All News (Page 84)

Members of Israel’s opposition should remain focused on toppling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, rather than argue over who among them should be the next leader, MK Avigdor Liberman, chairman of Yisrael Beytenu, said in an interview with 103FM on Sunday.

His comment came after Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot stated that leaders of smaller parties in the opposition bloc should not insist on seeking the premiership.

“I think [Eisenkot] is missing the main point, and all of us need to focus on one objective: bringing down the draft-dodgers’ alliance and the October 7 massacre government,” Liberman said. 

“All this talk about who should be prime minister? Come on, you’re talking about it too, and you’re saying that you also want to be, and deserve to be, prime minister.”

Liberman claimed Eisenkot was falling into Netanyahu’s “trap,” claiming the prime minister wants opposition leaders to “spend all our time talking about who’s first, who’s second, and what coalition there will be, instead of talking about the substance.”

Ra’am cannot be a coalition partner, Likud is ultra-Orthodox-lite

Liberman argued that focusing on such issues effectively turns opposition parties into campaigners for Likud, and noted that he has not been able to align himself with the party since it became “a light ultra-Orthodox party.”

“That’s not somewhere I intend to work,” he said.

Asked whether the United Arab List (Ra’am) could eventually become part of the opposition bloc, Liberman said the answer was no, and that after October 7, “Ra’am cannot be a partner in the coalition, not from within and not from outside, period.” 

He added that, in any case, his party would not need Abbas’s support.

“The real news is that we’re going to win by a landslide, and there will be a Hungarian scenario. The Zionist parties will secure an overwhelming majority, enough on our own, and we won’t need anyone else,” he said. 

“We’ll establish a truly statesmanlike and Zionist government, as opposed to a sectoral government, the draft-dodgers’ alliance of Goldknopf, Deri, and Netanyahu.”

On Iran: ‘We’ve become a banana republic’

Liberman also addressed the ongoing crisis with Iran and US President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel a planned strike on targets in the Islamic Republic.

“The Iranians are not willing to give up for even a second, not on their nuclear program, not on control of the Strait of Hormuz, and not on support for all their proxies across the region,” he said. “They’re simply buying time. We’ve become a banana republic. It can’t be that Trump announces that we won’t attack Iran, that everyone is speaking on our behalf.”

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Jerusalem area Border Police arrested a man hiding inside a loudspeaker in a vehicle on Saturday night, who was determined to be in Israel illegally. 

During a vehicle inspection at El-Jib Crossing, police said officers noticed a large speaker inside the car, the placement of which “aroused suspicion,” next to a car seat with an infant inside. 

The illegal resident and the vehicle’s driver were arrested and taken in for further questioning by both the Border Police and Israeli intelligence officials. 

Police find, disarm three pipe bombs outside Ramallah train station

Israel Police found three high-powered pipe bombs in an open area near the train station in Ramallah on Sunday. 

The police also stated that they had found dozens of 5.56 caliber ammunition alongside the pipe bombs, which had been stolen from the IDF.

The explosives were disarmed by the police, and the items were taken by the police for further investigation.

Police seize guns in Bedouin village

Earlier, the police announced that they had foiled an attempted attack in the Bedouin village of Bir al-Maksur, after they had seized several weapons, including a Beretta M12 submachine gun and a loaded pistol.

During the raid, the police also arrested six suspects, the police stated.

According to the police, both incidents are thought to be criminal in nature.

Tzvi Jasper contributed to this report.

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Heavy rains and floods battered parts of southern India over the weekend, killing at least 11 and displacing thousands in the state of Kerala, and setting off a landslide that killed at least three in neighboring Karnataka, authorities and news reports said.

The death toll in rain-related incidents rose to 11 by Sunday, and nearly 7,700 people were evacuated to around 275 relief camps across Kerala, a state government minister said.

Kerala’s Chief Minister VD Satheesan said on Monday he would be meeting district officials to review relief camp arrangements. On Sunday, he said clean-up operations had begun in flood-affected areas.

Strong winds, heavy rains force closures

The state is likely to see strong winds and moderate rainfall in some areas on Monday, the state’s disaster management authority said.

Heavy rains also forced closures of many schools across the state, while the government postponed a state-level teacher recruitment exam.

In the neighboring northern state of Karnataka, heavy rains triggered a landslide that killed a couple and their son on Saturday, the newspaper the Hindu reported.

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Acting US Attorney-General Todd Blanche rescinded an order establishing the “anti-weaponization” fund, paving the way for his confirmation ahead of a key Senate committee vote on Tuesday, after Republican senators stalled his nomination over concerns about the fund.

Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina had held up Blanche’s attorney general nomination while seeking written assurances that the Justice Department would not move forward with the fund, which critics have derided as a slush fund for Trump’s supporters.

“The Department of Justice today announced that the Acting Attorney-General rescinded the May 18, 2026 Order that established ‘The Anti-Weaponization Fund,'” according to a copy of the order posted by Blanche on X/Twitter on Sunday.

The Republican senators had also objected to a Justice Department order that barred the Internal Revenue Service from pursuing any audits into past tax claims for Trump, his relatives and his companies for any tax returns filed before May 18.

“Sen. Cornyn has reached an agreement with the Department of Justice, which will be issuing a formal order permanently terminating the anti-weaponization fund and making clear in a binding written document that the scope of the audit settlement is limited to only the plaintiffs, including the President, and the IRS,” US media outlets quoted Natalie Yezbick, a spokesperson for Cornyn, as saying.

Push for Congress to codify anti-weaponization fund

Blanche’s order stated that the tax order “applied by its terms only retroactively.”

“The Acting Attorney-General stands by all of his July 15, 2026 Senate Judiciary Committee testimony, including answers to questions asked by Senator Cornyn related to the scope and applicability of the May 19, 2026 Order,” the DOJ statement shared by Blanche said, referring to the tax audit order.

Trump had said as recently as last week that the $1.8 b. “anti-weaponization” fund was dead.

However, the president said over the weekend that Blanche would stay in his current acting role if not confirmed by the Senate and added that he would also push Congress to codify the proposed “anti-weaponization” fund.

Tillis, whose term ends in January, wrote on Saturday that Blanche would not be confirmed because of Trump’s reversal, although he hoped that the matter could be resolved by Tuesday, when the US Senate Judiciary Committee has ​scheduled a nomination vote.

Blanche has served as acting attorney-general since April, when Trump fired Pam Bondi.

The now-rescinded fund was created as part of a legal settlement between ​Trump and the US Justice Department to resolve his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over allegedly mishandling his tax records.

Supporters say the fund was intended to compensate individuals they argue were unfairly targeted by the federal government, while critics said it could direct taxpayer money to Trump allies, including those who assaulted police officers during the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.

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Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday, a spokeswoman for the Myanmar government said, amid concerns over the health of the 81-year-old.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been in detention since February 2021 when an elected civilian government led by her was ousted by Myanmar’s military in a dawn coup, plunging the impoverished Southeast Asian nation into turmoil.

Since then, Suu Kyi’s exact whereabouts and health conditions have been difficult to determine, with no foreign leader or envoy having publicly met her.

On Monday, Suu Kyi met with Arnaud de Baecque, Resident Representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to Myanmar in the capital Naypyitaw, government spokeswoman Khine Khine Soe said in a message via Telegram.

The ICRC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Military-engineered coup, election

In two of the four photographs provided by the government spokeswoman, Suu Kyi – dressed in traditional Burmese attire – is seen meeting with Baecque in a sparsely furnished, wood-paneled room containing only two chairs and a desk.

In another photo, offering a rare glimpse inside what appears to be her residence, Suu Kyi is seen cutting a birthday cake inscribed with her name, with a clothes rack and storage boxes visible in the background. A fourth photograph is a close-up of the cake, inscribed with “Happy Birthday Aunty Suu 29.6.2026.”

Reuters was not able to independently verify the location and the date when the pictures were taken. No earlier version of the pictures was found posted online before Monday.

Move to house arrest

Suu Kyi has been serving a 27-year sentence after being convicted of multiple offenses based on charges her allies said were politically motivated.

In late April, following a military-engineered election that allowed former junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to become Myanmar’s president, authorities said that she had been moved to house arrest.

Her sentence was also commuted by one-sixth as part of an amnesty for thousands of prisoners, which also saw the release of her ally, former President Win Myint.

But the new military-backed administration has so far been reluctant to provide access to Suu Kyi, including a May request by the Philippines to allow a special envoy of the regional ASEAN bloc to meet with the detained leader.

Myanmar’s junta said last December that Suu Kyi is “in good health,” after her son told Reuters he had received little information about his aging mother’s condition and not heard from her in years, fearing she could die without him knowing.

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The tens of thousands of young people who have been attempting to swim across the border between Morocco and Ceuta are only the beginning of a much larger migration crisis, journalist and Reichman University lecturer Henrique Cymerman explained in an interview with 103FM on Sunday.

“There are two cities, Ceuta and Melilla, and they have belonged to Spain for more than 400 years, with Africa surrounding them,” Cymerman explained. 

“There are fences in certain areas, and each time young people try to jump over them, they have two and a half minutes. That’s the amount of time they have before the Spanish police arrive and may send them back to Morocco. They run to the refugee center, and if they manage to make it there within those few minutes, and some of them do, they are no longer returned to Morocco. They’ve made it. From there, within a few months, they can move on to Europe and fulfill their dream.”

Conspiracy theorists blame Israel for Spain’s crisis

Cymerman went on to explain why conspiracy theories have emerged accusing Israel of pulling the strings behind the crisis.

“Israel enters the picture indirectly because of our alliance with Morocco and with the Americans,” he said. “Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has become the leading anti-Israel voice in Europe, and some say he has sought to sever relations with the State of Israel.”

Others, he noted, are blaming Morocco’s king, who is reportedly unhappy with the Spanish government’s growing closeness to Morocco’s historic rival.

“Some people say this is an attempt by the King of Morocco to show Sánchez what could happen if he compromises on other issues, for example in his relationship with Morocco’s biggest rival, Algeria. He is due to visit there soon, and Spain also buys large quantities of Algerian gas. About 40% of Spain’s gas comes from there.”

Beyond the local political complexities in the Maghreb, Cymerman believes the refugee crisis is only set to intensify.

“Today there are 1.5 billion people in Africa, with huge numbers of young people who have no hope. We are going to see a wave of young Africans trying to reach Europe,” he said. “Europe faces a major test in how to deal with this, as it tries to balance the humanitarian aspect, at least ostensibly, with its ability to absorb millions of Africans.”

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Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed to do everything in his power to strengthen security and lead a “revolution in settlement” in the Galilee during an emergency conference held by the Forum for Judaizing the Galilee on Sunday.

“The Galilee is not only a national objective – it is a security objective. Strong Jewish settlement in the Galilee is an inseparable part of the resilience and security of the State of Israel,” Katz asserted.

“Just as we led an unprecedented revolution in settlement in Judea and Samaria through the establishment of communities and farms, strengthening security, and a determined fight against terrorism – so we will act in the Galilee,” he added.

Conference aimed to establish 10-year plan for encouraging Galilee settlement

The conference, which was hosted by Karmiel Mayor Moshe Koninsky and called for by Forum for Judaizing the Galilee chair Dr. Ruth Cabasa Abramson, convened with the aim of establishing a 10-year plan for encouraging Jewish settlement, according to a statement released by the forum.

The plan discussed at the meeting focused on four main sectors, including demographics, land, quality of life, and law enforcement. 

According to the forum, the demographics aspect of the plan entails supporting urban settlements and “communities that preserve a Jewish character and promote a population balance that serves equality and social cohesion in Israel.”

To make land available for the establishment of potential settlements, the forum called for a campaign against illegal construction, the expansion of mandates and budgets for construction authorities, and the reexamination of construction plans in the Arab sector in light of updated data.

The plan also outlined a framework for improving quality of life and employment opportunities in the region. The forum emphasized that developing transportation infrastructure and attracting employment opportunities in industries, such as high-tech, are essential for attracting new residents.

To ensure that the measures for incentivizing development in the Galilee are protected, the forum detailed potential law enforcement operations aimed at reducing crime in the region.

Such measures include initiating a campaign against illegal firearms and cracking down on organized crime through the establishment of dedicated courts, increasing the number of investigators, and strengthening deterrence against crime.

Forum calls for establishment of coordinating body to address ’emergency’ situation

The forum stated that in order to properly implement the plan, a dedicated coordinating body should be established within the Prime Minister’s Office and funding should be ensured for the next ten years.

Abramzon stated that the current situation in the Galilee has “reached a point of no return” and become an emergency.

“If the State of Israel does not come to its senses and prepare a plan for the coming decade that addresses every dimension of the problem, it could… inflict irreversible damage upon itself,” she asserted.

“We will strengthen Jewish settlement, invest in infrastructure, and reinforce security,” Katz added. 

“Our victory will truly be complete when the Galilee prospers, flourishes, and is filled with families, communities, and growth. This is a national objective, and as Defense Minister I will do everything possible, together with the defense establishment, to help achieve it,” he vowed.

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Cuba’s electricity grid collapsed late on Sunday, the state-owned grid operator said, plunging the ‌island of about 10 million people into darkness as blackouts become more frequent.

The outage follows three nationwide blackouts in July and comes as a US-imposed oil blockade further strains the island’s aging energy infrastructure.

The Unión Eléctrica de Cuba gave no further details of the situation in its posts on X/Twitter and Facebook.

Pressure on the power system has mounted as Cuba struggles to secure fuel imports.

It lost a key source of fuel after an oil blockade imposed by US President Donald Trump, following Washington’s January 3 ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Imports from Venezuela, Mexico halted with US pressure

Venezuela had long been Cuba’s primary oil supplier, with imports from Mexico also halted amid increased US pressure.

The power crisis coincides with a cautious opening of Cuba’s tightly controlled energy sector, driven by fuel shortages and severe US sanctions.

Havana recently authorized its first foreign-backed fuel import venture and allowed nearly 200 Cub

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Villagers in one indigenous community in Malaysia’s Sarawak state once lived by an unspoken rule: leave the crocodile be, and it will leave you alone in turn.

But for the community’s headman, Daniel Muking, that taboo has now been broken, after his son was found dead following a crocodile attack in May 2024.

“It has eaten my child, so I have every right to kill it,” he said.

Sarawak on Borneo island has seen a rise in crocodile encounters in recent years as the number of reptiles in the state’s rivers rebounded. The crocodile population reached more than 25,000 in 2024 after being nearly wiped out due to overexploitation in the 1980s, according to a survey.

Crocodile attacks have caused 22 deaths between 2023 and 2025, with five fatalities so far this year.

Balancing wildlife conservation and safety of villagers

Sarawak Deputy Natural Resources Minister Len Talif Salleh said authorities must balance wildlife conservation with the safety of riverside communities.

The Sarawak state government has begun issuing hunting licenses and launched a new mobile phone application for the public to report sightings, as part of its efforts to manage the crocodile population.

Though crocodile encounters have become more frequent, attacks have declined compared to 20 years ago, the Sarawak Forestry Corporation said.

“Crocodiles may be appearing more frequently near (human) settlements because they can find food more easily there,” the corporation’s general manager, Abang Arabi Abang Aimran, said.

Authorities have collaborated with licensed hunters and local communities to relocate crocodiles away from rivers near human settlements.

For families such as Daniel’s, the move has given them long-awaited closure after the crocodile that villagers identified as killing his son was eventually hunted down.

“I also want to eat its flesh if I can,” Daniel said.

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Australia warned on Monday against the risk of a wider spread of H5N1 bird flu after its first mass mortality episode among seabirds killed about 50 greater crested terns off the coast south of Adelaide.

However, there is no evidence yet of the virus on Australia’s farms, many of which have locked down to safeguard poultry flocks since it was first detected in June.

Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said testing confirmed H5N1 bird flu in a group of 49 dead and 35 sick terns found by helicopter surveillance on rocks off Cape Jaffa, 250 km (155 miles) from Adelaide on Friday.

“Australians should expect to see more spread and larger numbers now of wildlife being affected,” she told reporters in Canberra, the capital.

“This is the first confirmed case of a mass mortality,” she added. “Once the H5 bird flu is spreading in wildlife and the natural environment, it is not possible to avoid significant losses, which is what we’re starting to see now.”

First cases of H5N1 in Australia, millions of animals killed in recent years

Australia’s tally of 74 confirmed cases is spread as wide as the states of Western Australia and Queensland, though most cases were in South Australia, Collins said.

Australia and New Zealand – which saw its first H5N1 case last month – have spent years bracing for the virus, with steps such as tighter biosecurity at farms, testing of shore birds, vaccinating vulnerable species and war-gaming response plans.

The virus has killed hundreds of millions of birds and mammals in recent years, causing billions of dollars in losses to poultry farmers, infecting cattle in the United States and littering beaches with corpses of birds and seals.

H5N1 bird flu can infect humans who have contact with infected animals. But the number of cases worldwide is small, and officials say the risk to humans is low.

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Two people were hospitalized after a building collapsed in a central area of Sydney on Monday, emergency services said.

A spokesperson for New South Wales Ambulance said it was called to an address in Ultimo, a suburb around 2 km (1.2 miles) from the city’s central business district, just before 11 a.m. local time.

Workers assessed seven patients at the scene, of whom two were transported to hospital in serious condition.

Footage from Australian television network Seven showed the collapsed wall of a large building that the channel said was located near a construction site.

This is a developing story.

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Japan and the US conducted coordinated yen-buying intervention and will not hesitate to take further action, Japan’s finance ministry said on Monday, confirming a rare bilateral action to halt the yen’s slide to fresh 40-year lows.

The move underscored both countries’ resolve to prevent a selloff in the yen and Japanese government bonds (JGBs) from causing global spillovers, such as adding upward pressure on already rising US Treasury yields, analysts said.

The joint intervention was the first since 2011’s coordinated action to weaken the yen following the devastating earthquake in eastern Japan.

President Donald Trump said on Sunday the US was helping Japan prop up the yen as a sign of friendship and to help the world economy.

Aside from helping Japan as a strategic ally in Asia, the intervention would help the US address concerns over extraordinary weakness in the yen that offsets the boost from Trump’s tariffs, analysts say.

In the statement, Japan’s finance ministry said Friday’s yen-buying intervention with the US Treasury Department “countered excessive volatility and disorderly movements in the Japanese yen in recent months.”

“We will not hesitate conducting further coordinated intervention,” Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama told reporters on Monday.

The yen surged more than 1% to 155.20 per dollar after the announcement, its strongest since early May and well off the 40-year low near 164 hit last month, as traders remained on alert for more intervention.

Katayama declined to comment when reporters asked whether the authorities stepped in on Monday.

Bank of Japan in spotlight

“The joint intervention is the culmination of Japan’s alliance with the US,” Japan’s top currency diplomat Atsushi Mimura told reporters on Monday.

“We will continue to align (currency policy) with the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy,” he said, suggesting the government will work hand in hand with the central bank in arresting yen falls.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also confirmed Friday’s effort, adding Washington “will not hesitate to participate in further joint intervention.”

“We strongly support Japan’s decisive market and monetary steps to correct the substantial undervaluation of the yen,” Bessent said in a separate statement on X/Twitter, repeating his calls for further interest-rate hikes by the BOJ.

