All News (Page 70)

As the US-Iran war progressed, Iran adapted how it attacked US military bases in the Middle East, which forced the US to use its already scarce supply of Patriot interceptors, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

During five days in June, Iran launched waves of drones and missiles at US forces on three bases in Jordan, aiming to overwhelm American air defenses. The IRGC used missiles that could suddenly change course, forcing the US to use scarce interceptor missiles, the NYT reported.

On July 17, an Iranian strike in Jordan hit a housing unit on a US base, killing three soldiers.

A statement from US Central Command (CENTCOM) on July 18 said that “On July 17, two US service members in Jordan were killed in action as CENTCOM and partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. Additionally, one service member is currently missing in action.”

Responding to the fatal attack, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the NYT, “We shot down almost all the missiles; one leaked through.”

As the war has progressed, Iran has become more tactical and skilled with its strikes, learning how to evade US air defenses as the conflict has spread across the region, according to NYT reports.

Simultaneously, the US was running through its stockpile of interceptor missiles.

The US Army had used up “virtually all” of its highly accurate long-range missiles during the five-month war with Iran, according to a Reuters report on August 4.

These long-range munitions allow the military to carry out accurate strikes from a safe distance, playing a crucial role in the US-Iran conflict.

US munitions shortage after months of war

The Pentagon has fewer than 1,700 Patriot interceptors left, a source told the NYT.

When asked for comment on the stockpile data, the White House issued a statement from Trump, saying the US had “far more munitions than anyone in the world” and “far more than we need,” Reuters reported.

“Our defense companies are, at this moment, making more munitions than they have ever made before, in addition to expanding their plants and equipment at record levels,” Trump said.

The munitions shortage has an impact beyond the US-Iran conflict. The Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) stockpile, a short-range missile also in demand by Ukraine, is drained to the extent that there’s basically none left, Reuters reported.

Between February and July, the US had used around 65% of its Patriot interceptors.

This post was originally published on here. 

Minnesota Democrats chose the state’s Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan as their nominee to the US Senate on Tuesday, according to US media projections.

Flanagan, a progressive, will face off against Republican nominee and sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya in the November general election for the seat left open by the retirement of Democratic senator Tina Smith. 

A pair of Democratic primaries in Minnesota on Tuesday were among a string of high-profile battles between progressive and moderate candidates, where Israel and the pro-Israel lobby serve as key wedge issues. 

The state’s highest-profile race was the US Senate primary between Rep. Angie Craig, who has been endorsed by the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, and Lieutenant Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who said she would reject AIPAC’s money and accuses Israel of committing genocide.

The race, and the candidates’ sparring over AIPAC, comes as the lobby and Israel under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have become increasingly unpopular among Democratic voters. Israel is also an issue in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in neighboring Wisconsin taking place on Tuesday. 

Flanagan has referred to Craig as “AIPAC’s candidate” in the Senate race, which prompted Craig to distance herself from the group’s spending during a TV debate in June.

“AIPAC has not contributed at all, the PAC, to my Senate campaign,” said Craig, whose wife, Cheryl Greene, is Jewish. “Not one penny.”

Flanagan countered that, while AIPAC itself has not donated to Craig’s campaign, it has held fundraisers for the four-term congresswoman. AIPAC did not respond to a request for comment.

Minnesota republicans nominate Lisa Demuth for governor over former MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell

Minnesota Republicans chose state Representative Lisa Demuth as their nominee for governor, defeating former MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who had the endorsement of US President Donald Trump, according to US media projections.

She will face Democratic nominee Senator Amy Klobuchar in the November general election.

This post was originally published on here. 

IDF observers identified several Palestinian suspects in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon as they approached the Yellow Line and managed to steal iron pipes. The information was quickly relayed to a force operating in the area, which deployed a drone toward the suspects, but the attempt was unsuccessful, and the Palestinians escaped unharmed.

The Palestinians did not cross the Yellow Line, but they did manage to steal the pipes a short distance away, a security official familiar with the details of the incident said.

An investigation conducted in the field described the incident as “not good,” as commanders on the ground said the IDF’s response time should have been faster and concerns were raised over Hamas potentially testing IDF troops’ alertness.

Commanders in the sector were concerned that the pipes could have provided both an opportunity to test IDF response time and to locate raw materials for manufacturing rockets.

Following the incident, procedures in the area were clarified.

However, the security official said the incident was unrelated to the rules of engagement, as there is no lack of clarity among forces on the ground regarding the removal of an immediate threat and the handling of unusual incidents.

The official also stressed that the incident occurred three kilometers from the Israeli border.

Security, readiness around engineering work along Yellow Line to be strengthened

Following the incident, the decision was made to strengthen security and readiness around the engineering work the IDF is carrying out along the Yellow Line.

According to the security official, additional underground infrastructure has been uncovered in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, and the IDF is preparing to destroy it.

At the same time, the Defense Ministry and the IDF’s Technology and Logistics Directorate are reinforcing security measures at military posts and along the Yellow Line.

Last week, Walla reported that the IDF’s hands are tied when it comes to carrying out targeted killings under instructions from the political echelon.

However, an official and authorized political source told Walla that, over the past week, the IDF had not submitted any request to carry out a targeted killing in the Gaza Strip.

This post was originally published on here. 

Russian-Israeli historian Artyom Kirpichenok, 51, reportedly disappeared after arriving in Israel last week.

Kirpichenok landed at Ben-Gurion Airport on August 2 on a flight from Yerevan.

He returned to Israel for a conference he was meant to host but has not been heard from since. Loved ones and colleagues who tried to contact him were unsuccessful.

Kirpichenok immigrated to Israel in the 1990s, graduated from Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and lived in the country for nearly 15 years.

He then returned to Russia, where he adopted a critical stance about the Jewish state and Zionism.

Russian embassy says it contacted relevant Israeli authorities 

Russia’s Ambassador to Israel, Anatoly Viktorov, said he had submitted a request to the relevant Israeli authorities but did not say whether he had heard back.

“We have taken note of reports published by several Russian media outlets concerning journalist and Middle East scholar Artem Kirpichenok, who was reportedly detained by law enforcement authorities in Israel on August 2,” a statement from Russia’s Embassy in Israel said.

“To date, the embassy has not received any inquiries from Kirpichenok’s relatives, friends, or colleagues. Nevertheless, we have submitted a relevant request to the appropriate Israeli authorities. We are monitoring the matter,” the embassy added.

Russian journalist and former State Duma representative Daria Mitina claimed that Kirpichenok was being held in prison by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Service).

“Unfortunately, our worst fears have been confirmed. Artem Ivanovich Kirpichenok is in prison, in the custody of Israel’s Shin Bet security service,” she wrote, adding that the case needs “maximum public attention.”

This post was originally published on here. 

Avraham Hadi, 44, was indicted by prosecutors on Wednesday for allegedly targeting the offices of several news outlets and the Justice Ministry in a series of vandalism and threat incidents.

The indictment comes as Israel heads toward elections following a Knesset term marked by fierce disputes over changes to the media and legal system.

The State Attorney’s Office filed the indictment against the Ramat Gan resident with the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court.

According to the indictment, Hadi threw bricks at the entrance doors of the Channel 12 and Haaretz headquarters, as well as a Justice Ministry building. He is also accused of spray-painting a threatening message outside the Channel 13 offices.

The alleged incidents took place between November 2025 and July 2026. Channel 12’s entrance was targeted twice in July, while the entrance to the Haaretz offices was damaged in a similar incident several days after the first attack.

Prosecutors said Hadi’s choice of targets reflected his own views of the judicial system and of the specific media outlets, and that the attacks were therefore deliberate and planned.

Hadi allegedly demanded apologies for Sde Teiman affair

During the second attack on the Channel 12 offices, on July 28, Hadi allegedly left behind a threatening message calling on the outlet to “apologize over the Sde Teiman affair.”

“Until you apologize over the Sde Teiman affair, I am not stopping,” the note said. It warned that, if no apology were issued, “the next brick will be aimed at one of your heads,” adding that “someone will die.”

The Sde Teiman affair centered on footage broadcast by Channel 12 in 2024 that appeared to show reservists abusing a Palestinian security detainee at the military detention facility. Five reservists were later indicted, but the military prosecution withdrew the charges in March, citing evidentiary difficulties and concerns over their ability to receive a fair trial.

Hadi was arrested on July 30 following an investigation by the Tel Aviv District Central Unit. Police said clothing and other evidence found during a search of his home linked him to the alleged offenses.

The indictment charges Hadi with extortion by threats, making threats, malicious damage to property, defacing property, and obstruction of justice.

During an earlier remand hearing, Hadi denied the allegations. His attorney, Eran Amrani, argued that the alleged acts should be viewed as political protest and noted that they were said to have been carried out at night, when people were unlikely to be present.

This post was originally published on here. 

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) on Wednesday filed an indictment with the Hadera Magistrate’s Court against Amir Warkani, 27, and Yosef Warkani, 33, both residents of Fureidis, after they were allegedly caught illegally collecting antiquities at the Horvat Hadarim archaeological site.

Horvat Hadarim, also known as Horvat Haidra, is located west of Moshav Ein Ayala on the Carmel coast in northern Israel. It is considered to be one of the most important archaeological sites in the area between Ein Ayala and Tel Dor.

It was declared an antiquities site in 1964, and over the years, archaeologists have documented remains of an ancient settlement, buildings, graves, quarries, a square structure, and mosaics at the site. Salvage excavations carried out nearby also uncovered the remains of a structure dating to the Roman period.

The incident took place on March 9. According to the indictment, the two arrived at Horvat Hadarim in a private vehicle carrying four metal detectors, two shovels, a pickaxe, a knife, a hammer, three flashlights, chargers, headphones, gloves, and bags intended for carrying their search equipment.

The two men allegedly scanned the area with metal detectors and, whenever they received a signal indicating the presence of metal, dug into the ground in an attempt to locate archaeological finds.

According to the indictment, they succeeded in finding several artifacts.

Shortly before leaving the site, IAA inspector Nir Distelfeld arrived together with an Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) inspector and a police officer.

Distelfeld and the other officials found a total of 13 ancient bronze coins, three ancient bronze items, two ancient lead items, and another 14 unidentified metal objects in the suspects’ possession.

Police forced into shelter with two suspects arrested for antiquities theft amid sirens

A week before the Warkanis were arrested, The Jerusalem Post at the time had reported on Distelfeld’s arrest of two other antiquities thieves at the Horvat Hermesh site, located near the Elyakim interchange.

The two were in the midst of an illegal excavation of the site when they were discovered by the IAA, an INPA inspector, and a local security guard. Several pieces of ancient pottery had been shattered, and layers of earth had been disturbed during the suspects’ excavation. 

