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US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday in a post to Truth Social that he has agreed to a request from the military to transform his proposed triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC, into a facility for housing and deploying drones and sniper ammunition. 

Trump cited national security concerns for the move but did not mention any specific threats in the post.

“There will be no facility like this anywhere in the World. Out of the 59 top cities and Capitals, Washington, D.C., IS THE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD THAT DOES NOT HAVE A TRIUMPHAL ARCH, but it will now and, by far, the greatest of them all!” Trump’s post stated.

Growing pushback on Trump’s triumphal arch

Trump’s plan to build the arch has faced heavy criticism since its announcement for various reasons, including its location and the potential to obstruct views of other monuments in Washington.

The Federal Aviation Administration said last week that the 250-foot (76-meter) arch would not pose a hazard to aircraft but would be required to have an “eternal flame” on top, clearing an aviation hurdle for the arch, which Trump proposed to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Aviation experts have raised safety concerns given its proximity to Reagan Washington National Airport while veterans have sued to block the arch, arguing it would destroy the historic sightline between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

The project is part of the president’s broader drive to reshape Washington’s monumental landscape, including a new White House ballroom, renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and redevelopment of a golf course in East Potomac Park.

Uruguay’s governing Broad Front, known locally as the Frente Amplio, unanimously endorsed a pro-Palestinian march scheduled for Montevideo on October 8, calling on supporters to join the demonstration and urging President Yamandú Orsi’s government to pursue further international action on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The coalition’s national political committee approved the decision on Monday. The march, organized by Coordinación por Palestina en Uruguay, is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. local time in central Montevideo and proceed toward Plaza Independencia, according to Uruguayan news outlet la diaria. Organizers are promoting the demonstration under the slogan “Free Palestine or barbarism.”

In its resolution, the Broad Front accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of carrying out “genocide” in Gaza and said it was joining international demonstrations in solidarity with Palestinians. Israel has rejected accusations of genocide, saying its military campaign was directed against Hamas following the terrorist organization’s October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.

The October 8 demonstration comes almost three years after the Hamas-led massacre, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages into Gaza. The Gaza war that followed continued until a ceasefire took effect in October 2025.

The Broad Front called for respect for international law and human rights across the region, specifically mentioning the West Bank and Lebanon, and reiterated its support for a two-state solution. It also urged Uruguay’s government to continue promoting initiatives in international forums aimed at reaching a lasting resolution to the conflict.

The party’s position reflects a more forceful line on Israel than the language generally adopted by Orsi’s government. Reports in Uruguay have described tensions within the governing coalition over foreign policy, with the Broad Front using the term “genocide” regarding Gaza while the government has stopped short of adopting the same characterization.

Orsi, who took office in 2025 after winning Uruguay’s presidential election as the Broad Front candidate, had previously been viewed as comparatively less hostile toward Israel than several other left-wing leaders in Latin America. Before becoming president, he visited Israel and Yad Vashem, and his election drew attention partly because of divisions over Israel within the Latin American left.

Uruguay suspended cooperation agreement with Hebrew University in 2025

Relations nevertheless faced new strains under his administration. In August 2025, Uruguay suspended a cooperation agreement with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, citing Israel’s planned operations in Gaza City. Israel’s Embassy in Uruguay criticized the decision at the time.

Uruguay’s Foreign Ministry has continued to formally support a two-state solution and maintains diplomatic relations with both Israel and the Palestinians. The ministry describes Uruguay-Israel diplomatic relations as uninterrupted since 1948 and notes that Uruguay was among the first countries to recognize the newly established State of Israel.

Antisemitic incident in Montevideo concerns Uruguay’s Jewish community

Political debate over Israel has also coincided with concerns among Uruguay’s Jewish community. In November 2025, two Jewish teenagers were chased and threatened in Montevideo in an incident that Jewish community representatives described as antisemitic. A 2026 study of Spanish-language social media also found that antisemitic online content remained above pre-October 7 levels, with Uruguay among the countries highlighted in the findings.

The Broad Front previously backed a similar Palestinian solidarity mobilization in 2025. Its latest resolution calls on Uruguay’s national government to remain active in international forums while formally bringing the country’s dominant political coalition into the October 8 demonstration.

In the same week that Russian ships returned to Syria’s coast to resupply facilities still used by Moscow, representatives of around 50 American companies were sitting down with Syrian officials in Damascus to discuss investment, energy, telecommunications, and financial services.

At first glance, the two scenes appear to represent competing directions in post-Bashar Assad Syria: Russia trying to preserve what remains of its military presence, while the United States moves in through investment, economic engagement, and Syria’s reintegration into Western markets and institutions.

But interviews conducted by The Media Line suggest a more complicated picture. Damascus does not appear intent on replacing Moscow with Washington overnight. Instead, it is trying to redefine its relationship with Russia on more limited terms while simultaneously building a broader relationship with the United States.

On September 7, a convoy of four Russian vessels arrived at the port of Tartus to resupply Russian facilities on the Syrian coast, the first such operation since Damascus and Moscow reached a new understanding in August over the future of Russia’s presence in Syria. Satellite imagery and accounts from the ground confirmed the ships’ presence, although neither Damascus nor Moscow officially disclosed the contents of the shipment.

The operation followed roughly 18 months of negotiations that ended with a memorandum of understanding redefining the status of Russian facilities in Tartus and Hmeimim. Under the arrangement, the Syrian state assumes control of civilian facilities, including civilian operations at Hmeimim airport and the commercial berth at Tartus port, while military facilities are transformed into joint training and capacity-building centers, with a continued Russian presence under the new arrangements.

For Professor Mahmoud Hamo al-Hamza, a Syrian mathematician, historian of science, and expert on Russian political affairs, the developments do not represent a return to the alliance that bound Moscow and Damascus during Assad’s rule.

“Today, it is certainly no longer a strategic relationship, but it has indeed become more pragmatic,” al-Hamza told The Media Line. “Both sides realized that it is necessary to preserve the relationship within certain limits, but on new foundations that guarantee the sovereignty of each state, especially Syria, and that the relationship should be one of equals and based on mutual interests.”

Syria’s central role in Russian Middle East strategy under Assad regime

Under Assad, Russian-Syrian relations extended across arms sales, military training, energy, trade, education, and politics. Following Russia’s military intervention in Syria in 2015, Hmeimim and Tartus became central pillars of Moscow’s military presence in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Today, al-Hamza says many aspects of that relationship are “almost frozen,” and that Moscow and Damascus are trying to construct a new model that no longer gives Russia the freedom of movement it once enjoyed.

He says limited areas of military cooperation may remain, including training, arms imports, and security cooperation, but argues that the essential difference is that, if they continue, such activities will take place under independent Syrian decision-making.

“Russia is a major state, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and possesses enormous military power,” al-Hamza said. “Russia is an important country that cannot simply be ignored, but Syria is not required to maintain the kind of excellent relations with Moscow that existed before. There can be commercial, military, or training interests, but all of it must be based on an independent Syrian decision.”

US delegation visits Syria to discuss investments, trade

At the same time, Syrian-American relations are expanding in a very different direction. This week, the first US Chamber of Commerce mission to Syria arrived in Damascus, bringing representatives from 50 companies and more than 80 participants from different sectors. The delegation held a series of meetings with government officials and business leaders to discuss investment, trade, and potential partnerships.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Jacob McGee said during the meetings that Washington is encouraging American companies to invest in Syria. He said firms including Chevron, HKN, Visa, and Mastercard had begun taking steps to enter the Syrian market or had signed agreements with Syrian entities.

The business mission comes as Washington dismantles many of the restrictions that once stood between Syria and the international economy. The United States ended its comprehensive sanctions program on Syria in 2025 while maintaining targeted sanctions on specific individuals and entities. On Aug. 24, Washington removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, eliminating another major obstacle to investment.

Can Syria open up to US while maintaining Russia ties?

The growing relationship raises a fundamental question: Can Syria open up to the United States on this scale while maintaining some form of military cooperation with Russia?

Political analyst Mohammad Alaa Ghanem believes Washington is, for now, approaching this equation with a high degree of pragmatism.

Ghanem told The Media Line that the continued presence of a “limited Russian military footprint” in Syria does not appear, by itself, to be an obstacle to improving Syrian-American relations.

He said Washington is more focused on “the nature, scale, and function of that Russian presence,” and on whether it gives Moscow broad influence over Syrian decision-making or allows Syrian territory to be used in support of wider Russian military objectives in the region.

According to Ghanem, US priorities are centered on security and stability, preventing the return of extremist groups, and opening the door to investment and Syria’s economic reintegration.

“Washington does not necessarily need to demand that Damascus cut ties with Russia,” he said. “Rather, it is seeking to reduce Syria’s dependence on it.”

Instead of asking whether Russia will remain in Syria or leave entirely, competition may increasingly revolve around the extent of Damascus’ dependence on Moscow and whether the United States and its partners can provide viable economic and commercial alternatives.

Damascus seeks alternatives to dependence on Russia

In August, Reuters reported that Damascus had expressed willingness during talks with Washington to sharply reduce imports of Russian oil. Sources said the United States had not made that step a formal condition for removing Syria from the state sponsors of terrorism list, but had encouraged Damascus to reduce its dependence on Moscow. At the time, Syria was importing around 60,000 barrels per day of Russian oil.

Ghanem says American and Western investment could give Damascus alternatives in energy, trade, finance, and reconstruction, gradually reducing Moscow’s ability to maintain its status as an indispensable partner.

The need for alternatives is not only geopolitical.

Syria witnessed widespread protests this month after fuel prices were raised, including road blockades, burning tires, and disruption of some tanker convoys. The Energy Ministry said the increases were linked to higher import costs and Syria’s heavy dependence on external supplies, as well as pressure on Russian deliveries and the closure of the Baniyas refinery for maintenance.

The government responded Thursday by announcing lower diesel prices for heating, agriculture, and industry, partially reversing the increases that helped trigger the protests.

Opening markets, attracting investment, and securing new energy sources are therefore domestic economic priorities as well as elements of Syria’s changing foreign relations.

Al-Hamza says Russia is uncomfortable with the speed at which relations between Damascus and Washington are developing, but he believes Moscow’s ability to influence Syrian choices is far weaker than it was during the Assad era.

“Russia is not comfortable with the American presence, the broad American role, and the good relations between the United States and the new Syria. There is no doubt about that,” he said.

Still, he added, Moscow is trying to preserve its channels with Damascus after losing much of the influence it once enjoyed.

Al-Hamza sees no benefit for Syria in replacing dependence on Russia with similar dependence on another power. He said the policy emerging in Damascus is based on “maintaining balanced relations with all countries of the world” and avoiding joining one alliance against another.

At the same time, he considers Syria’s current relationship with Washington far broader than its newly redefined relationship with Moscow, which is still in the early stages of being rebuilt. Ghanem agrees that Damascus can, for now, maintain relations with both sides, but he believes the hardest test has yet to come.

Conflicts between US, Russian interests could emerge in Syria

The more Syrian-American cooperation expands into security, intelligence, energy, and finance, and the more military cooperation with Moscow deepens in parallel, the greater the likelihood that areas of direct conflict between American and Russian interests will emerge.

Ghanem said maintaining the balance “will become more difficult as cooperation with both sides deepens in sensitive military, intelligence, and economic files.”

For that reason, he argues that the competition for influence in Syria will not necessarily revolve around expelling Russia entirely or replacing it with the United States. The issue, he said, will be “how much influence Moscow is able to retain, and how successful Washington is in building long-term political and economic influence inside the new Syria.”

This week offered an unusually clear illustration of that competition.

Russia is still able to send ships to Tartus and resupply its remaining presence, while dozens of American companies are arriving in Damascus in search of investment opportunities. Moscow retains military relationships built over decades; Washington is increasingly entering through markets, finance, and trade.

Damascus is trying to make use of both without returning to full dependence on either.

Whether it can maintain that balance when Russian and American interests collide will be a much harder test.

It was like something out of a movie. It was surreal.

It was a magical evening of basketball as Yam Madar returned to Yad Eliyahu, only this time wearing the yellow-and-blue of Maccabi Tel Aviv rather than the red of his former club, Hapoel Tel Aviv. Madar led his new team with an MVP performance as Maccabi captured the preseason Super Cup with a convincing 101-83 victory.

The last time we saw Madar was during last season’s championship series, when the two archrivals faced off in a series Maccabi eventually won 3-1. Madar played a leading role for Dimitrios Itoudis’ Hapoel squad. Now, remarkably, he was playing for the man who had been standing on the opposite sideline – Maccabi coach Oded Katash.

Only sports can provide such drama, theater and showmanship.

It’s not every day that a player who grew up through Hapoel’s youth system, before being selected by the Boston Celtics in the NBA Draft, decides to cross the street and join the other side. But there was Madar, trading red for yellow-and-blue and embracing a much bigger role than the one he had previously held.

Despite the pressure, Madar shows he’s prepared

It takes a special kind of player to make such a move, knowing the pressure and criticism that will inevitably follow. Madar, however, showed that he was prepared to handle it and, ultimately, do what he believed was best for his career.

The Maccabi fans welcomed him with pomp and circumstance, song and dance, setting the stage for Madar’s coronation as a new Maccabi star.

Then he stepped onto the court, shook hands with his former teammates and got to work.

After an aggressive drive that didn’t quite go his way, Madar quickly settled in, drilling a three-pointer for his first points in yellow-and-blue before giving his patented gunshot salute. He then found Keaton Wallace in the corner with a perfect pass, allowing Wallace to knock down another three.

As the opening quarter wound down with the score fittingly tied at 26 – Madar’s jersey number – who else would get the ball? Madar received it inside the paint, faked, turned and knocked down a short jumper to give Maccabi a 28-26 lead after 10 minutes.

Madar was just getting started

Madar opened the second quarter by hounding Max Heidegger into a backcourt advantage and sending Madar into double figures.

Maccabi continued to pour on the offense after the break, with Iffe Lundberg, Roman Sorkin, Will Rayman, and Bonzie Colson all contributing while Madar took a breather. When he returned, he controlled the ball like a yo-yo, bouncing it up, down and around as Maccabi pulled away to a 79-56 lead after three quarters.

Madar returned to the scoresheet early in the final frame to the delight of the home crowd, while the anticipation grew as the Super Cup and MVP trophies appeared on the sidelines.

Maccabi continued to roll, with newcomer Armando Bacot finding his offense and TJ Leaf returning from a lengthy injury layoff to contribute. But this night belonged to Madar.

When the final buzzer sounded, the yellow-and-blue lifted the trophy high into the air.

For Madar, it was a storybook ending to his first game in a Maccabi uniform. His debut could hardly have gone better.

Now, however, the real challenge begins.

The EuroLeague awaits next week, and the preseason page has officially been turned. If this magical evening was any indication, Madar and Maccabi Tel Aviv appear ready for what comes next.

The title of one of the most discussed films to emerge from this year’s Venice Film Festival is not the name of an artificial intelligence system. NAZA is Israeli military shorthand derived from nezek agavi: collateral damage.

It refers to the unintended harm expected beyond the military target of an attack. That distinction is also at the center of a problem with the documentary’s framing. If the Israeli military is calculating expected civilian harm before an attack, what is that calculation intended to accomplish?

The 80-minute documentary by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor premiered in Venice on September 10 and received the festival’s Special Jury Prize.

The official Venice synopsis says the film examines what it describes as systems behind Israel’s “calculated mass killing” of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Its case relies heavily on anonymous Israeli military and intelligence personnel describing targeting procedures, artificial intelligence tools and levels of civilian casualties allegedly accepted during the war.

Yet calculating collateral damage is not, by itself, evidence that civilians were targeted. The Israeli military says the assessment exists for the opposite reason: commanders must estimate the likely incidental harm from each strike, compare it with the anticipated military advantage, and consider measures that could reduce civilian harm.

Strikes should not proceed if the collateral damage is excessive 

Under the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) published procedures, a strike should not proceed if the expected collateral damage is excessive in relation to that advantage.

Cyber intelligence expert Matías Rott said the meaning of the term is crucial to understanding the argument. “NAZA means collateral damage,” Rott told The Media Line, describing harm caused to people or structures that were not themselves the intended objective of a strike.

For Rott, the use of artificial intelligence to calculate that harm is fundamentally a decision-support function. Such technology can integrate large volumes of intelligence, model a target’s surroundings, and help assess variables that may affect the consequences of an attack. “When you are working with this AI, for sure what you are willing or intending is to minimize collateral damages,” he said.

Rott gave the example of attacking a building from different directions. An impact on one side could place another structure in the blast area, while an attack from another direction could face an open space. The weapon selected, its precision, and the direction from which it is used can therefore change the expected harm outside the target.

“All these kinds of things are taken in consideration,” he said, with artificial intelligence helping assess how to conduct an attack “in order to minimize the collateral damage” while still attempting to achieve the military objective.

The dispute surrounding NAZA, then, is not really over whether Israel measures collateral damage. Both the military and the filmmakers’ own previous reporting establish that it does. The more consequential dispute is what limits were placed on that damage, how reliable the estimates were, and what happened when the predicted civilian toll approached those limits.

That distinction is visible even in Abraham’s reporting from two years before the film.

In April 2024, Abraham reported for +972 Magazine and Local Call that the military used a system known as Lavender to process intelligence concerning suspected Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives. Six intelligence sources alleged that officers relied heavily on its outputs during the early stages of the war, sometimes providing only limited human review.

Strikes were ‘subject to an examination of collateral damage’

But the same investigation repeatedly described collateral-damage calculations as a condition for whether a strike could proceed.

One intelligence source quoted in the report said that after Lavender identified a suspected operative and a human checked the target, bombing remained “subject to an examination of collateral damage.” Elsewhere, the investigation says some attacks against suspected junior operatives were not carried out when the expected number of civilians in the building exceeded the permitted collateral-damage level.

That does not settle the controversy in Israel’s favor. The sources made a different and serious allegation: that during parts of the war the permitted threshold itself was too high.

According to the documentary, two sources told Abraham that during the initial weeks of fighting, attacks against some suspected low-ranking fighters could be authorized with an anticipated civilian toll of up to 15 or 20 people. The IDF disputed that description, saying it assessed targets individually and did not strike when expected collateral damage was excessive relative to the military advantage.

The same investigation also challenged the accuracy of the calculations. Sources said automated estimates of how many civilians remained inside buildings could rely on prewar residency figures adjusted to broader evacuation estimates, rather than on direct, real-time confirmation of who was present.

Those allegations point to a more precise criticism than simply saying that Israel “calculated” civilian casualties. A collateral-damage system can be intended to reduce civilian harm and still be criticized for inaccurate inputs, permissive thresholds, or insufficient human scrutiny. The existence of the calculation and the quality of that calculation are separate questions.

The IDF also rejects portrayals of Lavender and Habsora as autonomous targeting machines. In its public explanation of the systems, the military describes Habsora as a tool that brings potentially relevant objects to an intelligence analyst’s attention and Lavender as a database that cross-references existing intelligence about suspected operatives. Neither, the military says, can independently establish that a person or object is a lawful military target.

Rott similarly said artificial intelligence can dramatically accelerate analysis but does not eliminate the human chain of command. “For sure, the last call is going to be a human being,” he said. “Somebody has to accept, somebody has to push a button, somebody has to agree in order to perform an attack.”

He nevertheless identified a legitimate question raised by the film: whether that person is independently evaluating the intelligence or merely approving an output produced by automated systems. “The dilemma right now,” Rott said, is whether the human was acting “as a rubber stamp” or genuinely processing the information before making the decision.

The IDF has categorically rejected NAZA’s allegations and challenged the filmmakers’ reliance on anonymous witnesses whose identities, positions and access to the decisions they describe cannot be publicly verified. Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has also ordered further action over the film, including an examination of whether classified material was leaked.

What the filmmakers ultimately establish will be easier to assess once NAZA is released more widely. For now, the terminology itself matters. A military does not need a collateral-damage estimate to know how effectively it can destroy a target.

It needs that estimate to know what else may be destroyed, and to decide whether and how the strike should proceed. The dispute left by NAZA is therefore not why Israel calculated civilian harm, but whether the limits placed on that harm were adequate and whether the calculations on which those decisions rested could be trusted.

Ra’am, the Joint List, Balad and two Joint List candidates have asked the Central Elections Committee to reject six challenges seeking to bar them from taking part in the election for the 26th Knesset.

Adalah filed responses on Friday on behalf of Ra’am, the Joint List, Balad, MK Ofer Cassif and former MK Sami Abu Shehadeh. No list, party or candidate has yet been disqualified; the committee must first hear the cases and vote on them.

The names reflect a decade of shifting alliances among four political organizations. Ra’am – the Hebrew acronym for the United Arab List – is running independently. The Joint List brings together Hadash, Ta’al and Balad.

All four formed the original Joint List before the 2015 election. Ra’am left in 2021, and the remaining alliance split in 2022, when Hadash and Ta’al ran together, and Balad ran alone. Balad returned for the 2026 election, creating the two lists now at issue: Ra’am and the reconstituted three-party Joint List.

One of the requests for removal came from the Orot Hashachar party, which has asked the committee to disqualify Balad itself, even though Balad is now part of the Joint List. Balad says Israeli election law allows the committee to bar an entire list or an individual candidate, but not one party from inside a joint slate.

If the committee agrees, it could reject the request without deciding whether the allegations against Balad are true.