The remarks put the spotlight on the BOJ, which last week kept rates on hold but signaled scope for a rate hike as soon as its next policy meeting in September.

“The comments by Mimura and Bessent must be music to the ears of hawks within the BOJ,” said Naomi Muguruma, chief bond strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

“I feel like a September rate hike is a done deal. It won’t make sense for the BOJ to wait until October and cause another bout of yen declines.”

The two-year JGB yield JP2YTN=JBTC, which is most sensitive to near-term monetary policy moves, briefly hit 1.545% on Monday, the highest since 1995, as markets priced in the chance of an early rate hike.

Federal facility available

Japan has been struggling to curb a relentless drop in the yen that pushes up import prices and stokes broader inflation, hitting households’ wallets and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s public approval ratings.

Tokyo’s solo intervention conducted between late April and early May caused only a brief yen rebound. The BOJ’s June rate hike to a 31-year high of 1% also gave the struggling currency little lasting boost.

Before Friday’s confirmed joint intervention with the US, Japan may have sold as much as $58.97 billion to buy yen when it intervened in New York markets on Thursday, BOJ data suggested.

In a sign of further Japan-US coordination, Bessent said the US would consider increasing in coming months the size of the Federal Reserve’s repurchase facility providing temporary dollar liquidity, calling the tool an “important backstop.”

The comment followed the finance ministry’s rare X post on Saturday that it had “a broad range of tools to address market liquidity needs,” including access to the Fed’s repurchase facility providing temporary dollar liquidity.

The Fed facility, introduced in 2020 to steady markets during the COVID-19 pandemic, allows Japan to raise dollar liquidity without outright sales of US Treasuries, potentially easing funding pressures on Tokyo for intervention.

Some analysts doubt whether the latest round of action could counter structural factors driving down the yen, such as the rising cost of fuel from the Middle East conflict and the still wide Japan-US interest rate differentials.

“The announcement effect of joint intervention is much bigger than solo action by Japan,” said Tsuyoshi Ueno, a senior economist at NLI Research Institute.

“But the fundamentals driving yen weakness haven’t changed, so we likely won’t see one-sided yen rises from this intervention.”

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reported admission that his government’s law freezing the arrests of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) draft evaders was a failure deserves scrutiny far harsher than a routine campaign reversal.

According to reports from a closed-door meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said the law would not return under the next government and that draft evaders who do not study Torah would either “enlist or go to prison.” He also spoke of forming a broad national government that would pass a conscription law meeting the IDF’s needs.

Those words came less than three weeks after Netanyahu’s coalition passed the arrest-freeze law on July 14. Netanyahu went to the Knesset ahead of the vote and backed legislation designed to suspend enforcement against people ignoring lawful draft orders. The High Court of Justice froze the measure the following day amid severe legal criticism, opposition from reservists and bereaved families, and warnings that it would do nothing to address the IDF’s manpower shortage.

Netanyahu is now asking voters to treat his repudiation of his own government’s law as evidence of future resolve. The timing makes that demand difficult to take seriously. The coalition pursued the measure because haredi parties demanded protection for draft evaders. It advanced the bill despite the war, the prolonged reserve burden, and repeated warnings from military leaders. Only after the law became an electoral liability did Netanyahu reportedly discover that it had failed.

A closed-door remark leaked during an election campaign cannot erase the vote, the pressure placed on coalition lawmakers, or the government’s argument before the High Court that arrests could provoke a civil war. Days later, the prime minister is reportedly promising imprisonment for at least some of the same draft evaders his government sought to shield.

This reversal exposes the central problem with Netanyahu’s claim. He presents haredi enlistment as a task for the next government, even though he has led the current government and most Israeli governments since the Tal Law was struck down in 2012. Fourteen years provided more than enough time to establish a fair and enforceable framework. Instead, successive Netanyahu governments delayed, diluted, and traded away reform to preserve coalition agreements.

Israel no longer has the luxury of another promise. The IDF is short of soldiers. Reservists have endured repeated and extended call-ups. Families have absorbed the economic and personal cost of service while an entire political system has worked to protect broad exemptions. Every additional delay transfers more of the burden onto those already serving.

Netanyahu must legislate draft law before elections

Netanyahu therefore has one credible way to place this new position before voters: legislation.

Likud should publish a complete bill before Election Day and commit publicly to making it a condition for joining the next coalition. The proposal must include enlistment targets tied to the IDF’s documented requirements, a binding timetable, narrow exemptions for a limited number of genuine full-time Torah scholars, and individual and institutional sanctions when targets are ignored. Draft orders must be enforced, including arrest and imprisonment where the law requires them.

Netanyahu must also state that he will not sign coalition agreements that neutralize those provisions. Promising a “broad national government” leaves open the possibility that the pledge will disappear during negotiations. The question is whether he will refuse to form another government dependent on parties that demand continued mass exemption.

His reported comments carry one consequence that should outlast the campaign. They establish that enforcement is now part of the Israeli mainstream. Netanyahu, after years of defending compromises and delays, has reportedly accepted that draft evaders must enlist or face prison. Haredi political leaders can no longer portray that position as a fringe attack on Torah society.

Mass haredi exemption not justified, equality of obligation a must

The haredi public is a vital part of Israel, and integration must respect religious life and provide suitable military frameworks. Yet those considerations cannot justify mass exemption during a sustained national-security emergency. Equality of obligation must become the starting point of policy.

Netanyahu’s record created the crisis he now promises to solve. After supporting a law that protected draft evaders, he cannot repair his credibility with a leak from a closed room. He must present the legislation, the timetable, the sanctions, and the coalition commitment before Israelis vote. Anything less is another attempt to postpone responsibility until after the ballots are counted.

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Content warning: This article contains mentions of suicide and mental health and may be distressing to some readers.

Bar Asraf, a 30-year-old resident of Sha’arei Tikva, died by suicide after shooting himself at the grave of his girlfriend, Liron Barda, who was murdered at the Nova festival during Hamas’s 2023 October 7 massacre.

Friends of Asraf told Walla that he had difficulty coping with the death of Barda. 

“We were at my brother’s wedding. He apparently started to feel lonely. You couldn’t tell. He was always happy and laughing,” his sister, Lihi, shared with Walla.

“His best friend was murdered in Nova. He has a tattoo of her, she was a part of his soul. At the groom’s celebration, there was dancing and a Shabbat reception with a singer; it was magical. We were at the peak of the family’s life.”

“Yesterday he left, and I thought he went to be alone and think like he usually does,” his sister recounted.” An hour passed, then two hours passed, and my older sister said, ‘Come on, we’re going to look for him.’ First in the most logical places, and then we went to check Liron’s grave. He loved talking there and being with her.”

Lehi Asraf recalls finding her brother at Barda’s grave

Lehi, who recalled the moment she found her brother, told Walla, “my sister had a feeling and told me, ‘You go.’ I walked over, and suddenly I saw him lying next to Liron’s grave. I said to him, ‘Bar, get up, what are you doing again…’ and then I realized he was covered in blood.”

“I stepped on a gun beside him. I screamed. I couldn’t function. My father started CPR. I knew it was the end. He was cold. Magen David Adom tried everything. He died in the place he wanted to be most, with the woman he wanted to be with most,” she continued.

“He drove there on Shabbat, and he was a person who kept Shabbat,” she said.

“He always told me, my joy, you are a fighter, everything. He was a good person, helped everyone. He bought food for those in need. He was so proud of me,” she added. “He was actually coping well, but he had a moment of madness, being alone while seeing everyone with their families.”

“People need to know what Nova did to people,” Lehi emphasized. “On that day [October 7th], he started driving toward Re’im to save her, until he realized there was no one left to save and they turned him back halfway.”

Barda worked as the bar manager at the Nova music festival in Re’im. Even though her friends and family begged her to flee, during the massacre she administered first aid to the wounded until she was murdered herself. The devastating news stayed with Asraf until his death.

Barda and Asraf described as ‘soulmates since childhood’

“Bar was a special boy,” his mother, Bracha, shared. “A boy of giving, of love. He gave his sister everything I couldn’t give. He organized food for soldiers. There was nothing I asked for that he didn’t give me.”

Bracha recalled Barda and Asraf’s relationship, describing them as “soulmates since childhood.”

“If he was feeling down, she would lift him up – she was his listening ear. Everything to him. Every problem he had, she was his confidante. When he was in Colombia, she surprised him and flew out to meet him there. A friendship you can’t even describe,” she stated.

“There were three nerve-wracking days when we didn’t know what happened to her at Nova. He stayed at my house and didn’t leave my side from morning until evening, sitting with her entire family. He stayed in touch with them ever since, brought her mother bouquets of flowers, and got a tattoo of her.”

His mother continued: “A little while ago, I saw him looking sad and asked what was wrong. He said, ‘Mom, I’m sad. It’s hard for me without Liron. I miss her. There’s no one who can replace her, no one to cheer me up.’ We felt he was struggling deeply without her. Last week, he went wild at a tavern event ahead of the wedding and dedicated a song to me and his father. We didn’t see anything, not a single sign. It was his farewell party.”

The Sha’ar Shomron Local Council shared its condolences with the Asraf family over the untimely death. “We send a warm hug to the dear family during this difficult time and wish to strengthen you in your great pain,” the council stated.

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The US military struck Qeshm Island in southern Iran with a large-scale bomb on Thursday night that allegedly hit a family home, according to a New York Times report on Friday.

Iranian officials claimed that the strike had hit a family home, killing a couple and their two-year-old son. The other two children survived the strike, the officials added.

A NYT analysis of videos and satellite imagery found that the weapon used was likely to be a 2,000-pound (roughly 900kg) bomb, one of the largest conventional bombs used by the US military.

Weapons experts examined the size of the crater and munitions fragments found on Qeshm Island after the strike, and determined that the Mark-84 bomb may have been used. The NYT added that the strike’s location and timing were consistent with when and where US forces were operating.

A US official told The Jerusalem Post that the scale of the US strikes on Iran on Thursday was “about twice the size of the previous night,” adding that the strikes were “wide, extensive, and impactful.”

US CENTCOM is investigating reports of civilian casualties

Iranian officials told the NYT that approximately 20 neighbouring families were displaced by the strike, while footage showed debris that has landed over 200 feet away from the crater.

No military sites were located near the home, an NYT investigation alleged, and Iranian authorities didn’t report any military casualties following the strike.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it was looking into reports of civilian casualties, but didn’t say what the intended target was, what munitions were used, or what precautions were taken to protect civilians.

“We are aware of the reports and looking into them,” Capt. Tim Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesman, said. “The US military never targets civilians.”

The NYT said it had corroborated details in bystander and news footage with satellite imagery to pinpoint the location of the strike and determine the size of the crater.

Amichai Stein contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

US President Donald Trump announced that renewed negotiations between the US and Iran will begin on Monday afternoon, while speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One on Sunday.

Trump also stated that military strikes against Iran over the weekend were called off after Saudi Arabian, Emirati, and Qatari negotiators called him and said that they thought a deal regarding the Strait of Hormuz and a subsequent deal regarding the denuclearization of Iran were on the table.

This is a developing story.

This post was originally published on here. 

Defense Minister Israel Katz stated his intention to appoint current IDF Manpower Directorate Chief Maj.-Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa as the new head of the IDF’s Central Command during a live interview with Channel 14’s “The Patriots” on Sunday night.

Katz told Channel 14 that his decision was made due to Bluth’s allegedly unsatisfactory handling of extremist settler violence in the West Bank. 

According to the IDF, Katz’s statement was not coordinated with IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir. The military stated that Zamir does not intend to remove Bluth from his position at this time and that when any such decision is made, it will require Zamir’s approval in accordance with the required protocols.

Katz’s office released a statement claiming that as early as the end of April, Zamir recommended Katz appoint Bar Khalifa as the Commander of the IDF’s Central Command.

According to the statement, Katz interviewed Bar Khalifa in June and deemed him a suitable candidate to take over the position when the time comes to appoint a new Central Command head. 

This is a developing story.

This post was originally published on here. 

As the IDF continue carrying out targeted strikes against terrorist operatives in Gaza, officials at the White House and the Board of Peace are trying to preserve what they see as the Trump administration’s most ambitious diplomatic initiative: Hamas’s complete disarmament, the transfer of civilian governance to a technocratic Palestinian administration, the deployment of an international stabilization force, and the transformation of Gaza from a terrorist stronghold into a territory focused on reconstruction.

Yet with each passing day, the gap between that diplomatic vision and the operational reality on the ground appears to be widening.

On Saturday and Sunday, the IDF announced a series of precision strikes against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Army of Islam operatives, including killing field commanders and Nukhba terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre.

According to the military, all of those targeted were actively advancing terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops, and were eliminated to remove imminent threats. The IDF also stressed that its forces remain deployed in Gaza in accordance with the existing agreement and will continue operating against any security threat.

From Israel’s perspective, there is no contradiction. Even as diplomatic efforts continue, Jerusalem maintains that it cannot relinquish its right – or its obligation – to act against terrorists actively plotting attacks.

Diplomatic pressure meets operational reality

It is precisely here, however, that an increasingly visible point of tension has emerged with Washington.

Nikolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s High Representative for Gaza, warned this week that two days of Israeli strikes had resulted in civilian casualties and damage to critical medical infrastructure, coming after months of intensive efforts by the United States, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the Board of Peace to persuade Hamas to accept the roadmap for implementing President Donald Trump’s comprehensive Gaza plan.

Mladenov stressed that both sides have obligations under both the Comprehensive Peace Plan and the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement. He said his team is working around the clock with all parties and regional mediators “to create the space necessary for the full implementation of the President’s plan,” concluding that lasting peace remains difficult but achievable if every party makes its best effort.

His comments were not made in isolation.

During a background briefing held by senior White House and Board of Peace officials following the announcement of the Gaza roadmap, officials were asked directly what would happen if Israel failed to fulfill its commitments under the agreement. Their response was unusually direct.

They emphasized that Washington is asking Israel to do nothing beyond what it had already accepted under US President Donald Trump’s 20-point framework. However, they added that if Israel failed to uphold those commitments, they would be “very, very disappointed.” They stressed that Israel is expected to honor the original agreement just as the administration expects Hamas to fulfill its own obligations.

Washington emphasizes verification, not trust

At the same time, those same officials made clear that they fully understand Israel’s skepticism.

They acknowledged that Jerusalem had initially doubted Hamas would ever agree to release all the hostages or return the bodies of those killed. Today, they said, Israeli officials remain deeply skeptical that Hamas will actually surrender its weapons.

For that reason, they argued, the roadmap is not built on trust but on verification. Every phase is conditional upon independent confirmation that the previous phase has been completed. In other words, Washington is not asking Israel to trust Hamas. It is asking Israel to trust the verification mechanism that it is constructing.

The friction between security and diplomacy

That is also where the friction begins.

When the IDF eliminates a Nukhba commander involved in the October 7 massacre – or terrorists whom Israeli intelligence identifies as actively planning attacks – Jerusalem views those operations as a legitimate exercise of self-defense and a necessary security obligation.

For the architects of Trump’s Gaza initiative, however, every new strike risks complicating the political environment needed to move the roadmap forward, while potentially allowing Hamas to argue that Israel is failing to uphold the spirit of the agreement.

This suggests that American officials are concerned about more than Hamas’s willingness to disarm. They are equally focused on keeping Israel within the diplomatic framework they have spent months building.

That does not mean Washington opposes Israeli military operations. On the contrary, officials repeatedly stressed during the briefing that the roadmap’s ultimate objective is to ensure Gaza can never again serve as a launching pad for attacks against Israel.

Yet from the administration’s perspective, as the diplomatic process advances, every military operation carries political consequences extending far beyond its immediate tactical value.

Managing an increasingly delicate balance

That may ultimately become the Trump administration’s greatest challenge in Gaza – not simply convincing Hamas to relinquish its weapons, but managing the constant tension between Israel’s legitimate security requirements and Washington’s determination to advance an unprecedented reconstruction and demilitarization project.

From Israel’s standpoint, there is little indication that military planners would suspend targeted operations against active terrorists simply to protect the diplomatic process. As long as threats remain, Israeli officials argue, the military will continue acting against them.

Ultimately, the success of Trump’s Gaza initiative may depend on more than Hamas’s willingness to disarm. It may hinge on whether Washington and Jerusalem can manage the increasingly delicate balance between Israel’s operational freedom to defend itself and America’s effort to preserve the diplomatic framework it hopes will reshape Gaza’s future.

This post was originally published on here. 

Board of Peace (BoP) Director-General and High Representative for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov implied on Sunday that IDF strikes in the Gaza Strip are interfering with peace efforts.

“Two days of strikes across Gaza have killed civilians and destroyed medical supplies that people depend on,” Mladenov said in an X/Twitter post.

Two days of strikes across Gaza have killed civilians and destroyed medical supplies that people depend on. This comes after intense efforts by the @BoardOfPeace and the mediators (Egypt, Turkiye, Qatar and the US) to bring the Palestinian factions in Gaza to agree to a Roadmap…

— Nickolay E. MLADENOV (@nmladenov) August 2, 2026

Mladenov noted that the BoP’s current efforts are concentrated on disarming “Palestinian factions” in Gaza and implementing a civilian government.

He added that both Israel and the “Palestinian factions” have obligations under the deal that they must adhere to.

“My team and I are working around the clock with the parties, the mediators and regional partners to de-escalate and create the space for the full implementation of the [US] President’s plan,” he said. “Achieving a lasting peace is hard but achievable if everyone makes their best efforts.”

Mladenov’s comments come following an IDF announcement earlier on Sunday that it had killed two Hamas commanders in Gaza over the weekend.

Also on Sunday, the IDF said it killed three Gaza terrorists from three separate terror groups over the past week.

White House, BoP officials to ‘Post’: Only asking Israel to do what it agreed to do

Senior White House and BoP officials told The Jerusalem Post on Friday that they are “not asking Israel to do anything other than agree to the 20-point plan that they agreed to initially.”

“We’re very confident they will adhere to it,” the officials added. “If they don’t, obviously, very, very disappointed.”

Idan Kweller contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

Israel was meant to be involved in a major attack on Iran, United States officials told N12 News on Sunday, before US President Donald Trump decided to call it off after persuasion by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

According to one official, Israel told the United States that if the attack did not strike Iranian regime targets and sites tied to Iran’s economy, there was no point in striking at all.

The officials also told N12 that Trump had been closer than ever before to striking before other Middle East nations pressured him to grant Iran another opportunity to negotiate.

Trump demands immediate deal with Iran

In a Truth Social post on Saturday night, Trump called for an immediate deal with Iran, claiming to have called off a massive attack against the country and to have Israel’s support in his commitment.

“The USA is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II,” Trump claimed. 

Trump announced that the deal would have to include the complete opening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.

This post was originally published on here. 

Beersheba has joined a growing list of Israeli cities and communities whose residents are eligible to apply for personal firearm licenses, the National Security Ministry confirmed on Sunday.

The move is part of a broad firearms reform introduced in 2023 by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The decision was made following an extensive professional review by the Israel Police and officials in the Firearms Licensing Division, who examined the matter, as well as Ben-Gvir himself.