While transporting the suspects to the police station, a rocket siren sounded, forcing the police officers and IAA inspectors to stop and take shelter with the apprehended suspects, as well as other civilians, until the Home Front Command issued an all-clear alert.

Approximately 30 people were present in the small, public shelter.

Miriam Sela-Eitam contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

The IDF announced on Wednesday that after a lengthy investigation, the burial place of IDF soldier Shlomo Haimson, whose burial place had been unknown for almost 78 years, has been located.

Haimson was killed by guards at a detention camp in Cyprus during an escape attempt in September 1948.

It was determined that he is buried in the immigrant section of the Haifa cemetery. His family was informed last night that his burial place had been located.

This is a developing story.

This post was originally published on here. 

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley is projected to win the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin governor, over democratic socialist state Assembly member Francesca Hong.

Hong’s record on Israel and antisemitism has been of concern to Wisconsin Jews this election season, as well as Democratic figureheads more broadly.

This is a developing story.

This post was originally published on here. 

Dozens of settler extremists clashed with the IDF on Wednesday morning near Kusra, in the northern West Bank, after the military evacuated an outpost that was set up in the area.

The entire area has previously been declared a closed military zone. 

Border Police officers were dispatched to the scene, and the IDF is bringing additional soldiers to reinforce the area.

Extremists appear to be dismantling fences, blocking roads, and besieging the area, in footage seen by The Jerusalem Post.

Central Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth visits the site, expresses concern

Central Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth reportedly visited the area this morning and left while the event was still taking place. According to the IDF, Bluth toured the area and its nearby outposts, and spoke with the Palestinian family residing there.

Near their house, a tent was erected in an area where a closed military zone order was issued, and Israeli civilians were reportedly staying there. Border Police dismantled the tent and are attempting to remove the civilians who were occupying it. 

During Bluth’s tour, commanders expressed concern over the actions of the Israeli civilians against the Palestinian family and ordered several measures to be taken moving forward, the IDF announced.

Army Radio was told by a security source that word of the Kusra outpost’s dismantling was leaked to the media before it was actually taken down, resulting in dozens of Jewish rioters arriving at the scene before security forces were able to dismantle it. 

No arrests have been made as of Wednesday at noon, according to Army Radio.

This is a developing story.

This post was originally published on here. 

Lebanon’s parliament voted Tuesday to abolish the death penalty, a major move welcomed by international bodies and human rights organizations.

Although a majority of the 128 members of parliament voted in favor of the bill, Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc notably voted against ending capital punishment.

The legislation will now go before Lebanon’s cabinet before being submitted to President Joseph Aoun for approval.

It has been more than 20 years since Lebanon last carried out an execution. In January 2004, Ahmad Ali Mansour, Badi Hamadeh, and Remi Antoan Zaatar were executed in connection with separate murder cases involving multiple victims.

Hamadeh, who was executed by firing squad, was convicted of killing three security officers during a 2002 raid on his fiancée’s home. Mansour, who was hanged, was convicted of murdering eight of his colleagues when he opened fire at a teachers’ pension fund in 2002. Zaatar was also hanged after being convicted of killing three people during an armed robbery.

European Commission VP Kallas welcomes decision

Kaja Kallas, vice president of the European Commission, welcomed parliament’s decision in a statement Tuesday.

“The abolition of the death penalty for all crimes, including through its retroactive application, is an important achievement,” Kallas said. She added that the move builds on Lebanon’s de facto moratorium on executions, maintained since 2004, and demonstrates the country’s commitment to respecting, protecting, and fulfilling the right to life.

“As the first country in the region to abolish the death penalty, Lebanon is setting a powerful example for other countries in the Middle East and beyond, reinforcing the strong global trend towards abolition and the growing international support for ending the death penalty worldwide,” Kallas said.

This post was originally published on here. 

IDF reservists are growing frustrated with constantly pursuing Israelis who try to cross the Syrian border, particularly from the “HaBashan Pioneers” movement, multiple soldiers told Army Radio in a report published on Wednesday.

“It’s absurd that we’re stopping our lives for this,” one reserve soldier serving in the Syria sector said.

“We’re exhausted! I’m putting my life on hold; there are students here, people with families, kids at home, and instead of dealing with the important things, this is what we’re doing. It raises questions and doubts: what are we even doing here?” he asked.

The reservists serving in the Syria sector spent Tuesday night in another pursuit that they told Army Radio endangered their own safety and was an unnecessary use of resources.

“We found ourselves for several hours during the night in the Hermon, searching for them; they hid among trees and bushes in steep and dangerous spots. We chased them, climbed boulders; we’re putting ourselves at risk of injuries, falls, on very, very steep slopes,” one said.

“We’re wasting a ton of resources, time, and energy on this stuff. This isn’t our mission; the mission is to protect the sector and the settlements,” the soldiers told Army Radio.

Police fail to deter repeat offenses 

Additionally, reservists describe the lack of support from other agencies. After the Tuesday night pursuit, soldiers were forced to look after the three Israelis at the outpost until they were retrieved.

Eventually, when the police still hadn’t shown up, the soldiers called the 100 emergency service hotline.

“We told them: Come get them, and that’s what happened. If we hadn’t called 100, no one would have come. Just a total game of passing the buck between all the agencies,” one reservist said.

Once the police do come, the reservists warn that those who cross the border are often not dealt with effectively and may come back a second or third time.

“The police aren’t doing their job properly, because if a guy gets arrested and released the same day, then comes back the next, we haven’t accomplished anything here. We tried explaining to them, you’re getting in the way of us doing our job. We’re dealing with you way too much,” the reservist said.

“Three years of reserves, and what am I busy with? Pulling Israeli civilians out of Syria?” they added.

This post was originally published on here. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) operation to remove nuclear material from a site in Syria may be used as a model for a similar operation to extract Iran’s highly enriched uranium, Israeli security officials assessed this week. 

One security official said in a closed forum this week, amid a backdrop of negotiations between the US and Iran, that “the situation with Iran remains tense. We are alert and prepared. It could deteriorate within a matter of days. Within weeks or within months. It is in the air.”

Amid reports in recent days that the United States is working to remove components of a nuclear project from Syria, Israeli defense officials believe that, despite the slim chances, the White House is seeking to signal to Israel that a similar model could be applied in Iran, subject to an agreement with the extremist regime in Tehran.

Israel maintains readiness for all scenarios

Israel, meanwhile, maintains that under any scenario, the Iranian regime must be significantly weakened. Israeli officials view a joint military operation with the United States as the optimal framework for achieving that objective, with US forces reinforced in the Middle East and Washington remaining in the region after resolving what it sees as the “minefield” of the Strait of Hormuz.

For this reason, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has instructed the military to maintain a high level of readiness for any scenario, in coordination with the US military.

Vance confirms progress made in negotiations

The United States and Iran are approaching a decisive point in talks over the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran claims that the framework for an agreement with Oman has already been formulated and that the final wording and details will be published soon. US Vice President JD Vance, meanwhile, has confirmed that progress has been made in the negotiations in recent days.

At the same time, the possibility of renewed US strikes remains on the table, as does the possibility of an independent Israeli strike. Discussions are also continuing in the United States over how the underground nuclear site at Pickaxe Mountain could be struck if US President Donald Trump decides the talks have failed.

According to the vice president, the current talks are focused, among other things, on creating conditions that would maximize the flow of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz, with the goal of lowering fuel and energy prices in the United States. He rejected the claim that Iran was preparing to tighten its control over the strait and said active talks were taking place, with additional Gulf states also involved, to ensure the safe passage of vessels.

Oman also expressed cautious optimism, saying negotiations with Iran were taking place in a “positive and constructive atmosphere.” At the same time, Muscat called for avoiding actions that could harm the talks or undermine the progress already made.

The comments came after the United Arab Emirates accused Iran of attacking a vessel linked to Abu Dhabi’s national oil company in the Strait of Hormuz.

This post was originally published on here. 

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, reaffirmed that West Bank settlements would remain and continue to grow, rejecting claims that they are obstacles to peace during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in the West Bank on Tuesday.

“The Security Council must understand a simple truth: We are not going anywhere. Jewish communities will stay in Judea and Samaria,” Danon said in a video posted to X/Twitter.

“Jewish communities are not temporary outposts, nor obstacles to peace,” he continued. “They are permanent homes, thriving neighborhoods where families live. Judea and Samaria is where our people’s eternal connection to the Land of Israel began.”

Today, my message at the UN Security Council was clear: We are not going anywhere!

Jewish communities will remain in Judea and Samaria and will continue to grow. The Jewish people’s historic connection to Judea and Samaria is undeniable. pic.twitter.com/9ZMzNV7yOH

— Danny Danon 🇮🇱 דני דנון (@dannydanon) August 11, 2026

Danon also accused the Security Council of applying a double standard by focusing on Israeli “settler violence” while, he argued, failing to give similar attention to hundreds of Palestinian terrorist attacks.

“When Israelis are involved, this body uses a collective label, ‘settler violence.’ But when Palestinian radicals carry out attacks, you refer only to the ones responsible,” Danon told the council.

“That is not justice. That is prejudice.”

Danon cites Jewish historical, biblical connection

Danon also invoked the Jewish people’s historical and biblical connection to the West Bank in defending their right to live in the territory.

“Our right to live in our land is based on our historical connection to it. It is described in the Torah,” Danon said. “Judea and Samaria is where our story in the Land of Israel began. It is where it will continue.”

“We are not going anywhere,” he concluded.

This post was originally published on here. 

US military operations in 2025 killed 153 civilians and wounded 243, a US official said on Tuesday, citing Pentagon assessments.

This compares with a Pentagon assessment that two civilians were killed and two were injured by US military operations in 2024.

A Pentagon report submitted to the US Congress and published by US media said that all the death and injury tolls against civilians recorded in 2025 were due to three US strikes in Yemen.

The Pentagon report said the US Central Command (CENTCOM) had assessed that the three strikes in April 2025 in Yemen “more likely than not” resulted in civilian harm.

The Pentagon report also said that as of February 2026, there were 15 other incidents in Yemen that CENTCOM was currently assessing in response to reports received through non-governmental organizations.

The US military says it aims to degrade the capabilities of Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen.

Casualties from US strikes in Caribbean, East Pacific aren’t included

The Pentagon report did not include any casualties from US strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.

The report said as of February 1, 2026, the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) assessed that “there were no incidents in which civilian casualties more likely than not resulted from US military operations in the US SOUTHCOM area of responsibility in 2025.”

President Donald Trump’s administration has struck vessels that it accuses of transporting narcotics in the Eastern Pacific, casting its targets as “narco-terrorists.”

