharply criticizing longstanding allies, Trump announced Washington would lift sanctions on Turkey that were imposed in 2020 over Ankara’s purchase of Russian air defense missiles. He also expressed a willingness to sell Turkey F-35 fighter jets.

The move would be a major gesture to Erdogan and remove a longstanding irritant in bilateral ties.

Rutte wants a defence industry revolution

NATO members have repeatedly tried to show Trump that they are stepping up.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Monday that Europeans had made “staggering” increases in defense spending.

Before Trump’s arrival, Rutte trumpeted a series of initiatives and deals at a defense industry forum, and called for a defense industry “revolution” across the alliance, warning over Russia’s massive military spending as well as China, North Korea and Iran.

“We don’t have the luxury of time. We need capabilities now to ensure we remain ready. The security situation demands it,” Rutte said. “The hum of machinery must become a roar.”

The deals, estimated to be worth at least $50 billion according to one NATO official, included European countries buying surveillance drones from US company Northrop Grumman NOC.N, and NATO buying planes from Sweden’s Saab.

Saab shares at one point rose more than 5% as investors bet on the company benefiting from European rearmament. Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock.

Separately, the British government said in a statement that 12 European nations including the UK, France and Germany will spend more than $50 billion over the next 10 years to develop long-range precision weapons to strengthen NATO’s defense capabilities.

Starmer will unveil the UK-led initiative in Ankara on Wednesday, and the countries are set to release a joint statement with additional details.

Europe’s defense sector has often been criticized as fragmented and saddled with red tape and rivalries between companies and countries. That has left Europe more reliant on purchases of US weapons.

Weak economic growth and the need to maintain generous state welfare provisions have also made defense spending a tougher sell in Europe.

Iran war prompted Trump to revive criticism of NATO

Tensions within NATO, already strained over Ukraine and Trump’s desire to wrest Greenland from fellow NATO member Denmark, have deepened since the US attacked Iran in February. Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO members for insufficient support in the conflict, threatening to quit the alliance.

On Tuesday, he renewed his push to wrest Greenland from Denmark.

“That should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark,” he said.

“That’s what hurt my relationship with NATO, because Greenland doesn’t help Denmark. Denmark doesn’t spend money to really help Greenland, but it’s an important part for the United States.”

Speaking at the summit, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she expected allies to respect her country’s sovereignty and accept that Greenland is not for sale.

European officials insist they largely honored commitments to let the US use their airspace and bases, despite not having been consulted about a deeply unpopular war that roiled their economies.

The US has also announced troop withdrawals from Europe and ​launched a six-month review of its military ⁠presence there.

European ​officials had said they were braced for a repeat of some of Trump’s recent criticism and could not be sure of a positive outcome, in part due to Trump’s volatile relationship with some leaders, most recently seen in a feud with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

NATO members are expected to reaffirm support for Ukraine, with Zelenskiy urgently calling for more air defense supplies.

Underscoring the stakes, Russia hammered the Kyiv region with missiles and drones on Monday, killing at least 28 people and exposing Ukraine’s critical shortage of US-made air-defense interceptors.

Pakistan has launched two new overland trade corridors through Iran and China, offering Central Asian countries alternative routes to Pakistani ports after Islamabad closed its main transit crossings with Afghanistan because of security concerns. 

The corridors, which became operational in April 2026, run through Iran’s Gabd-Rimdan border crossing and China’s Sost Dry Port.

They were introduced after Pakistan indefinitely closed the Torkham and Chaman crossings in October 2025 following persistent cross-border militancy. 

More than 14,000 metric tons of cargo have already been transported through the two routes. 

One corridor was formally inaugurated during a coordination ceremony in Karachi attended by senior representatives from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. 

An alternative Central Asian route to access global markets

Pakistan presented the routes as a permanent alternative for Central Asian countries seeking access to global markets without relying on Afghan transit. 

The first convoy carried frozen meat and other exports to Tashkent and Bishkek through Iran. 

Pakistan also dispatched its first export shipment from the Karachi Export Processing Zone to Kyrgyzstan via the Sost Dry Port under the TIR (Transports Internationaux Routiers) regime. 

The 3,300-kilometer Bishkek-Karachi corridor, operating under the Quadrilateral Traffic in Transit Agreement  has since completed its first reciprocal commercial shipments, with Kyrgyz transport fleets delivering minerals and textiles to Pakistan. 

Separately, the Hemani Group transported a 23.9-tonne consignment to Kyrgyzstan using the Pakistan Single Window (PSW) electronic customs system. 

The new corridors provide Central Asian countries, including Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, with overland access to the Arabian Sea through Pakistan while bypassing Afghanistan. 

Uzbekistan has already begun using the Gabd-Rimdan route to transport agricultural equipment and industrial raw materials. 

Pakistan is also expanding the role of Gwadar Port within Phase 2 of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Located about 400 kilometers east of the Strait of Hormuz, the port is expected to handle increasing cargo volumes moving through the new land corridors as regional trade routes continue to diversify. 

The new network also expands the use of the TIR transit regime and the Pakistan Single Window system, which electronically processes customs documentation for cross-border shipments. 

Burglars grabbed jewelry in a lightning raid on a French museum holding works by luxury glassmaker Rene Lalique and his family, staff there said, less than a year after a heist at the Louvre in Paris shocked the nation.

The masked thieves smashed through the door at Musee Lalique in the eastern Alsace region and took around 20 pieces, together worth several millions of euros, on Sunday morning, France Info and other media said.