The other requests invoke grounds set out in Basic Law: The Knesset. A list or candidate may be barred for rejecting Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, inciting racism, or supporting armed struggle against Israel by an enemy state or terrorist organization.

Supreme Court has set high bar for disqualifying Knesset candidates

The Supreme Court has set a high bar for doing so. Disqualification cannot rest on a stray quotation or isolated act; the evidence must clearly show that the prohibited position is central to the list or candidate.

The Central Elections Committee is chaired by Supreme Court Deputy President Noam Sohlberg, but its members are representatives of the Knesset factions. They hear the arguments and vote. If they bar an individual candidate, that decision is not final unless the Supreme Court approves it. Decisions involving full candidate lists can also reach the court on appeal.

Three of the six requests target Ra’am. They were filed separately by Otzma Yehudit and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Likud, and the Choosing Life forum.

The three requests overlap but are not identical. Together, they allege organizational or ideological links between Ra’am, the southern branch of the Islamic Movement and the Muslim Brotherhood, and refer to three nonprofit groups: Aid 48, the Humanitarian Deeds Association and the Al-Aqsa Association. Among the material cited is a July 2025 report by the Registrar of Associations, the Justice Ministry regulator responsible for overseeing nonprofit organizations, as well as court proceedings concerning bank accounts, which the applicants say show that donations promoted through Ra’am channels ultimately reached prohibited organizations or groups affiliated with Hamas.

Ra’am denies any formal or organizational relationship with the nonprofit groups, saying that the material concerns other bodies and does not show that Ra’am supported Hamas’s armed struggle or that of any other organization. It also says no officeholder in the associations was investigated for terror financing or another financial offense.

The party notes that similar claims were rejected in 2022, when the attorney-general submitted a position that included a Shin Bet review and the committee voted 14-0 against disqualification. The current applicants say information released since then changes the case; Ra’am says the new material still cannot be attributed to the party itself.

Islamist party Ra’am highlights chair Abbas’s condemnation of October 7 massacre, work to secure hostage release

Ra’am also points to chairman Mansour Abbas’s condemnations of the October 7 attacks and his contacts with hostage families and efforts to secure the captives’ release.

Likud has asked the committee to bar both the Joint List and Cassif, relying on party platforms, proposed laws, public statements and Cassif’s political activity abroad. The Joint List says much of the material is old, distorted or already considered in earlier election cases, and that the Balad platform quoted by Likud is outdated.

Likud argues that Cassif’s criticism of Israel during the war and his activity overseas amount to support for the enemy’s armed struggle, describing his conduct as “assisting the enemy in wartime,” but Cassif has not been charged with that offense and no court has made such a finding. He says he condemned Hamas’s attack and opposes violence as a political tool.

Otzma Yehudit and Ben-Gvir have filed a separate request against Abu Shehadeh, Balad’s chairman and the third candidate on the Joint List. Their case centers on an Arabic-language article he published on October 8, 2023, describing the Hamas attack as an “important historic event” in military, political and strategic terms and saying others could learn from Gaza’s success in surprising Israel.

Abu Shehadeh says the article analyzed the attack’s political consequences and did not praise the killing of civilians. He said this weekend that he would not have published it had he known the full scale of the atrocities, and he denies supporting the massacre or political violence.

Ben-Gvir argues that the article shows support for Hamas’s attack and says Abu Shehadeh has no place in the Knesset. 

The Joint List-Cassif and Balad proceedings are scheduled for Wednesday. The published election timetable sets October 2 as the deadline for the relevant appeals.

Only 17% of Israelis and 21% of Palestinians surveyed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem believe Israel and an independent Palestinian state can coexist peacefully, according to a Pew Research Center report published Tuesday.

A majority of Israelis, 56%, said such coexistence was not possible, while 68% of respondents in the West Bank and east Jerusalem gave the same answer. The survey did not include Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Pew said security conditions prevented it from conducting fieldwork.

The findings mark the first time since Pew began asking Israelis the question in 2013 that more than half have explicitly said peaceful coexistence between Israel and a Palestinian state is impossible. The share saying coexistence is possible was statistically unchanged from 2025, when Pew recorded its lowest level of Israeli optimism on the question.

Pew went beyond asking respondents whether they believed two states could coexist. Researchers also asked Israelis and Palestinians to explain their answers in their own words, revealing areas of both overlap and divergence in how the two populations viewed the conflict.

Among those who rejected the possibility of peaceful coexistence, respondents on both sides frequently pointed to disputes over the land, decades of violence, and deep distrust. Some Israelis and Palestinians described the two populations as competing over territory that they believed could not, or should not, be divided. Others cited religious or cultural divisions and said the history of violence had made trust difficult to rebuild.

The two groups differed, however, on some of the central obstacles they identified.

What are the biggest obstacles to peace between Israelis and Palestinians?

Israeli respondents who opposed a two-state solution frequently raised security concerns, including fears that an independent Palestinian state could become hostile to Israel, obtain weapons, or leave Israel with less territory from which to defend itself. Some said they believed Palestinian leaders or the Palestinian public ultimately sought Israel’s destruction rather than coexistence.

Palestinian respondents in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, meanwhile, commonly cited Israeli control over the territory, settlements, checkpoints and restrictions on movement as reasons they did not believe peace was achievable. Some described Israeli settlement expansion as having made the creation of a viable Palestinian state increasingly difficult.

The findings come as other recent surveys have painted a complicated picture of Palestinian attitudes. An INSS poll published earlier in September found that 46% of West Bank Palestinians surveyed said Israel did not have a right to exist, while 52% said they preferred negotiations as a way of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Separately, another Palestinian survey found that support for peaceful negotiations had risen while support for armed resistance declined. A Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research poll published in August similarly found support for a two-state formula rose when respondents were presented with a state based on the 1967 lines.

Small minorities still see a path to peace

Among Israelis and Palestinians who told Pew that peaceful coexistence was possible, some of the explanations were similar across the two populations.

Respondents spoke about a desire for peace, the need to avoid further bloodshed, and the belief that neither population would disappear, leaving coexistence as the eventual outcome of the conflict. Some also said clearly defined borders and political separation could provide a workable alternative to continued conflict.

Palestinian respondents who remained optimistic were more likely to emphasize the potential economic benefits of peace and the existing economic ties between Israelis and Palestinians. Some Israelis, by contrast, emphasized conditions that would have to be met before peace could succeed, including rebuilding trust, making political concessions and creating stronger political leadership.

Others on both sides said peaceful coexistence would depend on changes in education, attitudes and political leadership, while some respondents called for international involvement or security guarantees.

The Israeli figures also revealed differences within the country. Among Jewish Israelis, 16% said peaceful coexistence was possible, and 64% said it was not. Among Arab Israelis, 23% said it was possible, and 26% said it was not, but nearly half, 46%, declined to give a substantive answer.

Overall, one-fifth of Israeli respondents did not answer the coexistence question, twice the share that declined to answer in Pew’s 2025 survey.

Pew surveyed 1,001 adults in Israel from April 5 to May 6 and 1,038 Palestinians in the West Bank and east Jerusalem from March 30 to April 28. The interviews were conducted face-to-face in Hebrew and Arabic during the Iran war, with fieldwork spanning both the fighting and the period following the initial ceasefire declared on April 7.

European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica discussed the European Union’s relationship with Israel, regional stability, and Gaza recovery efforts with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Sunday, the commissioner announced.

Suica said in a post on X/Twitter after the call that they discussed EU-Israel “relations and our shared interest in security and stability across the Middle East. This includes a reformed and functioning Palestinian Authority.”

Spoke to 🇮🇱 @gidonsaar today.

We discussed 🇪🇺-🇮🇱 relations and our shared interest in security and stability across the Middle East. This includes a reformed and funcitioning Palestinian Authority.

On Gaza, ahead of #UNGA81, I focused on the urgent need to advance early… pic.twitter.com/EYyQialO9C

— Dubravka Šuica (@dubravkasuica) September 20, 2026

On Gaza, “I focused on the urgent need to advance early recovery,” she said, adding that “our continued cooperation is key to delivering early recovery projects on the ground.”

The commissioner announced in July that the EU and like-minded partners launched an initiative to help fund Gaza’s early recovery focused on restoring essential social and economic services, rehabilitating critical infrastructure and strengthening governance.

The EU has criticized Israel’s conduct ​in the war in Gaza while reaffirming Israel’s right to defend itself. It has also criticized Israel’s expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, viewed by the EU as an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace and the establishment of a Palestinian state.

EU states divided on Israel

But the ​EU’s 27 member ⁠states are divided, with some highly critical of Israel and others maintaining close ties.

Sa’ar said in June that he was severing “all contact” with EU foreign policy chief Kaja ‌Kallas over what he said were remarks attributed to her comparing Israel to apartheid-era South Africa.

A secret gathering of senior US, Israeli, and Arab military commanders in Germany has offered a rare glimpse of the security coordination taking shape across the Middle East as Saudi Arabia confronts a renewed Houthi offensive and Washington remains heavily focused on its war with Iran.

The meeting, held last week and organized by US Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Adm. Brad Cooper, brought together military chiefs from Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, and Egypt, according to Axios, which first reported the gathering. CENTCOM confirmed that it hosted senior military leaders from eight Middle Eastern countries in Germany to discuss opportunities for strengthening regional security cooperation. The conference was not publicly announced in advance.

Its significance lies less in the existence of military contacts – which have developed incrementally for years – than in the circumstances surrounding the gathering.

The commanders met as the conflict with Iran continues to strain American forces and Gulf security, while the Houthis have expanded their position along Yemen’s Red Sea coast. Reuters reported that Houthi forces seized Mocha and Perim Island during their latest offensive, increasing their leverage near Bab al-Mandab, one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints.

The developments have created a difficult security environment for Saudi Arabia. Riyadh must contend with renewed missile and drone threats from Yemen while disruptions around both the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz complicate its energy and maritime calculations.

Germany meeting does not mean Arab-Israel military alliance

Yet the Germany meeting should not automatically be interpreted as the birth of a formal Arab-Israeli military alliance.

Abdulaziz Alshaabani, a Saudi political analyst, cautioned against reading the gathering as evidence that Riyadh is preparing for direct military cooperation with Israel.

“The Germany meeting is significant, but I do not see it as evidence that Saudi Arabia is moving toward direct military cooperation with Israel,” Alshaabani told The Media Line. “Any intelligence coordination would likely remain limited and pragmatic, while Riyadh continues to rely primarily on its own security mechanisms and broader regional frameworks,” he added.

Saudi Arabia and Israel share concerns about Iran and, increasingly, the Houthis, but they do not have diplomatic relations. Operational necessity can produce intelligence exchanges, deconfliction, or parallel military planning without resolving the political constraints that have prevented formal normalization.

The regional security architecture also predates the current crisis. In July, CENTCOM said the United States and regional partners were operating what it described as a large active air- and missile-defense umbrella across the Middle East. The command said a Middle Eastern air-defense coordination cell established in January was intended to improve information sharing, threat warnings and responses to regional contingencies.

That does not mean every country represented in Germany operates within a single integrated command structure. It does show that efforts to coordinate regional defenses were underway before the latest Houthi escalation.

Giuseppe Dentice, an analyst at the Observatory on the Mediterranean (OSMED), sees the current moment through the erosion of confidence in Washington and the resulting search by Gulf states for additional security options.

“What is actually happening is what no one wanted: at this moment, there is total chaos,” Dentice told The Media Line. “The problem is that it is political chaos in which there is no real leadership. The United States is pulling itself out of everything, and the most paradoxical thing is that it is also part of this problem,” he added.

For Dentice, governments are responding pragmatically rather than ideologically.

“Everyone is acting for themselves, and within this ‘everyone for themselves’ approach, the Gulf states are the most prepared to seek some form of action,” he said. “Not so much to resolve the issue, because at this moment neither what is happening in the Red Sea nor what is happening in Hormuz can really be resolved, but rather to try to find some kind of compromise through diplomacy,” he added.

Washington rejecting Saudi requests for direct military assistance 

Washington has so far resisted Saudi requests for direct American military action against the Houthis.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sought US military assistance as Houthi pressure increased, according to Reuters, but Washington limited its involvement to intelligence and targeting support rather than direct strikes. Cooper met the crown prince in Jeddah this week as the crisis intensified.

The United States has also maintained a separate channel with the Houthis. Reuters reported that American officials met Houthi representatives at the US Embassy in Muscat, Oman, over the weekend. Sources familiar with the talks said the Houthi delegation pledged not to target US or Israeli vessels and said it would continue observing its previous arrangement with Washington, while excluding Saudi shipping from those commitments. The State Department declined to confirm the meeting.

For Alexander Portnoy, an independent military and geopolitical analyst, this environment makes behind-the-scenes cooperation more consequential than public declarations of alliance.

“Military contacts and mutually beneficial cooperation between these countries ceased to be sensational news a long time ago,” Portnoy told The Media Line. He argued that disclosure of such contacts can itself serve as strategic messaging.

Portnoy expects any Israeli contribution to a regional response to Yemen to remain discreet.

“Yes, but any Israeli involvement would take place behind the scenes,” he said when asked whether Saudi Arabia and other regional states could coordinate against the Houthis without direct American combat participation.

Israel and Saudi Arabia increasingly face the same types of weapons: ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and long-range drones. Shared threats, though, do not necessarily produce a shared political strategy.

Houthis unlikely to launch ground invasion of Saudi Arabia, analyst says

Alshaabani rejected more dramatic assessments suggesting that the latest Houthi advances make a ground offensive into Saudi Arabia the likely next stage.

“I think the word ‘invasion’ is too strong in this context,” he said. “Saudi Arabia is a vast country, while the Houthis remain a militia with limited capabilities. I do not see a ground invasion as the most likely scenario at this stage,” he added.

Instead, he said, the immediate danger is that the Houthis could exploit their new positions inside Yemen.

“The more immediate concern is the Houthis expanding their control in western Yemen and using that position to intensify missile, drone, and maritime attacks against Saudi Arabia,” he said.

The latest Houthi gains have increased the group’s ability to threaten Saudi territory and maritime traffic, but its territorial advances have so far been concentrated inside Yemen and along the Red Sea coast.

Saudi concerns have nevertheless intensified. Riyadh said this week that it intercepted a Houthi drone south of Mecca. The Houthis denied targeting the holy city while acknowledging other operations against Saudi targets.

The kingdom is also seeking additional support. Riyadh has approached partners including Egypt, Pakistan, the UK, and France as the conflict strains its missile-defense resources. No broad regional military intervention has materialized.

For Dentice, the central question is less whether a new alliance suddenly emerges than how long individual governments can absorb several interconnected crises.

“There is a strong interest among virtually all the actors in preventing Bab al-Mandab from becoming another Hormuz,” he said. “But we are already very close to that situation. Everyone risks making the same mistakes, because even sending a strong military signal can become counterproductive. Not because the Houthis are militarily superior, but because they retain the ability to strike strategic assets,” he added.

That vulnerability is particularly visible in the energy sector. The Strait of Hormuz remains severely disrupted, while attacks have placed additional pressure on alternative Saudi export infrastructure. On Wednesday, preliminary ship-tracking data showed only three commercial vessels transiting Hormuz, down from 12 the previous day and a 10-day average of 17, according to Reuters. Traffic through Bab al-Mandab also remained depressed. Vessels operating with their tracking systems switched off would not necessarily appear in those figures.

The existence of several active military theaters does not necessarily mean they will merge into a single regional war.

“I do not think the risk of integrating these separate theaters of war into a wider regional conflict is high,” Portnoy said.

He also viewed the Germany meeting as evidence that regional coordination is still being worked out rather than proof that a collective defense mechanism is already operational.

“If these countries were already prepared for a collective response, I do not think the meeting in Germany would have been necessary,” he said.

The Media Line sought additional comment from the US Defense Department and contacted current US military experts and former senior US military officers for their assessments but received no responses by publication time.

The Germany gathering reveals both how far regional security contacts have advanced and where their limits remain. Israel and several Arab governments face overlapping missile, drone, and maritime threats and have reasons to exchange information and coordinate defenses. They also maintain sharply different relationships with Iran, Israel, and the United States.

Dentice similarly described Saudi strategy as one of selective engagement rather than permanent alignment, pointing to the recently signed Mecca Joint Defense Agreement with Turkey and Pakistan. The pact contains a collective-defense commitment, though its full text has not been made public and questions remain about how its provisions would operate in practice.

“The Saudis are willing to talk to anyone, but not to bind themselves completely to anyone,” he said. “The same applies to the Mecca agreement. It is not a binding agreement; it is based on the availability of the actors involved,” he added.

Officers from the Israel Police’s Jerusalem District opened an investigation into an incident involving shots fired into the air in Silwan, east Jerusalem, on Sunday.

Officers responded to reports of gunfire in the area and began conducting extensive searches and investigating the incident.

The police’s preliminary inquiries suggest that Arab residents of the area began throwing stones at a group of young Jewish men passing through the area.

In response, one of the young Jewish men opened fire into the air as a warning shot to drive the suspects away.

Israel Police reported no injuries at the time of writing.

Officers are conducting operational activities and extensive searches in an effort to locate the suspected stone throwers and uncover further evidence, Israel Police confirmed.

Several terror attacks occur in West Bank ahead of Yom Kippur

Meanwhile, there were two other notable terror attacks in the West Bank ahead of Yom Kippur.

At least one person was killed in a suspected shooting attack in the area of Neveh Tzuf in the West Bank, north of Ramallah, on Sunday afternoon. 

The killed individual, a man in his 30s, was originally in critical condition. His condition was temporarily updated to severe after Magen David Adom personnel succeeded in restoring his pulse through CPR.

He was evacuated by helicopter to Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva, before succumbing to his wounds.

Additionally, the IDF killed one terrorist and arrested a second terrorist who attempted to commit a car-ramming attack against soldiers stationed in the Ganim area of the Menashe Brigade’s sector of the West Bank, the military said on Sunday afternoon.

No injuries were reported, the IDF said.

Miriam Sela-Eitam contributed to this report.

The IDF thwarted a car-ramming attack against soldiers stationed at a West Bank checkpoint near Jenin on Sunday, ahead of the Yom Kippur holiday. 

No injuries were reported, the military said.

In the incident, which took place in the Ganim area of the Menashe Brigade’s sector of the northern West Bank, the military said it had killed one terrorist and arrested a second who had attempted to run over soldiers at the checkpoint. 

IDF troops and Border Police officers are operating at the scene.

Ganim was re-established by settler families in August,  21 years after Israel withdrew its citizens from the area under the 2005 disengagement plan overseen by former prime minister Ariel Sharon.

Attack comes an hour after drive-by shooting terror attack kills one

The attempted ramming attack comes an hour after one person was killed in a drive-by shooting terror attack took place at a spring near Neveh Tzuf.

According to initial reports, the terrorist opened fire at Israelis bathing in a nearby spring from what appears to be a red Mitsubishi SUV with Palestinian Authority license plates. He then exited the vehicle armed and fled the scene on foot.

He was evacuated by helicopter to Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva, before succumbing to his wounds.

A manhunt for the terrorist is underway.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir conducted a situational assessment and ordered the deployment of additional security forces to the sector to aid in a manhunt.

Amir Bohbot contributed to this report.

An Iraqi court on Sunday opened the trial of six French nationals accused of belonging to Islamic State, with a member of the Supreme Judicial Council telling the court that the suspects could face the death penalty if convicted of crimes committed against Iraq and the Iraqi people.

Two court legal sources said the defendants were among 47 French Islamic State detainees transferred from prisons in northeast Syria last year as part of a broader relocation process overseen by US forces and Iraqi authorities.

The French embassy in Baghdad did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Officials from the embassy were present at the Baghdad criminal court, according to a Reuters witness inside the court.

The six men, who are being tried under Iraq‘s counterterrorism law, arrived at the court in a prison van escorted by a convoy of Humvees carrying Iraqi special forces personnel. The men were dressed in yellow prison jumpsuits.

The presiding judge adjourned the hearing until October 5 to allow defense lawyers time to review the case file.

Abbas al-Maliki, a court-appointed lawyer representing one of the defendants, told Reuters his client was being tried on charges of membership of Islamic State.

US transfers Islamic State prisoners to Iraq from Syria

Islamic State seized large tracts of Syria and Iraq in 2014 before it was driven out by US-led coalition forces five years later. Many of the group’s terrorists were detained, though remnants of the jihadist group still operate.

The United States announced in January that it had begun transferring Islamic State detainees from Syria to Iraq amid concerns over the security of detention facilities in northeast Syria after Kurdish-led forces lost control of parts of the region.

Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said in February that discussions were being held with other countries to repatriate their citizens and that Baghdad had sought international financial support to deal with the influx of prisoners.

No terrorist is immune to the consequences of carrying out terror attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, following the deadly shooting attack near Neveh Tzuf and an attempted car ramming near Jenin.

“Our security forces are currently pursuing the despicable terrorist who carried out the murderous attack in Binyamin,” he said. “No terrorist is immune, nor are those who aided them. We will settle the score with all of them: in Gaza, in Lebanon, and in Judea and Samaria.”

He added that he has instructed the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) to reinforce troops in the West Bank, impose blockades, and conduct offensive operations and arrests in order to safeguard the security of Israeli citizens, as well as the immediate demolition of the terrorist’s home.

