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The summer break is coming to an end, and as kids across Israel are prepping to go back to school, there is still one activity that they can do before the academic year starts.

Peter Pan is now being performed at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center throughout the rest of the month. I watched the production’s early afternoon show with two friends last Sunday; it featured impressive sets and costumes, and a cast of actors who dazzled on stage with their physicality and choreography.

The audience was mostly parents and children, who responded enthusiastically to the performances and the immersion into Neverland.

This particular adaptation of J. M. Barrie’s classic story initially premiered in 1988, with the titular character having been played by Hanoch Rosen, who now takes the director’s chair in this year’s production.

He co-wrote the show with Uri Paster, who initially directed the 1988 production and also wrote the lyrics, while Ilan Gilboa composed the music, resulting in all original songs being in Hebrew.

Who’s who in Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center’s Peter Pan?

Lee Biran plays the Peter Pan of 2026, while Sasson Gabbay plays Captain Hook, reprising his role from the 1980s production. Other actors include Meshi Kleinstein as Wendy, Linoy Cohen as Tiger Lily, and Ofir Weil as Smee.

Biran is charismatic as the lead, bringing the energy throughout the show. Kleinstein will be remembered most for her angelic voice, most notably in the first song performed in the show, “He Must Come.” Weil’s character, Smee, shines as Hook’s right-hand man, as his mannerisms drew much laughter from the crowd. Cohen, as Tiger Lily, shines in her dancing and stage physicality. Gabbay has amazing stage presence as the musical’s villain, stealing every scene he’s in.

And, of course, this production only further proves the iconic phrase: “There are no small parts, there are only small actors,” as the entire ensemble is given much to do throughout, playing multiple characters, performing numerous choreographed dances, and portraying evil pirates in Hook’s crew or one of the tribespeople under Tiger Lily.

What also caught my eye were the costumes and sets, as well as how the production managed to pull off the crocodile that torments Hook. 

This production also uses unique flight technology brought from abroad to Israel, taking Biran’s and Kleinstein’s performances to new heights.

Even if you don’t speak Hebrew, your familiarity with the story, the songs, and the actors’ performances is enough to keep you entertained throughout its runtime. You can buy tickets until August 28 here. 

The writer is a studio producer for The Jerusalem Post.

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Israeli grandmaster Yahli Sokolovsky went unbeaten in Montenegro, scoring seven points from nine rounds and winning his final three games to claim the European title.

Israeli chess celebrated a major achievement as grandmaster Yahli Sokolovsky, a 2006-born member of the Kiryat Ono Chess Club, was crowned the 2026 European Under-20 champion.

Sokolovsky finished atop the standings with seven points from nine possible, recording five wins and four draws without suffering a single defeat throughout the tournament.

The championship was held from Aug. 6-15 in Cetinje, Montenegro, and was organized by the European Chess Union and the Montenegro Chess Federation. The Swiss-system competition featured nine rounds of classical chess.

Sokolovsky entered the championship as the top seed, with an international rating of 2541. While he was considered one of the leading contenders for the title, the road to the championship was challenging, with the Israeli facing grandmasters, international masters and FIDE masters among Europe’s leading young players.

Display of impressive consistency claims title

After opening the tournament with a victory, Sokolovsky continued to display impressive consistency. The decisive stretch came in the final three rounds. In the seventh round, he defeated Anton Zlatkov of North Macedonia. He then beat Armenian grandmaster Emin Ohanyan, who was ranked second in the tournament, with the black pieces in the eighth round.

Sokolovsky entered the ninth and final round knowing that a victory would put him in an excellent position to claim the title. He delivered, defeating Armenian international master Vah Sukiasyan to secure his seventh point, move to the top of the standings, and clinch the European Under-20 championship.

Sokolovsky’s performance throughout the nine rounds translated into a performance rating of 2584, well above the 2541 rating with which he entered the competition.

Israeli Chess Federation CEO Gil Boruchovsky praised Sokolovsky’s achievement, saying, “Yahli is one of the hottest names in the Israeli Chess Federation and will be one to watch in the coming years. This impressive victory demonstrates his tremendous talent and his place among the leading players of the next generation of Israeli chess.” Israeli Chess Federation chairman Dr. Zvika Barkai added, “This is an outstanding achievement and a direct continuation of the successes of Israeli chess on the international stage.”

European title marks significant career milestone

The European title marks another significant milestone in Sokolovsky’s developing career and further establishes him among the leading young chess players in Europe. Beyond the individual accomplishment, his victory represents another proud moment for Israeli chess and another indication of the country’s standing on the international stage.

Arik Kaplan, president and CEO of the Ayelet Association, the umbrella organization for Israel’s non-Olympic sports, called Sokolovsky’s victory “a tremendous and moving achievement for Israeli chess, praising the young grandmaster for displaying “exceptional talent, consistency, determination and the composure of a champion, especially in the decisive moments.”

“Yahli is a great source of pride for all of us and an example for the young generation of chess players in Israel,” Kaplan added. “We congratulate him on his impressive European title and are confident that many more international achievements await him.”

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Ofra Yitzhaki – an internationally acclaimed Israeli pianist, artistic director of the Upper Galilee Chamber Music Festival at Kfar Blum, and a highly regarded faculty member at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music – has long established herself on world stages as a prominent interpreter of modern and avant-garde music.

Above all, the Juilliard graduate has emerged as one of today’s leading champions of Israeli art music.

Over the span of just 18 months, Yitzhaki released three distinct albums, each focusing on a monumental figure in Israeli composition.

Josef Tal and Mordecai Seter, she noted with enthusiasm, are two of the greatest composers Israel has ever produced, and they stand firmly on the global stage.

The third album features the complete piano works of Josef Bardanashvili, widely regarded as one of Israel’s greatest living composers.

Although released in rapid succession, the overarching project took years the develop.

“The initial spark occurred about eight years ago, when I was invited by the Berlin Orchestra to perform Tal’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (1944),” Yitzhaki recalled.

“It gripped me so intensely that I asked myself: How is it possible that I don’t know his piano music? It’s simply outstanding.”

Shortly after, a German record label invited her to record a comprehensive selection of Tal’s piano works – an invitation she eagerly accepted.

Part I: Josef Tal – Uncompromising innovation

Tal belongs to the founding generation of Israel’s classical music. In 1934, at the age of 23, he fled Nazi Germany, leaving his parents behind. In his memoir, he recalled them sitting near the railway station like two statues, waving goodbye as his train departed. His father was later murdered in Auschwitz.

Settling in British Mandate Palestine, Tal established himself as a fierce artistic pioneer. Yet for decades, much of his piano music remained tucked away in archives or preserved only in sporadic historical recordings.

Yitzhaki’s album, Josef Tal: Piano Works 1936-2000, released on the premier German label NEOS, finally brings this repertoire to a global audience under the guidance of a dedicated interpreter.

“Knowing where our local classical scene stands regarding native repertoire, it didn’t surprise me culturally,” Yitzhaki admitted regarding the German release.

In Germany, Tal remains deeply revered, making the recording process feel, as she put it, “like bringing his piano music back to where it truly belonged.”

Tal’s legacy raises compelling questions about identity. Arriving in Mandate Palestine in the 1930s, he faced a web of aesthetic expectations to write music with explicit Jewish or Israeli folk themes.

Coming from an assimilated German-Jewish background, Tal resisted these demands, viewing them as an artificial imposition on his mature compositional technique.

While some scholars view his refusal to incorporate “Mediterraneanism” (Middle Eastern modes and traditional motifs) as a political statement or an expression of Eurocentric cultural commitment, Yitzhaki saw it more straightforwardly: “It is only natural to stay true to who you are.”

Tal did not ignore his surroundings entirely. His First Symphony references “By the Rivers of Babylon,” his Piano Sonata references Yehuda Sharett’s “Rachel,” and he frequently drew on extra-musical themes linked to his Jewish-Israeli identity.

However, he refused to alter his core compositional language – a balance musicologist Prof. Jehoash Hirshberg famously termed “national individualism.”

Tal’s achievements extend far beyond local influences. In 1961, he established the first electronic music studio in Israel, opening new horizons parallel to visionaries like Karlheinz Stockhausen.

His ability to integrate the acoustic idiom of the piano with emerging electronic media remains a landmark. He was also among the first to introduce avant-garde serialism, including his own treatment of Arnold Schoenberg’s 12-tone technique, to Israeli art music.

Moreover, while his earlier works are exceptional, original examples of modernism, in his later works Tal cultivated a unique musical idiom that challenges professional and non-professional musicians alike.

“He possessed immense creative freedom and intellectual curiosity,” explained Yitzhaki. “Even in his late 90s, he remained curious about new compositional techniques. That openness laid the groundwork for later modern and avant-garde Israeli composers.”

Part II: Mordecai Seter – Transcendental introspection

Yitzhaki’s commitment to capturing overlooked repertoire continued with Mordecai Seter: Late Works, released on the Israel Music Institute (IMI) label.

The project originated in 2024, when she curated a concert titled Still Seter: Intimate Sounds to mark 30 years since the composer’s death.

Performing Seter’s early pieces alongside his late, rarely heard compositions, Yitzhaki was struck by how deeply listeners connected to those final, austere pieces.

“Musicians, students, and general listeners were spellbound by his late works,” she said. “I felt compelled to capture this unique universe on record.”

Describing her experience performing this repertoire, Yitzhaki spoke of being absorbed into Seter’s meditative mysticism – a deeply philosophical worldview translated into sound that sits stylistically between the sparse stillness of Morton Feldman and the coloristic intensity of Olivier Messiaen.

Part III: Josef Bardanashvili – A living dialogue

Completing this trilogy is the complete piano works of Josef Bardanashvili, released on the German label TYXArt. Interpreting a living composer presented a stark contrast to recording Tal or Seter.

“With historical composers, it’s just me and my artistic choices,” Yitzhaki explained. “Here, the composer is in the booth, saying, ‘Try that again,’ or ‘I envisioned this differently.’ It becomes a true partnership.”

In an interview regarding this project, Bardanashvili echoed this sentiment: “Ofra takes my ideas and makes them entirely her own.”

The album highlights Bardanashvili’s striking versatility. It ranges from his early First Piano Sonata (1974), written when he was deeply influenced by Arnold Schoenberg, to his Second Piano Sonata (1990), which draws on Neo-Baroque textures inspired by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.

The collection also features works written for theater and film – offering a window into his communicative, semi-popular style – alongside his popular Piano Fantasy, which seamlessly weaves synagogue cantillations, Georgian folk songs, and Soviet avant-garde techniques.

Though Bardanashvili draws heavily on liturgical themes, he noted that his settings of Georgian-Jewish melodies reflect a rich tapestry of traditions, spanning Sephardi, Russian Ashkenazi, and Lithuanian Ashkenazi roots brought together in Georgia.

When asked about his primary influences, he pointed to Soviet giants Dmitri Shostakovich, Alfred Schnittke, and Giya Kancheli.

Reflecting on her trilogy, Yitzhaki resisted labeling her project as an explicit political statement.

“My primary drive is simply to record music I believe in deeply, on an artistic level,” she said. “It just so happens that this superb music is Israeli. I feel a need to bridge the songs I grew up listening to with the classical repertoire I play on stage.”

As Bardanashvili aptly put it, Yitzhaki’s dedication is “a gift to everyone – to the audience, to the history of music, and especially to composers.”

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A 17-year-old Israeli student had his gold medal win disqualified at the 2026 International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) in Uzbekistan, after wearing the Israeli flag during the awards ceremony.

Yotam Budnik, from Rehovot, raised the flag during the live-broadcast TV ceremony, despite knowing that Israeli symbols were not allowed.

Since October 7, IOI hosts have forbidden Israeli contestants from competing with national symbols. As a result, the education minister advised against sending a team. This year, however, it was agreed the students would go as independent contestants, without representing Israel specifically.

Team leader Ron Ryvchin told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that despite the rules, “Yotam basically felt that this entire situation is quite absurd because the decision to forbid us from showing the flag was accepted without us being able to defend ourselves.

“Even in 2024, we competed online, and then they erased the name of Israel from the ceremonies. They even erased the name of Israel from the map, and they did not mention our online contestants at all.

“So he felt, year after year, Israeli students are erased from their national identity or even erased completely. So he decided that as an act of protest, he wouldn’t follow this rule. He showed the flag on the stage.”

Afterward, the international committee disqualified him because he did not follow the rule.

Yotam refused to hand over medal until teammates received theirs

The president of the IOI went to Yotam to take his medal, but he “refused to hand it over” until his friends received their medals.

“He was really, really, really brave. It was amazing to see a 17-year-old boy talking so well to them. He told them this rule is nonsense and that they just discriminate against people based on their country. And that he thinks that in an organization that should be focused on informatics and on bringing people together from various nations, fostering friendships, there is no place for these politics.”

According to Ryvchin, the organizers told Yotam that he still must follow the rules.

“They said that he made the first mistake when he showed the flag, and now he’s making the second one, that it’s better for him to return [the medal].”

They then removed him from the international IOI website, and he no longer appears in the ranking.

“They changed his score to zero. So, like officially, he’s not an IOI gold medalist.

“But, of course, we all think he earned his medal by himself. He worked very hard; he’s super talented. I think he deserves this medal.”

Ryvchin: ‘Really great’ competition despite incident, Israelis win four medals

Aside from this incident, Ryvchin said the competition “was really great,” and three Israeli students won gold, and one bronze.

“It was the first IOI for everyone. So it really is very impressive because it’s very difficult in the first competition under pressure to perform so well.”

He told the Post he hopes the IOI will realize that the best way to really foster friendship and encourage young students everywhere to study informatics “is to leave the politics out because it’s kind of absurd.”

Mostly, he wanted to congratulate the “amazing Israeli students” again, who didn’t even know in advance they would participate, but trained really hard anyway.

“I’m really proud of them,” he said.

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Iran’s ambassador to Kuwait met four Iranian nationals who have been detained in Kuwait for three months, state media quoted Iran’s embassy in Kuwait as saying on Tuesday, a few days after an Iranian military official accused Kuwait of withholding information about their fate.

This is a developing story.

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The Banshee Labyrinth – used as an Edinburgh Fringe Festival venue – has admitted to discriminating against Jewish comedian Philip Simon by canceling his show last year over his identity and views.

The venue issued an apology and accepted responsibility following legal scrutiny regarding the decision to drop Simon from the festival lineup. The cancellation happened after venue staff reviewed Simon’s social media activity concerning the conflict in Gaza.

In a statement given to British comedy website Chortle at the time of the 2025 cancellation, the venue asserted that Simon had expressed views online that “align with the rhetoric and symbology of groups associated with humanitarian violations”.

In response to the cancellation at the time, Simon publicly addressed the decision on social media, expressing shock that a performer could be dropped simply for being Jewish while advocating for peace and the release of hostages.

Maintaining that he was targeted due to his Jewish background and personal views rather than any valid operational reason, Simon subsequently decided to take formal legal action against the venue, filing a claim alleging religious discrimination under the Equalities Act.