The jewelry was taken “in a very short space of time,” the museum said on Instagram. The burglars set off security systems, staff had identified the missing pieces, and police were studying CCTV footage as they launched a search, it added.

It did not go into greater detail on what was stolen.

Museum houses over 650 pieces

The museum in the town of Wingen-sur-Moder, 60 km (40 miles) northwest of Strasbourg, houses more than 650 pieces, according to its website, including Art Nouveau jewelry, Art Deco glass and crystal.

Rene Lalique, who died aged 85 in 1945, began his career as a jeweler and was known for using “glass, enamel, horn, ivory and semi-precious stones in his creations,” the website added.

“The museum will be closed for the forthcoming days in order to make sure it can then be reopened with full security,” it added.

Thieves broke into Paris’ world-famous Louvre museum last October. Several suspects have been arrested, but the priceless exhibits have not been recovered.

A super PAC formed to counter the influence of pro-Israel political action committees confirmed that it will boost Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Democratic US Senate primary, despite the candidate’s pledge to refuse all super PAC funding.

A spokesperson for American Priorities PAC, the anti-AIPAC PAC, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Tuesday that its vow two days earlier to “do whatever it takes” to help El-Sayed “means spending.”

The move would put El-Sayed, who has mounted a popular insurgent campaign for a seat viewed as a must-win for Democrats, in the company of other progressives this election cycle who specifically railed against pro-Israel super PACs when swearing off corporate funding, while also benefiting from spending by the newly created pro-Palestinian super PAC. 

Super PACs have no limits on fundraising but by law are prohibited from directly coordinating with a campaign — so American Priorities could theoretically raise money to run ads and other get-out-the-vote operations to boost El-Sayed without his consent.

El-Sayed has yet to comment publicly on American Priorities’ plans. 

‘Money out of politics’

A physician and former county health director, El-Sayed is scheduled to debate his opponent, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, on Tuesday night in Grand Rapids.

A third candidate, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, dropped out of the race over the weekend, which American Priorities said motivated its pledge to help El-Sayed. The primary is set for Aug. 4.

El-Sayed has made refusing PAC money a key element of his platform. “Money out of politics” forms part of the slogan that brands many of his yard signs. A new ad released by his campaign on June 30 claimed he was “the only candidate for Senate” who has taken “No Corporate PAC Money.”

The American Priorities spokesperson did not immediately respond to a follow-up to clarify what El-Sayed’s anti-PAC pledge would mean for the group’s spending plans. Requests for comment to the El-Sayed and Stevens campaigns also were not immediately returned. 

Stevens, a pro-Israel moderate who has welcomed PAC support, has so far had at least $10 million in AIPAC-affiliated funding directed to boost her campaign, according to Federal Election Commission data. AIPAC-affiliated ads for her have trumpeted policies, including proposed restrictions on immigration enforcement, that AIPAC-funded ads in different races this year have lambasted.

Avoiding PAC money and treating AIPAC as a ‘bogeyman’

American Priorities has complicated the narrative for the progressive wave of the 2026 primary cycle, which has made pro-Palestinian causes and opposition to corporate funding twin priorities while treating AIPAC as a particular bogeyman.

American Priorities also spent to help democratic socialists Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier in their successful primary runs for New York congressional seats last month, even as Valdez pledged to “end Citizens United,” the 2010 Supreme Court decision that allowed unlimited political spending by corporations and unions, and Avila Chevalier called to “abolish Super PACs.” 

The spending allowed the candidates’ opponents to accuse them of hypocrisy but failed to derail their success at the ballot box. American Priorities also spent heavily in favor of Adam Hamawy, a doctor who served in Gaza who won his crowded New Jersey congressional primary in June.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi inaugurated Egypt’s new State Strategic Command Headquarters, known as the “Octagon,” on Saturday in the New Administrative Capital east of Cairo.

The ceremony included the signing of the facility’s official charter and the raising of the Armed Forces flag over one of the Middle East’s most ambitious military command centers.

The Octagon is not just a headquarters building. It is a fortified military and administrative city, built on a scale intended to announce Egypt’s regional ambitions in concrete, steel, and secure communications systems.

Egyptian state information described the complex as covering about 22,000 acres and comprising 13 strategic and logistical zones. The site includes eight interconnected octagonal outer buildings arranged around two central command structures, a design meant to symbolize the integration of Egypt’s armed forces and state institutions.

By comparison, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, covers about 29 acres as a building, while the wider Pentagon reservation is far smaller than the Egyptian complex.

The Pentagon has about 6.5 million square feet of floor space. The Octagon has been reported to have about 50.5 million square feet, or roughly 4.6 million square meters, of floor area, making it several times larger by built space and vastly larger by overall site area. Egypt presents the complex as a hub for military command, secure communications, crisis management, data exchange, and coordination among state institutions.

Egypt’s military buildup has renewed attention in Israel

The headquarters’ opening capped years of major military buildup and drew renewed attention in Israel, where Egypt’s expanding military capabilities have long generated concern among some analysts.

Egypt and Israel share a border, and together they form Gaza’s two land borders, giving both countries a direct stake in the war’s fallout.

Since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel triggered the war in Gaza, relations between Jerusalem and Cairo have become more strained. While the two countries continue to coordinate on security matters, the war has exposed deep disagreements over Gaza’s future and security arrangements along their shared frontier.

Israel’s border with Egypt is about 152 miles long and is one of Israel’s quietest. Yet relations have never truly warmed.

“It is not really cold peace as Israelis like to define it, but more like a cold war between the countries with no shots being fired,” Lt. Col. (res.) Eli Dekel, a researcher of Israeli intelligence and infrastructure systems in Arab countries, told The Media Line. “What we are seeing is a marked deterioration in comments made in Egyptian media and by officials. Since the war, the amount of loathing and hate has skyrocketed.”