“On behalf of all the citizens of Israel, my wife and I extend our heartfelt condolences to the family of the victim murdered in the attack and share in their deep grief,” he concluded.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir conducted a situational assessment and ordered the deployment of additional security forces to the sector to aid in a manhunt.

President Isaac Herzog echoed Netanyahu’s words, sending his own condolences to the victim’s family and community.

“Even on this holy eve, we declare clearly and firmly: Terror will not break us nor shake our spirit. Against it, we will stand together united, resolute, and full of faith,” Herzog said in his own X/Twitter post.

“I am confident that IDF forces will swiftly locate the terrorist and bring him to justice,” said Defense Minister Israel Katz, commending the soldiers who killed the terrorist at the Ganim checkpoint, preventing a second terror attack.

“The IDF and security forces are prepared to defend Israel’s borders and citizens everywhere against enemies seeking to carry out attacks precisely on the holiest day for the Jewish people,” he said. “I wish all our soldiers and all the citizens of Israel a meaningful conclusion to the High Holy Days and an easy, beneficial fast.”

“The heart of an entire nation aches in this difficult hour,” wrote Yashar chair Gadi Eisenkot. “I strengthen the security forces in their pursuit of the terrorist and in their determined activity against Israel’s enemies, in all arenas.”

“We will continue to pursue those who seek our harm everywhere and at all times.”

Ben-Gvir: ‘Terrorist belongs in gallows if not killed’

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir affirmed that should the terrorist who carried out the shooting attack is not killed during the manhunt, “he belongs on the gallows,” in accordance with the Death Penalty for Terrorists Law.

He sent his condolences to the victim’s family, calling the news of the incident “unbearable.”

“It is important to remember, on the eve of Yom Kippur, that the settlers’ right to life takes precedence over the right of Palestinian Authority residents to freedom of movement on the roads,” he stated.

Israel must enact a ‘heavy price’, Liberman says

Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman added in a post to X that the the IDF must enter the village the terrorist came from and raze it.

“Deadly terror attack on the eve of Yom Kippur,” he wrote. “A terrorist opened fire at a spring in Benjamin and murdered an Israeli citizen. The IDF must enter the village from which the terrorist emerged and raze it.”

“We must exact a heavy price; there is no forgiveness for terror.”

“This is how an attack should end,” Yosef Haddad (People of Israel) added in an X post, referring to the terrorist killed by the IDF after attempting to carry out a car-ramming attack. “Palestinian terrorists are trying to spill Jewish blood on this day, stay especially vigilant in the West Bank!”

Yom Kippur is uncomfortable at its core.

By the holiday’s design, we are meant to suffer for a full 25 hours. We consciously choose to give up food and water, sit with our thoughts, and confront the parts of ourselves that we don’t always like to acknowledge.

But for some, like former Gaza hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel, the whole season is somewhat complex.

This year will mark the first High Holy Days that the hostages who survived their Gaza captivity will be able to observe with their families. Some might fast, others might not, but most importantly, all will have the choice to observe the holiday as they please.

“I think that being deprived of the decisions of how much to eat, when to eat, how to eat, and who to eat with – was a big, huge issue in Gaza,” Aviva told The Jerusalem Post.

“When somebody goes through something like that… and has been starved and doesn’t have any way to control what goes into your tummy and how much you eat and who you eat with and when you eat and what you like to eat… Everything of that was completely and utterly taken away,” she said.

Keith and Aviva Siegel’s Yom Kippur after captivity

The Siegels, 67 and 65, were kidnapped from their Kibbutz Kfar Aza home on October 7.

Aviva spent 51 days in captivity; Keith spent 484. They lost their home, and at least 60 of their close-knit community were killed.

They have previously disclosed that they were starved, denied water, physically and mentally tortured, and watched other hostages be sexually assaulted.

Aviva said that though she will not be fasting this year, she feels as if she has fewer questions than last year, when there were still 20 living hostages in Gaza.

“Then, I had these questions, asking myself: ‘[Since] they are starving, how come you can’t just be hungry for one day, just like them?’ Or ‘Is it okay not to fast anymore while we still have hostages in Gaza, being starved every day?

“I remember looking at the food and saying, ‘No, you decided that you have a different relationship with that in yourself. You’re not going to fast anymore.’”

This year, however, she doesn’t feel like she will have any questions.

“Because of what I went through, and this year because all the hostages are here, I don’t think I’m going to have questions. Maybe it’s not going to be easy for me to eat, but it’s going to be different than last year.”

In her opinion, for released hostages to have the ability to make their own decisions is incredibly important.

“I think that the decision of what we need to do as hostages who came back is to decide. We have that in both hands. And we need to take that because it was taken away in such a brutal way.”

Keith seconded her thoughts, noting that the conscious choice to abstain from eating is very different than being denied food.

“Fasting and starvation are two completely different things for me,” Keith said. “I don’t see any connection between those two.”

For him, Yom Kippur was never about fasting but about taking the time to reflect on the past year.

“The core essence or significance of Yom Kippur is not the fasting. It’s the heshbon nefesh (taking stock of the soul),” Keith said.

“For me, I can observe Yom Kippur and have it [be] very meaningful and significant and not fast.”

Keith told the Post that in captivity his faith also took on a different meaning.

“When I was in captivity, Judaism, or my Jewish identity, became different.” He had prayed frequently while in captivity.

“The terrorists were constantly trying to convince me to convert to Islam. I think the more they did that, I started to think more about my Jewish identity and my faith.

“I don’t know if that would have happened if they had not tried to convince me to convert to Islam, but they did, and it was ongoing, so I thought a lot about it,” Keith said.

“I really felt the strength and the resilience by praying, saying blessings, thinking about my Jewish faith and identity,” he said, adding that he frequently thought about victims of the Holocaust and other disasters throughout Jewish history.

“I kind of felt like: The ones who survived, they survived. And I will survive for those who did not survive, kind of like it is my duty, or my mission, or responsibility, in their honor.”

How captivity changed Keith Siegel’s Jewish faith

The Siegels come from differing backgrounds.

He is from North Carolina; she is from South Africa. He moved here in his twenties, while she made aliyah when she was 9 years old.

He is more soft-spoken, thoughtful, and purposeful with his words. Keith said that growing up in a traditionally Jewish home, he felt a significant amount of pressure to observe holidays, especially Yom Kippur, in the way his parents did.

“As a child, I did it because it was what we did. And to… You know, be a good kid. Please my parents, do what they do,” he said.

Aviva is usually quicker to respond of the two of them, and has a very direct way of speaking. Once or twice during our conversation, they provided the words the other was searching for, which I found really endearing.

In our conversation, Keith and Aviva frequently mentioned anecdotes about their families.

They currently live in Gazit near their daughter and their grandchildren, and mentioned how they frequently meet with them to do Friday dinners or havdallah on Saturday.

When Keith was still in Gaza, the Siegel’s children, grandchildren, and extended family all gathered every Friday to say a special bracha that their daughter, Shir, had written.

“I’ll never forget the first time that Shir read the words (to the Bracha). Every word went into my heart, and cut my heart into pieces. We were all crying like babies next to the Shabbat table,” said Aviva.

“It was important because… it made everybody feel together and cry together. Those are moments that feeling together, [as] part of family, were very very very strong.”

Yom Kippur still carries a special significance for both of them, though. Both told the Post stories of their loved ones and what the holiday meant for them growing up.

Keith fasted when he was growing up to “be a good kid,” though he never really felt like it gave him any spiritual fulfillment. When he moved to Israel when he was in his 20s, he stopped fasting for the most part.

“When I moved to Israel, I kind of felt like it was the… I’m not sure whether to call it the ultimate, but just by living in Israel, the holidays are so much a part of not only the religion but the culture; I can feel Jewish just by living in Israel.”

Aviva spoke about how, when she was young, she and her grandmother spent a lot of time together on Yom Kippur.

“Yom Kippur for me was a very special day. I used to connect with my grandmother, who used to fast with me. We had this special relationship.”

Aviva said that the Yom Kippur she experienced during the 1973 war has remained a prominent memory for her. She remembered that her grandmother continued to fast, despite being told not to.

“I’ll never forget the Yom Kippur War; we were stopped in the middle of the fast. I remember going to her and telling her, ‘You need to stop fasting.’ Because we had been told that nobody fasts from this minute. I remember her saying, ‘No, I’m going to fast until the end.’ There are so many things and emotions about that day.”

Aviva also revealed details of her captivity. She said that she decided in Gaza that she would not fast when she returned to Israel. She was starved and suffered for 51 days, so why should she punish herself more?

“In Gaza, we spoke about it with the other hostages who were with us. I remember myself saying, ‘I’m not going to fast anymore,’” she said.

“What happened to me is the worst thing that happened… that could ever happen to anybody. I’ve been punished, and that’s enough. I don’t deserve to be punished again and to be hungry and starved anymore. “So I’ve got a completely, utterly new relationship with Yom Kippur.”

How the Siegels are rebuilding their lives after captivity

After their release from captivity, the Siegels moved to live near their daughters Shir and Elan and their grandchildren. They can do kiddush on Friday nights with them and focus on spending time with family.

The couple has also spent a significant amount of time volunteering for various humanitarian aid efforts, including their continued advocacy for the remaining hostages – even after both of them were released.

They now volunteer with 255, an organization that provides ongoing support for the former Gaza hostages and their families. It centers the hostages and their families in the rehabilitation process and aims to keep them at the forefront of public conversation in Israel and the Diaspora.

“We have been very involved in a lot of different things in order to both tell people our story and to try to have what happened to us and so many other people not be forgotten,” Keith said.

“I feel like it’s my duty to do good, important, meaningful things.”

Although they were both given a platform that neither of them wanted, they feel that they need to be a “voice for the voiceless.”

“I want the world to understand that we are still trying to pick ourselves up. We’re still carrying a very difficult story,” Aviva said.

“You know, there’s such a big difference between what we look like and sound like and what we feel inside.

“I want the world to understand that we need the support and that we can’t in any way put it [the captivity] aside, and just to know that all of us are, in many times and many moments, struggling.”

For the Siegels, part of Yom Kippur is about tikkun olam and helping to be a part of humanity.

“Yom Kippur is really a day not only of fasting but also of questions. Asking yourself questions and looking for the answers,” Aviva said.

Now, the Siegels no longer have all of the questions they had last year. But with everyone home this year, maybe they will find more room to take stock, focus on the choices they can make of their own free will, and carry them out with their own hands.

To donate to 255 to support the hostages, click here.

Approximately 150,000 people participated in the final slihot prayer service at the Western Wall ahead of Yom Kippur on Saturday night, marking the conclusion of 2026’s traditional gatherings.

The gathering began in the early evening hours and reached its peak during the central ceremony at the Kotel, with participants standing in the Western Wall Plaza and spread across nearby balconies and throughout the Old City’s alleyways.

Due to the large number of participants, the gathering was also broadcast on giant screens at the outskirts of the plaza, on the walls of the Jaffa Gate at the entrance to the Old City, and at IDF Square (Kikar Tzahal).

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel David Yosef, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Kalman Meir Bar, Rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Sites Shmuel Rabinowitz, and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion took part in the ceremony.

During the event, Netanyahu offered a prayer for peace and another for the safety of the IDF and Israel’s security forces. Israel’s chief rabbis similarly prayed for the peace and unity of the Jewish people.

Western Wall: Jewish people’s beating heart

“This month has once again proven that the Western Wall is the beating heart of the Jewish people,” Rabinowitz said in his address during the ceremony. “From every corner of the country and from all parts of the people, multitudes came here: members of every community, opinion, and outlook, those who wear a kippah and those who do not, and stood together as one person with one heart.”

“Together we offered prayers for the success of IDF soldiers, for the recovery of the wounded, for the consolation of the families, and for the peace and unity of the people of Israel.”

“From the holiness and spiritual elevation of the Selichot gatherings, we enter the new year with great hope: a year of healing and consolation, of victory and blessing, and above all a year in which we remember that we are all one people, sharing one destiny and one prayer,” he concluded.

Former hostages attend slihot ceremony

Also in attendance were former hostage Eliya Cohen and his wife, Nova survivor Ziv Abud, as well as former hostages Rom Braslavski, Elkana Bohbot, and Ohad Ben Ami.

“Father in Heaven, I have come all the way to the Western Wall in our beautiful homeland to tell You I’m sorry,” Braslavski wrote in a late Saturday post to X/Twitter. “I’m sorry that I didn’t do more at Nova. I’m sorry for all the times in captivity when I broke down, when I doubted, when I lost faith.”

“I always knew in captivity that You would save me. I always knew that You would not let me remain in Gaza. I felt You with me in Gaza every single day, every single hour.”

Braslavski went on, noting that every time Hamas attempted to convert him to Islam, he “did not give in to their pressure. Even in captivity, I always knew that a father would never abandon his children.”

“A year ago, on the most recent Yom Kippur, I was a prisoner of Zion in Deir al-Balah. And today I am free at the Western Wall,” he said. “On my way to the Wall, I passed by and saw the Al-Aqsa Mosque. With God’s help, Father in Heaven, You will return that to us as well.”

In its own statement, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation added that nearly two million people visited the Kotel throughout the month, including former hostages, bereaved families, IDF soldiers, and members of Israel’s security forces.

The foundation also completed its preperations for the Yom Kippur prayers, which will take place at the Western Wall Plaza throughout the fast and end with the Ne’ilah prayer and the blowing of the shofar on Monday night.

Recently, a controversial film was released overseas and even won an award at the Venice Film Festival. The film, “The Causality of War,” portrays IDF soldiers and the State of Israel in an extremely negative light, without providing evidence that can be independently examined. The movie is relying, among other things, on anonymous interviews allegedly conducted with 24 low-ranking intelligence soldiers.

The film accuses Israel of genocide and of disregarding human life in the Gaza Strip. It focuses on intelligence personnel who provide targets to the air, ground, and naval forces that use this precise intelligence to eliminate immediate terrorist threats to Israel to save Israeli lives.

I have not watched the film, I do not intend to watch it, and I would not recommend that any Israeli who respects himself or herself watch it.

According to reports circulating online and in several irresponsible Israeli media outlets that have echoed the film favorably, it directs its accusations not only at the IDF, but also at artificial intelligence (AI), which the film allegedly portrays as being used to direct fire and indiscriminately harm innocent people.

It is therefore important to explain the actual role of artificial intelligence in military systems, particularly in the intelligence systems criticized by the film, and to clarify why the claims presented in such a biased manner do not reflect the way these systems are actually operated.

The relevant authorities, headed by the prime minister, IDF chief of staff, the military advocate-general, the Culture and Sports minister, and other officials, were right to respond firmly to the publication. Some have also announced that they will consider the appropriate steps available under Israeli law in response to what they regard as efforts to damage Israel’s reputation around the world.

AI in the IDF and the Defense Establishment

Artificial intelligence is an extremely important tool, subject to the necessary safeguards and limitations, in a wide range of military applications, some classified and therefore beyond the scope of this article, and others unclassified.

Intelligence

AI tools can be highly effective in processing natural language, including reading, writing, and analysis, when dealing with rich and dynamic context.

A significant portion of intelligence output consists of text embedded in precisely this kind of rich, dynamic context. AI can therefore provide advantages over traditional algorithms, which are generally better suited to stable, repetitive tasks involving relatively little contextual complexity.

AI can also review existing intelligence and identify gaps between available information and the intelligence assessment. This can reduce the risk of serious analytical errors, such as those that may have contributed to the failure to anticipate the events of October 7.

AI can also accelerate the process of identifying an enemy and developing potential targets. Here, however, it is particularly important to understand the role of the human being in the system; the human remains firmly in the loop. The only entity that makes a decision concerning life and death is a human being.

AI can also accelerate information-processing tasks that require a high degree of contextual understanding or the integration of different types of information. Large language models (LLMs), in particular, are increasingly capable of processing and fusing multiple modalities, linking text, audio, images, and structured information in ways that can improve the integration and understanding of complex data.

AI tools are also useful in detecting particularly weak signals and connecting them to one another. This has traditionally been an especially difficult task for human intelligence, particularly in the field of early warning.

The reason is straightforward: AI can review extraordinarily large quantities of data and identify indications that may be difficult for a human analyst to notice.

AI-assisted software development

AI has additional important applications in the IDF and the defense establishment, all of which are monitored and operated with appropriate caution.

AI tools can help write code for military systems quickly and efficiently. Programming languages are highly structured and supported by large amounts of data, with relatively low variability compared with natural human language.

This can reduce software development costs and accelerate development, allowing military systems to adapt more quickly to the dynamic operational requirements characteristic of modern warfare.

Because the military deals with missions that can directly affect human life, it is essential to ensure, through rigorous professional and human oversight, that software generated with AI and ultimately integrated into operational systems performs at the required level, can withstand heavy loads and edge cases, and remains stable and robust under extreme conditions.

Physical AI

Many military missions involve operating in and influencing the physical environment, often under dangerous conditions and at considerable distances.

Physical AI can support capabilities such as navigation, the operation of autonomous and robotic systems, and rapid responses to threats, including detection and mitigation.

Here too, however, decisions involving human life are made only with human involvement. Qualified personnel must assess the circumstances and make informed decisions while considering the specific environmental conditions and applicable ethical constraints.

This area is particularly relevant to military organizations, and the IDF is among the most advanced in this field.

AI and Cybersecurity

Because AI tools are increasingly capable of writing code, they can also identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses in software and potentially exploit them, alongside other development capabilities required in cybersecurity.

AI tools that can identify and exploit vulnerabilities can also help defenders detect attackers.

For many years, this capability was largely associated with militaries and intelligence organizations. More recently, leading AI companies have developed tools that can discover vulnerabilities and direct software developers’ attention to closing security gaps. This development may make the work of intelligence organizations around the world, and the IDF, more difficult.

Everything described above demonstrates that, contrary to the picture presented by the film, the use of AI in IDF systems is accompanied by clear and highly cautious operational methodologies.

Military orders and procedures explicitly prohibit relying exclusively on AI applications in situations involving human life without human involvement.

AI-based algorithms do not make decisions to launch an attack and are unlikely to do so in the coming years. Authorized human personnel make such decisions under close legal oversight, much as human professionals remain responsible for AI applications involving human life in medicine.

Decision-makers can and should use AI to maximize the information available to them and to provide recommendations, including relevant precedents and historical examples, so that they can make the most informed decision possible.
But although it may sound attractive, AI systems are not intended to replace the professionals responsible for making these decisions.

Beyond the scientific research itself, the use of AI has led to the development of extensive evaluation methodologies designed to ensure that an AI product meets predefined performance thresholds before it can be used operationally.

These processes include testing the stability of algorithms over time and under different conditions, creating randomized test samples, and establishing multiple regulatory and approval mechanisms before an AI system is authorized to provide recommendations for human use.

The system is providing recommendations, not making the decision.

In situations where intelligence may lead to an attack, the identification of a target must in any case be supported by at least two separate indicators from independent sources, and the final decision must be made by a human authority.

AI as a strategic capability, the need for skilled personnel

As AI models become more powerful and acquire increasingly far-reaching capabilities, the technology, both hardware and software, is beginning to shift from being a global commodity whose distribution is driven primarily by supply, demand, and economic efficiency, toward becoming a strategic national asset.

Export controls are increasingly being imposed on such technologies, while governments are promoting domestic production of critical components in order to support national needs first.

AI models themselves are now becoming strategic national assets. Under these conditions, an important question arises: how much independence does Israel need in the field of AI models, both civilian models and models used for military purposes?

This issue was examined extensively by the Nagel Committee, which addressed AI in Israel’s government and academic systems. 

Elite IDF programs such as “Alonim” and “Bareket” are specifically designed to train the personnel the IDF needs for data-science projects at all levels. Israel’s leading technological units across the military branches highly value graduates of the programs.

AI in civilian systems

As in military systems, civilian systems can also include applications in which AI may ultimately influence life-and-death decisions, usually indirectly.

Civilian systems are subject to extensive monitoring and regulation. This is probably one of the reasons why autonomous civilian systems, such as autonomous vehicles, are entering widespread use much more slowly than earlier forecasts suggested.

At the same time, regulatory and supervisory capabilities are more difficult to enforce in some civilian environments. We may therefore see, in the future, civilian systems that rely on AI in which operational errors could, under certain circumstances, result in loss of human life.

What is Israel’s position in the global AI race?

Unfortunately, Israel is not yet the world leader in AI, as it is in cybersecurity, particularly in civilian AI, although not exclusively.

The establishment of the AI Directorate in the Prime Minister’s Office is intended, among other things, to help position Israel among the world’s leading countries in this strategically important field.

Brig. Gen. (Res.) Prof. Jacob Nagel served as National Security Adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and as Acting head of Israel’s National Security Council. He is a Visiting Professor at the Technion, and a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) in Washington, D.C.

The law is oddly specific. You go to the person you wronged and ask him to forgive you. He refuses. So you come back – this time with three of his friends, who stand there and watch while you ask again. If he refuses again, you return a third time.

Then the law does something strange: it releases you. You may stop, Maimonides ruled, and the sin moves: the one who refuses forgiveness is now the sinner (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Repentance 2:9).

Read that as procedure, not piety. You do not legislate three visits with witnesses for a feeling; you write law like that when someone is not permitted to walk away – and here that includes the person who was wronged.

The season we have now entered is precise about what it cannot do. Yom Kippur atones for what stands between a person and God. For what stands between you and another person, it does nothing at all – not until you have gone to him and he has been appeased. Fasting will not fix it.

