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It is creditable that the Government of India has set a crucial goal for itself: becoming Viksit Bharat by 2047, its 100th anniversary of independence.

While there is general agreement that the term Viksit Bharat denotes a developed country, it is still necessary for public policy purposes to break down the concept to know what it entails. What follows is an attempt to do so

While India can be legitimately proud of being the fourth-largest economy in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world, the fact remains that for a population approaching 1.5 billion, the present GDP of $4.5 trillion is a little below par. 

So if India must become “Viksit” in the real sense of the term, the GDP must grow significantly to attain at least $10 trillion. This is entirely achievable if we can do a couple of things.

First, 40% of our GDP is foreign trade, so our share of international trade must simply increase. In particular, our share of global exports, which hovers around 2%, should rise to 10%. 

Second, our Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which was just short of $100 billion this last year, must also grow manifold. 

In order for the above two things to happen, the Government of India must carry out deep-seated economic reforms in areas such as land, labor, power, agriculture, infrastructure, and regulatory obstacles. 

While there is no question that the GDP must accelerate, that alone is not enough. Growth must be inclusive; it must percolate to the downtrodden people at the bottom of the pyramid. 

The government has conceived excellent schemes, such as the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. But going beyond that, job creation for the youth must become a national mantra for both the Central and State Governments. 

Since it is not possible for the government alone – or even the organized sector – to provide all the jobs that are necessary, it is vitally important to enable an ecosystem where the youth become entrepreneurs and job creators rather than be mere job seekers. 

Present levels of economic inequality are unsustainable, and efforts must be made to make the society much more egalitarian.

It is well recognized that our education system relies heavily on rote learning, and it churns out thousands of graduates every year who may not be immediately employable. In this context, skilling and re-skilling graduates becomes crucial.

The idea of vocational training, industry-academic collaboration and imparting tech skills (including AI) for our graduates must assume mission-mode importance.

Spending on education – in both the public and private sectors – must increase exponentially, especially in states that lag the national average. In parallel, Research and Development must be given prime importance in all relevant institutions. 

A population close to 1.5 billion can indeed be a demographic dividend for India. But that is true only if the population is skilled enough to face the challenges of a knowledge economy. 

India’s healthcare system is undergoing dramatic transformation, driven by digitalization and by infrastructure expansion. But challenges remain on account of rising medical costs and a growing chronic disease burden. 

The government has undertaken significant efforts such as Ayushman Bharat and Ayushman Arogya Mandir schemes, which have made a big impact on providing healthcare in the country. 

Medical college seats have more than doubled since 2014 in an attempt to bridge the doctor-patient gap. Successful attempts have also been made to promote India as a global hub for medical tourism. 

Despite all this, serious challenges remain. 

Public spending on healthcare still lags desired levels. India also runs the risk of becoming the global capital for heart disease and diabetes. 

India therefore needs to continue its massive transformation of public health infrastructure to make it accessible, affordable, and quality-driven for the vast majority of its population. 

The National Health Mission is doing a commendable job. It simply needs to be strengthened and streamlined. 

India can follow a low-carbon pathway to a high-income economy

India must not emulate the ways of either the industrialized countries that have followed a high-carbon pathway to development or indeed that of China, which even today burns more coal than the rest of the world put together. 

India is the only major economy today that potentially has the possibility of following a low-carbon pathway to a high-income economy based on sustainable development. 

And India must do it not just because the world wants it to, but because the people of this country deserve it as a matter of right. 

India is well positioned to become Viksit Bharat by 2047, but the country needs to be in mission mode, and a whole-of-government approach is required to make sure that no stone is left unturned in this national endeavor. 

By any reckoning, the next 20 years will be the most crucial period in India’s history. 

The writer is a former Indian ambassador to France and is currently dean/professor at O.P. Jindal Global University. His views are his own.

This post was originally published on here. 

When a giant wave of seawater struck Chennai’s Marina Beach on the morning of December 26, 2004, pulling in its wake fisherfolk and a group of children playing cricket, little did their brethren know that an entire region had been struck. 

And little did they know that across the Bay of Bengal, local people and foreign tourists on Thai and Indonesian beaches had also been swept away.

The Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 2004 was a natural catastrophe of a magnitude not experienced by humanity in recent times.

It resulted in the death of almost a quarter million people and the displacement of a couple million people in 14 countries of the Indo-Pacific.

It also marked the coming of age of India’s Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) institutional capacity. 

India not only dealt with death and destruction in its mainland, particularly in the coastal states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, as well as major devastation in its island territories of Andaman & Nicobar (A&N) islands, but also provided speedy assistance to countries in south and south-east Asia, including Sri Lanka, Maldives, Thailand, and Indonesia. 

Simultaneously, India launched five HADR operations – two national and three international: Operation Madad (coastal south India), Operation Sea Waves (A&N), Operation Castor (Maldives), Operation Rainbow (Sri Lanka), and Operation Gambhir (Indonesia). 

These involved the three defense services and the Indian Coast Guard – more than 40 ships, several transport aircraft, and helicopters, and over 20,000 military personnel were deployed.

India’s actions led to its recognition as a credible first responder in the Indo-Pacific region. 

Soon thereafter, the Disaster Management Act of 2005 was adopted by the Indian parliament, providing the legal and institutional framework for disaster preparedness, mitigation, and response. 

It’s a three-layered structure at the national, state, and district level, and it led to the establishment of a dedicated force, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), to respond to such calamities.

The 2004 tsunami also saw the navies of four countries – Australia, India, Japan, and the US – coming together to coordinate the delivery of assistance in a collaborative effort that eventually evolved into the Quad.

How India has handled natural disasters

India has handled several major natural disasters in the last few decades – both in its immediate neighborhood and in distant lands.

In December 2014, India undertook one of its most complex humanitarian missions, Operation Neer, to supply drinking water to the Maldives after that country’s only desalination plant broke down. 

Indian aircraft and naval ships worked around the clock to supply over 1,500 tonnes of drinking water to the Maldives, becoming the first country to respond to its request.

In April 2015, when a massive earthquake hit Nepal, India launched a comprehensive rescue-and-relief mission, called Operation Maitri, within six hours of the initial tremors. 

Several thousand stranded Indians and foreign nationals were evacuated by air and land routes, and hundreds of tonnes of essential material were delivered. Several field hospitals were set up. 

After the relief operations were completed, India launched a major rehabilitation and reconstruction package of around $2 billion for Nepal.

FOLLOWING A devastating earthquake that struck Myanmar at the end of March 2025, India launched Operation Brahma, a huge tri-services combined with NDRF mission that supplied over 750 tonnes of materials and equipment, including essential medicines and food aid. 

Field hospitals were set up in Mandalay, while engineering teams were deployed for reconnaissance and assessment of structural damage. Op Brahma was a classic whole-of-government HADR endeavor by the Indian Government.

At the end of 2025, India provided massive support to Sri Lanka under Operation Sagar Bandhu during Cyclone Ditwah. Food, equipment, medicines, and other essential items were provided, and over 1,000 tonnes of dry rations were supplied.

Beyond its immediate neighborhood, India also responded with alacrity to requests from Turkey and Syria when they were struck by earthquakes in 2023. 

Under Operation Dost, India was a first responder, sending large Search and Rescue teams of more than 250 personnel, along with medical teams and dog squads to both countries as well as materials support.

In March 2019, India provided HADR to cyclone-hit Mozambique, and in 2023, assisted Malawi, which was affected by a tropical cyclone.

On June 26, 2026, India undertook its most ambitious HADR initiative when 30 tonnes of humanitarian relief materials, accompanied by a 41-member team comprising experienced rescue personnel and medical professionals, arrived in two C-17s to earthquake-hit Venezuela.

India supplied 300 million vaccine doses to 99 countries and two UN entities under the Vaccine Maitri initiative during COVID-19, since January 2021, along with essential medicines and medical support.

For India, HADR has moved from being an episodic activity to a continuous global engagement. 

It is an essential feature of India’s foreign and security policy, formally enunciated in the Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) doctrine announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to Mauritius in March 2015, which underpins India’s approach to the Indian Ocean Region. 

It became an intrinsic part of our Indo-Pacific Vision and Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative announced in 2019 and evolved into the MAHASAGAR vision outlined by Modi in March 2025.

India’s approach is not merely reactive. 

It has also put in place frameworks for international cooperation in prevention and mitigation, and it contributed toward setting up an international tsunami warning system and the launch of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.

The CDRI, comprising 60 member states, works with 25 small island developing states to build disaster-resilient infrastructure including schools, hospitals, and homes.

By providing need-based and rapid assistance during emergencies, and through its efforts to develop capacities for mutual benefit, India is seen as a reliable first responder and a force for global good.

The writer is the former Indian ambassador to Thailand and former Indian high commissioner to Kenya.

This post was originally published on here. 

The Taliban marked five years in power on Saturday, seeking to portray their government as in control even as aid and rights groups warned of escalating crises.

Outside the former US embassy in Kabul, armored Taliban vehicles took part in a parade, displaying flags and banners, and celebrating what the government described as “victory day” from Western domination.

Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s interior minister, said in a video address that their return to power was the result of “morale, courage” and “divine assistance.”

But he also made a rare acknowledgement of “issues and problems that may still exist.”

International organizations and the UN say the Taliban have struggled to address the natural and humanitarian crises Afghanistan has faced over the past five years, in part because Afghan women are under severe restrictions.

The Taliban have also faced a string of assassinations of key regional officials in the country’s northeast in recent weeks.

In late July, the Taliban’s information director in Badakhshan province was killed in an attack later claimed by Islamic State. The mayor of the province’s capital also died in an attack on Thursday, local media reported.

Taliban officials did not immediately confirm the reports.

Diplomatic inroads

When the Taliban returned to power in 2021 amid the withdrawal of the US and its allies, they promised to govern more liberally than they had in the late 1990s and early 2000s — a period marked by public executions, the sheltering of Osama bin Laden and the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas.

But those assurances quickly faltered, human rights groups say. The Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women and girls since 2021, barring 2.5 million of them from secondary schools and universities, according to UNESCO, and limiting their freedom of movement.

Half of Afghan women now ‌leave their homes only once or twice a month, according to data released by UN Women on Wednesday.

The Taliban say they respect women’s rights in accordance with Islamic sharia law.

Five years on, their government remains internationally unrecognized, with Russia the only country to have formally recognized it.

Relations between the Taliban and Pakistan — initially their most important partner — are tense, as Islamabad accuses Kabul of supporting Pakistani insurgents.

Many former embassies in Kabul have remained empty since the Taliban’s return to power, including the US embassy that was the backdrop of Taliban celebrations on Saturday.

But the Taliban have made quiet diplomatic inroads, analysts say, as some countries weigh the limits of their influence in Afghanistan and the need to engage with the government.

The Taliban are increasingly pushing for arrangements with European nations that have been seeking ways to deport more Afghans. The government in Kabul is also using its geographical location at the crossroads of South and Central Asia and the Middle East to strike economic deals.

Zia Ahmad Takal, a deputy spokesman for the Taliban’s foreign ministry, told Reuters that ceremonies marking the government’s fifth anniversary were expected to be held in the capitals of Pakistan, China, Uzbekistan, Iran, Turkey and Malaysia.

“My hope for the future of Afghanistan is that we will move toward development, God willing,” Najibullah Ghorzang, a 28-year-old shop owner who attended Saturday’s ceremonies in Kabul, said.

“We defeated a great empire, and we will defeat them again,” he said of the US and its allies.

Record level humanitarian crisis

The International Rescue Committee warned on Friday that Afghanistan’s humanitarian needs had reached a record level, driven by droughts, the fallout from deadly earthquakes and the deportation of Afghans from neighboring Iran and Pakistan.

While foreign aid budgets have shrunk, the number of Afghans in need of humanitarian assistance has risen by 3.5 million people since 2021, it said.

“Sustainable peace and prosperity require more than just an absence of conflict,” Georgette Gagnon, a senior UN representative on Afghanistan, said in a statement.

“Afghanistan’s future depends on building a society in which the rights and potential of all Afghans are realized.”

Fatima, 28, has struggled to survive with her child. After the Taliban’s return to power, she fled to Iran, where she could continue working as a make-up artist even as the Taliban banned women from such work in Afghanistan.

Last year, she was expelled from Iran and deported to Afghanistan.

“Every morning, I wake up wondering how I will cover my basic living expenses, and every night I close my eyes with worries about my child’s future,” she said.

This post was originally published on here. 

US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth downplayed concerns regarding the well-being of sailors deployed on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier on Friday after reports claimed that distressed service members had tried to jump overboard due to poor conditions.

Trump asserted that the over-260-day deployment was “not nearly long enough” when asked by reporters if he believed the deployment had gone on too long.

“That ship is moving right now or very shortly, and it’s being replaced with another very similar ship,” he continued, speaking to the media before boarding Air Force One on Friday.

Hegseth took to social media to criticize the allegations of low morale and poor conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln, labelling outlets that have reported on the matter as “fake, America-hating news.”

“The reckless and shameless ‘American’ media completely and intentionally misrepresent the USS Abraham Lincoln,” Hegseth claimed in a post on X/Twitter on Friday.

The reckless & shameless “American” media completely & intentionally misrepresent the USS Abraham Lincoln.

The brave Sailors of that Strike Group are very proud of their tough & historic mission. They embody resilience & excellence. @DeptofWar @USNavy & @CENTCOM have their back. https://t.co/2Yi08wMxYm

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) August 14, 2026

He asserted that sailors aboard the ship are proud of their deployment and “embody resilience and excellence.”

Senator Blumenthal calls for formal inquiry into complaints

US Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), a veteran who served in the US Marine Corps Reserve, on Thursday demanded that the Trump administration explain what measures are being taken to support the sailors and why the USS Abraham Lincoln’s deployment was extended beyond the originally scheduled seven months. 

In a letter to Hegseth and Acting US Navy Secretary Hung Cao, Blumenthal cited reports of water contamination, plumbing issues, and shortages of basic supplies, among other concerns raised by sailors aboard the aircraft carrier, as reasons for a formal inquiry into the matter. 

“The men and women aboard the Lincoln have answered the call to serve their country. The Department owes them… adequate supplies, maintenance, and support during this deployment,” he asserted.

Blumenthal asked that the US Navy provide answers to his inquiry before August 27.

Acting Navy secretary, CENTCOM deny reports of poor conditions

Cao, in a statement released on Friday, also denied the reports of poor conditions and asserted that the USS Abraham Lincoln and sailors aboard will return home shortly as part of a planned rotation.

He acknowledged how difficult deployment can be for sailors, vowing that “the safety and security of Sailors and Marines always comes first” for the Navy.

Cao continued to claim that the allegations are dishonest and “take away the focus on the enemy and the threat it poses against our nation, people, and way of life.”

US Central Command (CENTCOM) similarly denied the reports regarding sailors’ concerns, labelling them as “rampant misreporting” and a disservice to US service members.

Miriam Sela-Eitam and Esther David contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, signed on August 7 by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan, represents the first formalization of the slow emergence of a conservative Sunni Islamic bloc intended to provide a strategic counterweight against both Israel and Iran. In recent months, many Middle East analysts have taken note of this nascent development.

The implications of the emergence of this bloc are already more than symbolic. It has its foundations in existing and growing bilateral ties between these countries in the fields of trade and economic relations and military cooperation, and is not only a matter of declarations.

The Mecca pact does not include all members of this axis. In their different ways, Qatar and the emergent regime in Syria are both components of the emerging bloc. Indeed, in many ways these countries are a more natural fit for membership than Saudi Arabia. The pact is therefore significant mainly because it indicates that Riyadh seeks at least one foot in this emergent axis. 

Israel should be watching the slow crystallization of this bloc carefully. Jerusalem, and Islamic claims there, are likely to form the symbolic element that knits the emergent group together. Symbols, and especially Jerusalem, often end up acquiring practical political and sometimes military form, as has been witnessed in the region over the last three years. 

The Mecca pact was announced with portentous language, which promised more than it looks set to immediately fulfill. According to the key part of the joint statement: “The agreement is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression, and stipulates that any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all. It further provides for the enhancement of all aspects of defense cooperation among the three states.”

Trilateral pact seeks to replicate NATO’s Article 5, treating an attack on one as an attack on all

This sounds – and is intended to sound – like an unambiguous joint military guarantee, reminiscent of NATO’s Article 5, according to which an armed attack against one alliance member “shall be considered an attack against them all.” 

No one, however, seriously believes that the Mecca pact obliges, say, Turkey to enter war against India if Pakistan is attacked by it, or Pakistan to fight Iran if the IRGC or one of its proxies attacks Saudi Arabia. The latter instance, indeed, has already been tested with subsequent Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, predictably triggering no response from Riyadh’s new fellow Mecca pact members. No one also expects Pakistan’s nuclear umbrella to now be extended over Saudi Arabia and Turkey either. 

In this regard, it is worth remembering that NATO’s Article 5 itself does not oblige member states to declare or enter war against a country attacking a fellow NATO member. Rather, Article 5 only requires a member state, in such an eventuality, to “take such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force.” The Mecca pact is more vague and does not detail what an attack “on one member as an attack against all” is supposed to imply.

But while the declaration contains less than meets the eye, this should not lead to the conclusion that the emergence of the Mecca pact is entirely without significance. 

The core element in it is the bilateral relationship between Turkey and Pakistan. The steady growth and solidifying of strategic and defense ties between these two countries over the last decade has been a notable element of the regional strategic picture.

In a deal worth $1.5 billion in 2018, Pakistan’s navy purchased four MILGEM-class ships from Turkey. The deal constituted Turkey’s largest single defense export agreement. The two countries are cooperating on drone development. Turkey has helped upgrade Pakistan’s fleet of F-16 fighter bombers. Turkey is today Pakistan’s fourth-largest supplier of arms (the largest is China). 

Ankara and Islamabad are united by a similar outlook combining conservative Sunni political Islam with an assertive, increasingly militant stance toward rivals. The Mecca pact is intended to form a component in the formalization of growing practical ties between these allies. 

Saudi Arabia’s place at this particular table is more complex. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was, until the outbreak of war in the region three years ago, often grouped alongside the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain as one of a group of emergent Gulf leaders seeking to transcend old allegiances and rivalries, and move closer to Israel as part of an orientation geared toward economic and technological development. 

The Abraham Accords of 2020 represented the organizational manifestation of this trend. It should not be assumed that Riyadh has conclusively abandoned this orientation. But in the new post-October 7 Middle East, military defense and religious and civilizational symbolic loyalties are very much back front and center. 

In this environment, Riyadh has noted well what currently looks like the failure of the US to achieve its war aims against Iran, or to adequately defend Gulf countries against Iranian attacks. The more general desire of Washington to withdraw from major commitments in the Middle East has surely also been noted.