Owner concedes liability

The legal breakthrough occurred on Monday during an Edinburgh Sheriff Court hearing, where the venue owner, Morrison Bros Ltd, operating The Banshee Labyrinth, conceded liability on the eve of trial.

David Welsh, representing Simon as his legal counsel, informed the court that “the defender conceded that the defender discriminated against the pursuer, contrary to the provisions of the Equalities Act,” as reported by Chortle and the BBC.

Sheriff Roderick Flinn noted during the proceedings that the venue had acted unreasonably by delaying the concession until August 5.

‘Fighting against performers being canceled for their religion’

Commenting on the outcome in a statement published on Instagram on Monday, Simon stated, “Following today’s ruling in court, I’m pleased Banshee Labyrinth have eventually admitted they discriminated against me and that this draws a line under part of a stressful ordeal that I’ve endured for over a year now.”

Simon added, “For me this has never been about money. It has been about fighting against the idea that a performer can be canceled because of their religion. It is about speaking up about how it is deemed acceptable to treat Jewish comedians and artists in a way that wouldn’t be tolerated if it was any other race or religion.”

Speaking in an interview with LBC News on Monday, Simon elaborated on the ordeal, stating that “this venue looked at my social media and decided my politics didn’t align with theirs,” and noted that “they didn’t look at anyone else’s social media, they just looked at mine because I’m Jewish and they didn’t like what they saw.”

Simon also shared the broader impact on his career, telling LBC that “I feel like I’ve lost my August home,” and explained that he had performed at a welcoming venue for three or four years in a row, but now felt that “there’s now an entire street in Edinburgh I just don’t feel safe walking down.”

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Leaked internal communications from a private WhatsApp group used by UK Green Party members featured discussions regarding “killing Zionists” and descriptions of British Jews as a “weapon” for Israel, according to a report published by The Times.

The chat group, named Greens Against Imperialism, was established by Sophus Magill, a Green Party parish councilor in Wootton Bridge on the Isle of Wight. During an online exchange in July, Magill wrote that “Zionism has to go, it’s ultimately an apartheidal, ethnosupremacist ideology [sic].”

When another member of the group asked what that meant in practical terms, Magill replied, “That it needs to go. The only solution is one equal state.” Prompted further by a member of the group who asked if that meant wanting Israel “wiped off the map, in essence,” Magill responded, “Yes, I would like that,” and added later in the conversation, “I don’t think it’s violent to want an illegitimate apartheid state gone from all maps, like Rhodesia.”

Magill also stated in the WhatsApp group, “Obviously I believe Israeli citizens who are not war criminals and who agree to peacefully coexist with Palestinians have a right to live in Palestine, as everyone should have the right to live wherever they want in the world so long as they are not a threat to the safety of others.”

The WhatsApp group, which members and activists used to coordinate party campaigning, conference motions, and foreign policy discussions, also contained remarks targeting British Jews.

‘British Jews are a brilliant weapon for the Israeli state’

In June, another member of the WhatsApp group wrote, “I think a lot of British Jews have been heavily exposed to the propaganda. It’s a common thing for them to go stay in Israel for a while before going to university … I remember a lot of my dad’s students did it. It’s unfortunate, but British Jews are a brilliant weapon for the Israeli state to help with the use of antisemitism as a justification in the UK, one of their strong allies.”

Additional messages captured in the leak included comments from an account using the initials “AT” within the WhatsApp group, which The Times noted had previously been identified as Ashley Tubb in a report by the Jewish Chronicle on opposition to banning Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Tubb had stood for election to the Green Party’s campaigns committee. In June, Tubb described Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the WhatsApp group as “by definition part of a national liberation movement,” and wrote that “they liberated themselves from a US puppet regime of the Shah in 1979” and claimed that recent protests against the Iranian regime “were instigated and armed by the Americans and the Zionists.”

Other members of the WhatsApp group discussed the implications of extreme anti-Zionist rhetoric. In August, a member of the WhatsApp group wrote, “I suppose an extreme anti-Zionist could mean that you support killing Zionists. But that is not specifically racist any more than believing in capital punishment for traitors or ‘terrorists’ is. Wrong but not necessarily racist,” and added, “Considering the genocide, it is not surprising some anti-Zionists, particularly those living in, or having relatives in Palestine, are anti Jews, lumping all Jews in with the majority of Israeli Jews as genociders [sic]. Wrong but understandable.”

Logs show local party organizers participating in anti-Zionist rhetoric

The leaked logs showed that individuals holding formal organizational positions within the party also participated. Animah Kosai, the membership officer for Global Majority Greens, an official Green Party special interest group that includes deputy leader Mothin Ali, reached out to the chat members about conference preparations.

Kosai wrote in the WhatsApp group, “I know I’ve asked this before – who wants to join the GMG & Allies review of the motions. Basically it’s for this group too, but given that GMG is a formal special interest group, we are happy to provide cover.”

Kosai also promoted Motion A3, titled “Zionism is Racism,” encouraging members by posting in the WhatsApp group, “Motion A3 Zionism is Racism is open now for co-proposers!” and noted, “As a proposer of two motions, I unfortunately only have 2 to spare – one has gone to Zionism is Racism, and I’ll consider my fourth.”

When approached by The Times reporters for comment regarding the messages, Magill, Tubb, and Kosai did not dispute the exchanges, while a Green Party spokesperson reportedly stated, “We do not comment on internal party forums or discussions on WhatsApp groups that are not official party group channels.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said in a statement to The Jerusalem Post: “These messages are not only utterly repugnant, but certain posts to the group may constitute criminal offenses which our lawyers are currently reviewing. This is a matter that should be sufficiently serious to concern the police, especially given the talk of what seems to be a vehicular mass-casualty attack on British Jews.

“The Green Party has glibly declined to comment because the group was not ‘official,’ but that is not good enough, not least because the group was created by one of their Councillors. The Green Party is increasingly rife with this kind of invective and incitement, and those responsible must be expelled.”

A spokesperson for the Board of Deputies of British Jews responded to news of the group messages, in a statement to The Jerusalem Post, saying, “When members of a mainstream political party can reportedly discuss the killing of ‘Zionists’, rationalise hostility towards Jews, and fantasise about Israel’s destruction, the danger is not theoretical. Such rhetoric lowers the threshold for intimidation and violence against Jews in Britain. The Green Party must suspend those involved now, investigate urgently, and expel anyone found to have advocated violence or antisemitic hatred.”  

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After 44 years, Israel has located and returned the remains of fallen IDF soldier Yehuda Katz during a covert operation in Lebanon overnight, based on joint Mossad and IDF intelligence collected over several years, the military confirmed on Tuesday.

“In an operation led by the Military Intelligence and a joint community effort with the Mossad, the remains of Yehuda were located and brought to Israel,” the IDF said. “After they were brought to Israel, an identification process was conducted at the Military Rabbinate’s Center for the Identification of Fallen, in cooperation with the Medical Corps and the Israel Police.”

Katz was declared missing during the First Lebanon War, following the Battle of Sultan Yacoub on June 11, 1982. Two other soldiers, Zachary Baumel and Zvi Feldman, were declared missing alongside Katz.

Baumel’s remains were recovered in 2019 with Russia’s help, and Feldman’s remains were recovered in 2025 in a covert Mossad operation. 

The IDF explained that the information that led to the operation to locate Katz’s remains started to come in only in recent months. Currently, the IDF cannot share the location of the operation.

More information on the operation and the findings will be released once the IDF has had more time to discuss the findings with the family, who were informed this morning.

IDF sources hinted that the remains found did not include Katz’s complete body, but rather body parts that could be analyzed to confirm Katz’s identity.

Netanyahu: I promised the families that we would bring them home

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on the operation later on Tuesday, saying that he had promised the families of Katz, Baumel, and Feldman that Israel “would never stop working to bring them home.”

“Today, all of us, the entire people of Israel, embrace the Katz family,” said Netanyahu. “His dear parents, Sarah and Yosef, of blessed memory, never stopped working to locate him and bring him home, and sadly, they have already passed away. To you, his siblings Avi and Perachia, we return your beloved Yehuda – to you and to the soil of the Land of Israel that he loved so much.”

Netanyahu concluded his statement by quoting the prophet Jeremiah: “There is hope for your future, declares the Lord, and your children shall return to their own border.”

‘Why wasn’t Yehuda returned?’

Katz’s nephew, Yochai Heiman, said that his family has received information on the findings, but will not draw conclusions until they independently verify the details.

“In our experience, you cannot trust a blind person,” Heiman stated. “After we verify the information, we will know how to respond to the results. It is too early to ask questions about funerals and graves.”

In an interview with KAN Reshet Bet in 2024, Katz’s sister, Parachia, shared that Syrian forces had taken her brother’s tank and tank commander. The commander’s remains, she said, had been buried in a Jewish cemetery in Damascus before eventually being returned to Israel.

“If Yehuda was in the same situation, why didn’t they return him? Why didn’t they announce him? Where did he go? After all, the tank was in their hands,” she had told KAN at the time. “They returned the tank commander. So where did Yehuda go? Who is looking for him anyway?”

“I only see what I can’t see, and that is the videos of prisoners who are released after 40 and 50 years from prisons in Syria,” Parachia said, referring to the hope that her brother was still alive. “And we have been claiming for years that this is possible and not just a dream.”

Closing a long-open circle

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich praised the IDF’s efforts in locating Katz’s remains, sending his condolences to his family in a Tuesday morning statement.

“There is no other nation or state in the world that has, for so many years, refused to give up and bring its missing soldiers to eternal rest in the grave of Israel,” Smotrich said. “On behalf of the entire people of Israel, I embrace the Katz family and Yehuda’s fellow soldiers who fought in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in these moving and emotional moments.”

Former deputy defense minister Major (res.) Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan, who fought alongside Katz in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub, said he felt “chills this morning” upon hearing the announcement of the discovery.

“The circle of the great effort to save the armored battalion that was caught in a Syrian ambush has closed. No one is left behind,” Dahan said. “The eternal people are not afraid of a long road.”

Shas Party leader Arye Deri said on Tuesday that he was “moved by the news of the return of Major General Yehuda Katz’s remains, 44 years later.”

“There is no one like the Jewish people, who once again prove their sacred commitment to their sons,” he said. “They do not abandon a single soldier and do everything to bring [them] to the grave of Israel, even after decades.”

Deri thanked the IDF and those involved in the operation “to bring him [Katz] home.”

“May his memory be blessed,” Deri said.

Liora Goldberg-Stern and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

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Defense Minister Israel Katz’s announced proposal last week to transfer authority for handling extremist Jewish activists’ problems from the IDF to the police was not coordinated with the relevant authorities and may yet be blocked, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Katz did not clear the issue with a number of top relevant IDF authorities before making the announcement, to the extent that until a meeting on Monday, many of them did not even understand what he was proposing.

While Katz, in statements last week and on Monday, tried to present the change as a done deal, the Post understands that several issues could block his proposal from happening, limit its impact, or delay it for months.

For years, the legal and operational situation in the West Bank has been messy.

Under international law, no matter what Katz proposes, the IDF Central Command head is the “sovereign” over the West Bank and, at most, could delegate some responsibilities, but would still have ultimate responsibility on behalf of the State of Israel.

The reason is that Israel’s position on the West Bank, unless it some day decides to annex it – something which still appears impossible due to opposition in Israel, and by both US Republicans and Democrats and globally – is that it holds a “belligerent occupation” of the area.

The legal term “belligerent occupation” has nothing to do with the politicized term “occupied” and merely refers to the fact that until the disputed territories’ status is resolved by negotiation between the parties, Israel has certain legal responsibilities and rights as the “temporary” sovereign.

Despite the IDF having primary responsibility for security and maintaining public order, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the police have also always played parallel roles in the West Bank.

The Shin Bet has handled aspects of both Palestinian terror and, on a much smaller basis since the phenomenon is much smaller, Jewish terror.

The police have handled arrests of Palestinians and Jews falling below a certain terror threshold and provided the evidentiary basis for indicting each side when relevant.

Cases against Palestinians are handled in the IDF’s West Bank Courts, while cases against Jews are handled by Israel’s civil courts, other than administrative orders.

Theoretically, the IDF’s West Bank Courts could also handle all Jewish cases, but decades ago the Attorney-General’s Office decided it made more sense for them to be handled in civil courts.

Palestinians cannot be brought to trial in civil courts because this would violate the principle that they are “foreign” residents who cannot be treated fairly in Israel’s foreign courts.

Of course, much of the world has criticized whether the IDF’s West Bank Courts treat the Palestinians fairly, but in principle, military courts are mandated for a temporary military belligerent occupation.

Katz’s idea could throw off this balance

All of this balance could be thrown off by Katz’s idea.

If the police were to take over all issues for the IDF operationally, would this lead to Palestinians being tried in civil courts?

Probably not, but there are many other issues.

One is that much of the world is seeing Katz’s move as a dangerous political move to give National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir control over the issue when almost no one globally or in Israel’s security establishments trusts him to properly handle extremist Jews.

In fact, since Ben-Gvir took office in 2023, virtually all IDF and Shin Bet officials have slammed him for blocking or hindering the arrest and prosecution of extremist Jews who have perpetrated violence and vandalism against Palestinians.

There could be diplomatic pressure against the change, including from the US, though such issues usually are viewed as more technical and internal.

All of the above issues are likely to lead the IDF legal division, the attorney-general, and human rights NGOs to oppose some or all of the changes behind the scenes, and also potentially before the High Court of Justice.

Besides these issues, there are practical problems

Besides these issues, there are practical problems.

Many of the security problems in the West Bank in recent years have not been separate Palestinian or Jewish extremist incidents, but have involved both sides.

Even in the most extreme case, Katz would want the IDF to continue to handle Palestinian issues.

How will the IDF arrive at a scene of conflict where Palestinians and Jews are mixed in conflict and only deal with the Palestinians?

How will the police arrive at the same scene and only deal with Jews?

Certainly, it could be possible to increase police resources so more police can arrive at these scenes along with the IDF, but even then, the practical issue remains.

Potentially, the IDF could handle more violent issues initially, and then the police could be on the scene to step in to handle arrests immediately after, which should already be happening.

But given Katz’s attempt to get out of handling Jewish extremism, critics are worried that the defense minister would merely prevent the IDF from stopping Jewish extremists and that the police would also not handle the issue.

More likely than not, the various parties will negotiate some smaller shift in responsibilities in very specific circumstances which will not radically change the situation.

Such negotiations could easily take months, if not longer.

Also, finding and shifting police resources to increase their West Bank presence could take months or longer.

Given the October 27 elections, if another government is elected, Katz’s hopes to change the authorities between the IDF and the police will likely never get off the ground.

However, if the government is reelected, there could be moderate changes in responsibilities after extensive negotiations, increased police resources, and High Court petitions.

In fact, in the distant past, there were legal scholars who thought it made more sense for the police to handle many of the Palestinian issues in the West Bank as well, but since various terror waves, this view is less widely held.

Instead, most view Katz’s move as a way to avoid engaging in conflict with the settler movement.

This post was originally published on here. 