The holiest day of the year is powerless in precisely the place where love lives. The vertical relationship can be settled in a day; the horizontal one requires you to knock on a door, or to open one.

And the knocking has a deadline: the obligation to appease falls on the eve of Yom Kippur. The rest of the year you can tell yourself there is time; on that day, there is none: 10 days of love; one day of atonement.

I should say what I mean by love, because the word has been worn smooth. Not benevolence toward humanity – love of everyone is love of no one in particular, and it costs nothing. Not warmth, not compassion. Not identity, not pride, not heritage.

What the tradition means is narrower and harder: an unearned, non-transferable, unbreakable claim that one specific, irreplaceable person has on you.

An apology can be completed and finished with; that is what the release after three refusals is for. The bond underneath it cannot be.

It rests on an axiom the tradition asserts rather than defends: a human being is made in the image of God, and therefore of infinite worth. Not the abstraction, but the man in front of you – which is what makes writing him off expensive.

The season builds this into its grammar. The confession is plural: ashamnu, bagadnu – we have trespassed, we have betrayed. You say it in the plural even if you came alone.

That grammar is a record of what actually held this people together: through centuries of exile, a bond neither calculation nor correctness could dissolve, and no empire could confiscate. Law, land, and belief were the vessels. The bond was the content.

The sin of writing someone off

Which brings us to the sin nobody confesses.

You know who it is. You are not estranged from him by accident. You had reasons, and they were good ones. He said something, or did something, that told you what he is.

What the tradition forbids is not anger. Anger keeps him in the room. The opposite of anger is not peace; it is indifference, which puts him out of the room. 

What is forbidden is quieter – the moment he stopped being the address of any obligation, and the relief that came with it. It never gets confessed, because it does not look like a sin. It presents itself as clarity.

The law saw it coming, which is why it refuses to forgive a sin of its own. It is less worried about the man who wronged you than about what you become while being right.

This is not a call for unity. There are arguments in Jewish life that should not be dissolved, and pathologies that should not be accommodated for a family photograph. This love raises the temperature of the argument. It removes one thing only: the exit.

And we too often choose the exit. It is possible to live a full Jewish life today – meaning, ethics, repair of the world – without one actual Jew making a claim on you.

That removal happens in Israel under fire and calls itself principle; abroad, it happens in comfort and calls itself choice. A thin Jewish identity is not a weak commitment; it is a Judaism from which the face of the other has been erased.

The law makes one exception: if the person you wronged was your teacher, Maimonides wrote, you go back a thousand times. There is no release, because there is no version of you without him.

Ask what that exception protects, and you get the shape of the thing: a bond whose claim does not expire, in the place where a person was formed. A people is that, multiplied.

On the Shabbat of these days we read Hosea: “I will heal their waywardness; I will love them freely” (14:5). Freely – not a verdict on their merit. That is what we will ask for on Yom Kippur. It is the exact love we spend the year declining to extend.

You do not have to admit you were wrong, or agree, or find him tolerable.

There are 10 days. God will take you back unearned. He is not the one you have to face.

The writer is the author of the newly released A Jewish Tale of Love: On Defiance, Meaning, and the Fate of a People (Wicked Son, in partnership with the Z3 Institute for Jewish Priorities), which explores the history and present crisis of Jewish love.

Imagine a courtroom in which the entire verdict comes down to a single decision. No witnesses. No cross-examination. No mountain of evidence. Just one crucial moment in which the judge asks, “Who are you, really?”

We instinctively imagine that our lives are defined by what we have done. Our Sages agree, but only up to a point. Sometimes the decisive moment is not another action at all, but a single thought that reveals which actions truly represent us. 

That may be the surprising message hidden in one of the Bible’s most dramatic stories.

David and his men had spent months protecting the flocks of the wealthy landowner Nabal in the Judean wilderness. 

When David politely requested provisions for his hungry soldiers, Nabal responded with contempt: “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse?” 

David, furious about his ingratitude, marched toward Nabal’s estate with 400 armed men, determined to wipe out his household.

Nabal’s wife, Abigail, averted the disaster. Without consulting her husband, she loaded donkeys with bread, wine, sheep, grain, raisins, and figs, intercepted David, and persuaded him not to take revenge. 

David immediately recognized that God had sent her to prevent him from shedding innocent blood.

Nabal himself remained oblivious until the next morning. The prophet Shmuel tells us that when Abigail informed him what had happened, “his heart died within him, and he became like a stone.” 

Then comes the striking ending: “About 10 days later, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.”

The Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 18a) identifies those 10 days as the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. According to this tradition, Nabal died on Yom Kippur.

Why the delay? If Nabal deserved punishment, why not immediately? Why grant him 10 days? Perhaps because God was giving him precisely what Yom Kippur gives every one of us: the opportunity to decide who we really are.

Notice what Nabal did not need to do. He did not need to return stolen property. He did not need to compensate David. Abigail had already sent the provisions. The practical problem had been solved. His entire test had become internal.

Could he acknowledge that his wife had done the right thing? Could he let go of his pride, his resentment, and his anger? Could he simply say in his heart, “She was right, and I was wrong?”

Had Nabal reached that conclusion, nothing more would have been required. No dramatic public gesture. No heroic sacrifice. Just an honest decision that his better self – not his angry, arrogant self – was the real Nabal.

That idea sheds light on one of Yom Kippur’s most mysterious ceremonies in the Holy Temple.

The High Priest stood before two identical goats. One would be offered to God on the Temple altar. The other would be thrown off the Azazel cliff in the wilderness. Their destinies were determined by a simple lottery.

At first glance, this seems arbitrary. But the Torah is teaching us something profound. Two lives can appear almost identical. The difference lies in a single choice, a single moment of truth. A single inner decision about which self we choose to identify with.

The goat’s lot was drawn externally, but the real lottery takes place inside of us.

Decisions of the heart

As Yom Kippur draws to a close, we often imagine that we are desperately trying to squeeze in one last mitzvah before the gates close at Neila. Yet perhaps this final service is guiding us to ask ourselves the most critical question, “Who am I?”

Am I defined by my failures? Or by the moments of kindness, integrity, generosity, and faith that also filled my year?

Teshuva, repentance, is not pretending that my sins never happened. It is deciding that they are not the truest expression of who I am. 

It is resolving that the good that I have done defines the person I genuinely aspire to be, and that my mistakes belong to a self that I am leaving behind.

Nabal’s tragedy was not merely that he refused to give David’s soldiers bread. It was that, during those precious 10 days, he apparently never embraced the goodness that Abigail had revealed. He never allowed that better possibility to become his own.

Perhaps that is the deepest message of Neila. In the end, eternity may hinge not on one more deed, but on one final decision of the heart. 

Like the drawing of lots between two identical goats, a single sincere thought about who we truly are can make the difference between our Azazel and our olam haba (afterlife). Gmar Hatimah Tova.

The writer is an educator living in Efrat, whose wife, Lucy, and daughters Maia and Rina were murdered by terrorists in April 2023. His latest books – The Seven Facets of Healing and The Business Case for Israel – are both available to order from Amazon and in Israel from Bookpod. 

The Czech Republic has received all four SPYDER air defense systems it purchased from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the country’s Defense Minister Jaromír Zuna announced.

“I am pleased to be able to present the complete SPYDER system batteries to the general public on this occasion,” Zuna said during NATO Days, one of Europe’s largest defense and security events, held in the Czech city of Ostrava.

“The introduction of this system represents a significant technological and qualitative shift in the field of air defense and an important step in building modern, layered airspace protection for our republic,” Zuna continued.

The delivery of the system is part of a 2021 government-to-government (G2G) agreement by Israel’s Defense Ministry and the Czech Republic. Production of all batteries has been completed with adaptations to the country’s military requirements and NATO standards.

The Czech Defense Ministry said the system is fully integrated into the NATO air defense alliance system and that all maintenance and service are provided entirely in the Czech Republic.

“The program, which is evolving into a comprehensive and integrated air defense capability for Czech skies, reflects the ministry’s strategy, which views defense exports as a central pillar in strengthening the IDF’s force build-up, advancing foreign policy objectives, and driving growth in the defense industries and the Israeli economy,” Israel’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The SPYDER system is a mobile, quick‑reaction air‑defense solution designed to protect against a wide spectrum of aerial threats.

SPYDER will project stationary, maneuvering ground forces on battlefield, Czech Def. Min. says

According to the Czech Defense Ministry, the SPYDER will protect stationary objects as well as maneuvering ground forces on the battlefield.

Rafael’s SPYDER family of short- to long-range mobile, quick-reaction, combat-proven Air Defense Systems includes the SPYDER SR, SPYDER MR, SPYDER LR, SPYDER ER, and the SPYDER All-in-One.

It is built around the Python‑5 and Derby missiles, adapted from air‑to‑air use for ground launch and designed to counter aircraft, helicopters, UAVs, and precision‑guided munitions. The system uses an electro-optical observation payload and wireless data-link communication and can engage multiple threats simultaneously up to 160 kilometers away in all weather conditions.

The EL/M 2106 radar, manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) subsidiary, Elta, can track up to 500 targets simultaneously in all weather conditions while on the move.

Its modular architecture allows for both stationary and mobile deployment, and its rapid response time is intended to provide effective protection of strategic assets in complex air environments.

SPYDER has been operational for more than 15 years. Several militaries worldwide use it, including Romania, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Singapore.

An official source in the United Arab Emirates rejected claims on Saturday evening that UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ) had spoken with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and warned him of a possible Hamas attack in the weeks leading up to October 7, 2023.

“The UAE discusses security matters with other countries through the relevant bodies, and does not discuss details of this kind at the level of the leaders of the countries,” the official said in response to an inquiry from Abu Dhabi’s state-owned English-language newspaper, The National.

The outlet described the statement as rejecting recent claims that a direct warning had been conveyed to Netanyahu.

The statement is the clearest response from the UAE to date to the controversy sparked by an investigation published by Haaretz, which claimed that about a week and a half before the Hamas attack, MBZ called Netanyahu and warned him that Yahya Sinwar, then-leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, was planning a significant move against Israel.

According to the investigation, the call lasted approximately 45 minutes, and the information was not subsequently passed on to the heads of Israel’s security establishment.

The Prime Minister’s Office denied the report from the outset, saying that no conversation between Netanyahu and MBZ had taken place during the period in question and that the prime minister had not received any warning from him.

Netanyahu also announced that he intended to file a libel lawsuit against Haaretz and the authors of the investigation.

New response follows cautious, noncommittal statement from UAE

The new response from Abu Dhabi comes after the UAE Foreign Ministry issued a more cautious statement on September 8.

At the time, the ministry declined to confirm or deny that the conversation had taken place, saying that the government does not comment on “reports or speculation” regarding conversations between leaders. At the same time, it emphasized that direct lines of communication exist between Israeli and Emirati authorities, and that relevant intelligence is shared, when necessary, between the appropriate bodies.

In recent weeks, the issue has become a major focus of Israel’s political debate ahead of the elections, particularly over which warnings reached the political leadership before the October 7 attack, who was exposed to them, and whether they were passed on to security officials.

The National also noted in its latest report that the affair has taken on particular significance against the backdrop of the election campaign and the parties’ focus on security issues.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh said that a thwarted mass-casualty plot by a 21-year-old Butler County man, allegedly inspired by ISIS, saved countless lives.

Jonathan Hunter Kramer was arrested by the FBI outside a Cranberry Township hotel on Saturday, according to federal investigators. Officials stated that Kramer was found with a rifle, dozens of knives, and nearly 200 rounds of ammunition as he prepared to carry out an attack.

Shawn Brokos, director of community security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, stated in an interview with CBS Pittsburgh that community vigilance and tips from concerned citizens were vital in stopping the plot. “I was thrilled that the plot had been thwarted but concerned to see what he had been doing,” Brokos told CBS.

“It’s those concerned citizens who call in and agree to cooperate and share information that’s the key to success, and that’s what saved countless lives because we don’t know where he was headed,” Brokos added.

Federal court documents detail that Kramer’s alleged allegiance to the terrorist group dates back to when he was a minor. A search of Kramer’s home in 2023, when he was still a minor, uncovered a video in which he pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was the leader of ISIS at the time.

He first came on the FBI’s radar in April 2023 at the age of 16 or 17 after posting threatening statements online and sharing instructions on how to make explosives under the username “Nikolas Cruz.”

ISIS-inspired suspect linked with plotting mass casualty event, possessing child sex abuse material

Following those incidents, he was found responsible for plotting a mass casualty event and possessing child sex abuse material, subsequently spending time in a juvenile detention center in Oil City until his release in March.

Investigators stated that after returning home, Kramer corresponded with individuals across multiple social platforms regarding potential targets for massacres, including nightclubs, theaters, concerts, apartment buildings, hotels, protests, and schools with low security, alongside discussing methods such as poisoning food at synagogues.

“Please know we are in close contact with our law enforcement partners and federal prosecutors, and if we learn of anything concerning, we will share that immediately,” the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh stated in a security update published on its website on Friday.

Following the arrest, the organization maintained elevated security measures across local facilities as communities observed religious holidays.

Yoav Etiel contributed to this report.

Pop star Ed Sheeran apologized on Saturday for his handling of a controversy that erupted this week when rapper Macklemore was removed as an opening act over comments on Gaza.

Breaking his silence on the issue, the British singer decried Israel’s treatment of residents in Gaza as “unjustifiable.”

“I’ve had to take and make difficult decisions and I am making mistakes and I’m so, so sorry,” Sheeran told an audience in Philadelphia, where he performed for the first time since Macklemore was taken off the concert tour.

At the start of the concert at Lincoln Financial Field, Sheeran called the October 2023 Hamas attack that killed 1,200 Israelis “horrific.” But he called Israel’s subsequent war, which has killed thousands in Gaza and displaced almost all of the population, “catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.”

Sheeran also decried “systemic injustice” in the West Bank, where Israel’s right-wing coalition government has allowed a massive expansion of ⁠Jewish settlements.

The pop star’s opening statement on Saturday offered a stark change from his statements earlier in the week, when Sheeran posted on Instagram that his concert audiences “do not expect a political forum.”

Controversy has surrounded Sheeran since Macklemore posted on Instagram that New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft had told Sheeran that Macklemore would not be allowed to perform at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where Sheeran has shows on September 25 and 26.

Macklemore said Kraft and other stadium owners had told Sheeran he would not be allowed to perform in their venues if Macklemore remained on the tour after saying “Free Palestine” during a September 4 concert at ​MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The tour’s other supporting acts subsequently quit to show solidarity with Macklemore.

Despite acceding to stadium owners’ demand for Macklemore’s removal, Sheeran on Saturday said he was “deeply worried” about concert venues vetting performers’ content. “This happens in so many places that I perform around the world, but it should never happen in the free world,” Sheeran said.

The controversy, however, did not matter to people who spoke to Reuters on Saturday before Sheeran took to the stage.

Joy VanRuler, a 55-year-old teacher from Pottstown, Pennsylvania, said she supports both artists.

“It doesn’t need to be political,” VanRuler said in an interview outside the stadium in Philadelphia. “It’s about the music, and we support both of them and it’s all good.”

Macklemore “shouldn’t have talked about politics,” said Javier Hernandez, a 62-year-old designer from Allentown, Pennsylvania, whose daughter invited him to the concert. “It gives the people an opportunity to raise their voices and just make a mess of the whole situation. He should have just left it alone.”

Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered about half a mile from the concert venue ahead of Sheeran’s performance. Organizers said they were there to talk to people about the conditions on the ground in Gaza and to highlight local groups advocating for Palestinians.

The Central Elections Committee decided on Thursday that on election day (October 27) public transportation services on intercity bus lines (over 15 km) and Israel Railways will be free for the general public.

The free bus service will start at 8:00 p.m. on the Monday before the election, and last until the end of public transportation services on election day.

For a list of intercity bus lines available for free travel, passengers can contact the Transportation Ministry’s information center at *8787.

Passengers traveling on an intercity bus line, after verifying that the line is on the list of eligible routes, may board for free, without identification or a ticket.

Passengers traveling by train will receive a designated travel ticket at service counters or ticket machines at stations.

Free transportation to Eilat subject to advance registration

Eligibility for free transportation to Eilat and back will be granted after an eligibility check and subject to advance registration through Egged information centers at *2800.

Two thousand years ago, as the high priest entered the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, Jews throughout the Land of Israel and across the Diaspora were fasting. But what else were they doing?

The Yom Kippur rituals and observances practiced in the Temple thousands of years ago are clearly enumerated in the Bible (Leviticus 16), the Mishnah (Yoma), and the Talmud.

During the Yom Kippur Service, the high priest (kohen gadol) offered a bull as a sin offering for himself and his household, and confessed his own sins and those of his household and the other kohanim.

Two identical goats were placed before him, and lots were drawn: one “for the Lord” and one “for azazel.”

The first would be sacrificed; the second became the famous se’ir la’azazel, often translated as the “scapegoat,” which was sent into the wilderness. The Mishnah describes it being taken to a cliff and pushed to its death.

The day’s special status was highlighted by the high priest’s entry into the Holy of Holies, where he offered incense.

While many people undoubtedly came to Jerusalem to see the Temple Service, Yom Kippur is not one of the three pilgrimage festivals, like Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot, and there was no special mitzvah to go to Jerusalem.

How did Jews living in Beit Shemesh, the Galilee, or Beersheba observe Yom Kippur? What did the Jews in Alexandria, Rome, and Babylonia do on that day?

While the biblical rules of fasting and the prohibition of labor applied to everyone, the major prayers of Yom Kippur that we are so familiar with today – Kol Nidrei, “Avinu Malkenu,” “Unetaneh Tokef” – had not yet been composed.

Did they pray at home? Did they hold prayer assemblies? Did they attend a synagogue? If they prayed, what did they say?

The American writer and humorist James Thurber (1894-1961) once observed, “It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.” When it comes to reconstructing Yom Kippur as it was experienced by ordinary Jews 2,000 years ago, Thurber’s observation is particularly apt.

How Jews observed Yom Kippur outside Jerusalem

TO BETTER understand what Jews outside Jerusalem and in the Diaspora did on Yom Kippur during Temple times, I spoke with Prof. Yair Furstenberg of the Talmud department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Furstenberg suggests that the primary source that sheds light on what Jews outside the Temple did on Yom Kippur comes from the writings of Philo, the Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, 20 BCE-50 CE, while the Second Temple was still standing. Alexandria was one of the most important Jewish communities in the ancient world.

In his work The Special Laws, Philo discusses Yom Kippur and notes that even less religiously observant Jews took the day seriously, a pattern echoed in many parts of the Jewish world today.

In section 186, he writes, “On the 10th day the fast takes place, which they take seriously – not only those who are zealous about piety and holiness, but even those who do nothing religious the rest of the time. For all are astounded, overcome with the sacredness of it; in fact, at that time the wicked compete with the righteous in self-control and virtue.”

Adds Furstenberg dryly, “The commentator here writes, ‘There is nothing new under the sun.’”

Beyond fasting, how did the people observe Yom Kippur?

Furstenberg again cites Philo (ibid. section B193), who writes, “From morning until evening, the people spend their time doing nothing else but offering fervent prayers, seeking to appeal to God and asking forgiveness for their sins, both intentional and unintentional, and hoping for His favor – not because of their own merit, but because of His merciful nature.”

Where and how did they pray?

While Talmudic sources attribute the origins of organized prayer to the time of Ezra, Furstenberg says that the idea of fixed prayer – the formal prayers with which we are familiar – was unknown in Judaism during the Second Temple period.

“We assume that synagogues are made for prayer,” he says, “but Second Temple sources associate synagogues with Torah study.”

Taking the question further, he asks, “Philo says that we’re asking for forgiveness and praying; who knows if there is someone who leads the prayer. Does one pray personally? How do you do it? It’s hard to say.”

If one accepts the Talmudic concept of fixed prayer during the Second Temple period, one could imagine Jews gathering to recite the Shema and the Amida and read the Torah on Yom Kippur.

If, however, Furstenberg’s theory is correct, then the question remains – what did they pray and how did they pray?

While Furstenberg says the standard format of fixed prayer we are familiar with did not exist at that time, the Qumran sect, which existed during the Second Temple period, from the second century BCE until 68 CE, had created its own set of fixed prayers.

The Dead Sea Scrolls, found in caves near Qumran on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea about 35-40 km. east of Jerusalem, preserve prayers and liturgy from Jews who lived during this period and separated themselves from the religious establishment in Jerusalem.

One of the Yom Kippur prayers found in the Dead Sea Scrolls reads, “Remember, O Lord, the appointed time of Your mercy, and establish it for us – the appointed time of fasting, an everlasting statute.

“You know the hidden things and the revealed things, and You know our nature, our rising and our lying down. We live with sorrow in our hearts by day, and we have no confidence in our lives. Remember our sorrow and our weeping.”

Yom Kippur was not always a day of joy

Interestingly, the sect used the terms “sorrow” and “weeping” (Hebrew: yagon and bechi), which suggests a markedly somber understanding of the day, emphasizing sorrow and weeping with fasting and supplication.

While the Torah states that on Yom Kippur “you shall afflict yourselves” (Leviticus 23:27), Yom Kippur, according to most sources, is not considered a day of mourning.