Saudis hedge to signal to the US and regional allies that they have other options

This does not mean that Saudi Arabia is now placing its trust in Islamabad or Ankara for its defense. It does mean that the Saudis are hedging, and want to convey to the US and its regional allies that they have options, and many potential partners (even ones who, in practical terms, can apparently promise little in kinetic terms against Iran and its proxies). 

Even after the current agreement, Saudi Arabia remains a sought-after outlier in the emergent Sunni alliance, rather than a core component of it. Other than Turkey and Pakistan, the third key member of the group is Qatar, with extensive ties and a common outlook to both of these countries. 

From an Israeli point of view, a number of elements regarding this alliance (Turkey-Pakistan-Qatar) should be noted: it is on the rhetorical level jointly and extremely anti-Israel.

A week ago, Pakistani defense minister Khawaja Asif called for a “united military front” of the Islamic world against Israel. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently said, “Zionism threatens not only me, not only our party, not only our alliance; it threatens everyone,” and so on. The rhetoric is also backed up by actions. Turkey and Qatar are, along with Iran, the main practical supporters of Hamas. 

Lastly, there is an additional member of this alliance: the emerging Sunni Islamist regime of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Turkey and Qatar are the main allies of that new regime. Ankara is currently engaged in the building of a 200,000-strong new Syrian army, controlled and staffed by Sunni Islamist commanders. 

A recent Channel 11 news report revealed that an unnamed Middle East country had advised another unnamed Middle East country to conclude an agreement with Israel in order to buy time and build strength before breaking the agreement and launching war with Israel. 

While the names of the countries were not revealed, Middle Eastern strategic logic would suggest that the advised country was almost certainly Syria, and the advising one either Turkey or Qatar. 

This appears to indicate that the anti-Israel statements of this emergent alliance are not just rhetoric. Rather, they form an integral element in its strategy. Strategic planners in Jerusalem should be taking careful note.

This post was originally published on here. 

An estimated $50 million ransom paid to free a hostage seized by al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in Mali in late 2025 has helped to fund their advances across West Africa and the group’s global network, United Nations experts said.

A new UN report detailing the use of the ransom did not identify the hostage or say who had made the payment.

Three regional sources identified the country that made the payment as the United Arab Emirates. The sources said that an Emirati citizen, as well as two other foreigners who had been kidnapped but were not referenced in the UN report, were freed after money changed hands. They did not explain how it had been done.

In response to questions about the kidnapping and ransom payment, a UAE official did not address the specifics of the case but said the country was unwavering in condemning and countering extremism and terrorism.

“UAE continues to strengthen its counter-terrorism efforts through active engagement in relevant international and regional frameworks, and through sustained efforts to cut off sources of extremist financing and counter extremist ideology,” the official said.

UN sanctions committee discussed report last week

Most of the money went to fighters operating in the Sahel region, but some also flowed to al-Qaeda in Yemen and the organization’s core leadership, which is likely to be in Iran or Afghanistan, the UN report said.

It was not possible to reach the al-Qaeda affiliates in Africa and Yemen for comment. Mali’s government did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the incident.

The two other hostages freed were from Pakistan and Iran, two regional security sources said, without detailing any ransom payments. The Pakistani and Iranian governments did not respond to requests for comment.

The UN report, written by a team that monitors al-Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS) on behalf of the UN Security Council, was presented to the UN sanctions committee behind closed doors last week, a source with direct knowledge told Reuters.

It is dated August 10 but appeared on the UN website the following day.

The findings underscore how a single ransom payment can reshape the finances and reach of a terrorist network. With al-Qaeda’s strongest affiliates now in Africa, the cash injection has bolstered fighters who have expanded across several West African countries and challenged governments backed by Russian forces, regional security officials and military experts said.

The UAE has become an increasingly important partner for Mali’s military-led government, expanding trade and investment links, and is also a key destination for gold produced by Mali’s informal miners.

Al-Qaeda, once led by powerful figures in Afghanistan and Pakistan and supported by influential branches in the Middle East, has evolved into a decentralized network whose strongest members are now in Africa.

The UN report said that most of the “approximately $50 million ransom received in 2025 for the release of a hostage” was redistributed among katibas – a term used to describe groups operating across the Sahel region that are part of a coalition of militants known as Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM).

“These funds played a key role in financing the group’s offensive across Mali,” the report said, without specifying how the funds were transferred or what they were used for.

JNIM has 7,000 to 8,000 fighters in Africa’s Sahel region, half of whom are in Mali, the report said.

The al-Qaeda-linked Sahel terrorists operate across territory in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger as well as Benin and Togo to the south, while helping support al-Qaeda more broadly.

By enabling the militants to pay for the arms, logistics and fighters needed to extend their insurgency across the desert region, the ransom gives them significant influence there, as well as within the global al-Qaeda network, experts on the conflict said.

Kidnappings provide cash, undermine confidence in the state

The UN reports do not say how the UN experts knew where the ransom money had gone – they are briefed by intelligence services around the world and also obtain information from their own sources.

Advances by JNIM in Mali this year, as well as insurgencies raging in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, have underscored the threat and influence of al-Qaeda and Islamic State-linked groups across West Africa.

In April, JNIM fighters allied with separatist rebels attacked Mali’s capital and a string of towns across the country, killing the defense minister.

Kidnapping has long been a lucrative activity for militant groups, but last year’s payment dwarfs previous ransoms, which are generally in the range of $4 million to $6 million for foreigners, security sources said.

JNIM sees kidnappings both as a funding source and as a way to undermine confidence in state security, the UN report said.

In June, JNIM issued a statement offering millions of euros for information on the whereabouts of Mali’s president and top military officials.

The UN report said a portion of the $50 million ransom was allocated to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a member of JNIM that is the official al-Qaeda affiliate in North Africa.

This entity then passed some cash on to al-Qaeda core leadership, as well as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a faction in Yemen, the report said.

Reuters was unable to reach those al-Qaeda groups to verify the information or establish how much money had been received.

This post was originally published on here. 

Elul 1, 2448 (1312 BCE): Moses ascended Mount Sinai for the third time and remained there for 40 days, during which time he obtained God’s wholehearted forgiveness for the people of Israel. He then came down on the 10th of Tishrei (Yom Kippur) with the second Tablets of the Law (Exodus 33:11). Ever since, the month of Elul serves as the “month of Divine mercy and forgiveness.”

Aug. 15, 2005: The Gaza Disengagement began with 14,000 IDF soldiers and police officers forcibly evicting more than 8,500 Jewish residents who chose to remain in their homes in 25 towns. The government’s hopes that the Disengagement would open “new opportunities” in relations with the Palestinians were bitterly disappointed. The vacated settlements were used to launch terrorist attacks against Israel, including unremitting rocket fire on the nearby Israeli town of Sderot, and eventually led to Oct. 7.

Elul 3, 5695 (1935): Yahrzeit of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Kook, Talmudic scholar, philosopher, prolific author, first chief rabbi of the Ashkenazi community of pre-state Israel, and the founding father of the “religious Zionist” movement. He developed warm relations with the secular pioneers who were building Israel and maintained that the modern return to Zion was “the beginning of the redemption, and the harbinger of the coming of the Messiah.”

“It is forbidden for religious behavior to compromise a personal, natural, moral sensibility. If it does, our fear of heaven is no longer pure… and we have certainly been mistaken in our faith.”

Aug. 17: Birthdays of Samuel Goldwyn (1879), movie producer and one of the founders of Hollywood; Mikhail Botvinnik (1911), world chess champion (1948-1957, 1958-1960, 1961-1963) and developer of chess computers; and Sean Penn (1960, Jewish father), American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer, who has won two best actor Academy Awards for his roles in Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008).

Aug. 18, 1790: In response to a letter from the Jewish community of Rhode Island, president George Washington responded: “The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind… a policy worthy of imitation… For happily the Government of the United States, gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance… May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the goodwill of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid…” Washington’s letter is still housed in the Touro Synagogue in Newport, RI.

Aug. 19, 1845: Birthday of Baron Edmond de Rothschild, head of the French branch of the famed banking family. He was known as the “Father of the Yishuv” due to his financing almost single-handedly the pre-state agricultural villages of Rishon Lezion, Zichron Ya’acov, Gedera, Rosh Pina, and 30 others. He also established Israel’s wine industry when he helped Russian Jews flee pogroms in the 1880s and plant vineyards in Israel.

More famous birthdays, a massacre in Hebron 

Aug. 20, 1940: Leon Trotsky (Lev Bronstein), Russian Communist revolutionary and theorist and the founder and first leader of the Red Army, who organized the armed uprising against the tsar, placing the Communists in power, was assassinated, most likely on orders from Joseph Stalin.

Aug. 21, 1973: Birthday of Sergey Brin, American computer scientist, co-founder of Google, and one of the richest men in America. 

Aug. 22, 1654: Jacob Barsimson, the first Jew known to settle in North America, arrived in New Amsterdam from Holland.

Aug. 23: Birthdays of Nobel Prize laureates in Economics, Kenneth Arrow (1921), “for his pioneering contributions to general economic equilibrium theory and welfare theory,” and Robert Solow (1924), for his work on the theory of economic growth.

Aug. 24, 1929: In Hebron, 67 Jewish men, women, and children were slaughtered, and scores were wounded, raped, and maimed by their Arab neighbors, who rioted for three days amid cries of “slaughter the Jews.” Jewish homes were pillaged, synagogues were desecrated, a Jewish hospital, which had provided treatment for Arabs, was attacked and ransacked, and the ancient Jewish community of Hebron, which had lived in relative peace for hundreds of years, was not revived until it was recaptured in the 1967 Six Day War.

Aug. 25, 1933: The “Transfer Agreement” was signed between representatives of the World Zionist Organization and the German government, in which German goods were purchased and exported to pre-state Israel and sold there, and the proceeds were used by new immigrants from Germany to start their lives. Between 1933 and 1941, over 20,000 German Jews transferred more than $30 million using this mechanism.

Aug. 26, 1906: Birthday of Albert Sabin (Abram Saperstejn), developer of the “live” form of the polio vaccine, which does not require refrigeration and can be taken on a sugar cube. This development eliminated the need for needles and sterilization facilities, thereby making worldwide immunization possible. Sabin refused to patent his vaccine or profit from it, so that the low price would guarantee a more extensive spread of the treatment. He also developed vaccines for encephalitis and dengue fever.

Aug. 27, 1945: The 1,310 surviving Jewish refugees fleeing Europe who were forcibly transferred to Mauritius by the British government were allowed into Israel. 

Aug. 28, 1903: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plot for global domination, was first published in serialized form in Zmaya, a St. Petersburg daily newspaper. Despite having been exposed as fraudulent, it has been translated into multiple languages and disseminated internationally. Henry Ford funded the printing of 500,000 copies that were distributed throughout the United States in the 1920s. Described as “probably the most influential work of antisemitism ever written,” to this day it remains widely available in numerous languages, in print and on the Internet, and continues to be presented by neo-fascist, fundamentalist groups as genuine.

Aug. 29, 1897: The World Zionist Organization was founded at the first World Zionist Congress, which opened in Basel, Switzerland, with 200 delegates from 16 countries. Theodor Herzl, who financed it himself, noted in his diary: “At Basel I founded the Jewish State.”

Aug. 30, 1897: Hermann Schapira, a Lithuanian rabbi and mathematician, presented his idea at the World Zionist Congress for what would become the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (including the ubiquitous blue box for collection), to purchase and cultivate land in pre-state Israel. Debated for years, the KKL-JNF was established only at the 5th Zionist Congress after a push from Herzl to make it happen.

Elul 18, 5494 (1734): After many years as a member of a society of “hidden tzaddikim,” living under the guise of an ignorant clay-digger, Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hassidism, was instructed by his masters to reveal himself on his 36th birthday and begin to publicly disseminate his teachings, emphasizing the importance of joy and simple faith. Initially, his teachings encountered fierce opposition from the established leadership of the Jewish community, but by the time he passed away at age 62 on Shavuot of 1760, the movement he founded had spread significantly.

Sept. 1, 1967: In response to the Israeli offer to return the Sinai to Egypt and the Golan Heights to Syria after the Six Day War, the Arab League meeting in Khartoum, Sudan, issued its infamous three nos: “No to peace, no to recognition, no to negotiations.”

Sept. 2, 1796: Holland granted equality to its 50,000 Jews.

Sept. 3, 1905: Birthday of Nechama Leibowitz, Bible scholar, beloved teacher, and author of popular study guides to the weekly Torah portion. She was awarded the Israel Prize in 1957 for her pioneering literary approach to the Bible and for furthering its understanding and appreciation.

Sept. 4: Birthdays of Darius Milhaud (1892), French conductor, teacher, and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century, and David Broza (1955), Israeli folk-rock singer and songwriter who has been successful on the international rock circuit.

The Munich Olympics, Israeli history milestones

Sept. 5, 1972: At the Olympic Village in Munich, eight Arab terrorists from the Black September Organization kidnapped and held Israeli athletes for ransom. During a botched attempt by German police to free them, 11 were murdered.

Elul 24, 5693 (1933): Yahrzeit of Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, revered author of over 30 works on Jewish ethics and laws, including Chafetz Chaim (“He who desires life”) and Mishna Berurah, founder of the Yeshiva of Radin, Talmudist, and moralist. Earning his living as a teacher and shopkeeper, he consistently refused a rabbinical post.

Sept. 7, 1827: Tsar Nicholas I issued a decree in Russia to draft Jewish boys at the age of 12, place them in schools for military education until age 18, and then obligate them to another 25 years of military service. Most of the 50,000 “cantonists” never returned to the families they had left at age 12.

Sept. 8, 1949: The Knesset passed Israel’s draft law, making it obligatory for every Jewish youth in Israel to serve in the military forces.

Sept. 9, 1940: An Italian air raid on Tel Aviv killed 117 and wounded 150.

Sept. 10, 1952: Israel signed an agreement to accept reparation payments from West Germany for losses caused by the Nazis, over the objections of Menachem Begin, who was concerned that they could be perceived as somehow “absolving” Nazis of their heinous crimes.

Sept. 11, 1923: The Daf Yomi, a seven-year cycle of studying a page of Talmud a day, was initiated by Rabbi Meir Shapira of Lublin on Rosh Hashanah. Today, tens of thousands of Jews study the “daily daf” all over the world.

The above is a highly abridged monthly version of Dust & Stars – Today in Jewish History. To receive the complete newsletter highlighting seminal events in this most unlikely story and the remarkable Jews who have changed the world: dustandstars.substack.com/subscribe

This post was originally published on here. 

A South Florida site backed out of hosting a rally with Democratic US Representative Rashida Tlaib, a vocal critic of Israel’s government, after complaints by a Democratic state lawmaker in the party’s latest flashpoint over its stance on Israel.

Tlaib, the first Palestinian American member of Congress, was scheduled to appear on Friday at a rally for three candidates in Florida’s upcoming Democratic Party primary.

However, The Venue Fort Lauderdale, which was scheduled to host the event, suddenly canceled it after State Representative Michael Gottlieb, chairman of the Florida Legislative Jewish Caucus, posted a statement on Thursday calling the planned rally an “anti-Jew” gathering.

Tlaib has condemned antisemitism and says criticism of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and its attacks in Gaza and Lebanon is not antisemitic.

The Venue in a statement cited “increased security concerns” for its decision and said it is Jewish-owned and “our values and commitment to the Jewish community are deeply important to us.”

Opposing US support for Israel

Prominent progressive Democrats, including Tlaib and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, have opposed US support for Israel over Israeli attacks in Gaza and Lebanon, the US-Israeli war with Iran and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close ties to Republicans, leading to an erosion of Democratic backing for Washington’s ally.

The rally was organized by groups such as “Florida Youth Justice Coalition,” “Gen-Z For Change” and a local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

It was meant to support State Representative Angie Nixon, who is running for the US Senate; and Elijah Manley and Oliver Larkin, who are seeking seats in the US House of Representatives.

After The Venue withdrew its support, the event was expected to proceed Friday night at a Fort Lauderdale wine bar, an organizer told The New York Times.

The Florida Democratic Progressive Caucus said the cancellation of the rally was rooted in anti-Muslim sentiment. Florida’s primary elections are scheduled for August 18.

This post was originally published on here. 

Mecca Agreement: Yes to strengthening security, stability

Al Rai, Kuwait, August 8

The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey represents an important milestone in strategic cooperation among Islamic countries, with objectives centered on strengthening collective security, developing joint defense capabilities, and reinforcing solidarity in the face of regional and global security challenges.

The agreement comes amid rapidly changing regional and international conditions, making coordination among friendly and brotherly states essential to preserving stability and protecting shared interests.

It is built on a clear principle: an armed attack against one party is considered an attack against all, thereby strengthening collective deterrence, raising the level of military, security, and political coordination among the three countries, and sending a message that their security is interconnected and that preserving their stability is a shared responsibility.

Such cooperation is intended not only to strengthen regional stability and reduce the risk of escalation, but also to unify efforts, exchange expertise, and improve defense readiness.

The importance of the agreement extends beyond the military sphere into political, economic, and strategic dimensions. It can deepen relations among the three states, reinforce mutual trust, and open wider avenues for cooperation in defense industries, military training, and modern technologies, while also supporting investments and joint projects that benefit the participating economies and contribute to development and stability.

The agreement also reflects a shared understanding that contemporary challenges require collective action, whether in response to security threats, regional crises, or dangers affecting maritime routes and international trade.

This cooperation can raise the level of coordination among military and security institutions and facilitate the exchange of information and expertise in support of regional security.

The agreement has been welcomed by many observers of Islamic and international affairs as a step that strengthens cooperation among Islamic countries within a framework that respects national sovereignty and seeks to protect security and stability.

The Muslim World League likewise welcomed efforts aimed at reinforcing Islamic solidarity and coordinating responses to shared threats, emphasizing the importance of unity and cooperation among Islamic states.

The success of such agreements should not be measured only by their defensive provisions, but by the atmosphere of cooperation, trust, and integration they create, and by the opportunities they provide to strengthen peace and prevent conflicts before they occur, through deterrence and coordination. They also reaffirm that collective action among friendly states remains one of the most important means of preserving regional security and protecting the higher interests of their peoples.

In the end, the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement offers a model of strategic cooperation based on shared interests and mutual respect and reflects the participating states’ desire to build a more coordinated and capable defense architecture.

Continuing along this path can help consolidate security and stability, expand opportunities for development and prosperity, and confirm that solidarity among brotherly states remains one of the principal pillars of peace and security in the region. May God preserve our Gulf in safety and stability. 

– Dr. Issa Al-Amiri

The ‘alliance’ against Tehran on three fronts

Asharq al-Awsat, UK, August 9

It has become clear that the war Iran is waging is directed against Saudi Arabia and its Gulf sisters, not primarily against the US or Israel. Since February, Iran has attacked Saudi Arabia with more than a thousand drones, in addition to ballistic missiles aimed at civilian and military facilities, while expanding the confrontation through Iraq and Yemen in an effort to encircle the kingdom.