Opposition party leaders on Tuesday seized on the Likud primary results as campaign ammunition, attacking the party over responsibility for October 7, haredi influence, the loss of statesmanship, and the makeup of its electoral slate.

Within hours, the primary results had become campaign material for parties in the bloc opposing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Their leaders chose different lines of attack while also signaling which voter groups they hope to draw away from the Likud in the election.

Gadi Eisenkot appealed directly to disappointed Likud voters, Avigdor Liberman attacked haredi influence, Yair Lapid focused on the character of the party, and Yair Golan portrayed the slate as grounds for optimism in his own political camp.

Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot issued one of the harshest responses, calling the slate the “October 7 list.”

“No celebratory announcement or ‘victory’ parties will hide” the fact that these are the same people who, he claimed, were part of the leadership that brought Israel to disaster.

Eisenkot also referred to “five members of the failure cabinet” who, he said, were there on the eve of the war, and argued that Likud members “enabled mass draft evasion during wartime.”

אף הודעה חגיגית ומסיבות “ניצחון” לא יסתירו את העובדה שרשימת הליכוד לכנסת ה-26 היא בפועל רשימת השבעה באוקטובר.

אלו הם בדיוק אותם האנשים שחילקו את החברה הישראלית בלי בושה, שהובילו בעיוורון את ישראל לאסון החמור ביותר מקום המדינה, ביניהם גם חמשת חברי קבינט המחדל שהיו שם ערב המלחמה…

— Gadi Eisenkot – גדי איזנקוט (@gadi_eisenkot) August 18, 2026

He added that members of the slate “do not know how to lead Israel to victory,” “cannot unite Israel,” and “are not worthy of continuing to lead the country.”

He concluded by appealing directly to Likud voters: “To Likudniks who have had enough of leadership built on lies and corruption, I want to say: You have a home.”

Lapid targets Likud leadership, Liberman focuses on haredi influence

Opposition leader Yair Lapid chose a broader message about the character of the party. He wrote that in the past, he would congratulate Likud members before primaries and would also call those who lost.

“No more. Who am I supposed to call? Silman? Karhi? I don’t have any friends left there,” he wrote.

Lapid argued that even “the idea of normal relations between political rivals” had disappeared, saying that he even “misses the hypocrisy,” referring to a period when, in his view, political rivals at least made an effort to maintain basic standards of discourse.

He linked the slate to October 7, corruption, the “disgraceful surrender to the haredim,” and an effort “to trample democracy,” concluding: “Likud needs a break from power.”

The party, he said, should move into the opposition “for at least four years.”

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman focused on haredi influence and the draft issue.

“It is clearer than ever: Likud = a haredi-lite party! A real Likudnik votes only Liberman,” he wrote.

היום זה ברור יותר מתמיד:
מחל = מפלגה חרדית לייט!
ליכודניק אמיתי מצביע רק ליברמן🇮🇱

— אביגדור ליברמן (@AvigdorLiberman) August 18, 2026

“The current Likud is haredi-lite. The people who decided the result were groups of haredim who do not vote Likud in the Knesset election,” he said in a separate interview with 103FM.

Liberman linked this to what he called Netanyahu’s “draft evaders’ alliance” with Arye Deri and Yitzhak Goldknopf, and argued that Netanyahu also shaped the slate to prevent an internal opposition from emerging against him after the election.

Opposition parties compete for disaffected Likud voters

Naftali Bennett and Chili Tropper also targeted the same pool of voters from different angles, focusing on Israelis who serve and on the Likud’s relationship with the haredi parties.

During the day of voting, Bennett argued that the Likud is “dependent on anti-Zionist parties,” and is therefore, in his words, “committed to the draft evaders and abandoning those who serve.”

Tropper told 104.5FM: “I wish the Likud would return to an alliance with those who serve, rather than with the draft evaders.”

He called for the formation of a “Zionist government” that would not depend on either haredi or Arab parties.

Democrats chairman Yair Golan responded sarcastically. He ostensibly congratulated the Likud on an “excellent slate,” adding that from his perspective, it was a slate “that guarantees the Likud’s defeat and the victory of the democratic and liberal camp.”

Golan attacked the composition of the slate, describing it as “a list of convicted criminals, suspects awaiting a decision by the State Attorney’s Office, political operatives, TikTok loudmouths who have done nothing for the citizens of Israel or even for their own voters.”

He concluded: “Good luck in the opposition.”

ברצוני לברך את הליכוד על רשימה מצוינת שנבחרה היום.

רשימה שמבטיחה את תבוסת הליכוד ואת ניצחון המחנה הדמוקרטי והליברלי.

רשימה של עבריינים מורשעים, של חשודים שממתינים להכרעת פרקליטות, של עסקנים, של צעקני טיקטוק שלא עשו דבר למען אזרחי ישראל ואף לא למען הבוחרים שלהם.

בהצלחה…

— Yair Golan – יאיר גולן (@YairGolan1) August 18, 2026

Members of Golan’s party also attacked the primary turnout. The Democrats had held their own primary in July, in which Naama Lazimi secured the second slot on the party list, and Gilad Kariv finished third.

Kariv wrote that “only half of Likud members bothered to vote in the Likud’s corrupt primaries,” arguing that “the free public has turned its back on the party of abandonment and draft evasion.”

“This is what a party looks like when it has lost not only the trust of the broader public, but even that of its own members and registered party members,” he wrote.

Lazimi noted that she herself received more votes in the Democrats’ primary than the total number of voters who participated in the Likud primary.

She ended with a jab: “Go. We’ll take it from here.”

The attacks come as the opposition parties compete for position ahead of the election, with recent election polling showing Eisenkot’s Yashar challenging Likud while the Democrats and Yisrael Beytenu also seek to increase their support.

This post was originally published on here. 

Several Hamas terrorists were targeted in an airstrike in northern Gaza City on Tuesday, the IDF announced.

In the statement, the IDF said that it targeted Hamas commanders in the Shati area and that the terrorists were planning to carry out attacks against Israeli troops.

“We targeted four terrorists in Gaza – Hamas commanders who gathered at the cafe. One of them is a company commander, and three others are platoon commanders,” a security official told Army Radio.

Notably, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry told Reuters that six people were killed in the airstrike near the fishing seaport in western Gaza City.

Army Radio reported that six people were killed, with an additional 10 wounded in the strike, which they say occurred at a cafe on the Gaza City coast.

Recent restrictions on strikes in Gaza

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently gave in to US pressure by demanding that strikes be restricted in Gaza via a new policy that requires them to receive approval from IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Col. Eyal Zamir.

This comes with the exception set by the prime minister for immediate threats to IDF soldiers or Gaza border communities, in which case IDF troops are authorized to act to remove the threat.

מדיניות ישראל בעזה, כפי שהובהרה לצה”ל על ידי רה”מ בנימין נתניהו ועל ידי, ברורה: מסירים איומים, מחסלים מחבלים ונפרעים מכל מי שנטל חלק בטבח השביעי באוקטובר.

כך פעל צה”ל היום בחיסול מחבלי החמאס וכך ימשיך לעשות בעוצמה כדי להגן על חיילינו ולהבטיח את השקט ביישובי הדרום – מתוך אזור…

— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) August 18, 2026

“Israel’s policy in Gaza, as clarified to the IDF by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is clear: Remove threats, eliminate terrorists, and exact retribution from anyone who took part in the October 7 massacre,” said Defense Minister Israel Katz in a post on X/Twitter.

He continued, “This is how the IDF acted today in eliminating Hamas terrorists, and this is how it will continue to act with force to protect our soldiers and ensure quiet in the southern settlements – from the security zone.”

Reuters and Avi Ashkenazi contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

A kite bearing Arabic writing was found in Simhoni Forest in the Gaza border area on Tuesday afternoon, according to reports, prompting security personnel to the scene to investigate the incident.

Earlier this month, a kite that entered Israel from the Gaza Strip was found in Moshav Shuva. According to Sdot Negev Regional Council head Tamir Idan, the kite was not carrying an explosive device.

Idan responded sharply to the kite’s entry into the regional council’s territory, describing the incident itself as “crossing a red line.” He warned that similar devices could be used in the future to carry explosives.

“Today, it is a kite without an explosive device. Tomorrow, the same means could carry explosives, and later, the threat could also come by drones or other means,” he said. “We have already learned this lesson at far too heavy a price.”

Idan called on the state to respond forcefully to the incident and said that, as far as the regional council is concerned, there is no room for a policy of containment toward threats originating in the Gaza Strip.

Sdot Negev council head warns against return to past security reality

“We will not accept any reality in which the security of Sdot Negev residents and residents of the Gaza border communities is once again put to the test. We will not accept a trickle of incidents or a gradual return to the security reality we knew in the past,” he said.

In interviews with Walla, residents of Gaza border communities expressed concern over Hamas growing stronger.

“We are concerned about Hamas growing stronger, and we expect the army to act on the matter,” said Ilanit Sweisahf, a resident of Kibbutz Kfar Aza. “Some people still have not returned to Kfar Aza, myself among them, and because of all the recent reports, there is currently concern about returning.”

Gaza border residents voice renewed security concerns

Yael Raz Lahiani, a resident of Nahal Oz who has returned to her home, said that the residents of the south returned to a pre-October 7 reality. 

“We have returned to a reality in which things are happening. The residents’ sense of security is declining. On the one hand, there is a reduction in the military presence, and on the other hand, Hamas is growing stronger,” she said. 

“It looks as though we are heading in a bad direction. Am I afraid there will be another October 7? Probably not. But could terrorists infiltrate a community in the future? Possibly. Our sense of security has not improved since October 7. I had hoped that after three years, we would feel differently.”

This post was originally published on here. 

Signs and other items inciting and supporting terrorism were confiscated in Jerusalem’s haredi (ultra-Orthodox) neighborhood of Mea She’arim, the Israel Police announced on Tuesday.

The items were discovered in two separate warehouses during an operation conducted by Jerusalem District Police officers from the Lev HaBira Police Station.

Additional items seized by police included Palestinian flags, a hat with a Hamas-affiliated design, spray paint cans and a paintball rifle.

The Israel Police said the owners of the items have yet to be determined.

The officers transferred the confiscated items to Lev HaBira Police Station’s Investigations Unit for further processing, noting that the investigation remains ongoing.

Inciting materials confiscated from West Bank UAWC offices

Such operations are not uncommon in Israel. In December, security forces confiscated inciting materials at the Ramallah and Hebron offices of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) in the West Bank, the IDF said at the time.

Eight wanted individuals were arrested as part of the operation, along with 14 others who had been summoned for questioning, the military added.

Fraidy Moser contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

Serving for years as a combat officer in the IDF means growing accustomed to the sound of gunfire. It is an inevitability of the profession that many, including myself, chose.

But that familiarity is not something that our children are supposed to have, ever. And yet, this is the reality for thousands upon thousands of children in the Negev. Night after night, they hear the sounds of gunfire from nearby Bedouin communities.

This is one of the end results of the illegal smuggling of hundreds of thousands of weapons into Israel that we have to label as what it is – not a criminal threat but a national security threat, a terror threat.

Such weapons smuggling, rising crime rates, and reckless driving on the Negev’s roads are examples of the total loss of control by the government over Israeli territory. For me, this is not a political issue; it is daily life.

I live on a kibbutz in the Negev. For myself and my neighbors, this embodies the risk of crime, the constant danger on our roads, the sound of gunfire at night, and dear friends who have decided to relocate.

How can this be allowed to happen here?

None of this is inevitable. It is a result of failed policy. When it comes to tangible action plans that are being implemented on the ground, this government simply does not have any. The statistics bear this out: in 2025, there were 46 murders in the South, a 119% increase from the period of the previous government led by Naftali Bennett.

Ask my neighbors under which government they felt safer, and you will receive a clear answer. Under Bennett’s government, significant progress was made in combating crime and restoring sovereignty in the Negev. Having done it before, there is no doubt that with such leadership, a new government can do it again. Doing so begins with making two fundamental decisions.

Arms trafficking as an act of terror 

First, acknowledging that weapons smuggling is not a criminal issue but a terror threat, then committing to fighting it as such. Second, implementing a detailed action plan that has been carefully designed with leading regional experts in counterterrorism, law enforcement, and social policy.

Beyond simply bringing the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) into the fight – an important first step but not enough on its own – our underlying principle has to be using what is referred to as the Al Capone method, which is an “all of the above” approach leveraging all enforcement mechanisms at our disposal.

This includes financial law enforcement and ending protection rackets, with the goal of choking off funding for criminal syndicates. Then we need to double police presence and impose strict sentences for criminals.

Also required is a crackdown on illegal construction alongside investment in accelerated development within recognized communities. That last piece is just one element of what we need to do to address social gaps in Bedouin communities that ultimately provide a vacuum in which crime thrives.

On that front, we must also bring the education system in Bedouin communities truly in line with Israeli standards and values. Moreover, we must use all the legal and financial tools at our disposal to eradicate polygamy, incentivize Hebrew studies, and provide pre-army preparatory programs for youth.

Finally, we must provide better employment opportunities by opening more industrial zones.

Taken together, the approach the Negev needs and that we are offering is simple: sticks and carrots – carrots for those in Bedouin communities who choose to be a law-abiding part of Israeli society, and an uncompromising stick for those who choose to break the law.

In the last few years, my neighbors and I have found ourselves, like many Israelis, fending for ourselves. But with the right plans and the right team, we can fix this. We have to address this problem with the urgency of meeting what it truly is: a threat to Israel’s security and sovereignty.

Both as a public servant and a resident of the Negev myself, I will measure the next government’s success and hold myself accountable based on simple metrics: Are fewer illegal weapons circulating? Are crime rates down? Are roads safer? And can the children in communities like my own sleep quietly through the night, without the echoes of gunfire?

The writer is the former CEO of Aharai, a reserve IDF officer, and a B’Yachad candidate for the Knesset.

This post was originally published on here. 

The Likud primaries are over, the results are in, and the big winner – according to most political pundits – is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Those he favored prospered – Amir Ohana, Amichai Chikli and Almog Cohen. Those with whom he had clashed floundered – David Bitan, Tali Gotliv and Nir Barkat.

But in compiling a list of winners and losers, it is worth looking beyond the personalities and focusing instead on the trends inside the party. History is one reason not to read too much into a list of individual winners.

Such a list would likely begin with Eli Cohen, who received the most votes after Netanyahu, and Ohana, who came in third. Rounding out the top five, excluding Netanyahu, were Yariv Levin, Miri Regev, and Ofir Katz.

But before crowning them as winners simply because they finished at the top of the list, it is instructive to look back at the last four Likud primaries, going back to 2008.

Of the 15 people who occupied one of the top five slots during that period – some of them more than once – nearly half later left the party, either temporarily or permanently.

The reasons varied. Some clashed with Netanyahu ideologically, while others felt they had nowhere left to advance. Yoav Gallant, Yuli Edelstein, Moshe Kahlon, Benny Begin, and Gilad Erdan all eventually left the party.  Silvan Shalom left public life under the cloud of scandal, while Gideon Sa’ar left the Likud because he felt his path to advancement was blocked, only to return later.