In 2026 alone, the number of eligible communities has risen by 126, and the number of individual gun owners has nearly doubled from 150,000 before the war to 300,000 after it. 

Since the reform was expanded, more than 280,000 citizens have received personal firearm licenses, while more than 200 communities have been recognized as eligible. These include areas of Jerusalem, Netanya, and Ashdod.

Ben-Gvir: ‘A weapon in the right hands saves lives’

Ben-Gvir continues to push for the eligibility criteria to be expanded to additional cities and communities. The policy reflects his belief that Israeli citizens have a fundamental right to defend themselves and their families, while also contributing to the protection of the State of Israel.

“A weapon in the right hands saves lives,” Ben-Gvir has repeatedly said.

“I am proud to continue the firearms revolution and expand it to the capital of the Negev as well,” he said following the announcement. “The residents of Beersheba, like all citizens of the State of Israel, have a basic right to protect themselves and their family members.”

This post was originally published on here. 

The IDF confirmed on Sunday that Hezbollah terrorists were the ones who deployed an explosive device, which ended up wounding five Lebanese soldiers in southern Lebanon.

According to the military, the explosive, which was run over by the Lebanese soldiers, belonged to Hezbollah, contrary to claims that the incident had been Israel’s responsibility.

The IDF further clarified that the incident had occured in the Kfara area of Lebanon, where no Israeli soldiers had any presence.

Lebanon claims Israel struck its soldiers, then backtracks

On Sunday evening, the Lebanese Armed Forces said that five of its soldiers were lightly wounded after a “hostile Israeli strike” in the Kafr Kila area, southern Lebanon.

The initial assessment said that the explosion was the product of an Israeli strike, which happened while the soldiers were escorting several residents in town at the time of the reported strike.

Later that day, Lebanon’s military walked back on the claim that the five were hurt in an Israeli strike, while adding that the incident was the product of a “suspicious object.”

This post was originally published on here. 

The nominations for the Ophir Awards, presented by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television, were announced Sunday morning, prompting the perennial question: Has the academy finally chosen a movie that will earn an Oscar nomination for Best International Feature?

The winner of the Ophir Award for Best Feature Film will go on to become Israel’s official submission for consideration in the Best International Feature Academy Award category.

Israeli films have received 10 nominations in the category without ever winning, the record for the most nominations by a country without a victory, a fact that tends to be ignored by those who allege that Jews control Hollywood. No Israeli film has received a nomination since 2012, or made the Oscar shortlist since 2017.

The six nominees for Best Feature Film this year are Avi Nesher’s Our Loves, Shuli Rand and Gidi Dar’s The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan), Reut Akkerman’s Home! Assaf Machnes’s Where To? Or Sinai’s Mama, and Moshe Rosenthal’s Tell Me Everything.

Tell Me Everything, which opened the Jerusalem Film Festival in July, leads the Ophir race with 16 nominations, the highest total received by any movie in the history of the awards. It tells the coming-of-age story of a boy who discovers his father is gay at the height of the AIDS epidemic and who reconnects with him later in life.

In addition to its Best Feature nomination, it received nominations for director and screenplay for Rosenthal, and acting awards for Assi Cohen, Keren Tzur, Yair Mazor, Mor Dimri, Neta Orbach, and Ido Tako. Tako is competing against himself in the supporting-actor category, where he is also nominated for Where To?

Close behind are Our Loves and The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan), with 12 nominations each, while Where To? and Mama received 11 apiece.

‘Our Loves’ explores lives of Israelis on October 6, 2023

Nesher’s Our Loves is a movie about a diverse group of Israelis who think they are having the worst day of their lives on October 6, 2023, and follows them through the heroism and horror of the next day.

The movie was produced by SIPUR, an Israel-based, global film and television company, which brought international companies Fox Entertainment and Danny Cohen’s Access Entertainment on board, and executives from Fox and Access have said publicly they feel the movie could win the Oscar that has eluded Israel for decades.

Nesher is nominated for both directing and writing Our Loves. The film’s other nominees include newcomer Daniel Gimpel for supporting actress, Amit Yasur for cinematography, and Isaac Sehayek for editing.

However, the lack of acting nominees other than Gimpel surprised many, given that critics’ responses from preview screenings have praised the performances of many of the film’s stars, including Shalom Michaelshwilli, Lena Fraifeld, Magi Azarzar, Leib Levin, Hadas Yaron, and Noa Cohen.

The academy has a history of snubbing Nesher, although his films have been among the most critically praised and popular in Israel for nearly 50 years. He did not even receive a Best Director nomination until 2021. Twelve nominations for Our Loves obviously do not constitute a snub, but many actors in what critics consider weaker films received acting nominations, unlike most of the cast of Nesher’s film.

Rand, a veteran actor who became ultra-Orthodox years ago, received two nominations for The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan): for his screenplay and his performance in the title role alongside his wife, television personality Tzofit Grant.

He achieved the same double nomination for Ushpizin in 2004, when he won Best Actor but not the screenplay. The Wedding Entertainer is a crowd-pleasing film about a man struggling with alcoholism who tries to redeem himself.

Akkerman’s Home! tells the story of a woman who, following the death of her biological mother, clings to a family she has never known.

Machnes’s Where To? focuses on the bond that develops between a Palestinian cab driver and a young Israeli in Berlin, while Sinai’s Mama, which is currently in theaters, tells the story of a Polish foreign worker in Israel who finds that the family she left behind is falling apart when she returns for a visit.

The remaining Best Director nominees are Sinai for Mama, Machnes for Where To? Rosenthal for Tell Me Everything, and Akkerman for Home! Akkerman is also nominated for Best Actress for her lead performance in the film.

The best actor nominees are Avraham Shalom Levi for Farewell to Dough, Ehab Salami for Where To? Assi Cohen for Tell Me Everything, Ala Dakka for Many Waters, and Rand for The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan).

The Best Actress nominees are Evgenia Dodina for Mama, one of Israel’s greatest actresses who has not yet won an Ophir; Lihi Kornowski for Many Waters; Tzur for Tell Me Everything; Rebecca Esmeralda Telhami for Amal; and Akkerman for Home!

Along with Tako’s two performances, the nominees in the supporting-actor category are Tal Friedman for The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan), Michael Moshonov for Thou Shalt Love, and Mazor for Tell Me Everything.

In addition to Gimpel for Our Loves, the supporting-actress nominees are Dimri and Orbach for Tell Me Everything, Goldman for The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan), Rama Nasrallah for Where To?, and veteran actress Tiki Dayan for Farewell to Dough.

The screenplay category largely mirrors the Best Feature competition, with nominations for Nesher, Sinai, Machnes, Rosenthal, and Rand. Levi is also nominated for writing Farewell to Dough, giving him two nominations for the film.

The cinematography nominees are Giora Bejach for The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan), Ziv Berkovich for Tell Me Everything, Maayan Buchnik for Where To? Matan Radin for Mama, and Yasur for Our Loves.

In the Best Documentary Feature category, the nominees are Esther, The Woman Who Did Not Know How to Love, Bay of the Sun, Flower, and Peace.

The nominees for Best Short Documentary are Ahmad the Movie Star, After the Votes Were Counted, Alon My Brother the Hero, I Am Esther, and Children No More: Were and Are Gone. The latter, directed by Hilla Medalia, focuses on civil protest during the Israel-Hamas War, and it previously competed for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film.

The Best Live-Action Short nominees are The Other Body, The Sands Do Not Speak, Stars, Butcher’s Stain, Nechama, and Big Pappa. Butcher’s Stain, directed by Meir Levinson, previously won second prize at the Student Academy Awards and was nominated for an Oscar in the short-film category.

Late director Nitzan Gilady recognized in two categories

The late director Nitzan Gilady, who died recently, was recognized in two categories. His final film, Nechama, starring Reymonde Amsallem, is nominated for Best Short Film, while Moshonov received a supporting-actor nomination for Gilady’s Thou Shalt Love.

The animation nominees are Pigeon Blood, Everything Is Fine, Expectations, Casey, and Wider.

A total of 90 productions were submitted this year: 22 feature films, 33 feature-length documentaries, eight short documentaries, 17 live-action shorts, and 10 animated films.

The Ophir Awards ceremony will take place on September 9 at Cinema City Glilot, hosted by Shani Cohen and Adam Gabay, and will be broadcast live on Mako.

This post was originally published on here. 

Three months away from election day here in Israel, we, as a community, need to think seriously about what we want our leadership to represent and how we want our government to function.

Thinking about these questions now will help us decide who is best qualified to lead and what the mandate of that leadership should be. It is a thought process that, over the years of declining democracy worldwide, too many people have simply abandoned the assessment process to the detriment of all.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks of blessed memory, whom many of us consider to have been the voice of morality of our generation, viewed political leadership not as the quest for power it seems to have become, but as a moral responsibility centered on service, covenant, and the creation of hope. He argued that true leadership empowers others rather than controls them. 

True leaders serve the people they lead. Sacks contrasted hierarchical, pyramid-like power structures with service-oriented leadership that lifts others. Toward that end, he pointed out that a great leader encourages leadership in others.

As an example, Moses himself modeled this by involving the entire community in building a shared vision, shifting people from argument as a first response to informed cooperation.

In addition, leadership requires offering a compelling, shared vision of the future that inspires trust and overcomes despair. 

Sadly, in today’s world, it is a real challenge to identify anyone who embodies all of the qualities Rabbi Sacks described. For sure, some autocratic leaders have a vision but, sadly, don’t see themselves as serving anyone but themselves.

In other cases, there are democratic leaders who, rather than encourage leadership in others, do all they can to undercut those with leadership potential. And as for morality, that ceased to be a requirement of leadership some years ago as well.

Add to these challenges the sad decline of societal norms, which have exacerbated the negative aspects of substandard leadership. We see that the age-old conflict between truth and power has returned anew, replaced by the noise of social media. The resultant erosion of mutual trust resulting from the undermining of truth by power simply adds fuel to the fire. 

In addition, the rampant intolerance for opposing points of view and an almost complete breakdown in civil discourse destroys the very foundations of government by consent. Even the universities, which were always seen as safe spaces for ideological cross-fertilization, now seem to be intent on morally bankrupting their students.

How, then, do we emerge from this virtual swamp and reclaim our lost values? In the years before his untimely passing, Rabbi Sacks suggested that the most productive pathway out of the morass is to pursue “covenantal politics.”

He opined that cultures governed by self-interest, as so many are today, tend to be contractual. Getting to a “we-centered” culture requires a revision of identity, and for this, Sacks maintained, the paradigm of covenant may well be crucial. 

According to Sacks, “A contract is a transaction. A covenant is a relationship. A contract is about interests. A covenant is about identity. That’s why contracts benefit, but covenants transform. A covenant creates a moral community.”

At a crossroads

Israel, in its early days, was centered more around a covenantal community given its development as a socialist society. The kibbutz was certainly a prime example, while the entire population received many of the benefits inherent in the kibbutz social structure even though the country was struggling economically. 

To the credit of the Israeli leadership at the time, the Economic Stabilization Plan that went into effect on July 1, 1985, checked inflation and moved the country to a capitalist framework but kept the best parts of socialism intact.

People can discuss why that happened the way it did, but an argument can be made that it came about because, at its core, Israel was and remains a covenantal society which dates back to the biblical roots of our people.

With the passage of time, Israel’s significant integration into the world economy, our population growth, and economic progress made it possible for us to also pick up some of the bad habits of the countries whose culture we wanted to emulate.

As I often said to people who voiced a desire at the time for us to be like America, if you buy the culture of America, Europe, or anywhere else, you can’t pick and choose… You get it all, the good along with the not so good.

These covenantal values are what we will need to demand from those who choose to lead us in the future if we are to change direction and continue to grow after these past tumultuous years in Israeli, regional, and world history.

The questions that confront us as we move to elections are: (a) can Israel shift to being a covenantal society, (b) do we have the will that will take us there, and (c) can we find the leadership who will commit to such an altruistic but necessary goal?

It would seem that after what we have experienced since October 7, the will and the motivation are, indeed, still present in Israeli society.

The younger generation, about whom we had expressed so many fears regarding their commitment to the mission of Israel, proved their mettle during the Israel-Hamas war, demonstrating to all that they had both the dedication and the commitment required to take us to the next level of success as a country. 

Clearly, the new political leadership needs to come forth from the cohort of young men and women who made us all so proud over the past three years. They will need, of course, to tap into the institutional history of others who have useful practical experience in running governments, people who are prepared to share their knowledge without forcing the young to bend to their will.

Israel is at a crossroads with an array of challenges that we will need to address over the coming years. To do so, we need new leadership that understands the meaning of covenant and how that translates to define the relationship between those of us who live here and the government in charge of the country. 

It is incumbent upon us to make the right choices and do so after intelligent evaluation. Let us hope we are up to the task.

Carthago substituenda est!

The writer, a 42-year resident of Jerusalem, is a former national president of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel, a past chairperson of the board of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, and a Board Member of the Israel-America Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM).

This post was originally published on here. 

All high school students in Israel will begin learning English using personalized artificial intelligence (AI) lessons beginning in the next school year, the Education Ministry confirmed.

The ministry initially announced the plan in June as part of “Project 720” to rebuild the Israeli education system with widespread use of AI and personalized lesson plans.

According to the Education Ministry, the upcoming shift in English education is based on a trial program conducted in 28 schools during the last school year. The expansion of the program will see it brought to 180 schools across the country.

“Artificial intelligence-based systems, including the English app, make it possible to identify gaps, offer personalized practice, provide real-time feedback, and adapt learning to each student’s level and progress,” the Education Ministry stated.

“Alongside this, the teacher‘s central place is maintained as the leader of the educational process and as someone who provides direction, meaning, and personal guidance.”

Project 720 puts teachers, students at center of learning

Merav Zarbiv, Director of the Education Ministry’s Innovation and Technology Division, said that Project 720 “expresses a modern educational concept that puts both the student and the teacher at the center.

“We are moving from a concept of uniform teaching to a reality in which every student has the opportunity to learn in a way that suits them, while maintaining high educational goals and developing skills required for a changing world,” she stated.

“At the same time, we provide teachers with advanced tools, information and support that allow them to focus on personal guidance and pedagogical leadership. Expanding the program is another significant step in building an innovative, flexible and more relevant education system for Israeli students.”

This post was originally published on here. 

An-Nahar, Lebanon, July 23

The rapid developments in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea point toward a broader confrontation between the US and Iran, particularly as threats escalate between President Donald Trump and Iranian officials and diplomatic efforts led by Pakistan and Qatar fail to produce a breakthrough. 

Several signs suggest that Trump is preparing for further escalation. He has threatened to strike Pickaxe Mountain near Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility “very soon,” added multirole B-1 bombers to the aircraft carrying out raids on Iran for the past 12 days, and reinforced US military medical teams at German bases that treat troops wounded in the Middle East.

These reinforcements may also be connected to possible strikes against the Houthis following their announcement of a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia. Despite debate in Congress over the war’s objectives, the Republican-controlled House approved an additional $73 billion to support military operations in the region.

Trump chose the moment when he was receiving the bodies of four American soldiers killed in Iranian attacks in Jordan and Iraq to issue a new warning: US forces would destroy a bridge or power station in Iran every time the Revolutionary Guard attacked an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi answered by invoking the principle of “an eye for an eye.” Iran’s joint military command had already pledged to retaliate against civilian infrastructure across the Gulf states if Trump carried out his threat.

Hours later, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that a tanker had struck a mine while traveling through the southern lane of the strait, while two others turned back. The confrontation is also expanding in the Red Sea.

Riyadh announced that a Saudi oil tanker had been hit by a projectile, while the Houthis claimed responsibility for targeting two Saudi tankers sailing toward Bab el-Mandeb, three days after declaring a maritime blockade of Saudi ports.

Since the Houthis notified oil companies of the blockade by email, several tankers have changed course away from Bab el-Mandeb and toward the Suez Canal, increasing insurance costs and lengthening journey times. Oil prices have reached about $96 a barrel.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio directly accused Iran of inciting the Houthis to carry out the attacks. The opening of this front places additional burdens on American forces and redraws the map of the confrontation.

A source told CNN that Mossad chief Roman Gofman met Trump administration officials in Washington two weeks ago and provided intelligence concerning Mount Pickaxe in Iran. Did his visit prepare the ground for Israel to join the US in strikes against Iran if escalation continues? 

That possibility cannot be ruled out. Against this volatile background, Washington’s announcement of a “historic” civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia was also highly significant. The agreement, which still requires congressional approval, includes nonproliferation safeguards and would allow the kingdom to enrich uranium on its own soil. – Samih Saab

The war reshaping negotiations

Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egypt, July 24

After more than 10 consecutive waves of American strikes on Iran – 12 as of this writing – alongside continued Iranian retaliation and regional mediation, the anxious question has become unavoidable: Is this a war intended to produce a decisive outcome, or a means of imposing new negotiating terms?

The answer is not easy because the scene combines two apparent opposites. Washington and Tehran are exchanging fire, yet mediation channels remain active and political messages are being sent alongside missiles. 

Neither side has abandoned the negotiating table; each has moved part of it onto the battlefield. The US does not appear to be preparing for a war aimed at overthrowing the Iranian regime or occupying Iranian territory. 

Its objective is to deprive Tehran of one of its most important strategic assets: the ability to threaten navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and convert it into an instrument of political and economic influence.

Iran, meanwhile, seeks to demonstrate that Gulf security cannot be imposed without it and that any regional arrangement designed to bypass Tehran will remain incomplete and unstable. Hormuz is therefore no longer merely a waterway.

It has become the symbol of a struggle over who has the right to establish the rules of security in the Gulf. Washington wants freedom of navigation that is not subject to Iranian will, while Tehran believes its geography gives it a natural right to serve as an indispensable partner in managing this vital passage.

Yet this confrontation carries mounting danger. Every new round of strikes reduces the ability of both sides to control escalation. An Iranian attack could cause American casualties that compel Washington to respond more broadly.

An American raid could hit a target Tehran considers a matter of sovereignty or survival, turning a limited war into a confrontation that becomes difficult to contain. At that point, decisions would no longer rest with politicians alone, but would become hostage to public pressure, military institutions, and the logic of reciprocal retaliation.

Even so, the signs of full-scale war are not yet complete. There are no American ground forces inside Iran, no campaign openly aimed at toppling the regime, and despite disruption to shipping, the Strait of Hormuz has not been fully closed.

Regional mediators also continue searching for a ceasefire or a formula that could return both sides to negotiations. Here lies the paradox. Each side is using war to improve its negotiating position, but continued fighting may cause the battlefield to determine the future of diplomacy rather than the reverse.

Every additional day of bombing raises the cost of retreat and makes any settlement appear to domestic audiences as a concession. The question is no longer war or negotiation, but whether politics can catch up with the war before it escapes the objectives for which it was launched. The door to a new agreement remains open, but it narrows with every fresh strike.