Riyadh, in turn, surprised Tehran by forming a bloc of three states that border Iran. The new alliance changes the balance of power against Tehran: Turkey and Pakistan are no longer spectators but frontline states, bringing strategic depth, greater military capabilities, a combined population of some 400 million – four times Iran’s – and more than 1,400 kilometers of land borders facing it. Turkey is a NATO member, while Pakistan is a nuclear power with close military ties to China.

This Saudi move will affect both the management of the conflict and the negotiations and will gradually deprive Iran of many of the advantages it enjoyed in its war with the US.

Last month, Iran escalated its attacks on northern and southern Saudi Arabia by opening two fronts from Iraq and Yemen.

The development coincided with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s work on the Mecca Agreement and the announcement of the trilateral military alliance with Turkey and Pakistan, which had been under preparation since last year. It is the second alliance Saudi Arabia has built and announced within a single week, following the establishment of an international maritime military coalition led by Riyadh.

The alliance with Turkey and Pakistan matters on three fronts: deterring Iran, defending the oil market, and shaping Arab and Islamic public opinion.

The first front is Iran itself. Tehran’s escalating military activity exposes its desire to widen the conflict and perhaps impose a new geopolitical reality in the Gulf by force.

The Riyadh-Ankara-Islamabad axis is designed to create a balance that deters Iran from considering further expansion into the Gulf and from targeting Jordan, Syria, and Yemen. A wider war would impose enormous costs on Iran’s leadership.

Tehran’s strategy in confronting the US has depended on holding oil hostage. It turned the closure of Hormuz, attacks on producing states, and threats to energy infrastructure into its strongest leverage against a superpower it cannot confront on equal military terms. The new Saudi-led axis deprives Iran of much of that card.

The alliance also enjoys broad international acceptance because many governments chose neutrality in the US-Israel-Iran war. Even states that considered confrontation with Iran justified believed the war had been launched without sufficient legal and diplomatic preparation.

The international support for the Saudi-Turkish-Pakistani axis can be seen in the broad backing for the multinational maritime coalition announced by Riyadh last week, whose meeting at the Saudi Ministry of Defense brought together 43 governments.

Both the Mecca and Red Sea initiatives are defensive, directed against Iranian aggression, and were prepared politically and legally in advance.

This front is not intended to protect Saudi Arabia alone; it also shelters the wider Gulf and the eastern Arab world. The objective is to stop an Iran that, after losing many of its centers of influence through the destruction of Hezbollah and the fall of the Assad regime, chose instead to destabilize the region and create a new geopolitical reality through threats to Arab states. The outline of that plan became clear after the war resumed in late February, when Iranian attacks focused more heavily on Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, and Jordan than on the two declared enemies in the war, the US and Israel.

The second front is oil, the battle the entire world is watching. Iran has sought to close both Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab, strike Gulf production and export facilities, and force the world to submit to its demands. Markets reacted immediately to the announcement of the new trilateral alliance, with oil prices falling on international exchanges.

The third front is public opinion: the hearts and minds of roughly 300 million Arabs and more than a billion Muslims worldwide. They had been watching a war marketed to them as an American-Israeli assault on a peaceful Muslim country. Because the war was not decided quickly, Iran devoted enormous effort to justifying its own aggression and depicting attacks on its neighbors as legitimate because those states supposedly belonged to the American-Israeli camp.

Faced with the new alliance, it will become much harder for Tehran’s propaganda machine to convince one-and-a-half billion people that Pakistan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia are enemies of Arabs and Muslims.

Iran’s leadership, hiding underground, will lose the propaganda war as well. We will see Tehran’s aggressive behavior begin to change in the coming days. 

– Abdulrahman Al-Rashed  

Does the US-Iran war benefit China?

Al-Bayan, UAE, August 9

Is China benefiting from the US-Iran war, or is it being harmed by it, and where exactly do the gains and losses lie?

The question has become increasingly relevant following reports published last week by American media outlets, including CNN, Reuters, and The Washington Post, claiming that the US military has consumed around 80% of its interceptor missiles and certain types of munitions during the recent war.

According to those reports, this depletion was a major reason President Donald Trump stopped launching additional military operations against Iran.

Trump denied the reports last week and even threatened to prosecute what he called the “traitors” who had published false information.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also denied them, yet at the same time requested more than $67 billion in additional congressional funding to cover the current fiscal year, warning that insufficient resources could threaten the military’s ability to replenish equipment and ammunition.

Trump had already asked major American defense companies months ago to accelerate production of weapons and munitions.

So, what does any of this have to do with China? Quite simply, if the reports of severe US stockpile depletion are accurate, Beijing will regard them as extremely welcome news. Many analysts already believe that strategic competition between the US and China for global leadership is unavoidable. Today it may be economic and technological; tomorrow it may become military. China is therefore watching the US-Iran war closely to identify American strengths and vulnerabilities. If US weapons stocks have indeed fallen sharply, that would expose a serious weakness.

The obvious question would be what happens if the US suddenly faces a military confrontation with China, Russia, or both, and how quickly it could replenish the weapons required.

Some observers argue that these reports may themselves be part of an American strategy of deception aimed at China. There is no definitive answer, because the outcome depends on several changing factors.

China would benefit significantly if the war continued at a limited level. The US military would require more aircraft carriers, air defenses, fighter aircraft, intelligence capabilities, precision missiles, munitions, and spare parts, potentially drawing resources away from the Pacific and Indian Oceans and giving Beijing greater freedom of movement in Asia.

A prolonged Middle Eastern conflict could also expand China’s economic influence, strengthen the Belt and Road Initiative, increase Chinese investment abroad, and reinforce China’s image as a power associated with peace, stability, and investment rather than war.

Yet perhaps the greatest benefit would be the opportunity to study American military performance in real conditions: ammunition consumption, logistical management, and the effectiveness of US air defenses. That information could help China plan for any future confrontation with the US over Taiwan or elsewhere in the Pacific. But this scenario would not produce pure gains for China or pure losses for Washington.

A long conflict that disrupts shipping and supply routes would immediately harm the Chinese economy, which depends heavily on Middle Eastern energy. Higher import costs would affect industry and therefore economic growth, while disruption to global trade, weaker demand, and rising transportation costs could contribute to a major slowdown in China itself.

Some experts therefore believe that a prolonged but limited American entanglement with Iran would benefit China, while a broad regional war would hurt Beijing through higher oil prices, disrupted supply chains, threatened maritime security, and declining global growth.

China’s ideal scenario would be the gradual exhaustion of its American competitor without the collapse of the world economy.

Its worst scenario, however, would be an American victory that destroys the Iranian regime  and places Washington in a dominant position over global energy flows. In that case, the key to China’s economy could effectively end up in American hands. 

– Emad El-Din Hussein 

Translated by Asaf Zilberfarb. All assertions, opinions, facts, and information presented in these articles are the sole responsibility of their respective authors and are not necessarily those of The Media Line, which assumes no responsibility for their content.

Restoring serenity to religion

Al-Ittihad, UAE, August 9

After many years of following two intertwined phenomena – violent extremism in the name of religion and Iran’s efforts to penetrate Arab states – I arrived in 2014 at what I called three objectives: restoring serenity to religion, renewing and supporting the experience of the nation-state, and working continuously to ensure that we Arabs remain part of the world’s security and progress.

The great question that occupied our generation from the 1970s and 1980s onward was how religion, which is by nature a soft force that should inspire reassurance, tranquility, goodwill, and constructive action, became vulnerable to penetration by violence. The movements associated with the so-called Islamic Awakening made clear that they intended to use religion as a path to political power.

Some of us reassured ourselves that extremist movements represented only a small minority that peaceful majorities would never follow. Yet despite their limited numbers, as the 1990s and subsequent decades demonstrated, they were able to ignite sedition and attract sections of the public that were not confined to the poor or deprived.

One explanation may have been weak religious and social education, but the phenomenon lasted long enough to unleash a wave of terrorism that became global.

Under the cover of that wave, Iranian penetration expanded as well. Tehran exploited sectarianism but also worked through extremists who operated under slogans of sectarian identity, liberation, or hostility toward existing regimes and states.

Some governments were slow to confront these waves of extremism, manipulation, and blackmail, but eventually they recognized them for what they were: political and strategic threats.

Religious penetration and division nevertheless continued, and religious institutions, with state support, struggled against them until the waves receded without disappearing entirely.

The wars that erupted after 2023 reignited embers that had never fully died, now under the slogans of confronting aggression and seeking martyrdom. Yet decades of experience have taught us that militia struggles bring nothing but losses, and the devastation of the past three years has been unlike anything in our modern history.

Most disturbing of all is the transformation of religion into a game available to anyone skilled in manipulating emotion and psychology through illusions of revenge and defending the oppressed – when it is the oppressed themselves who end up paying the heaviest price for the benefit of those who use them, whether Iranian actors or political Islam movements.

The challenge was, and remains, how to restore religion’s immunity and dignity so that it cannot be humiliated or exploited. Nation-states are responsible for defending themselves and their societies against attack. Religion, however, is the responsibility of the communities that embrace its message of peace and security, the scholars who refuse to be deceived by mobilization and polarization, and the cultural and media figures who influence the public.

None of these groups should accept the use of religion in violence that divides societies, fragments communities, and destroys social harmony.

Perhaps Donald Rumsfeld, the US defense secretary under president George W. Bush, was sincere when he told Muslims that extremists had hijacked their religion and that they needed to liberate it from terrorist gangs. Sedition is created by a minority, while the majority suffers its consequences.

That is our condition today. Our duty is to protect our religion from exploitation, our states from targeting, and our societies from manipulation. 

– Radwan al-Sayed 

This post was originally published on here. 

A Bronx man was arrested and charged with hate crimes after disrupting Shabbat services at a New York City synagogue and assaulting both a congregation member and a security guard on Friday evening.

Larry Montes, 46, was charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime and one count of criminal mischief as a hate crime for the incident at Manhattan’s Central Synagogue, according to New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

This is a developing story.

This post was originally published on here. 

Ancient Egyptian princesses buried with weapons may have been trained to use them while alive, according to a controversial study published in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology in July.

Researchers examined six mummies found at the Dahshur funerary complex in the 1890s. The mummies, belonging to royal individuals from Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, date to nearly 4,000-years-ago.

“Members of the royal family, especially the women, were active participants in skilled, physically demanding activities such as archery and hunting,” said Lead author Dr. Zeinab Hashesh. “This conclusion is supported by the way their bones developed to sustain heavy muscle use, which corresponds directly to the weapons discovered in their tombs.” 

The six, four of whom are believed to be daughters of Pharaoh Amenemhat II, were rediscovered in 2020 in the Egyptian Museum after being lost for decades.

After analyzing the mummies’ muscle attachments, researchers suggested that pronounced areas in their upper limbs indicate “repetitive, high-intensity actions like pulling a bowstring or stabilizing a weapon.”

Hashesh added that the conclusion explains the presence of weapons in the princess’s burial chambers, as they are traditionally associated with men.

Princess Ita, Princess Khenmet, Princess Itaweret, and an anonymous woman provisionally identified as Princess Sathathormeryt, were all buried with bows and arrows. Ita’s coffin also held a dagger.

The two other mummies, Princess Noub-Hotep and King Hor, were buried with similar items.

“Princess Ita was a young woman aged between 28 and 34 with strong upper-body muscle attachments, suggesting she habitually used weapons like maces or daggers,” explained Hashesh. “Princess Khenmet was a woman in her late 30s or 40s who showed signs of thinning bones, but had very robust ligament attachments. Princess Itaweret was a young woman aged between 20 and 34 who survived broken ribs and foot fractures; her skeleton shows she was a skilled archer.”  

Experts challenge study’s claims

However, bioarchaeologists not involved in the study shared with Live Science that “skeletal changes cannot reliably indicate a specific activity,” adding that “age, body size, genetics and other repetitive movements can produce similar results.”

Sonia Zakrzewski, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Southampton who was not involved in the research, told Live Science in an email that the identities of the skeleton’s relies on 19th-century labels, which means that “we cannot be certain how reliable they really are.”

She added that while the attachment sites on the bones are pronounced, there is no way of proving that it was caused by archery, only that the muscles “appear to have been repeatedly used.”

“We cannot say therefore that these skeletal changes necessarily are associated with the use of weaponry,” Zakrzewski said, especially since the researchers did not also study any “control” groups from the time period.

“It would be very useful to know how much such side differences exist in contemporaneous Egyptians, whether royal or not,” she noted.

No clear reason why princesses buried with arrows

Additionally, she told Live Science that there is no clear reason as to why the princesses were buried with items like arrows.

“Archery is a highly asymmetrical activity,” Scott Haddow, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Turin not involved in the study, explained to Live Science via email. Finding the pronounced sites on both sides of the remains “does not make a particularly strong case for these individuals practicing archery.”

Haddow added that the individuals’ ages could also explain the differences, as “muscle-attachment sites are influenced by aging, as well as by body size and genetics.” 

Other experts told Live Science they believe the researchers might be reading into the appearance of the weapons too much.

“Although the presence of funerary artifacts (e.g., arrows, daggers) makes the princesses’ involvement in such activities plausible, the authors provide limited biomechanical or biomedical evidence to substantiate this claim,” French anthropologist Sébastien Villotte told Live Science in an email.

Villotte, who works at the French National Center for Scientific Research, added that “a more robust approach would involve comparing these individuals to non-elite contemporaries from the same region and period.”

“This would help determine whether such degenerative changes (at these locations) were common in the general population (who were unlikely to engage in the same activities) or truly indicative of elite-specific behaviors.”

However, despite the lack of control group and other uncertainties, Zakrzewski told Live Science that the importance of examining the remains should not be disregarded as “it allows us to sort of put flesh on the bones and understand more about their lives.”

This post was originally published on here. 

Some 20 limestone tombstones, several sarcophagi, and a collection of funerary amulets were discovered during excavations at the Tell El Deir archaeological site, Egypt’s Tourism and Antiquities Ministry announced two weeks ago.

The sides and backs of the tombstones are decorated with religious symbols and godly imagery, including that of a griffin, Agathodaemon, and Isis-Thermouthis. 

Agathodaemon is a lesser serpent demon in ancient Graeco-Egyptian religion, as well as in classical Greek mythology. Isis-Thermouthis is a combination of the Egyptian goddess Isis, the sister and wife of Osiris, and Renenutet (Thermuthis), the Egyptian goddess of grain.

The appearance of the two dieties on the tombstones points to joint Greek and Roman influence on ancient Egyptian heritage and funerary practices. 

Further, the decorations allow archaeologists to identify the social status of the tombstones’ owners.

Not only a burial place

Additionally, the Egyptian archaeological mission operating at the site uncovered a collection of pottery incense burners, decorated lamps, and funerary amulets, as well as several barrel-shaped style anthropoid ceramic coffins.

Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Dr. Hisham El-Leithy explained that the discovery “opens new horizons for understanding the development of cemeteries in the Nile Delta.”

He also said that the finds show that Tell El Deir as “not merely a burial place, but was an integrated funerary center.”

 According to Leithy, the finds provide extensive insight into ancient Egypt’s funerary and burial customs from the Late Period (664 BCE until 332 BCE) and through the end of the Roman era.

Egypt unearths underground tombs in ancient coastal city

In early July, a collection of 18 tombs and numerous artifacts were unearthed during archaeological excavations ahead of construction of a visitor’s center in Egypt’s ancient city of Marina El Alamein.

Marina El Alamein, which flourished between the Hellenistic period until the Byzantine era, is located on Egypt’s northwestern coast, about 100 kilometers west of Alexandria. It is believed to be the city of Leukaspis mentioned by the Greek geographer Strabo.

The site was discovered in 1986 during construction work in the Marina area. Since then, extensive archaeological excavations and studies have uncovered one of the best preserved ancient coastal cities in Egypt.

Of the 18 tombs discovered in July, 11 are carved entirely into the rock, a style of tomb known as a hypogeum, explained Mohamed Abdel Badie, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, while the other seven are made of limestone aboveground.

Some of the tombs are also very well preserved, with chamber entrances sealed by stone slabs that had not been opened since ancient times.

Eman Abdel Khalek, leader of the archaeological mission, added that a 2.5 meter long granite sarcophagus had been uncovered with its original lid still in place.

The skeletal remains found inside are currently being studied.

This post was originally published on here. 

A French man suspected of pulling a 20-centimeter knife on an Israeli man in Cairns, Australia, on Thursday was denied bail by the Cairns Magistrates Court, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on Friday.

ABC noted that the incident included verbal anti-Israel remarks, with the suspect to remain in custody by order of Magistrate Tom Braes pending his next court date on September 11.

Leo Raymund Cotene was charged with common assault with serious vilification or hate crime circumstances of aggravation following the incident, which allegedly occured at around 5 p.m. at Sheridan Street’s Mad Monkey Backpackers hostel, according to ABC.

ABC cited bail police prosecutor Olivier Claes, who opposed granting Cotene bail due to “the risk of further offending and endangering other members of the public, particularly those of Israeli origin or those of Jewish faith.”

Claes added that the “deliberateness” of Cotene’s alleged crime would likely result in a prison sentence.

According to the report, Cotene has lived in Australia since November 2025, has no criminal record, and has worked in the construction industry.

The report further cited comments by Cotene’s lawyer, Rowan King, during the 25-year-old suspect’s court hearing, in which he described the criminal allegations against Cotene.

“He’s hugged the complainant, who has told him not to touch him,” said King. “[Cotene] then responded, ‘I’ll hug you if I want.’ He’s then hugged him a second time.”

King noted that his client is not suspected of actually having “struck” the Israeli man, “or anything more sinister than that.”

‘F*** Israel’: Suspect’s alleged anti-Israel comments to victim

Regarding Cotene’s alleged anti-Israel comments, King cited them as including, “‘You kill people in Gaza‘, ‘I’m not staying in a hotel with an Israeli’ and ‘F*** Israel.'”

According to the report, King emphasized that there was “more to the story” regarding the incident, noting preexisting “animosity” between the victim and other hostel guests.

Before the incident, Cotene allegedly commented on the victim in a group chat called “International Incel Investigating,” which ABC noted 13 other hostel guests belong to.

An Instagram photo of the victim in an IDF uniform was allegedly posted in the group chat, with King reading aloud one of Cotene’s messages in court: “Next time I see him at the hostel, we might go out somewhere without cameras.”

AJA president: Australia a ‘wonderful country,’ but Jews, Israelis should be cautious

Australian Jewish Association (AJA) President Robert Gregory commented on the incident, saying Jewish and Israeli visitors to the country should “exercise caution.”

“I never imagined I would have to issue such a warning about our country, but antisemitism in Australia has deteriorated significantly in recent times,” said Gregory. “Hardly a day goes by without another disturbing incident being reported.”