The ​US military’s strikes on such vessels have killed more than ‌200 ⁠people since September 2025, according to a tally of death tolls published after each strike.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International consider such strikes unlawful extrajudicial killings. The American Civil Liberties ⁠Union ​casts the assertions by the ​Trump administration against those it targets as “unsubstantiated, fear-mongering claims.”

This post was originally published on here. 

Sen. Darline Graham Nordone thanked US President Donald Trump and invoked the memory of her late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, as she addressed supporters on Tuesday night after advancing to the runoff in South Carolina’s Republican Senate primary.

Speaking exactly one month after her brother’s death, Graham described the past several weeks as “absolutely brutal,” as she simultaneously mourned Lindsey Graham, assumed his seat in the US Senate, and launched her first campaign for elected office.

“I want to thank President Trump,” Graham told supporters. “His steadfast support and his complete and total endorsement means so much to me. He knows that I will stand with him and fight for his agenda, just like Lindsey did.”

Graham said she hoped Trump would travel to South Carolina to campaign for her during the two weeks leading up to the runoff, though she said no such appearance had yet been confirmed.

“I’m hopeful that President Trump will come down, but we’ll see,” she told reporters.

Her remarks came shortly after Trump himself praised Graham and said she had called him to thank him for his endorsement.

Graham spoke about her childhood

Graham, who was appointed to fill her brother’s Senate seat following his death, sought Tuesday night to portray herself simultaneously as the guardian of Lindsey Graham’s legacy and as a political outsider with an identity of her own.

“I’m a conservative Republican. I’m not a career politician,” she said. “I know how families are struggling to make ends meet because I’ve been there too.”

‘I never expected it would happen under these circumstances’

Graham repeatedly returned to the story of her childhood with her brother, recalling that the two grew up in a room behind the bar and liquor store operated by their parents.

“That’s where we learned a strong work ethic and the value of $1,” she said. “From a young age, our parents taught us that you’re not given anything in life, and no one owes you anything. If you want something, you work for it.”

Before entering the Senate, Graham said she spent seven years leading a South Carolina agency that assists blind and visually impaired residents in finding employment and becoming more independent.

“I never expected that career of service would lead me to the United States Senate,” she said. “I certainly never expected it would happen under these circumstances.”

Graham touted what she described as an unusually productive first three weeks in Washington, saying she had already helped pass a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill that was particularly important to her brother.

She also highlighted her role as the deciding vote to confirm Trump’s attorney general nominee, Todd Blanche.

“Some politicians never get a major piece of their legislation passed, so I’ve already accomplished more in a few weeks than many do in decades,” Graham said.

Graham described herself as ‘a fighter’

Graham laid out a strongly conservative platform, pledging support for Trump’s immigration agenda, voter identification requirements, abortion restrictions, and Second Amendment rights.

“Joe Biden let 12 million illegal immigrants into this country,” she said. “President Trump and I are going to walk them right back out.”

She also declared that “boys have no place in girls’ sports, especially not in the locker room,” and joked about criticism of her lack of political experience.

“I’ve been accused of not being a politician,” she said. “Guilty as charged.”

Graham said she would spend virtually every day of the coming runoff campaign traveling throughout South Carolina and meeting voters.

“This seat belongs to the people of South Carolina, and I will work hard to earn your vote,” she said.

Asked about facing Rep. Ralph Norman in a debate, Graham said she had not previously heard about the proposed Monday event but was prepared to participate.

“I’ll be willing to debate him. Yes,” she said.

‘I have buried my precious brother – and I’m still standing’

One month after Lindsey Graham’s death, his sister is ‘still standing’

The most personal moment of the night came when Graham was asked how she had handled the whirlwind month since her brother’s death.

“Today is the 11th. My brother passed one month ago today, so none of this has been comfortable for me,” she said. “But like I said, I’m a fighter.”

“I have buried my precious brother. I have taken on the role of a United States senator, and I have had this brutal campaign schedule. And I’m still standing. If that doesn’t tell you I’m a strong person and a fighter, nothing will.”

Graham acknowledged that the demands of the Senate and the campaign had left her with little opportunity to fully grieve.

“I have not had a whole lot of time to process it,” she said. “I’ve had my moments. They typically come early in the morning, before my day gets started, and late at night when I go to bed.”

Asked what she believed Lindsey Graham would say to her if the two could speak privately at that moment, she paused on the memory of her brother.

“I think a lot about what I would say to him and what he would say,” Graham said. “Right now, I think he would be very proud.”

This post was originally published on here. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s first handpicked addition to Likud’s Knesset slate is Oren Dobronsky, an Israeli-born technology entrepreneur who has spent much of the past two decades in the United States. Dobronsky co-founded Hotbar, became a Silicon Valley investor, and built the California restaurant chain Oren’s Hummus. His public professional profile lists Palo Alto as his location.

Likud announced this week that Dobronsky would be Netanyahu’s first reserved candidate and said he would lead the party’s work on artificial intelligence across the economy, education, medicine, and other fields. Walla subsequently reported that Netanyahu had promised him a ministerial portfolio dealing with AI if the prime minister forms the next government.

Within hours of the announcement, a recent social media post in which Dobronsky sharply attacked US President Donald Trump was circulated widely. Dobronsky apologized, saying he had lost his temper and regretted the post.

The appointment also comes in the middle of a heated national argument over Israelis who live abroad and plan to return to vote in the October 27 election. The Fly&Vote initiative says tens of thousands of Israelis overseas have registered and hopes eventually to help bring as many as 70,000 to Israel for Election Day.

Dobronsky may have a great deal to contribute. Israel needs serious people in public life who understand technology, entrepreneurship, investment, and the global competition over artificial intelligence. His record in the technology sector gives him experience that could prove valuable in government.

Netanyahu’s choice nevertheless raises a basic question that deserves a clear answer before Election Day: Is Dobronsky coming home?

This should not be read as criticism of Israelis who spend periods of their lives abroad. Israelis leave for work, study, family, professional opportunities, and many other legitimate reasons. Many remain deeply connected to the country, contribute to Israeli society from overseas, and eventually return. Israel benefits from those ties.

Israelis abroad should be encouraged to remain engaged with Jewish state

In many cases, time abroad allows Israelis to gain experience, expertise, and connections that ultimately strengthen the country. We should encourage those Israelis to remain engaged with Israel and, when they choose, to bring that experience home.

The issue here is much narrower. What level of commitment and physical presence should Israelis expect from someone seeking to represent them in the Knesset and potentially serve as a cabinet minister?

Publicly available profiles have placed Dobronsky and his family in Palo Alto for years. Israelis living abroad retain a legitimate stake in the country and have made enormous contributions to it, especially since October 7. Serving in the Knesset carries a different level of responsibility. Members make decisions about war, taxation, education, health, military service, and countless other matters whose consequences are felt every day by the people living here.

Israeli law makes the distinction relevant. An Israeli citizen who meets the legal requirements can run for the Knesset without a general residency requirement. Ministers, however, must be Israeli citizens and residents of Israel. If Dobronsky is being prepared for an AI ministry, voters deserve to know where he intends to base his life and when.

The question matters even more because Netanyahu is exercising considerable control over the Likud list. Likud members are preparing to vote in primaries while a number of reserved positions will bypass the party electorate.

Every reserved slot therefore carries a higher burden of explanation. Why this person? What public mission does the candidate bring? Has the candidate been properly vetted? What commitment is being made to voters?

The questions surrounding Dobronsky’s selection

The Trump episode adds to those questions. Dobronsky has every right to criticize an American president. Israeli public officials must be able to disagree with Washington when Israel’s interests require it. His rapid apology immediately after entering politics does, however, raise questions about how carefully the party examined its first personal selection beforehand.

Israel should welcome talented Israelis who return from abroad to serve. Dobronsky could bring valuable experience from Silicon Valley into Israeli public life.

If that is what he intends to do, he should say so plainly.

A Knesset seat is a public trust. Likud voters, and the country as a whole, deserve to know that those asking to exercise that trust intend to live among the people they represent.

This post was originally published on here. 

 Lindsey Graham’s sister Darline Graham on Tuesday advanced to a run-off to be the Republican Party’s nominee for the South Carolina US Senate seat in November’s election following her brother’s death, according to media projections.

She will face US Representative Ralph Norman in the August 25 run-off. The eventual Republican nominee is favored to win in November.

Governor Henry McMaster had appointed Darline Graham to serve the rest of the senator’s term through early January, after his unexpected death from a heart ailment.

President Donald Trump endorsed Darline Graham, who has never held public office, for a full six-year term, calling it a “fabulous tribute” to her brother.

But critics said her bid, based on family name recognition and presidential backing without a political record of her own, had the air of an attempted coronation.

Graham has said that she is “not being handed” the seat and that she realizes that she need to earn votes.

Ten candidates stood for the Republican nomination in Tuesday’s election. With none of them gaining more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers will head to the run-off later this month.

The winner will face Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician who had more than $3 million in her campaign war chest at the start of July.

Other candidates in Tuesday’s race included US Representative Russell Fry, former Governor Mark Sanford and self-funded Greenville businessman Mark Lynch.

With 80% of the vote counted, the Associated Press placed Graham in first position so far with 32.6% of the vote and Norman second with just over 24%.

Alabama vote in redrawn seat

In Alabama, Republicans in the state’s 2nd Congressional District for the US House were projected by media to have chosen state representative Rhett Marques to be their candidate in a seat that they hope to flip from the Democrats with help from a redrawn map.

The race is potentially crucial to their bid to hold the House, which they narrowly control.

The Republican majorities in Congress are essential to Trump’s ability to power ahead with his agenda, but he faces a tough challenge ahead in the November midterm election, given a low approval rating that has eroded further as the Iran war drags on and gasoline prices remain high.

Republican-led states in the US South rushed through a round of congressional redistricting earlier this year, to take advantage of an April Supreme Court decision that severely weakened the Voting Rights Act, a 1965 law intended to prevent discrimination in voting.

Earlier this year, the court cleared the way for Alabama to use a congressional map that favors Republicans by eliminating one of two districts where Black voters make up a majority or near-majority.

Marques will face incumbent Democrat Shomari Figures, who is Black and is hoping for a second term.

Time for change in South Carolina?

Lindsey Graham won his June 9 primary in South Carolina by almost 28 percentage points, as he sought his fifth Senate term. Lynch, who placed second with nearly 29% of the vote, is the only candidate in the special primary from the original primary field.

Lynch received more than 130,000 votes in that primary, suggesting some Republican primary voters had an appetite for change before Lindsey Graham’s death.

“People are furious” about “the coronation of Darline Graham,” Lynch said in an interview. “It’s OK that they picked her to be the interim senator until January but not to run for office.”