The lesson is that today’s winners – meaning those who finished in the top five – are not even guaranteed to be competing in the party’s primaries the next time around.

That being the case, the more revealing question is not which politicians won or lost, but which trends did.

Primaries showed the importance of loyalty to Netanyahu

Tuesday’s primaries showed the importance of loyalty to Netanyahu, with Cohen and Ohana the prime examples. Both men have consistently supported the prime minister while carefully avoiding presenting themselves as immediate alternatives. As a result, they are not seen as a threat.

Unlike previous top finishers such as Erdan, Sa’ar and Edelstein, Cohen and Ohana have never suggested that they intend to challenge Netanyahu, either now or in the immediate future.

Likud voters rewarded them for that. Paradoxically, by showing no eagerness to push Netanyahu aside, they have established themselves as clear front-runners to inherit the party leadership whenever the post-Netanyahu era begins.

Winning a general election requires electoral pragmatism

The results also suggest that the Likud rank and file understands that it is not enough to hold a primary. The party must then win the general election, and that requires candidates who can appeal beyond the die-hard Likud faithful.

Polarizing figures such as Tali Gotliv and May Golan do not fit that bill. Gotliv was relegated to the 20th slot on the list, while Golan – currently a minister – failed to secure a realistic position.

This upends, or at least complicates, the narrative that the party has been completely hijacked by its fringe. The voters appear to have understood the danger of alienating moderate right-wing and swing voters, and chose a slate in which the most prominent firebrands were either demoted or pushed out of realistic positions.

The Likud’s base did not abandon the Right

The strong showing of Cohen, Ohana, and Levin does not mean that the Likud base has moved toward the ideological center. It still wants a right-wing agenda, but it wants that agenda advanced by disciplined, experienced politicians.

Levin is the clearest example. His agenda is no less ideological than that of the party’s loudest firebrands. The difference is in style and method. He represents the determined, methodical pursuit of the Right’s judicial ambitions, rather than the shouting matches associated with Golan and Gotliv.

The base did not abandon the Right. It chose politicians it believes can translate ideology into policy over those who merely shout into microphones.

Voters do not want chaos populism 

The voters also showed that they do not want political firebrands who pick undisciplined fights – often with members of their own camp – and rant on social media and in interviews, turning off many voters in the process.

Gotliv’s demotion and Golan’s failure to secure a realistic slot show that the Likud base does have an internal system of checks. The shock value of their rhetoric may generate attention and likes on TikTok, but the voters apparently concluded that the kind of political mayhem they sow is ultimately an electoral liability.

Those who seemed to be independent from Netanyahu paid a price

The results again showed the price paid by anyone who displays too much independence from Netanyahu.  Bitan did so in this primary through his repeated criticism of the prime minister, just as in the past Gallant paid a price for independent thinking regarding military policy, and Edelstein over the haredi draft issue. 

The primaries placed Bitan in the Likud’s borderline 23rd slot, as the polls are generally giving the party between 21 and 23 seats. Gallant and Edelstein never made it to the primary. 

Those elevated to the top positions generally toe the party line – or, more precisely, Netanyahu’s line. There is room for differences on the margins, but little tolerance for dissent on issues important to the party leader.

The message is clear: Independence is acceptable only until it collides with Netanyahu.

Under Netanyahu, rising politicians and potential successors are perceived threats

A high primary finish in the Likud is a double-edged sword. It demonstrates grassroots popularity, media visibility, and support inside the party – precisely the qualities needed by anyone hoping eventually to lead it. But under Netanyahu, those same qualities can turn a rising politician into a perceived threat.

Sa’ar, Erdan and Edelstein all encountered this problem. Their strong positions inside the party made them look like possible successors, but also complicated their ability to advance under Netanyahu.

Sa’ar eventually left after concluding that his path was blocked, only to return after October 7. Erdan was sent to the UN – a prestigious appointment, but one that removed him from the domestic political arena. Edelstein, despite repeatedly finishing near the top of the Likud list, was gradually pushed to the margins.

The trap is obvious: To become a potential successor, a politician must build an independent base of support. But the stronger that base becomes, the more threatening he may appear to the man he hopes one day to succeed.

That helps explain the success of Cohen and Ohana. Both have demonstrated popularity, political ability, and leadership potential without behaving like immediate challengers. They have positioned themselves for the post-Netanyahu era by making clear that they are prepared to wait for it.

The bottom line is that Tuesday’s primary results show a party more disciplined than its critics sometimes suggest. The rank and file pushed down some of the loudest and most polarizing figures, favored candidates with broader electoral appeal, and did so without moving the party toward the ideological center.

At the same time, the primaries strengthened Netanyahu’s control. History suggests that neither Cohen nor Ohana should become too comfortable. If either begins turning his popularity into an independent power base, the same qualities that made them winners in Tuesday’s primaries could quickly make them a threat. Just ask Erdan, Edelstein, and Sa’ar.

In Netanyahu’s Likud, reaching the top of the list is only half the challenge. The other half is remaining there without appearing too eager to reach for the crown.

This post was originally published on here. 

Six Thai workers were injured after an undetonated mine exploded on a farm near Metula on Tuesday.

Two workers in their 40s suffered serious injuries, one was moderately hurt, and three sustained light injuries, Magen David Adom said

The seriously and moderately injured workers were airlifted to Ziv Medical Center in Safed, while the other three were transported to the same hospital by ambulance.

Mine was reportedly part of a cluster munition

According to Ziv Medical Center’s spokesperson, one of the seriously injured workers was urgently admitted to the operating room, and the other is undergoing medical assessments.

N12 News reported the ordnance was the head of a cluster munition. The Jerusalem Post has reached out to the IDF for confirmation.

Police have begun investigating the circumstances of the explosion.

This post was originally published on here. 

A German court convicted a Ukrainian man on Tuesday over what prosecutors described as a plot linked to Russian intelligence to detonate parcels in Europe designed to cause damage and undermine public confidence in security.

Three Ukrainians were involved in sending two packages with GPS trackers and spare auto parts from Germany to Ukraine using a Ukrainian parcel service in an operation initiated by an unnamed Russian state entity, the Higher Regional Court in the southwestern city of Stuttgart said in a statement.

For the Russian organizers of the plot, these shipments were designed to scope out potential opportunities for future acts of sabotage, the court said.

A 30-year-old was sentenced to one year and three months in prison for acting as an agent for the purposes of sabotage, but will not be jailed as he is considered to have served his sentence in pre-trial detention. The two other defendants were acquitted due to a lack of evidence that they were knowingly involved in a plot to commit such attacks.

The Russian embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Europe says Russia waging ‘hybrid war’

European governments have accused Moscow of a sustained campaign of sabotage attacks as part of a “hybrid war” against countries that supported Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Russia has repeatedly called such allegations groundless.

The 30-year-old “intentionally participated in scouting potential sabotage targets for a Russian state entity,” the court said.

“At the behest of an acquaintance from Russian-occupied Mariupol, he organized the shipment of GPS trackers that transmitted location data during transit from Germany to Ukraine.”

Mariupol, a Ukrainian port city on the Sea of Azov, was devastated in the early months of the war and fell to Russia in May 2022, though it has since become a target for Ukrainian drone strikes.

“Among other things, the fact that the convicted defendant’s actions were carried out well in advance of the actual execution of sabotage was taken into account when determining the sentence,” court spokesperson Lars Kemner told reporters.

Martin Heising, a lawyer for one of the acquitted defendants, said his client could face negative consequences if he returned to Ukraine after a politically sensitive trial.

European officials: Russia behind series of exploding parcels

“The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has filed charges against my client that were truly on very thin ice, knowing full well that this will likely ruin his future in Ukraine for the rest of his life. That’s the worst part,” he said.

Germany and other European countries have repeatedly pointed the finger at Moscow in other instances.

In a previous case, European security officials suspect Russia was behind a series of exploding parcels that were shipped from Lithuania in 2024 and detonated in Germany, Poland and Britain. Moscow has ​always denied allegations that it was involved in any such operation.

Earlier this month, in Germany, officials found a drone carrying explosives at Leipzig/Halle Airport. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt called it a hybrid attack but did not assign blame. Russia has dismissed suggestions by German politicians and media that it could be responsible.

Dobrindt returned to this theme on Tuesday as he opened a new drone center in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.

“The aim of these hybrid attacks is to defeat us politically and socially. That is the underlying concept: hybrid threats acting as a driver for the erosion of public trust in the state,” he said.

“What we are witnessing today is the shadow war of the 21st century,” he added.

This post was originally published on here. 

The security unit at the IDF’s Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv still uses Chinese-made electric MG ZS vehicles to patrol inside and around the military base as of mid-August, despite the military’s broader shift away from Chinese vehicles over security concerns.

The vehicles, manufactured by the Shanghai-headquartered and state-owned SAIC Motor Corp., Ltd., were purchased about five years ago and remain in use at the base housing the IDF General Staff, Israel Air Force headquarters, IDF Intelligence Directorate headquarters, and the Defense Ministry.

Their continued use is notable given the measures the IDF took after security concerns arose over Chinese-made vehicles and communications equipment.

IDF officers are prohibited from possessing mobile phones made by Chinese companies, and the military does not purchase Chinese communications equipment. Nevertheless, the IDF leased hundreds of Chery Tiggo 8 vehicles for officers, as Walla revealed, even though the vehicles were equipped with cameras, microphones, and their own cellular communications systems.

It took the IDF time to realize the security implications of the vehicles it had leased. The military eventually disconnected their communications equipment, instructed officers not to discuss classified matters inside the vehicles, and prohibited them from entering especially classified bases or classified areas within other bases.

The IDF and Defense Ministry ultimately decided to stop leasing Chinese vehicles. The Chery fleet remained an isolated case and was replaced by Mitsubishi Outlanders.

IDF issues generic response to Walla’s request for usage of Chinese vehicles in Kirya HQ

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit declined to directly address the use of Chinese vehicles at the Kirya and instead issued a general response.

“The IDF operates in accordance with binding security regulations and standards in the areas of force building, including in the fields of weapons, vehicles, technology, and digital components. Systems that meet the security requirements and standards may be considered for integration into the IDF, subject to the relevant directives and approval processes. Systems that do not meet the requirements will be required to make the necessary adjustments, and if they do not meet the conditions, they will not be approved for use in the IDF,” the military said.

However, the continued use of Chinese-made MG ZS vehicles at the Kirya stands out, particularly given that the base houses some of Israel’s most sensitive military and defense institutions.

Concerns of Chinese-made technology found on British Royal Navy unmanned vessels – report

The concerns surrounding Chinese-made technology were highlighted again after Chinese-made components installed in security cameras aboard Britain’s Royal Navy’s unmanned vessels transmitted data to an IP address in China, The Telegraph revealed at the beginning of the month.

The incident raised serious concerns among senior defense officials in London over the military supply chain.

The breach was identified by the British Defense Ministry during a routine cybersecurity inspection. The inspection found that cameras installed on K3 Scout autonomous boats, a fleet worth about £12 million and used by British commando and marine units, contained Chinese chips that independently communicated with servers in China.

British company Kraken Technology Group supplied the boats and purchased the cameras from a third-party supplier.

According to reports, the cameras transmitted “heartbeat” signals, technical data confirming that the device is active and connected to the network. Such signals could also reveal the vessel’s location. The military’s main concern was the potential leakage of sensitive information about special forces movements and operational activities.

Britain’s Defence Ministry immediately disconnected the cameras from the internet, but said: “A comprehensive investigation found no evidence that classified information or internal systems were breached or leaked.”

This post was originally published on here. 

The High Court of Justice on Tuesday heard a petition by Hiddush and Democrats MK Naama Lazimi challenging the transfer of roughly NIS 460 million in coalition funds after the Knesset entered its election recess.

The petition, filed against the Knesset, Knesset Finance Committee chairman MK Hanoch Milwidsky, and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, was heard by a three-justice panel consisting of Justices David Mintz, Khaled Kabub, and Ruth Ronnen.

The court questioned why the same budget requests included both matters that fell under the definition of “special cases” and matters that did not, and why Ohana had no authority to approve a hearing on the latter.

Dr. Yifat Sollel, who represented the petitioners, told the court that this was “like putting matzah on the Passover table, surrounding it with pitas, and saying the matzah makes the entire table kosher.”

The court proposed releasing only the urgent funds and returning the rest to the Finance Ministry, which would determine which transfers were urgent and which were not.

Toward the end of the hearing, the finance minister, through the State Attorney’s Office, asked to present his position and called on the court not to split the budget requests. He asked the court to decide immediately whether to leave the interim order in place or lift it with respect to all the funds. The court will issue its decision later.

The hearing followed a High Court order temporarily freezing nearly all of the disputed budget transfers on August 5, after questions were raised over the procedure used to convene the Finance Committee during the election recess. Ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, the Knesset asked the court to allow the frozen transfers to proceed.

Petitioners accuse government of unlawful transfers

Sollel, Hiddush’s deputy director and legal adviser, said: “The finance minister’s notice to the court sounds like a statement by a mafioso, and that is how all the budget requests unlawfully approved by the Finance Committee should also be viewed, transferring hundreds of millions of shekels in public funds to two sectors the government wishes to favor.”

Lazimi said: “The finance minister is behaving like a mafioso toward the High Court judges, demanding that important budgets be held hostage together with coalition funds for sectors close to the government, as an election bribe in every sense of the word.

“Smotrich is trying to threaten the court and prevent it from making the most logical decision: The government and the Knesset must justify the urgency of transferring every shekel of public money on the eve of the elections, as required by Knesset procedures. We will not allow the continued erosion of the Knesset’s standing and the transformation of public funds into a private bank for the coalition parties.”

The petition argues that the Knesset Finance Committee was “unlawfully convened on August 4, 2026, after the Knesset had already entered its election recess on July 18, 2026, despite the fact that the Agreements Committee had not consented to that meeting, and while using the coalition’s power in violation of the duty of restraint and moderation imposed on the government and the Knesset during an election period.”

At the August 4 meeting, the Finance Committee approved hundreds of millions of shekels in budget transfers, including funding for haredi institutions, while opposition lawmakers challenged the legality of convening the panel during the recess.

The petitioners claimed that at the allegedly unlawful committee meeting, “large-scale budget transfers were approved, including approximately NIS 460 million in coalition funds and hundreds of millions of additional shekels for political purposes that were not classified as coalition funds, all in violation of the legal framework established for the Knesset recess, in the Knesset Law and in a decision by the Knesset House Committee that established an initial framework allowing for one Finance Committee meeting, intended primarily to complete deliberations that began before the Knesset entered its election recess, which took place on July 29, 2026.”

They further claimed: “Despite demands by the petitioners and others before the committee was unlawfully convened, no legal opinion establishing and validating the legal basis for convening the committee was placed before it. On the day it convened, the committee chairman stated orally that the legal source was a decision by Ohana. If such a decision was issued in writing, it was not placed before the committee or provided to its members.