“Public diplomacy has grown increasingly confrontational, with Cairo adopting sharper rhetoric, pursuing legal and diplomatic pressure against Israel, and expressing concern over the trajectory of the war in Gaza,” Mariam Wahba, a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told The Media Line. “At the same time, many of the mechanisms that matter most, particularly security coordination, have continued because neither side can afford a complete breakdown. The result is a relationship that is politically colder but strategically resilient.”

In a volatile Middle East, the survival of that coordination is no small thing.

Despite the tensions, the peace accords remain intact. Neither country has formally downgraded relations, though Egypt has not appointed a replacement for its former ambassador to Israel and has delayed approval of Israel’s new envoy to Cairo.

“This is really impressive,” Michael Harari, a former Israeli ambassador and policy fellow at Mitvim, the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies, told The Media Line. “However, Egypt increasingly views Israel as unpredictable, and Israeli suggestions that Egypt’s military buildup constitutes a threat only add to the tensions.”

Egypt has repeatedly warned against any scenario that would result in the mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza into the Sinai Peninsula. Those concerns intensified after US President Donald Trump floated proposals suggesting that Gaza’s population should be relocated elsewhere in the region as part of a broader postwar plan and the rehabilitation of the Palestinian territory after years of war.

Israel’s right-wing government was enthusiastic about the plan President Trump put forward in early 2025. Egyptian officials slammed the idea, viewing it as crossing a strategic red line and arguing that absorbing large numbers of Palestinians would fundamentally alter Egypt’s national security, threaten Sinai’s stability, and permanently undermine the Palestinian cause—a threat Egypt still perceives as active because of support from within the Israeli government.

“It is seen by Egypt as an attempt to push the Palestinian problem into Egypt,” Harari said.

According to Harari, Israel and Egypt perceive the relationship differently.

“In recent years, Israel has understandably looked at its surroundings with great suspicion,” he said, saying Egypt did understand this in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ surprise offensive. “But Israel does not understand how the issue of Palestinian relocation is perceived as a national security threat.”

Egyptian forces deployed along the border exceed limits set by the peace agreement

Israeli analysts have pointed to a gradual increase in Egyptian forces along the border, saying some deployments exceed limits set by the peace agreement.

Under the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty, the Sinai Peninsula is divided into zones with strict limits on Egyptian forces. The recent deployment of regular army and mechanized units into areas closest to the Israeli border has raised strategic concern within Israeli security circles. That concern has grown alongside Egypt’s broader military buildup during the years of el-Sisi’s rule.

Dekel pointed to massive investments in underground infrastructure and missile stockpiles.

“From the day the peace agreement was signed, it was temporary in the eyes of the Egyptians,” Dekel said. “There are currently four times more forces than agreed to along the border.”

While the sides remain mutually suspicious, the tensions are unlikely to turn into war.

“Israel has enough threats; it does not need to deal with the huge Egyptian military in addition,” Dekel said.

Egypt is not the only country expanding its military posture. Israel has also increased defense spending and carried out operations across the region during the war.

“Both sides have an interest in upholding the agreement,” Harari said. “However, there is increasing concern in Egypt about the lack of willingness in the Israeli government to engage in political dialogue with the Palestinians, while encouraging relocation from Gaza.”

The current Israeli government, widely described as the most right-wing in the country’s history, includes senior ministers who have ruled out Palestinian statehood and encouraged Palestinian relocation from Gaza, putting Israel at odds with much of the Arab world, including Egypt.

Sinai is home to several terrorist organizations that continue to challenge the government of el-Sisi. The issue of military presence along the border became even more sensitive after Israeli forces took control of a narrow strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border known as the Philadelphi Corridor.

That move raised disputes over security arrangements established under previous agreements. Egypt has insisted that any changes to border arrangements must respect existing understandings, while Israel has argued that tighter control is necessary to prevent the smuggling of weapons into Gaza.

Despite growing tensions, security cooperation between Israel and Egypt has never completely stopped. For years, the two countries have coordinated closely against jihadist groups operating in Sinai. Israel has supported Egypt’s counterterrorism campaign through intelligence sharing and by approving temporary increases in Egyptian troop deployments in Sinai beyond the limits originally established in the peace treaty.

That cooperation reflects the reality that the peace agreement serves vital interests for both sides. For Israel, peace removed the threat of a conventional war with a major Arab military. For Egypt, the treaty ensured decades of border stability and vital US military assistance.

“It leaves Egypt free to deal with greater threats in the region,” Harari said. “Israel isn’t supposed to see Egypt’s military buildup as a threat.”

“Egypt’s regional ambitions are, for the time being, not primarily directed at confronting Israel,” Wahba added. “Egypt’s security environment is increasingly complex, with conflict in Sudan, instability in Libya, tensions with Ethiopia and mounting domestic pressures all competing for Cairo’s attention.”

Still, mutual suspicion has never entirely disappeared. Egypt has spent the past decade modernizing its armed forces, purchasing advanced fighter aircraft, naval vessels, submarines, and air defense systems while expanding military infrastructure across the country. Israeli analysts, including Dekel, do not see Egypt as an immediate military threat, but there is broad concern that much of the new equipment exceeds the requirements of Egypt’s sustained counterinsurgency effort in Sinai.

“Egypt’s military modernization deserves careful attention, especially given the scale and speed,” Wahba said. “But it should not automatically be interpreted as preparation for conflict.”