“Australia remains a wonderful country, but Jewish people visiting Australia should be alert to the reality of the current environment,” he concluded.

This post was originally published on here. 

A man suspected of shooting and killing five people in northern Michigan on Friday was found dead after a manhunt, Michigan State Police said in a statement on social media.

One victim remained hospitalized in critical condition, the police said.

Troopers were dispatched around 11:40 a.m. local time (6:40 p.m. Israel time) to a home in Missaukee County, Michigan, after a report of a shooting. Officers found three people dead and a fourth person wounded, the state police said.

The suspect, identified by police as 39-year-old Chad Hickman, fled the scene before troopers arrived, prompting a manhunt. During the search for the suspect, investigators discovered another deceased victim at a second residence.

Troopers later located Hickman’s vehicle near a wooded area close to Whitlock Lake, where they found Hickman and another person dead, police said.

Police lieutenant: ‘Heartbreaking’ situation, challenge for investigators

“This situation is heartbreaking for the community and challenging for the investigators involved,” said Lieutenant Ashley Miller, cited in the police statement.

Police did not release the names, ages, or genders of the victims, saying next-of-kin notifications were underway.

This post was originally published on here. 

Spain has beefed up police and military presence in its North African enclave of Ceuta amid social media messages encouraging migrants to attempt another mass border breach on Saturday, two weeks after tens of thousands rushed into the city.

Soldiers in combat fatigues stood watch outside supermarkets and official buildings on Friday evening, while police cars heavily patrolled the enclave’s main avenues. Still, outdoor cafes were packed with diners, and the downtown area was calmer the in the days after the deadly rush on July 30.

On the other side of the border, dozens of black-clad Moroccan security personnel surveilled the beach in Fnideq from which many migrants who swam around Ceuta’s Tarajal breakwater departed. At least 96 people died in the attempt and over 72,000 managed to enter Ceuta, according to Spanish government estimates.

While the vast majority of them voluntarily returned to Morocco shortly thereafter, the crisis sparked a rift within the European Union and fueled anti-immigration rhetoric among far-right parties worldwide.

Spain has since installed a maritime barrier and sent over 500 additional police officers from the mainland. The Interior Ministry said they would remain as long as the situation required.

“We’ll continue to deploy whatever personnel are necessary to restore normality as soon as possible and prevent events like those of July 30 from happening again,” Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters in Ceuta on Thursday.

About 5,000 migrants remained in Ceuta, the minister said. Officials have started screening adults and decided more than 500 asylum cases, most of them rejected.

Grande-Marlaska added that people who entered irregularly would not be allowed to stay in the enclave, travel to mainland Spain or obtain legal status, except in rare cases of extreme vulnerability. Spain would return those without a right to remain to Morocco, he said.

Morocco steps up checks 

Earlier this week, Rabat said it was monitoring “the circulation of social media posts and messages of unknown origin” calling for a mass crossing on August 15, warning it would prosecute organizers and participants.

Local media showed a reinforced security apparatus near the border with Ceuta and Spain’s other African enclave, Melilla, including the installation of new razor wire on the fences separating the territories.

Authorities prevented several groups from boarding trains and buses to the north in cities such as Casablanca, Fez and Kenitra. However, witnesses told Reuters that some groups from sub-Saharan Africa were sidestepping security checks on the road to Fnideq, taking mountainous routes instead.

One witness said the schools in Fnideq had been turned into dormitories for security forces deployed near the border.

‘My advice: Don’t cross’

Many of the youths who entered Ceuta on July 30 were fishing, swimming or showering at Ceuta’s Tarajal beach on Friday.

Fez native Driss Sadik, 22, swam for five hours to reach Ceuta. He warned against others emulating him.

“The important thing I would advise people trying to cross: Don’t cross now, my brothers. You’re only going to suffer,” he told Reuters.

Adil Jamil, 17, echoed the sentiment.

“Those who enter aren’t going to benefit from anything. There will just be more and more of us, and they won’t find a solution for all,” he said.

Jamil added that the mass border rushes were “planned by the people”: they chose a day, gathered in Fnideq, and crossed together to find strength in numbers.

“If I had stayed with my parents, I would’ve died slowly. But if I risk my life, arrive and build my future… it will be better,” he said.

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The supply issues plaguing the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) aircraft carrier stem from Iranian drone and missile attacks on a naval base in Bahrain early in the US-Iran war, The New York Times reported on Friday.

According to the report, the US Navy initially used the Bahrain base for supply operations in its offensive against Iran, but was forced to change strategies following Iran’s attacks on the base.

The US Navy decided to move its supply operations to the UK naval base located on the island of Diego Garcia, which the NYT noted sits over 3,500 km from the two US carrier strike groups operating in the Gulf of Oman.

The NYT attributed the base change to a direct impact on the supply problems currently facing the USS Abraham Lincoln, which, according to US Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), include shortages, water contamination, and several other issues that have arisen over the past months.

Blumenthal, a US Marine Corps Reserve veteran, sent a letter to Acting US Navy Secretary Hung Cao and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday demanding a formal inquiry into the conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

“The Lincoln’s extended deployment raises broader questions about the Navy’s ability to sustainably generate carrier forces while preserving service member well-being, maintenance, schedules, fleet readiness, and the capacity to respond to future contingencies,” Blumenthal wrote.

CENTCOM denies ship crew members attempted to jump off

Further concerns regard the ship’s crew amid reports that several have attempted to jump off the aircraft carrier, facing deteriorating mental health, as well as hygiene and safety issues, claims that US Central Command (CENTCOM) denied in an X/Twitter post on Thursday.

US President Donald Trump dismissed the concerns later on Friday, and the NYT quoted him as saying the ship’s deployment length is “not nearly long enough.”

According to the NYT, a reporter asked Trump whether the crew’s families are concerned, and he replied, “No, they’re not,” adding that the carrier would soon be relieved by “another very similar ship.”

Miriam Sela-Eitam and Esther Davis contributed to this report.

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IDF soldiers facing financial difficulties will receive personal financial guidance as part of a joint initiative by the Bank of Israel, the Class Actions Fund, and the IDF Manpower Directorate, the military announced on Friday.

The Bank of Israel hosted an event on Wednesday to mark the launch of the consumer and financial guidance program, which aims to support about 4,500 soldiers over the next three years.

Bank of Israel Governor Prof. Amir Yaron, Class Actions Fund chairman Yaakov Sheinman, IDF Manpower Directorate chief Maj.-Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, and other senior officers from the directorate attended the event.

Since it began in March 2026, about 600 soldiers have participated in the program. Each participant receives personalized support based on their financial situation, including help building a budget, managing income and expenses, accessing financial rights and tools, and using dedicated digital platforms. The program aims to help soldiers without financial support reduce debt, gain greater control over their finances, and build a more stable financial foundation for the future.
 
The Pitchon Lev nonprofit, in cooperation with RiseUp, and the HaTashtit nonprofit, in partnership with Citizen Impact, were selected to operate the program following a rigorous evaluation process that included the submission and professional review of proposals.

The program is built around a framework that combines personal guidance with technological tools designed to offer continuous, accessible assistance tailored to the participants’ needs.

Program aims to ease soldiers’ financial burden, provide professional guidance

The Bank of Israel’s role is to provide professional guidance to the program as part of its activities to promote financial education and information, assist in formulating the guidance content, and evaluate the effectiveness of the program, in accordance with accepted international principles and standards in the field of financial education.

Yaron said the program was intended to ensure that young men and women who dedicate some of their most formative years to serving the country do not enter civilian life burdened by financial difficulties or debt.

“Behind every economic figure are people, and in this case young men and women who chose to dedicate their most significant years to serving the state,” Yaron said, adding that financial education and access to tools for responsible financial management are important for strengthening both individual and economic resilience.

Yaron said the Bank of Israel would provide professional guidance and evaluate the program’s effectiveness to ensure that the assistance is “knowledge-based, measurable, and creates real and sustainable change” in soldiers’ lives.

IDF aims to equip soldiers with financial tools, expand program to career service members

Bar Kalifa said the initiative would give soldiers the knowledge and tools to make better financial decisions as they prepare for civilian life.

“There is no greater gift to give a person than education and tools for making decisions,” said Bar Kalifa. “It gives our soldiers the tools to enter life better prepared.”

Bar Kalifa added that the IDF hopes to eventually expand the initiative to career service members, including noncommissioned officers and officers, to ease their financial burden and help retain personnel.

Sheinman, a retired judge, called the initiative “a significant social investment,” saying that providing soldiers with tools for responsible financial management would give them “a better starting point” from which to build a stable financial future.

He added that the initiative was part of a broader series of programs funded by the Class Actions Fund to promote responsible financial and consumer behavior across different segments of Israeli society.

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The National Library of Israel’s DocuText festival will return to Jerusalem from August 16-20, bringing together new documentaries from Israel and abroad with a program that focuses on films using archival material from the library’s archives.

Now in its 11th year, the five-day festival will include dozens of screenings, Israeli premieres, meetings with filmmakers, workshops, special exhibits of archival material, and outdoor performances. This year’s theme is “Uncertainty,” reflecting the national mood amid international unrest.

The festival often opens and closes with music-themed films screened in the garden, and this year is no exception. 

The official opening program will be the premiere of acclaimed documentary director Ran Tal’s The Sixteenth Sheep: The Reunion, about the return to the stage of one of the most beloved song projects in Israeli history, which turned into an unexpected success. 

The Sixteenth Sheep is an album created 48 years ago through the collaboration of author/lyricist Yehonatan Geffen and musician/composer Yoni Rechter.

They set poems by Geffen about a child who can’t sleep to music, and the original album, an enduring classic that children today know as well as the adults who grew up with it, was performed and recorded by Rechter with Gidi Gov, Yehudit Ravitz, and David Broza. 

At the height of the war, Rechter, Gov, Ravitz, and Broza came together for what was initially planned as a couple of performances, but it turned into a sensation that was extended to include many appearances.

DocuText will close on August 20 with Tomer Heymann’s 2003 documentary Aviv, a portrait of Aviv Geffen, Yehonatan Geffen’s son, which was made when the singer-songwriter marked a decade of extraordinary fame. Twenty-three years after the film’s release, the screening will be followed by a live outdoor performance by Geffen and his band, HaTa’uyot.

Festival to place emphasis on writers and their archives

Several of the festival’s most intriguing events this year focus on writers and their archives. 

Things Were Like That, directed by Adi Arbel, turns to the life and work of celebrated Israeli novelist Meir Shalev, who died in 2023. It tells much of his life story through his books, recordings, and personal archive. The August 19 screening will be accompanied by An Israeli Novel, a special display of items from Shalev’s archive at the library.

The library’s archives will also take center stage in connection with Life as a Rumor, the 2013 documentary by Adi Arbel and Moishe Goldberg, in which the late actor/director Assi Dayan recounts his turbulent life in his own distinctive voice. 

Before the August 19 screening, the library will present Assi’s Drafts, a series of displays featuring selected items from Dayan’s archive.

Before the screening of LAISHA – The Story of a Women’s Magazine, Anna Somershaf’s documentary about the famous Israeli magazine, audiences can take part in the Can You Hear My Voice? tour, devoted to writings by women preserved in the National Library. 

The tour will feature manuscripts, early editions, and other works that show how women gradually established a place in Hebrew and Jewish literary culture. The film itself examines the sometimes contradictory role Laisha has played in both reflecting and shaping the lives of Israeli women.

DocuText festival to feature a number of English-language pieces

THE FESTIVAL features a few English-language works.

Gaylen Ross’s Sapiro v. Ford: The Jew Who Sued Henry Ford, screening on the festival’s opening day, tells the remarkable and surprisingly little-known story of Aaron Sapiro, a Jewish lawyer and organizer who took on automobile magnate Henry Ford over the antisemitic attacks published in Ford’s newspaper, The Dearborn Independent. 

Sapiro filed a libel suit against one of the richest and most influential men in America, turning their confrontation into a David-and-Goliath legal battle over antisemitism, propaganda, and the accountability of the powerful. Actor Ben Shenkman gives voice to Sapiro’s own words in the film.

Safe Room, directed by Haley Geffen, is another mostly English-language documentary centered on an Israeli story. It recounts how, during a single harrowing day on October 7, a doctor and his wife sheltered four families, creating an unexpected community in the midst of extraordinary danger.

The August 17 screening will be followed by a Q&A with Geffen and Tamar Schlesinger, one of the film’s participants.

In We Met at Grossinger’s, director Paula Eiselt looks back at the legendary Grossinger’s resort in New York’s Catskills, once the crown jewel of the “Borscht Belt.” 

At a time when discrimination restricted where American Jews could vacation and socialize, Grossinger’s became both a refuge and a cultural institution, welcoming guests and performers from across American public life. The film uses the resort’s history to explore immigration, Jewish identity, belonging, and the longing for a place that can feel like home.

Another literary documentary, having its Israeli premiere, is Siri Hustvedt – Dance Around the Self, a portrait of the Norwegian-American novelist and essayist. The film traces Hustvedt’s journey from Minnesota to New York and examines her intellectual and personal partnership with the late novelist Paul Auster, who was a distant relative of Daniel Auster, Jerusalem’s first Jewish mayor.

The festival also includes The Campaign, directed by Kari Hollend and Cristina Bishai, an investigation of the battle over narratives about Israel, Gaza, and the Jewish people that has played out through social media and other media since October 7. The August 19 screening will be followed by a discussion in English with Hollend and Israeli digital advocates.

The documentary Shalom, directed by Meital Zvieli, is set in Jerusalem and approaches the impact of war from an unexpected angle. Its central character is Shalom, a rhinoceros at Jerusalem’s Biblical Zoo, whose caregivers include Rushdi, a Palestinian Muslim, and Gilad, an Israeli Jew.

Other highlights include Jane Elliott Against the World, about the American educator whose famous classroom exercise on prejudice made her a controversial figure in the struggle against racism; A Goodnight Kiss, a portrait of Holocaust survivor, literary scholar, and human-rights activist Irena Veisaite; Ivry Who?, about legendary Israeli violinist Ivry Gitlis; and The Orchestra, which takes viewers behind the scenes with the Orchestre de Paris and conductor Klaus Mäkelä.

This year’s DocuText features an especially interesting and diverse program this year.

For more information, go to the website at docutext.nli.org.il/en

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Israel’s Consumer Price Index rose 0.3% in July compared with June, largely due to seasonal summer demand and higher transportation and leisure costs, while housing expenses continued to climb. Annual inflation stood at 1.5%.

Among the index’s main components, transportation prices rose 1.4%, while culture and entertainment increased 1.1%, largely reflecting seasonal summer demand. In contrast, clothing and footwear prices fell 4.6%, while fresh fruit and vegetable prices declined 3.5%. Furniture and household equipment fell 0.7%, and miscellaneous goods and services fell 0.4%.

In the rental market, the data showed that rents continued to rise, particularly for tenants signing new leases. Tenants who renewed an existing lease saw rents increase 2.6%, while new tenants, meaning those moving into apartments where the previous tenant had left, faced a sharper increase of 4.7%.

The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said these figures provide an approximation of the annual change in rents for the two groups, since most rental agreements remain unchanged during the term of the lease.

In the industrial sector, the Manufacturing Output Price Index for the domestic market fell 1.2% in July. The decline was driven mainly by a sharp 12% drop in prices for refined petroleum products, alongside decreases in basic metals and furniture.

Excluding fuels, the index was unchanged from the previous month. On an annual basis, the Manufacturing Output Price Index fell 0.5%.

What about home prices?

According to CBS data, the Home Price Index, which includes both new and existing homes, rose 0.1% in May to June 2026 compared with April to May 2026.

On an annual basis, however, home prices fell 1.5% compared with the same period last year, May to June 2025. The decline follows other periods of falling home prices recorded over the past decade, including in 2018 and the second half of 2023.

By district, monthly price increases were recorded in Jerusalem, up 1.8%; Haifa, up 1.5%; the North, up 0.9%; and the South, up 0.7%. Prices fell 1% in the Central District and 0.7% in the Tel Aviv District.

Compared with the same period last year, prices fell 4.1% in the Central District, 1.8% in the Haifa District, and 1.7% in the Tel Aviv District. In contrast, prices rose 1.8% in the Jerusalem District, 1.6% in the Northern District, and 0.1% in the Southern District.

Meanwhile, the New Home Price Index rose 0.5% in May to June 2026 compared with the previous period. The share of transactions involving government subsidies increased to 38.4%, from 36.4% in the previous period.

Excluding government-subsidized transactions, the New Home Price Index rose 0.9%. On an annual basis, new home prices fell 2%.

A 26.2% rise over past five years

Over the past five years, compared with May to June 2021, new home prices have risen 26.2%, compared with a 30.6% increase in prices for all homes over the same period.

In the second quarter of 2026, the average home price nationwide stood at NIS 2.435 million, up 3.7% from the previous quarter and 7.9% from the same quarter last year.

Among Israel’s largest cities, Tel Aviv recorded the highest average home price, at NIS 4.5535 million, while Beersheba recorded the lowest, at NIS 1.2362 million.

Compared with the same quarter last year, average home prices rose the most in Ashdod, up 11%, and in Tel Aviv, up 8.4%. The largest declines were recorded in Ashkelon, down 2.4%, Bnei Brak, down 1.7%, and Netanya, down 1.7%.

This post was originally published on here. 

‘What struck me was that it wasn’t a huge story. It was a very small story. But it represented what happened that day in a deeply human way,” said Haley Geffen, the award-winning American director of the documentary Safe Room, which will be shown on August 17 at the National Library of Israel as part of the DocuText Festival, which runs until August 20.

Safe Room is a moving film about a group of strangers who survived the October 7 attack by Hamas and came together in the safe room of Dr. Gedalya Fendel late in the day, where they found themselves virtually transformed into a family in the aftermath of the massacre. This group of survivors has stayed in touch and still gets together.

“There are countless horrific October 7 stories. As I prepared the film, I kept wondering whether I should tell one of the bigger ones… one of the well-known stories,” said Geffen, who will be present for a Q&A at DocuText after the screening. Two of the interviewees, Merav Fendel and Dr. Tamar Schlesinger, will also take part.

“But I kept coming back to this one because these are ordinary people…If I could get audiences to watch a story about someone who feels like them – someone completely relatable – then maybe they could set aside their biases. Maybe they could simply love a person because he’s a person, not because he’s Jewish or Israeli.”

Geffen met Gedalya Fendel on a 2024 trip to Israel, and she was fascinated when she heard him tell the story of the family that was created in his safe room. Fendel, who lives on Moshav Shuva in the Gaza border region, left his wife, Merav Fendel, and four children at home and set up an improvised field hospital on the road near his home. At a certain point, realizing that the roads were not safe, he sent some of the survivors who arrived there and did not need urgent medical care to his home, where they were welcomed by his wife and children, rather than to a hospital.