“The petitioners will argue that the committee chairman decided to convene the Finance Committee without a lawful source of authority permitting it to meet, and that Ohana, insofar as he permitted and/or ordered the committee to convene, exceeded his authority without being presented with a detailed, substantive, and professional factual basis establishing that the issues on the requested meeting’s agenda and the decisions the chairman sought to advance fell within the exception for ‘special cases.’”

Knesset, Finance Ministry reject petitioners’ claims

Milwidsky and Ohana, for their part, argued through Yitzhak Bart of the Knesset Legal Department: “There was no defect in the decision that would justify judicial intervention in an internal parliamentary decision. The committee convened in accordance with the Knesset Rules of Procedure and in a manner consistent with past practice during election periods. All the budget requests were transferred to the Finance Committee by the Finance Ministry after being approved by all relevant government bodies, including legal advisers, and therefore comply with the procedures.”

They further argued that “the Israeli government is not a caretaker government. The elections have not yet taken place, and the government has not resigned.”

The Finance Ministry, represented by the State Attorney’s Office, similarly argued that there was no legal impediment, from the standpoint of government operations, to considering the transfer of the coalition funds, while noting that professional reviews of the matter were still underway.

The dispute comes after the government approved billions of shekels in coalition funds as part of the 2026 state budget, including hundreds of millions of shekels earmarked for haredi institutions.

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Something potentially historic happened in Egypt this week.

Hamas leaders met directly with Jared Kushner, the US Special Envoy for Peace, and reaffirmed their commitment to disarm and demilitarize Gaza. Kushner reportedly made clear that statements and promises would not be enough: Hamas must begin taking tangible steps to dismantle its weapons and military infrastructure, surrender governing authority to a Palestinian technocratic administration, and accept that it will have no armed role in Gaza’s future. 

If implemented, this will not merely constitute progress in a diplomatic process. It could mark the beginning of the end of one of the darkest chapters in the history of Palestinians and Israelis.

For nearly three years, more than two million Palestinians in Gaza have endured death, displacement, hunger, destruction, and living conditions that no human being should experience. Israelis, meanwhile, have lived with the trauma of the massacres in Israel on October 7, 2023, the anguish of the hostage crisis, and the continuing threat of another war. 

Demilitarizing Gaza offers both peoples a way out. For Palestinians, it would open the door to reconstruction, functioning government, economic recovery, and the restoration of ordinary life. 

For Israelis, it would provide the security assurances necessary to begin withdrawing forces and turning away from permanent war. For the region, it would remove one of the principal sources of instability and create new space for cooperation, normalization, and peace. This is why Kushner’s meeting with Hamas was so important.

Diplomacy requires more than carefully written statements and meetings between people who already agree. It sometimes requires the courage to sit across from those whose actions we reject, speak with absolute clarity, and offer them a choice between continued destruction and a different future. 

Kushner demonstrated that courage. His approach combined direct engagement with firm conditions. He reportedly told Hamas that disarmament was not open to negotiation and that Israel’s distrust could be overcome only through actions on the ground.

At the same time, he offered a reciprocal path: If Hamas begins disarming, the United States will work to ensure that Israel takes corresponding steps, including facilitating the deployment of an International Stabilization Force, accelerating humanitarian relief, enabling reconstruction in Rafah, and discussing initial troop withdrawals.

This is serious diplomacy. It recognizes that progress cannot be built on declarations alone, but also that demands must lead to a realistic political horizon.

Kushner is emerging as a Kissinger of the 21st century – not because the two men share the same worldview, but because Kushner understands that transformative diplomacy requires personal engagement, strategic patience, and the willingness to enter rooms others prefer to avoid. The reported outcome of this 90-minute meeting demonstrated both his courage and his considerable diplomatic ability.

I believe Hamas understands the decision now confronting it better than anyone.

Its military project has brought catastrophe to Gaza and has lost the ability to deliver anything resembling a political or national achievement. Attempting to preserve weapons as symbols of resistance at the expense of saving the lives and restoring the future of two million Palestinians would be morally indefensible and politically suicidal. Demilitarization is therefore not only an international demand. It is a Palestinian necessity.

Hamas began as a political and social movement and developed its military wing later. Giving up that military structure could become its rescue boat – allowing it to abandon armed activity and reconstitute itself as a purely political organization operating under one law, one legitimate authority, and one national political system.

This transformation also has direct implications for the Palestinian elections expected at the end of November. If Hamas verifiably disarms, accepts the authority of the future Palestinian government, and meets the legal requirements for participation – particularly recognition of the agreements signed between Israel and the PLO – I would support allowing it to compete in those elections. That should include international acceptance and an Israeli commitment not to obstruct its peaceful political participation.

Looking toward the future

As the head of Masar Jadid (New Path), a newly established Palestinian political party committed to democracy, accountable government, nonviolence, dialogue with Israel, and a politics that improves people’s daily lives, it might appear electorally convenient for me to wish that Hamas were excluded.

But that would be shortsighted. After Hamas disarms and transforms itself into a political party, Palestinians must be allowed to choose freely among all legitimate political alternatives. We need elections conducted on a level playing field – not elections engineered to guarantee a predetermined result.

Palestinians must be given, for the first time in a generation, the opportunity to test every political program at the ballot box: armed confrontation or peaceful influence; ideological slogans or practical government; isolation or engagement with the region and the world. The Palestinian people – not weapons, foreign powers, or unelected factions – must decide the future of Palestinian politics.

The same responsibility will soon confront Israeli voters. If the second phase begins before Israel’s elections on October 27, the next Israeli prime minister and government could take office with Hamas’s demilitarization already underway. 

Rather than inheriting the seemingly impossible burden of beginning this process from zero, the new government would have the opportunity to move immediately toward security arrangements, reconstruction, regional cooperation, and a credible political horizon. It would be a fresh start, not only for a new Israeli government, but also for both peoples.

We should nevertheless remain clear-eyed. Hamas’s public statement after the meeting referred to a permanent ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal, humanitarian assistance, and reconstruction, but did not explicitly mention disarmament. The real test will therefore be implementation: weapons decommissioned, military infrastructure dismantled, governing authority transferred, and armed groups prevented from rebuilding. 

Israel must then fulfill its corresponding obligations. Reciprocity does not mean moral equivalence. It means creating a process in which each verified step produces the next step, making compliance more rewarding than obstruction. This moment is larger than Hamas, Gaza, or any single diplomatic meeting.

Approximately 14 million Palestinians and Israelis share this land. Their futures cannot be separated, no matter how many walls, checkpoints, rockets, settlements, or political slogans are placed between them. 

Kushner may have opened a door to a safer and more hopeful future for all of us. Walking through it will require courage from Palestinian and Israeli leaders – and, very soon, wise choices from Palestinian and Israeli voters. 

In October and November, millions of people on both sides will have an opportunity to vote not merely for competing parties, but between two futures: another cycle of fear, bloodshed, and paralysis, or a new political era based on security, dignity, dialogue, and reconstruction.

We must vote for change. Thank you, Jared, for helping bring us to the threshold. Now it is our responsibility – Palestinians and Israelis alike – to cross it.

The writer is a Palestinian political leader from Jerusalem and the founder and head of Masar Jadid (New Path), a new Palestinian party committed to democracy, nonviolence, accountable government, dialogue with Israel, and improving the daily lives of Palestinians. He is a longtime advocate of a negotiated two-state solution and sustained engagement between Palestinians and Israelis.

This post was originally published on here. 

The US Defense Department formally notified 30 domestic academic institutions, directing them to immediately review their “academic, financial, and research collaborations with foreign entities of concern,” the department announced on Monday.

The “foreign entities of concern” are defined as institutions listed under Section 1286 of the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, “as well as organizations associated with the rebranded Confucius Institutes,” the Defense Department said.

The list includes 130 research institutes based in Russia, China, and Iran, including civilian universities.

The 30 US universities must “complete a comprehensive audit of all identified foreign collaborations, assess the exposure of sensitive or export-controlled research, and implement strict mitigation plans, including the termination of problematic partnerships,” the department said. All findings must be submitted to the Defense Department by August 31, it said.

The department did not publicly name the 30 institutions. However, a US official listed the institutions to Fox News.

US universities under review includes Harvard, UC Berkeley, MIT, NYU, official tells FOX News

According to the official, the institutions are: Georgetown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, San Diego, University of Texas at Austin, Emory University, Harvard University, Oklahoma State University, Penn State University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Cincinnati, University of Minnesota, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, University of South Carolina, University of Southern California, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Bryant University, Cornell University, Drake University, Duke University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Northeastern State University, Tahlequah (Oklahoma), Portland State University, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Stony Brook University, University of Delaware, and University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

The department is making its efforts alongside “partners in Congress,” including the “House and Senate Armed Services Committees, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, and the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party,” it noted.

This coordination allows the Defense Department to “continue to build a robust research ecosystem that protects critical discoveries from exploitation,” it added.

“This action is designed to protect American taxpayer-funded research investments from unauthorized technology transfer, intellectual property theft, and adversarial exploitation,” the department said.

“The Department of War has zero tolerance for academic partnerships that compromise our national security,” Undersecretary of War for Research and Engineering, Emil Michael, said.

“Institutions that receive funding from American taxpayers must uphold the highest standards of research security, and these mandated audits will ensure accountability across the board,” Michael added.

“Universities are critical partners in executing a wide range of Department of War research programs, and the Department must therefore ensure that our research investments are well protected from foreign exploitation,” Assistant Secretary of War for Science and Technology, Dr. Joseph Jewell, said.

Since the start of fiscal year 2026, the Pentagon cannot fund “fundamental research” with any organization on the list. Under the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, the Trump administration downgraded China to the US’s second-ranked threat.

However, this recent clampdown comes amid ongoing intensity in the Pentagon’s scrutiny of how China can use American research and technology to improve its military capabilities.

This includes a review of how China’s military researchers used outputs from US artificial intelligence models to train domestic systems, published by Reuters in June.

US repeatedly investigating Harvard for ties to Chinese research, academics

Additionally, an investigation into Harvard University, which is one of the institutions named by the US official to FOX News, stated that Harvard failed to safeguard research collaborations with Chinese institutions, according to FOX.

The Ivy League school also allegedly received over $600m. from China under the federal Section 117 foreign-gift disclosure system, FOX reported. This would constitute more than any other US university, according to an Education Department dashboard cited in a report from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

Further, Harvard-affiliated researchers allegedly co-wrote work with academics from China’s National University of Defense Technology, Beihang University, and Nanjing University of Science and Technology, as well as other Chinese institutions that are tied to the Chinese military, according to an investigation led by the Republican Party.

The investigation, reported by the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based English-language outlet whose website is blocked in mainland China, cited the investigation, adding that the Republican Party’s findings also accused Harvard of lacking the centralized infrastructure needed to identify and vet foreign research partnerships.

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An execution facility for the hanging of convicted terrorists is being built within the already-constructed death row prisoner wing in central Israel, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir‘s office announced on Tuesday.

“I promised to worsen the conditions of terrorists in prisons – we kept it,” said Ben-Gvir. “I promised to pass the Death Penalty for Terrorists Law – we did. And now the death row and hanging facility are also starting to take shape.”

According to the announcement, the facility will include viewing booths for terror victims and their families to witness the hangings, “as is customary in many countries,” with visitors’ permits available for members of bereaved families.

“We are making history,” Ben-Gvir emphasized. “Our terrorists deserve only one thing – death by hanging.”

In June, Ben-Gvir appointed six bereaved family members from the Choosing Life Forum as official inspectors under the Death Penalty for Terrorists Law, which was passed by the Knesset plenum in March, and later added to the West Bank’s security regulations by IDF Central Command chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth in May.

Ben-Gvir said the inspectors will be central to overseeing the conditions of those terrorists given death sentences and will be granted supervisory powers regarding the law’s implementation.

“No one is more deserving than families who have paid the heaviest price in the fight against terrorism to be part of the oversight mechanism for implementing the law, Ben-Gvir said. “This appointment reflects recognition of the pain of terror victims and their right to be partners in the struggle for justice and deterrence.”

Israeli-Arab lawmakers challenge terrorist death penalty law

Earlier in June, several Israeli-Arab lawmakers sought to join a petition against the death penalty law, which was filed with the High Court of Justice in April.

The petition claims the new law is unconstitutional and asks the court the strike it down on the grounds that it violates the rights to life, dignity, equality, and due process.

It further claims that the law discriminates against Palestinians, noting its application in West Bank military courts.

Shir Perets, Sara Ben-Nun, Keshet Neev, and Sam Halpern contributed to this report.

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Some women who entered Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta on July 30 as part of a mass migrant crossing say they are experiencing hardships as they wait to be registered, compounded by the threat and fear of sexual harassment.

More than a dozen women have set up camp on a wooded roadside running up to the barbed wire fencing that surrounds the government-run migrant reception center, near the urban beach of El Trampolin. The facility is sheltering about 700 people, 200 more than capacity, according to local authorities.

Camped outside, the women are sleeping in the open air along with hundreds of other Moroccan, sub-Saharan and South Asian migrants.

Reuters spoke to three women there, who said that some men, also staying in the vicinity, are harassing them.

Authorities say that between 5,000 and 8,000 people remain in the enclave, more than two weeks after 72,000 people crossed from Morocco in a deadly border surge.

Most migrants were young men, but women, children crossed too

Most of them were young men, and many have returned to Morocco, but a significant number of women and children also made the crossing. Police and social services say they are scrambling to expand limited reception facilities in Ceuta, and as of Tuesday, 2,168 children have been registered, along with 500 adult asylum applications as of last week.

Wafae Atid, a soft-spoken 28-year-old from the northern Moroccan city of Taza, told Reuters that as she waits for the Spanish authorities to look at her case, she and more than a dozen other women had set up a makeshift camp with cardboard boxes, inflatable mattresses and blankets as close as possible to a police van stationed at the center’s entrance for safety.

“It’s really bad … A lot of guys are trying to attack the girls every night, sometimes just when you go to the toilet. They follow you,” Atid said.

“It’s different nationalities, Africans, Arabs.”

The SUP, Spain’s largest police union, said 15 sexual assaults of varying degrees of severity had been reported in Ceuta since July 30, the significant majority of whose victims were underage. In a statement to Reuters, it said the majority of alleged assaults occurred on the beach and in wooded zones where migrants were concentrated. It suggested that many crimes would be difficult to prosecute because of the “generic” information provided by victims.

Women who reported assaults had been attended to by police, judicial and health authorities, SUP added, and they were now being housed in a new center for sexual assault victims provided by local social services. It called for the expansion of Ceuta police’s women and families unit and more civilian safety patrols of the makeshift camps.

Spain’s Interior Ministry and police declined to confirm the figure or give further details.

Sexual assault cases

In a statement last week, Ceuta’s court authorities confirmed they had processed three cases of sexual assault of migrant women allegedly committed by Moroccan migrants who arrived in the city during the mass influx.

Two of the cases involved victims who were minors: one who was allegedly sexually assaulted by penetration and forced to sell drugs, and another who was indecently touched. In both cases, the accused men have been jailed on remand, while in a third case, an adult woman alleged that she was indecently assaulted, and the alleged assailant’s deportation was ordered by the judge.