Furstenberg adds that the Karaites, who appeared many years later, in the ninth century, also adopted the idea of affliction and sadness on Yom Kippur.

In one of their writings, it was stated that on Yom Kippur, one should “stand on one’s feet in prolonged prayer, again and again, to the point of afflicting oneself; deprive one’s eyes of sleep; change one’s clothes and dress in sackcloth and ashes; and weep with a loud voice until one’s strength is exhausted” (Jewish Festivals in the Time of the Mishnah and Talmud, by Joseph Tabory).

This approach sharply contrasts with a Mishnah at the end of Ta’anit (4:8), which states: “Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: There were no days as joyous for the Jewish people as the 15th of Av and as Yom Kippur…”

On those two days – Yom Kippur and the 15th of Av – the Mishnah continues, the daughters of Jerusalem would dress in borrowed white garments, so that poorer women would not be embarrassed, and dance in the vineyards. At the same time, young men sought wives, emphasizing character and family over beauty.

The Talmud connects the joy of Yom Kippur with the giving of the Second Tablets on that day, symbolizing reconciliation between God and Israel after the sin of the Golden Calf.

Furstenberg notes that this passage portrays Yom Kippur as a day of rejoicing. Why did the people of Jerusalem celebrate?

Beyond the Talmudic explanation, Furstenberg suggests that this celebratory spirit was connected to the release of tension surrounding the Temple Service, as the people waited for the high priest to emerge from the Holy of Holies.

Another source of tension surrounded the sending of the goat to Azazel, which symbolized the removal of the people’s sins.

What did Jews pray on Yom Kippur?

WHAT DOES all of this leave us with? How did the people outside the Temple, both in the Land of Israel and the Diaspora, pray on Yom Kippur? Did they have fixed prayers or informal prayers?

Even if they had a set prayer format, there is little reason to assume that they sat in a synagogue all day, listening to prayer leaders chant complicated liturgical poems as many do today.

For many, Yom Kippur may therefore have included far more private prayer and introspection than the synagogue-centered observance familiar to us today.

Furstenberg suggests that for many, the Temple was the focal point of worship that day, and those who were not there had to wait for the results. Something larger than them was happening. “I think that makes sense in an ancient mindset,” he concludes.

We may never know precisely what a Jew in Alexandria, the Galilee, or Babylonia said to God on Yom Kippur 2,000 years ago. Ironically, even today, with hundreds of pages of carefully ordered prayers before us, we can sometimes find ourselves facing the same problem: What do we say?

Prayer throughout the year, and especially on Yom Kippur, can be difficult, and the combination of ritual and introspection can be especially challenging.

Perhaps the challenge of Yom Kippur prayer is not simply finding the right words, but the sincerity behind them.

A story attributed to the Baal Shem Tov (1700-1760) tells of an uneducated man who could not recite the High Holy Day prayers. Knowing only part of the Hebrew alphabet, he repeatedly recited its letters and told God: “Please, Master of the Universe, take my letters and form them into words that will please You.”

His simple prayer embodied the principle of Rahmana liba ba’i – “The Merciful One desires the heart.”

Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi said Saturday that members of the Islamic Republic’s military and civilian establishment were already quietly breaking with the regime, describing Iran as having entered an “active defection” phase in the struggle to overthrow the country’s rulers.

Addressing thousands of supporters at the “Cyrus the Great II” gathering in Toronto over the weekend, Pahlavi outlined how in the months since the bloody January uprising, when over 40,000 Iranians were killed on the streets, the opposition had regrouped, adapted its tactics and expanded networks inside Iran, even as the regime sought to convince Iranians that the protest movement had been defeated.

“We are more experienced, more cohesive and more determined today than ever before,” he told the gathering. “Our objective is clear: the overthrow of the Islamic Republic and achieving a free and prosperous Iran.”

Central to his speech was the claim that erosion within the regime itself is continuing. For months, Pahlavi has said that officials from within the Islamic Republic’s apparatus have been quietly reaching out to him to signal their clandestine opposition to the regime.

These members of Iran’s civilian and military structures have used secure channels to distance themselves from the Islamic Republic and side with the opposition. For now, Pahlavi argued, many remain outwardly within the system, retaining their positions while gradually ceasing to perform the functions expected of them.

“They remain within the structure outwardly, but they no longer perform their former functions for the regime,” he said. “Quietly, but decisively, they are eroding the pillars of repression from within.”

Open defections, including soldiers publicly laying down their weapons, would represent a later stage reached once the balance of power had shifted decisively toward the opposition.

Pahlavi placed January’s anti-regime protests within cycle of longer period of Iran unrest

During his Toronto address, Pahlavi also placed January’s uprising within a much longer period of unrest in Iran, dating back through several protest cycles.

Rather than portraying December-January’s demonstrations as an isolated explosion of anger, he traced their origins through a decade of growing opposition, from the large Cyrus Day gatherings of 2016, through the protests of 2017-18 and November 2019, to the nationwide uprising that followed Mahsa Amini’s death in 2022. Saturday also saw global marches across the Iranian diaspora to mark four years since Amini’s death in the custody of the Iranian regime.

“The great uprising of Dey was not the product of a fleeting burst of emotion,” he said. “Behind it lay a long, difficult and costly road.”

The events of January 8 and 9, when the Islamic Republic launched a massive crackdown as demonstrations spread across the country, had nevertheless changed the circumstances confronting the opposition.

The scale of the killing, Pahlavi said, required changes in how the opposition operated, although not in what it ultimately sought to achieve.

“A change in tactics does not mean a change in objectives. It means adapting our methods to new circumstances.”

Saturday’s gathering was held at Meridian Hall as part of “Cyrus the Great II: From a Great Civilization to a Greater Future,” organized by the Cyrus the Great Cultural & Humanity Organization. Organizers had said ahead of the event that more than 3,000 Iranian Canadians and supporters were expected.

The event brought Pahlavi together with Canadian political and civic figures, most prominently Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, who used his appearance to call for stronger Canadian action against individuals linked to the Islamic Republic.

Canada’s Poilievre calls for scrutiny on IRGC-linked actors entering country

Poilievre called for greater scrutiny of those connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps entering Canada, continued targeted sanctions, and measures to prevent regime-linked assets from being moved into the country.

Canada severed diplomatic relations with Tehran in 2012 and designated the IRGC as a terrorist entity in 2024.

Poilievre also spoke of Iran beyond the Islamic Republic, invoking Cyrus the Great and the country’s pre-Islamic history while expressing hope that Iranians would one day be able to return freely to their country and see the Lion and Sun flag raised there again.

For Pahlavi, much of Saturday’s address focused on another battle between the opposition and Tehran: the competing picture each presents of the state of resistance inside Iran. He accused the regime of promoting two central claims – that Iran’s opposition remains hopelessly divided and that no meaningful organization exists inside the country.

On the first, Pahlavi argued that agreement over Iran’s eventual form of government was not a prerequisite for cooperation against the Islamic Republic.

Republicans and monarchists, as well as those on the political left and right, could work together around four principles: Iran’s territorial integrity; separation of religion and government; individual freedoms and equality before the law; and Iranians’ right to determine their future system of government through free and fair elections.

“The embrace of Iran’s Lion and Sun Revolution is open to every Iranian who accepts these four principles,” he said.

The second claim – that the opposition lacks organization – brought Pahlavi back to the networks he says now operate beneath the surface inside Iran.

If no organization existed, he asked, how could millions of Iranians inside and outside the country act together at critical moments?

According to Pahlavi, the answer lies in decentralized networks embedded in Iranian society, beyond the regime’s ability to easily dismantle. He claimed Tehran’s intelligence and security apparatus was itself increasingly concerned by their development.

The Iranian opposition leader nevertheless cautioned his supporters against assuming the Islamic Republic’s collapse was inevitable or imminent.

“We must be realistic. The work is not yet finished,” he said. “Overthrowing this criminal sect that has occupied our country is a complex, multi-stage process.”

But the central message of the Toronto speech was that Pahlavi believes that process has moved into a different stage – one increasingly focused on weakening the machinery of the Islamic Republic from within.

“The enemy is decaying from within and is hollow,” he told the crowd. “We are more determined and more organized than ever. Believe that the dawn of freedom is near.”

A 49-year-old Breslov Hassid from Betar Illit, a father of six, was arrested at the Ukraine-Romania border crossing while returning to Israel after spending Rosh Hashanah in Uman, and was drafted into the Ukrainian army, according to a report first published in haredi (ultra-Orthodox) media by journalist Yanki Farber.

According to the report, the man, who was born in Ukraine and is an Israeli citizen who has lived in Betar Illit for many years, was detained during a document check.

Sources familiar with the case said that after speaking with border officers in Ukrainian, he was separated for additional screening, during which authorities determined that he was subject to conscription and took him away.

Since his arrest, his family has lost contact with him and does not know where he is being held or where he was assigned. Activists in the Breslov community are trying to use contacts in Ukraine and among rabbis to help, but he has yet to be located.

A source close to the family said they do not have the means to hire a local lawyer and fear that his stay in the country could be prolonged.

Foreign Ministry seeking missing hassid in Ukraine

According to the report, the Foreign Ministry told the family that it is currently working to locate him. As of publication, no update had been received regarding his release or his transfer to Israeli representatives.

The case comes against the backdrop of Ukraine’s strict conscription laws since the Russian invasion. Men aged 18 to 60 who hold Ukrainian citizenship may be prevented from leaving the country and called up for military service, even if they also hold Israeli citizenship and have lived in Israel for years.

Tens of thousands of Breslov Hassidim traveled to Uman this year for Rosh Hashanah, and many returned to Israel through land border crossings with Romania, Poland, and Moldova.

The Foreign Ministry has not yet responded to the report.

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Dr. Abdul El-Sayed visited a Jewish home for Rosh Hashanah last week in the wake of widespread controversy surrounding his stance on Israel and allegations of antisemitism made against him.

In a video posted on X/Twitter on Sunday, El-Sayed is seen visiting Elaine and Missy, a Jewish mother and daughter who are “lifelong Michiganders.”

“We talked about the work we can do together to build a more just and peaceful future for our communities here in Michigan,” El-Sayed wrote in the post, adding “Shana tova and shavua tov!”

It was wonderful to spend Rosh Hashanah last week with Missy and Elaine, two lifelong Michiganders who welcomed me into their home and taught me about the sweet and joyous meaning of Rosh Hashanah. We talked about the work we can do together to build a more just and peaceful… pic.twitter.com/HziA6j4aTq

— Dr. Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) September 20, 2026

The video shows no discussion of El-Sayed’s position on Israel or controversial past statements he has made. Instead, the conversation focuses mainly on the food.

El-Sayed complimented Elaine’s kugel, based on her grandmother’s recipe, saying that it was “just sweet but not overpoweringly sweet.”

Elaine also recited the blessing over fruit as the group dipped apples into honey, as per the Rosh Hashanah tradition.

Toward the end of the video, Missy told El-Sayed that she likes “all the things that you stand for, especially the healthcare part.”

El-Sayed meets with rabbis in an effort to repair relations with Jewish voters

El-Sayed has sought to mend relations with Jewish voters in the state in recent months, though his opposition to a two-state solution in Israel, along with past controversies involving anti-Israel streamer Hasan Piker and his response to the attack on the Detroit-area Temple Israel, have rendered his candidacy polarizing to the community.

Recently, El-Sayed held an unpublicized meeting with rabbis at Temple Israel, weeks after apologizing for his earlier remarks in which he appeared to equivocate about condemning the March attack, according to a report in Jewish Insider.

More than 600 Michigan Jews have also signed an open letter pledging to vote for El-Sayed for the US Senate, seeking to grow the Democratic candidate’s rocky Jewish support in what is expected to be a close and pivotal election.

Andrew Lapin contributed to this report.

North Korea launched what appeared to be a ballistic missile into the sea to the east of the Korean Peninsula on Sunday, Japan‘s defense ministry said.

South Korea’s defense ministry said the rival North had fired an unidentified projectile. Japanese public broadcaster NHK said it had come down outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

A day earlier, North Korea dismissed a resolution by the UN nuclear watchdog against Pyongyang’s nuclear program, in a statement through state media.

North Korea condemns US-Japan-South Korea naval drill

Pyongyang last week also condemned a US-led naval drill including South Korea and Japan, which ran from August 29 to September 10 near Guam.

North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of leader Kim Jong Un, on Friday blamed US-led military drills for “ever-worsening” tensions on the Korean Peninsula and vowed no change in the country’s course to strengthen its nuclear arsenal.

South Korea’s presidential office convened a National Security Council (NSC) meeting on Sunday following the reports of North Korea’s launch of short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea from the Wonsan area.

Condemning the launch, the second in about a week following a previous test on September 12, the NSC urged Pyongyang to immediately cease missile activity, warning that the test directly violates United Nations Security Council resolutions.

US President Donald Trump announced his intention to form an “AI Force” to assist in the development of the artificial intelligence industry in a Truth Social post on Saturday, after claiming that warnings about the risks of AI were a hoax.

Trump also declared that an “AI ‘Czar'” would be appointed over the force, adding that “Only High IQ individuals need apply!”

In his post, Trump listed the decimation of AI among a variety of concepts he believed to be hoaxes generated by “Radical Left Dumocrats” for the purposes of destroying the United States.

“We will not in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry,” he wrote, “Rather, we will cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows!”

The AI Force, he said, would be “looking for BAD” in the ongoing development of this new industry.

“AI is the next Industrial Revolution, or Internet, but will be even larger and more impactful, possibly as much as 25% of our Country’s GDP,” he wrote.

“We are leading China, and the rest of the World, and I intend to keep it that way!”

Earlier on Saturday, Trump also stated that the term “artificial intelligence” was insufficient to describe the technology, and that a more suitable term would be “Superior Intelligence (SI) or, Extreme Intelligence (EI) or, Supreme Intelligence (SI).”

Trump tells Nvidia CEO AI concerns are a ‘hoax’

On Monday, Trump dismissed concerns by several industry leaders warning about the dangers of AI as a “hoax” during a call with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

“The data centers are great, and they make people wealthy, and they make states wealthy. And it’s the oil of the next 20 to 25 years; it’s even bigger than the internet,” Trump claimed in his call with the Nvidia CEO. “They [the AI industry leaders] are playing right into the hands of some people that don’t want to see it happening.”

Anthropic CEO calls for slowing of AI model development

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called on AI companies to deliberately moderate the pace at which they advance model capabilities, outlining a three-step framework to slow development and create more time to manage risks, Reuters reported earlier this month. 

The comments came after Jacob Coxon, a former employee of both Anthropic and OpenAI, resigned from the company, accusing the firms of acting irresponsibly and “gambling with our lives.” Coxon warned that the technology could potentially “kill us all by the end of the decade.”

Tobias Holcman, Reuters, and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians participated on Friday in a rally organized by the regime in Tehran, in the largest display of defiance of its kind since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February.

Participants said they were prepared to take up arms and defend the country after months of war and a worsening economic situation in Iran, the Associated Press reported.

The rally was held as part of an initiative called “Janfada Iran,” meaning “those who sacrifice their lives for Iran.” Participants marched through central Tehran in combat uniforms and carried flags, while crowds along the streets cheered them on. Some protesters stepped on US and Israeli flags and chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”

In the days before the rally, state media called on the public to join the initiative and announced that limited training in the use of assault rifles would soon begin.

The volunteers are intended to serve as an additional layer of defense alongside the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij militia, which has played a central role over the years in suppressing protests against the regime.

Tehran IRGC commander General Hassan Hassanzadeh told state television that more than 600,000 people had already registered for the program and that the regime expects more than 1 million people to participate in training. Iranian television estimated that more than 300,000 people took to the streets of the capital on Friday, although the figures could not be independently verified.

Basij head says recruits will be ‘nightmare’ for Iran’s enemies

The new head of the Basij, Hossein Taeb, announced at the opening of the rally that the volunteers would be ready for “comprehensive defense” and that similar events would soon be held in additional cities. He said the new recruits would become a “nightmare” for Iran’s enemies.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, military commanders, and other senior regime officials watched the parade.

“I came to tell Trump that we Iranians are not afraid of his threats against our homeland,” said Marzieh Afaghi, 24, who attended the rally with her husband and young child. “No one throughout history has managed to invade Iran and remain there.”

The rally also served as an opportunity for the regime to display military equipment. Air defense systems were deployed on the streets, and female IRGC fighters wearing black head coverings were seen alongside machine guns mounted on vehicles.

The IRGC also displayed drones of the type used in attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran claims responsibility for tanker attack in Strait of Hormuz

At the same time as the events in Tehran, Iran claimed responsibility for an attack on the oil tanker Trend, sailing under the flag of Togo.

According to state television, the tanker was targeted because of what it described as an “illegal attempt” to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said a vessel was struck by a projectile and that a fire broke out onboard, which was later extinguished.

According to UKMTO, the number of vessels passing with US military assistance off the coast of Oman averaged 24 per day over the past week. However, overall maritime traffic in the area remains about 90% lower than in the period before the war.

Iranian attacks and threats in the strait have severely disrupted oil and natural gas shipments from Gulf countries to markets around the world.

Expanded Basij enables greater suppression of future protests

According to AP, the recruitment initiative also has domestic significance: expanding forces aligned with the Basij could strengthen the regime’s ability to suppress future protests.

In January, shortly before the outbreak of the war, Iran saw some of the largest nationwide demonstrations in the country’s history. The protests began over the economic crisis and expanded into calls against the government.

Human rights activists claimed that more than 7,000 people were killed in the crackdown on the protests and that tens of thousands were arrested.

In May, government officials claimed that more than 30 million of Iran’s roughly 90 million residents had volunteered through an online form or at public events to sacrifice their lives for the regime.

A senior Palestinian official rejected the United States’ decision to bar PA President Mahmoud Abbas from attending the UN General Assembly in New York to deliver his speech in person. 

The official, who is one of Abbas’s closest associates, expressed dissatisfaction with what he said appeared to be the US administration’s lack of consideration for the efforts made by the PA to implement some new moves and reforms. 

“It is clear that the US has taken a position without considering the details,” he claimed, referring to reforms the PA has begun introducing into its institutions as part of its commitments to the international community. 

“It seems that the issue is not the reforms we make or do not make. Rather, it looks like a political issue,” he said, acknowledging that the US administration’s decision to deny Abbas’s entry visa was prompted by the PA’s diplomatic moves at international institutions, efforts to gain recognition for a Palestinian state, and actions with the International Court of Justice- steps the US and Israel consider unilateral.

This is the second year in a row that Abbas has been denied a US visa, forcing him to address the UN General Assembly remotely. 

Palestinian officials condemn US move preventing Abbas from attending UN 

The Ramallah-based official said there were expectations that, unlike last year, when President Abbas was barred from entering the US to attend the UN General Assembly summit, the United States would take a different approach this year. “We thought that the Americans would enable President Abbas to come to New York and join the gathering with other world leaders. But unfortunately, the Americans did not approve our request,” he said. 

However, Abbas will be allowed to address the General Assembly remotely. The official said it has not yet been decided whether the Palestinian president will deliver his speech live by video conference or send a recorded statement. 

He confirmed that Palestinian officials have recently pressured the US administration to reverse its decision, but these efforts haven’t succeeded. “I believe it’s over. I don’t think we are going to keep pushing. America took its decision,” he said. 

Asked whether the PA would keep pursuing diplomatic moves at the international level, the official said, “We will do everything necessary according to our interests,” confirming that this includes continuing efforts to achieve recognition of a Palestinian state and to support the Palestinians cause. 

The US State Department announced a few days ago that “the PLO and the PA have once again failed to live up to their commitments. This includes taking actions to internationalize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), seeking to bypass negotiations through unilateral recognition, and continuing to pay stipends to terrorists and to glorify acts of terrorism and terrorists in public pronouncements and school textbooks.”

“As a consequence of their failure to reform, and their ongoing activities that undermine the prospects for peace, the United States will extend sanctions that deny visas to PLO members and PA officials,” the US statement said. 

In response, President Mahmoud Abbas’s office issued a statement on Thursday rejecting the American stance and stating that “resorting to international institutions and international law is a legitimate right for the State of Palestine and a peaceful and legal means to protect our people and their rights, and that it cannot be equated with the policies of occupation, settlement, annexation, displacement, and settler violence, which constitute the real threat to the two-state solution and to the chances for peace.”

It further stated that “international recognition of the State of Palestine is not a substitute for negotiations, but rather an acknowledgment of the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and the realization of their independent state, and support for achieving a just peace based on the two-state solution.” 

Tai Baribo has already scored 14 goals this MLS season, putting the Israel international among the league’s leading scorers.

But ask the DC United striker about the Golden Boot race, and he has little interest in pretending that catching Lionel Messi is what occupies his mind.

“First of all, I’m not looking at the Golden Boot at all,” Baribo told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive conversation in Washington. “In the end, Messi will take it. It doesn’t really interest me.”

“I have my goals to achieve, and that’s what interests me: my number of goals, getting into the playoffs with the team. That’s what I’m aiming for, and that’s what I’m going to achieve, God willing.”

But the conversation quickly moved beyond Baribo’s own numbers.

MLS has increasingly become a destination for Israeli players. Alongside Baribo in Washington, Liel Abada and Idan Toklomati play for Charlotte FC, while Dor Turgeman and Ilay Feingold are with the New England Revolution, and Sayed Abu Farkhi has also joined the growing Israeli contingent in the league.