These survivors included Sapir Ben Ezra, a pregnant woman approaching her due date, who was terrified because terrorists set her house on fire, and she could no longer feel the baby moving after spending hours in her safe room. Fendel realized that she just needed rest, food, and care, which his family could provide. Aliza and Tzachi Gad had spent 13 hours hiding in their home on Kibbutz Be’eri before arriving at the Fendels.

Two children, Michael Idan, then 9, and Amalia Idan, 6, joined the group after their rescue from their home on Kibbutz Kfar Aza. They saw the murders of their mother, Smadar Mor Idan, and their father, Roee Idan, and were certain that their sister, Avigail Idan, had also been killed.

Michael and Amalia hid in a closet for 14 hours, counseled over the phone by Schlesinger, a social worker interviewed in the film. Schlesinger helped protect them all those hours, telling them not to open the door when terrorists knocked, and giving them warmth and support as they hid. Their sister Avigail was held hostage in Gaza for 50 days, and the three Idan children were adopted by their aunt, Leron Mor, and their uncle, Zoli Guyongyosi, who are also interviewed in the film.

“What I found was a story that felt almost like fiction, a real-life narrative with a beginning, middle, and end. It wasn’t simply about horror. It contained death, survival, hope, beauty, love, and ultimately life.”

The film examines the concept of a safe room

THE MOVIE is also an examination of the concept of a safe room, which is explained in detail for American audiences, including by Brig.-Gen. (res.) Tzviki Tessler, who acted as a Home Front Command spokesman during the war.

She chose the title Safe Room for the film. “There’s nothing Jewish, there’s nothing about Israel. Just Safe Room,” she said.

“One of my editors, who’s Israeli, was constantly coming to me with ideas. She said, ‘I think you should dive deeper into safe rooms – the evolution of safe rooms.’ And I said, ‘The truth is, the world has no idea that Israel, in and of itself, is a safe room.’ The whole country has lived under missile attacks since its existence. So, I thought, maybe I should explain that. Maybe I should start the whole movie by explaining that.”

She had finished about half the movie when the war with Iran broke out in June 2025. She watched clips of Israelis fleeing to shelters when she was in the hospital with her daughter, who was having surgery, in the US.

“I was watching all these moments of people coming together in safe rooms. Before the Iran war, the safe-room experience that I was dealing with in this film was death and torture and nightmare. But during the Iran war, I was seeing Israeli life in the safe rooms – the love of life, the way people came together, the way people were bonding. And the world was actually watching it this time.”

The movie opens with videos of Israelis running to shelters in 2025.

“I asked myself: What is the most neutral way for me to start this film? It was simply to show that missiles come into Israel and explain that it is required by law in Israel that people go to a safe space when they hear a siren. I neutralized it from the start: This happens, and you go to a safe room.”

Protection from missiles, not terrorists

Later, she realized she should explain that safe-room doors do not lock and are designed for protection from missiles, not terrorists. While Israelis certainly know all about safe rooms, she said that she thinks it is important for Israeli audiences to see the movie as well.

“First, they need to understand how little the world knows about Israel. By watching this movie, maybe Israelis will realize: The world doesn’t know that we live with missile attacks. The world doesn’t actually know how we exist.”

Geffen, who has spent a great deal of time in Israel and who alternates between “they” and “we” when talking about Israelis, kept the focus of the movie on how these safe-room survivors bonded.

“What I did know was that Gedalya humanized them at the worst, lowest moment of their lives. They saw someone who – I remember him saying this the first night I met him – made them smile… If you can make someone smile – if you can give them an expression that isn’t horror or terror, even for a moment – you’ve taken them out of that experience. That’s what he did for each of them,” she said.

When asked to explain to people who might prefer to forget the horrors of October 7 why they should see this movie, Geffen said, “A lot of people don’t like to go back to that place because it was very hard. What I say to them is: Yes, this is not that easy to watch; however, you will be surprised by how you feel at the end of it. And everyone confirms that that is very accurate; they didn’t realize that they would leave the movie feeling so many different things. They were able to get through the parts that were really hard because of the wonderful feelings they were able to walk away with.”

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The Press and Communications Council in Israel contacted the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit to request an urgent meeting after allegations of selective enforcement against journalists covering this week’s events in the village of Kusra. 

The allegations came following reports that only a Channel 14 reporter was allowed to enter the village, located in the West Bank, and broadcast from there, while other reporters were denied entry. 

However, according to IDF officials who spoke with Maariv, the Channel 14 reporter did not receive official authorization and entered the area on his own initiative. 

The council clarified that it recognizes the IDF’s authority to declare an area closed in accordance with security needs and considerations, but argued that a problem arises when restrictions are not applied equally to all media outlets.

According to the council, distinguishing between journalists permitted to enter an area and those denied entry could harm freedom of the press and the public’s right to receive information about what is happening at the scene.

Journalists seek to provide public with accurate picture, Press Council says

The Press Council emphasized that journalists, both Israeli and foreign, seek to fulfill their role and provide the public with an accurate picture of the situation on the ground, and that the military must allow them to do so equally, subject to security restrictions.

The council demanded that the IDF allow equal freedom of movement for all journalists, review existing procedures and prevent, in its words, discrimination between media outlets. The council also called for the eradication of “improper norms of abuse of power and discrimination against media outlets,” and for the renewal and implementation of equal procedures on the matter.

This post was originally published on here. 

“How does one make a small fortune in Israel?” goes the familiar Israeli joke. “Come to Israel with a large one.”

Michael Horesh, a senior mentor for new immigrant business owners at MATI Jerusalem, a nonprofit organization that helps entrepreneurs and small-business owners establish and expand businesses in the city, says that he integrates that quip into the webinars that he teaches.

“I have it on the screen,” he shares, “and then I say to people, ‘That’s why you’re here. I don’t want you to be part of that joke.’”

MATI Jerusalem was founded by former Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek and Jerusalem businessman Uri Scharf in 1991, and provides specialized business support services to individuals and small businesses, focusing on underserved populations, including new immigrants, women entrepreneurs, haredi business owners, and residents of east Jerusalem.

It also operates programs for entrepreneurs whose businesses have been affected by their miluim (reserve) army service. The organization works in partnership with the Jerusalem Municipality, the Aliyah and Integration Ministry, the Jewish Agency, the Jerusalem Foundation, and other donor organizations.

The organization’s professionals provide tailored support to the communities they serve, based on their own expertise.

Horesh, who acts as a business mentor to new immigrants, was born in London and made aliyah in 1982. He served in the IDF as a junior officer and worked in the public and private sectors before deciding to become a consultant. Unfortunately, he struggled to establish himself in the field. With a wry smile, he says, “I registered my own business. If there’s a book on how to do things wrong, I did it. I went around in circles.”

Horesh: Helping new immigrant businesses ‘my form of Zionism’

Horesh finally concluded that what he wanted to do most was become a business mentor, and he recalls the moment he decided it was his calling. “I want to be helping people create a new business in Israel. That is my form of Zionism. I know it sounds rather quaint, but it really is. My raison d’être is to help build up and strengthen the ecosystem in Israel.

“One thing led to another, and ever since, I’ve been working in business mentoring and very much enjoying it.”

The word “mentor” derives from the character by the same name in The Odyssey. Mentor was a friend of Odysseus, who appointed him in charge of his household and his son when he went to fight in the Trojan War. The name has come to mean a trusted guide and adviser.

Horesh explains that the purpose of a mentor is to prompt the student to think, be curious, and ask questions. “The core of my work is questioning. I can ask people the questions that either they’ve forgotten to ask or, more importantly, they don’t want to ask.”

He began mentoring with MATI in 2010, and over the years has helped new immigrants set up hundreds of businesses.

New olim who have been living in Israel for up to 10 years are entitled to five hours of business mentoring at no charge from MATI. If they end up setting up a business, they are eligible to receive an additional 15 hours of mentoring at no cost. MATI also provides business webinars and assistance in applying for business loans.

The organization has some 40 advisers who assist new immigrants in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian.

When he first meets with a new immigrant, Horesh discusses their background and qualifications, and the business potential of their concept. “We’re trying to match the need, the want, the financials, the market.”

Many olim who operate new businesses, he says, are very creative, but they lack financial and time management skills.

He cites one example of a company he worked with that experienced major sales growth but sensed that something was wrong. After taking the webinar course taught by Horesh and a colleague, the head of the company realized that they had not been paying VAT because their accountant had not informed them of this responsibility.

MATI Jerusalem repays Tax Authority to solve immigrant VAT issues

The company is now dealing with this issue by repaying the Tax Authority. “The business is still doing well, but the company has some debts to pay, and we’re trying to work out how to fit that into the cash flow.”

One of the most significant parts of mentoring, says Horesh, is understanding that asking for help is not a sign of weakness. “We try and teach people that it is a strength to ask for help; it’s not a weakness. You don’t have to do everything on your own, as many of us are taught. We see that time and again. People start their business without our help, just as I started my business without any help, thinking it would all go well.”

Other issues that olim experience include what he terms “impostor syndrome,” when they think they are not capable of success, even though they are actually highly competent. Other new immigrants suffer from an inability to commit, because they are afraid of failing.

Horesh and other mentors at MATI help them set up their businesses and ensure that they have set realistic financial targets.

“The point is to take them on a journey of setting up the business and then making sure the business gets set up, and they make their clientele. It’s making sure that the business moves towards stability,” he says.

Meira Herman, who made aliyah from New Rochelle, New York, in 2018, has been directed toward business stability by MATI through the various careers she has undertaken.

Herman began her life in Israel in Sherut Leumi (National Service), then started university. After the coronavirus put an end to her college career, she studied Hebrew at Ulpan Etzion. She then began working as an aliyah consultant, helping people locate resources and find the information they needed.

Meira began working with MATI and received general business training. The war put a stop to that career, and she pivoted to concentrate on two unlikely careers tied to her own interests – art and dog-sitting.

Herman, a self-taught artist, began her art business in the summer of 2023. She creates abstract art on canvas and prints from her work.

She has a variety of tools in her home office, including a laser cutter, a heat press, and a sublimation printer.

She has sold her work at numerous fairs throughout the country, benefiting from Horesh’s advice, who urged her to create everyday items that people would purchase, such as sukkah decorations. Herman also created thousands of necklaces for wives of soldiers serving in the IDF.

Once the war started, her art sales dropped because most fairs were put on hold.

When finances were tight, Herman, who owns a dog, began a dog-walking business, which then turned into a successful part-time dog daycare business. On the day we spoke, Herman had three dogs in her home that she was watching, and five were scheduled to stay overnight.

Herman attributes much of her success to Horesh’s advice. “He will say what’s blocking you from doing something, and that could be anything from managing the finances to having difficulties with importing things. He is involved in every aspect of the business. He’s also the guy who will give you a swift kick to get you going.

“I find myself in a place where I’m financially stable for the first time in my life, and I would definitely not have been here if it hadn’t been for MATI.

“The course taught me how to use social media and build a website. Because I had the experience with MATI with my first business, I have been able to really build up a business that’s going to be with me for life.

“Other than ulpan, MATI is the best aliyah benefit, because it comes down to ‘give a man a fish, eat for a day; teach a man to fish, eat for life.’”

Dr. Tyron Waters, a chiropractor from Johannesburg, has also benefited from the practical business advice he received from MATI.

Waters, who made aliyah in November 2015, decided to spend a year studying at Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem before resuming his career.

During his time at Aish, Waters would occasionally treat fellow yeshiva students for a nominal fee, using his portable table. In January 2017, he left his yeshiva studies and began ulpan. A fellow chiropractor recommended that Waters contact MATI to help him organize his business.

Waters met with Horesh and received business coaching lessons from Horesh. He was thinking of working for the health funds but was having difficulty finding the right person to speak with.

“Michael really helped me to structure how I should start doing things, how I should get going,” says Waters.

Horesh taught him to begin marketing and advertising himself, to get the word out to potential clients.

“I know about chiropractic, but I don’t know as much [about] being a business owner, and especially here in Israel, not understanding the culture and how things work. It is very different and much more like a free-for-all.

“He really helped me and pushed me to do things, which would have taken me a lot longer to get going.”

Horesh had contacts in the health industry and helped him create a logo and business card and develop a website.

Waters learned from MATI about a business loan that was available to small businesses. He used the loan to purchase his first chiropractic table, and it was eventually converted into a grant.

Today, Waters’s chiropractic business is located on Emek Refaim Street in Jerusalem.

He adds that the marketing advice he received from Horesh and MATI enabled him to educate Israelis about the work that he does. “Most Israelis don’t know what a chiropractor is, or they’ve heard of them and thought they were dangerous. They don’t have much understanding of who and what a chiropractor is or does.”

Matthew Kenny, a South Florida native who made aliyah through Nefesh B’Nefesh four years ago, is now helping to popularize a sport even less familiar to Israelis than chiropractic: flag football.

A noncontact version of American football, flag football replaces tackling with pulling a flag from an opponent’s belt to end the play. While traditional football fields 11 players per side, flag football is played with five.

In 2028, flag football will make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, with competitions for both men and women.

Kenny is a dedicated member of Israel’s national flag football team and created a business centered on developing an Israeli flag football team for the Olympics, based around bringing overseas players on aliyah.

“The business idea was to partner up with Taglit and Onward Birthright to bring Jews from the Diaspora to join a training camp and practice alongside the Israel National Flag Football Teams.”

Eighteen players came from the United States and the UK to practice and try out for the team. Some are playing on the men’s national team, and some will likely be playing for the women’s national team next year, says Kenny.

“The focus is to find talented athletes who can help the national teams qualify and win gold in the 2028 Olympics,” he says. “Part of that process would be making aliyah for those who are talented enough. Two of our participants did make aliyah, and they’re going to be playing with the team in two weeks at our Olympic qualifier.”

Kenny received assistance from Horesh and MATI to enable the program to go forward.

“We brought 18 athletes over to Israel. There were expenses to be able to provide the experience for them, all the marketing that goes into it, expanding the network of athletes and getting people over here for other experiences, potentially getting people over to the United States and doing a cultural exchange as well for Israeli athletes going into America, and American or Jewish athletes in the Diaspora coming over to Israel.”

After receiving information from Nefesh B’Nefesh about MATI, Kenny contacted the organization. He reports that Horesh helped with significant issues that he might have overlooked, such as insurance, timelines, scheduling and budgeting, social media marketing, and general support.

“What things should olim keep in mind when setting up a business in Israel?” concludes Horesh. “First, learn Hebrew. Second, remember that there are no limits to what you can achieve. Third, be flexible. And fourth, remember that Israelis want to work with you, as much as new immigrants do.”

This post was originally published on here. 

Today begins the month of Elul.

While every month in the Hebrew calendar contains some special occasion (even the month of Heshvan, normally devoid of holidays, this year features Yom Ha’aliyah – celebrating new citizens of Israel, on 7 Heshvan – and Election Day on 16 Heshvan), Elul has no commemorations whatsoever.

And yet, I would suggest that Elul is the single most important month of the year.

As the final month, Elul sits uniquely between 5786 and 5787, looking over its shoulder at the past while looking ahead to the days to come. Elul is not only meant for review; more importantly, it is meant for repair, as we “balance our books” prior to setting our sights on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the entire year ahead.

Proper preparation is always the key to success. I do my research, organize my thoughts, and carefully consider my message before I actually write an article. Chefs buy all the ingredients, simmer the sauce, and carefully set the table before serving those who have come to the meal. Couples plan the wedding, rehearse the ceremony, and seat the guests before they actually tie the knot.

The opinion piece, the dinner, the nuptials may take just a few minutes to read, eat, or carry out, but the prep starts well before and needs considerable time and effort to prove successful.

Teshuva – repentance, or redemption – may be the ultimate goal, but it does not occur instantly. While fasting and praying, crying, and confessing are valid means of seeking atonement from God during the days of penitence, the mending of interpersonal relations does not come so easily.

First, we must seek forgiveness from others for our personal transgressions

We must first seek the forgiveness of our fellow human beings on an individual, personal level, humbling ourselves by admitting our errors and pleading for reconciliation long before the shofar sounds or before the Kol Nidre is uttered.

This is what the month of Elul is all about, and it ain’t easy. Saying “I’m sorry” may be just two little words, but admitting you were wrong and saying it out loud – and sincerely – can fill you with fear and trepidation. Facing the ones we have wronged and seeking to right a relationship that went sour requires gathering up all our courage and unabashedly showing our humility and humanity.

When King David, after the affair with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah, drops his excuses and takes full accountability – “I acknowledged my sin and did not cover up my iniquity… I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” (Psalms 32:5) – he is setting the paradigm for even the haughtiest potentate to bare his soul and appeal to others for mercy.

So, as yet another Israeli election fast approaches – this time coming shortly after the Jewish holidays – I ask our government, if it truly seeks our support, to “fess up” and acknowledge the errors it has made, errors that have affected, often disastrously, every one of our citizens.

The errors our government should apologize for

Apologize for continuing a seemingly endless conflict that shows no sign of abating

Yes, Hamas in Gaza needed to be hit, and hit hard. But was the stated objective of wiping out Hamas completely, taking away its weapons, and rehabilitating the Gaza Strip ever feasible, or was it just a boastful, unattainable goal that has resulted in the deaths of more than a thousand of our finest young people, with no end in sight?

Joshua could not eradicate the Gazans, nor could Samson or kings David and Solomon. Did you really think you could accomplish what they could not? Or was this audacious hubris at work?

Apologize for forging and maintaining a coalition that has split the country literally in two, routinely disenfranchising half the people for the sake of the other half.

Even in Israel – where every person has at least two opinions – you have presided over a population that never achieves consensus, even on the gravest issues of life and death. Just watch any Knesset meeting, where compromise is met with arrogant dismissal.

Apologize for empowering one particular community at the expense of all the others, allowing them to escape their rightful responsibilities by creating a “state within a state” – thus endangering everyone else’s security – so that your regime could sustain power and carry out yet another term.

Apologize and take responsibility for the drastic decline in global support – let alone admiration – for Israel. Under your administration, there isn’t a single country of significance whose citizenry now has a positive opinion of the Jewish state or takes our side in the Arab-Israeli conflict. What future have you forged for our children and grandchildren?

Shortly after our son Ari fell in battle against Hamas, a delegation of army officers came to our home to present the official report of the circumstances leading to his death. They were led by Maj.-Gen. (res.) Noam Tibon, then commander of the Nahal Brigade, where Ari served.

Tibon openly admitted to us that certain errors had been made in the course of the mission. He detailed those errors and apologized profusely on behalf of the IDF, telling us that we could pursue the matter in military court, should we so desire.

There was no attempt at obfuscation or evading the truth, just an honest admission that even the best-planned operation can have its faults.

Susie and I accepted the report and pledged our absolute loyalty to the army, which has never left our side in all these 24 years.