The inauguration of the Octagon, therefore, comes at a delicate moment. Its unveiling inevitably draws attention in Israel, where the combination of Egypt’s military modernization, ongoing border disagreements, and the Palestinian issue raises questions about the long-term trajectory of the relationship.

“The peace treaty has repeatedly proven more durable than the political relationship surrounding it … because it reflects enduring strategic interest rather than mutual trust,” Wahba concluded. “The war has made cooperation more complicated and more necessary than ever.”

Venezuela’s Interim President Delcy Rodríguez thanked Israel this week for sending “a highly specialized and professional group” after the twin earthquakes that recently shook the country. The team, she said, was brought in through the efforts of Venezuela’s Jewish community, allowing the Venezuelans “to connect with the Israeli government,” and was helping determine which damaged buildings might still hold survivors and whether they still contain bodies needing to be recovered.

The death toll from the June 24 earthquakes has risen to 3,535, with 16,740 people injured and 17,854 left without housing.

Israel jumped into action immediately, with the country’s Foreign Ministry, Health Ministry, KKL-JNF, SID Israel, and others, including IsraAID, sending delegations days after the quakes.

The specialized team that the country’s acting president was referring to was specifically the 30-member IDF delegation led by Brig.-Gen. Elad Edri, at Venezuela’s request, with the specific mission of engineering assessment. Israeli experts began mapping roughly 1,300 damaged buildings, categorizing which should be demolished and which might still be salvageable. They advised on debris, including ways it could be recycled into future construction, and helped propose a multi-year plan for mapping and rebuilding disaster areas.

This is what Israel does, and why our country can sometimes make us so proud. It sends doctors, engineers, search-and-rescue specialists, and disaster experts to places where people are trapped, wounded, missing, or grieving. It does so because we know that every life matters, because technical skill carries moral responsibility which not every country can afford, and because the Jewish state has learned, through bitter experience, the urgency of arriving quickly when seconds and structures decide whether people live or die.

‘You do not need to be Israel’s friend, for Israel to help you’

The lesson from Venezuela is brought even more into focus when one considers the recent diplomatic relations between the two. It is a lesson. You do not need to be Israel’s friend for Israel to help you.

For two decades, its leadership helped turn hostility to Israel into a political language. Former president Hugo Chávez condemned Israel during the 2006 Lebanon war in extreme terms, accusing Israel of “going mad and inflicting on the people of Palestine and Lebanon the same thing they have criticized, and with reason: the Holocaust. But this is a new Holocaust.”

In August 2006, Reuters reported that Chávez had called for Israeli leaders to face a trial for genocide, stating the Jewish state had “done something similar or, perhaps worse, who knows, than what the Nazis did.”

In 2008, during a diplomatic disagreement with neighboring Colombia over the latter’s intrusion into Ecuador, Chávez said: “the Colombian government has become the Israel of Latin America.”

In 2009, during the Israel-Hamas War, Venezuela expelled Israel’s ambassador and broke diplomatic relations. A year later, Chávez accused Israel and the Mossad of plotting against him and denounced Israel as a “terrorist and murderous state.”

Under Chávez, Caracas also saw a deepening relationship with Iran. Under Chávez’s successor, Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela and Iran signed a 20-year cooperation plan in 2022, binding two sanctioned regimes together in economics, energy, aviation, technology, and political defiance of the West.

There is no need to pretend that these acts never happened lest anyone confuse humanitarian aid with political forgetfulness. Israel has no obligation to erase the record of those who have vilified it, embraced its enemies, or helped normalize some of the ugliest rhetoric used against the Jewish state.

Israel’s strength of character on display for the world

But Israel’s strength is that it can remember this and still act.

Received with gratitude by local Jews and acknowledged by its interim president, Israeli uniforms in Venezuela are a reminder that the caricature the world sometimes portrays of Israel collapses a different reality appears. The state so often accused of cruelty sends experts to help save lives and rebuild homes, even to those who do not wish diplomatic relations with us.

Israel’s humanitarian instinct is part of the country’s national character.

That does not mean Venezuela will change course diplomatically. But it does mean the Venezuelan people have seen, on the ground, Israelis there helping day in and day out since the disaster occurred.

Because Israel shows up, and when it does, even its fiercest critics have no choice but to say thank you.

As part of the steps to establish the Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) as an independent body, Attorney Avi Amiram was appointed in late June to the search committee tasked with selecting the department’s next director. 

Adv. Amiram, one of Israel’s leading criminal defense attorneys, who works in close professional partnership with Adv. Eli Golschmidt, a former Labor Party MK, recently represented the commander of “Force 100”, a suspect in the Sde Teiman affair. 

The committee, to be chaired by Ministry of Justice Director-General Itamar Donenfeld, was officially announced following a public call for applications issued this week. 

Alongside Attorney Amiram, who brings with him many years of legal experience in the criminal field and was appointed to the role by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the committee will also include a retired judge (to be appointed by the Chairman of the State Control Committee, MK Alon Schuster), an investigations expert on the Civil Service Commission, and the Civil Service Commissioner himself. 

The establishment of the DIPI in its new form is part of a significant reform aimed at ensuring the investigative body’s independence. 

DIPI unit will be authorized to conduct investigations into police, Shin Bet personnel

Under the new structure, the unit will be authorized to conduct investigations and file indictments against police and Shin Bet personnel independently, without direct subordination to the State Attorney’s Office or the attorney- general. 

The need for the change arose following repeated reports by the State Comptroller and the Public Defender’s Office, which highlighted deficiencies in the handling of police offenses under the old model.