If this path continues, a limited war may cease to be a tool of pressure and become a strategic reality that redraws the balance of power across the Middle East. – Abdel Latif Al-Menawy

The 2026 World Cup showed how sport builds bridges

Al-Ittihad, UAE, July 24

Spain brought the largest World Cup in FIFA history to an unforgettable close on July 19 with a deserved 1-0 victory over Argentina. The six-week tournament, hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico, overcame early doubts about ticket prices, difficult travel, and the challenge of expanding the competition to 48 teams. By the final whistle, most critics considered it a success. 

The tournament featured 104 matches and an extraordinary range of football drama. Strikingly, the four teams that reached the semifinals were also the four highest-ranked sides before the competition began, an unusual outcome in a sport famous for surprises. Yet the quality of the closing matches justified those rankings.

England defeated France 6-4 in a thrilling third-place playoff, the highest-scoring match of the tournament. The following day, Spain controlled the final and overcame Argentina in extra time to win the title.

Although the traditional powers ultimately prevailed, the tournament also celebrated football’s growing global reach. Cape Verde, appearing in its first World Cup, stunned supporters by drawing with eventual champion Spain in the opening round. Morocco, Egypt, and Norway showed that rising teams can compete with the established elite, while Norway’s dramatic victory over Brazil ranked among the competition’s biggest surprises.

Perhaps the tournament’s greatest achievement took place away from the pitch. Before it began, there were widespread concerns that host cities would struggle to absorb the unprecedented influx of fans. Instead, the World Cup became a celebration of international friendship.

From Mexico City and Vancouver to Seattle, Kansas City, Boston, and Philadelphia, visitors blended easily into local communities. Scottish supporters filled Boston’s streets, while fans from every continent exchanged songs, flags, and stories. Many overseas visitors left impressed by the hospitality, organization, and warm welcome they found across North America.

Expanding the tournament to 48 teams clearly broadened its appeal. More countries participated, new heroes emerged, and supporters arrived from nations that rarely receive meaningful World Cup coverage.

Debate will continue over further expansion in 2030, but this year showed that, when carefully managed, growth can enrich the event rather than dilute it. The competition may also have marked a turning point in America’s relationship with football. The sport has grown steadily for decades, but millions experienced for the first time the atmosphere, emotion, and celebrations that make the World Cup unlike any other sporting event. For several weeks, it provided a welcome escape from domestic political tensions and even rivaled celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the US.

Perhaps this was its greatest achievement. In a world fractured by war and political division, people gathered to watch from Gaza to distant Pacific islands and African villages, regardless of whether their countries were participating.

Few sporting events can unite strangers through shared excitement and hope. No tournament is perfect, and organizers will refine the format before the 2030 edition spanning Europe and Latin America. Yet the 2026 World Cup proved that sport can still build bridges that politics so often fails to construct. That may be its most enduring legacy. – Geoffrey Kemp

Two surprises from China

Asharq Al-Awsat, London, July 23

A few days ago, Beijing unveiled two technological surprises that caused a stir in Silicon Valley. The first was the launch of a giant artificial intelligence language model called Kimi K3, developed by a startup. It underwent some of the world’s most important programming tests and outperformed certain models from Anthropic and OpenAI, demonstrating an exceptional ability to analyze unusually large documents, reports, and databases, a capability certain to attract companies. The second surprise may prove even more consequential.

A team at Zhejiang University launched the Qiushi engine, a specialized agent designed to conduct scientific research independently. It too outperformed Anthropic’s Open Science Desktop and Claude Code systems in the ResearchClawBench test, which was designed to measure this type of capability. For the first time, an AI system has demonstrated the ability to function as a researcher that plans, conducts experiments, and corrects its own mistakes, almost like a graduate student.

The system was described as a milestone after completing a study through thousands of steps, from formulating a hypothesis to experimental verification. What concerns Silicon Valley is that China is no longer simply imitating others. It is opening new fronts and pursuing a comprehensive technological strategy, redefining standards and proposing new ways to build artificial intelligence and apply it to daily life.

The unveiling of Kimi K3 caused a genuine shock. It has become one of the largest open models, with as many as 2.8 trillion parameters and the ability to process contexts of unprecedented scale. Yet more important than its skill in handling complex tasks is its low price, recalling the inexpensive DeepSeek model that stunned the industry.

Even if Chinese models are not always the most intelligent overall, their affordability and open-source character pose a real challenge and make them attractive to companies. Qiushi drew particular attention because it does not merely answer a scientific question based on what it has read.

It performs a connected series of tasks, carrying out experiments, analyzing the results, and producing conclusions and suggestions that had not previously been proposed. Its developers did not claim that it would perform reliably in every future test. They acknowledged that it still needs further training, refinement, and human intervention.

Even so, it represents an impressive step and the beginning of a shift from “AI that assists the researcher” to “AI that leads the research itself,” potentially allowing research to advance at a previously unimaginable speed. Together, the two systems reveal part of China’s multifaceted technology strategy, which seeks to cover a wide range of fields rather than merely compete in language models.

Kimi K3 enters a familiar arena, while Qiushi opens a different one and raises a profound question: Can a machine become a genuine researcher, or will it remain only an assistant? The fact that both projects succeeded at roughly the same time through two very different teams – one a startup and the other a university group – suggests an integrated ecosystem advancing in several directions at once.

China has trained some advanced models on domestically produced processors from Huawei, Alibaba, and others, betting that engineering skill can compensate for weaker computing power and disadvantages in advanced chips. In China, nothing happens by accident. Qiushi was launched to coincide with the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, where President Xi Jinping announced a new global alliance to regulate AI in the service of “common prosperity.”

The objective was clear: to present China as a global technological power, not a marginal competitor. The next phase will be fascinating because the competition will no longer be limited to smarter language models in the style of ChatGPT and Claude.

The real race will be to create highly intelligent specialized agents in science, medicine, and engineering. Another issue will become central: which systems deserve users’ trust in terms of safety, reliability, and personal privacy? – Sawsan Al-Abtah

The future belongs to the young – which should worry Israelis

Yediot Aharonot, Israel, July 24

Congratulations are due to the four million American students who graduated this summer from thousands of universities and colleges across the country. Soon they will begin careers at prestigious law firms, on Wall Street, in Hollywood and on Broadway, and at Google, Microsoft, and other leading technology companies.

These talented people in their 20s will help shape America’s economy, science, culture, and politics. They are the country’s future, and Israel should already be asking what that future will mean for it. Since Oct. 7 and the continuing war in Gaza, the pro-Palestinian movement has taken root on American campuses and among students who see themselves as committed activists.

The instinctive response is to dismiss them as naive, ignorant, or manipulated by progressive opinion leaders backed by Qatari funding. That condescension may be justified, or it may not, but it does nothing to address the deeper crisis: most Americans are growing more distant from Israel, while the political protection it long enjoyed in Washington is beginning to erode. Today, a majority support ending military aid financed by their tax dollars.

This shift extends far beyond chants of “Free Palestine.” Recent polling points to a dramatic collapse in Israel’s image, particularly among young adults, 75% of whom hold unfavorable views of a country that once enjoyed near-automatic American sympathy.

In Jerusalem, some still imagine Israel as a beacon admired around the world. Perhaps that was once true, especially among Diaspora Jews who embraced it as both a Jewish and democratic homeland. But even within American Jewish communities, that attachment is weakening.

Older generations remember an Israel of pioneering idealism, liberal Zionism, and a nation striving for peace while fighting for survival. In that narrative, peace failed because of Palestinian and Arab rejection, and Oct. 7 seemed to confirm it.

Yet for many younger Americans, Oct. 7 has also become inseparable from the mass killing of Palestinian civilians that followed. The war in Gaza and settler violence in the West Bank have transformed their understanding of Israel.

Their parents remember Rabin; they know Benjamin Netanyahu. The students who erected encampments at Columbia, marched under the slogan “Not in Our Name,” and voted for Zohran Mamdani grew up knowing only Netanyahu’s Israel: nationalist, brutal, committed to maintaining the occupation, and uninterested in a political settlement.

Some Israelis dismiss them as antisemites or, when they are Jewish, self-hating Jews. Some undoubtedly are. But many are educated, informed, and intellectually serious. Their worldview may be more current than that of Israelis who deny the occupation’s significance or ignore the collapse of their country’s standing abroad. This is not a public-relations failure but a strategic crisis.

Young Americans are not merely rejecting Israeli messaging; they are responding to Israeli policy. Israel’s leaders no longer argue that the Middle East cannot resemble Switzerland – they openly say they have no desire to become Switzerland: peaceful, liberal, and prosperous. Over the past decade, they have made equally clear that they see little value in pursuing peace. The Palestinian Authority became a burden; Hamas became an asset.

From Netanyahu’s perspective, the occupation is not the problem; the problem is the world’s insistence on treating it as one. Yet Israel has forgotten that it cannot exist independently of the world’s judgment. Its greatest long-term threat is not international hostility but complacency, arrogance, national self-righteousness, and the belief that reality will bend to ideology.

The Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Bezalel Smotrich government prefers messianic certainty to confronting the consequences of its policies. Today’s students will become tomorrow’s judges, executives, journalists, lawmakers, diplomats, and presidents. When they turn their backs on Israel, it may be because Israel first turned its back on the better, more beautiful country in which their parents once believed. – Amir Kagan

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

This post was originally published on here. 

A haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protest denouncing the IDF draft in northern Jerusalem blocked roads, including Shivtei Israel Street, and was considered disruptive, Israel Police announced on Sunday night.

As such, the police stated that they were working to clear the road and disperse the protesters.

This is a developing story.

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is an antisemite hiding behind a fake smile, Israel’s Consul-General in New York City, Ofir Akunis, accused in an interview with CBS News on Sunday.

“He is saying, I will ensure the security of the Jewish community in New York. How will you do it if you are saying that Israel is responsible for a genocide in Gaza?” Akunis said. “This is a disgusting lie, Mr. mayor. You know that there is no genocide in the Gaza Strip.”

Akunis also condemned Mamdani for using the word “monsters” to describe the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the influential pro-Israel lobby group in the United States.

“It’s the same word that the Germans, that the Nazi regime used against the Jewish community,” Akunis said.

Akunis warns of Sharia law in United States

The consul-general finished the interview by warning the United States, saying that he was a big admirer of the country.

“It’s very emotional to me to see the American flag right here in the streets of Manhattan,” he stated. “I don’t want to see them force the Sharia laws on you. You must stop them now before it will be too late for you.”

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Central Elections Committee Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg met with Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara on Sunday, ahead of the elections set for October 27. They stressed the importance of safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process.

“Election integrity is not merely a legal principle; it is a fundamental prerequisite for public trust in democracy,” Sohlberg said.

Sohlberg, who also serves as deputy president of the Supreme Court, also said that the Central Elections Committee has been “preparing for all the challenges involved in conducting the elections, in close cooperation with all state authorities.”

“The commitment of law enforcement agencies to determined and effective enforcement of election laws is a key component in ensuring a proper electoral process and protecting every citizen’s right to vote and to stand for election,” he added.

The committee stated that the meeting was held as part of a series of working sessions conducted by the leadership of the committee to “ensure the integrity of the electoral process, safeguarding election integrity, maintaining public confidence, and guaranteeing every citizen’s right to vote.”

The committee also noted that the meeting between the judge and the A-G concluded with an agreement that “safeguarding the integrity of the elections is a paramount national effort requiring close cooperation between the Central Elections Committee, law enforcement authorities, and all state institutions in order to ensure the proper conduct of the electoral process and maintain public confidence in it.”

Baharav-Miara also stressed the importance of maintaining election integrity, adding that it “is one of the cornerstones of Israeli democracy.”

A-G: Law enforcement will cooperate with Central Elections Committee on election integrity

“All law enforcement authorities will work in full cooperation with the Central Elections Committee to ensure that the electoral process is conducted properly, fairly, and free from improper influence,” she said.

“I have full confidence in the employees of the Central Elections Committee, their professionalism, and their dedication, and I am certain that by joining forces we will ensure that every citizen can exercise the right to vote with confidence and security,” Baharav-Miara added after the meeting.

The meeting comes after President Isaac Herzog met last month with Sohlberg and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head David Zini, warning that hostile actors in Israel and abroad were seeking to undermine the election.

Ben-Gvir criticizes A-G, says she should be removed from election responsibilities

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir sharply criticized the attorney-general following the meeting, calling her a “criminal” and urging that she be removed from any involvement in election matters.

Ben-Gvir has repeatedly clashed with Baharav-Miara amid the government’s ongoing dispute with her and the judiciary.

“Wherever the criminal attorney-general and case fabricator lays her hands, it will amount to deliberate sabotage of the integrity of the elections and public trust. I call on Justice Sohlberg to remove her from any involvement in the elections,” Ben-Gvir said.

Sarah-Ben Nun contributed to this report.

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National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was prohibited from using crocodiles to secure terrorists in prisons by the Jerusalem District Court on Sunday.

The court issued an injunction against Ben-Gvir’s plan due to a petition by the animal rights organization Let the Animals Live.

Ben-Gvir reacted to the court’s decision, saying that they were taking the side of terrorists.

“Once again, in a time of war, the legal system sides with the terrorists, thwarting important steps for Israeli deterrence,” he complained. “We know that the terrorists are worried about the arrival of the crocodiles, but today the court came to their aid.”

Environmental Protection Minister reclassifies Nile crocodiles

Last month, Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman declared the Nile crocodile a “cultivated wild animal” in a move intended to allow the Israel Prison Service to station crocodiles around prisons, despite opposition from her ministry’s legal adviser and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

Pressure was placed on the Israel Nature and Parks Authority several months ago to allow the National Security Ministry to receive crocodiles from Hamat Gader and position them around prisons holding security prisoners. The program was expected to be piloted at Ketziot Prison.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

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The recent crisis in Ceuta cannot be understood merely as a migration episode. It is the visible expression of a much deeper transformation: the shifting strategic balance in the Western Mediterranean, where Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Israel, and the United States have become key players on the same geopolitical chessboard.

Spain and Morocco are far more than neighboring countries; they are two states compelled to cooperate while simultaneously managing interests that frequently diverge. Ceuta, Melilla, Western Sahara, the Canary Islands, migration flows, energy routes, and control of the Strait of Gibraltar are all part of the same strategic equation. In this environment, international relations are sustained not only by friendship but by the balance of power.

From Spain’s legal and historical perspective, Ceuta has been part of Spain since long before the establishment of the modern Moroccan state. Morocco, however, maintains a historical claim to the city. These competing narratives explain why the issue remains one of the most sensitive disputes in the Western Mediterranean.

Yet the true center of gravity lies in Western Sahara. Since 1975, Morocco has administered most of the territory, while the Polisario Front, backed by Algeria, continues to pursue independence.

The issue of Ceuta

Much of Morocco’s regional strategy revolves around this territory: projecting influence across Africa, securing access to strategic resources such as phosphates, developing renewable energy and green hydrogen, and consolidating its position against Algeria, its principal competitor for regional leadership in the Maghreb.

On July 20, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez paid an official visit to Algiers, where he met with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. Ten days later, on July 30, Ceuta experienced a massive influx of Moroccan migrants, placing unprecedented pressure on the border.

Whether or not these events are directly connected, they illustrate a broader geopolitical reality: When a state perceives shifts in the regional balance of power, borders often become the first arena through which strategic messages are conveyed.

Many analysts place these developments within the broader concept of “Greater Morocco,” a geopolitical vision that places Western Sahara at its core while preserving historical claims over Ceuta and Melilla.

At the same time, Rabat has strengthened its influence across Africa through investment, diplomatic engagement, and economic partnerships while expanding its maritime and energy ambitions in the Atlantic. Together, these elements form a long-term strategy combining infrastructure, diplomacy, economic development, and security.

One of the clearest symbols of that strategy is Tanger Med, now one of the Mediterranean’s leading container ports and a cornerstone of Morocco’s ambition to become a major logistics and energy hub linking Europe and Africa. Morocco has gradually reduced its economic dependence on Europe, strengthened ties with China, and simultaneously deepened its strategic partnership with the US, a relationship further reinforced following the Abraham Accords.

Shifts in regional geopolitics

The normalization of relations between Morocco and Israel marked a turning point in regional geopolitics. In exchange for US recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara during the Trump administration, Rabat secured a privileged position within Washington’s strategic architecture in the Middle East and North Africa.

More recent gestures such as naming a strategically important highway stretching more than 1,000 kilometers from southern Morocco into Western Sahara after President Donald Trump reflect Morocco’s determination to preserve that close relationship with Washington.

Within this broader context, the role of André Azoulay deserves particular attention. Appointed adviser to King Hassan II in 1991 and later retained by King Mohammed VI, the Moroccan Jewish statesman became one of the principal architects of the kingdom’s quiet diplomacy. Azoulay represents a unique tradition of dialogue that helped project an image of stability and moderation to the West while fostering channels of understanding between the Arab world and Israel.

For Spain, the challenge lies in responding to an increasingly influential neighbor without undermining an indispensable bilateral relationship. Since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack against Israel, Sánchez’s government has publicly clashed with the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while several foreign policy decisions have also generated periods of tension with Washington.

On May 28, 2024, Spain formally recognized the State of Palestine, a decision that many international analysts viewed as politically benefiting Hamas. At a time when Morocco continues to strengthen its strategic ties with both the US and Israel, Spain faces the challenge of preserving its traditional alliances while maintaining regional stability.

Beyond Spain’s domestic political debate, the central question is whether Madrid possesses a sufficiently coherent long-term strategy to navigate an increasingly competitive geopolitical environment.

Ceuta is home to nearly 80,000 residents, including a historic Sephardi Jewish community of approximately 280 people, many of whom trace their origins to Tetouan.

The recent arrival of tens of thousands of migrants – reports speak of more than 40,000 Moroccan nationals – highlighted the extraordinary sensitivity of this frontier and underscored that Ceuta’s future depends not only on migration management but also on Spain’s ability to combine constructive relations with Morocco with strong international alliances.

History demonstrates that borders are rarely defended by military strength alone. They are equally safeguarded through diplomacy, credibility, and strategic partnerships. Today, Ceuta represents far more than a border city; it is one of the places where the future balance of power between Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East is beginning to take shape.

The writer is an Israeli-Hispanic journalist.

This post was originally published on here. 

Every year on Tisha B’Av, I watch a film called Conspiracy, a quiet, chilling HBO drama from 25 years ago about a single meeting: the Wannsee Conference, where Nazi officials sat around a table and calmly agreed on the mechanics of annihilating the Jewish people.

We know almost exactly what was said in that room because one set of minutes survived. What strikes me every time I watch it is the evil, real and staggering, and alongside it the arrogance. These were men utterly convinced of their own permanence, certain that history was on their side, certain that the Jews would simply vanish.

Within a few years, nearly every one of them was dead, disgraced, or on trial for their lives. The empire they built to erase us collapsed while we are still here, still praying, still building, still remembering.

This year, Tisha B’Av fell during a moment when that same old arrogance is dressing itself up in new clothes. Zohran Mamdani, now the mayor of a city home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, has made a habit of accusing Israel’s prime minister of crimes he has no authority to prosecute and no evidence to support. He surely knows the charge is absurd.

What matters more is what it signals to his followers: that the Jewish state, and by extension the Jewish people, are the villains of the story.