Skeptics have questioned Graham’s credentials and the president’s decision to endorse her over other candidates who have run in previous campaigns. Her rivals expect voters who do not choose her on Tuesday to back her opponent in a runoff.

Trump won South Carolina in 2024 by nearly 18 percentage points.

In interviews, Republicans questioned the potency of Trump’s endorsement in South Carolina, where he backed a pair of runoff candidates for governor after polls showed his first pick, Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette, was poised to lose against Attorney General Alan Wilson.

US Representative Nancy Mace, who ran unsuccessfully for governor, predicted Graham would lose her Senate bid just as Trump’s original choice for governor lost.

The president’s endorsement “gets you into a runoff,” she told Reuters. “But … it’s not ​enough to win a race anymore.”

This post was originally published on here. 

ZAKA welcomed the joint announcement of renewed diplomatic ties between Israel and Venezuela, which came weeks after ZAKA and Home Front Command teams provided humanitarian assistance following two powerful earthquakes that struck the country in late June, the organization said on Tuesday.

On June 24, twin 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes struck the South American country, leaving more than 6,000 people dead and at least 16,000 injured, according to Reuters.

ZAKA said Israel’s humanitarian operations became a significant channel of contact between the two countries during the absence of diplomatic relations and helped pave the way for the renewal of ties.

“Today, when the countries announce the opening of a new page in relations between them, we are proud to know that the large ZAKA family was there at the moment when a bridge of humanity, compassion, and solidarity was built,” ZAKA CEO Zvi Hassid said.

Baruch Nidam, director of ZAKA’s International Division, which oversaw the organization’s humanitarian mission in Venezuela, highlighted the cooperation between ZAKA personnel and local teams during the operation.

“Our activity in Venezuela proved once again that the language of saving lives is an international language,” Nidam said.

Nidam also welcomed the renewal of ties between Israel and Venezuela, praising the volunteers who participated in the mission

“Today, when the ties between the countries are reopening, we look back with pride at those volunteers who operated there in the most difficult moments,” he said. “Alongside the professional capabilities, they brought the Israeli spirit of mutual responsibility and human dignity.”

‘Bridges are built first of all by human beings’

Nidam said the mission demonstrated the International Division’s broader purpose of providing humanitarian assistance regardless of the state of Israel’s diplomatic relations with a country.

“For us, this is the true meaning of the International Division at ZAKA: to be there when we are needed, anywhere in the world, and to extend a hand even when there are not yet diplomatic bridges,” Nidam said. “These bridges are built first of all by human beings.”

This post was originally published on here. 

North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Wednesday toward the Sea of Japan off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast, South Korea’s military said.

The missile appeared to have landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the sea, NHK reported.

Following the launch, South Korea’s presidential office held a meeting to call for a stop to provocations, local media reported.

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi instructed authorities to “take all possible measures for precaution,” in a statement in response to the missile launch.

Instruction by the Prime Minister in Response to the Suspected Ballistic Missile Launch by North Korea (06:03) pic.twitter.com/Fh5yHpZeRu

— PM’s Office of Japan (@JPN_PMO) August 11, 2026

The launch was the second in under a week, according to the South Korean military.

North Korea fired the missile from the Wonsan area, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

South Korea, US preparing for major joint military drill

South Korea’s military had stepped up surveillance and was maintaining readiness for possible additional launches, while closely sharing information with the US and Japan, it said.

The launch comes as South Korea and the US plan to conduct major joint military drills from August 17 to 27 to counter North Korea’s evolving nuclear and weapons capabilities. Pyongyang has denounced the annual drills as a provocation in previous years.

On Tuesday, North Korean state media condemned Japan’s latest defense white paper as a document aimed at reviving militarism, saying Tokyo was using what it called an unfounded portrayal of Pyongyang as a security threat to justify an arms buildup.

North Korea has conducted ⁠a series of tests this year, including short-range ballistic missiles, artillery rockets and other tactical weapons.

North Korean missiles used by Russia against Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow used a North Korean ballistic missile during a Russian attack on Tuesday that killed seven workers at a Ukrainian steel plant in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.

“For the first time in its history, Russia cannot wage war without reinforcements from North Korea. It is now preparing to deploy an additional North Korean contingent on its territory. It has also received additional ballistic missiles from North Korea,” Zelensky said.

For the first time in its history, Russia cannot wage war without reinforcements from North Korea. It is now preparing to deploy an additional North Korean contingent on its territory. It has also received additional ballistic missiles from North Korea. Everyone around the world…

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 10, 2026

North Korea’s ballistic missiles and other weapons are being improved through its collaboration with Russia.”

“The more North Korean strikes there are here in Ukraine, in Europe, the more their missiles and soldiers are used, the more they correct their shortcomings and blind spots, the greater the danger will later be for Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, and other countries in the region,” he explained.

This post was originally published on here. 

The IDF issued a statement on Tuesday addressing and condemning reports that Israeli civilians have entered and taken control of Palestinian homes and land in the Qusra and Jalud areas of the West Bank.

In response to these reports, the IDF announced a closed military zone order for anyone who is not a Palestinian resident in the affected areas. 

The IDF went on to strongly condemn the incidents and emphasized that any future handling of individuals involved will be carried out in coordination with security forces. 

“This is illegal, reprehensible, and unacceptable activity that harms the local residents and disrupts their daily lives,” the IDF release stated. 

Additionally, the IDF stated that any IDF reservists or active-duty soldiers found to be involved in these incidents would face disciplinary action.

Settlers attempt to pass West Bank checkpoint in an ambulance

The IDF also addressed a specific incident on Monday, in which Israeli civilians attempted to use an ambulance to pass through a military checkpoint in order to enter a Palestinian home located within the closed military zone. 

Upon the ambulance’s arrival at the checkpoint, IDF soldiers inspected the vehicle and discovered Israeli civilians hidden inside. Israeli police were subsequently called to the checkpoint for further investigation.

The IDF routinely facilitates the movement of medical teams, allowing ambulances that have coordinated their movement in advance to pass through checkpoints without inspection.

This post was originally published on here. 

The war in Ukraine is already in its fifth year; Israel has been through two rounds of fighting with Iran within a year, and China continues to put pressure on the countries around it. 

The result: another record quarter for Elbit Systems.

The manufacturer of Hermes drones, munitions, and intelligence systems reported a 16% increase in sales in the second quarter of the year to $2.3 billion, putting it on track for annual sales of $9 billion. Net profit rose even more sharply, jumping 40% to $173.6 million.

The company’s order backlog reached an all-time high of $32 billion, compared with $23.8 billion a year earlier, a 33% increase.

Sales to the Defense Ministry continued to grow in the latest quarter, reaching 37% of the company’s activity, driven by munitions, drones, and intelligence systems.

Increased sales of radio and command-and-control systems in Europe drive profits

Sales of C4I and cyber systems rose by about 11%, mainly due to increased sales of radio and command-and-control systems in Europe. Intelligence and electronic warfare sales increased by about 22%, primarily due to higher sales of land- and airborne high-power laser systems, electronic warfare systems, and naval systems in the Asia-Pacific region.

Land systems sales rose by about 32%, thanks to sales of munitions and ammunition in Israel. Drone sales, by contrast, fell by about 8%, mainly due to an unfavorable one-time project mix and a decline in sales of training systems and simulators in Europe, which was partly offset by increased sales of unmanned aerial vehicles in Israel.

Earnings per share stood at $3.61, compared with $2.69 in the corresponding quarter last year.

“Most of the new orders are from abroad, which indicates the demand and interest in our products. We presented the airborne laser for fighter jets and combat helicopters, which will help, among other things, deal with swarm attacks by UAVs and drones, and there is great interest in them,” Bezhalel “Butzi” Machlis, president and CEO of Elbit Systems, told Walla.

“At the same time, we are continuing to increase deliveries of the high-power laser to the Defense Ministry and Rafael. Hundreds of our engineers are employed on this.”

Elbit container reportedly held up at a port due to boycotting

When questioned about a recent report indicating an Elbit container had been held up at a port as part of a boycott of Israel, Machlis said the incident was being investigated.

“Containers are sometimes delayed for all kinds of reasons. We have no problems in the supply chain. Since the days of the coronavirus pandemic, we have invested in building up inventories of raw materials and diversifying suppliers.”

Machlis also noted that the Defense Ministry has yet to settle its debt with the company.

“Fortunately, Elbit is a strong company and benefits from payments from abroad that allow us to continue supplying the IDF and move up delivery schedules. I am confident that the debt will be paid, and we are in dialogue with the Defense and Finance ministries about it,” he said.

This post was originally published on here. 

The Hebrew musical Peter Pan, originally written by Uri Paster and Hanoch Rosen, returned to the stage this week with a pre-premiere performance at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center.

The new production of the 1988 musical is directed by Rosen, who played the title role in the original version. The current cast features Lee Biran as Peter Pan, Meshi Kleinstein as Wendy, and Sasson Gabbay, who reprises his 1988 role as Captain Hook.

The ensemble also includes Linoy Cohen, Tal Levin, Ofir Weil, Assaf Levi, Gilad Brown, Hanan Schwartzberg, Liam Pinto, and TimoTi Sannikov.

The original Hebrew staging from over 35 years ago was a major commercial success, generating a home video release, a book, and a popular soundtrack.

Revamped musical includes signature fights, modernized theatrical flight system

This updated version retains the signature sword fights alongside a modernized theatrical flight system.

The production runs at the Tel Aviv venue through August, drawing audiences of both original fans and families. The performance features the show’s original Hebrew music.

This post was originally published on here. 

Over the last few years, the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community has become the subject of every front page, television debate, and political confrontation in Israel. 

Questions about Torah study, military service, education, employment, and the relationship between haredim and the state moved from the margins of public debate to the center of a national storm.

Much of that debate has presented Israelis with a false choice. Either the haredi community must be forced to change from the outside, or nothing can change at all. Either Israel protects the world of Torah, or it demands greater participation in the responsibilities of national life.

After spending a year listening to haredim across Israel, I am convinced that this choice is not only false but also dangerous. Change is possible. It is already desired by many within the haredi community.

Nonetheless, it will succeed only if it grows from within, with the support and partnership of the wider Israeli public.

I traveled across the country and met haredim from different communities, backgrounds, and stages of life. I spoke with those dedicated to full-time Torah study, working fathers, mothers struggling to support large families, educators, business owners, and young people trying to find their place.

I listened to people from hassidic, Lithuanian, and Sephardi communities, including those deeply connected to existing institutions and those who increasingly feel pushed to the margins.

The details differed, but the message was remarkably consistent: many haredim are deeply dissatisfied. They do not feel represented, and they do not believe their voices are being heard.

They feel trapped between two political camps, neither of which fully understands them. On one side are those who speak about the haredi community primarily as a demographic, economic, or security problem.