Imagine the respect – even admiration – that we, as a country, would have for our civil leaders if they would show their human side, acknowledge their failings, and seek reconciliation via the “Elul effect,” when less-than-perfect performance is openly admitted, and honest apologies break down the barriers of rage and resentment.

No, it does not replace the actual change in policies that must take place, but it is at least a start and the affirmation of the others’ worth.

“Teshuva” has a dual meaning in Hebrew: “repentance” and “answer.” To put this country right and unite, rather than divide, the nation, teshuva is the answer.

The writer is the director of the Jewish Outreach Center of Ra’anana. 

rabbistewart@gmail.com

This post was originally published on here. 

The Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter on Friday condemned the recent violence in the West Bank village of Kusra, criticizing settlers who established an outpost near the village.

In a post on X/Twitter, Leiter wrote, “When a band of rioters wreaks havoc through completely unjustified violence, diverts forces and resources from the IDF and Israel’s law enforcement authorities, and at the same time claims that it is acting for the sake of the land, this is a distortion of the idea of settling the land, and even a desecration of it.”

This week’s Torah portion is a great reminder that, as we are commanded to settle and inhabit the land, we must build a society that is worthy of the land we live in.

Shabbat Shalom 🕯️🕯️ pic.twitter.com/eULqoluS4X

— Ambassador Yechiel (Michael) Leiter (@yechielleiter) August 14, 2026

Leiter connected his criticism of the violence to the Jewish commandment of settling the Land of Israel, arguing that the principle also carries a responsibility to uphold justice.

“What we saw this week in [Kusra], this is not what the commandment to settle the land means. Perhaps you have heard many people speak about settling the Land of Israel, about the commandment to settle the land.”

“But this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Shoftim, teaches us that this commandment has another, deeper dimension, the Torah commands: ‘You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates that the Lord your God is giving you, for your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.’”

Inheriting the land means pursuing justice, Leiter says

Leiter also referred to criticism of the events in Kusra voiced by US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

“You cannot settle the land through destabilizing and disruptive behavior, as my esteemed colleague Mike Huckabee brilliantly put it when he spoke of ‘unsettling behavior.’”

Leiter added, “There is a profound connection between the pursuit of justice and inheriting the land. The Torah teaches us that holding the land is not an end in itself. Our right to build a national home in it comes with the responsibility to create a society worthy of that home. The Land of Israel is not only a place where we were commanded to dwell, it is a place where we were commanded to live according to justice.”

His remarks came after it was reported Friday morning that Defense Minister Israel Katz had held a meeting on the West Bank the previous day with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the heads of the Operations Directorate and Military Intelligence, and other senior commanders.

At the end of the meeting, Katz instructed the IDF to prepare a plan to transfer all civilian law enforcement authority in the West Bank to the Israel Police.

Left-wing MK blocked from Kusra

Separately, Hadash-Ta’al MK Ofer Cassif was detained by security forces at the entrance to Kusra on Friday morning.

According to a statement from the defense minister, “The police will prepare and establish an appropriate force to deal with and handle civilian matters, and it will be granted all the necessary authorities and budgets.”

A statement issued on Katz’s behalf also said, “It is not the IDF’s role, nor does it have the ability, to deal with the enforcement of civilian matters in Judea and Samaria, in light of the expected welcome increase in the number of settlers in Judea and Samaria following the decisions to establish 104 new communities and formalize the agricultural farms, on the one hand, and the growing security threats and challenges that the IDF is dealing with and is expected to deal with on the central front, on the other.”

According to Katz, the IDF’s role is “to fight Palestinian terrorism, focus on defending the borders and communities against threats, deal with the borders and the territory itself and with security threats to the settlements and the State of Israel, and not chase teenagers on the hilltops.”

This post was originally published on here. 

A Kentucky woman has been taken into custody and charged with two felony counts in connection with the vandalism at the World War Two memorial in Washington, US Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, said on Friday.

Pirro said on social media that Melissa Farris faces charges, each carrying penalties of up to 10 years in prison.

The World War Two memorial was vandalized with bubbly soap and graffiti on Thursday. The fountain bubbled over with suds and the words “Clean hands Dirty $” were painted on one surface, splattering the area with red and green paint.

In videos posted to her Facebook account, Farris records herself spray painting the memorial and asking why she has not been arrested. She describes herself on the social media platform as a “pirate captain” who is “panhandling for America.”

The criminal complaint filed Friday quotes Farris as saying, “Someone has to make choices that are different, and I am accountable for my actions,” she said. “I am going to make these choices today, and I will step foot into the courtroom, and I will wait to be arrested …. Our government needs to be accountable for their choices too.”

In later videos posted after the incident, she appears disheveled and crying, saying she knows she upset people by her actions but was trying to get help for herself.

According to the complaint, a witness took a photo of Farris spray painting the memorial, an image that was circulated among US Park Police.

An officer recognized Farris as someone they had arrested three days earlier for unlawfully camping on federal property a few blocks from the memorial.

Law enforcement found a white sign with painted letters in a nearby trash can, with paint that appeared to match the paint used on the memorial.

Along with her statement on X/Twitter, Pirro posted photos of a woman who appears to be Farris holding a can close to the red paint on the memorial.

Two of Farris’ family members contacted by Reuters declined to comment.

Trump condemns incident 

Pirro has recently drawn US President Donald Trump‘s anger for dropping charges against four people accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool after Trump oversaw renovations of the pool.

The pool’s condition soon deteriorated, with a peeling liner and algae blooms. Pirro blamed that deterioration on faulty installation in dropping the vandalism charges.

Trump said in response that Pirro had “folded like an umbrella.”

Trump appeared to link the Reflecting Pool damage to the World War Two memorial in a post on social media on Friday, calling it an insult to Americans who had died in the conflict.

“First the Reflecting Pool, now this,” he wrote. “We are on their trail! Where do these animals come from???”

This post was originally published on here. 

Luigi Mangione admitted in court on Friday that he fatally shot health insurance executive Brian Thompson and pleaded guilty to two federal charges of stalking the CEO with the intent to kill him.

“I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan, and he died,” Mangione said. He wore beige prison garb and spoke clearly and calmly as he read from a prepared statement laced with criticism of the US health insurance system.

Thompson’s widow sat in the front row of the gallery with other members of his family. When Mangione admitted to shooting Thompson, she choked up while two women seated next to her comforted her.

The guilty plea will avert a federal trial in the closely watched case over the killing of the 50-year-old UnitedHealthcare CEO, a brazen crime that was condemned by public officials but became emblematic of Americans’ frustration with health insurance industry practices.

After the plea, Mangione’s lawyer filed a motion to dismiss separate state murder charges ahead of a trial in that case, arguing that he should not have to be punished for the same conduct twice under New York’s law prohibiting double jeopardy.

Plea is an ‘important step toward justice,’ family of victim says

US District Judge Margaret Garnett told Mangione, 28, that he could face a maximum sentence of life in prison on each count and scheduled sentencing for December 18.

Jamie McDonald, the Manhattan US Attorney, said his office would seek a sentence of life imprisonment.

“No grievance or ideological cause can ever justify murder,” McDonald told reporters.

Thompson’s family said in a statement that the plea marked an “important step toward justice.”

“We look to the court to ensure that sentencing reflects the severity of this crime,” Thompson’s family said.

Thompson led UnitedHealth Group’s UNH.N insurance unit before he was shot dead in the early morning of December 4, 2024, outside a hotel where an investor conference was taking place.

Graphic footage of the killing and a five-day manhunt for a suspect made the case a media fixture and social media sensation. Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania.

Mangione said in his courtroom statement that he navigated obstacles with his insurance after suffering a broken back, without providing details.

Mangione said he emailed UnitedHealthcare leadership seeking details of its 2024 investor conference, pretending to be an investor managing more than $50 billion in assets. He said he received a response within an hour, which he said was quicker than previous interactions with insurers.

“I observed that the annual conference of America’s largest healthcare organization with the stated mission to make the health system work better for everyone would be attended by company executives, the board of directors, and hundreds of investors – not doctors, nurses and patients,” Mangione said.

Mangione said he then used a 3-D printer to make part of a gun and traveled to New York with the intent of killing Thompson.

UnitedHealth Group said in a statement, “We are grateful to law enforcement for bringing Brian’s murderer to justice.”

Mangione seeks to dismiss state case

Mangione had previously pleaded not guilty in April 2025 to federal murder, weapons and stalking charges.

Garnett threw out the murder and weapons charges over legal technicalities in a surprise ruling in January 2026. The decision eliminated the possibility that Mangione would face the death penalty in the federal case.

Mangione separately pleaded not guilty in December 2024 to state terrorism, murder, weapons and forgery charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The terrorism charges were thrown out by a judge in September 2025.

A trial in the state case is scheduled for September 8 before Justice Gregory Carro in Manhattan. Mangione would face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.

In their motion to dismiss the state case under New York’s double jeopardy law, Mangione’s lawyers said facing another trial would violate his due process rights under the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution.

Bragg’s office could oppose the move. A spokesperson for Bragg said in a statement, “We are prepared to litigate the defense motions. The Manhattan DA’s Office remains committed to seeking justice for Mr. Thompson and his family.”

New York’s double jeopardy law carves out exceptions for crimes that have different elements or are aimed at preventing “very different kinds of harm or evil.”

The stalking charges have different elements than murder but still require intent to kill, which could make it difficult for state prosecutors to argue that the trial should go forward, according to Catherine Christian, a defense lawyer and former Manhattan prosecutor.

“Prosecutors will say it’s a different statute, but the defense will argue it’s about intending to kill and killing someone – that’s what our client pled led to, and it’s splitting hairs to say they’re different,” Christian said.

This post was originally published on here. 

The IDF killed a Hamas commander in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday who had been involved in attacks on troops, the army said on Friday afternoon.

Identified as Khan Yunis brigade company commander Hudhaifa Khaled Suleiman Qawari, the IDF said he had taken part in training terrorists, transferring weapons in southern Gaza, and attempts to rebuild Hamas.

Recently, the army said, Qawari had “advanced terror attacks against IDF troops and Israeli civilians,” and that he had been killed “in order to remove the threat he posed.”

The IDF said it used precise munitions and aerial surveillance in the strike in order to mitigate harm to civilians.

This is a developing story.

This post was originally published on here. 

Israelis have every reason in the world to seriously doubt the American-hatched plans to bring peace to Israel’s southern and northern borders.

In both Gaza and Lebanon, there are deeply entrenched, well-equipped, Iranian-backed terrorist armies arrayed against Israel. Nobody has yet met an Islamist truly willing to give up his weapons.

Now, you’ve got to give the Jared Kushner-driven American diplomacy some credit for trying to defang Hamas and Hezbollah and transform the regional security situation.

Remember that nobody in Israel believed that Kushner and his team would be able to wedge Hamas into releasing all remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza. There was a one-in-a-thousand chance of that happening, and yet it did.

The new American plans are dreamy-delicious, too, at least on paper – perhaps hallucinatory, perhaps possible.

Hamas is supposed to be stripped of its weapons (guns, rockets, missiles, underground bunkers and weapons storehouses, and terror attack tunnels) and Gaza is supposed to be demilitarized by an “International Stabilization Force” of Moroccan, Albanian, and other troops.

Hamas rule is supposed to be replaced by a neutral, non-Hamas “technocratic government.” Members of this government and its “new” police force are supposed to be “vetted” for their peaceful intentions.

Hezbollah in Lebanon is similarly, hypothetically, going to be “decommissioned” or driven out of southern Lebanon by the ghostly, Hezbollah-penetrated weakling army known as the Lebanese Armed Forces.

This near-fictitious force, overseen by international observers from the US and reportedly by Italy, Switzerland, and Indonesia too, is to “verify” Hezbollah’s disarmament and disappearance.

This is notionally wonderful!

But both Hamas and Hezbollah vociferously deny that they will disarm (except perhaps performatively, imaginarily, a bit for the cameras), and they certainly have not abandoned their declared ideological commitments to the destruction of Israel.

And none of the presumed peacekeepers, observers, verifiers, vetters, stabilizers, and guarantors are going to actually, militarily, kinetically confront Hamas and Hezbollah, gunmen.

Never ever, none of them, not with a single bullet, never mind with a company of commandos.

Board of Peace struggling to overcome Gaza obstacles 

Worse still, even before implementation of the plan for Gaza gets going, the so-called US-led Board of Peace is already backsliding from the commitments it made to Israel in the 20-point plan signed last fall.

In the original plan, Hamas’s infrastructure was to be “destroyed and not rebuilt,” and its weapons confiscated and put “permanently beyond use” (point 13).

However, Article 8 of the recently enunciated “road map” for implementation of the grand peace plan downgrades to a situation where weapons are to be “decommissioned and stored,” and only after the establishment of a new National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.

(A “technocratic” government staffed by people undoubtedly loyal to Hamas, after “vetting” by the plan’s guarantors like Hamas backers Qatar and Turkey.)

“Destroyed” and removed from Gaza have become weapons “stored” there, meaning that the weapons will be accessible to Hamas in the future, “subject to Palestinian law,” and the new governing body now precedes Hamas’s disarmament rather than following it.

Plus, there is a new invented category of weapons: “personal weapons” – whatever that means – which will be allowed to Gazans (Hamas chieftains, gorillas, goons, and the like) instead of being confiscated.

Furthermore, the “stabilization force” is no longer defined as a “long-term internal security solution working alongside Israel,” but as a buffer force between Gaza and Israel (see article 12).

This means that it has no policing role against Hamas but will be there to prevent the IDF from operating against terrorist threats as they develop. In other words, it will protect Hamas.

Again, Hamas (like Hezbollah) has no intention of voluntarily disarming itself, and no one other than Israel will truly do the necessary job. Nobody but the IDF is going to do battle with Hamas, and this must be a constant battle.

Alas, Israel is already being forced into a situation where the IDF’s hands are tied.

Targeted strikes against Hamas commanders and even against heavily armed Hamas shock troops probing Israeli defenses along the Gaza border have dropped over the past two weeks to almost zero, reportedly at the insistence of the US.

This is a major mistake. What disrupts the ability of terrorist organizations like Hamas to rebuild and conduct attacks on Israel is the constant pressure of targeted counterterrorist operations.

As long as they live under a constant Israeli threat, the leaders and operatives of these genocidal gangs are forced to live as hunted men – in hiding, in restrictive operational settings.

Furthermore, to prevent a surprise attack against Israel, it is essential to deny the enemy the ability to organize and prepare. Halting or significantly reducing Israel’s counterterrorism operations gives the enemy the confidence and sense of immunity that it currently lacks.

According to reports, the 600 trucks a day of “reconstruction” and food supplies now going into Gaza are largely being “questioned,” “repurposed,” and otherwise “taxed” by Hamas for its military rebuilding.

IDF cannot afford to abandon counterterrorism operations

Hamas’s fighting force is apparently back at 40,000 strong.

Consequently, Israel needs to keep things simple. Kindly Kushner plans aside, and with best wishes for their success, Israel nevertheless must maintain freedom of action to conduct counterterrorism operations.

As a matter of principle and practical defense policy, Israel must forcefully respond to every attack or attempt to attack Israel, and it must interdict emerging security threats in real time – not “restrain” itself to “keep the peace process alive.”

Additionally, it cannot and must not withdraw from the security zones currently held before the terrorists have been totally disarmed and their organizations genuinely dismantled.

The containment policies of recent decades that prioritized restraint and diplomacy over enemy degradation and military triumph have failed.

This approach allowed enemies to develop attack capabilities under the cover of diplomatic breathing time; what some Western officials mistakenly called periods of “stability.”

It blew up in Israel’s face, with terror and invasion from the West Bank, Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon, and with the march of Iran’s nuclear bomb program to near completion and Iran’s ballistic missile array to near-annihilation-of-Israel potential.

Israel understands that it must continue to make fierce and overwhelming moves against enemy strongholds – from Gaza City to Beirut and Isfahan.

Israel must attack, not defend. It must initiate, not respond. It must hunt down its enemies, not be hounded by them or be reined in by whimsical international agreements.
Israel must maintain a proactive defense posture, including tactical and strategic ascendancy against enemies near and far.

On this, there is a broad consensus in Israel that crosses party lines. Gadi Eisenkot and Naftali Bennett have been just as critical as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the latest peace plan implementation proposals outlined by Nikolay Meladenov.

With Hamas in the neighborhood, they know that the IDF must constantly be on the offensive. They know that Israeli public opinion won’t broker any compromise in this regard.

No Israeli leader can be anything but dubious, too, of the tactical LAF test-takeover of two tiny villages in southern Lebanon where Hezbollah used to be based until Israeli troops rooted them out the hard way.

The likelihood that this can be expanded to all southern Lebanon and hold for the long term without challenge by Hezbollah and its Iranian patron is slim to nil, even with Italian, Swiss, and Indonesian observers.

The pilot project is likely no more than a Lebanese public relations endeavor.

Remember UNIFIL, which still impotently and even harmfully hangs around the zone? Is the American team going to propose the evil supervision services of Turkey and Qatar (and perhaps Syria) in southern Lebanon, too?

Color me amicably appreciative but stubbornly skeptical of the latest attempts to fashion fanciful diplomatic harmonies on Israel’s borders – an attitude born of hard-bitten experience.

The writer is a managing senior fellow at the Jerusalem-based Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy. The views expressed here are his own. His diplomatic, defense, political, and Jewish world columns over the past 30 years are at davidmweinberg.com

This post was originally published on here. 

Turkey is not enraged because Israel misreads it. It is enraged because Israel has read it correctly and acted.
The 2010 Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara marked a rupture. Gaza supplies rhetoric, mobilization, and diplomatic cover. Neither explains the strategic depth of Turkey’s hostility.

Gaza is the language of confrontation. The erosion of Turkish gatekeeping is its substance.

The Turkish double bind governs Ankara’s strategy. Turkey must be Western enough to be financed, armed, and consulted, yet revisionist enough to remain indispensable. 

Full alignment would reduce Ankara to a rule-bound ally; full rupture would cost it markets, technology, investment, NATO access, and political shelter. Ankara arbitrages alignment and rupture: it manufactures friction, brokers relief, and invoices the system.

Punish Turkey, and it threatens to pivot toward Russia, obstruct NATO, restrict access, or open another theater. Reward it, and coercion pays. 

Each concession reprices the next demand. Indispensability becomes impunity, but only while alternatives remain scarce. Israel is multiplying them.

Washington remains trapped. It prizes Turkish access around the Black Sea, the straits and Syria, and fears obstruction more than the dependence its concessions entrench. The United States postpones rather than resolves the Turkish double bind.

Pakistan established the model: preserve instability, then sell Washington the access needed to manage it. Taliban sanctuary, AQ Khan, and Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad should have ended it; Washington returned, mistaking access for strategy. 