And then came his Tisha B’Av greeting to New York’s Jews. A day set aside for two thousand years to mourn the destruction of our Temples and our exile from our land, and Mamdani could not bring himself to mention Israel at all. Not once. On the one day built entirely around Jewish longing for Jerusalem, our elected officials could not say the word.

Justice and liberation are true – but only if you’re not a Jew

It is a message, and one Jews have heard in different accents for two thousand years. Haman could not tolerate a people who kept their own laws and answered to the King above the king.

The architects of Wannsee could not tolerate a people whose survival mocked their theories of racial destiny. Today’s version wears the language of justice and liberation, but the instinct underneath it is old and familiar: single out the Jew, question his loyalty, deny his history, and hope the crowd follows.

I want to be honest about something. Rhetoric like this carries real weight. Words like these have preceded violence before, and we have already seen the streets of New York turn ugly. Arrogance is dangerous, and we would be foolish to pretend otherwise. We have to speak up, organize, and stand with the friends who stand with us.

But Tisha B’Av teaches something else too, something I think about every time the credits roll on that film.

Every regime, every mob, every mayor or minister who has tried to write the Jews out of history has failed. Babylon fell. Rome fell. The men at that table in Wannsee fell, and fell fast. Our connection to the land of Israel, forged three thousand years ago and mourned every year on this day, has outlasted every single one of them.

Mamdani can leave Israel out of a tweet. He cannot leave Israel out of who we are. Our children will still turn toward Jerusalem when they pray. Our fast days will still end, as they always have, with hope rather than despair.

The lesson of Tisha B’Av is a track record. Empires built on our disappearance have a way of disappearing themselves. We are still here. We will still be here. And so, please God, will Jerusalem.

The writer is the international CEO of Aish, a global Jewish educational movement. He formerly served as eastern director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, where he oversaw the Museum of Tolerance in New York City.

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The Foxtrot Network, a European crime organization with ties to the Iranian regime, has recruited multiple teenagers to commit murder on its behalf, including against Israeli targets, the BBC reported on Saturday.

According to the BBC, the Foxtrot Network is thought to be responsible for around 35 murders and several attacks and attempted attacks against Israeli targets in Europe since 2022.

The group routinely offers to pay teenagers to commit the crimes, the BBC reported. The teenagers are often caught by authorities during or after their attempted attack, meaning that the Foxtrot Network rarely needs to pay the money promised to them.

Diamant Salihu, a Swedish investigative journalist researching Foxtrot, stated that the organization has a “deliberate policy to recruit younger and younger teenagers because they don’t think about the consequences of getting caught, and they are more willing to take the risks.”

Last week, a Norwegian teenager was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in Britain after being recruited by the Foxtrot Network.

Johannes Natland, now 19, was arrested in a hotel room in Huddersfield, northern England, in March last year with two firearms and ammunition in his possession.

Prosecutor Alistair Richardson told jurors that Natland was recruited by the Foxtrot Network, after someone using the name “Agent 47” organized hiring an assassin with €25,000 ($28,500) “in the pot” to pay for it.

Foxtrot Network leader based in Iran

The leader of the Foxtrot Network, Rawa Majid, is reportedly based in Tehran, and Salihu told the BBC that the Iranian regime is ordering Majid to attack Iran’s enemies.

“He had to make a deal to be able to live freely in Iran, under the condition that he and his network work for the regime,” Salihu explained.

The targets that the Iranian regime could aim the Foxtrot Network at could include dissidents, journalists, or Israeli targets, Salihu stated.

UK, US impose sanctions on Foxtrot Network

In April 2025, the UK imposed sanctions on the Foxtrot Network and on Majid, with then-UK foreign secretary David Lammy saying that it had targeted Jewish and Israeli targets across Europe on behalf of the Iranian regime.

That March, the United States also sanctioned the criminal organization, accusing it of being involved in trafficking illegal drugs, as well as having “carried out attacks on Israelis and Jews in Europe, along with its fugitive leader Rawa Majid.”

Iran rejected the accusation, with the Iranian embassy in London stating that “The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran categorically rejects the allegations connecting the Iranian government to the activities of a Swedish-based criminal gang, known as Foxtrot.

Reuters and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

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Israel Police found three high-powered pipe bombs in an open area near the train station in Ramallah, the police announced on Sunday. 

The police also stated that they had found dozens of 5.56 caliber ammunition alongside the pipe bombs, which had been stolen from the IDF.

The explosives were neutralized by the police, and the items were taken by the police for questioning.

Police seize guns in Bedouin village

Earlier, the police announced that they had foiled an attempted attack in the Bedouin village of Bir al-Maksur, after they had seized several weapons, including an M12 and a loaded pistol.

During the raid, the police also arrested six suspects, the police stated.

According to the police, both incidents are thought to be criminal in nature.

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Six suspects were arrested after allegedly throwing rocks and spitting at the Armenian Cathedral of St. James in Jerusalem’s Old City, Israel Police announced on Sunday.

According to the police, five of the suspects were minors, and one was an adult.

Kegham Balian, a Jerusalemite-Armenian reporter, wrote that the suspects had also thrown rocks at the window of an Armenian woman filming the event, while shouting “Get back inside, you daughter of a w****!”

🚨BREAKING: On Sunday at around 1:00 a.m., six Jewish Israelis attacked the entrance to the Saint James Monastery in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem.

They took turns spitting at the monastery entrance. When they noticed an Armenian woman filming the incident from her home,… pic.twitter.com/kXHgO0JJDK

— Kegham Balian (@kbalian90) August 2, 2026

Armenian Patriarchate files formal complaint

Balian also reported that the Armenian Patriarchate filed a formal complaint.

Three of the suspects were released under restrictive conditions, including being barred from the Old City for 15 days.

The other three were brought to the Magistrate Court, where the police requested an extension to their detention.

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US President Donald Trump’s media company will start charging for special access to his Truth Social posts, which could affect national security matters and financial markets.

On Saturday, Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) rolled out its new subscription-based data service, Truth API. For $100,000 a month, customers, including Wall Street trading firms, will get posts from the president before other Truth Social users.

In the past, Trump’s social media posts have moved markets, and the profits of many top trading firms, hedge funds, and financial services firms depend heavily on the speed at which they can trade off such news.

“Markets already move on Truth Social posts,” Interim Chief Executive Officer of TMTG Kevin McGurn said in a July press release.

“Truth API delivers a direct, licensed, real-time feed of the platform’s most market-moving Truths while advancing our strategy to monetize proprietary assets through a high-margin, recurring revenue stream. As adoption grows, we expect Truth API to become a meaningful, ongoing source of revenue for the company, creating lasting value for shareholders.”

Trump could financially benefit from new Truth Social venture

However, the president is by far Truth Social’s biggest celebrity, boasting 13 million followers, as of Sunday afternoon Israel time. He also owns about 41% of TMTG through a trust one of his children oversees.

This means Trump could stand to benefit significantly from the new service.

Critics of the move say that this is a clear example of Trump promoting insider trading and trying to influence the markets in his favor.

On Wednesday, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Adam Schiff (D-California) asked the U.S. securities regulator to probe whether the plan to sell early access to Trump’s social media posts breaks the law, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.

“This appears to be an outrageous abuse of the President’s office for his personal benefit that undermines everyday investors and the integrity of our markets, while enriching Wall Street and other wealthy insiders,” Warren and Schiff wrote.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) launched an investigation into the matter on Friday.

“The Truth API is only the latest example of President Trump’s efforts to monetize the power of his office to influence markets. Trump has repeatedly used Truth Social to promote companies shortly after investing in them, including firms whose fortunes are shaped by government policy and decisions made by his own Administration,” Raskin wrote in a press release.

“The President of the United States should be using his office to ‘take Care’ that laws are enforced and to advance the public interest. Instead, Trump is, once again, using it to enrich in spectacular fashion himself and his family and corporate cronies, destroying the integrity of financial markets in the process.” 

In response, a TMTG spokesperson said that the Democrats “must have invented a new theory of ‘insider trading’ based on publicly available information.”

Reuters contributed to this report. 

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The greatest antisemitic terrorist threat in Europe stems from jihadist terrorism, a new analysis of real-life antisemitic incidents by the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) and the European Jewish Congress (EJC) has concluded.

The ICCT, together with the Security and Crisis Centre (SACC) of the EJC, conducted a one-year monitoring exercise between 1 January and 31 December 2025 of offline manifestations of antisemitism across all European Union member states, as well as the UK and Switzerland.

In total, 254 incidents were identified over the course of the year. It is, however, likely that the real figure was much greater, as many victims do not report the incidents.

The distribution of incidents was relatively even across 2025, with an average of 21 incidents per month. Peaks were recorded in December, with 36 incidents, and in September, with 33 incidents, while the lowest number was recorded in February, with nine incidents.

ICCT and EJC said this pattern demonstrates that antisemitism is not merely an event-driven phenomenon that spikes around specific geopolitical developments, but a “persistent feature of everyday life affecting Jewish communities across Europe.”

Likewise, antisemitic incidents were recorded across all monitored countries. The four most populous European countries, Germany (58 incidents), France (54 incidents), Italy (29 incidents), and the UK (27 incidents) also recorded the highest numbers of cases. Germany and France alone accounted for nearly half of all registered incidents.

When adjusting for population size, there was a slight change in the pattern: France recorded the highest incidence rate, followed by Bulgaria and Greece. Physical attacks were particularly common in France, and vandalism dominated in Italy and the Netherlands.

Within the monitoring, actual incidents of antisemitic terrorism were comparatively rare. Throughout 2025, Europe witnessed two attacks linked to IS-inspired jihadist terrorism: a stabbing attack near the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin in February, in which the perpetrator later stated that he had intended to kill Jews, and the Yom Kippur attack in Manchester.

Vandalism accounted for the highest share of antisemitic incidents

By far, the most common category was vandalism, accounting for more than half of all recorded incidents, with 131 out of 254 cases. Most acts of vandalism targeted Holocaust memorials, accounting for 41 incidents. Other common targets included synagogues, with 23 incidents, and Jewish cemeteries, with 11 incidents.

Vandalism was followed by physical attacks, with 48 incidents. Although generally falling short of the threshold of terrorism, a number of these attacks involved weapons, most commonly knives as well as blunt objects such as bottles.

FURTHERMORE, 40 incidents were classified as hate speech, 21 as harassment, while 14 could not be attributed to any of the predefined categories.

ICCT and EJC also tracked state legal responses following the antisemitic incidents. Authorities opened an investigation in approximately 75% of cases.

In 36 cases, primarily involving assaults or harassment, perpetrators were temporarily detained at the scene. In the case of the terrorist attack in Manchester, the perpetrator was shot dead by police. While authorities generally demonstrated a willingness to investigate incidents, in approximately 66% of all cases no perpetrators had yet been identified at the time of writing.

Of the 31 cases that proceeded to court, seven resulted in prison sentences, two resulted in fines, and three concluded with acquittals.

ICCT and EJC concluded that, though only a relatively small share of the 254 antisemitic incidents was terrorist in nature, the terrorist threat facing Jewish communities in Europe is significant and spans across multiple ideological milieus.

European Jewish communities face significant terror risk

Although terrorist attacks represented only a small proportion of the 254 incidents recorded, the report warns that the terrorist threat facing Jewish communities in Europe is significant and spans across multiple ideological milieus.

As demonstrated by the series of attacks in Europe carried out by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HAYI), presumably linked to Iran, “state-backed terrorism constitutes a significant threat to Jewish life in Europe,” the report said.

The report, however, argues that the greatest antisemitic terrorist threat currently stems from jihadist terrorism. This includes jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda and IS, the Afghanistan-based IS affiliate Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), and also Hamas. There has recently been a coordinated law-enforcement endeavor to bring down a Hamas ring running out of multiple countries, especially Germany and the Netherlands.

About the extreme Left in Europe, ICCT and EJC said this primarily involved vandalism and property damage, while indiscriminate mass-violence plots are less likely.

ICCT and EJC said that online antisemitism persists at high levels; their monitoring demonstrates that antisemitism also frequently manifests itself through real-world incidents.

As such, the two organizations said it is essential that policymakers and civil society actors adopt a clear and proactive stance against all forms of antisemitism.

This includes not only consistently speaking out against antisemitic behavior, but also strengthening policies aimed at protecting Jewish life as part of European societies.

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A swastika graffiti was drawn on the base of a statue of the Rambam, Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, in Cordoba, Spain, a local politician confirmed on Saturday, following media reports.

The graffiti was painted over the base of the statue, located in the heart of the Jewish quarters of Cordoba, in the Tiberiades plaza, with local authorities condemning the antisemitic attack.

Cintia Bustos, acting mayor of the city, said that the graffiti represented an attack against the city’s heritage and lamented “the extreme seriousness of the message of hate it represents.”

“The statue of Maimonides [Rambam] in Córdoba appears with a swastika. I have requested that it be cleaned immediately, but it is concerning the vandalism in our Historic Quarter, which attacks not only people but also our rich heritage,” added local politician and spokesperson of the PSOE (Socialist Party) Córdoba, Antonio Hurtado.

The city’s authorities later ordered a sign to be placed over the painted base of the statue, while work is being done to clean the swastika graffiti.

Spain’s Jewish communities react to attack

“Our total repudiation of the targeting with a Nazi symbol of this Jewish, Sephardic, Cordoban, Spanish, universal figure,” said the Federation of Spanish Jewish Communities in a Sunday statement.

“The Great Synagogue of Barcelona proudly bears the name “Maimónides,” in homage to one of the greatest Sephardic thinkers in history, born in Córdoba,” read another statement by the Barcelona Jewish Community, adding that “Maimónides belongs to the intellectual heritage of all humanity.”

“Attacking his statue with a Nazi symbol is an attack on our shared history, on the Golden Age, on our culture, on the values of knowledge, freedom, and coexistence that his legacy represents. Hate can never prevail over culture.”

La Gran Sinagoga de Barcelona lleva con orgullo el nombre de “Maimónides”, en homenaje a uno de los mayores pensadores sefaradís de la historia, nacido en Córdoba.

Maimónides pertenece al patrimonio intelectual de toda la humanidad.

Atacar su estatua con un símbolo nazi es un… pic.twitter.com/IepJ4EUjam

— Comunitat Jueva/Judía/Jewish de Barcelona (@BarcelonaJudia) August 1, 2026

The Rambam’s statue was placed in Cordoba because he is buried in the city, and the statue was made to commemorate his importance to Spain’s cultural heritage.

The statue, made out of bronze, was sculpted by Amadeo Ruiz Olmos in 1964 to commemorate the 760th anniversary of the Rambam’s death.

The Cordoba municipality also said that a specialized team would be in charge of cleaning the statue, while Spain’s Policía Nacional (National Police) would investigate the case.

Cordoba’s suffers attacks against heritage sites

The graffiti is just one of many vandalism attacks that Cordoba’s heritage sites have suffered in 2026, not all explicitly antisemitic in nature.

Back in April, ABC reported that Arabic letters were spray-painted on the city’s Roman Bridge.

The report also mentioned a situation from two decades ago, where swastikas were painted over the Christ of the Lanterns monument.

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Two people died after two helicopters crashed midair in Athens while participating in the firefighting efforts to combat wildfires that are affecting several areas of Greece, Greek outlet Ekathimerini reported on Sunday.

The report mentioned that all four crewmembers of both helicopters were rescued alive from the crash site, with two of them being taken unconscious to a nearby hospital. Officials later told Reuters that two of the victims had lost their lives.

All of the Bell helicopters operating in the firefighting efforts were ordered to land following the crash, while operations continue underway with other aircraft available, Ekathimerini reported.

The helicopters were part of the operation to control a huge wildfire that has destroyed over 100 homes northwest of Athens, while another fresh blaze forced evacuations on the popular tourist island of Kefalonia.

φρικτό, δύο πυροσβεστικά ελικόπτερα συγκρούστηκαν ενώ επιχειρούσαν στην περιοχή της Ψάθας…τα ελικόπτερα είχαν απογειωθεί από το στρατιωτικό αεροδρόμιο Ελευσίνας. Οι τελευταίες πληροφορίες αναφέρουν οτι το ένα πλήρωμα επικοινώνησε και φαίνεται ότι είναι καλά στην υγεία του. Για… pic.twitter.com/o721yqK1fN

— Νικόλας Κάιζερ (@nickaizer1) August 2, 2026

Wildfires hit Europe as temperatures register record high

Europe has been ravaged by wildfires this summer after a period of record-breaking heatwaves and little rain – conditions that scientists say have been exacerbated by climate change.

Destructive blazes in France and Spain showed signs of easing over the weekend, but several wildfires have broken out in Greece after a period of relative calm there.

Gale-force winds that fueled the fire around Porto Germeno on the Gulf of Corinth 60 km (40 miles) northwest of Athens have subsided, but flames crossed a mountain to the south and reached the settlement of Veniza and a military firing range, activating unexploded ordnance.

Nearly 500 Greek firefighters, equipped with vehicles, heavy machinery, and firefighting aircraft, have been deployed, reinforced by France and Romania.

In the village of Agios Konstantinos, residents were doing their best to halt the spread of the blaze.

“The fire has been burning since last night; it is certain that they cannot have forces everywhere. We as residents are doing everything we can,” said Tasos Tzempelikos, 61, who, along with his son, was pouring water on the fire.

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The Education Ministry announced mandatory financial education classes for ninth and 10th graders beginning in the 2026-2027 school year. 

Approximately 550 teachers have already been trained, the ministry said, and another 750 are expected to begin training in early September. 

In October, approximately 1,300 teachers will undergo a 60-hour training program for ninth-grade teachers. Additional training courses will open at the beginning of 2027 for 10th-grade teachers. 

The curriculum was designed to combine economic knowledge, behavioral psychology, and life skill development, and will be split into four main topics: responsible consumer behavior and financial decision making, money and banking, the labor market in a changing world, and investments, opportunities, and risks. 

Conscious consumer behavior and financial decision making will teach ninth-grade students about the factors that impact economic decisions, how to distinguish between necessities and luxuries, the impact of marketing mechanisms and social pressure, and tools for making responsible decisions. 

In the module on money and banking, the students will learn the basic concepts of money, economic processes such as supply and demand, inflation, and the cost of living, as well as how traditional and digital payment methods developed.

The module on the labor market in a changing world will introduce ninth-grade students to the rights of working teenagers and the basic aspects of entering the workforce. 

The module on investments, opportunities, and risks will introduce the students to basic financial concepts including interest, various kinds of savings, and insurance.

Curriculum expands in 10th grade to include personal goals, objectives

In 10th grade, the curriculum will expand to include setting personal goals and objectives, budget planning, and making financial decisions to achieve short-term and long-term goals. 

It will also grow to include changes taking place in the technological era, future professions, skills required in the changing world of the workforce, and how to read and understand the different components of a pay slip. 

Students will also learn about various investment options including the capital market, real estate, human capital, and foreign currency, while understanding the relationship between risk and return and the importance of diversifying risks when making financial decisions.

Yoav Kisch welcomes changes, calls move ‘step in preparing the next generation’

Education Minister Yoav Kisch, who initiated the program, welcomed the announcement.

“This is an important and welcome step in preparing the next generation to face the challenges of the world outside,” Kisch said. 