The deportation of another man who broke into a private home and climbed into the bed of a local woman in his underpants was also ordered on a charge of breaking and entering.

Spanish Interior Ministry figures for 2024, the latest full year for which data is available, show there were 42 sexual assaults and five rapes reported in Ceuta, a landmass that is a third the size of Manhattan and has 84,000 inhabitants.

Services under pressure

Spain’s Interior, Migration and Equality Ministries did not respond to Reuters questions about the allegations of sexual violence and threat.

Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia confirmed that medical services had treated five women for sexual violence, and said the most urgent healthcare challenge was putting a roof over migrants’ heads.

“The best way to protect women and children is to ensure they are in safe spaces,” she said.

On Monday, Migration and Social Security Minister Elma Saiz, also visiting the enclave, said authorities and the Red Cross were distributing 4,000 meals daily along with female hygiene kits, and that temporary reception centers with 1,500 further places were being set up.

The government was committed to providing humanitarian attention, she said.

Several human rights organizations operating in Ceuta or specialized in sexual violence, including Save the Children, the UN children’s agency Unicef and Amnesty International, have warned of the extreme vulnerability of migrant women and particularly girls in Ceuta and called for urgent measures including safe housing and specialist support.

“When large volumes of displaced persons are together in overcrowded spaces, these situations of sexual violence arise,” said Lucila Rodriguez-Alarcon, director-general of the PorCausa Foundation, adding it was necessary to segregate toilets and showers by gender and apply the same safety protocols as in refugee camps.

Calling for help

Atid said she was unable to sleep at night because she was afraid, instead resting between 7 a.m. and noon in the relative safety of daylight. The women had no access to separate showers, and her periods had stopped with the stress of her situation, she added.

Nonetheless, she said she would rather live on the street in Spain than remain in Morocco, which she said she left because her religious family did not accept her lack of belief in Islam.

Atid’s neighbor at the camp, Dikra Tetouan, 20, crossed into Ceuta with her 17-year-old sister Aya. She said women in their improvised camp faced repeated harassment and sexual assault.

“We try to protect ourselves by screaming so that people gather around us,” Tetouan said.

Tetouan said police had told the women there was little they could do. Spain’s Interior Ministry declined to comment, and neither the national police nor the Civil Guard immediately responded to requests for comment.

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IDF soldiers wrote numbers on the bodies of Palestinian suspects during a Monday operation in the West Bank village of Kabatiya near Jenin, Army Radio reported on Tuesday morning.

In response, the IDF told Army Radio that “security forces marked suspects who were being interrogated as part of the operation.”

Following this, the commanders explained, “the seriousness of the act was explained to the soldiers, and lessons were drawn from the matter.”

On Monday, the IDF announced that it had detained two terrorists and raided more than 100 houses in the area of Kabatiya.

The two terrorists are suspected of planning and promoting terrorist plots to harm the citizens of the State of Israel and the IDF, the military said.

The IDF has come under heavy scrutiny for its actions in the Palestinian village of Kusra near Nablus. 

West Bank civilian enforcement to transfer from IDF to police

Also on Monday, Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that the military will present a plan for the transfer within the next two weeks, after initially announcing its intention to transfer the authority on Friday. 

“We will not allow violence or unauthorized parties to take the law into their own hands,” Katz said.

In his response, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir hailed Katz’s decision, noting it to be a “significant step toward [implementing] Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank.

Ben-Gvir said he had requested that all responsibility for the area be transferred from the IDF to the Israel Police, including handing over responsibility for the Border Police’s Judea and Samaria Division from the military to the police, “in accordance with the coalition agreement that has so far been violated.”

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US Sen. Darline Graham (R-South Carolina) vowed to carry on the legacy of her late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, in her support for Israel during an interview with Fox News on Tuesday.

She told Fox Carolina anchor Justin Dougherty that she met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara Netanyahu, when they visited the US for Lindsey Graham’s funeral last month. 

According to Graham, they had a “really good conversation,” during which they discussed Lindsey Graham’s friendship with Netanyahu and his allyship with Israel.

Netanyahu reportedly emphasized his deep appreciation for the late Graham’s friendship and support.

While Graham stated that she had not discussed what her relationship with Israel would look like if she were elected to the Senate, she affirmed to Netanyahu that she would continue to stand with Israel.

Sen. Darline Graham says in @foxcarolinanews interview that she told Israeli PM Netanyahu at Sen. Lindsey Graham’s DC funeral last month that she will be an ally to Israel in the Senate like her late brother.

Graham to @DoughertyJC: “I have met with the prime minister and his… pic.twitter.com/16Q3an2l2l

— Emily Jacobs (@emilyfjacobs) August 18, 2026

Lindsey Graham left behind legacy of staunch Israel support

Graham was appointed as senator by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster in July after Lindsey Graham passed away suddenly on July 12.

Lindsey Graham’s funeral was held on July 28.

At a memorial dinner held the night prior, Netanyahu spoke about his personal and diplomatic relationship with Lindsey Graham, stating that “America has lost a great patriot. Israel has lost one of its greatest friends and supporters. And I have lost a dear friend.”

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Lebanon’s “first option” is to extend the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which is due to expire at the end of the year, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told a delegation of 20 lawmakers, Lebanese media reported on Monday.

“If the mandate is not extended, the second option would be to adopt a formula ensuring the continued presence of international forces in the south, within an appropriate legal framework, alongside and in coordination with the Lebanese Army,” Aoun said, stressing that UNIFIL’s presence was essential for stability in the country’s south.

UNIFIL criticized for failing to take action against Hezbollah’s military buildup

Despite Aoun’s support for the UN peacekeeping forces, UNIFIL has long been criticized for failing to take action against Hezbollah’s military buildup in southern Lebanon, Resolution 1701, which was adopted in August 2006, called for the peacekeepers to assist the Lebanese Armed Forces “in taking steps towards the establishment between the Blue Line and the Litani river of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL deployed in this area.”

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also reportedly told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Lebanon wants the mandate extended, and Lebanese media said Guterres said he understood the need to maintain the UN’s work.

Human rights organizations have also spoken out against plans to end UNIFIL’s presence. Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch, said last week that “Pulling the plug on UNIFIL without a robust international force in place would effectively abandon millions of Lebanese civilians to an uncertain and potentially disastrous fate.”

“UN missions may not be a lasting solution,” Charbonneau added, “but the peacekeepers are a crucial deterrent against attacks on civilians and human rights abuses.” 

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Zionist Home-The Reservists Party chairman Chili Tropper formally ruled out joining a government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an X/Twitter post on Tuesday.

“We will not sit in a Netanyahu government,” wrote Tropper, who further outlined his party’s principles, saying it would seek to join a Zionist government while working to broaden the coalition.

In a July interview with 103FM, Tropper similarly said his party would not help form a government headed by Netanyahu.

He added that he would not join a coalition that depends on parties he does not consider Zionist.

During the interview, Tropper addressed his party’s rise in the polls, the possibility of political alliances ahead of the elections, his relationship with Gadi Eisenkot, the question of evacuating communities in Judea and Samaria, and his criticism of the Religious Zionist Party.

Tropper said he had made his position on Netanyahu clear.

“I have not hidden my opinion of Netanyahu. I am not among those who hate or despise him, but everyone who was there on October 7 needs to finish their term,” Tropper said.

He added that he would not provide Netanyahu with the 61 seats needed to secure a Knesset majority, arguing that such a government would rely on non-Zionist forces. “I cannot be part of such a coalition,” Tropper said.

Tropper considers political partnerships for Israel’s 2026 elections

Tropper did not rule out political cooperation ahead of the elections, but said no concrete alliance was currently under discussion.

“If there are relevant alliances, we will join forces. I am not closing any door, but right now there is nothing specific on the table.”

He also criticized the current government while discussing the type of coalition he would like to see, arguing that it “chose an alliance with the draft dodgers,” while reservists continue to be sent to the front again and again.

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Palestinian American Loui Ridi raised a giant American flag over his West Bank home, hoping it might deter extremist settlers besieging the property. But it wasn’t enough to stop one of them from walking onto Ridi’s land on Tuesday, during a tense face-off.

Ridi arrived in Kusra late on Monday after traveling from the US, fearing he could lose the property to Jewish settlers who have encircled three Palestinian homes in the village for more than a week, prompting US condemnation.

Ridi, who grew up in the village in the West Bank, was taking a morning walk among his cherry and fig trees on Tuesday when a settler approached from the hill above, in an encounter filmed by Reuters, the only media outlet present.

“You came to make a mess, ha?” the settler said in Hebrew as he approached, holding what appeared to be a Torah in one hand and filming Ridi with a mobile phone.

“You are a terrorist settler, you know that?” Ridi said, also filming with his mobile.

Palestinians confront extremists who encroach onto their property

An IDF vehicle drove by a few times before soldiers approached and spoke to the extremist, telling him it was a closed military area.

“I’ll leave if they leave. There are a lot of guys here. We’re all just guarding our territory. If they go inside the house, we’ll leave,” the settler told the soldiers.

The settler eventually retreated up the road before he was joined by two more settlers, and did not respond to a question from Reuters on what he was doing there. Eventually they ambled up the hill and out of sight.

“Just be inside, they go, and you’ll be inside. Don’t talk to each other, ok? I’ll solve this problem,” an IDF soldier told Ridi, instructing him to enter his home.

Ridi told the soldiers the settler’s presence was illegal, and he should be arrested.

The confrontation captured tensions in the village where settlers began besieging the homes more than a week ago, part of what rights groups say is a wider effort by settlers to seize more land from Palestinians, further eating into territory where they aim to establish a state.

The IDF has said it has deployed forces in the area to try to rein in the settlers and maintain security for residents.

But with settlers still outside, the families are afraid to leave their homes. Ridi hoisted the US flag over his property after arriving.

“I decided I want to raise this flag. If, God forbid, I’m unable to protect this house and the settlers end up here, they’re going to raise (their) flag. But before they raise their flag, they have to move the American flag, and that’s the message.”

Violence by Jewish settlers in the West Bank has been on the rise, some of whom are emboldened by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has spearheaded a push to increase the number of settlements in the West Bank. 

One of Ridi’s neighbors, Ibrahim Hassan, who, like the vast majority of Palestinians, does not hold US citizenship, told Reuters he was forced to flee his home last month after settlers accompanied by men in green military garb smashed the windows of his home, entered, and beat him. 

The IDF did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

US officials have estimated that tens of thousands of Americans live in the West Bank, many of them in a cluster of villages between Ramallah and Nablus, where Kusra lies.

In the nearby village of Turmus Ayya, about 7 k.m. southwest of Kusra, local officials say that 80% of the town’s population holds US citizenship.

Yaser Alkam, 58, a spokesman for the village’s Palestinian American community, said there were several reasons he and many others in the village fly American flags over their houses.

“It’s a form of security, a form of protection. It provides deterrence not only to the settlers but also to the IDF,” he said.

He also said it sent a direct message to the administration of US President Donald Trump.

“Here’s an American citizen being attacked in the West Bank by an American tax-funded army, American weapons used to attack Palestinian Americans in the West Bank,” Alkam said.

The US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee — a strong supporter of Jewish settlement in the West Bank — on Thursday condemned settlers besieging Ridi’s home as “Israeli terrorists.”

A US official and an Israeli official said on Friday that White House officials are pressing Netanyahu to publicly condemn the settlers’ actions.

Netanyahu has not commented on the siege in Kusra.

This post was originally published on here. 

Democratic primary voters in Florida’s newly drawn 25th Congressional District are choosing on Tuesday between an anti-Zionist member of the Democratic Socialists of America and one of Israel’s staunchest supporters in Congress.

The race offers a test of whether the Democratic Party’s progressive insurgency can extend to a district that includes Delray Beach, Boca Raton, and Miami Beach, and an electorate that is roughly 25% Jewish, highlighting the party’s widening divisions over Israel.

Redistricting has transformed what had been solidly Democratic territory into a district US President Donald Trump would have carried in 2024. The new lines pit Oliver Larkin, a DSA member who has accused Israel of genocide and called for ending US military aid to the country, against Jared Moskowitz, a two-term congressman who backs continued US military aid even as support for it has eroded within his party.

Polling from Moskowitz-aligned firms has shown him with a lead of 30-plus percentage points, while a more recent poll from a Larkin-aligned outlet this month put the two in a statistical dead heat.

Larkin’s language has alarmed some Jews, including his labeling of modern-day Israel as a “religious supremacist” country and his call for Israel to become a “secular” state. “I do not support a religious supremacist regime, whether it be in Israel or Saudi Arabia, or any other country,” Larkin told Fox News.

Larkin backs Mamdani on goal of arresting Netanyahu

Larkin supports a complete arms embargo on Israel, and told JTA that that should be “the minimum standard for anyone claiming to support democracy.” Asked by Fox News if he supports selling defensive weapons to Israel, Larkin responded, “I do not make a distinction between offensive and defensive weaponry.” He also backed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s goal of arresting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Larkin doubled down after Mamdani backed down from the stance, saying, “I believe that the United States, any federal or otherwise law enforcement entity that has the legal jurisdiction to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu for his war crimes – that should be enforced.”

Larkin has courted support from left-wing, anti-Zionist Jews who support his platform and says that he has spoken out against antisemitism on the campaign trail. 

“Our campaign believes in collective liberation for all people, and that includes the liberation of Jewish South Floridians and Jewish people the world over from antisemitism,” Larkin said in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He said that there is a rise in fascism across the US and that we “must recognize the link between antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Black racism, xenophobia, transphobia, and more and build a coalition to unite together to defeat these forces.” 

Larkin said he supports a “one-state solution with equal and democratic rights for all people.”

Progressive, pro-Palestinian candidates with similar platforms have won the Democratic nomination this midterm cycle in deep-blue districts around the country. Larkin, who worked on Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, is betting he can match their success even in a heavily Jewish district that leans more to the center.

Moskowitz, who is endorsed by AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel, outright accused Larkin of fueling antisemitism, telling the Sun Sentinel editorial board in a letter that his opponent “has embraced the support of individuals and organizations that have repeatedly trafficked in antisemitic rhetoric and hostility toward the Jewish community.” 

Last month, a Boca Raton rabbi encouraged Republican congregants to register as Democrats so they could cast their votes for Moskowitz. The far more moderate Democrat has refused to debate Larkin, saying that his opponent is contributing to antisemitism.

Moskowitz has also claimed that Larkin is “running against me solely on my religion.” The Sun Sentinel board rated Moskowitz’s claim “demonstrably untrue” and, in an unusual move, said it would not endorse him for reelection after he declined a joint interview with Larkin. The paper decried what it described as Moskowitz’s “lack of respect for voters.” Moskowitz’s campaign did not respond to a JTA request for comment.

Moskowitz has outraised Larkin 11-to-1, according to local media estimates. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has raised $667,200 of Moskowitz’s $2.5 million through June 30, according to campaign finance analyses done by the website Open Secrets.