Each Israeli player succeeding in US soccer league makes path easier for next star

For Baribo, each Israeli who succeeds in MLS can make the path easier for the next one.

“When an Israeli player succeeds in a certain league, and people see it, then it really opens the door for the other players,” he told the Post.

“I’m happy that more Israelis are coming. The league here is really good, the pace is high, and I’m sure anyone who comes here will enjoy it.”

That growing Israeli presence was on display Saturday night at Audi Field. Baribo started for DC United, while Abada and Toklomati both started for Charlotte, putting three Israelis on the field in the US capital.

Charlotte ultimately won 2-1, but for Baribo and DC United, the most memorable moment may have been a goal that never appeared on the scoreboard.

*’Everybody saw it except the referee’*

Ashley Westwood gave Charlotte the lead in the 22nd minute before DC responded almost immediately after halftime, with Lucas Bartlett leveling the match in the 47th minute.

Allan Saint-Maximin restored Charlotte’s advantage in the 71st minute, and the visitors held on for the victory.

DC continued to press for an equalizer and dominated the shot count, finishing with 31 attempts and 11 shots on goal, compared with Charlotte’s 10 attempts and seven on target.

Late in the match came the moment that left Baribo particularly frustrated. A DC effort appeared to have crossed the goal line, with replays also shown on the stadium’s large video board, but no goal was awarded. Neither the on-field decision nor the review process that followed resulted in the goal being awarded.

Baribo did not hide his frustration afterward.

“In the second half we were much better,” he said. “We created a lot of chances, so unfortunately the ball didn’t go in, actually, it went in. Everybody saw it except the ref.”

“This is unbelievable. You’re fighting 90 minutes, you’re fighting the whole season, and then they don’t see a simple goal. But it is what it is.”

“We lost the game. We’re still fighting for the playoffs. We hope to make it.”

Asked about the fight DC showed in the second half, Baribo returned to the disputed decision.

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “You have to understand my side. We are running, we are fighting, the owners invest money, and then a simple decision they don’t see.”

Still, he refused to use the incident as an excuse.

“At the end, we lost,” Baribo said. “We need to end it with that and continue to the next game.”

*’The better team doesn’t always win’*

Baribo also saw encouraging signs in DC’s attacking performance, particularly after a previous match against Atlanta in which chances were harder to come by.

“First of all, it’s a good thing that we have chances,” he said. “Against Atlanta, I think we maybe didn’t have even one. So it’s improving, which is good.”

“Maybe we conceded the goal and then we started to go forward. We don’t need to concede goals to start going forward, but it happened.”

“We created chances, we scored, and then at the end they scored the second goal and we were more dominant. I believe everybody saw that we were better today, but not always the better team wins.”

Israeli soccer star Tai Baribo praises atmosphere, support from DC United’s fans

Baribo also praised the atmosphere at Audi Field as DC pushed forward late.

“We were attacking toward our fans, which really helped us,” he said. “The environment was amazing today. They really supported us.”

“Unfortunately, again today we lost, but it didn’t end. We still believe that we can do it.”

For Baribo, the focus remains straightforward: his own scoring targets, DC United’s playoff push, and continuing to establish himself in a league where more Israeli players are now following.

Children’s entertainer Ms. Rachel said on Thursday that she would donate $1 million to the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) to match singer Macklemore’s donation of the same amount, which represented his total net earnings from the Ed Sheeran Loop Tour.

She also urged “every wealthy white celebrity” to do the same. 

Macklemore’s donation was split among several organizations, including the PCRF, HEAL Palestine, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Medical Aid for Palestinians, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, and Anera. 

Macklemore, who has long supported Palestinian causes, was cut from British pop star Sheeran’s musical lineup over remarks on stage criticizing Israel’s military assault in Gaza, which was launched after Hamas-led terrorists infiltrated Israel and carried out a massacre in October 2023.

Sheeran said he couldn’t keep Macklemore on the tour after stadium owners refused to let him appear. US billionaire Robert Kraft, owner of Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, where his New England Patriots football team plays, said he had barred Macklemore from appearing there for antisemitism, which the rapper denies.

Toddler video superstar ‘Ms Rachel’ launches fundraiser for children in Gaza 

Ms. Rachel, whose given name is Rachel Accurso, has been a vocal activist for Gazan children since the outset of the Israel-Hamas war and has held several fundraisers to aid the people in Gaza. 

She caused a considerable media stir in May 2024, when she announced that she was creating a fundraiser to benefit children in conflict areas, including Gaza.

“The idea is, I’ll make videos for little ones, and all the money raised on my end will go to Save the Children’s emergency fund, which will go to children living in conflict in Gaza, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine,” she said in the video announcement.

In January 2026, she was accused of antisemitism after she appeared to entertain an antisemitic comment on an Instagram post of hers, explaining why she liked an antisemitic comment on her account. 

The original comment was left on one of her posts and read “free America from the Jews.” It has since been deleted, and Accurso said she had intended to delete it but “accidentally hit like and hide.”

On her apology post, an account named ‘thepalestinenewsnetwerk’ wrote, “Spoiler alert: They left the comment themselves.”

“Ooooooooooohhhhh,” Accurso responded.

Jackie Hajdenberg/JTA, Fraidy Moser, and Reuters contributed to this report.

The lone dissenting juror in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial, Michael Desronvil, 48, has broken his silence for the first time on Thursday, since his one-against-eleven stand sparked nationwide debate.

Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial on September 4 in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy for killing her three young children, a tragedy her attorney said occurred while she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.

The nearly six-week-long televised trial came to an end after 12 jurors in Plymouth, Massachusetts, deliberated for seven days. Prosecutors supported the mistrial declaration.

“I didn’t have any doubts. As I tried to explain different possible theories during deliberation, I kept getting cut off as if I had doubts based on the evidence present,” Desronvil told NewsNation. “Based on all the physical evidence, key witnesses, and what the prosecution presents, I thought it was enough proof that she knew exactly what she was doing and planned.”

Lindsay Clancy holdout juror retains Trump’s former attorney after being attacked for forcing a mistrial, the lawyer says.

Michael P. Desronvil, the lone juror who voted to convict Clancy in the murders of her three children, says he was repeatedly cut off during deliberations… pic.twitter.com/LW44eOHayo

— Fox News US (@FoxUSNews) September 20, 2026

Desronvil hires lawyer who reportedly represented Trump

Desronvil has since hired a lawyer, Attorney Edward Paltzik, who, according to Fox News, once represented US President Donald Trump.

The mistrial sparked intense backlash against Desronvil, including from his fellow jurors, who publicly leaked information about him that may have helped lead to his doxxing. His name was discovered by a true-crime blogger known as “Turtleboy,” according to the New York Post.

NBC Boston then launched an investigation into him, which led to their reporting on domestic violence allegations against him, as well as financial issues that were brought into the public spotlight.

Former prosecutor Mark Astor and behavioral health law expert told Fox News Digital that Desronvil has retained counsel to “stand up for himself.”

“I think there’s certainly some indication that his name and reputation is now being dragged through the mud,” Astor told Fox News. “The other issue, obviously, is he’s basically been attacked not just by potentially the other jurors, but by Mr. Reddington on the foot of the courthouse, since we had that mistrial declared by the judge. So, I mean, I think he feels like he needs to, you know, at least stand up for himself.”

Calls jurors ‘activists’ who wanted to acquit on ‘day one’

In an interview with Fugitive TV on YouTube, Desronvil said that he has been targeted by individuals and by the media for his stand in the jury deliberations, as well as for his background as a black conservative.

He described his fellow jurors as mostly leftist “activists,” with the majority having decided to acquit Lindsay on “day one.”

Regarding his own stance, he said, “From day one, I always felt that she was guilty, and I never displayed or said anything about reasonable doubt.”

Qatar’s International Media office denied reports that the nation provided funding for Hamas in Gaza in the form of “humanitarian aid” in an official statement on Friday, claiming that “these allegations are being promoted by elements of Israel’s far right and political figures in an attempt to deflect attention from domestic political failures and portray Qatar as a convenient scapegoat.”

The report in question was published earlier on Friday by Ronen Bergman of the Israeli media outlet Yedioth Ahronoth. Bergman claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warned repeatedly in 2019 that Qatari funds were being used to fund Hamas’s military branch. 

The report also included quotes from several prominent Israeli politicians, including Together Party leader and former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Yashar Party leader and former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, reacting to the news and censuring Netanyahu’s behavior.

‘Netanyahu was the one who consistently supported offensive measures in Gaza’

The Prime Minister’s Office responded to the report, calling it “a collection of recycled lies that have already been disproven in the past.” The PMO also claimed that the report was an attempt at sabotaging Netanyahu’s re-election campaign ahead of the October 27 elections.

Additionally, the PMO claimed that the previous government was responsible for Qatari funding of Hamas.

“With the outbreak of Operation Guardian of the Walls, Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed that the Qatari grant be stopped immediately,” the statement said. “The Bennett-Lapid government restored it. Contrary to the claims, Prime Minister Netanyahu was the one who consistently supported offensive measures in Gaza and never restricted the security establishment.”

The Qatari International Media Office response stated plainly that “Qatar has never provided money to Hamas,” noting that it did provide assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza in coordination with Israeli authorities and international collaborators. Like the PMO, the Qatari IMO claimed that the Yedioth Ahronoth report was election-related – an attempt to distract the Israeli public “from their domestic shortcomings” as elections approach. 

“Qatar has no interest in becoming involved in Israel’s domestic politics,” the statement read.

Netanyahu has been accused several times of overlooking Qatari funding of Hamas in Gaza, including in October 2025 when KAN News reported that a 2020 document signed by a former senior official at the National Security Council revealed how Israel encouraged Qatar to transfer money to the Gaza Strip, despite knowing that significant sums were reaching Hamas.

Netanyahu, who was also the prime minister at the time, defended the decision from 2018 to push Qatar to give money to Gaza, according to the report.

Qatar signs agreement with UN to bring 1.3 million liters of fuel to Gaza

On Thursday, Qatar signed an agreement with the United Nations to deliver about 1.3 million liters of fuel to the Gaza Strip.

According to Doha, the move continues Qatar’s aid program for the Gaza Strip. The statement said that Qatar had supplied Gaza with approximately 30 million liters of fuel from October 7, 2023, until the end of March 2026.

Amit Avitan and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

Israeli hostages were beaten in front of a camera on October 7, 2023, and the photographer withheld the footage to protect the Palestinians in it. That was the account Gazan photojournalist Motaz Azaiza gave in a podcast interview reported by The Jerusalem Post.

“I did not want to ruin the lives of the people who were filmed,” he said, explaining that he feared Israel would identify and kill them.

Consider whose interests that decision served. Captives were being assaulted. Their families needed information. Evidence existed. Azaiza’s stated concern was what publication might do to the people captured on camera.

That explanation betrays the victims and journalism. The editors, broadcasters, and institutions that elevated him owe their audiences an answer: Is this compatible with the standards they claim to uphold?

News organizations routinely protect identities and assess the risks of publication. Azaiza could have blurred faces, described what he witnessed, or arranged an independent examination of the footage.

His account demands questions about those alternatives. Concern about retaliation cannot excuse withholding the truth of an assault on helpless captives.

Azaiza condemns Hamas leadership for bringing disaster to Gaza

His own testimony also described Hamas’s machinery of intimidation: coordinated harassment, threats, and photographers lowering their cameras when Palestinians criticized the group. He condemned Hamas’s leaders for bringing disaster upon Gaza.

Those disclosures deserve serious coverage. They should also force international editors to examine what was missing from the reporting they published. If journalists were pressured to suppress criticism of Hamas, audiences deserved to know that their view of the war was being restricted.

Editors have had years of warning: In August 2014, India’s NDTV filmed preparations for a rocket launch beside its Gaza hotel and the launch itself.

It released the report after its team left, explaining Hamas’s hostility to such coverage. The network published the evidence and disclosed the constraint. Its reporting exposed both the danger to nearby civilians and the pressure surrounding coverage of Hamas’s military activity.

This past June, the Committee to Protect Journalists disclosed another failure requiring scrutiny. It said eight names had been removed from its casualty database after the individuals were established to have been Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad combatants. CPJ removed twelve other names for other reasons.

CPJ announced a review after the groups’ own obituaries identified people previously listed as journalists as combatants.

Corrections are necessary. They also require accountability. News organizations that used those figures should tell readers what changed. They should ask how those entries passed verification and what safeguards failed. Quietly revising a database leaves the original claims circulating.

The reported termination of 24 Al Jazeera staff contracts in Gaza raises further questions. StandWithUs, which supported Shurat HaDin’s US lawsuit alleging material support for terrorist organizations, said several dismissed employees were named in the complaint.

It acknowledged that no determination linked the dismissals to the lawsuit. The Gulf Center for Human Rights reported that the workers were offered freelance arrangements. The allegations require examination; the personnel changes do not establish guilt. Al Jazeera owes a detailed account of its vetting and responses to the evidence presented against its staff.

These cases concern different conduct. Each exposes a question that institutions claiming public trust have a duty to answer. Admiration for a photographer, sympathy for suffering civilians and hostility to Israeli policy provide no exemption from scrutiny.

Palestinian journalists doing honest work deserve protection, including from Hamas’s coercion. Israel should facilitate independent reporting. Editors should demand evidence for allegations against journalists and apply the same rigor to material those journalists supply.

Azaiza should face consequences for established ethical misconduct

Azaiza should preserve his footage and permit independent verification with safeguards for the victims. Institutions that promoted him should publicly investigate his explanation. Established ethical misconduct should bring consequences for commissions, partnerships and honors.

A press willing to investigate every aspect of Israeli conduct must show equal determination when evidence implicates those attacking Israelis.

The hostages were entitled to have their suffering documented honestly. The institutions that claim to speak for journalism should explain what they intend to do about a photographer who says he chose to withhold it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing to escalate the war with Ukraine after this weekend’s State Duma elections, Western intelligence sources told The Telegraph.

The expected escalation, the sources said, is likely to come in the form of a draft surge, accelerated mobilization, and intensified strikes against Ukraine and its allies in Europe.

With Russia suffering major casualties in its war against Ukraine, including an estimated 500,000 deaths, and facing the reality of what is ostensibly a stalemate, Putin is choosing to step things up instead of seeking peace talks mediated by the United States, intelligence sources said according to The Telegraph.

European defense officials fear a concentrated incursion of NATO territory by Russia, with CIA Director John Ratcliffe visiting the Kremlin last month for the express purpose of warning Russia against attacking any NATO members, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Russian attacks, espionage on the rise in NATO nations

European leaders have also been warning of increased “hybrid operations” by Russia within European borders in recent weeks, which include cyberattacks, sabotage, information warfare, economic coercion, as well as more blatant acts of war.

“It fits into a broader pattern of Russian hybrid operations in Europe,” said Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul after a drone attack at Leipzig airport last month.

Infiltrations, bombing attempts, and other forms of attacks have become increasingly commonplace throughout Europe.

Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said last month, “We’re not at war, but we are the daily target of hybrid warfare.“

Last Thursday, a British man accused of providing information about factories that manufacture drones and offering to sabotage them on behalf of Russian intelligence appeared in a London court.

On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron ordered officials to outline plans to protect critical infrastructure and defense industries from sabotage, according to The Telegraph. Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk also warned that Russia is planning to strike European countries that support Ukraine in a test of the NATO alliance.

Russia boosts mobilization through forced campaigns

According to Ukrainian intelligence, as cited by The Kyiv Independent, Moscow has long been prepared to call up tens of thousands of soldiers for duty but has resorted to a widely unpopular forced mobilization rather than increasing recruitment through other means.

In 2022, Russia launched a wave of “partial mobilization,” drafting at least 300,000 soldiers. Some were lured in by promises of large signing bonuses and positions away from the front lines.

Some went under questionable circumstances. Russia launched a mass recruitment initiative in prisons, sending convicts to the front lines in exchange for pardons. Hundreds of thousands of draft-age Russian men fled the country.
But the Kremlin withstood the blowback in 2022.

Now, however, as the war enters its fifth year and as Russians grow more war-weary, dissent to a mobilization order could be harder to contain.

“If Russia does trigger military mobilization, it is a sign that the regime is under tremendous strain and is politically trapped,” Analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Max Bergmann told the Kyiv Independent.

He told the Ukrainian outlet that it would be a “huge gamble for Putin, a bet that could put himself and his regime at risk.”

“What we are seeing is administrative preparations to make it possible to do it, if that was the decision,” an intelligence source told The Telegraph.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukrainian intelligence estimates Russia was planning to draft an additional 300,000 troops, a figure that some Western intelligence officials have questioned on the grounds of a considerable demand for equipment. 

Despite reservations, an intelligence source told The Telegraph, “We see lots of what we call ‘stealth’ mobilization and extra efforts to drive up contract recruitment”, which includes “forcing people awaiting trial to sign up, along with those behind on their debts or falling behind at university.”

US threatens withdrawal from Europe

Multiple Western officials, including the US, recently stated that the Pentagon is considering a major withdrawal from Europe, with tens of thousands of US troops, as well as weapons systems, planes, and ships, equalling roughly one-third of all US troops on the continent, according to NBC News.

The prospect has added fuel to the fire, with European governments alarmed at the increasing possibility of conflict with Russia. 

In May, US President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of 5,000 US troops from Germany. The move is generally understood as a push by the president for NATO to “do their part,” with Trump frequently stating that the US is disproportionately burdened by its share of Europe’s defense funding.

However, a significant element of the president’s decision comes from Europe’s perceived lack of diplomatic alignment and strategic backing on significant global issues, especially in the US-Israeli war against Iran.

“Why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars, and they’re not there for us?” Trump said. “We’ve always been there for them… I just want their loyalty. We don’t need their money. We don’t need anything. We have the most powerful military in the world by far, but I just want loyalty.” 

As such, several member nations have begun diversifying away from their reliance on US weapons, technology, and defense companies, according to Reuters. A number of these nations are working to increase their military strength and defense budgets.

Germany’s armed forces, for example, have changed course in recent months after a 2011 suspension of mandatory military conscription. It now aims to make the Bundeswehr Europe’s strongest conventional army, with well over half a million soldiers at the ready after a significant buildup over the next several years.

While Russia has been consistent in its threats against countries supporting Ukraine, both monetarily and militarily, Britain has committed an additional 100 million pounds to Ukraine’s air defenses, which include US-manufactured Patriot missiles.

Corinne Baum and Tzvi Jasper contributed to this report.

Reporters and a photographer from CNN and MS NOW were denied access to the White House and told their press passes were no longer valid on Saturday morning, according to a CNN report, one day after US President Donald Trump announced he was banning the news outlets.

CNN reporter Betsy Klein recounted that when she tried to enter the premises, a Secret Service agent said her press pass had been deactivated and would not explain why her credentials had been revoked. 

According to MS NOW, reporter Akayla Gardner was also not allowed to enter the grounds. 

Gardner told MS NOW that her press pass let her through two security gates as usual, but when she tried to enter the White House grounds, her pass did not work and was confiscated. 

The MS NOW reporter said that she asked a security guard why her badge was disabled, he said that the matter was “above him.”

CNN, MS NOW assert First Amendment rights

Both CNN and MS NOW issued statements decrying the ban on their reporters and asserting their First Amendment right to freedom of the press. 

“CNN’s mission to report on the US government will continue regardless of any attempts to restrict physical access to the White House and other government buildings, or any other attempts to impede our journalism,” CNN said. 

CNN statement following being denied access to the White House grounds this morning: pic.twitter.com/7Ox03COW0o

— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) September 19, 2026

MS NOW similarly said it “intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy.”

On Friday, Trump accused MS NOW, CNN, and Politico of spreading “fake news,” banned them from the White House, and warned that other media outlets could face similar bans.

“I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW… and Politico… from the White House as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ fake news,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Idan Kweller contributed to this report.

Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto voiced strong support for the Palestinians on Saturday, calling the situation in Gaza a source of deep pain and declaring “Free Palestine!” during a major Islamic gathering, months after he said Israel’s security must be recognized as part of achieving Middle East peace.

The event took place during an official reception marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the renowned Islamic boarding school Gontor in eastern Indonesia.

‘They are being massacred, bombed, and attacked continuously’

In his speech, Subianto spoke of his feelings over the situation in the Gaza Strip, saying: “I remember our brothers and sisters in Palestine. They are being massacred, bombed, and attacked continuously, and it seems that we are powerless to help them.”

He called on the younger generation and religious leaders to strengthen Indonesia’s independence, allowing the country to stand alongside oppressed peoples around the world and avoid being subject to the dictates of foreign powers.

The display marked a sharp contrast with the moderate and pragmatic tone Subianto adopted just last year. In a speech at the UN General Assembly in 2025, he surprised capitals across the Muslim world by declaring that “we must recognize, respect and guarantee the security of Israel in order to achieve true peace in the Middle East.”

At the time, reports said Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, was considering steps toward normalization with Israel, partly as part of its process of joining the OECD. Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry denied at the time that normalization with Israel was a condition for joining the organization.

Eight thousand troops for Gaza

However, amid stalled negotiations and continued fighting, Jakarta appears to have moved away from messages of reconciliation and toward more active involvement in support of the Palestinians.

In February, Subianto attended the inaugural meeting of the “Peace Council” in Washington, where he announced that his government intended to deploy around 8,000 Indonesian troops to serve as a central peacekeeping force in the Gaza Strip.