“Throughout the process, I believed that the education system must provide knowledge and skills that will enable young people to successfully cope with life’s challenges. I am proud to lead this revolution and provide every student in Israel with a practical financial toolkit that will serve them throughout their lives,” he added.

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AI companies are buying and then destroying millions of rare books to prevent AI slop content that consumers are vocally against, 404 Media reported last week.

Silicon Valley tech giants are paying companies and contractors to buy up rare books, which are then scanned in a high-speed machine that cuts their spines out and then shreds the originals.

The tech giants are reportedly buying up the rare books to train new AI models and prevent AI “slop.” In one article on its site, ISBNdb, a company that claims to have the “the world’s largest book database,” argued that books published before 2022 were best for AI training data because they would not have any AI-generated text.

In a report uncovered by the Washington Post in January, one Anthropic co-founder suggested that feeding AI models books could teach them “how to write well” instead of producing “low-quality internet speak.”

“The world’s best AI training data is sitting on a shelf,” ISBNdb wrote in a since-deleted blog post. “Print books from the pre-LLM era are structurally guaranteed to be free of this contamination. That alone is a significant advantage […]  “Physical books published before this date [pre-2022] are structurally clean of modern poisoning tools.”

404 Media reported that the AI tech companies were interested in buying up books to prevent “model collapse,” where AI models trained on lower-quality AI-generated results progressively lose quality.  Executives believed that vast troves of books were essential to give the models new data and prevent their model collapse.

Why are AI companies destroying old books?

Notably, special edition book sellers say that they usually sell one or two books to a single customer.

“In the rare book trade, it’s very seldom that people want to buy more than one book,” antique book seller Pieter de Vries told The Telegraph in an interview published last week. “So if somebody comes and says, ‘I want a couple of hundred of your books,’ it’s very strange.”

But ISBNdb and companies like it are now helping AI tech giants purchase orders ranging from 1,000 to one million books.

The AI companies’ attempt to hoover up books, art, news articles, and other forms of media has gotten attention in several instances since 2024.

Most notably, the Washington Post reported in January on Anthropic’s attempts to buy millions of books, slice their spines, and scan their pages to feed more data into the company’s chatbot, Claude.

Anthropic’s legal battle over AI and book copyrights

That instance later led to a multi-million dollar class action lawsuit in which several authors sued Anthropic, arguing that the company, which is ‌backed by ⁠Amazon and Alphabet (Google’s parent company), used pirated versions of their books without permission to teach Claude to respond to human prompts.

Anthropic settled with the authors at $1.5 billion.

Notably, though, the fact that Anthropic destroyed the books made the company’s case stronger.

Judge William Alsup ruled last June that Anthropic made fair ⁠use of the authors’ work to train Claude, but found that the company violated their rights by saving more than seven million pirated books to a “central library” that would not necessarily be used for AI training.

“Here, every purchased print copy was copied in order to save storage space and to enable searchability as a digital copy,” Alsup wrote.

“The print original was destroyed. One replaced the other. And, there is no evidence that the new, digital copy was shown, shared, or sold outside the company,” he said.

In short, because the AI company pulped the books, the digital version that existed afterward “replaced” the physical one. The judge ruled that the companies merely transformed the books, which meant that it was not a violation of US copyright law.

The tech giants clearly wanted this secret since the beginning, because the optics of destroying books are unpalatable for many. Documents uncovered by the Washington Post found that even internally, companies wanted to distance themselves from the effort.

“Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world,” one internal document unsealed in legal filings last said, as reported by the Washington Post. “We don’t want it to be known that we are working on this.”

As ISBNdb wrote in a since-deleted blog post on its website: “The optics problem is real. ‘AI company destroys two million books’ is not a headline that generates sympathy.”

Tech giants, former officials decry AI companies for destroying books

But the headlines and lawsuits became public, and the public is rather unsympathetic.

“So AI labs are buying old books by the pallet, slicing them apart, scanning the pages, and pulping what’s left,” former US House rep. Brad Carson wrote in a post on X/Twitter.

“Here’s the perverse part. A federal court blessed this precisely because the original is destroyed. One legal copy replaces another, so it’s fair use. Whatever you think of that ruling or fair use, notice what it does. The law now rewards destruction and penalizes preservation.

“A lab that wants to scan a book and keep it, or donate it, or deposit the scan in a public archive, has weaker legal footing than a lab that shreds everything. We have built a legal machine that pays people to pulp books and punishes them for saving them.”

Some tech giants have voiced their distaste for the destruction of the books.

“I’ve asked the SpaceX AI team to preserve any rare books in a library and scan them the hard way rather than just cutting off the spine and scanning,” Elon Musk said in an X/Twitter post.

“There’s something particularly misanthropic about the mechanized destruction of such intimate human objects,” said SEO of Factory AI Matan Grinberg. “History seldom looks kindly on those who destroy books, whatever the reasons.”

One critic of the AI industry’s approach to copyrighted work and the founder of Fairly Trained, a creator-rights group, Ed Newton-Rex, told the Telegraph that the secrecy with which companies like ISBNdb and Anthropic acquire books is damning.

“Clearly both the provider of these books and the AI companies know that this is a terrible look and they don’t want the specifics to get out,” he told the Telegraph.

“If you are just going and spending $1 on a used book, with all of the money going to a book wholesaler, should that give you the right to train a commercial generative AI model on that book, which will then be able to compete with the author who wrote it?” Newton-Rex said. “A lot of people, myself included, think it shouldn’t.”

“There is surely no more fitting image in the generative AI age for the exploitation that underlies this technology than almost trillion-dollar companies buying books for a few cents or a dollar each, scanning them, training on them, then destroying them, essentially subsuming culture,” he added.

In response to the flurry of reporting around the destroyed books, ISBNdb disputed the reports that it helped purchase large volumes of books for AI training.

“We’ve seen the recent coverage about a marketing landing page on our site, and we understand the concern it raised,” the company wrote in a statement.

“The facts: ISBNdb has never purchased, scanned, or sold a book – for AI training or anything else. We don’t train AI models, and we never have. The page was a test of market interest; no such service was ever brought to life. We’ve taken the page down.

“Our job is helping people find books. For more than two decades, ISBNdb has been the card catalog of the book world – the data behind how bookstores, libraries, and reading apps connect readers with titles. Data about books, not the books themselves. That hasn’t changed.”

This post was originally published on here. 

The IDF on Sunday confirmed the killing of three terrorists from three separate terror groups in the Gaza Strip in the last week.

On Saturday, the IDF killed Alaa Imad Khamis Tarams, a terrorist from Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) in Gaza City, as well as Hassan Ibrahim Shehadeh Qahman from Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the IDF said.

The IDF also stated that they had killed Ahmad Khudar, a commander in Hamas‘s Jabalya Battalion, the week prior.

According to the military, all three of the terrorists had attempted to advance terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers.

IDF kills two Hamas commanders in Gaza

Earlier on Sunday morning, the IDF announced that it had killed two Hamas commanders in the Gaza Strip in a series of weekend strikes.

On Saturday, the IDF killed Salem Jamal Abd al-Rahman Abu Labad, a Hamas Nukhba commander who had infiltrated Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 massacre, in southern Gaza. 

In a separate strike on Friday, the IDF killed Muhammad Abd al-Nasser Muhammad Khatib, a commander in Hamas‘ Maghazi Battalion.

This post was originally published on here. 

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IDF Brig.-Gen. (res.) Erez Winner told the “Defense & Tech” podcast that Israel has defeated Hamas and Hezbollah militarily, while calling the length of the Gaza war a military failure.

Israel is winning on every front, and the proof is where Iran’s missiles are landing, IDSF chairman Brig.-Gen. (res.) Erez Winner said in an interview with the Jerusalem Post’s “Defense & Tech” podcast. Tehran has struck Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan while avoiding Israel, he told host Anna Ahronheim, not out of goodwill but because it knows what Israel can do to it. 

Deterrence, he said, is measured by the way the enemy behaves. But the threat that concerns him most is not Iran, Lebanon, or Gaza. It is what he calls “the battle on our homeland”: illegal weapons smuggled into Israel in recent years, crime organizations operating in Arab society, and an armed Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria that could, he warned, turn its weapons on Israeli communities.

Being blunt on Gaza war

Winner, who headed operational planning for the IDF’s Southern Command from 2013 until roughly a year ago, was blunt about Gaza. The failure to end the war much earlier was a military failure, he said, naming both the former and current chiefs of staff. 

Drawing on research he conducted with Prof. Gabi Siboni into 12 historical cases of regular armies defeating guerrillas embedded in civilian populations, he argued that Israel never met the three conditions for victory, control of resources, of territory, and of the population, and spent 2024 fighting Hamas with one hand while feeding it with the other. Asked in a rapid-fire round to name the mistake Israel keeps repeating in Gaza, he answered: “Not dealing with the population.”

On defense technology, Winner criticized what he termed the “unprofessional professionalism” of the IDF, arguing that two-year rotations in senior posts leave the army without deep expertise and allow manufacturers to dictate what it buys. 

The future, he said, is not a $150 million fighter jet but mass-produced, expendable drones tied to AI capable of converting thousands of tracked targets into strikes within seconds. Asked to name the single technology Israel must invest in immediately, he gave a one-word answer.

This post was originally published on here. 

The death toll from Thursday’s mass rush into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco reached at least 72 on Sunday as five more bodies were found along Ceuta’s coast, officials said.

More than 50,000 people crossed into Ceuta by land and sea in an unprecedented surge that began on Thursday at one of the European Union’s only two land borders with Africa, prompting alarm across the bloc. More than 48,000 returned to Morocco within 48 hours and more again over the weekend, Spanish authorities said.

The Spanish government representative in Ceuta, Miguel Angel Perez, told reporters on Sunday that, in addition to the 72 fatalities, more than 1,000 people had been treated by health services since Thursday. The situation in the city had improved markedly, he said, but more remained to be done to re-establish normality.

Some migrants drowned, and others were crushed while trying to climb a breakwater and border fence. Many had been driven to migrate by economic hardship and encouraged by social media rumors.

“It pains me deeply that young people are dying at sea. It’s not right that, in the year 2026, women with children as young as two months old should be crossing the sea only to die,” said Karima Abenaz, a French national in Ceuta with family in Morocco, holding back tears.

“In Morocco, there’s food, there’s everything we need,” she added. “If we don’t have a decent job, we should go on strike and demand our rights from the government. We shouldn’t be dying at sea, it’s not right.”

Ceuta leader Juan Jesus Vivas told the newspaper El Pais the city’s morgue had received 88 corpses, including some who had died in earlier, smaller attempts to reach the territory in hazardous night-time swims over the past two weeks. He said Moroccan authorities were also recovering bodies from the sea, but no official information was available.

Authorities have reinforced police and army patrols and on Saturday installed a 500-meter (1,600-foot) floating barrier off Ceuta.

EU member states seek to coordinate action to protect borders

Twenty-two EU member states wrote a letter asking for coordinated action to protect external borders and other measures after the Ceuta incident. Italy suspended passport-free Schengen travel arrangements with Spain for one month.

Spain has adopted a more open stance on migrants than most other EU countries, introducing a program to grant residency to more than half a million undocumented people.

It has rejected suggestions that the scheme encouraged the rush into Ceuta, saying that those who entered Ceuta irregularly could not travel on to mainland Spain or elsewhere in the Schengen zone.

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A 35-year-old man was killed, and nine people were wounded in a car accident near the Afik Intersection along Highway 98 in the Golan Heights, Magen David Adom announced on Sunday.

The crash involved a minibus and a private car, MDA noted, with the wounded being evacuated to a hospital, including a 30-year-old man in moderate condition.

“Firefighters worked at a difficult and complex scene to rescue the trapped man using hydraulic equipment and transfer him to medical personnel,” an Israel Fire and Rescue Authority commander said at the scene. “Firefighters worked to search for additional casualties and to clear the scene.”

MDA paramedics described the crash as a “serious car accident,” noting their attempts to save the deceased victim.

“We performed medical examinations, but unfortunately his injuries were significant, and we had no choice but to declare him dead,” they said. “At the same time, we provided advanced medical treatment to nine additional injured people who were moderately or lightly injured and evacuated them to the hospital in stable condition.”

Ten wounded, 17-year-old girl severely, after jeep overturns in West Bank

The crash in the North follows an accident on Wednesday involving a jeep, which overturned in the West Bank, severely injuring a 17-year-old girl and moderately wounding two others: a 15-year-old girl and a 20-year-old woman.

Seven additional female passengers were lightly wounded in the crash, which occured during a field trip, with an MDA paramedic describing the experience on scene.

“When we arrived at the scene, we noticed the jeep upside down in a ditch,” the paramedic said. “We immediately began performing initial examinations and life-saving first aid to 9 victims with varying degrees of injury and evacuated them by MDA-Rescue Air helicopter with intensive care units and ambulances together with IDF medical forces to hospitals.”

Another MDA paramedic noted the critical condition of the 17-year-old victim, saying she suffered “multiple systemic injuries.”

“After we rescued her, we provided her with life-saving medical treatment that included anesthesia and ventilation and evacuated her by MDA-Rescue Air helicopter to the hospital in critical condition,” he said.

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Over the weekend, it appears that Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait may be increasing pressure on Iraq to rein in the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. This is important because the militias have attempted to hijack the country and use it as a springboard for attacks on Iraq’s neighbors. Over the last week of July, the militias attacked Saudi Arabia, threatened Syria, and likely also attacked the Kingdom of Jordan.

The larger story is that Iraq is at a crossroads. The country borders Iran, and it has a large Shi’ite population that is connected to Iran in some ways. For instance, this week is the Arbaeen Shi’ite pilgrimage. Large numbers of people are coming from Iran to Iraq. Arab News noted that “It is one of the world’s largest religious gatherings, with millions flocking each year to Iraq to visit the city of Karbala, where Hussein and his brother Abbas are buried.” The report notes “this year’s pilgrimage comes amid a war launched by a US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, which has not left Iraq unscathed. The war erupted only weeks after Iranian authorities cracked down on widespread anti-government protests triggered by the high cost of living in a country enduring harsh US economic sanctions.”

Iranian-backed militias in Iraq targeted Saudi Arabia in several rounds of attacks in July. Why did they choose late July to do this? In part because Iraq’s new prime minister, Ali al Zaidi, had traveled to the US and then returned to Baghdad, then traveled to Iran and Turkey. He was scheduled to go to Saudi Arabia. However, the attacks sabotaged the visit. Saudi Arabia and the US responded to the attacks with strikes across Iraq, killing Shi’ite militia members. The militias then threatened to retaliate for the strikes if Iraq did not respond.

This is how the militias dictate policy in Iraq. These militias are mostly sanctioned by the US. They include Kataib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, and others. The largest militia is called Badr. It is the only major militia not sanctioned by the US. Badr forms a key component of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a paramilitary group that includes many of the militias. This complex bureaucratic system enables the militias to hide behind the state after they carry out attacks. Any attacks on the militia bases are seen as a direct attack on Iraq. As such, the militias act as a kind of Hezbollah in Iraq, but also are part of the government and security forces. This makes it hard to uproot them.

Iraq’s prime minister has been pressured by the US to disarm the militias. US forces are supposed to withdraw from Iraq by the end of September. The US sent forces to Iraq in 2014 to help the country fight ISIS. If the US leaves and the militias are not disarmed, Iran will think this is a win. Iran has already carried out 1,000 attacks on the Kurdistan Region of Northern Iraq. Some of the attacks were carried out by the militias.

Now it appears that Arab countries are willing to pressure Iraq to rein in the militias. An Iraqi security source told Rudaw media in Iraq on August 1 that “Jordan, Kuwait, and Syria have officially informed the Iraqi government that they will respond if attacked by armed factions.” The report added that “the Iraqi government is currently holding intensive talks with Jordan, Kuwait, and Syria. Baghdad is seeking to reassure these three countries and has pledged to do everything in its power to prevent any attacks on their territories.”

Iraqi Prime Minister Zaidi tries to mediate tensions following Iranian strikes on neighboring countries

Iraq’s prime minister said that the country would not be used to threaten others. Al-Arabiya noted that Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi said: “We will not allow any aggression from our lands against neighboring countries.” This is a good message. It dials down the tension with Saudi Arabia that had grown over the last week. Instead of threatening Saudi Arabia, as Iraqi politicians had done in late July after the Saudi Arabia and US strikes, the prime minister is seeking to send the right message. However, he has not disarmed or reined in the militias. This means that more needs to be done.

Meanwhile, the “Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces emphasizes preventing any threat emanating from Iraq toward neighboring countries,” Al-Arabiya also noted. Saudi Arabia’s Elaph media also reported that “an official Jordanian source said that the Kingdom informed Iraq that it would strike pro-Iranian militias on its territory if they attacked Jordan.” This report said that the source had also told Al-Arabiya that “we expect Iraq to take measures to stop these militias.”

Elaph added that “the Jordanian position came a day after a Saudi official source announced on Friday that the strike carried out by the Kingdom in Iraq came after exhausting all political and diplomatic measures, and exercising the utmost restraint during the past months. The official Saudi news channel, Al-Ekhbariya, quoted the source as saying that “the Kingdom is keen on its relationship with Iraq, both government and people, and that the air strike was not directed against the Iraqi government.”

It remains to be seen if Kuwait, Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia will keep up the pressure. 

This post was originally published on here. 

When we addressed the United Nations Security Council together, one Palestinian and one Israeli, we made a straightforward case: Hamas must relinquish its weapons, an International Stabilization Force must deploy, and reciprocal confidence-building measures must move both peoples away from perpetual war. Neither people can achieve lasting security through the permanent insecurity of the other.

This week’s announcement that Hamas has accepted a roadmap for relinquishing its weapons creates the most important opening yet to test that proposition.

It is an achievement worth recognizing. President Trump’s 20-Point Plan provided the framework; the United States, Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye sustained difficult mediation; and the Board of Peace kept the process alive through months of mistrust.

The central implementation challenge is now whether Israel will also accept the Roadmap and whether both sides will carry out their respective commitments. Its success will depend on turning those commitments into reciprocal and verifiable action rather than allowing disagreements over sequencing to become a source of paralysis.

Disarmament must be reciprocal and verifiable

The first mistake would be to treat disarmament as a ceremony with a deadline. In every serious transition, disarmament has been a political and security process, not simply an exercise in collecting weapons.

Northern Ireland’s decommissioning took years and succeeded because an independent international commission created a trusted, face-saving mechanism through which weapons could be placed beyond use. In Colombia, phased weapons handover was paired with United Nations verification, transitional arrangements and reintegration into civilian and political life. In Kosovo, the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces and the demilitarisation of the Kosovo Liberation Army were synchronized under a third-party security presence.

The lesson is not that Gaza should copy these cases. It is that irreversible steps require reciprocal movement, credible guarantees and trusted verification.

Benchmarks must therefore matter more than dates. A serious verification mechanism should define compliance, establish chain-of-custody procedures for weapons, and monitor tunnels, production capacity, illicit financing and arms flows. It also needs rapid channels for investigating incidents, resolving disputes and responding to persistent violations.