The director, to be selected by the committee that includes attorney Amiram, will be required to hold qualifications equivalent to those of a judge and possess a rich professional background in investigations. The term of office will also last six years.

In addition to the department director, a special coordinator, at the rank of retired judge, will be appointed to adjudicate professional disputes between the DIPI and other law enforcement authorities, thereby completing the organizational structure of the new body, which aims to bolster public trust in the law enforcement system. 

Britain on Tuesday summoned Iran’s Chargé d’Affaires, Tehran’s most senior diplomat in London, after two Romanian nationals were given lengthy jail sentences over the stabbing of a journalist working for a Persian-language media group in London.

The two men, Nandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25, who British prosecutors said were acting as proxies for the Iranian government, were sentenced last week to eight years and 12 years in jail respectively for their role in the 2024 attack.

They had pleaded not guilty to charges of wounding with intent but were convicted at London’s Woolwich Crown Court in June.

Iran International journalist stabbed outside home in 2024

Pouria Zaratifoukolaei, known as Pouria Zeraati, a British journalist of Iranian origin who works for Iran International, was stabbed three times in the leg near his home in southwest London in March 2024.

British lawmakers said last year that Iran posed a significant and wide-ranging threat to Britain. Iran’s embassy in London said it rejected the “unfounded, politically motivated and hostile allegations.”

The embassy did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the British government’s latest move.

The British Foreign Office statement said the judge had “concluded that this attack (on the journalist) was carried out in the interests of, and on behalf of, the Iranian state.”

“This follows a longstanding pattern of hostile activity by the Iranian intelligence services on UK soil,” it said.

“Iran’s actions attempt to undermine UK sovereignty and security and are completely unacceptable – it must cease these activities immediately,” it said.

Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) demonstrators burned trees and attempted to block traffic at Jerusalem’s Bar-Ilan Intersection on Tuesday in protest of the city’s light rail construction, Israeli media reported.

The protests follow an N12 News report that haredi protests 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.

Bar-Ilan Street, one of several traversed by the new light rail line, has been the scene of many of these protests.

During a protest last week, haredi demonstrators damaged pipes that were set to be installed on the new light rail line, N12 reported.

According to N12, the protests have caused Kfir, the company that operates Jerusalem’s light rail, to change opening dates and routing in several sections of the line.

For example, the section between Givat Shaul and Ammunition Hill was originally set to begin service by the end of 2025. However, severe vandalism by protesters has pushed the section’s opening to 2027, with the potential for further delays.

Instead, the first section to open will be the one between the existing HaTurim Station and the Malha Mall area, already in advanced testing and slated to begin operations by the end of 2026.

Vandalism continues despite arrests

The protests continue despite dozens of indictments filed against protesters over the past six years, N12 reported, citing the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office.

Charges against protesters include disorderly conduct, rioting, unlawful assembly, and criminal trespassing, the office said.

In addition, Jerusalem’s municipality has filed civil lawsuits against demonstrators for the damages caused by vandalism and schedule delays.

Israel Police arrested a 19-year-old Modi’in Illit resident on Friday on suspicion of committing indecent acts against a minor.

According to the police report, the suspect first approached the victim’s 9-year-old brother shortly before sundown on Friday. The 9-year-old fled the scene, but the suspect managed to grab the 5-year-old and take him to a bomb shelter in a residential building. 

There, he allegedly committed an indecent act against the child and documented the act on his cell phone. 

The police arrived on the scene shortly thereafter, having received a report from the 9-year-old that “a big guy” had kidnapped his brother. They located and arrested the suspect, who was taken in for questioning and then jailed. They also opened an investigation into the matter. 

On Monday, after the initial investigation was completed and evidence was collected, the State Prosecutor filed a declaration with the Central District Attorney’s Office seeking an extension of his detention in anticipation of an indictment before the end of the week. 

His detention was extended until July 9 under medical supervision. The police statement did not specify the nature of the medical issue. 

Haifa resident detained, indicted, after brutally beating his ex-wife in front of their children

On Thursday, police filed an indictment against a 50-year-old Haifa resident for aggravated assault of his ex-wife, which he conducted in front of their two minor children. 

According to the indictment, on June 26, the man punched his ex-wife in her face and chest, strangled her, slammed her head against the wall, and verbally assaulted her as their children watched. Police arrived after receiving a report of a domestic dispute. 

The children tried to save their mother, but were unsuccessful, and the beatings continued until the police arrived. 

The indictment was filed alongside a request to keep the suspect detained until the end of his legal proceedings. 

Two Jerusalem residents summoned to court after endangering children’s lives in moving vehicles

A man was summoned to the Jerusalem District Court after he was caught by police driving under life-endangering conditions, according to a June 30 police statement. 

Jerusalem Police caught the man transporting a baby on his mother’s knees in the front seat without any car seat, seat belt, or restraint device whatsoever. What is more, four additional children were riding in the back of the car, standing on the seats, unbuckled. 

One day earlier, a 22-year-old east Jerusalem resident was summoned to court after being stopped by police and caught with 11 passengers in his vehicle, including seven children packed into the trunk.

This posed a significant threat to the children’s lives, police noted. They were immediately removed from the car to ensure their well-being. 

US Senator Bernie Sanders on Tuesday urged Maine’s embattled Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner to end his campaign following a sexual assault allegation on Monday that Platner has denied.

“I have spoken with Graham Platner about the best path forward for Maine,” Sanders, a prominent progressive backer of Platner and his biggest national ally, said in a statement.

“In light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside.”

Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, joins a growing list of Democrats abandoning Platner after a woman accused him of forcibly having sex with her nearly five ‌years ago. Senate Democratic leaders and their allied super PAC have said they won’t invest in Maine, a critical battleground state that Democrat Kamala Harris won in 2024, if Platner remains on the ballot.

Kirsten Gillibrand, chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, issued a joint statement to the same effect, calling for Platner to withdraw from the race and allow the party to choose a new nominee. 

Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib also withdrew her endorsement for Platner on Tuesday, calling on him to “exit the race immediately.”

“These allegations are devastating and must be taken seriously,” she wrote on Twitter/X.

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, meaning Democrats need to net four seats to win control. Losing Maine would make that path significantly harder, requiring the party to hold seats in Georgia and Michigan — states President Donald Trump won in 2024 — while flipping four seats in Republican-held states such as North Carolina, Ohio, Alaska, Iowa and Texas.

While Trump only won North Carolina by 3 percentage points, he carried the other states by a double-digit margin, underscoring Democrats’ uphill battle.

Platner has remained silent after saying in a social media video on Monday that he was taking time “to reflect on the best path forward.”

He can be replaced on the ballot if he drops out by July 13. The Maine Democratic Party would have until July 27 to select a new nominee.

Candidates vie for Senate run

Potential candidates, including Democrats who lost last month’s primary for governor, were already positioning themselves for a likely Senate run on Tuesday.

Former state Senate President Troy Jackson filed federal paperwork on Tuesday to form an exploratory committee that allows him to start fundraising, the Bangor Daily News reported.

Nirav Shah, the former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the party should hold an open and transparent process to select a new nominee.

“Anyone running for this nomination should agree to at least one televised debate and hold multiple public town halls across every corner of the state,” he said in a statement on X that notably emphasized he is “not an establishment politician” or “an insider.”

Republican incumbent well-funded

The Democratic nominee will face Republican Senator Susan Collins, who chairs a panel that oversees the nation’s federal discretionary spending, in November.

Collins, 73, has a nearly $10 million war chest and is backed by multiple super PACs. The Senate Leadership Fund has pledged to invest $42 million in Maine, and Pine Tree Results PAC has spent almost $7 million boosting her campaign.

The Pine Tree Results PAC has canceled its ad reservations for next week, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact, which suggests Republicans expect Platner to drop out this week.

In a statement on Monday, Collins called the allegations against Platner “appalling.”

“Nevertheless,” she said, “it is not up to me to choose the Democratic nominee for Senate.”

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

Most Israelis believe that Israel’s security is not a central consideration for US President Donald Trump, according to a survey published on Tuesday by the Israel Democracy Institute.

The Israeli Voice Index, conducted in June by the Viterbi Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research, found that just 28% of Israelis believe Trump prioritizes Israel’s security, a new low down from 44% in the previous survey in May.

The survey, based on a sample of 754 Israeli participants (151 of whom are Arab), found that just 38% of Jewish Israelis believe Israel’s national security situation is better off than it was prior to the start of the war with Iran earlier this year.

Notably, the findings showed that most Jewish Israelis believe the current strain in US-Israel relations is temporary, while Arab Israelis are more divided on the issue.

On the issue of security, 72% of respondents said the IDF should maintain a permanent presence in southern Lebanon regardless of any friction the move may cause with the United States.

Regarding the recent protests and riots by haredim over the IDF draft (ultra-Orthodox), nearly half of participants said they believe the Israel Police are too lenient in how they deal with the demonstrators. On the other hand, the vast majority of haredim said that police treatment was too harsh.

On that note, about half of haredim polled said they were disappointed in their political leaders, while just a third of Israelis overall said they identified a political party that fit their opinions.

Election issues and antisemitism

On the subject of the Basic Law: Torah Study bill currently making its way through the Knesset, just over half of respondents said it was too close to an election to advance such an important piece of legislation.

A small majority said they supported an election for a new state comptroller amid the recent voter-confidentiality controversy.

The survey further found that a majority of Israelis cited antisemitism as impacting their summer vacation getaways, with 41% saying it affected their choice of destination, while 15% said they will not travel abroad at all.

The United States revoked on Tuesday a general license that authorized the sale of Iranian oil, as a US official warned that Iran’s actions in the Strait of Hormuz were “wholly unacceptable” and would be met with consequences after attacks on tankers in the strategic waterway.

A source with knowledge of the attacks told The Jerusalem Post that Iran was responsible for launching at least five drones and missiles at three ships in the strait over the past day.

Oil prices rose more than 5% following the announcement. The US Treasury said it would allow a wind-down period to July 17 for Iran’s oil transactions that had been allowed under the now revoked license.

The US official said negotiators continued to work in good faith toward a final agreement with Iran despite the latest escalation.

The US move came after three tankers reported being struck by unknown projectiles in and near the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, the British navy-affiliated agency UKMTO said in a report. There was no immediate comment from Tehran or any claim of responsibility.

Iran’s Hormuz strikes threaten fragile deal with US

The attacks and the US response threaten to put a fragile diplomatic understanding between Washington and Tehran on shaky ground, raising the risk that further retaliation could derail negotiations over a broader agreement.

Another US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said initial indications were that Iran had fired at three commercial vessels.

The potential escalation comes as both sides had been working toward a deal that included limits on Iran’s nuclear program and relief from some sanctions, including restrictions on oil exports.

Iranian attacks prolong disruption of shipping through Strait of Hormuz

The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, is one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints, with roughly a fifth of global oil consumption and large volumes of liquefied natural gas shipments passing through each day.

Any prolonged disruption could push up energy prices and increase pressure on consumers and governments already facing higher fuel costs.