Their frustration is understandable, especially post-October 7, but solutions imposed without trust, cultural sensitivity, or an understanding of haredi life are unlikely to produce lasting change.

On the other side are the established haredi parties. For four decades, they have claimed a monopoly on haredi representation, but they have become more effective at preserving their own political power than confronting the mounting difficulties within haredi homes and communities.

The ultra-Orthodox are acutely aware of the dangers Israel faces

The people I met were not seeking to abandon Torah life. They wanted to protect it, but they also understood that refusing to confront reality is placing that future in danger.

They asked difficult and necessary questions.

How can a father support his family with dignity without feeling that earning a living will cost him his place in the community?

What future is being offered to a young man who is not suited to full-time Torah study? Why are educational and professional options so limited for those who need another path?

How can appropriate frameworks for military or national service be created for those who can serve without requiring them to sacrifice their religious identity?

How can genuine Torah scholars receive the respect and support they deserve while others receive the tools to build independent and productive lives?

These are not attacks on the world of Torah. Ignoring these questions is what threatens the world of Torah.

This year of listening led to the establishment of the Haredi Public Party. It is intended to provide a political home for haredim and others who believe that protecting Torah requires responsible leadership, honesty, and practical solutions.

We seek to strengthen genuine Torah study while expanding educational and professional opportunities. We want to enable dignified employment, develop appropriate frameworks for military or meaningful national service, address the needs of young people who do not fit the existing system, and help haredi families achieve greater economic independence.

Israelis outside the haredi community should care about this initiative because the future of the haredi community will have a great effect on the future of Israel.

The economic sustainability of the country, the strength of the IDF, the resilience of Israeli society, and our ability to remain one people all depend on finding workable answers to these questions.

Continued poverty, alienation, and political paralysis within a rapidly growing section of the population will not remain an internal haredi matter. Its consequences will affect every Israeli family.

Those who want greater haredi participation in employment, education, and national responsibility should therefore recognize an essential truth: the most sustainable transformation will come from haredim who possess the trust and cultural understanding to lead it.

Coercion may produce headlines, but it rarely produces lasting social change. At the same time, preserving the current political arrangement will only deepen the crisis.

If the established haredi parties were capable of providing meaningful answers to these challenges, they would have done so by now. Israel, therefore, needs a new approach: reform led from within the haredi community and supported through cooperation and coordination with the rest of Israeli society.

Secular Israelis, national-religious Israelis, or traditional Israelis do not have to agree with every aspect of haredi life, and legitimate questions about equality, military service, or public resources should not disappear. They all need meaningful and practical solutions.

Tolerance is key to sustaining healthy dynamic between religious and secular Jews

However, we must recognize that partnership is more likely to succeed than humiliation, and that responsible haredi leadership that can build bridges with other segments of Israeli society is in the national interest.

Even Israelis who would never vote for a haredi party should welcome the emergence of a haredi movement prepared to confront these issues honestly. They should want haredi representatives who speak of solutions rather than slogans, of responsibility rather than permanent victimhood, and of cooperation rather than endless confrontation.

A strong haredi community and a strong Israel are not competing goals. They depend upon one another. Israel needs a haredi community that is confident, economically secure, and able to contribute its values, energy, and talents to the country.

The haredi community needs an Israel that respects Torah, protects religious life, and treats haredim as partners rather than as a burden or an enemy.

We have spent too many years shouting past one another. The result has been greater poverty, deeper resentment, diminishing trust, and an increasingly dangerous struggle over Israel’s identity.

There is still a window in which to choose another path, but it will not remain open indefinitely.

The Haredi Public Party was created because the haredi public deserves more than excuses, and the State of Israel deserves more than permanent confrontation.

Those who care about Israel’s economic future, social cohesion, and national security should want this effort to succeed.

The solutions must emerge from within the haredi community, but they cannot succeed without the understanding and support of the wider Israeli public.

This affects far more than just the haredi community and is a necessity for the betterment of Israeli society as a whole.

The writer is the chairman of the Haredi Public Party, a new political home for haredim who believe that protecting the world of Torah requires responsible leadership and practical solutions to the challenges facing our community and all of Am Yisrael.

This post was originally published on here. 

Yashar Party leader Gadi Eisenkot would preserve the Law of Return if elected prime minister, while seeking to cut bureaucracy and address the needs of olim, head of the party’s olim integration initiative, Alex Rif told The Jerusalem Post in a recent interview, outlining key points of its plan for new immigrants ahead of its full release.

Eisenkot’s Yashar Party has become the largest party in the opposition bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent polls ahead of elections set to take place no later than October 27.

Rif told the Post that one of the aspects that differentiates Yashar from other parties in the opposition bloc on olim issues was its decision to develop a detailed plan specifically addressing the needs of new immigrants.

“No other party has this large, specific professional plan as we have,” she said.

One of the central issues for the party would be preserving the Law of Return and its Grandchild Clause, which enables anyone with a Jewish grandparent to become a citizen of Israel – even if they are not considered Jewish under the status of Jewish Law.

Right-wing parties in the current government have sought to cancel the Grandchild Clause in the Law of Return.
 
“It’s very clear to us that we have to preserve the status quo. To unite the Jewish people in Israel,” Rif said regarding the preservation of the Law of Return.

Rif: Israel must stay open to all Jews

“We believe that Israel has to stay open to them [all Jews]. This is Zionism. This is a declaration of independence of Israel as the center of the Jewish people.”

 “I want to continue to open the door for the grandchildren of these Jews, who were almost erased, to come to Israel.”

Rif also addressed the issue of burial, saying the party would seek to ensure that olim who are not Jewish according to Jewish law could be buried in Jewish cemeteries if they choose.

She said that after the October 7 Hamas attacks in 2023, the issue was especially prevalent. 

“If a soldier died in the IDF and he was not Jewish by halakha [Jewish law], he was buried in some kind of a different graveyard,” Rif explained, noting that the process has led to humiliation among grieving family members. 

Yashar would also push to allow for civil marriage in the country, Rif added.

Another major component of Yashar’s plan would be reducing the bureaucracy that olim face in the country and also creating a center abroad to help them before they arrive in the country.

“We have to find those spots of excellence that Israel needs and find how to make it much easier for people that want to make aliyah,” Rif said.

The party would also seek to better integrate olim who arrive in Israel with established careers, including doctors, engineers and high-tech workers, by helping them find employment in their respective fields.

“We have to have specific programs for these highly educated people to come to Israel to make it easier for them, to help them come with their family, to help them stay so they’ll know their place of work before they even come.”

The plan would also address the integration of olim children into the country’s education system with better programs to aid their acclimation process. 

“We have to think about how to assimilate better. We have to think about how to study Hebrew better, how to hug the family and the community better,” she said.

Rif also explained that there were major issues of racism and violence toward the olim community that needed to be addressed.

“We have a lot of issues of racism and violence and boycott in the Israeli education system by itself, but it’s just very severe in the olim community.”

“We have a lot of cases. I have a WhatsApp group with 200 parents whose children were boycotted or part of  violence because they are olim.”

“We wrote a specific program for how to first educate the children and the teachers on multiculturalism, on the different people that are here, on respecting everyone,” she said.

Yashar’s plan includes improved translation of Hebrew websites

Another focus of the plan would be on improving services for elderly olim and ensuring better translation of Hebrew websites into different languages. 

Rif said the party would also address the rising number of olim who leave the country after making aliyah.

“They left because they feel hopeless, and they feel that they want their children to be safe and to have a chance for a better future. Netanyahu’s government is not giving it to them.”

“I hope, and I know that Gadi is the only chance for them to come back,” she said.

This post was originally published on here. 

For the second time this year, Iran has named a wanted suspect in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires to a top security role. 

A spokesman for the Islamic Republic’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said Monday that Mohsen Rezaei had resigned as an adviser to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, and would assume the role of secretary of Iran’s powerful Supreme National Security Council. Rezaei is a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Rezaei is wanted by Argentina and is subject to an Interpol Red Notice issued at Argentina’s request over his alleged role in the 1994 attack, which killed 85 people and remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentina’s history.

Earlier this year, Ahmad Vahidi, another suspect in the AMIA case and also the subject of an Interpol Red Notice, was appointed IRGC commander.

Argentine court rules Iran, Hezbollah responsible for AMIA bombing

In a landmark ruling in 2024, an Argentine court held Iran and its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, responsible for the bombing, setting the stage for international legal action.

In June 2025, Argentina’s federal judiciary ordered that 10 Iranian and Lebanese suspects accused in connection with the deadly 1994 AMIA bombing be tried in absentia. Rezaei and Vahidi are among them. 

The eight other suspects accused by the late AMIA special prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, are: former Iranian Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahijan, former Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, former Iranian ambassador Hadi Soleimanpour, former Iranian cultural attaché in Buenos Aires Mohsen Rabbani, and former Iranian diplomat Ahmad Reza Asghari, as well as suspected Hezbollah operatives Salman Raouf Salman, Abdallah Salman, and Hussein Mounir Mouzannar.

This post was originally published on here. 

There have been many movies in recent years chronicling the journey of Westerners into Third World countries where they travel to engage with nature or seek spirituality and enlightenment. Most of these, however, have been one-note, with the foreign travelers meeting locals who are glowing with wisdom and virtue, or who turn out to be criminals engaged in drug trafficking or other illegal enterprises.

Given all that, I was happy to see Salvador Calvo’s Valley of Shadows – opening throughout Israel on Thursday – which does not feature stereotypes or offer easy answers. It tells the story of Quique (Miguel Herran), a Spanish tourist who undergoes a horrific ordeal in northern India and ends up spending months in a tiny isolated village.

His time there gives him an unusual insight into the lives of the inhabitants of this area, whose existence is ruled by the harshness of nature and their lack of resources. They accept the limitations imposed on them in a way that is initially very difficult for Quique to understand and accept.

Something of a classic hero’s journey

But through his experiences with them, he changes his perspective in a fundamental way. The story, which would otherwise be bleak, becomes something of a classic hero’s journey as he eventually transcends his own limitations to find courage he didn’t know he possessed.

The movie, which features gorgeous photography of the Himalayas, starts out as Quique is traveling with Clara (Susana Abaitua), his girlfriend, and her son, Lucas (Iván Renedo), to whom he is very attached. They are part of the young backpacker culture who want an authentic experience.

They cope with the thin air and stay without complaint in guesthouses with no showers, joining the locals for hot baths at public facilities. But it is not an easy time for them. Clara has had cancer, and Quique sees this trip as an opportunity for her to heal.

When they hear of a village that some tourists tell them they must see to fully experience all the Himalayas have to offer, he is eager to visit it, even though it is isolated and the path to it is challenging. Clara would like them to go to Goa so she can go surfing, but Quique persuades her to head for the village with him and Lucas, which he hopes will help her come back to herself after a mastectomy. She agrees reluctantly.