Anti-Zionist groups rooting for Larkin

Donna Nevel, a member of the South Florida chapter of the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace, believes Larkin can win.

“There are thousands and thousands of us, from Jewish communities and all across South Florida, who are doing everything we can to make sure that Oliver will be our congressperson,” Nevel said to a cheering crowd, during a fundraiser held in New York City earlier this month. 

She also said that “many Zionist organizations think that South Florida is their backyard.” She continued, “And we say, ‘Hell no!’” 

In an email to JTA, Nevel said there are a “large and growing” number of Jews in the district supporting Larkin, including “well over a hundred Jewish canvassers on a regular basis.” Larkin joined a JVP-hosted Shabbat dinner with Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Florida’s left-wing US Senate candidate Angie Nixon on Friday.

Larkin has said that we “should not be supporting or allowing AIPAC to influence our elections.” He told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that the group has a “corrupting influence” and that it only supports Congress members “on the condition, in my estimation, that they support wholesale US military aid to Israel.”

Left-wing streamers Hasan Piker – a staunch Israel critic who’s drawn antisemitism accusations – and Michael Beyer, who was suspended from Twitch after calling Jews a “demon ethnicity,” have both fundraised for Larkin.

Asked about their support, Larkin told the Sun Sentinel that both figures have used “language that I personally have not used and will not use,” and said that as a candidate it is important “that I speak in respectful terms and based in fact.”

“But I believe that when those individuals have made those references it’s been towards members of the Israeli government,” Larkin said, as well as Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

“So certainly they’re not politicians, and they don’t speak in political terms, and I don’t condone language that dehumanizes any individual,” he said. “I do think that they have legitimate criticism – even if it is rather unvarnished in how they convey it – of what the Israeli government has done.”

This post was originally published on here. 

Fighting violence selectively is like fighting pollution on only one side of a border; artificial distinctions cannot contain either – while both ultimately threaten you, too. That’s why we must go back to basics and proclaim zero tolerance for all terrorism. 

Israel outlaws all political violence – whether committed by Palestinians or Jews, right-wingers or left-wingers, in the territories or in major cities. Shouting “there’s more of them” from that group, or “there’s so few of them” from my group, is ludicrous. It breeds lawlessness, arrogance, and chaos.

And in Israel, such hypocritical sifting violates Zionism’s great achievement in re-establishing Jewish sovereignty in our homeland after 2,000 years. Any government purposely failing to crush Israeli-initiated terrorism risks obscuring the chasm between Zionist morality and the barbaric addiction to violence woven into the heart of the Palestinian national movement – and its Progressive enablers.

America’s Department of Homeland Security defines terrorism “as a premeditated threat or act of violence, against persons, property, environmental, or economic targets, to induce fear or to intimidate, coerce or affect a government,” or “the civilian population … in furtherance of political, social, ideological, or religious objectives.”

The definition is politically, geographically, and religiously neutral. It bans the crime and the politicized motivation, regardless of the perpetrator’s partisan stance. It doesn’t ask on which side of the Green Line you live, whether you’re Palestinian or Jewish, or for whom you’re voting.

That Israel’s stalwart friend, American Ambassador Mike Huckabee, feels compelled to condemn “Israeli terrorists” should embarrass every Israeli. Clearly, our government has failed to solve the particular growing problem of certain settlers acting illegally – repeatedly. 

The shame is compounded if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s dismissive CNN comments are correct. He blamed “150 or so, what you call, juvenile delinquents … brought into the West Bank.” If so, doesn’t the surging phenomenon expose stunning governmental impotence?

The IDF and security establishment tracked 405 “nationalistic crimes” in Judea and Samaria in 2025’s first half, then 660 such attacks in 2026’s first six months, with the IDF estimating 300 repeat offenders at the core. Moreover, settler attacks on Israeli security personnel – defending us! – jumped to 45 assaults, with 140 Palestinians wounded and six killed.

Tolerating such thuggery hurts Israel, and not just our image. Vigilantism anywhere encourages vigilantism everywhere. It coarsens the collective soul while fraying the social fabric.

Political Science 101 teaches that, beyond individuals compelled to defend themselves, states must maintain their monopoly on violence, only trusting authorized police officers and soldiers to fight when necessary to maintain order and defend the country. Countries that lose control of their streets or indulge violent gangs become “failed states.” 

Israel’s founding prime minister David Ben-Gurion understood that Jewish sovereignty – “mamlachtiyut” – required one army, one government, and one law.

Defining Jews’ adjustment challenge after millennia of powerlessness, he proclaimed: “We must learn to think like a state.” Similarly, even after Ben-Gurion’s forces shelled Menachem Begin’s men on the Altalena, Begin remained committed to “the national interest as a whole, which demands fighting unity of all soldiers.” 

Israel needs a government committed to governing. That means stopping those settlers, those haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protesters, those left-wing demonstrators, those right-wing goons, those Bedouin and Arab racketeers, and those Palestinians threatening individuals, the public order, and the Zionist enterprise.

The word “those,” not “the,” targets violent outlaws, not entire groups. 

Preventative steps

Administrative detention is not the answer – it threatens basic civil liberties. But Israel must be more creative – and aggressive – with travel bans, especially in Judea and Samaria, because so much of it is under military control. Travel bans should also punish haredim and other protesters who keep blocking traffic.

Two Australian states recently passed anti-disruption laws imposing heavy fines and up to two years’ imprisonment for protesters illegally blocking roads, ports, and bridges. Facial recognition software can catch repeat offenders. 

Meanwhile, intelligently applied anti-conspiracy laws can break the manipulators planning constant, disruptive protests. In 2024, Great Britain imprisoned five climate activists for “conspiracy to cause a public nuisance” because of a planning call on Zoom, not the act of blocking the highway. 

German authorities broke the “Last Generation” global warming protesters by dispersing autobahn blockades quickly, then invoked Polizeigebührenordnungen – police cost regulations. Protesters were charged the transactional costs of the police response, from towing charges to the officers’ hourly rates.

Courts modified it. But fees should be collected immediately, with interest compounding. Authorities should also fine the organizations conspiring to stop traffic, harass individuals, and destroy homes. 

Paradoxically, policing political hooliganism aggressively is the best way to protect free speech. Such laws should be applied neutrally without ever indicting peaceful, law-abiding protesters – or maybe even first-time offenders, unless they’ve behaved violently.

But effective governments and healthy democracies accept passionate protected protest while punishing illegal actions that disrupt public order, especially when certain thugs keep repeating their crimes.

Similarly, democracies don’t judge partisan lawbreakers by their tribal affiliations or political inclinations. They’re punished for illegal actions, with extra penalties added if the motives are particularly heinous or socially threatening. 

Many of us fear that this October’s election losers will respond violently – whomever they are. Thirty-nine percent of Israelis told INSS pollsters that internal violent conflict is one of Israel’s great threats – alongside a nuclear Iran.

President Isaac Herzog, fearing the “dangerous violence rearing its head,” keeps reminding “the people of Israel” that “elections are not a civil war. Disagreement and criticism are the lifeblood of our democracy, but our belonging to this place, and our responsibility for our shared future here… are the highest priority.” 

Beyond failing miserably to contain political violence on many fronts, this government includes ministers fomenting some of it. Whatever our politics, we cannot let this situation deteriorate further, on any front.

The writer is an American presidential historian and a senior fellow in Zionist thought at the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) in Jerusalem. He recently published, with David Suissa, 250 Reasons to Thank America, and with the JJPI, The Essential Guide to the US-Israel Partnership, the 250th Anniversary Edition. He is also a professor and Distinguished Scholar of North American History at McGill University.

This post was originally published on here. 

Tehran has already begun positioning itself to suppress potential domestic unrest and weather the prolonged economic hardship that could result from an extended US blockade or a return to more active conflict with the US, according to international experts. At the same time, reports indicate that Tehran remains open to negotiations, provided any agreement meets all of its demands, including leaving the Strait of Hormuz under Iranian control.

The Institute for the Study of War assessed that hardliners within Iran’s Supreme National Security Council could support a deal with the US, provided it meets Tehran’s terms, notably including continued Iranian control over the vital waterway. The assessment was based on an Axios report, later confirmed by a spokesperson for the Iraqi Kurdistan presidency to Iran International, that IRGC Commander Ahmad Vahidi had maintained indirect contact with the US and preferred to resolve the conflict through negotiations.

Despite this preference, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday that Iran would shift to a “fully offensive” posture after Washington ruled out extending a temporary ceasefire agreement.

“Iranian entities must be prepared to escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and wider region, as Iran will be ready to make decisions and take action on difficult decisions,” the Iranian official said, adding that Tehran would conduct a “timely and precise” military attack to break the US naval blockade if diplomacy failed.

IRGC unlikely to support deal that cedes control of Hormuz 

The continued attacks on vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz without coordinating with Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority suggest that Vahidi would be unlikely to accept an agreement that did not leave the waterway under Iranian control, the institute assessed.

Notably, the memorandum of understanding signed between the US and Iran, which included a 60-day window that expired on Monday, required under its fifth clause that Iran allow safe and free passage for commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz during that period. Tehran interpreted the provision as leaving Hormuz under Iranian control, which largely contributed to the agreement’s collapse, and the dispute over control of the waterway ultimately contributed to the renewal of a US blockade that has further strained Iran’s already struggling economy.

Although the economic crisis had already triggered protests in December, which escalated in January into widespread calls to end the Islamic regime’s rule, the institute assessed that Vahidi’s hardline faction was willing to accept the financial consequences of a prolonged blockade, as well as regional instability and domestic unrest.

Human rights organizations reported that upwards of 30,000 people were killed by regime security forces during the January demonstrations, while thousands were arbitrarily detained. The Islamic regime has also continued to execute individuals accused of participating in what it described as foreign-backed riots. Iran’s months-long internet blackout, which further damaged the country’s economy, also made it difficult for international rights groups to monitor the situation, UN officials acknowledged at the time.

Iran’s year-on-year inflation rate remains above 80%, ISNA reported on Saturday. Mehdi Pirsalehi, head of the country’s Food and Drug Administration, said on Sunday that around two-thirds of medicines in Iran had increased in price because of difficulties accessing raw materials and the higher cost of transporting them by air rather than sea. Numerous reports from Iranian diaspora and domestic media have also pointed to a cost of living crisis leaving Iranians unable to afford basic goods and services and the Islamic Republic failing to pay out social welfare benefits.

Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref separately said on Sunday that the Islamic Republic needs to confront US economic pressure through proper planning and policies, calling on Tehran to prepare for “worst-case scenarios,” which the institute suggested referenced a return to demonstrations.

Acknowledging that it remains unclear whether Vahidi would make concessions in exchange for economic relief to avoid such a situation, the institute noted that he may instead prefer to further securitize Iranian society and continue investing in land-based shipment routes, despite officials warning that they cannot replace maritime transportation.

Tehran is preparing to resume its suppression of dissent

Roger Macmillan, a security analyst and former director at Iran International, noted that the regime recently appointed Hossein Taeb as commander of the Basij paramilitary force. Taeb previously headed the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization.

Taeb was known for his role in crushing the 2009 demonstrations that erupted after a disputed presidential election. Thousands were arbitrarily arrested, dozens were killed on the streets or in detention, and many protesters reported being tortured, according to human rights organizations.

Like many analysts, Macmillan interpreted Taeb’s appointment as a sign that Tehran is preparing to resume its suppression of dissent.

“Vahidi does not have to choose between holding the line against Washington and crushing dissent at home,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “You need to watch the sequence… This has run before: protests will develop, state media brands protesters ‘rioters’ and ‘terrorists,’ the internet goes dark, mass arrests follow, the judiciary declares zero leniency, and executions are used explicitly to restore fear as deterrence.”

Earlier this week, a high-profile student at Sharif University of Technology was expelled for allegedly hanging a mouse doll from a tree during protests, a reference to the mocking nickname “Moush-Ali,” or “Mouse Ali,” used for then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Likewise, the Iranian legal network Dadbaan reported that authorities closed a number of coffee shops and restaurants after accusing them of allowing “gambling, norm-breaking, promoting corruption, and failing to observe Islamic norms,” according to the office of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Qaenat. The network also reported that women were being denied access to public services for failing to wear the hijab, while the Sunday Times reported that Iran’s morality police were resuming patrols.

Macmillan noted that the stalling of oil exports, along with the Central Bank of Iran’s issuance of the country’s largest banknote in history, were signs that the pause in intense strikes on Iran had not allowed the regime to recover.

“It is running out of road, and it knows it. Every week without a settlement pushes Iranian households closer to the conditions that produced the January uprising. And every week, Vahidi’s newly reshuffled command structure gets more ready to meet them,” he continued. “They have been emboldened by the apparent failure of the US/Israeli bombing campaign to reduce and remove their capability to produce drones [and] there have been reports that they are back to their pre-war stock levels… So they are ready to resume [fighting].”

Macmillan said Tehran was preparing for a prolonged conflict, believing that US President Donald Trump’s low approval rating, interceptor shortages and the approaching midterm elections could give Iran an advantage. 

This post was originally published on here. 

Likud published its full primary list for the 26th Knesset elections, scheduled for October 27, on Tuesday, with several ministers and current MKs placed in unsafe, borderline, and unrealistic positions in the hierarchy.

Likud is currently projected to receive between 20-25 seats in the Knesset based on polls published in the first two weeks of August. The party held 36 seats in the 25th Knesset, dissolved in July, including four MKs who were elected under Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope-United Right party.

Economy and Industry Minister Nir Barkat, who has been critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership, ranked 24th, after reserved places on the list are taken into account. Barkat, however, may fall victim to Netanyahu’s authority to swap candidates against reserved slots, which allows the PM to potentially push rivals, including Barkat, down the list.

Barkat hired private investigators to attend primary election locations to monitor suspected voter fraud, sources familiar with the matter told Walla on Monday.

Innovation, Science, and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel placed 25th on the list. Gamliel is therefore the third-highest-ranking woman on the list, after Transportation Minister Miri Regev and MK Tally Gotliv.

Gotliv, a firebrand reportedly targeted by pro-Netanyahu factions hoping to push her down the list, placed 20th, making it likely she will be re-elected, but she is not in as safe a position as she may have hoped. Regev placed 8th and is, therefore, almost guaranteed a spot in the next Knesset.

Three current ministers finish below 35th on Likud primaries list

Agriculture and Food Security Minister Avi Dichter, Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman, and Women’s Advancement and Social Equality Minister May Golan all finished outside the top 35 places, once reserved spots are accounted for.

Pressure is growing among senior Likud officials on Netanyahu to use the “swap” provision approved before the primaries to move Dichter into a realistic position on the party slate. This message is now being conveyed to Netanyahu primarily because of Dichter’s status as a former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief and concerns that Likud could enter the election without a senior security figure in a realistic position.

Dichter was pushed outside the realistic range in the primaries, and the result has raised concern among senior Likud officials. Following the retirement of Yoav Gallant, Dichter is considered the most prominent security figure among the party’s senior members, and Likud officials believe his presence on the slate has electoral importance in an election campaign in which security issues are expected to play a central role.