Turkey embedded the model in NATO through threatened defection, monetized access and absolution after breach.
US President Donald Trump deepened the trap. At July’s NATO summit in Ankara, he signaled sanctions relief and

Turkey’s possible return to the F-35 program despite the unresolved S-400 file. 
Days later, the State Department said US law still barred the transfer. Trump offered Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a transaction for a problem Turkey created.

The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, signed August 7 by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan, exports the mechanism beyond NATO, making an armed attack on one an attack on all. 

Riyadh has accepted Turkish wars. Ankara monetizes indispensability precisely as Jerusalem dismantles it.

Elected officials speak in names; states plan in systems. Politicians attack Erdogan; institutions dismantle dependence. 
Defense, diplomacy, intelligence, and industry outlast elections and converge on one rule: no vital Israeli function may depend on Ankara.

Ankara wishes to position itself as an essential regional player 

Israel’s policy is an unofficial Sèvres Deterrent. The name invokes Turkey’s foundational fear of encirclement, weakening, and partition, rooted in the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres and the Ottoman collapse.

The doctrine weaponizes Turkey’s need to remain indispensable. It threatens neither Turkish territory nor national unity; Turkish coercion instead catalyzes the partnerships, corridors, and capabilities Ankara fears.

Pressure in the Aegean, occupied northern Cyprus, northern Syria, the Turkish-Libyan maritime corridor, the Straits, Hamas networks, and NATO procedure form a mutually reinforcing perimeter. Peripheral theaters mature into direct threats.

The Constantinople Protocol operationalizes the Sèvres Deterrent through redundancy: no Turkish gate remains singular. Ports, airspace, shipping, finance, trade, energy, cables, and data must be replaceable before Ankara can weaponize them. 

Constantinople is a map, not nostalgia. The gate predates the state now monetizing it.

Houthi disruption at Bab al-Mandab and Suez raises the value of Ankara’s Trans-Caspian Middle Corridor while Turkey-based actors facilitate Houthi finance. Tehran arms the pressure; Ankara monetizes the diversion.

Turkey’s trade embargo tested the protocol. Turkish goods had permeated Israeli construction and industry, yet the Bank of Israel found limited effects after Israel switched suppliers. 

Ankara tried to prove dependence and accelerated diversification instead. A Turkish restriction now triggers replacement, not crisis.

Israel’s partnership with Greece and Cyprus is the core, not an American guarantee. The triangle is institutionalized through a 2026 military work plan, joint exercises, intelligence cooperation, and interoperable infrastructure. 

A planned tri-service rapid response force converts coordination into force generation.
Industry anchors the architecture. Greece’s July approval of up to €3.5 billion for multilayer air defense puts Israeli systems at the core of Achilles Shield while reserving production for Greek firms. 

PULS, Israeli unmanned systems, Cyprus’s reported Barak MX layer, and energy interconnection deepen sovereign capability and erode Turkish choke points.

Hakan Fidan acknowledged the architecture in January as a pattern intended to contain Turkey. He identified the structure correctly and the cause incorrectly. This is not containment of Turkish territory; it is containment of Turkish coercion.

Turkey still creates crises. It no longer controls what those crises create.

Poseidon’s Wrath names the contingency triggered when Turkey weaponizes occupied northern Cyprus against Israel, Greece, or the Republic of Cyprus. 

Its end state is the neutralization of forward systems, denial of reinforcement, the removal of Turkish forces, and restoration of recognized Cypriot sovereignty. 

Once the north becomes an operational platform for attack, response moves from signaling to enforcement.

Turkish NATO membership does not automatically shield Ankara when coercion becomes force, whether through an attack from occupied Cyprus, forcible enforcement of the Turkish-Libyan maritime corridor, or militarization of Turkey’s Russian-built Akkuyu nuclear plant.

Israel exploits that asymmetry by treating Turkish NATO membership as a constraint, not a veto. NATO assesses armed attacks case by case; each ally determines the assistance it considers necessary. The legal hinge is armed attack, not membership.

Why Turkey’s influence in the Middle East is wavering

At Akkuyu, function is decisive. If Ankara uses the plant for military enablement, command continuity, protected logistics, or Russian operational depth, Israeli action to neutralize that function would fall under self-defense and the law of armed conflict. 

NATO membership likewise cannot convert Turkish enforcement of the 2019 Tripoli memorandum, or an attack from occupied Cyprus, into automatic collective defense.

Where NATO reaches its limit, Lisbon begins.

Article 42(7) of the Treaty on European Union reverses the asymmetry. Israel is not covered; it need not be. Greece and Cyprus are. 

If either suffers armed aggression on its territory, every EU member is bound to aid and assist. Israel thus gains strategic depth through partners backed by an obligation Ankara cannot veto.

French defense commitments, Egyptian maritime interests, and Indian-Emirati corridors carry the architecture beyond the Hellenic core. Ankara will search for a treaty to denounce and find a network it cannot veto.

Success is the declining yield of Turkish coercion.

The writer is the founder and principal of Line of State, a strategic practice working with governments, institutions, and decision-makers on strategy, risk, access, and security decisions in high-stakes environments.

This post was originally published on here. 

An Israeli aid delegation landed in Cali, Colombia, on Friday to assist with rescue operations, the Foreign Ministry announced, after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake shook the country earlier this week. 

The 80-person delegation includes officials from the IDF, the Defense Ministry, and the Foreign Affairs Ministry. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the mission on Wednesday following newly appointed Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella’s request for Israel to do so. 

Currently, Colombia has requested rescue teams from only four countries: the US, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Israel. 

Ahead of the delegation’s arrival, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar sent a Foreign Ministry team to Cali to receive the delegation and coordinate rescue operations. 

The midwestern city is Colombia’s third-largest and one of the hardest hit by the natural disaster. 

Foreign Ministry representative and Ambassador to Guatemala and El Salvador Alon Lavi, along with IDF rescue unit commander Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Yossi Pinto, departed for Cali immediately after landing to assess the situation and survey relevant rescue sites. 

Delegation dubbed ‘Alliance of Friends’

The team, dubbed the “Alliance of Friends,” is expected to begin its humanitarian assistance efforts in the coming hours. 

Colombian authorities confirmed Friday morning that around 400 people remain missing nearly four days after the quake, whose epicenter was in the vulnerable Chocó department on the country’s Pacific coast. 

The death toll currently stands at 285, and the number of injured at around 4,000. 

Vivian Eisein, Israel’s new ambassador to Colombia, received the green light from Colombian officials to join the rescue efforts and is expected to land in the country on Monday. 

This post was originally published on here. 

On August 15, 1947, India became independent under circumstances that would have tested the resolve of any nation. Independence came with the partition, displacement and immense human suffering. 

The country inherited widespread poverty, limited industrial capacity and inadequate infrastructure. India was, in economic terms, a fledgling nation with few capabilities. Yet, from those difficult beginnings, India embarked on one of the most remarkable journeys of nation-building in modern history. 

The first task was not economic growth. It was to build a nation.

In 1949, India adopted its constitution and committed itself to democracy, fundamental rights, federalism, an independent judiciary and universal adult franchise. At a time when much of the newly independent world was struggling to establish political institutions, India chose democracy as the foundation of its development. Eight decades later, it remains the world’s largest democracy.

For the Indian economy, one of the decisive inflection points came in 1991, when India undertook major economic reforms and began integrating more deeply with the global economy. Liberalisation, private enterprise and globalisation helped unleash the potential of Indian entrepreneurship and talent.

India’s transformation: From fledgling nation to global economic and technological power

India’s real GDP grew by 7.7% in FY2025–26, according to the latest official estimate. But the more important story is what lies behind that growth. It is visible in modern highways, expressways, airports, ports, railways and metro systems; in rapidly expanding manufacturing; in electronics, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, defence production, and the space sector; and in India’s growing capacity to design, manufacture and export sophisticated products.

India’s extraordinary digital transformation is remarkable story-one that deserves to be shared with the world. The JAM Trinity – Jan Dhan bank accounts, Aadhaar biometric cards and Mobile – created an architecture for financial inclusion and delivery of public services at unprecedented scale. Digital India has taken this further.

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has demonstrated how a country of India’s size can build digital public infrastructure that is interoperable, inclusive and capable of global adoption. India’s digital public infrastructure is now attracting interest beyond its borders, including in countries such as France, Singapore and UAE.

The growth of India’s startup ecosystem, ranked third in the world by total number of startups and unicorns, is inspiring. The successful launch of Vikram-1, a privately developed rocket by originally a startup, Skyroot Aerospace, which placed India in elite club of three with the United States and China, is particularly significant. The average age of the team that built it was around 28. It is a powerful reminder that India’s demographic dividend is not merely a statistic; it is a reservoir of ambition and capability.

But, demographics alone do not create prosperity. This is why skilling, education and capacity building will be central to India’s journey towards 2047. India’s youth – in India and across the world – are increasingly becoming India’s most important global asset. The experience of Indians abroad reinforces this confidence.

Across professions and continents, Indians have earned a reputation for being hardworking, adaptable, diligent and committed to the societies in which they live. The Indian diaspora is not only a bridge between India and the world; it is a global network of skills, entrepreneurship and goodwill.

India’s growth story is also a sustainable growth story, with renewable energy, green hydrogen, electric mobility and other green technologies becoming integral to its development trajectory. India achieved 50% of its cumulative installed electricity capacity from non-fossil sources in 2025, five years ahead of schedule, while remaining committed to its 2070 net-zero target.

With an ambitious goal of producing 5 million metric tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030 and the launch of its first green hydrogen train, India is demonstrating that rapid economic development and environmental sustainability can advance together.

Global technology giants are increasingly betting on India as a key driver of the next AI revolution. With India hosting the AI Impact Summit and Google and Microsoft committing billions of dollars to AI and cloud infrastructure, the country is emerging as a major hub for AI innovation and deployment. India’s vast talent pool, digital public infrastructure and scale give it a unique advantage to shape an AI future that is not only globally competitive but also inclusive and accessible to the Global South.

India’s growing global role and strategic partnership with Israel

Indian Foreign policy has assumed salience in addressing issue of the contemporary times. The India of today is increasingly the first responder in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated this spirit vividly. India undertook the herculean task of vaccinating its own population while also extending assistance to partner countries through Vaccine Maitri initiative, supplying vaccines to nations across the developing world.

India’s successful G20-Presidency in 2023 reflected this approach. At a time of significant geopolitical divisions, India helped bring countries together around a common agenda and ensured that the priorities of developing countries and the Global South received greater attention.

The inclusion of the African Union as a permanent member of the G20 was a particularly significant outcome. As a reliable development partner, India today works with partners across the Global South in areas ranging from capacity building and healthcare to agriculture, infrastructure, digital technology and renewable energy.

India is equally committed to a rules-based international order, respect for international law and an open, free and inclusive maritime domain. Our approach to the international system is also reflected in our call for reform of global institutions. India advocates comprehensive reforms in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) so that the institutions of global governance become more representative, credible and effective.

India’s goal is Viksit Bharat @2047 – a developed India by the centenary of Independence. Achieving this ambition will require sustained high growth, higher productivity for our young people, stronger manufacturing, and leadership in the technologies that will define the future.

This is where the India-Israel partnership acquires particular significance. Our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi visited Israel in February 2026 and together with Prime Minister Mr. Netanyahu elevated our relationship to the Special Strategic Partnership.

India and Israel share democratic values, a deep respect for innovation and a proven ability to turn adversity into opportunity. Our relationship has evolved into a Special Strategic Partnership, spanning agriculture, water, defence, trade, technology, and innovation cooperation-and it has stood the test of difficult times.

The next phase must be driven by greater ambition, deeper integration and co-creation. The Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), ongoing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations, and the India-Israel Joint Working Plan for 2026 provide an important foundation for this next chapter.

India’s scale, manufacturing capabilities and ability to take solutions to the masses complement Israel’s exceptional innovation ecosystem. We should, therefore, bring together our entrepreneurs, researchers, universities, start-ups and businesses to co-develop, co-produce and co-scale technologies in AI, semiconductors, quantum computing, space, cyber technologies and advanced manufacturing.

Our ambition should extend beyond bilateral cooperation: India and Israel can jointly take innovative, affordable and scalable solutions to third-country markets, particularly across the Global South. Together, we can build a partnership that not only advances our national interests but also contributes to a more innovative, prosperous, and peaceful world.

The journey has been extraordinary. The destination is still ahead-and the India-Israel partnership can be a relevant force in helping shape what comes next.

Jai Hind!

The author is India’s ambassador to Israel.

This post was originally published on here. 

Israel is awaiting US approval for a military operation aimed at taking control of the Ali Taher Ridge in southern Lebanon, Lebanese newspaper Al Joumhouria reported Friday morning, citing a senior security official.

According to the report, messages received by officials in Beirut indicate that the IDF is at a high level of readiness for an operation in the strategic ridge, which overlooks large parts of the Nabatieh region.

The senior security official claimed that Washington had made clear to the Lebanese leadership that it would not be able to completely prevent Israel from taking action. However, according to the same source, US officials asked that any operation be as limited and precise as possible, while minimizing destruction and civilian casualties in order to avoid the collapse of the framework of understandings between Israel and Lebanon.

The source also assessed that Israel views taking control of the ridge as a significant military objective it does not intend to abandon, and that the main question for Beirut is how Hezbollah would respond.

Lebanese newspaper Nidaa al Watan also published extensive reports on the Ali Taher Ridge on Friday morning. According to military sources quoted by the newspaper, Israel is pursuing a policy of gradual advances in the area, and is using robotic systems to establish positions while reducing the risk to soldiers.

Ali Taher Ridge not the most important for Hezbollah, Lebanese military holds

The newspaper cited an Israeli report saying that IDF forces already control large parts of the ridge, but have been ordered to halt their tactical advance for the time being due to political sensitivities and ongoing negotiations between Jerusalem and Beirut.

The ridge, located north of the Litani River, rises to an elevation of about 600 meters and overlooks Nabatieh and the surrounding area. According to Nidaa al Watan, Lebanese security officials assess that the area’s strategic importance extends beyond its elevated position.

The report claimed that a network of tunnels and facilities used by Hezbollah for years lies beneath the ridge, and that Israeli activity is now focused on locating entrances, underground infrastructure, and command rooms.

However, Lebanese military sources quoted by the newspaper claimed that Israel’s characterization of the Ali Taher Ridge as Hezbollah’s most important command center is exaggerated, and that the terrorist organization maintains more infrastructure elsewhere in southern Lebanon.

The same sources also claimed that the compound remains connected to supply routes and that dozens of Hezbollah operatives are staying there. These reports have not been independently confirmed.

Amid concerns over a possible escalation, US Gen. Joseph Clearfield is working to advance another round of talks between Israel and Lebanon in Rome in early September. Al Joumhouria reported that the US administration is seeking to advance two measures at the same time: a gradual Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah.

The newspaper also reported that Washington objected to remarks by Defense Minister Israel Katz, who said Israel could remain in southern Lebanon for an extended period.

US opposed to permanent Israeli presence in the area

A US State Department official said that a permanent Israeli military presence would not be consistent with the framework of the understandings, and that the United States supports Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Lebanese newspaper An Nahar also reported Friday morning on tensions surrounding the negotiations. According to the newspaper, Israel is demanding that the Lebanese Armed Forces enter the Ali Taher compound and verify that Hezbollah’s infrastructure there has been dismantled.

Officials in Beirut, however, warned that such a move could put the Lebanese army in direct confrontation with Hezbollah. The newspaper added that Israel had rejected Lebanese proposals to expand the pilot areas from which Israeli forces would withdraw.

According to reports from Lebanon, Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon continued, including artillery fire toward the Ali Taher area.

Against this backdrop, the ridge has emerged as a key test of US efforts to preserve the diplomatic track, while Israel weighs whether to pursue a military outcome on the ground.

Al Akhbar, a Lebanese newspaper affiliated with Hezbollah, also assessed Friday morning that the possibility of renewed large-scale fighting is linked in part to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political considerations ahead of Israel’s elections.

This post was originally published on here. 

“When you’re righteous, you don’t have to tell people that you’re righteous.” – Shaquille O’Neal

I was recently speaking with someone about how they used to do homework with their children. He asked me if I sat with our kids and did homework, and I assured him that our children are scarred from doing math with me. Let’s just say I didn’t have quite enough patience for the task! 

But what I did try to instill in our children is the need for hard work and to follow the process. Hard work and following a process regardless of the outcome are values that we should learn early on. In school, children learn that the hard work sometimes needed to come up with the correct answer is more important than the answer itself. While a student may get 100 on a homework assignment by copying someone else’s answers, they are shortchanging themselves by not actually learning the material.

No question that some of our kids were more receptive to this lesson than others. While some believe in working hard, others believe that they have the magic blackjack system and will become financially secure in a week’s vacation in Las Vegas! I’m kidding. In fact, as they have matured, even the blackjack player was spotted studying very hard for weeks for a math matriculation exam.

Torah portion teaches value of righteousness while seeking righteousness

In this week’s Torah portion, Shoftim, we read the famous verse, “Righteousness (Tzedek), righteousness you shall pursue so that you will live and take possession of the land that Hashem, your G-d, gives you.” [Devarim 16:20]. The famous question is asked: why do we need the repetition of the word ‘Righteousness’? Rabbi Yissocher Frand writes, “Rav Elya Meir Bloch interprets that “the pursuit OF righteousness must also be pursued WITH righteousness. ‘ We are not merely being taught to run AFTER justice. We are told to run AFTER justice WITH justice.”

He continues, “Many times we pursue that which is righteous and fair. Our goal is to ensure that what is right prevails. We are often tempted to let the ends justify the means. We may overlook the fact that we have to step on a few laws here and there as long as in the end “righteousness will prevail”.

We know, unfortunately, how many times throughout history the pursuit of justice was carried on with unjust ways. This has caused terrible destruction. The message of our verse is that we may not overlook unscrupulous methods to achieve lofty goals. Righteousness must be pursued WITH righteousness. Achieving Tzedek in any other way is not Tzedek.”

Oh, how relevant this lesson is today, especially regarding certain legal proceedings and the divide they have caused in our nation.

You may be shocked, but this principle applies to personal finance as well. When it comes to investing, you need to trust the process.

Buyer’s remorse not uncommon in investing 

Denny Baish of Fort Pitt Capital Group wrote, “In the world of investing, it’s common for some people to experience a bit of buyer’s remorse. Not the kind you get when you make a big Black Friday purchase, but the kind investors might experience during times of market volatility or turmoil.” He gives 3 tips:

1- Trust the process. It’s important to trust your investment strategy and do your best to tune out the talking heads that create fierce headlines and may strike fear or hesitation into an investor.

2- Make decisions when life’s circumstances change, not your emotions. It’s best to make allocation changes based on what’s changing in your life, not your emotions. Some life events that could drive change include retiring, switching careers, expanding your family, or receiving a raise.