Quique is beaten by bandits and left for dead

INEVITABLY, THEY get lost and camp out for the night in a remote spot. It’s difficult to discuss this next section without revealing spoilers, but they are separated, and Quique is beaten by bandits and left for dead. A local trader picks him up and takes him back to his mountain village.

In a monastery there, he is treated with local remedies for his injuries, and when he regains consciousness, he is confused and barely able to walk. Frantically, he insists he must report what has happened to the police immediately.

The monk and his assistant, Prana (Alexandra Masangkay, who gives the movie’s standout performance), a young woman with an eye-patch that covers a serious injury of her own, insist that he make a contribution to their monastery, and he struggles to explain what happened to him and why he has no money.

Prana speaks English and Spanish and translates for the head monk. Quique learns to his dismay that there is no way to travel to any village with police for months, until the river freezes and it is possible to walk there. But he must report the crime and get in touch with their families, he insists, to which the locals shrug. There is nothing to be done right now.

Much of the rest of the movie is about Quique getting to know the villagers and absorbing their point of view. In many ways, this film is reminiscent of the movies by the director and Buddhist lama Khyentse Norbu, who made The Cup and Travelers & Magicians, and Pawo Choyning Dorji, the director of the Oscar-nominated Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom and The Monk and the Gun.

All of these movies are set in Bhutan and northern India and deal with the clash between Buddhist tradition, third-world realities, and Western culture. It’s high praise that Valley of Shadows brought to mind these films, which are among the most interesting movies of the past 25 years.

Valley of Shadows neither glorifies nor demonizes the local culture, and it makes it clear that tourists are putting themselves in danger by going off on their own in a place where their phones, cameras, and the contents of their wallets represent more money than most residents can hope to earn in years.

This is a reality that so many Westerners seem to ignore when they head off on their treks, and it’s true that most of the time, they return home safely. But the risk is real, and Valley of Shadows explores it.

By the end, we have learned so much about the villagers that our perspective on them has changed, as has Quique’s. Alejandro Hernandez’s script, which tells us exactly as much as we need to know at any point, is low-key but effective. Combined with the spectacular photography and compelling performances by the entire cast, many of whom are non-professionals, the movie takes us on a moving journey.

This post was originally published on here. 

A week after announcing the appointment of former Mossad chief David Barnea as president and chairman of its defense division, US company Ondas announced that it had won an Israeli Defense Ministry tender to develop the next generation of attack drones for the IDF. 

In doing so, Ondas beat companies such as Elbit Systems and Rafael, which have already unveiled and supplied attack drones to the IDF.

According to the company, the multimillion-dollar strategic “Digital Bat” program is intended to provide a low-cost, next-generation tactical drone platform powered by advanced software and designed to meet the IDF’s evolving operational requirements for systems that can be supplied quickly and inexpensively.

Ondas is a Nasdaq-listed holding company valued at $5.3 billion, up 10% since the announcement of Barnea’s recruitment. Its Israeli branch is headed by Brig.-Gen. (res.) Oshri Lugassy, a former IDF chief engineering officer and Rafael executive.

Over the past year, the company has acquired a series of small Israeli defense companies: drone manufacturer Airobotics, which also produces interceptor drones; Omnisys, which develops artificial intelligence systems for mission planning, optimization, and combat resource management; BIRD Aerosystems, which develops and manufactures airborne defense systems and maritime and aerial mission solutions; Roboteam, which develops ground robotic systems for military and security applications; Sentrycs, which develops technology for detecting, monitoring, and intercepting drones; and INDO, which deals in heavy engineering equipment for civilian and defense applications.

Ondas’s attempt to take control of mPrest, which manufactures the command-and-control system used by Iron Dome, was blocked by the Defense Ministry. The ministry has been examining the US company for months after it raised $1 billion from an investor whose identity it has declined to disclose.

“This strategic award represents an important validation of the defense technology platform we are building at Ondas and our growing ability to serve as a prime contractor for complex, next-generation defense programs,” said Eric Brock, chairman and CEO of Ondas. 

“The Israeli Ministry of Defense operates at the forefront of modern defense technology and has some of the most demanding operational requirements in the world. Their selection of Ondas reflects confidence in our internal engineering capabilities, operational experience, and ability to rapidly translate changing battlefield requirements into scalable, mission-ready systems.”

Brock added, “We are witnessing a fundamental shift in defense priorities toward affordable autonomous systems that can be produced and deployed at meaningful scale. The Drone Dominance program launched by the US Department of War, a $1.1 billion initiative focused on rapidly fielding low-cost unmanned systems, including one-way attack drones, is a clear example of this broader trend. This program reflects similar operational priorities: providing frontline forces with cost-effective, scalable, and rapidly deployable tactical strike capabilities. We believe Ondas is well positioned to address this growing demand across Israel, the United States, and other allied defense markets.”

Advanced tactical aerial capabilities for IDF infantry battalions

The Defense Ministry’s new tender is intended to provide IDF infantry battalions with advanced tactical aerial capabilities that can be rapidly deployed and adapted to complex and changing operational environments. Tactical attack drones are becoming an increasingly important component of modern military operations, providing troops with responsive, precise, and flexible aerial capabilities at the unit level.

The development effort will focus on the aerial platform, autonomous functionality, mission integration, systems engineering, production readiness, and compatibility with broader command-and-control environments.

“The award represents an important opportunity to apply Ondas’ autonomous systems capabilities to one of the most important evolving requirements on the modern battlefield,” Lugassy said. 

“Tactical forces increasingly require aerial systems that can be rapidly deployed, integrated directly into operational workflows, and adapted as missions and threats evolve. Our approach is to develop the full operational capability, not just a single drone. This includes the platform, autonomy, mission software, system integration, manufacturing infrastructure, and operational support required to move from development to meaningful field deployment.”

This post was originally published on here. 

One week after notching a significant primary victory in a Midwestern purple state, pro-Palestinian progressives are looking to repeat their success in Wisconsin.

The Badger State’s chaotic Democratic primary for governor ends Tuesday with state Rep. Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, polling comfortably in the lead. Despite the best efforts of the state’s Democratic establishment, and the concerns of Wisconsin Jewish groups, Hong appears well positioned to win the primary – leaving many in the state concerned about her electability in the general.

Hong’s record on Israel and antisemitism is of concern to Wisconsin Jews, as well as Democratic figureheads more broadly. She has appeared on livestream fundraisers with Hasan Piker, the left-wing strident Israel critic who has also rallied with Hong, as well as twice with Michael Beyer (“Mike from PA”), who has called Jewish identity “a constructed ethnicity, this demonic ethnicity, wholly invented.” 

On one of her appearances with Beyer, Hong urged constituents to fundraise for people on the “front lines in Gaza.”

A poll of likely voters one week before the race, conducted by nonpartisan outlet State Navigate, showed Hong with a commanding lead. Forty-four percent of those surveyed said they favored Hong, twice the total who backed Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the next-closest candidate.

Only 17% of the same voter sample said they identified as democratic socialists, possibly indicating that Hong – whose platform has emphasized working families, healthcare, and data centers – has found wider appeal beyond her movement.

The party’s left flank is buoyed by Abdul El-Sayed’s victory last week in the US Senate primary in Michigan, and hopes that a repeat success is possible in a neighboring Great Lakes state with a similarly purple voting bloc. But El-Sayed performed far short of the comfortable victory many polling outlets had predicted, squeaking a winning margin of just under 1%. 

Polls show Hong in wide lead despite early lack of name recognition

That may not be the case this time. Polling from Marquette Law School, considered the gold standard in the state, has also consistently shown Hong with a wide lead. Despite entering the race with little name recognition, Hong has benefitted from both a national progressive populist push and a crowded, musical-chairs Democratic field that burst with seven candidates at its peak. 

The race has been whittled down to four candidates today, with Crowley having re-entered the field after previously suspending his campaign. The flip came after Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, the preferred candidate of Crowley and many other institutionalist Democrats, dropped out of the race following an accounting scandal. Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, the party’s 2022 US Senate nominee and a once-promising figure in the state, also dropped out after failing to gain traction.

During her campaign, Hong apologized for having called the police on a vandalized Israeli flag in her district in December 2023, which at the time she had called “highly antisemitic” and urged to be investigated as a hate crime. 

Explaining why she now regrets making the call, Hong recently told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “The image was cropped and incomplete to misrepresent anti-Zionism as antisemitism – a distinction I take seriously.”

Hong’s impact on Israel policy as governor of Wisconsin would be limited. But she has called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “genocidal” and pushed the state to overturn a ban on government contracts with businesses that boycott Israel. She has also criticized Wisconsin’s current moderate Democratic governor for backing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s controversial definition of antisemitism.

DSA co-chair defends Oct. 8 Times Square rally in ‘New Yorker’ interview

Hong’s general-election success may hinge on the broader electorate’s views of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). This week a co-chair of the DSA drew further concern from Jewish Democrats after appearing in a viral interview on The New Yorker’s podcast. Megan Romer called the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel “largely inevitable” and said she “probably would have” joined a pro-Palestinian rally in New York the day after the attacks if she’d been able to attend.

Prior to Oct. 7, Hong’s state house campaigns had expressed some positive feelings toward Jews and Jewish causes. In January 2023, her campaign sold a Hebrew-language shirt, with proceeds going to Jewish Social Services of Madison.

“Team Hong has upped our commitment to uplifting multiculturalism,” Hong’s campaign wrote on Twitter at the time. She included praise of the symbolic significance of the number 18 in Hebrew and of the Hebrew phrase “L’chaim.”

This post was originally published on here. 

Libya‘s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said a drone attacked the Zawiya oil refinery complex, the country’s largest operating refinery, on Tuesday, the fifth attack since Saturday.

The NOC said a diesel storage tank belonging to the Zawiya Oil Refining Company was hit, causing a small fire that has since been contained.

With a capacity of 120,000 barrels per day, Zawiya is the largest operational refinery in the country.

Examples of recent drone attacks against Zawiya refinery

On Monday, a fire, accompanied by heavy smoke, broke out in a diesel tank oil depot at the refinery after the tank was struck, according to the Brega Petroleum Marketing Company.

Early Tuesday morning, Libya’s National Oil Corporation confirmed the facility had been struck by a drone, noting that the attack caused no casualties or damage.

Soon after, the refinery was again targeted by a drone, Saudi state-owned Al Arabiya reported.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ordered the immediate release of settler Tal Yinon Dardik on Tuesday, finding insufficient grounds to keep him detained over charges that he violated an earlier military restriction order.