Additionally, MK David Bitan has been placed 22nd on the list. Bitan, one of Netanyahu’s main opponents from within Likud during the 25th Knesset, is therefore also borderline for re-election, but still in a strong enough position to remain an MK, despite efforts to remove him politically.

Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chair MK Boaz Bismuth placed 23rd, placing them in a borderline position for the upcoming election based on current polling.

MK Ze’ev Elkin placed 32nd, and Avichay Boaron placed 35th, making their likelihood of entering the Knesset tenuous.

Nine other current MKs placed below 35th on the list, making it highly unlikely that they will be re-elected. These are: Hanoch Milwidsky, Nissim Vaturi, Shalom Danino, Eli Dalal, Keti Shirit, Ariel Kallner, Eti Atiah, Osher Shekalim, and Sasson Guetta.

Likud satisfied with primaries result, party says

Meanwhile, Likud said that Netanyahu was “very satisfied” with the results and that the party will claim a “big victory” in the elections.

“This is the only way to prevent a leftist government of [Gadi] Eisenkot, Yair Golan, [Avigdor] Liberman, and the Arab parties,” Likud added.

The primaries turnout reached 53.5%, with 75,177 members voting at 501 polling stations across 107 locations.

Some senior party officials reportedly expected a higher turnout due to the significance of the limited number of realistic places in the upcoming election.

Anna Barsky and Liat Ron contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

Almost two-thirds of all religion-based hate crimes in the US in 2025 were against Jews, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed in its newly released Reported Crimes in the Nation (RCN).

According to the data, there were 1,528 antisemitic hate crime incidents recorded last year, constituting 63% of the total. The number of hate crimes targeting Jews was over seven times higher than the next highest target: anti-Muslim crimes (205 incidents).

The FBI recorded 1,685 antisemitic offenses, which meant some incidents involved more than one criminal act. It also recorded 1,746 victims of antisemitic hate crimes, and 1,591 offenders.

This marked a decrease across the board compared to 2024, when there were 1,938 antisemitic hate crime incidents, 2137 offenses, and 2,237 victims.

Nevertheless, 2025 marked the third-highest year on record of anti-Jewish hate crimes.

Over 150 anti-Jewish assaults in 2025, over 500 acts of intimidation

The FBI also released details of the types of offenses committed.

Violent acts remained high, with 162 anti-Jewish assaults (50 aggravated and 112 simple assaults) in 2025, along with three anti-Jewish murder/non-negligent manslaughter offenses and 505 acts of intimidation targeting Jewish victims. There was also one listed incident of antisemitic rape.

More than half of the offenses – 920 – involved destruction of property, vandalism, or other forms of damage.

“Behind every one of these numbers is a person who was targeted simply for being Jewish, whether through vandalism, intimidation, or violence,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO.

“In 2025, that hate turned deadly, not just here at home, but around the world. 2025 was the deadliest year for antisemitic attacks in the Jewish diaspora in more than three decades, with 20 people murdered globally simply for being Jewish.

“We cannot allow a modest yet positive decline in the topline domestic numbers to obscure the reality that antisemitism remains one of the most persistent and dangerous forms of hate in this country and beyond.”

Hate crime sends message of fear to entire community

“When a hate crime occurs, the damage extends far beyond the victims and sends a message of fear to an entire community,” said Carla Hill, Vice President of Research and Investigations, ADL Center on Extremism.

“Hate crimes are deeply personal, harmful, and traumatizing, not only for the individual targeted, but for the entire community. Addressing them requires a whole-of-government, whole-of-society response that centers victims and the needs of those impacted.”

American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch said: “While we acknowledge the drop in anti-Jewish hate crimes, this offers limited comfort to the many American Jews who feel that violence, harassment, and discrimination against Jews is too often excused and normalized, and therefore likely not reported to the fullest extent.

“We are urging all those in positions of power across society to work with us to continue this momentum and take new, concrete action to stand against anti-Jewish hate.”

The new FBI data is based on aggregation from 16,791 law enforcement agencies, representing 86% of agencies enrolled in the hate crime data collection program.

This post was originally published on here. 

Hamas’s internal security and counter-intelligence apparatus in Gaza includes a specialized unit known as the Radaa Force. It is focused on monitoring threats to Hamas from rival factions and on identifying dissidents, suspected informants, and “collaborators” working with Israel.

The size, command structure, and exact responsibilities of the Radaa Force are uncertain; Hamas has revealed few details about it. Its name derives from an Arabic root meaning “deterrence” or “prevention.”

On August 6, Radaa issued an appeal to the Gazan public in general, and to members of anti-Hamas militia groups in particular, urging them to assassinate the leaders of those bodies.

“We say to all members of the collaborator gangs,” ran the Radaa Force statement, “that assassinating senior collaborators in these groups will be your salvation – before us, and before your people.”

What are these anti-Hamas militia groups, and who are their leaders?

The most internationally visible, and arguably most consequential, of the anti-Hamas armed networks in Gaza is known as the “Popular Forces.” Originally led by Yasser Abu Shabab until his death in December 2025, it is now under the leadership of Ghassan Duhine, his deputy. It is the only anti-Hamas force that appears to have reached battalion-scale strength. Estimates range up to 700 fighters.

The Popular Forces emerged in southern Gaza, especially around Rafah. On June 5, 2025, in a video statement responding to allegations by former defense minister Avigdor Lieberman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that Israel had “activated” and supported clans in Gaza opposed to Hamas.

Subsequent reporting by the Associated Press and other outlets identified Abu Shabab’s Popular Forces as one of the groups receiving such support.

Reported assistance included weapons, intelligence, logistical support, access to Israeli-controlled areas, and protection from Hamas. The reported activities of the Popular Forces include an attack on a Hamas facility near Khan Yunis that the group alleged was being used to store aid confiscated by Hamas. 

They also participate in intelligence gathering against Hamas, securing aid convoys and routes near Israeli-controlled areas, and protecting access routes to aid distribution points.

Unlike Fatah, the Popular Forces do not prioritize Palestinian nationalism or a state-building ideology. Abu Shabab publicly condemned the brutal onslaught on October 7, 2023, and argued Hamas had brought catastrophe on Gaza.

Politically, this group is the least clearly ideological of the major formations. Its motivations seem to combine anti-Hamas hostility, tribal autonomy, economic interests, personal power, and dependence upon Israeli patronage. Its principal political proposition is effectively that Hamas must be removed and that local Palestinian actors should assume control.

The Popular Forces’ politics are moved partly by clan interests. The Abu Shabab clan is a large family network in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, connected to the larger transborder Tarabin tribal network, which extends into Sinai. Its priorities are protecting its local influence, its territory, economic resources, and clan autonomy.

Hamas has traditionally sought to subordinate armed groups and local power brokers to its own authority. During periods when Hamas’s control has weakened because of war, some clans – the Popular Forces among them – have sought to expand their own security and political roles.

Meet Hussam al-Astal’s CTSF

The second particularly important anti-Hamas organization in Gaza is the Counter-Terrorism Strike Force (CTSF), centered on Khan Yunis and commanded by Hussam al-Astal. Al-Astal has a security service background within the Palestinian Authority, and his opposition to Hamas is more political and institutional than purely tribal.

The declared objective of the CTSF (sometimes known simply as the Anti-Terror Force) is the removal of Hamas and the establishment of an alternative security authority. Al-Astal portrays his organization as an independent Palestinian anti-Hamas force, though there is significant evidence of operational cooperation with Israel.

The group crossed an important threshold on January 12, 2026, when gunmen killed Mahmoud al-Astal, a senior Hamas police officer. Hussam al-Astal’s organization publicly claimed responsibility. Hamas described the perpetrators as Israeli collaborators.

The common surname is almost certainly not accidental. Mahmoud al-Astal and Hussam al-Astal appear to have belonged to the same extended al-Astal clan, but they were aligned with opposing political-military camps. Publicly available sources do not identify their precise familial relationship.

The Hellis clan represents a third category of anti-Hamas groupings.

The Hellis family, long associated with Fatah, has opposed Hamas’s rule ever since the terrorist organization seized control of Gaza in 2007. Its most important contemporary figure is Rami Hellis, who has reportedly formed an armed network with

Ahmed Jundeya, another prominent local figure from Shejaia, a large neighborhood in eastern Gaza City.
Their forces have operated in areas under Israeli control and have resisted Hamas attempts to reestablish its authority in the area. Reuters describes the Hellis/Jundeya network as one of the principal armed challenges to Hamas following the 2025 ceasefire.

The al-Majayda clan is based in Khan Yunis, and it, too, has become involved in the struggle over postwar authority. Members have clashed with Hamas during attempts by Hamas security forces to arrest suspects.

Although the clan has criticized Hamas’s use of extrajudicial violence, its political position is notably ambiguous. At least one senior al-Majayda figure subsequently expressed support for Hamas’s efforts to restore order.

The al-Majayda clan has been linked to the CTSF through local alliances and cooperation, although the clan and the militia are distinct entities.

The Doghmosh clan is somewhat different from the others. It is not primarily an Israeli-backed militia. It is one of Gaza’s long-standing armed families and has historically shifted between relationships with Hamas, Fatah, Salafist groups, and independent activity.

Back in October 2025, armed members of the clan fought Hamas forces in Gaza City, and it was described as a significant armed rival to Hamas. Currently, there does not seem to be a formal Doghmosh militia.

As for the 20-point Trump peace plan for Gaza, there is no evidence that any major anti-Hamas militia has formally adopted the plan as its platform. 

Some – especially the Popular Forces – have objectives that overlap with key parts of the plan, particularly supporting a post-Hamas administration after ending Hamas rule. Others – anti-Hamas though they are – seem more intent on pursuing their own narrower interests.

The writer, a former senior civil servant, is the Middle East correspondent for Eurasia Review. Follow him at: www.a-mid-east-journal.blogspot.com

This post was originally published on here. 

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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed the drone attack on the office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party leader, posting on X/Twitter on Monday that “Kurdish friends” should be aware of “false-flag ploys” aimed at “sowing discord between neighbors.”

Two drones targeted the office of Masrour Barzani, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s prime minister, and the home of the region’s intelligence chief in northern Iraq on Monday, the KRG security agency announced.

The attack was launched from Iranian territory, it said in a statement

“Nothing justifies the reckless attack on PM Barzani’s office. Kurdish friends should be vigilant against false-flag ploys to sow discord between neighbors,” Araghchi wrote. “We protected our Kurdish friends against Saddam and DAESH, and we’re thankful for security they’ve provided on our border.”

Nothing justifies the reckless attack on PM Barzani’s office. Kurdish friends should be vigilant against false-flag ploys to sow discord between neighbors.

We protected our Kurdish friends against Saddam and DAESH, and we’re thankful for security they’ve provided on our border.

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) August 17, 2026

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ismaeil Baqaei doubled down on Araghchi’s statements in comments to Iranian state media on Monday, describing the attack as “highly suspicious.”

“This development is highly suspicious and requires all sides to exercise vigilance,” he told IRNA, adding that he had information indicating that Iraqi intelligence was holding groups responsible for planning and carrying out the “sinister plots.”

Security analyst accuses Iran’s response of being incomplete

Security analyst Roger Macmillan said that the response by the Iranian officials was lacking.

“The Kurdistan Counter-Terrorism Service didn’t just say ‘Iran did this.’ They named the munition type, two Hadid-110 drones, and stated a launch origin inside Iranian territory,” he explained.

“That’s a forensic claim, not a political one. A false-flag narrative needs to explain how a third party sourced and launched an Iranian-designated drone type from inside Iran’s own territory. Araghchi’s statement doesn’t engage with that detail at all; it simply asserts the incident is ‘suspicious’ and pivots to blaming unnamed others.”

The attack came after a report from Axios published on Sunday claimed that the Trump administration used Iraqi Kurdistan President Nechirvan Barzani as a backchannel to speak with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Commander Ahmad Vahidi. The report was later confirmed by a spokesperson to Iran International.

Macmillan said that the fact that the strike came within days of the confirmation indicated that the motive behind the attack was to punish KRG and warn its leadership against making further admissions going forward.

IRGC attacks Kurdish territories, ‘Post’ confirms

Erbil has seen frequent attacks from Iran since the outbreak of the war. A Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) report seen by The Jerusalem Post claimed that between February 28 and August 1, the IRGC and affiliated groups were responsible for 423 attacks on five Kurdish organizations in the territory, resulting in 20 casualties. The Post has also previously spoken with Ardalan Mama, whose home was destroyed by an Iranian missile.

Since the outbreak of the war, Araghchi has frequently commented on the risk of alleged false-flag attacks. In March, he warned his Turkish counterpart of repeated false-flag operations aimed at undermining regional ties a day after NATO intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Iran over Turkey, and only weeks ago he described a drone strike on Egypt’s Damietta Port as an Israeli false-flag operation.

تُعدُّ مصر صديقًا وشريكًا مهمًا في المنطقة، ويُشكّل أمنُها أهميةً قصوى بالنسبة لنا.
يجب علينا جميعًا أن نكون يقظين تجاه المخططات الإسرائيلية وعمليات “العَلَم الزائف” التي تهدف إلى تقويض السلام الإقليمي.
إن التهديد واضح، ومشترك، ويخشَى تضامن المسلمين.

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) July 30, 2026

“Egypt is considered a friend and important partner in the region, and its security constitutes an utmost priority for us. We must all remain vigilant toward Israeli schemes and “false flag” operations that aim to undermine regional peace,” he wrote. “The threat is clear, shared, and fears Muslim solidarity.”

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Anti-Israel protesters demonstrated outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington on Monday, including by pouring red liquid on the ground and setting up fake graves covered in Palestinian flags, footage from the Combat Antisemitism Movement showed.

Among the signs held by the protesters were ones reading “No place for Israel in a good world” and “Israelis are baby killers.”

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A post shared by Combat Antisemitism Movement (@combatantisemitism)

This is a developing story.

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A 75-year-old suspect was arrested for allegedly vandalizing the Basimta cafe in Jerusalem, following weeks of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protests against it for being open on Shabbat, Israel Police announced on Tuesday.

According to the police, the suspect is thought to have vandalized the cafe with graffiti, thrown garbage at it, and damaged the cafe’s lock.

The suspect had restrictive conditions on her extension by the court, which also barred her from approaching or entering Basimta.

Haredim protest cafe for being open on Shabbat

The cafe has seen protests against it being open on Shabbat every weekend for seven consecutive weeks, alongside counterprotests in support of the business owners.

On July 4, the first Saturday it drew protesters, dozens of haredi demonstrators, many of them reportedly minors, descended on the cafe in four separate waves, surrounding it, banging on its windows and overturning tables, according to cafe staff and footage circulated online.

Last month, it was revealed that the cafe is an official project of Jews for Jesus, a flagship organization of the diffuse movement of Messianic Judaism, which believes in the divinity of Jesus while claiming to practice Judaism, an overlap that no denomination across the Jewish world accepts as compatible.

Theia Chatelle contributed to this report.

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