Reintegration and civilian recovery

The second mistake would be to demand disarmament without offering a viable exit from armed life. Hamas commanders and those responsible for grave crimes must face justice. But rank-and-file members prepared to renounce violence, coerced personnel and civil servants require differentiated and carefully vetted pathways.

Safe surrender, screening, rehabilitation, education, livelihoods and individual reintegration are not rewards for militancy. They are tools for preventing remobilization. Disarmament is substitution as much as subtraction: lawful institutions must replace the income, status, services and protection that armed networks provided. Any integration must be individual, accountable and subordinate to unified civilian command, not a rebranding of armed structures that preserves their autonomy.

Third, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and the International Stabilization Force must be enabled to begin work quickly. Their legitimacy will not come from their names, sponsors or mandates alone. It must be earned through performance.

Gazans need safer streets, functioning water and electricity, reopened schools and health services, rubble removed, homes repaired and jobs created. Israelis need the same architecture to provide credible, independently verified protection against rearmament and renewed attack. Civilian recovery and Israeli security are not competing tracks. Each is necessary to make the other sustainable.

The role of the International Stabilization Force

The ISF should be politically led and supported by robust civilian, policing and military capacities. It needs a precise mandate, clear limits and the ability to protect civilians, facilitate humanitarian access and oversee agreed security arrangements.

The mission must also be temporary, conditions-based and designed from the outset for the earliest responsible handover to legitimate Palestinian institutions. It should be only as international as necessary and as Palestinian as possible. A force perceived as a new occupation will fail, however well equipped it may be.

Fourth, regional engagement must move from endorsement to machinery. The United States and the mediators should remain active guarantors. Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the European Union and other partners should be incorporated into a structured framework for financing, border arrangements, deconfliction, monitoring and political support.

Standing channels involving Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, the NCAG and the ISF will be needed to prevent local incidents from escalating into strategic breakdowns. Regional actors should also help close weapons and financing routes while directing reconstruction through transparent mechanisms, Palestinian institutions and local procurement.

Finally, Gaza cannot be stabilized as an island. A process that rebuilds Gaza while the West Bank is economically strangled, fragmented by settlement expansion and exposed to escalating settler violence will lose Palestinian legitimacy and eventually undermine Israeli security.

Withheld Palestinian revenues must be released, correspondent banking services protected, and the Palestinian Authority supported as it advances reform, renews its leadership and restores its ability to govern.

This is not an argument for postponing security until every political question has been resolved. It is an argument for making security durable by giving every party a stake in the order that replaces war.

Israelis need proof that Hamas’s military capacity is being dismantled and cannot regenerate. Palestinians need proof that disarmament will not produce permanent occupation, or political erasure. Gazans need to experience recovery as a daily reality, not a distant promise. Israelis need to experience safety without the threat of Hamas regrouping.

The Roadmap can still fail. Spoilers will test it, electoral politics will narrow room for maneuver, and every delay will deepen suspicion. But failure is not preordained.

This opportunity should not be romanticized. It should be operationalized, and it must not be missed.

More than 550 Israeli and Palestinian leaders in our Uniting for a Shared Future coalition have spent the past two years working across profound mistrust and hardened public opinion to identify workable steps towards a new era of stability and security. We have consistently called for the disarmament of Hamas and other non-state armed groups and a credible political horizon connecting Gaza and the West Bank. These are not concessions one people makes to the other. They are in the fundamental self-interest of both Israelis and Palestinians, because neither can secure its future through the continued insecurity of the other.

Hiba Qasas is a political strategist and international mediator, Founding Executive Director of Principles for Peace and Convenor of the Uniting for a Shared Future coalition. Nadav Tamir is Executive Director of J Street Israel and a former Israeli diplomat.

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Iranian authorities are concerned that intelligence agencies could use audio files to track Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s location, according to an article published on Sunday by the Tehran Municipality-affiliated Iranian daily Al-Mashhari.

In a post on its Telegram channel, Al-Mashhari claimed the fears explained why no audio recordings of Khamenei have been released.

The newspaper outlined five ways a recording could potentially reveal where he was located.

First, every enclosed space has a unique acoustic signature that can provide precise information about the room in which the speaker is located, the newspaper said.

Second, interference from the electrical grid can be used to determine the date and exact time a recording was made, as well as the specific section of the power grid connected to the recording site.

Each microphone and recording device also leaves a unique imprint on an audio file. Mobile phone microphones, for example, weaken low frequencies, while inexpensive components produce distinctive harmonic distortion that can serve as a fingerprint for the device.

Equipment noise, speech patterns could be used to locate Khamenei

Noise from ventilation systems, generators, cooling equipment, or other technical equipment at the site could also help intelligence agencies identify its location.

Finally, the newspaper claimed that the resonance of the speaker’s voice could reveal his breathing patterns, pauses between words, physical condition, heart rate, and stress level.

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Appearing on political commentator Hasan Piker’s streaming program on Friday, author and political scientist Norman Finkelstein discussed the central arguments of his new book, Gaza’s Gravediggers: An Inquiry into Corruption in High Places, while challenging official accounts of the October 7, 2023, attacks.

During the interview, Finkelstein pointed to recent research by Israeli legal analyst Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, noting that her reporting references an archive of 10,000 photographs and digital segments from the day of the attacks.

Finkelstein challenges evidence of sexual violence

“The most recent report that came out by an Israeli Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, she says, ‘We have 10,000 photographs and digital segments from October 7th.’ 10,000,” Finkelstein said. “She also says it would take 1,800 hours to go through all of that digital and photographic evidence from October 7th.”

Calculating the time required for a single researcher working continuously, Finkelstein emphasized the scale of media captured via CCTV, traffic cameras, personal smartphones, body cams, dash cams, and GoPro cameras worn by militants. He stated that given an archive of that magnitude spanning a confined geographic area, verifiable material could not easily escape notice.

“If you do the simple calculation… if you were a single researcher and you were working eight hours a day every day of the week including weekends… it would take more than seven months,” Finkelstein said. “As a first approximation, you could say not much could have escaped the collective lens of 10,000 photographs and digital segments… So now, where was the digital a day every day of the week, including weekends… it would take more than seven months,” Finkelstein said. “As a first approximation, you could say not much could have escaped the collective lens evidence? There isn’t one.”

Asserting that the archive contains no media backing allegations of sexual assault, Finkelstein added: “I hope your viewers will hear this, your listeners: there is not one single frame of Hamas committing rape or sexual violence. Bear in mind, there’s not only just an absence of any digital evidence… not one single frame of rape, not one of sexual violence, not one frame.”

Addressing arguments that militant groups might have suppressed such recordings, Finkelstein countered by referencing claims that factions actively distributed other graphic material to terrify Israeli society. He argued that an archive meant for intimidation would not omit such imagery if it existed.

“She says that Hamas instrumentalized all this digital evidence to terrorize Israeli society; they purposely posted horrific pictures on their social media… So if Hamas had any pictures of sexual violence or rape, she’d have posted it,” he explained.

“According to her, that’s what she said: ‘They were purposely posting horrific images to terrify and terrorize Israeli society. They didn’t post anything. So what is the only, in my opinion, what’s the only possible conclusion? If they didn’t post any, it’s because they didn’t have any such images. And if they didn’t have any such images, it’s because it never happened.'”

Finkelstein draws a historical parallel

The discussion of the digital archive coincided with Finkelstein’s broader framing of the October 7 attacks in his new publication. In the book, Finkelstein draws an explicit historical parallel between the events of October 7 and Nat Turner’s 1831 slave revolt.

Referencing 19th-century abolitionists who opposed slavery while reacting to the bloodshed of the rebellion, Finkelstein argues that acts of mass violence carried out by oppressed populations must be understood within the context of systemic confinement and a total lack of alternative avenues for liberation.

Elkayam-Levy responds to Finkelstein’s claims

In a statement to The Jerusalem Post responding to Finkelstein’s claims, Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy said: “History has a way of isolating those who deny documented atrocities. Their voices may be loud today, but they will remain at the margins of history. Our responsibility is to continue sharing the stories revealed in Silenced No More, preserve the truth, honor the victims, and ensure accountability.”

“After two years of investigation, the Civil Commission reached an unequivocal conclusion: Hamas and its collaborators used sexual and gender-based violence as a systematic and integral part of the October 7 attacks and against hostages in captivity. Drawing on an unprecedented body of evidence, including survivor and eyewitness testimony, first responder accounts, authenticated visual documentation, and other primary sources, the Commission documented recurring patterns of rape, sexual torture, genital mutilation, forced nudity, postmortem sexual abuse, and other forms of conflict-related sexual violence.”

“These findings, preserved in a secure war crimes archive and supported by leading experts in international law, establish an enduring historical record. The most powerful response now to denial is to share our report Silenced No More, again and again, and help ensure these crimes are never forgotten,” the statement concluded.

The full Silenced No More report is available at: https://www.civilc.org/silenced-no-more.

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A 38-year-old Jerusalem teacher regained much of her vision after surgeons at Hadassah Medical Center implanted a ring made from donated human corneal tissue to treat an advanced case of keratoconus, the hospital said.

The patient, identified as Aya, had experienced severe deterioration in her eyesight after years of living with the condition, which causes the normally round cornea to thin and bulge outward into a cone-like shape. The resulting distortion can make everyday activities, including reading, driving, and working at a computer, increasingly difficult.

Aya had previously relied on specialized rigid contact lenses, which can create a smoother optical surface over the misshapen cornea. In recent years, however, her eyes could no longer tolerate the lenses. She experienced redness, pressure, pain, and headaches and eventually stopped driving.

Her work as a high school teacher also became difficult. She struggled to use a computer for more than a few minutes and had to stand close to the board while teaching. At times, she required help navigating her surroundings.

An optometrist eventually referred her to Prof. David Smadja, director of the Refractive Surgery Unit in Hadassah’s Ophthalmology Department.

Smadja recommended a procedure known as corneal allogeneic intrastromal ring segment implantation, or CAIRS. The emerging treatment uses tissue obtained from a donated human cornea to reshape and stabilize the patient’s cornea.

During the procedure, surgeons used a femtosecond laser to cut a precisely shaped segment from the donated tissue and create a channel inside Aya’s cornea. The tissue was then inserted into the channel, helping flatten the cone and produce a more regular corneal surface.

Smadja performs surgery alongside Anterior Segment Surgery Unit director

The surgery was performed by Smadja and Dr. Itay Lavy, director of Hadassah’s Anterior Segment Surgery Unit.

Synthetic plastic ring segments have also been used to reshape the cornea in patients with advanced keratoconus. Smadja said donor tissue may integrate more naturally with the patient’s cornea and could reduce some complications associated with synthetic implants.

For patients whose condition cannot be adequately managed with glasses, contact lenses, or other treatments, a partial or full corneal transplant may eventually be required. Hadassah doctors said the donor-tissue procedure could delay or, in some cases, prevent the need for a full transplant.

Patient conscious throughout procedure, noticed immediate vision improvement

Aya remained awake during the operation under local anesthesia and said she noticed a change almost immediately.

“I felt my vision improve even during the operation,” she said.

After several days of recovery, she returned to teaching, computer work, and driving. Hadassah said her vision had risen from approximately 10% before surgery to about 90% with glasses afterward. Her eye pressure and pain also subsided, according to the hospital.

“I got my independence back,” Aya said.

Published research has described CAIRS as a promising treatment for appropriate keratoconus patients. Studies have reported improvements in visual acuity and corneal shape, although researchers have said larger prospective studies and longer follow-up are needed to establish its long-term effectiveness and safety.

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A joint written submission has been presented to the Irish parliament’s Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade by the Ireland Israel Alliance (IIA) and UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), raising significant legal challenges regarding proposed trade legislation.  

The submission was signed by Jonathan Turner, Chief Executive of UK Lawyers for Israel, and Jackie Goodall, Executive Director of the Ireland Israel Alliance, arguing that the legislation is incompatible with both European Union law and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). 

Published as a General Scheme in June 2025, the Irish government’s Israeli Settlements (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill seeks to ban imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Framed as a response to the July 2024 International Court of Justice advisory opinion, the legislation aims to align state trade practices with international legal obligations.

The UKLFI and IIA submission contends that the proposed bill constitutes a “unilateral Irish measure” that is “incompatible with the EU’s Common Commercial Policy,” an area where the EU maintains exclusive competence.

Addressing the government’s reliance on the July 2024 International Court of Justice advisory opinion, the authors argue that this opinion “is not binding and is based on inaccurate information,” and further note that it “does not advise that a State must ban, or even may ban, the import of goods.”

Furthermore, the submission emphasizes that even if there had been a failure by EU bodies, “this would not justify unilateral action by Ireland within a field of exclusive EU competence,” adding that Ireland should instead “challenge their conduct in the EU Court of Justice.”

Challenge points out double standard in bill

The authors also examine potential government reliance on the “public policy” exception under EU regulations, noting that this provision can only apply where there is a “genuine and sufficiently serious threat to the requirements of public policy affecting one of the fundamental interests of society.”

They assert that it “cannot realistically be claimed” that importing goods from parts of the West Bank meets this test, pointing out that the bill would penalize “Palestinians, other nationals, and also Israelis who have not settled in the West Bank.”

To underline the inconsistency of this argument, the submission highlights a clear double standard, noting that the claim is heavily contradicted by the “lack of any prohibition on the import of goods from Western Sahara and Northern Cyprus, territories under unlawful occupation in which the occupying powers have settled large numbers of their own civilian populations.”

The authors add that, conversely, the “Irish government itself invests in companies that operate in these territories and the Irish Stock Exchange facilitates investment in such companies.”

Building on these contradictions, the report argues that far from helping Palestinians, the legislation would actually harm them economically. Israeli businesses operating in the region help enable self-determination and economic viability by employing many Palestinians in relatively well-paid jobs while actively promoting mutual understanding between their Palestinian and Israeli staff.

From an international trade perspective, the submission argues that prohibiting the importation of settlement goods constitutes a “quantitative restriction and a rejection of most-favored-nation treatment” barred under the GATT.

While analyzing the exception for measures “necessary to protect public morals” under Article XX(a) of the GATT, the authors maintain that the bill fails to satisfy the required process of “weighing and balancing” a series of factors established by WTO case law. Additionally, they caution that singling out the region alone “would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between countries where the same conditions prevail.”

Bill may have severe secondary consequences

The authors also warn of severe secondary consequences and reputational hazards. If enacted, opponents could argue that the law’s adoption was driven by “widespread antisemitism in Ireland” rather than genuine public policy, inviting damaging international publicity and undermining broader policy objectives.

Furthermore, the legislation exposes private companies to severe international boomerang effects, drawing a direct parallel to the fallout when Airbnb attempted to delist West Bank properties and immediately faced heavy retaliatory economic sanctions from US states such as Florida, Illinois, and Texas, alongside multiple civil rights lawsuits before ultimately reversing the policy.

The IIA and UKLFI concluded their submission by offering further written and oral evidence to assist the committee in evaluating the legislation from a critical legal perspective.

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London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been reported to a standards watchdog following his recent public remarks concerning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Labour Against Antisemitism (LAAS) leader Alex Hearn lodged a formal complaint against the mayor under the Greater London Authority code of conduct, citing breaches relating to “objectivity, honesty and community relations,” LAAS announced on social media after an initial report given to the Telegraph.  

The complaint stems from recent comments made by Khan during an interview with Channel 4 News, where he discussed whether the UK would enforce an international arrest warrant for Netanyahu and referred to the Israeli leader as a “perpetrator of genocide.” Hearn argued that while the mayor was entitled to his personal opinions, “his claim that Mr Netanyahu was a ‘perpetrator of genocide’ had not been determined by any judge or international body.” 

LAAS cites GLA code of conduct

In the complaint, LAAS cited the GLA code of conduct, which “emphasizes the need to foster good relations between different communities and Londoners with different characteristics.” Hearn noted that “more than half of all anti-Semitic incidents recorded in the United Kingdom in 2025 referenced or were connected to Israel or the conflict in Gaza.”

Detailing the action in their social media posts quoting the Telegraph report, a spokesperson for Labour Against Antisemitism stated that “the mayor’s comments were not just misleading.” The group added that “in the context of racist attacks against Jewish Londoners – the majority of which invoke Israel as a pretext – they were highly irresponsible”, asserting that “his words were the opposite of community safety, for which he is responsible.”

The controversy follows broader community concerns regarding public discourse and safety for Jewish residents in the capital. Hearn asserted that “in that context, a statement by the mayor as to who is and is not welcome in London, attached to a contested and legally undetermined accusation bound up with the state of Israel, is capable of being received by Jewish Londoners as bearing on their own standing in the city, irrespective of the mayor’s intention.”

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The autonomous Kurdistan Region of Northern Iraq has been attacked by around 1,000 missiles and drones since February, when the Us and Israeli war on Iran began. This has impacted the Kurdistan region greatly, leading to deaths and injuries of dozens of people and causing energy companies to suspend operations. Now the region faces a potential new challenge as US forces may be reducing their presence.

On July 31, Amerin Zaman at Al-Monitor reported that the “US nears full withdrawal from Iraq as bases in Kurdistan Region face attacks from Iran, proxies.” The concerning report indicates that “Patriot mobile air-to-surface air-defense systems that detect and shoot down incoming missiles, drones and other airborne enemy equipment have already been removed from the military compound, the sources said, without providing further details.”

She added that “the pullout started last week and is ongoing, with the bulk of the US forces and their heavy equipment out, the sources said. ‘All’ of the Patriot anti-missile batteries had been redeployed to an undisclosed destination, they said, adding that other defensive weapons systems remained in place as of the time of publication.”

Iran could interpret any repositioning of US forces or defenses as an opportunity to carry out more strikes or pressure the Kurdistan Region. The region is a key partner and ally of the US and other countries. It is also historically stable and secure. It is one place in Iraq where people are safe from Iranian-backed militias. However, the last six months have put it in the firing line. Many Kurdish Iranian opposition groups have bases in the Kurdistan Region of Northern Iraq. This is because their members live in exile, having fled Iran over the last decades. Iran has been striking at these groups.

Reports in March that Kurds might be pressured by Israel or the US to launch a major rebellion in Iran have also led Iran to crack down. This has put the Kurds in northern Iraq in a difficult position. They want to work closely with the US, but they don’t want to find themselves exposed in this war. Reports that the US may be redeploying will feed the fears that Kurds are being abandoned again. Kurds generally say they have no friends but the mountains where they live. A long history of being backed and then abandoned has left them wary. This goes back a 100 years to attempts Kurds made at statehood back in the 1930s and 1940s. The Kurds were also betrayed in the 1970s, and in the 1980s, Kurds in Iraq faced genocide at the hands of the Saddam regime.

Iran increases drone attacks on the region

Rudaw media in the Kurdistan region noted on August 2 that “Iran and Iran-aligned armed groups in Iraq have launched nearly 1,000 drones and missiles at the Kurdistan Region since February 28, when the US and Israel began their military campaign against Iran, according to Rudaw tracking. Tehran has also continued targeting Iranian Kurdish opposition groups based in the Region.”

The report notes that “according to Rudaw’s records, 966 one-way attack drones and missiles have been fired at the Kurdistan Region since the war began, killing 32 people and injuring around 150 others. In the past 24 hours alone, the Region has been hit by five drones – four in Sulaimani and one in Erbil.”