Judge Amir Shaked released Dardik without imposing additional conditions through the criminal proceeding. He stressed, however, that Dardik remains subject to a separate military order issued on Monday that bars him from nearly all of the West Bank and requires him to report regularly to police.

The ruling therefore ends Dardik’s detention but does not allow him to return freely to the West Bank or invalidate the security establishment’s assessment that restrictions against him are warranted.

Dardik is suspected of involvement in attacks against Palestinians and other nationalist-motivated offenses, including a March raid in which a Palestinian man was allegedly subjected to severe physical and sexual abuse. Dardik denies involvement, and he has not been charged over those allegations.

Security authorities said intelligence connected him to illegal and violent activity that endangered lives and property. A military appeals committee and the Jerusalem District Court subsequently found that the intelligence justified substantial restrictions and that the original decision to issue an administrative order against him was reasonable and proportionate.

Charged with six counts of violating a lawful order

The criminal case that led to his detention is narrower: Dardik was charged with six counts of violating a lawful order and one count of obstructing a police officer after authorities said he failed to remain at his mother-in-law’s home in the Adei Ad settlement, as required by an order signed by Central Command chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth on June 9.

His mother-in-law, however, had not agreed to house him.

A military appeals committee ruled that Bluth could not compel a third party to accommodate Dardik against her wishes and canceled that part of the order. The Jerusalem District Court upheld the committee’s decision on Sunday, while leaving intact its finding that Dardik posed a real danger to security in the area.

Bluth subsequently revised the order, replacing the house-arrest requirement with a ban from the West Bank, except for Modi’in Illit. Dardik must report to a police station there twice a day. The military said the revised order will expire on the same date as the original and is an amendment rather than a new order.

Police prosecutors agreed that Dardik should be released but asked the Magistrate’s Court to make his release conditional on compliance with the revised military restrictions.

Shaked rejected that request, ruling that the new order could not supply grounds for detention in a criminal case concerning alleged violations of the previous one.

The cancellation of the requirement that Dardik stay at his mother-in-law’s home had significantly weakened the evidence supporting the charges against him, Shaked said. He found no sufficient evidentiary basis to keep Dardik detained until the conclusion of the proceedings.

The judge also criticized prosecutors for attempting to combine the criminal case with the separate administrative process. A court could not keep Dardik behind bars to prevent a possible future violation of an order issued only while he was already detained, he ruled.

Shaked denied the prosecution’s request to delay Dardik’s release to allow time for an appeal, saying such a delay would effectively prolong his detention despite the state itself having requested his release.

Dardik told the court that the revised order had been read to him and that he was aware of its terms.

Honenu, the legal aid organization representing him, said Dardik had conducted a 38-day hunger strike during his detention. That figure and the details of the strike were supplied by the organization.

Honenu described the ruling as a victory and called for the cancellation of administrative detention orders against other Jewish settlers.

“We are pleased that the defense’s arguments from the outset were accepted,” attorney Nati Rom said. “There was no violation and no justification for his detention.”

Attorney Moshe Polsky accused the state of dragging Dardik through unnecessary proceedings, while Honenu called the use of administrative detention against settlers a “black flag” and urged Bluth to cancel them.

This post was originally published on here. 

On Monday, the IDF made an unusual decision regarding the settler and allegedly dangerous activist, Tal Yinon Dardik, which might be a model for reducing administrative detention for some Palestinians.

Since October 7, the number of Palestinians in administrative detention has tripled and quadrupled.

Previously, it had been on a spectrum between hundreds and around 1,000, and for the last three years, between 3,000 and over 3,300.

Along with other issues, this has severely harmed Israeli legitimacy worldwide.

Immediately after October 7, and arguably until the defeat of the last of Hamas’s 24 battalions in summer 2024 – or even until the ceasefire with Hamas in October 2025 – one could justify Israel taking a hit in the legitimacy department in order to ensure its fundamental future security needs versus Hamas.

However, since somewhere between summer 2024 and October 2025, Israel has been reevaluating various more extreme wartime practices.

For example, currently (though tactics can change at any moment), the IDF is in a ceasefire on all fronts and is not actively attacking any of its adversaries.

If the IDF and Israel can afford such a risk to try to advance some of its legitimacy and diplomatic long-term interests, might there be room to reduce the off-the-charts volume of administrative detentions of Palestinians?

Dardik model may help achieve this goal

The next challenge would be: Under what model could this be done?

This is where Dardik could come into the picture.

Israel’s defense establishment suspects Dardik was involved in multiple violent and dangerous attacks on Palestinian villages, including in March.

Despite viewing Dardik as an ongoing and potential future danger – beyond even his past alleged dangerous conduct – a series of court decisions and debates within the Israeli defense establishment have led to more lenient terms for Dardik than his prison stints and even than previous administrative travel restraining orders.

For example, at one earlier point, Dardik was prohibited by an IDF administrative restraining order from traveling anywhere in the West Bank.

While he still cannot travel to most of the West Bank, it is now permitted for him to travel to and live in Modi’in Illit, which is in Judea and Samaria.

Essentially, with Dardik, a mix of the courts and the Israeli defense establishment decided that he was and remains dangerous, but that if he does not go anywhere in the West Bank other than Modi’in Illit and if he checks in with the police of that town twice a day, the danger he presents can be counterbalanced or tolerated.

Electronic ankle cuffs could allow for travel throughout West Bank

In addition, the IDF went further, suggesting that if Dardik was willing to wear electronic ankle cuffs that allow him to be tracked, it could even consider allowing him to travel in other parts of the West Bank.

In the past, a small number of extremist, violent Jews were sometimes put in administrative detention. But that has not happened since Defense Minister Israel Katz vetoed it in January 2025.

All that has been left – short of full criminal indictments – are administrative restraining orders related to traveling to the West Bank.

It would appear that the Israeli defense establishment thinks it can strike creative and lenient balancing acts short of house arrest, not just merely with Jews who are affiliated with an ideologically violent group, but even with Jews like Dardik, who are suspected of repeated actual violence.

If so, could this model be used for Palestinians who are merely affiliated with terror groups, such as passing out recruiting fliers, but have not been part of a plot to perpetrate violence?

Until now, the answers about why Palestinians get treated more harshly, often regarding administrative detention and similar tools, than Jews have been twofold.

First, ideologically speaking, more of the Palestinian detainees are looking to commit murders, and more of the Jewish detainees are looking to commit vandalism or lower-grade violence.

Second, it was considered too dangerous to leave Palestinians under house arrest or under an administrative restraining order against certain travel in the West Bank because they do not live surrounded by Israeli police.

Further, if a Palestinian decided to disappear and break the conditions of his or her release from detention, it would be much harder to locate and rearrest them, requiring a large IDF incursion into Palestinian areas.

There was also an assumption that Jewish detainees were not all that dangerous, and so they could be released as long as they did not perpetrate witness tampering.

But now, possibly all of these differences have fallen away, paving a path toward more leniency for Palestinians instead of administrative detention, and toward winning back some of Israel’s legitimacy globally – especially in the United States.

Dardik has been declared dangerous in both the past and the future, but officials deemed an administrative restraining order regarding travel or ankle cuffs sufficient to balance the danger.

Even more significant, the idea that invading Palestinian areas to rearrest a Palestinian detainee who broke the conditions of his release was a big deal comes from a pre-2022-2023 time period when such raids were rare.

Since 2022, and even more since October 7, nightly IDF raids into all parts of the West Bank have become standard. Leaving large IDF outposts in the center of Jenin, Tulkarm, Nur Shams, and other places has also become standard since January 2025.

So what exactly is so hard and unusual about another raid or two to rearrest such a Palestinian? Knowing how complete the IDF’s control over Judea and Samaria is today, as opposed to a few years ago, could also deter an only mildly committed associate of a terror group from trying to flee and hide.

The Dardik model could be rolled out as a pilot program for a small number of Palestinian detainees and tracked for outcomes before it is expanded much.

Besides starting to try to improve the already bad legitimacy situation, rolling out such a pilot program would save Israel from otherwise undermining its entire basis for administrative detention of Palestinians.

One of the critical bases and defenses has always been that detainees are usually held for periods of six months to two years.

But with a rising number of thousands of detainees (How can each one be an arch terrorist leader?) being held for longer than that, there is a point where Israel would be eroding its own defense of the administrative detention tool under international law.

None of this suggests Israel should be releasing hardened violent terrorists.

But it has been clear for some time that when Israel has over 3,000 Palestinians in administrative detention on top of twice as many other Palestinians in other detention situations, not all of the 3,000-plus detainees can be as bad as Israel has claimed the kind of person who gets administratively detained needs to be.

Palestinian terror is nowhere near disappearing and must be fought in a variety of ways, likely still involving administrative detention at times.

Yet getting the volume of Palestinian administrative detainees under control is a time bomb for American and global support that Jerusalem likely needs to defuse so that Israel can save its global standing while there is still time.

This post was originally published on here. 

Israel and Venezuela agreed to renew consular relations and establish an official coordination channel after 17 years without diplomatic ties, the countries said in a joint announcement on Tuesday.

The move creates an official coordination channel between Israel and Venezuela, which have not maintained diplomatic relations since 2009.

The agreement followed talks held in recent weeks between Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Félix Plasencia.

During the talks, the two sides agreed to establish a coordination mechanism that will enable consular services to be provided to citizens of both countries. 

The statement also emphasized the importance of ties between the State of Israel and Venezuela’s Jewish community, which the community celebrated. 

“After 17 years without consular relations, Venezuela and Israel are advancing in a confidence-building process that began with the various Israeli and Jewish organizations that came to Venezuela on the occasion of the double earthquake that struck the country on June 24, and which on that occasion provided great technical and humanitarian aid in the face of the tragedy and devastation,” National Coordinator of the Confederation of Jewish Associations of Venezuela, Dr. Miguel Truzman wrote in a statement. 

“Today, a new era begins, taking a first step in the Consular area, as technical support in the areas required, and in the near future, diplomatic relations between both nations will be fully restored.” 

Jewish residents of Venezuela said that they were excited for a return to normal relations between the two countries. 

“This is news that fills us with hope and joy and marks a significant step toward rapprochement and a return to normalcy for many people who have waited years for practical solutions,” A., a Jewish resident of Caracas, told Walla.

He added that “the renewal of the consular coordination mechanism between Venezuela and Israel is not merely a diplomatic matter.

“First and foremost, it provides much-needed relief for families and citizens by facilitating procedures and administrative matters, and by building a bridge of understanding and human assistance where there had previously been distance,” he added.

“I warmly welcome this rapprochement, which offers an opportunity to renew ties, resolve everyday issues, and look to the future with a renewed commitment to cooperation and mutual respect,” he said. “Bravo to Minister Félix Ramón Plasencia González, and bravo to AIV Chief Rabbi Isaac Cohen.”