Oil exports remain a critical source of revenue for Iran, providing billions of dollars in hard currency that help fund government spending and support an economy weakened by years of US sanctions.

Despite restrictions, Tehran has managed to expand shipments in recent years, largely to China, making oil sales one of the country’s most important economic lifelines.

Any renewed effort to curb those exports could put additional pressure on Iran’s finances and its ability to sustain domestic programs and regional activities.

Employees at the Israeli Consulate in New York were evacuated from their workplace on 2nd Avenue in Manhattan on Tuesday after receiving an alert that a nearby building was at risk of collapse. 

Consul General Ofir Akunis noted that “all consulate employees were evacuated safely.”

The nearby high-rise under construction remained at risk of collapse on Tuesday after two of its support columns buckled, officials said as engineers worked to stabilize it.

The New York City Fire Department said it received a call just before 8 a.m. about bricks falling from the 37-story building located on 42nd Street, which is being converted from an office building to residential apartments.

Officials responding to the scene found two columns had buckled on the 21st and 22nd floors, and multiple floors of the building were sagging, the department said.

Nearby buildings, including a school, were evacuated and streets were closed to pedestrian and vehicle traffic, with no injuries reported.

‘The building remains unstable’

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the concern was that the building was still moving hours after the incident was reported. A team of emergency responders and engineers was working to access and secure the site, he said.

“The building remains unstable,” the mayor told reporters at the scene.

“If the floor is deemed to be secure, engineers will enter and begin shoring up the building as we await the arrival of materials that will stabilize the building,” Mamdani said.

John Esposito, chief of the Fire Department of the City of New York, said preparations for a partial collapse had been made but officials thought any collapse would be contained.

“The way this building is constructed, it’s a steel frame building, so it would not be a total collapse; it would be more of a localized collapse, but that remains our concern that it’s moving,” he said.

The building near Grand Central Terminal was once Pfizer’s corporate headquarters. It is being converted into a 1,600-unit apartment building, with completion due in 2027, according to the architectural firm Gensler’s website.

Idan Kweller contributed to this report. 

Just before the Jerusalem Film Festival opens on Thursday, and only a few months before the national elections, Culture and Sport Minister Miki Zohar has released a video on social media boasting about how the changes he initiated in the Cinema Law have stopped Israeli filmmakers from making movies that show Israel in a negative light.

In the video, a director and his assistant, clad in keffiyehs, are making a movie that consists of scenes of Israeli soldiers and West Bank settlers abusing a cute Palestinian child by popping his pink balloon and harming other Palestinian civilians. As they film each scene, they reach for an ATM that gives them piles of shekels.

Zohar appears, preventing the assistant from withdrawing more money from the ATM, and says, “Cut.” He goes on to say: “For years, the formula was simple. Defame Israel, and get a check from the government. No more. The cinema reforms that I initiated take our money away from movies that Israel haters love, [and give it] to movies that we, Israelis, love. The era of defaming IDF soldiers at the taxpayers’ expense has ended. Not on my watch!”

At the end, he stands in front of the slogan, “Right-wing action wins!”

The video comes just after a key member of the Likud party, MK Yuli Edelstein, announced he was leaving the party. Those remaining in the Likud, the party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are jockeying for position, and this video can be seen as one way to win popular support.

The reforms Zohar is talking about represent a major change in the funding of Israeli films, because much of the funding for movie budgets in Israel comes from government-financed film funds. Early in 2025, he spearheaded a reform that prioritizes films with the potential for commercial success over more serious films and strengthens regional film funds at the expense of other funds.

These reforms revamp how the film funds allocate money by bringing government-appointed lectors into the process, whose mission is to prioritize crowd-pleasing comedies, such as the two Saving Shuli movies, which sold millions of tickets. In December, he announced the establishment of a professional committee to reexamine government budgeting for the cinema industry, which has led to a withdrawal of some film funding. 

Zohar establishes new film awards

He also established new film awards, whose winners were determined by government-appointed judges, to rival the Ophir Awards, the Israeli Academy for Film and Television’s awards. Some creators boycotted these new awards, while others participated.

Zohar made these reforms because of a perception that serious Israeli filmmakers tend to be overly critical of the government. He was especially incensed that the Ophir Awards gave the Best Picture prize in 2025 to The Sea, a drama by Shai Carmeli-Pollak about a Palestinian boy who goes to Tel Aviv to see the beach for the first time in his life.

Zohar denounced the Israeli Academy’s choice of The Sea in September as “absurd,” “anti-Israeli,” and a “slap in the face of Israeli citizens,” and said, “Under my watch, Israeli citizens will not pay from their pockets for a ceremony that spits in the faces of our heroic soldiers.”

Culture ministers in Israel have courted controversy in recent years by criticizing movies they feel are unpatriotic without seeing them, as former Culture Minister Miri Regev did with Samuel Maoz’s Foxtrot in 2017. In The Sea, the boy and his father are eventually arrested, but most of the Israelis they meet go out of their way to be helpful. It was unclear whether Zohar had seen the movie.

Zohar also condemned Nadav Lapid’s movie, Yes, a blistering attack on Israeli attitudes and policies, which was recently released in the US.

Zohar and Regev’s attitude toward the film industry was a major policy reversal for a government that once treated filmmakers as its pride and joy, trumpeting achievements of Israeli films at festivals around the world on its official website. The Cinema Law, which increased funding to the film industry, which had been in the doldrums for decades, was passed by the Knesset with great fanfare and support from all major parties in 2001.