Attacks target Kurdish opposition groups and the US consulate in Erbil

Many attacks targeted Kurdish opposition groups and also targeted the US consulate in Erbil. The US has a large new consulate. “However, seven Peshmerga officers affiliated with the Kurdistan Regional Government, one Kurdish security officer, and two civilians have been killed in the attacks. At least 20 members of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups have also been killed,” Rudaw added.

It also noted there were new attacks over the weekend. Referencing the Al-Monitor report, it adds that this “also coincides with reports of a surprise relocation of the US Patriot and the British Rapid Sentry air defense systems, with only the C-RAM system remaining stationed. They intercepted about 75 percent of the strikes on the Kurdistan Region.”

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Lawyers for more than 8,000 people seeking to hold the Palestinian Authority responsible for harm caused by the October 7 massacre and the war that followed are expected to file written arguments with the Jerusalem District Court by the end of Sunday.

The short briefs will set out why the plaintiffs believe the PA should bear civil responsibility – and potentially be required to pay damages – for the deaths, injuries, and other harm caused by the attack and the ensuing war.

The filings are the first step in a court-ordered process aimed at answering a central question shared by thousands of separate lawsuits: whether the PA’s actions and policies can be linked closely enough to October 7 for it to be held legally responsible.

This is a developing story.

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Soldiers from the 401st Brigade completed their mission in southern Lebanon, destroying a total of 1,200 Hezbollah structures throughout the eight-month operation, the IDF announced on Sunday. 

The mission focused on defensive operations along the Lebanon border and offensive work within the security zone. Specifically, the troops seized weapons, destroyed hundreds of meters of underground tunnel systems, and dismantled terrorist infrastructure.

The 401st Brigade Combat Team, also known as the “Iron Tracks” Brigade, killed more than 60 Hezbollah terrorists and located over 600 weapons, including RPG rockets, anti-tank missiles, machine guns, and Kalashnikov rifles. 

“Our mission was clear: to prevent and push back the threat to Israeli civilians. This was the objective we repeated to ourselves every morning and every evening,” said Col. Yoav Schneider, Commander of the 401st Brigade.

IDF brigade killed Hezbollah terrorists, enforced security

Though the mission was an overall success, it didn’t come without a cost. Four soldiers in the 52nd battalion fell after Hezbollah struck a tank in southern Lebanon on June 21, identified as Lt.-Col. Dor Gedalia Ben-Simhon, 32, St.- Sgt. Yoav Klein, 21, St.-Sgt. Liav Kababia, 20, and St.-Sgt. Nave Habshoosh, 20.

“We will always remember the brigade’s fallen, and they will remain in our hearts forever. With the loss of every fallen troop, we grieve and bow our heads. At the same time, we immediately regroup and remain focused on completing the mission to ensure that their sacrifice was not in vain,” Schneider said. 

The IDF said its activity in the region focused on protecting Israeli troops and civilians after the Lebanese terror group renewed rocket and drone attacks in March.

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Longtime Magazine contributor Rabbi Moshe Taragin is an educator at Yeshivat Har Etzion, founded in 1968 to foster the love of God, of learning Torah, and of the people and the Land of Israel. 

Author of To Be Holy But Human and Reclaiming Redemption, he has written another book during these past three years of war. Through the prism of contemporary events, it reexamines questions of faith, identity, peoplehood, and redemption as the Jewish people speed up the return to their homeland from all over the world. 

The following excerpts from Reclaiming Redemption Vol. II: Faith, Identity, Peoplehood, and the Storms of War offer a glimpse into the book’s attempt to place today’s challenges within the broader sweep of Jewish history and Torah.

Recovering a lost voice

History has turned. In the lead-up to the end of time, humanity has slowly recovered its divine image and is gradually readying itself for redemption. 

Over the past 500 years, humanity has yanked itself out of the shadows and launched major revolutions advancing the human condition.

Science has equipped humanity with the tools to better understand and improve its world. Through its moral instinct, humanity has discovered democracy and has crafted civil societies to protect the dignity of man.

Are we ready to inspire? 

In some ways, the world is inching closer to a state of “readiness” to be inspired by God through Am Yisrael.

Are we ready? 

Are we capable of reclaiming our universalist voice? 

Have we forgotten that every single person possesses this divine image and divine potential – and that it is our duty to inspire them? 

After 2,000 years of turning inward, can we now also turn outward without diluting our inner world? 

This shift of consciousness and of national identity may take time. However, it is a crucial shift for history to continue its moral and religious evolution.

Holding on to faith

The Holocaust left our people with profound, agonizing questions that remain unanswered to this day. Our current trials, too, have shaken us, leaving us grappling with uncertainty.

One day, the answers will come. Until that day, we hold on to faith. We search for those who embody resilience, who illuminate the path of belief through their unwavering trust. 

We listen for the echoes of Jewish faith reverberating through history, drawing strength from those who came before us.

We remain loyal to them, summoning the faith that they carved out and that they expect from us. And in that strength, we find the courage to continue.

We often assume that faith is rooted in grand ideas articulated by great thinkers. We search for answers in philosophy and theology, believing that ideas alone can sustain belief. 

But faith, at its core, does not arise from abstract concepts but from people. 

It is not ideas that move us, but those who live and embody them. Ideas don’t move people; people move people. In moments of crisis, uncertainty and perplexity, we do not cling to theories; we hold fast to those who have passed faith down to us, drawing strength from their presence and example.

Exile among hostile nations 

Condemned to live among hostile nations determined to undermine our faith, we not only survived, but transformed the world into a vessel of monotheism, preserving the presence of Hashem on this Earth.

This endurance should fill us with confidence. The mesiras nefesh (“sacrifice”) of Am Yisrael over the past 2,000 years should infuse our tefillot (“prayers”) with both pride and anticipation. Our prayers must weave together the raw, desperate pleas of an underserving heart with the steadfast confidence earned through millennia of mesiras nefesh.

If this is true after 2,000 years of galus (“exile”), it is all the more so after the past two years. 

The child who cannot be cast out

The image of a ben sorer u’moreh (“stubborn and rebellious child”) reminds us that even in our rebellion, we remain Hashem’s children… By referring to us as having a lev sorer u’moreh (“stubborn and rebellious heart”), the Prophet Jeremiah offers a deeply compassionate perspective on Jewish failure. Though the image may sound harsh and castigating, it pulses with ahavas Yisrael (“love for our fellow Jew”): No matter how far we stray or how rebelliously we behave, a child can never be severed from the parent. Even in our failings, our bond with Hashem as our Father remains unbroken.

How did we survive? 

How did we pull off this miracle? What tools did Hashem empower us with to outlast this historical struggle?… 

Our nation was selected by Hashem because of two national tendencies. Firstly, we possess an uncanny ability to process supernatural information, such as Torah and prophecy. Secondly, we are a very stubborn people, unwilling to listen to others or bend in the face of adversity.

During the first 1,300 years of Jewish history, our stiff-necked stubbornness repeatedly sabotaged us. However, once we entered our dark galus, everything changed. Our national shortcomings became our forte. 

Facing a hostile world, we refused to abandon our ancient faith and our ancient traditions. [Despite distortions of] our Torah [ascending] to the forefront of the historical stage, we were not dispirited, clinging to our faith in the divine voice we alone heard at Sinai.

And our stubbornness prepared us for one final epic act of heroism. 

Having recovered from the Holocaust, the greatest horror to ever plague humanity, we were immediately tasked with returning to our homeland and rebuilding it in the face of unending hostility and international disapproval.

A nation of lesser valor and of lesser intransigence could not possibly have survived the darkness of the past 2,000 years.

RECLAIMING REDEMPTION, VOL. II: FAITH, IDENTITY, PEOPLEHOOD AND THE STORMS OF WAR
By Moshe Taragin
Kodesh Press
663 pages; $30

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The deadly confrontation in Tell near Nablus last week and the conflict that followed have intensified competing claims over settler violence and Palestinian attacks, while raising a broader question: how much further can the West Bank deteriorate before localized confrontations develop into a sustained uprising in the form of an intifada? 

The precise sequence of events at Tell remains hotly contested. 

Palestinian accounts said armed settlers entered the area surrounding Tell, southwest of Nablus, and confronted residents. During the encounter, a Palestinian seized a weapon from one of the Israelis and opened fire. Israeli soldiers then became involved. Four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed. 

Israeli accounts characterized the incident as a terrorist attack and emphasized that Palestinians had taken possession of a firearm and used it against Israelis. Publicly available videos documented parts of the confrontation but did not conclusively establish who fired every shot or the sequence leading to each fatality. 

Naomi Kahn, director of the International Division at the Israeli land-use advocacy group Regavim, cautioned that her assessment was based only on publicly available information. She nevertheless argued that initial allegations against settlers often receive greater attention than later information complicating the original account. 

“It comes onto the screen with a roar, and it goes off the screen with a whimper,” Kahn told The Media Line. 

Simcha Rothman, an Israeli lawmaker, similarly argued that the classification of an incident can determine the wider narrative. 

“We do not count as victims of terrorism people who went out to attack others and died as a result of self-defense,” Rothman told The Media Line. 

He said Palestinians who attacked Israelis, seized a weapon, and were subsequently shot could still be recorded in international databases as Palestinian fatalities connected to settlers. Rothman described the wider discourse surrounding settler violence as “a blood libel and wild lies,” he said. 

Tell clash tests efforts to prevent wider West Bank violence

Nidal Foqaha, a Palestinian political analyst, disputed the idea that Tell could be understood separately from the conditions surrounding it. He described the incident as a foreseeable result of settlement expansion, agricultural outposts and pressure on Palestinian land and livelihoods. 

“Unfortunately, this is the result of the Israeli government’s ongoing policies on the ground, particularly the expansion of the settlement project through the many farms spread across the Palestinian territories, mainly throughout Area C. It has now started expanding into Area B and probably even Area A,” Foqaha told The Media Line. 

“This policy, which is linked to violent and terrorist behavior by radical Israeli settlers in the West Bank, has created enormous despair and frustration among Palestinians. As a result, we witnessed what happened on Friday in Tell,” he asserted

“Palestinians have found themselves losing their sources of livelihood, including their land, olive trees, sheep, and cattle,” Foqaha said. “This situation resulted in this explosion. Unfortunately, it was expected. Anyone looking at the reality on the ground and what is happening in the West Bank would have expected that it would come one day,” he claimed.

Abdallah Abu Rahma, director general of Popular Action and Resilience Support at the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, said Palestinian residents were initially unarmed and inside the village when the Israelis approached. 

“The Palestinian citizens in Tell were not armed. They were on their own land and inside their homes,” Abu Rahma said. “They did not go to the settlers. They were in their homes. The settlers were the ones who came to them.” 

He acknowledged that a Palestinian later took possession of a weapon but disputed the interpretation that the man intended to carry out a premeditated attack. 

“It is clear that Farouq was running away from them,” Abu Rahma said. “Farouq then managed to throw away the weapon he had taken because he did not want to carry out any operation. He went to surrender himself to the army,” he added. 

Israeli accounts maintain that the seized firearm was used against Israelis, and the public material does not resolve every stage of the encounter. 

The territorial status of the area is also disputed. Kahn placed the confrontation “more or less on a seamline between Area C” and “Area B.” Under the Oslo framework, Area C remains under full Israeli civilian and security control, while in Area B the Palestinian Authority(PA) administers civilian affairs and Israel retains security authority. Several international outlets, however, located the event in Area A, where the PA holds civilian and security responsibility. 

Rothman argued that unauthorized entry into an area does not justify violence against the person who entered. 

“Israeli Arabs, citizens of Israel, enter Area A all the time,” he said, noting that many travel there to shop. “There is a subtext that says that if you are Jewish, there are areas you are forbidden to enter.” 

Beyond the legal dispute, the four interviews produced sharply different assessments of why armed civilians approached the village, how the military responded and whether Israeli security forces apply the law impartially. 

Abu Rahma argued that the distinction between settlers and the military has become increasingly blurred since October 7, 2023, as reservists and members of local security units were mobilized. 

“Today, the role of the army and the settlers is comprehensive. In previous stages, we used to say that the army protected the settlers during their attacks. But today, what we see is that the army participates in the settlers’ attacks,” he claimed.

Israelis who attack Palestinians are ‘small handful’

Kahn rejected the characterization of settler violence as an organized campaign. She acknowledged that some Israelis attack Palestinians but described those involved as “a small handful of generally very young people,” including minors who have left conventional family and educational frameworks and sometimes also confront the IDF. 

“It’s not an organized anything,” she said. “It’s a collection of troubled teens,” she added. 

Kahn estimated that fewer than 0.2% of the Israeli population living in Judea and Samaria/The West Bank had participated in such confrontations. She described genuine attacks against Palestinians as “deplorable” and said those responsible should be investigated and prosecuted, but rejected using those cases to characterize the broader Israeli population in the territory. 

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has documented a sustained rise in incidents involving Israeli settlers that resulted in Palestinian casualties or property damage, including physical assaults, damage to homes and vehicles, livestock theft, destruction of agricultural land and restrictions on access to water and grazing areas. 

Regavim disputes how those incidents are categorized. Its 2025 report, False Flags and Real Agendas, examined 8,332 incident entries used in an OCHA dataset covering January 2016 through April 2023. The organization argued that the database combined deliberate attacks by Israelis with acts of self-defense, administrative enforcement, confrontations involving Israeli security forces, and Palestinians injured or killed while carrying out attacks or alleged attacks.

It cited OCHA’s definition, which says its data “also includes Palestinians killed or injured during attacks or alleged attacks they perpetrated against Israeli settlers.” Regavim acknowledged that Israelis sometimes commit violence against Palestinians and said such cases merit condemnation and prosecution. 

OCHA’s figures document reported events and their consequences but do not resolve the disputed circumstances of every case. Regavim’s methodological criticism, in turn, does not establish that all or most reported attacks were incorrectly classified. 

For Palestinians living near settlements and outposts, the effect is measured not only through casualty data but also through access to farmland, roads, grazing areas and water sources. 

Foqaha said agricultural outposts were particularly consequential because a small number of residents could establish control over a much larger area. 

“We are talking about approximately 130 farms in the West Bank. We are not talking about tens of thousands of people living on these farms. Most of them contain between five and ten people, and sometimes even fewer,” he said. 

“This means that, if there is a political decision and if there is the will, the phenomenon can definitely be contained. But until today, there has been no such decision,” he added. 

In the Jordan Valley, Foqaha said he had personally witnessed the effect on Palestinian agriculture. 

“I see that the settlers throughout the Jordan Valley have not left a single water spring for Palestinians to irrigate their crops or provide water for their livestock,” he claimed. 

“This is an example of what is happening throughout the Palestinian territories. Palestinians are aware that there is an ultimate objective behind all these policies. When you take away all their sources of livelihood, prevent them from working inside Israel and impose all these restrictions on them, it is an attempt to push them out of this space,” he added. 

Abu Rahma separately claimed that small groups based in settler outposts communicate and coordinate with one another. 

“These groups are organized and coordinated. They communicate with one another in order to attack Palestinian citizens,” he alleged. 

That assertion directly contradicts Kahn’s description of those involved as disconnected and troubled young people rather than participants in an organized structure. 

IDF operations intensify in West Bank

Following Tell, the Israeli military intensified operations across the northern West Bank. Roads and village entrances were blocked, searches were conducted, and dozens of Palestinians were detained. Israeli authorities described the operations as necessary to locate suspects, seize weapons, and prevent further attacks. Kahn argued that the restrictions primarily concerned access to Israeli-controlled territory rather than movement within areas administered by the Palestinian Authority. 

Abu Rahma said the closures extended across a broader network of Palestinian roads and village entrances. 

“The Israeli army is blocking roads. This is the army’s role alongside the settler groups,” he said. “Villages are completely closed, and their gates are closed, preventing citizens from entering or leaving,” he added. 

“This affects freedom of movement, freedom of worship, access to education, access to medical treatment and the ability to work,” he said. 

The military response was accompanied by rhetoric of retaliation from members of Israel’s governing coalition, while further attacks and confrontations were reported around Nablus, Hebron and nearby villages. 

Rothman placed responsibility for Palestinian attacks on the Palestinian Authority’s education system, official media and prisoner-payment policy. He also argued that “European governments financing Palestinian institutions should examine where that money is directed and whether it supports structures that encourage violence.” 

Foqaha, by contrast, defended the PA’s decision not to deploy its forces into an open confrontation with the Israeli army or armed settlers. 

“The suggestion that it should send forces into a confrontation is not realistic at all, and it is not responsible,” he said. 

“This is actually what the radical, extreme voices in Israel want. They want an open confrontation with the PA in order to turn the entire West Bank into what happened in the Gaza Strip – or, in the least severe scenario, into what happened in the refugee camps,” he alleged. 

Foqaha said the PA had instead chosen political and diplomatic channels to prevent further deterioration. 

“It would bring extremely damaging and fatal consequences for both Palestinians and Israelis,” he said. “This is what the Palestinian Authority does not want,” he added. 

The danger is that the ability of political and security institutions to restrain events may weaken as confrontations become more frequent and geographically dispersed. 

Abu Rahma called for peaceful popular resistance, local protection committees and international intervention. 

“One side has protection and assistance from the army, the police, the judiciary and legislation, as well as access to weapons,” he said. “The other side consists of civilians whose fundamental means of resistance are remaining on their land and maintaining their resilience,” he asserted.

He warned that continued attacks on families, homes and property could eventually produce reactions political institutions might be unable to contain. 

“It is a human instinct to defend our children, our property and our existence,” Abu Rahma said. “Unfortunately violence can lead to further violence,” he added. 

Rothman rejected the premise that the principal danger of escalation stems from Israeli military operations or settler violence. Citing open-source material concerning PA forces, he described them as “an organized army of the Palestinian Authority” and claimed that elements within the system were “planning an October 7 for us, from their perspective, in Judea and Samaria.” 

Kahn likewise said Israel could not depend entirely on PA forces to prevent violence, pointing to previous cases in which Palestinian security personnel were accused of attacking Israelis. She argued that Israel must retain the ability to enter PA-administered areas, arrest suspects and impose temporary restrictions when necessary to prevent “further flare-ups.” 

This post was originally published on here. 

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad has agreed to the disarmament deal set forth by US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, the Saudi state-owned Al-Hadath reported on Sunday afternoon, citing a source familiar with the matter.

The deal, announced by Trump on Thursday night, includes the complete disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in the Gaza Strip, which would then lead to an IDF withdrawal.

Following the withdrawal, the International Stabilization Force (ISF) will begin reconstruction in cooperation with new civil forces. Israel has criticized the agreement, saying that its implementation hinges on disarming Hamas as a pre-condition.

Hamas reportedly begins distributing personal weapons to members 

Late Saturday night, however, a Palestinian source told Israeli public broadcaster KAN News that “Hamas will not disarm. Period.”

According to the source, Hamas began distributing individual weapons to the terrorist group’s operatives in the Gaza Strip amid the announcement of the deal.

The goal of the rifle distribution is to ensure that weapons stay in the hands of Hamas members under the guise of personal ownership. 

Ruby Sadikman contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here.