Israel and Venezuela agree to continue coordination after massive earthquake

Additionally, following the earthquake and the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, the pair also agreed to continue cooperating on emergency response and recovery efforts. An Israeli delegation was deployed there in June and has since helped tens of thousands of Venezuelans return to their homes.

The Venezuelan government’s receipt of Israeli assistance contrasts with the complete cut-off in relations between the countries dating back to 2009.

In the aftermath, officials estimated that at least 5,000 people died.

Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report. 

This post was originally published on here. 

Two rabbis who attended New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s hour-long, closed-door roundtable at City Hall on Monday said they left feeling “hopeful” and that the mayor attended in “good faith.”

The meeting – convened by the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism – featured 10 rabbis from various Jewish denominations. The Jerusalem Post reached out to several rabbis who participated, including Rabbi Jonathan Leener, leader of the Prospect Heights Shul, a liberal Modern Orthodox synagogue in Brooklyn, and Rabbi “S,” who did not wish to be named.

“I chose to participate in the roundtable given the opportunity to represent my community’s views directly to the mayor,” Rabbi S told the Post. “One of the organizers assured us that we would all have a chance to speak, so the opportunity to really be there on behalf of my community was a meaningful one, and I felt that the outreach was made in good faith with an openness to listen, so it felt worth going to express our points of view and raise our concerns.”

Rabbi Leener had a similar incentive: “As a rabbi, I see my role as an advocate for the safety and well-being of the Jewish people, especially my fellow New Yorkers.”

Leener said he has profound disagreements with Mamdani, particularly around Israel, and that some of the mayor’s rhetoric has contributed to “turning up the temperature at a moment when many Jewish New Yorkers already feel increasingly vulnerable.”

“That is precisely why I felt it was important to show up and say those things directly to him,” he said. “The meeting was also an opportunity to move beyond public statements and talk concretely about what the city government can do to address antisemitism and help Jewish New Yorkers feel safer.”

Roundtable focused on Mamdani’s contributions to rising NYC antisemitism

The predominant focus of the roundtable, from what both rabbis conveyed to the Post, was the rising antisemitism in NYC and the way in which the mayor’s hostility toward Israel has contributed to it.

“The message that was sent by everybody, each in their own way, to the mayor was that while we may agree or disagree with the current actions of the Israeli government or the current war, that the mayor’s harsh rhetoric around Israel and its government and the mayor’s continual singling out and excessive focus on Israel – when there are so many other things going on in our city and beyond – was alienating to our constituents, makes Jewish New Yorkers feel that the mayor is not for them, and makes them feel unsafe,” Rabbi S recalled.

“We reiterated that it is hard to feel a sense of partnership when it feels like Israel is being singled out for harsh rhetoric attacks and the mayor is doing nothing to distinguish between Israel and New York City’s Jews,” he added.

He said each rabbi tried to express this same point to the mayor “in the hopes of him taking that to heart” and upholding his pledge to be a mayor for all New Yorkers and help them feel safe.

Leener told the Post that while there were “certainly moments of tension and passion,” these were “expressed respectfully.”

“No one was there trying to convince the mayor to change his views on Israel,” he said. “Rather, people were trying to convey how isolated and vulnerable many Jewish New Yorkers feel and the extent to which some believe [Mamdani’s] rhetoric and the singling out of Israel have contributed to that feeling.”

Like Rabbi S, Leener said concerns were raised several times about Mamdani’s perceived “double standard” when it comes to Israel, and that “Israel and the Jewish community’s relationship to Israel are sometimes treated in ways that other communities and their connections to countries or homelands are not.”

Outside of Mamdani’s own contribution to rising antisemitism, both rabbis told the Post that there was broad consensus that Jew-hatred is making the city unsafe.

“There seemed to be broad agreement about the seriousness of the security concerns facing Jewish institutions and the need for the city government to respond to them,” Leener said.

“There was also a shared desire for the administration to better understand what Jewish New Yorkers are experiencing right now. The vulnerability and anxiety within the community were very real themes throughout the conversation.”

NYC rabbis: Roundtable properly represented New York Jewish community

Despite past criticisms of Mamdani for choosing to associate with select sects of Judaism – especially left-wing, progressive, and anti-Zionist ones – both rabbis told the Post that “there was tremendous diversity around the table.”

“I really do think it was a good representation of New York’s Jewish community,” Rabbi S said. “It’s impossible to get all segments, but the major denominations were there, and there was representation from a fair amount, geographically, of New York City.”

Leener concurred: “I thought there was a thoughtful range of voices in the room.”

“Obviously, no small group of rabbis can fully represent the extraordinary diversity of New York’s Jewish community,” he continued. “But people came from different communities, institutions, and points of view, and I thought that contributed to a substantive conversation.”

Leener said that part of the power of the meeting was its intimacy, as a smaller group created space for a more candid and meaningful exchange. He also said that, from his understanding, there are to be additional conversations in the future.

Both rabbis said they came away with the impression that the mayor was there to listen and was open to suggestions.

“He was respectful in his responses and frequently asked clarifying questions to better understand what people were saying,” Leener said. “I felt that he was genuinely engaging with us, acting in good faith, and listening carefully to our concerns, particularly our plea to help turn down the temperature.

“I know some will view that as simply part of his political skill or personal charm, and I understand that skepticism. But my honest read of both him and the room was that the engagement felt genuine.”

Rabbi S spoke similarly of Mamdani’s approach: “The mayor listened, asked some clarifying questions, and expressed that he appreciated the good faith conversation and that he took our words to heart.

While Rabbi S said he truly does not know what to expect going forward, he nevertheless felt grateful to be in the room.

“I think there was really strong consensus about that, despite people’s different views about Israel, and there was also a consensus that there’s a desire to work with the mayor on other issues of concern like affordability, childcare, and healthcare. A number of people raised immigration, and the mayor acknowledged these as issues of common cause and concern,” he said.

Leener told the Post he left feeling “cautiously hopeful.”

“I appreciated that the administration invited us in, listened, and created space for a candid and substantive conversation. But ultimately, I will judge the mayor and his administration by their actions and by the results they deliver,” he said.

For Leener, one concrete test will be whether the Jewish community sees meaningful progress around security, including making NYPD presence more accessible to synagogues, Jewish schools, and other Jewish institutions.

“I hope the conversation leads to greater understanding, a lowering of the temperature, and ultimately concrete action,” he said.

“What stayed with me most was the value of being in actual conversation. Our political climate has made it increasingly difficult to speak openly with people with whom we profoundly disagree, as though simply sitting down, listening, or engaging somehow means abandoning our convictions. I believe the opposite is true,” Leener continued.

“I remain a staunch supporter of Israel and have profound disagreements with the mayor that were not resolved by this meeting. But we can hold deeply to our beliefs while remaining in real conversation with one another. In fact, that is often how greater understanding becomes possible.”

This post was originally published on here. 

Israeli security forces arrested 27 suspects in simultaneous raids on dozens of homes in Ashdod and Kiryat Gat on Tuesday morning, in the culmination of a months-long undercover operation infiltrating criminal networks in the two cities. 

According to police, the suspects took control of delivery and distribution routes in Ashdod and Kiryat Gat and coerced business owners into using their services, aiming the establish control over their areas of operation, generate profits, and launder funds.

The operation, dubbed Operation Courier Run, was jointly carried out by the Southern District Israel Police, Border Police, and the Lachish District Central Investigations Unit (YAMAR). 

Border Police arrest Beersheba resident who hid eleven Palestinians behind a pile of tires in his vehicle

Early on Tuesday morning, Jerusalem area Border Police arrested a Beersheba resident in his 60s who is suspected of transporting 11 Palestinian residents of the West Bank into sovereign Israel, who themselves were also arrested. 

Israeli security officers at the Ofer border crossing searched a vehicle which seemed “suspicious,” per the police report, and discovered a large pile of used tires in the back. Upon moving the tires, they found a double wall, behind which the 11 Palestinians were hiding. 

Tel Aviv police arrest 26-year-old suspected of massive credit card fraud scheme

Police in north Tel Aviv arrested a 26-year-old suspect on Monday who is suspected of making hundreds of thousands of shekels in purchases using fraudulently obtained credit cards. News of the arrest was disclosed to the public on Tuesday, along with the extension of the suspect’s detention. 

This arrest followed a months-long undercover operation in which investigators amassed information about the suspect’s purchases, which included computers, luxury clothing, sunglasses, and shoes sold in stores throughout the Tel Aviv area.  

Courts issue restriction order against crime boss Yossi Musli

Tel Aviv police on Tuesday successfully petitioned the courts to issue a judicial restriction order against Yossi Musli, the head of the Musli crime family. Per the order, Musli is on house arrest, prohibited from contacting a number of other known criminals, and banned from using the internet.

Musli was arrested in July in connection with a series of grenade attacks, arson, and shootings in central and northern Israel, which have been ongoing throughout the summer. The investigation into the attacks remains ongoing, with several additional arrests made nationwide in connection with the incidents.

Stun grenade attack foiled in Bat Yam, suspect arrested

Also on Tuesday, police responded to a call in Bat Yam reporting that a person was seen in public holding a grenade and allegedly intending to throw it. 

Police were able to arrest the suspect, a 22-year-old resident of central Israel, before he could use the grenade, which turned out to be a stun grenade. Security forces then neutralized the grenade. 

This post was originally published on here. 

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband pressed Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar over humanitarian aid to Gaza and violence in the West Bank during their first phone call on Tuesday, while the two also discussed Hamas’s disarmament, Iran and antisemitism, according to a statement issued by Miliband.

Miliband described the conversation with Sa’ar as a “frank and constructive first call,” saying the British government remained committed to open dialogue and a two-state solution that would include “a safe and secure State of Israel and Palestinian State.”

The foreign secretary said he raised what he described as a “sharp escalation of settler violence and settlement expansion,” as well as the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

Today I had a frank and constructive first call with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/48pIdbvwXt

— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) August 11, 2026

“I said Israel must crack down on violence in the West Bank, and must immediately end blockages on aid into Gaza,” Miliband said.

The discussion comes as the West Bank and the future of a two-state solution remain points of disagreement between Israel and Britain. Earlier this year, Sa’ar clashed with then-British foreign secretary Yvette Cooper at the UN Security Council after she criticized Israeli policies in the West Bank.

Hamas disarmament, Iran and antisemitism

Miliband also called for Hamas to give up its weapons and for the IDF to withdraw, saying progress was needed on US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan.

Additionally, the two discussed shared security challenges and agreed on the need to combat antisemitism worldwide and the “vital shared interest in ensuring that we never see a nuclear Iran.”

This post was originally published on here.