Said one veteran producer, who preferred not to be named, “It makes no sense for the government to give any money to hit movies like Saving Shuli. These movies are a commercial product that is very popular, and they make lots of money for the producers. The idea of the film funds is to support more serious filmmaking, and yes, these kinds of films often take a critical look at society. That’s not unique to Israel. It’s true of all serious movie making.”

A low for Israel’s film industry

The Israeli film industry is at its lowest ebb in decades, perhaps ever, as more film festivals around the world openly or covertly boycott Israeli movies. Israeli filmmakers whose films were once widely shown around the world both in theaters and at festivals are now snubbed everywhere. Even Lapid, known for his criticism of Israel, inspired a boycott threat when he was invited recently to take part in a film festival in Marseille, and chose to withdraw.

Response to Zohar’s video was mixed. Some of those commenting on his various social media accounts were supportive, saying that it was about time for the government to cut funding to films critical of Israel. But many more excoriated Zohar and the Netanyahu government for trying to divert attention from more critical issues, such as the government’s refusal to appoint an official commission of inquiry into the handling of the October 7 massacre.

Guy, an X/Twitter user, spoke for many when he wrote, “Hey, it’s funny that you’re showing an IDF soldier struggling with a balloon. Because to remind you, in the year before 7/10, when explosive balloons and kites were flying around here, you stayed silent like a mute. A government of cowards.” 

Israel’s 103-75 loss to Croatia in the World Cup qualifiers was about far more than one disappointing night.

Ariel Beit Halachmi’s squad was thoroughly outplayed by a bigger, more physical Croatian side, but the defeat also served as the latest reminder of the deeper issues surrounding the national team and the Israel Basketball Association.

Coming on the heels of a loss to Germany, the blue-and-white closed the first stage of qualifying with a 2-4 record, a mark that now carries over into the second group stage and leaves Israel facing an uphill battle when qualifying resumes at the end of August.

Against Croatia, Israel never looked capable of mounting a serious challenge. Just as it had against Germany, the team stumbled out of the gate, falling behind 9-0 before Khadeen Carrington finally got Israel on the scoreboard. Croatia quickly built a double-digit lead and controlled the game from start to finish, taking a 25-12 advantage after the first quarter and extending the margin to 47-31 by halftime.

Adam Ariel tried to spark a comeback after the break, scoring 17 points – a national team career high – while Yam Madar led Israel with 21 points and Netanel Artzi added 10. But Croatia continued to dictate play throughout the second half as Ivica Zubac recorded 18 points and 10 rebounds, Dario Šaric finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, while David Škara and Antonio Jordano scored 13 points apiece in the convincing victory.

Afterward, Beit Halachmi did not hide his frustration.

“It was a tough loss, no doubt about it. We didn’t play well, and overall the game was completely under their control. Our chances are slim, but we can’t give up. This is the Israeli national team, and I hope that in the next window we’ll have our best players available. Despite all the difficulties, they have to come this time. We need everyone. At the end of the day, this is Israeli basketball, and this is the Israel National Team. This loss is disappointing and unacceptable, and it’s time for the players to take responsibility for this as well.”

A much bigger problem

The comments reflected a much bigger problem than one poor performance.

This international window was an unmitigated disaster for Israel on a number of fronts. The country’s NBA players, including Portland Trail Blazers All-Star Deni Avdija as well as Brooklyn Nets prospects Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf, were not released by their clubs, while numerous other players were unavailable because of injuries, whether legitimate or otherwise. The result was a significantly weakened roster that was never equipped to compete at the highest level.

There also appeared to be little urgency from either the Israel Basketball Association or many of the players themselves. After opening qualifying with losses to both Germany and Croatia in late 2025, Israel’s chances of reaching the World Cup were already slim. Although the blue-and-white swept Cyprus, so did every other team in the group, meaning the 2-4 record carried into the next phase leaves Israel at the bottom of Group K before it even begins.

Next up are six games against teams from the corresponding group that includes Poland, the Netherlands, Latvia and Austria. With Israel sitting last in the standings before those games even tip off, convincing players to report during the August, November and February international windows could become an even greater challenge. Any player dealing with a minor injury or whose club is reluctant to release him will have little incentive to participate in games that, realistically, have very little impact on Israel’s qualification hopes.

The argument can always be made that the national team’s best players must represent Israel regardless of the circumstances, particularly with future opportunities such as EuroBasket at stake. But the reality is that the IBBA will ultimately select the best available roster whenever the next major tournament arrives.

That, however, should not have been the approach.

The IBBA needed to establish from the very beginning that every qualifying window mattered and that representing the national team was a priority. Instead, the organization allowed the situation to deteriorate. Having Beit Halachmi serve as both head coach and general manager only complicated matters further.

The warning signs extended beyond player availability. The public dispute over Omer Mayer’s participation in the Under-20 European Championships, combined with the paperwork error that prevented Noam Yaacov from playing against Germany, suggested an organization struggling with issues both on and off the court.

Association must secure release of top players

The association also needed to fight harder to secure the release of its top players. It should have pushed the Trail Blazers on Avdija and continued to press the Nets in an effort to bring Saraf and Wolf to the national team. The answer may still have been no, but making every possible effort would have sent an important message to the players and, perhaps more importantly, to the fans that wearing the national jersey remains the organization’s highest priority.

The Israel National Team is very valuable to the continued growth of basketball in the country, and it must be treated that way. The IBBA represents the fans, the players, the media, and Israeli basketball as a whole. After a qualifying window that ended with two lopsided defeats and a national team facing an increasingly uncertain future, it is time for the organization to show that it understands exactly what that responsibility means.

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