In March, the Indonesian government announced that the deployment had been suspended indefinitely due to the regional escalation.

We have entered the upside-down world of culture: a reality in which Adidas apologizes for featuring an amputee in a local campaign promoting a single-shoe service for amputees. 

During the last great corporate social-justice movement, the same global brand reshared Nike’s Black Lives Matter post, declaring, “Together is how we move forward.” For one celebrated moment, two competitors joined forces to defend the dignity of a marginalized group. The principle was simple: Black lives matter, without qualification or political precondition.

By that same logic, we seem to have backtracked. Last week, Israeli amputee Shalev Biton’s identity was enough to turn an accessibility initiative into a “political provocation.” He was apparently “not the right kind of amputee” to include.

Along came actor Javier Bardem, amplifying language associating Biton with “child killers.” Biton had promoted the reasonable proposition that a person with one leg should be able to purchase one shoe. Bardem helped turn his inclusion into an international offense for which Adidas ultimately apologized.

This exposed a profound failure of moral discrimination: the inability, or refusal, to distinguish between a government, a war, and an injured individual.

Adidas did not apologize because its campaign failed at inclusion; it apologized because that inclusion extended to the “wrong” person. When institutions devoted to inclusion cannot recognize their own exclusion during a period of intense hostility toward Jews and Israel, that is not naivety. It is cowardice.

Companies are, by no means, obliged to adopt DEI policies. But once Adidas made inclusion part of its public identity, it assumed an obligation to apply that principle consistently. When diversity, equity, and inclusion must first seek the approval of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, the principle has surrendered to group pressure. 

Adidas’ founder, Adi Dassler, was a Nazi Party member. A company with that history should understand the consequences of deciding that some identities are less worthy of public representation.

Last week, that same double standard resurfaced at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. Macklemore, the American rapper best known for two hits a decade ago, used his opening sets for Ed Sheeran to call for a “Free Palestine,” accuse Israel of genocide and apartheid, perform “Hind’s Hall,” and project political imagery. 

On the second night, after objections to his first performance were already public, he doubled down. The problem was not that Macklemore expressed sympathy for Palestinians. Nor is support for Palestinian statehood inherently antisemitic.

The problem was the conversion of someone else’s mainstream concert into a one-sided political rally, with no comparable acknowledgment of October 7, and the hundreds of music lovers murdered while dancing at a festival.

Since writing this article, the silence has now produced a statement.

On September 14, Messina Touring Group, promoter of Sheeran’s US Loop Tour, confirmed that Macklemore would not appear on the remaining dates. The promoter acted not on its own authority but only after upcoming venues refused to host him over the risk of ticket cancellations.

What followed then was the oldest backstage plot in show business: Macklemore accused Robert Kraft, Jewish owner of Gillette Stadium where a future show was planned, of having “rallied other stadium owners into pressure of canceling the artist.”

Macklemore seems to not understand that one’s actions may have consequences, and that a powerful Jewish individual is not the raison d’être of his own bad behavior. Macklemore’s political performance was intended to generate exactly the attention his recent music could not. That plot seems to have failed.

Sarandon’s complaints

Then there is Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon, lamenting her Hollywood “blacklisting” from the Venice Film Festival, where she was promoting The Echo Chamber, a Golden Lion contender. 

Sarandon claimed agencies were still warning filmmakers not to hire her and said firm positions within her industry remained in the hands of “Zionists.” Nothing demonstrates professional erasure quite like an international press conference at one of cinema’s most prestigious events.

Sarandon is entitled to argue for Palestinian rights, criticize Israel, or demand a ceasefire. She is not entitled to rewrite why the backlash began. 

In November 2023, while American Jews were confronting a surge in antisemitism after the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, she announced that frightened Jews were getting “a taste” of what Muslims experience in America. Her agency dropped her, and she later apologized for her “terrible phrasing.”

Three years later, the apology has apparently matured into an accusation about “Zionist” power. An agency’s decision to stop representing an actor after inflammatory and antisemitic public remarks is not evidence that an ethnic group collectively controls Hollywood. 

Sarandon is complaining about lost opportunities while starring in a major film, walking the Venice red carpet, and using the festival’s microphones to tell the world she has no microphone. 

Being blacklisted once meant enforced disappearance; now it apparently includes starring in a Golden Lion contender while holding an internationally reported press conference about one’s disappearance.

It has become the recurring sleight of hand in culture’s social justice. Speech is treated as sacred when a celebrity attacks Jews and the Jewish State, but every consequence is recast as censorship – and, conveniently, blamed on Zionists. Sarandon has not been deprived of a voice; she has been given an international stage from which to complain that Jewish power deprived her of one.

History will show that the courage to include everyone begins precisely where the crowd demands an exception. A principle that protects only fashionable identities is not a principle. It is branding. 

The answer is not censorship or ideological blacklists. It is consistency: defend Palestinian dignity without denying Israeli humanity; protect political speech without pretending it carries no responsibility; and apply inclusion without first asking whether BDS approves of the person being included. 

When the entertainment industry makes Jews and Israelis the exception, the only diversity on display is the variety of excuses it invents for doing so.

The writer is a former Universal Music executive, author of Code of Conduct, researcher of DEI, and a corporate psychologist.

Adam Sandler has a new movie on Netflix. He doesn’t star in it – he’s one of the producers – but it features his daughter, Sunny, in the lead role. 

My wife, Jody, and I have been big fans of Sandler’s less slapstick turns – he was hilarious in You’re So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (also on Netflix) and should have been nominated for an Oscar for his acting in Uncut Gems, not to mention his serious role in Punch Drunk Love.

So Jody and I were eager to see his latest, Don’t Say Good Luck, in which high school sophomore Sophie snags the lead in a musical called Waitress. The music is more 13 than Sondheim, but Sara Bareilles’s tunes are a joy to listen to. 

The script, acting, and music are all top-notch, and the run-time is short (just an hour and a half). The movie is billed as a “coming of age” story. 

So, why was I crying like a baby through half the movie?

Apparently, I didn’t read the plot synopsis carefully enough in advance, because Don’t Say Good Luck is a tender, if occasionally obvious, weepy film. 

Sophie’s Gen X hippie-adjacent mother, Elizabeth, played with a bucolic effortlessness by Melanie Lynskey, has an unnamed cancer that’s too far advanced for treatment. 

Sophie’s father, Ted, has a bad habit of butt-dialing his daughter

Sophie’s parents try to hide the news from her and her twin brothers, but Sophie’s father, Ted, has a bad habit of butt-dialing his daughter at the most inopportune times. Sophie hears the doctor tell her parents the bad news, along with their shocked, sobbing response.

Sophie alternates between trying to be a regular teenager – a “theater kid” with all the usual crushes on the wrong boys – while at the same time not wanting to leave her mother’s side as she declines. 

I’ve seen plenty of films where a major character is suffering from cancer, but there was something so natural about Lynskey and Sandler’s performances that I felt I was watching a close friend or loved one – or, more on the nose, I was watching myself.

Indeed, I deteriorated almost as quickly as Elizabeth last year before a last-gasp treatment – the miraculous CAR-T – stopped my cancer in its unforgiving tracks. This year, I’ve been dealing with all manner of new ailments: gallstones, a questionable liver, chronic bladder inflammation, a tortuous bowel obstruction.

But that’s not why I couldn’t stop crying. 

What kind of quality of life have I had these past two years? 

When one of the twins asks, “We’re still going to the beach house this summer, right?” Mom responds, “Of course, honey.” Elizabeth so desperately wants to live. 

That triggered something in me: I do, too. 

Want to live, that is.

LAST YEAR, when the first attempts at engineering my CAR-T cells failed, and the clinical trial my hematologist tried to sign me up for flunked me out for having COVID, I was probably no more than two weeks away from dying.

And now I’m back in the same place: if the medical team hadn’t noticed how severely malnourished I’d become and started me on TPN (IV nutrition), I’d surely be dead before this piece could be published.

Moreover, what kind of quality of life have I had these past two years? What will it be like going forward? If I can’t do half the things that used to fire up my dopamine receptors, is it still worth fighting? Sure, my brain is fine, but I’d like to think I’m more than my ability to pontificate.

After seeing how painful Elizabeth’s descent is on her daughter Sophie, though, I know I don’t want that for my kids. And I don’t want that for me. Not yet. 

I know I’ll never get back to 100% of my former self, and probably not 80% either. But 60% is better than the 30% I’m holding at today.

If I had gotten sick like this in my 20s, with a good 50 to 60 years left, presumably, these questions would be mostly moot. What’s a year or two to recover when you’ve got your whole life in front of you? 

When you’re staring down your own mortality, though, even if that’s still 10 or 15 years away, what you choose to do and who you choose to do it with takes on a painful poignancy. 

Would it be prudent to eschew all those exotic third-world countries still on my travel bucket list, where the wrong food or a mysterious virus could knock me silly and where the medical systems are dicey? Is it time to trade Jakarta for Japan? Thailand for Taipei?

A friend told me about how his father got sick while visiting Israel from North America. He was hospitalized for months here and had to be transported home on a medically assisted flight. He spent months in a rehab facility but eventually recuperated fully. 

He then died two years later.

Does that suggest I should take more precautions, or the opposite, and do what I want because you never know when the clock will unexpectedly run out?

“Don’t say good luck,” Sophie tells her mom before she heads off to the audition that lands her the lead role in the play. Or maybe she’s foreshadowing her mother’s experience. When you’re fighting cancer, someone cheerily wishing you “good luck” seems incautious at best.

I’d like to believe my re-energized will-to-live is not just dumb luck, but the result of considered choices and considerable willpower. 

Currently cancer-free, surrounded by friends and family and a career I love despite a host of genuine discomforts, my life has played out a bit like the song title from the band Third Eye Blind – it’s truly been a “semi-charmed life.”■

The writer’s book, TOTALED: The Billion-Dollar Crash of the Startup that Took on Big Auto, Big Oil and the World, was published earlier this year as an audiobook. It is available on Amazon and other online booksellers in print, eBook and 
Audible formats. brianblum.com

In rabbinic usage, Yom Kippur is sometimes simply called Hayom – the Day. It’s a way of setting it apart from every other day – even Shabbat, which is itself set apart from every day except Yom Kippur. 

But what is the purpose of ranking time this way? Isn’t all time, in fact, the same, and isn’t it only we humans, with our imagination, who invent these distinctions?

And yet, we make these distinctions all the time. And we make them because they are important. We believe in the distinctions. We know, for example, that time spent with our children and grandchildren has a higher value than time scrolling through social media with our minds seized by, say, images of famous people, expensive cars, or arguments that grow violent. 

We know that some times are categorically superior to others: a brit milah, a baby naming, a loved one’s wedding, a birth, or the ceremony at the conclusion of life.

It’s in these instances that we see how time can contain life in its fullness, or conversely, in its shallowness. We are made viscerally aware of the value of time, of a moment, of a day. And so it is with Yom Kippur, the Day.

The power of Yom Kippur to create belonging

When I grew up in Minnesota in the 60s and 70s, many and perhaps most Jews I knew went to synagogue just two days a year, on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. 

Some saw this as troubling. You might have heard that “Ed Shapiro, that nebuch, only goes to shul twice a year!” The thing about this imagined Shapiro wasn’t that he only went to synagogue twice a year; it was that he went at all.

Think about that with an open mind.

After some 3,300 years, almost 2,000 of them in exile, Shapiro, a Jew, a regular person, not a rabbinical scholar or a saint, living an otherwise completely secular life, feels compelled to leave the comfort of his armchair, the luxury of his big-screen TV with its televised golf game, to go to a place where they chanted in an ancient language, one that he did not understand. 

It’s there he will go to pray to a God Shapiro doesn’t believe in. And yet there’s Ed, sitting when it’s time to sit, standing when it’s time to stand. Sweating and yawning.

Schuckling and looking at his watch.

This, all this, is the essence of The Day. A purely trans-intellectual takeover of the body and mind by an alien – and yet, somehow, totally familiar – feeling that he, our fictional Ed Shapiro, is a Jew and that Jews not only go to shul on Yom Kippur, but they also fast.

Ridiculous as it sounds to the outsider, Ed, a man of hearty appetite, will go without food or water for 25 hours. The truly fascinating thing, and I think the word “miraculous” is not out of place here, is that he does this based on a command from an unseen and un-believed-in Deity. That he doesn’t know why doesn’t make it any less impressive. In a very real sense, it makes it all the more impressive. After all, who really understands any of this?

In fact, if someone prevented Shapiro from attending shul – let’s say there was a gathering of people, perhaps not especially difficult to imagine these days, who stood in front of the prayer house and used their bodies to barricade the entrance – Shapiro, not what you’d call a heroic type, would very likely risk his physical well-being to force his way in.

A lesson in belonging, not belief

WHEN I WAS about 12 and didn’t want to go to synagogue on Yom Kippur, or really, at any time, my dad once told me a similar thing. “Pete, imagine they wouldn’t let you go inside.” 

I have to admit, it was a hugely compelling thing to hear, especially given the regularity of swastikas, carved or drawn with permanent marker, found at my school. It wasn’t a lesson in belief. It was a lesson in belonging, and it worked on me exactly the way it must have worked on Shapiro, whoever he was.

This unknowable, unbelieved-in God has somehow made His presence and His will known and largely obeyed, after millennia of exilic existence, to Jews.

And they, sometimes without a deep knowledge of their traditions, continue to insist on being part of the Jewish people and that their children take part in the tradition. I am one of those Jews too, though my own road there has taken me to a different place than Shapiro’s.

No longer a teenager by any stretch of the imagination, I observe Shabbat, kashrut, and the Jews holidays. I put on tefillin every weekday morning. And I agree, hour to hour, to wrestle with the idea of God, with trying to “know” God. 

In fact, even when I was young, I wrestled and wrestled hard – once going to a seafood restaurant with my cousin on the Day for all-you-can-eat fried shrimp. Why? Looking back, I rebelled because I cared. I wasn’t “parve” about any of it.

Just as no one can fully understand God, no one can fully explain Ed Shapiro, and millions liked him. Like me. Like us. 

This is only one of the beauties, the honor of being part of our glorious, resilient, courageous, brilliant, and faithful peoplehood, a peoplehood some today insist doesn’t exist. 

We hear from those who seem not to wish us well that we are only “a religion,” that Judaism (how I dislike the false “ism” inherent in that term) is not a nation, not a peoplehood. “I have no qualms with Jews, only Israel,” they say.

Ed Shapiro knows different. Ed feels the difference. And it’s in part that difference that makes Yom Kippur, Hayom, the Day.

It is the Day when God calls us together, calls His Am Segulah, His treasured nation, together to start another year afresh, to be sealed and inscribed for a good year. 

To a year of health, joy, children, rejoicing, and true peace. To true shalem, when it will be effortless to see and to feel the wholeness of the world and our place within it.

May we be so inscribed.

The writer is a Grammy- and Emmy-nominated rock & roll performer, songwriter, film composer, visual artist, and award-winning author. He has been profiled in Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, The Wall Street Journal, Tablet, and NPR. His newest book is Suspended by No String: A Songwriter’s Reflections on Faith, Aliveness, and Wonder (Regalo Press/Simon and Schuster). Follow him at peterhimmelman.substack.com

It is on very rare occasions that I encounter an idea that absolutely startles me. 

This week, while studying the Ohr HaChaim by Rabbi Hayyim ben Moshe ibn Attar (1696-1743) on Parashat Ha’azinu with a hevruta, I encountered such an idea. 

In the verse “The Lord alone did guide him, no alien god at His side” (Deuteronomy 32:12; JPS translation), R. Hayyim introduces a midrash (Bereshit Rabbah 38:6): 

“Rebbi says: Peace is great, as even if Israel engages in idol worship but there is peace among them, the Omnipresent says, ‘it is, as it were, that I have no power over them since there is peace among them,’ as it is stated: ‘Ephraim is attached to idols, leave him’ (Hosea 4:17). 

‘Their heart has separated, now they will be punished’

“But once there was divisiveness between them, what does it say? ‘Their heart has separated, now they will be punished’ (Hosea 10:2). You thus learn: Peace is great, and dispute is despised.”

Rabbi Hayyim incorporates this idea in the verse of Ha’azinu, offering a novel translation: “When the nation is unified, God will grant it (the nation) remission; (when the nation is unified) then God does not focus even on idolatry in their midst.”

Is this not extraordinary? All the prophets – from Moses through Malachi – rail against the sin of idolatry. It is one of the three cardinal sins for which the halacha calls upon a person to surrender his life rather than submit to idolatrous practice.

God will even overlook its idolatrous conduct if the Jews are united

And yet, this midrash says that if the Jewish nation is united, God will even overlook its idolatrous conduct! 

The Jewish people give serious thought to a host of issues – all of which are important: Judicial reform vs non-Judicial reform; two-state solution vs only one; settlement of Judea and Samaria vs no settlement; sovereignty over the greater Israel or not; exemptions from the draft for Torah study or no exemption; updating the doctrine of purity of arms or not. 

These are all issues over which very rational people can feel passionately and argue persuasively. 

Yet Rabbi Hayyim urges us to remain a unified nation; a people that does not block highways or burn tires, engage in vandalism against those with whom we may differ, or delegitimize other Jews with whom we differ. 

Our challenge is to follow in God’s path – just as He is one, so must we, the Jewish people, remain one. In an ideal world, the Jewish people would be unified in embracing the covenant between God and Israel. 

But now we may have to aspire to unity for the sake of our survival in a very hostile world.■

The writer is founding principal (retired) of The Frisch School in Paramus, New Jersey.

After nearly 25 hours without food or drink, in the culmination of prayers that emphasize the fragility of life, the supremacy of God, and the risk of divine punishment, synagogue-goers on Yom Kippur are exhausted, humble, and perhaps filled with remorse and trepidation. The shofar blasts hundreds of sounds and leaves a deep, echoing resonance in the soul.

But a week later, have those worshipers changed their behavior for the better? Do people really transform themselves? Repentance isn’t simply regret; it is regret that produces transformation.

Ironically, a fictional story written by 19th-century English writer and journalist Charles Dickens, one of the leading novelists of the Victorian era, did an outstanding job illustrating consequential moral change. 

His 1843 novella A Christmas Carol can provide a vivid, instantly recognizable human story about Ebenezer (which means “stone of help” in Hebrew) Scrooge, whose surname is regarded as a catchword for avarice and bitterness toward society and who constantly shouted “Bah! Humbug!” to express his disgust with many traditions.

Wealthy from running a warehouse, he pays his clerk, Bob Cratchit, a paltry wage while living cheaply in the quarters of his dead business partner, Jacob Marley. When two men ask him for charity on Christmas Eve, he gives them the cold shoulder.

But at night, Marley’s ghost visits Scrooge and warns him that three spirits will appear before him and demand that he change his character. If not, Scrooge will be bound in heavy chains.

After being shown scenes of his loveless childhood, the ruthless way he treats others in the present, his future lonely death, and his neglected gravestone, Scrooge repents and performs good deeds as a way of life.

Yom Kippur has no ghosts, of course, but it does something rather similar. It asks us to confront who we were, who we have become, and who we might yet become. 

His transformation isn’t merely feeling sorry. He undergoes something: a psychological process of recognition, confrontation with himself, an emotional awakening, a decision to change, and then changed behavior.

What does it really take to change?

Prof. Mario Mikulincer, a well-known Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) psychologist and researcher who serves as the academic director of the university’s Israel Center for Addiction and Mental Health, described this same process.

The Argentina-born psychologist explained that there is a natural human inclination not to feel sorry about misdeeds or admit mistakes. The brain’s executive function is to admit mistakes and improve.

Stress, fatigue, and routine wear down the prefrontal cortex that controls executive function, allowing the basal ganglia that control body movements and process emotions to take over. 

“Habits,” he said, “operate automatically. When intention conflicts with habit under stress, habit almost always wins. People who succeed don’t have superior willpower; they build superior environments and friction-free routines.”

Having no food or drink on Yom Kippur provides the time to think about oneself and the future. 

“Hunger reduces the amount of glucose in the body, so it reduces executive function. This can make people more impulsive,” he noted. “But it also gives you time to have thoughts that overcome the physical, to think of life and death, one’s existence, and anxiety. 

“It can also help you to identify with the poor, who are often hungry. The religiously observant believe that God is surveying what we do and can help lead us to better behavior. That can lead to the expression of remorse and determination to be a better person.”

Mikulincer added that it was “a brilliant move” that Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, was accompanied by a long fast, as it promotes introspection. “When stress, exhaustion, or emotional triggers hit, executive function undergoes depletion, allowing habitual patterns to hijack behavior.”

Repentance is more than feeling sorry

RABBI MOSHE BEN MAIMON (Maimonides, or the Rambam) wrote in his book Hilchot Teshuvah (The Laws of Repentance) about the yetzer hara (the primal drive). He stated that genuine repentance is not just feeling remorse; with the same capability one has to sin, one must actively choose differently. The psychologist noted that “this is part of executive function.”

Psychologists also refer to the “False Hope Syndrome” in which people set unrealistically high expectations for self-transformation because deciding to change provides an immediate, cheap surge of dopamine and moral relief. 

When the initial euphoria fades, the reality of effort sets in, leading to relapse, said Mikulincer. “A person can overcome physical temptations. I think everybody can change, but it’s hard to move immediately from black to white and meet all your goals. If the goals aren’t realistic, they’re better off working step by step.”