3- Ask for help and guidance. Part of having trust in your investment decisions is knowing exactly what they are. A financial advisor can not only help take some of the emotions out of investing, but they can also answer any questions you might have along the way so that you know exactly what you’re investing in and what the strategy is to accomplish your financial goals. 

The same principle applies to saving money. Financial success rarely comes from one big decision or a lucky break. It usually comes from doing small things consistently: spending less than you earn, saving regularly, diversifying your investments, and allowing time to work in your favor. There will inevitably be years when markets fall, or unexpected expenses arise. That doesn’t mean the plan has failed. It means that staying disciplined and returning to the process becomes even more important. 

Whether it’s studying, our legal system, trying to perfect character traits, or having a secure financial future, don’t get frustrated if you hit some bumps in the road. Remember: following the process is the key to success. 

The information contained in this article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of Portfolio Resources Group, Inc. or its affiliates.

Aaron Katsman is the author of the book Retirement GPS: How to Navigate Your Way to A Secure Financial Future with Global Investing (McGraw-Hill), is a licensed financial professional both in the United States and Israel, and helps people who open investment accounts in the United States. Securities are offered through Portfolio Resources Group, Inc. (www.prginc.net). Member FINRA, SIPC, MSRB, FSI. For more information, call (02) 624-0995, visit www.aaronkatsman.com, or email aaron@lighthousecapital.co.il.

This post was originally published on here. 

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara responded on Friday to a High Court petition concerning government funding for “first floor” studies in ultra-Orthodox education networks, warning of significant gaps in compliance with core curriculum requirements.

“Education Ministry data point to significant gaps in the network institutions’ compliance with their obligation to teach the full core curriculum, as well as failures in the ability to supervise compliance with those obligations and enforce them,” she wrote.

The response further stated: “Accordingly, the state has determined that continued receipt of funding under the ‘All Israeli Children’ principle will be conditional on compliance with the basic obligations that apply to the network institutions, including full core curriculum studies as established in the official education curriculum, the employment of teaching staff with appropriate training.”

It continued by saying that “full participation in measurement and assessment programs, cooperation with supervision and enforcement mechanisms, and compliance with reporting requirements. These requirements will apply beginning in the current school year.”

High Court justices criticize state for transfer of funds

United Torah Judaism’s Degel HaTorah chairman, MK Moshe Gafni, responded to Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara’s decision to condition funding for ultra-Orthodox education on the teaching of core curriculum subjects and additional requirements.

“Who appointed Baharav-Miara to decide everything in the country according to her own agenda? An elected government is forbidden from making decisions during an election period, the Knesset’s ability to legislate is restricted, but a dismissed attorney general is allowed to decide on her own how haredi children will be educated and what they will study?”

“If she wants to dictate what haredi children should learn, then I demand, to the same extent, that all Israeli children study the 613 commandments, Jewish tradition, Torah, Prophets and Writings, and Gemara, and anyone who does not study all of these should not receive funding.”

The Yesh Atid Party petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice in December 2025 over budget transfers to ultra-Orthodox educational institutions. According to a letter the party sent before filing the petition, the government decided on December 22, 2025, to establish a ministerial team to formulate and implement government policy on ultra-Orthodox education.

Party members claimed that “Behind this sanitized name lies, in practice, the intention to ‘circumvent’ the core curriculum requirement imposed on haredi educational institutions and the restrictions imposed on institutions that do not meet this obligation, as well as the Supreme Court ruling and the attorney general’s directives regarding the reduction of funding for haredi educational institutions whose students did not receive an exemption or whose military service was not deferred.”

The High Court later heard the petition and issued an interim order freezing the transfer of coalition funds to unsupervised ultra-Orthodox educational institutions.

During the hearing, the justices sharply criticized the state. Justice Gila Canfy-Steinitz asked the state’s representative: “Under what law or procedure were the funds transferred?”

Justice Yael Wilner added: “This is unlawful conduct.”

Wilner later said the Knesset Finance Committee had discussed the funding only after the money had already been transferred.

“If this was not told to the committee members, then this was a sham discussion. Pulling the wool over their eyes.”

The state’s representative, attorney Neta Oren, acknowledged that most of the funds had been transferred before the required approvals were received, saying that “there is such a practice.”

Wilner replied: “It is not ‘undesirable,’ it is illegal.”

This post was originally published on here. 

Two slicks have appeared in Iranian waters, satellite imagery and video verified by Reuters show, as tit-for-tat attacks on oil tankers and other vessels by Iran and the United States spark concerns about environmental damage to the Gulf.

A potential environmental disaster is already unfolding off Oman outside of the Strait of Hormuz, where a grounded tanker, the Caroline Bezengi, is leaking Russian crude oil in a protected marine area and has created a massive slick, some estimates put at 2,000 square km.

The Caroline Bezengi incident has not been linked to the war with Iran.

The two latest slicks are inside the Gulf.

One slick has appeared off the southern tip of Qeshm Island, the large dolphin-shaped island in the Strait of Hormuz close to Iran’s coast, pictures from Copernicus’s ​Sentinel-2 satellites showed.

Dark color indicates heavy fuel oil

Wim Zwijnenburg, an environmental open-source researcher at the Dutch peace organization PAX, said the dark color in parts of the slick indicated heavy fuel oil, while a lighter, diluted slick stretched about 160 km.

A dark, bubbling liquid was spotted washing ashore on the beaches of Suza on Qeshm Island, contrasting with the turquoise water surrounding it, in a video posted on August 11 and verified by Reuters.

“This is the biggest one that I’ve seen in recent months, really since the conflict between Iran and the U.S. began,” said John Amos, CEO of SkyTruth, which uses satellite imagery to detect oil spills, calling it “a major incident”.

Satellite imagery showed a second slick near the smaller Sirri Island in the center of the Gulf, about 100 km southwest of Qeshm and home to some Iranian offshore oil and gas production.

The satellite imagery of Qeshm Island was taken on August 10 and that of Sirri Island on August 13.

Dry bulk carrier attacked 

The Qeshm Island slick likely stemmed from a leak from the Minoan Pioneer, a Liberia-flagged dry bulk ship, said Samir Madani, co-founder of monitoring service TankerTrackers.com.

The Minoan Pioneer was hit by an unknown projectile close to Oman’s coast in a suspected Iranian attack while sailing through the Strait of Hormuz on August 3, and one seafarer went missing, maritime security sources said.

The same leak likely also affected Qeshm Island, one maritime security source told Reuters.

A spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baqaei, said in a post on X that oil pollution from the Gulf had reached Qeshm Island and that preliminary evidence “indicates a foreign bulk carrier as the source”.

Reuters could not independently confirm the cause of either slick nor identify the substances involved.

A source involved in the salvage operation for the Minoan Pioneer, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters on Friday that a tugboat dispatched to secure the grounded vessel could not approach it due to issues related to obtaining permission from Iranian authorities.

The Iranian Mission in Geneva did not respond to a Reuters request ​for immediate comment.

The conflict in the region had complicated efforts to assess and clean up spills in the Gulf, said Brian Barnes, a satellite oceanographer and research assistant professor at the University of South Florida.

“The longer that the oil is leaking into an environment, the more it can spread out and cause damage to ecosystems and coastlines.”

This post was originally published on here. 

Rescuers raced against time in Colombia on Friday to free a man found alive beneath a collapsed hotel, a rare sign of hope nearly four days after one of the strongest earthquakes to hit the Andean nation in decades reduced neighborhoods to rubble and left hundreds dead or missing.

The operation in the coffee-region city of Pereira had become the main focus of a disaster response increasingly shifting from the search for survivors to the grim work of clearing debris and accounting for the missing.

“Possibly there are (still) people alive, we believe so,” rescuer John Bedoya told Caracol Television from the site, where emergency crews worked through a mound of concrete, brick and twisted metal. “One or two could be alive.”

The 7.4-magnitude quake struck shortly after 7:30 a.m. on Monday, with its epicenter in San José del Palmar in the Chocó department. It toppled apartment blocks and damaged homes, schools and hospitals across western Colombia, from the Pacific port of Buenaventura to the inland cities of Cali and Pereira.

Authorities said on Friday morning that 285 people had been killed and nearly 4,000 injured. Nearly 400 others were still missing.

The government said tens of thousands of homes were damaged and many destroyed, underlining the scale of a disaster that has left many Colombians sleeping in shelters or outside unsafe buildings.

Quake could trigger more displacement, UN warns

The UN refugee agency warned on Friday the earthquake could trigger fresh displacement in a country already grappling with conflict, migration and other humanitarian pressures.

“For internally displaced people and refugees who are already trying to rebuild their lives, this earthquake risks becoming another displacement on top of displacement,” UNHCR spokesperson Eujin Byun told reporters in Geneva.

Authorities have recorded scores of aftershocks since Monday, adding to the danger for rescuers combing through unstable debris and for families reluctant to return to damaged homes.

The disaster is shaping up as the first major test for President Abelardo de la Espriella, who took office just days before the quake and has faced criticism for his initial handling of the disaster. He is set to make flying visits to five affected cities and towns on Friday, including Pereira, Cali and Quibdó.

World Bank says it disbursed $200 million to Colombia for quake response

The World Bank on Friday said it had disbursed $200 million to Colombia for its emergency response to the quake. 

The multilateral development bank said it was working with the Colombian government and development partners, financial institutions and the private sector to address immediate needs, while laying the foundations for recovery.

The bank said it had also launched a Global Rapid Assessment of Damages from Earthquakes (GRADE) to provide the Colombian government with an early assessment of damages and economic losses to help Bogota prioritize aid and reconstruction efforts.

Efforts were underway to channel financing to affected communities and businesses, including support for public health, housing, and small and medium-sized enterprises, the bank said.

This post was originally published on here. 

The United States wants Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly condemn extremist settlers who have besieged Palestinians in their homes in the West Bank, US and Israeli officials said on Friday, as settlers pressured residents by pitching a new tent before Israeli soldiers arrived and it was taken down.

Settlers have been encircling homes in Kusra for almost a week after cutting off water and electricity, trapping Palestinians in an area where rights groups say settlers are mounting a concerted effort to seize more land, further eating into territory where Palestinians aim to establish a state.

Their actions have drawn public US criticism: the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a strong supporter of Jewish settlement in the West Bank, on Thursday condemned settlers besieging a Palestinian 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.

Washington began to protest after learning that the home of a Palestinian-American was among those targeted, said the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions of which they had knowledge.

Netanyahu has not commented on the siege in Kusra. Neither his office nor the White House immediately responded to requests for comment.

Condemning settlers a potential political risk

Condemning settlers could be politically risky for Netanyahu some two months before an election, potentially upsetting settler voters upon whom parts of his right-wing coalition rely. Opinion polls show Netanyahu could lose power, his security credentials still shaken by the 2023 Hamas attacks.

“We are very afraid,” said Aysha Hassan, a Palestinian woman who lives in one of three besieged homes in the village, speaking to Reuters by phone.

“There is nothing new. It’s been like this for six days…the settlers are still here.”

Hassan said she had seen settlers below the house in the early hours and shared videos with Reuters showing groups of settlers wandering underneath her home, which she said she took from her window.

She said trapped residents received some aid, including food, bottled water and canned goods, brought by foreign and Israeli activists on Friday, though the military prevented them from delivering it to the homes directly, saying it was a closed military zone.

The activists said the military told them they would check the aid and bring it to the families. Hassan said the military allowed them to leave the houses, pick up the aid laid out on a dirt path, and bring it inside.

Military says it removed tent

The United Nations has said some 15 Palestinians, including two children, were trapped inside their homes with no running water or electricity.

Footage shot by a Palestinian resident trapped in another of the homes and obtained by Reuters showed seven settlers outside, standing near a blue tent. One is seen throwing stones toward the nearby village, as another arrives with chairs.

Israeli army vehicles and soldiers later arrive and the tent is seen collapsed on the ground.

“Israeli civilians erected a tent in the Kusra area, and IDF soldiers operated to remove it while protecting the local residents,” the Israeli military (IDF) said in a statement, a day after dozens of troops were sent into Kusra and occupied several village homes.

Netanyahu’s government, the most right-wing in Israeli history, has spearheaded a rapid expansion of settlements in the West Bank, territory captured by Israel in a 1967 war. Israel has established dozens of new settlements and settler outposts in the area.

Rights groups say that settlers have been trying to seize properties on the outskirts of Kusra and neighboring Jalud as part of a strategy to seize the land between them and join it up with settler outposts to the south and larger settlements to the west.

Men in uniform prayed with settlers

The siege began at the weekend when settlers closed off the road to the three homes and set up a tent in their front yards, refusing to allow anyone to enter or leave. They had earlier cut off their electricity and water.

The Israeli military has said soldiers have deployed in Kusra since Thursday morning to protect residents and maintain security.

Video from earlier in the week showed several Israeli men in green military garb joining the settlers in a morning prayer in the tent. The military said it was taking disciplinary action against any personnel involved.

This post was originally published on here. 

There has been a recent flurry of important real estate tax cases in Israel. The cases relate to hotel companies, Value Added Tax (VAT), and transparent house property companies. If you have a financial interest in Israeli real estate, read on and consult your real estate tax advisor.

Hotel Company Case

The Israeli Supreme Court has just ruled in the Nitsba case that buying shares in a hotel company is liable to real estate purchase tax (Nitsba Holdings 1995 Ltd Vs Real Estate Taxes Director, Civil Appeal 470/24, handed down 10.6.26). In doing so, the Supreme Court cast doubt on Israel Tax Ruling 38/07, which says the opposite.

Background

Purchases of Israeli real estate are subject to purchase tax of up to 10% (plus 18% VAT sometimes). This also applies to purchases of shares in an Israeli real estate entity.

Israel also has anti-avoidance rules that deem real estate entities to be taxable just like the real estate they hold. A real estate entity (Igud Mekarkain) is essentially an entity (usually a company) in which all its assets, directly or indirectly, are rights to Israel real estate, except for securities listed on a stock exchange or real estate investment trusts.

But the following assets are disregarded: “cash, shares, bonds, other securities and movable property which do not generate income for the real estate entity or are marginal to the main objectives of the entity…”

The issue in this case

Is a company with a hotel in Eilat, a popular coastal resort, a real estate entity or a business?

Main facts

In this case, Nitsba, a well-known property developer, purchased the shares of Lexan in 2015 for NIS 285 m., a company which owned the Princess Hotel in Eilat. However, the hotel was in a bad state and was immediately closed for “massive” renovations.

A contract with Isrotel to manage the hotel was terminated after 41 days. The renovated hotel was due to reopen in 2020, but it was burnt down at the end of 2019 and had not reopened by 2026 when the case was heard. Because Lexan appeared to be a real estate entity, the Israeli Tax Authority assessed purchase tax of NIS 17 m.

The taxpayer appealed, claiming that Lexan was not a real estate entity according to Tax Circular 38/07 because it operated a hotel business, not movable property, and although the hotel closed for renovations, all hotels need renovating.

Court analysis and judgment

The Supreme Court ruled that Lexan was a real estate entity liable to purchase tax. An asset test is applicable. Purchase tax is due if all the company’s assets are real estate.

The Court noted that in an earlier case, Gazit Globe, a shopping mall company was found to be a real estate entity because its business activity was not independent and separate from real estate.

In the Nitsba case, a lower court had already ruled that factually speaking, the taxpayer did not buy an “alive and kicking” hotel but one about to be closed.

The Court saw that, in another case, the same taxpayer had expressed interest in buying then flipping (re-selling at a profit) a different property via an auction and wondered whether the same was happening here (Paras.35-36). A property flip would make Lexan a real estate entity.

The Court ruled that the taxpayer had failed to prove that when it acquired the company’s shares, the hotel was a going business concern separate from the real estate component.

What about management contracts?

The Supreme Court noted that many hotel operations in the US and elsewhere have an “asset-light business model” where one party owns the hotel property, another manages it.

Are the management fees active business income or passive rental income for the property owner?

The Supreme Court concluded generally that management fees are passive rental income if the property owner “hedges” its risk of losses by: (1) receiving a revenue share, not a profit share, and/or (2) receiving a fixed minimum fee. In this case, the Supreme Court found it unnecessary to rule whether loss hedging had occurred in this case.

Comment

Real estate entities are subject to purchase tax and other strict Israeli tax rules, e.g., upon a property sale. A hotel company is a borderline case. Users should review the use of the main assets and any management fee formula, among other things.

As always, consult experienced professional advisors in each country concerned at an early stage in specific cases.

leon@hcat.co
The writer is a certified public accountant and tax specialist at Harris Consulting & Tax Ltd.

This post was originally published on here. 

Long-time Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern announced on Friday that he would be leaving the party, as well as resigning from the Knesset.

Stern has been a member of the Yesh Atid party since 2015, and previously served as the Intelligence Minister from 2021 to 2022. 

In a letter Stern sent to party leader Yair Lapid, the MK said that under Lapid’s leadership “was a political home for me that allowed me to express my positions in various fields and, most importantly, to maintain hope among the majority of citizens of the State of Israel that one day the Judaism of the Jewish and democratic State of Israel will be a uniting Judaism, not an inciting and divisive one.”

He also wrote that Lapid had once told him that the two of them “were friends before politics and we will be friends after it.”

Stern was convinced, he said, that if he remained in Israeli politics, “we will have more plots and collaborations that will allow us to get the State of Israel out of the very serious situation that the current government has brought us into.”

Lapid responded to Stern’s resignation, thanking him for his time in politics and for their friendship.

“Elazar was a partner in many achievements of the Yesh Atid party in Israeli politics, as well as in the establishment of the change government, in which he served as a minister,” Lapid wrote in a post on X/Twitter.

“Elazar was my friend even before politics, and he will remain my friend even after politics. I thank him for long years of friendship and partnership in working for the State of Israel, and I wish him success on his continued path.”

Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot also bid Stern farewell in a post on X.

“Elazar Stern is a committed and experienced public figure whose heart is in the right place, and whose expertise is important and valued,” Eisenkot said.

“In the most recent Knesset, which dragged Israeli society into the abyss and required parliamentary experience and a backbone of iron-clad values, Stern was one of the leading and most prominent figures in the struggle against the Draft Dodger Legislation. Stern and I have a long-standing friendship, and I appreciate his dedication and actions, and I hope to see him continue in public service for the people of Israel.”

Segalovitz announces resignation from Knesset

Earlier this month, former deputy national security minister Yoav Segalovitz also announced his resignation from the Knesset and departure from the Yesh Atid party.

“Over the years, I had the privilege of influencing issues close to my heart, both as a Knesset member and as deputy public security minister,” Segalovitz said. “I would like to thank Yair Lapid, the members of Knesset, and the party’s activists for their partnership, trust, and joint work on behalf of the State of Israel.”

Miriam Sela-Eitam contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here.