Guilt makes people think, “I did something bad,” and this motivates self-improvement. But shame makes them think, “I am bad,” which triggers defensiveness and behavioral paralysis. 

“People should feel guilt so they can repair,” he commented. “Repentance is a powerful Jewish theme. A good measure of it improves behavior, but a pathological amount is harmful. If a person feels shame, he hides and has to lie, and then it’s very hard to improve. Self-loathing actually stops people from changing, and shame triggers denial, addiction, and anger.”

The repetitive, collective nature of the Yom Kippur confessional (viddui) uses plural language (“We have trespassed, we have betrayed, we have stolen, we have spoken slander … We have turned away from Your commandments and from Your good laws, and it has yielded us no benefit,” recited aloud many times during the Yom Kippur service). 

Psychologically, listing misdeeds out loud forces a person to bridge the gap between internal denial and objective reality – a necessary first step in any therapeutic recovery program. 

“It’s brilliant, because it is said in the plural,” the psychologist continued. “One is part of a community, of something bigger, so you can shoulder the burden.”

Another well-known prayer is Unetanneh Tokef, which balances the terrifying fragility of human life with an impressive openness to change. It emphasizes that human nature is inherently flawed, but the door to transformation never closes.

Deeply ingrained behaviors are automated pathways in the brain. Asking someone to “just stop” a bad habit without replacing the underlying trigger and reward is neurobiologically unrealistic. 

“The brain is plastic and can grow,” said Mikulincer. “With practice, prayer, medication, or deep breathing, you can produce brain change, but one must stick to it and have self-discipline.”

The final prayer, Ne’ilah (closing), said as the sun sets, gives those present in the synagogue the feeling that time is running out and directly confronts human self-deception and helplessness, causing worshippers to ask for divine assistance when willpower alone fails.

Some people emerge stronger after hardship while others don’t. 

Mikulincer suggested that “suffering can destroy people, but if they overcome it, they can become stronger. Personality traits can really change; kindness and even optimism can be learned – at any age. Decades ago, it was thought that the brain is set like plaster by age 30. The brain has been proven to have neuroplasticity, the ability to change and create new synapses.”

Mikulincer spends all his professional time doing research, not treating patients. In 2021, he researched the phenomenon of people who abandoned a religious way of life and, this year, those who have become observant due to exposure to war and terror.

Asked if he has studied prisoners and whether they can be helped to change their behavior significantly, he said he hasn’t, “but maybe will do it. It’s an interesting subject to explore.” 

Asked what would be the single most effective first step to take if one wants to become a better person in the new year, he concluded: “Forgive yourself more, be less critical, feel healthy guilt, admit mistakes, and give a chance for something to happen.”

Can a crisis really change us?

LIKE MIKULINCER (who is not religiously observant), Dr. Aaron Cherniak is also a licensed psychologist at the Israel Center for Addiction and Mental Health. He is the director of research at the Shaare Nefesh Resilience Center (affiliated with the Shaare Zedek Medical Center) and a modern Orthodox rabbi ordained at New York’s Yeshiva University.

He asserted that personality can change after adulthood, but it’s more gradual than dramatic. Traits like conscientiousness and emotional stability do shift over the lifespan, especially around major life transitions. But lasting change tends to come from sustained new behavior, not a single moment of insight.”

Making promises on Yom Kippur “gives us the instant gratification of feeling like ‘better’ people instantaneously, even though nothing about us has changed. The habits we have formed and our pattern of seeking immediate gratification do not change just because we have made a sincere commitment. 

“Real growth happens with consistent choices to maintain that commitment over time, notwithstanding the challenge of doing so. None of this is to diminish the power of profound moments of insight that remind us that we desire change and can change.”

“Crises,” Cherniak continued, “are one of the more reliable catalysts for real personality and behavioral change, precisely because they disrupt routine and force a kind of reckoning that everyday life rarely demands. 

“But permanence isn’t guaranteed by the crisis itself; it depends on whether the person has the support, meaning-making, and follow-through to consolidate that shift into something lasting, rather than reverting once the acute period passes.”

Prolonged stress keeps the nervous system oriented toward threat and survival, which narrows attention and depletes the cognitive resources – planning, impulse control, flexible thinking – that deliberate change relies on. 

It also drains the kind of bandwidth needed to build new habits, since chronic stress tends to push people back toward familiar, well-worn coping behaviors rather than newer, less automatic ones, simply because the familiar option requires less effort under strain. 

Timing matters. Attempting significant change during a period of acute, ongoing stress is much harder than during a period of relative stability, and it’s often more realistic to focus on stabilizing first before expecting deep behavioral change to take hold.”

Change doesn’t require motivation to come first; behavior, he said. “What we call motivation is driven largely by a sense of progress, not just by wanting something in the abstract – taking a step, even a small one, generates momentum that fuels the next step, so motivation is as much a byproduct of action as a precondition for it.”

Asked why intelligent people repeatedly make the same mistakes, Cherniak suggested that “intelligence and self-control run on different systems. Knowing better doesn’t mean acting better. Under stress or temptation, fast emotional and reward circuits tend to override slow, deliberate reasoning, no matter how sharp that reasoning is.”

He disagrees with the claim that some people cannot change for the better. “There are real obstacles to change – environmental instability, or a total lack of support and stability – not some fixed incapacity in the person. And often underneath those, the deeper barrier is a person’s own belief that they can’t change. 

“There’s a teaching from Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik on this: he wrote that when Elisha ben Abuyah – the sage who became known as the ‘Other’ – believed a heavenly voice had permanently barred him from repentance, it wasn’t really God who closed that door. It was his own conviction that he was irredeemable. 

“The moment he believed that, he stopped trying, and the belief became self-fulfilling. That’s the trap: ‘Can’t change’ is rarely the truth about a person. It’s usually the story they’ve come to believe about themselves – and that story does more damage than any real limitation ever could.”

The more you practice small acts of kindness, the more natural it becomes, because it starts to shape how you see yourself, and it usually feels good and makes people respond well to you, which makes you want to do it again. That’s what happened to Scrooge. 

“It’s also something people pick up from example – kids who grow up watching kindness modeled, or communities that build regular opportunities to help others into everyday life, tend to produce more of it,” Cherniak concluded.

Gazan photographer and journalist Motaz Azaiza said he filmed Israeli hostages being beaten by a Gazan mob on October 7, 2023, but chose not to publish the footage because he feared it could put the Palestinians involved at risk.

“I saw the vehicle of the Al-Qassam Brigades, and there were Israeli captives there,” Azaiza recalled. “People got out, watched, beat them, hit them, and I followed them and filmed. But I did not publish those videos. Why? Because I did not want to ruin the lives of the people who were filmed.

“I understood that Israel would use those videos to identify every person who was there and eliminate them,” he added. “I did not want to be responsible, even indirectly, for the deaths of those people in exchange for a few likes and views online.”

A Nobel Peace Prize nominee and one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, Azaiza has become one of the most recognizable figures associated with the current war. In an extensive and unusual interview with journalist Ahmed Biqui on the podcast Taqarrab, Azaiza revealed aspects of life in Gaza that his millions of social media followers have not seen.

During the interview, which was published earlier this month, Azaiza also delivered rare public criticism of Hamas’s leadership, accusing the group of bringing disaster upon the Gaza Strip.

Azaiza: Hamas ‘brought us back to the Middle Ages’

Although Azaiza described himself as a supporter of armed Palestinian resistance, he said such resistance must have limits and serve a purpose.

“I support armed resistance, but one that brings results, or at least gives me the feeling that my life is valuable in the eyes of the resistance. Why should a Palestinian be cheap in the eyes of Palestinians themselves? You are making people hate the resistance with your own hands.”

He also questioned what Hamas’s military campaign has achieved for Palestinians in Gaza since the start of the war, sending a direct message to the group’s leaders.

“From October 7 until today, show me one Palestinian who lives in Gaza and was protected by Hamas’s weapons? No one in Gaza received protection from those weapons.”

Azaiza went on to criticize Hamas’s leadership over its months-long refusal to agree to a deal.

“I am not waiting two years to judge whether Hamas made mistakes. I see the mistake in front of my eyes, when people are dying every day. Now they are talking about an agreement in which they will agree to lay down their weapons. You could have agreed to that already on October 11, 2023. Why was it so important that tens of thousands would be killed? On what table did you put the Palestinian issue? You brought us back to the Middle Ages. You caused women in Gaza to urinate into a plastic bucket. This does not bother you, but what bothers you is if someone suddenly criticizes you?”

Azaiza made these remarks after leaving Gaza. He fled the Strip about four months after the outbreak of the war and currently lives in Qatar.

The photographer said he experienced Hamas’s suppression apparatus firsthand. He described a WhatsApp group called “Smart,” which he said is managed by a Hamas media official at the Rafah crossing and used to organize online campaigns against journalists who challenge the group’s narrative.

“Suddenly I found myself being attacked from all directions,” he recalled. “They take the details of a specific person, publish his phone number in the group and instruct online activists to attack him, curse him and make his life miserable. This is organized behavior, a real mob. When I uploaded a video in which a civilian could be heard cursing Hamas, I faced enormous backlash. Photographers in Gaza have become accustomed to lowering their cameras the moment someone says something bad about Hamas, because anyone who dares to show reality is persecuted relentlessly.”

According to Azaiza, “I lived inside a pressure cooker. The people who controlled us treated our lives as a game. I felt that I had been marked, that at every moment I was walking around with a target on my back.”

Azaiza feels empty, deeply frustrated by internal situation for Palestinians

Despite his international recognition, meetings with world leaders, his highly publicized meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and the global status he has gained, Azaiza described feeling empty and deeply frustrated by the internal Palestinian situation and his new life outside Gaza.

“I wish I had the ability to sleep and never wake up. It is a genuine desire to die,” he said, describing the psychological toll he has experienced. “I travel around the world, flying from London to New York, speaking in front of thousands of people who buy tickets to hear me, sitting at Nobel ceremonies, and I cannot be happy. I live with constant burning trauma.”

Azaiza described his complicated relationship with Gaza in deeply personal terms.

“Gaza is the most toxic place in the world. You love it, but at the same time you hate it. You love it, but it hurts you and destroys you. The reality there forced things upon me that I never wanted. The price we pay to satisfy leaders who do not count us is simply unimaginable.”

Sometimes US President Donald Trump tells the truth. It may not be often, but sometimes. Like when he spoke last week to a convention of his faithful flock in Dallas and asked them to pledge allegiance to him and to “cheat like hell” in the upcoming midterm elections.

Obedient followers of his MAGA cult dutifully raised their right hands, as instructed, many repeating his words aloud:

“I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States that loves us so much he can’t even breathe that I will go out with my family, my friends, I will do it anyway – I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to try and cheat like hell, as they do.”

This dispensation to cheat and not bother registering to vote comes from a president who claims to be obsessed with assuring all elections are free and fair.

The man who has posted endless memes online portraying himself as the Pope, Jesus, and assorted comic book superheroes warned his audience, “You know what happens if you don’t vote? You go to hell.”

‘Trump dividend’ to all adult Americans

To help them avoid Hades, he offered $5,000 checks – he’s calling it a “Trump dividend” – to all adult Americans if Republicans keep control of Congress in November.

Is that legal? Probably not. It sounds like a pay-to-play bribe, and federal law prohibits offering payment for votes.

Can he really do it? Will he try? Unlikely. Why? Have you gotten your $5,000 DOGE rebate he promised? And what about the $2,000 tariff bonus he said he’d send you? Or the $500 refund for lost healthcare subsidies?

Remember those and other promises to bring down the price of gas, electricity, beef, childcare, mortgages, airline tickets, and inflation? Still waiting on that, too?

A USA Today investigation found Trump and his businesses had a well-documented, decades-long reputation for stiffing contractors and refusing to pay their bills.

It’s like his Iran war. Promise now, plan later.

Republican lawmakers are already distancing themselves from his latest largesse, noting it will cost a whopping $1.2 trillion just as the federal deficit topped $40 trillion.

The only big bonus checks Trump is handing out are for $45,000 to each of his three closest aides, all women. 

They are Natalie Harp, 35, known as “the human printer” because she follows him around with a portable printer to provide copies of flattering coverage; Margo Martin, 27, who follows with a camera making videos of his movements; and Chamberlain Harris, 27, an executive assistant he named to the Commission of Fine Arts that rubber stamps his vanity projects.

Trump, who calls himself “the greatest president in the history of the United States,” told his loyalists to make the upcoming election a referendum on him. That delights Democrats, who are trying to do just that. Republicans not so much.

Whatever the outcome on November 3, you can bet Trump will personally take credit for all Republican victories and declare all losses were rigged or the losers were flawed candidates who weren’t sufficiently loyal to him.

His propensity for prevarication is well established. By the end of his first term, the Washington Post Fact Checker team documented 30,573 false or misleading claims. His output has ballooned since he began using his own social media platform, Truth Social, to relentlessly share his thoughts with the world.

Trump’s call to “cheat like hell” makes his pious preaching about election fraud, illegal voting, and rigged elections sound more like a confession than an accusation.

This corrupt and lawless president is actively trying to rig the upcoming election by fear, intimidation, money, and the whole federal alphabet soup of agencies from ICE to USPS. All to fight a virtually non-existent crime: voting by illegal aliens. That sounds more like voter suppression than protection.

His Trumpalooza message sounded familiar: “If you can’t beat ‘em, cheat ‘em.” Trump tried it in 2020 and failed, but he’s ready for an encore – and this time he has more power to wield.

His obsession with undermining public confidence in the electoral system through his lies, gerrymandering, threats, intimidation, and unproven charges of election fraud has GOP operatives worried that he may discourage many Republicans from voting.

Columnist Michelle Cottle points out in The New York Times that Trump’s “election fraud lunacy” in Georgia in 2020 “depressed Republican turnout” and helped Democrats win presidential and Senate races in that state and hand control of the Senate to the Democrats.

Another move that backfired was last week when the dangerously weaponized Federal Communications Commission under Brendan Carr pressured ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live to cancel an on-air interview coinciding with Trumpalooza with James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas against Republican Ken Paxton.

Carr only hyped attention to the interview, which Kimmel then posted on his YouTube channel, where it has drawn some 10 million views, compared to only 2.5 million who tuned in to Fox News to watch Trump’s “cheat like hell” speech.

Trump went to Texas to bathe in the adulation of his most loyal devotees. Polls show they still overwhelmingly support him, although the numbers are dropping slightly, while across the rest of the country his approval rating has fallen to the low 30s.

MAGA is widely considered a cult of personality, noting its unique reliance on a personal brand of devotion and Trump’s demands for loyalty to one man and his dominance over the Republican Party apparatus.

Political scientist Sarah Gail Hunter defined such a cult as the result of an effort to create an idealized and heroic image of an admirable leader, often through unquestioning flattery and praise. Trump did just that in his Dallas oration.

Princeton Prof. Jan-Werner Müller writes that Trump’s personality cult follows the historical definition, “but his pathological narcissism ensures he cannot deploy it effectively.”

George Conway, a conservative critic, has called Trump a “narcissistic sociopath” with authoritarian tendencies that threaten democracy.

America’s great hope is that if Trump is as good at fixing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the Republic can survive his corrupt, failed presidency.

The writer is a Washington-based journalist, consultant, lobbyist, and former legislative director at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

To set the record straight, I have never voted for Benjamin Netanyahu or his party, and doubt that I ever will. But he is the prime minister, and I must respect the office he holds. To do otherwise is a blight on democracy.

People who truly believe in democracy must accept the results of an election. They can voice their protests against the policies of the administration, but they should respect the nation’s leaders.

An attack on the leaders contributes to paving the path to anarchy.

I don’t have a clue how many of the stories about Netanyahu are true or false, but I do know that the more he is attacked by Israelis, the more ammunition is given to Israel’s enemies.

Personally, I think he made a mistake in holding off a state commission of inquiry into what led to the horrific events of October 7. Whether he is considered responsible or not is less important than learning where Israel erred, and how not to repeat the same error, which is commonly referred to in Hebrew as the conceptzia.

They’re blaming Netanyahu, they’re blaming Gadi Eisenkot, they’re blaming Benny Gantz, and a whole bunch of others who were part of the decision making process at security meetings over the years.

October 7 didn’t just happen out of the blue. It was a meticulously planned operation. What’’s important is how it developed below the radar of Israel’s intelligence network, not what time Bibi got out of bed.

How is it that Mossad was able to score points in Iran, but missed the train in Gaza?

It’s not as if there were no warning signs. There were, and they were reported – and they were ignored.

Why?

Were there senior officers who objected to female spotters, and thought they should be concentrating on their domestic skills instead of serving in the army?

Or did they simply think that the young women were panicking because they belonged to the so-called weaker sex, and simply treated their warnings as false alarms?

Every possible scenario must be explored, and any commission of inquiry should include mystery writers and film makers whose creative minds will come up with all kinds of possibilities that may not occur to military personnel.

People change as they get older, and Bibi has probably changed a lot since he was a heroic young soldier under the command of Ehud Barak, and the two rescued hostages from a Sabena plane that was hijacked in flight by Palestinian terrorists, as it traveled from Vienna to Tel Aviv. That was more than half a century ago. Even though I totally disagree with Netanyahu politically, I have every confidence that he is no less a patriot today than he was then – though these days, he’s a lot more cautious.

But Barak, whose voice is frequently heard in anti-Bibi circles, is not cautious. It is perfectly legitimate for Barak, a product and former leader of the Left, to challenge policies set by Bibi, a product and current leader of the Right. But Barak should not be attacking Bibi’s character, especially when giving interviews to foreign media.

To do so encourages further character assassination, such as that displayed in the AI-generated judicial reform campaign video released by Bezalel Smotrich, in which he showed Chief Justice Isaac Amit and Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara being arrested by police and dragged through the streets. This was so outrageously below the belt that even people on the Right who support judicial reform were outraged. 

While I understand what it means to bereaved families to have Bibi either admit to being accountable or having a commission of inquiry decide that he’s accountable, it doesn’t really serve any purpose. It doesn’t bring back the dead. It doesn’t heal the wounded. It doesn’t stop the grief and the mourning.

All it does is remove him from office and provide some temporary satisfaction for people who want to see him suffer as they have suffered.

Then again, it’s a different kind of suffering.

Netanyahu has been trying to make amends in recent weeks, but that may be because of the elections, or simply because he’s had more time to think about the situation and to display a more humane side of his personality.

As there is no likelihood of the establishment of a commission of inquiry before the elections, let us at least look at the issues on which the coalition and the opposition agree and make that the foundation of a temporary truce that could lead to greater solidarity in the future. There will still be disputes, but there are disputes within political parties, not just between opposing parties. However, disputes do not need to be violent or disrespectful.

The idea is for each side to understand where the other is coming from and where it hopes to go.

There are people on both sides who do dialogue with each other, just as there are Israelis and Palestinians who are not only neighbors but friends with different opinions.

We need to accept that others do not have to think as we do. The marketplace of different ideas can lead to many great things.

While we continue our internal squabbles, the enemy perceives us as weak. This was among the many theories of what prompted the Hamas attack. Israel’s national unity was crumbling from within – a factor that may have indicated the time was ripe for an external assault.

We dare not make that mistake again. Avoiding it starts with new rules to the game. Be critical of unjust policies, but don’t attack the leader. In other words, stop the Bibi bashing and focus on the issues, not the man.

There was a faint whiff of uncertainty in the briefing by IDF chief of staff David Elazar hours after the surprise Yom Kippur attack by Egypt and Syria in 1973.

“This is the first time Israel is fighting a defensive war,” he told the cabinet. “We know how to do it from books, but we’ve never actually done it.”

Five days later, in an assessment to defense minister Moshe Dayan, Elazar’s message was blunter. “We cannot win this war.”

Every day the army was destroying Egyptian tanks in Sinai but losing tanks as well and giving up territory. Where would it stop? What the country needed now, said Elazar, was a stable ceasefire that would enable it to rebuild the army “for 100 years.”

The Arab armies that attacked in 1973 bore little resemblance to the ones that were defeated so handily just six years before in the Six Day War. They had been retrained by more than 10,000 Soviet military advisers and rearmed with modern weapons, some of which Israel had not seen before. 

The compact Sagger anti-tank missile had turned their hitherto feeble infantry into a formidable challenge for Israel’s vaunted tank corps, and the SAM antiaircraft missile threatened, even negated, Israel’s air superiority over the battlefield.

No less important, the Arabs this time had a sagacious and daring leader in Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.

Israel’s major failure on the eve of the Yom Kippur War was self-inflicted and attributable to one person – Maj.-Gen. Eli Zeira. As head of the Military Intelligence Directorate (MID), he had permitted himself to cross the line between self-confidence and vanity.

In a similar crisis period half a year before, he was the only one on the General Staff to say there would be no war despite serious warning signs. He proved right but for the wrong reasons. He believed that Sadat did not want war because he feared its consequences. 

Years later, it was learned that Sadat had stood down only at the request of Syrian president Hafez Assad, who was awaiting shipment of crucial armaments from the Soviet Union, including ground-to-air missiles.

Zeira’s seeming win, however, discouraged his superiors from challenging his judgment in the future.

In the week before Yom Kippur, thousands of Israeli troops on the front lines could see an unprecedented Arab deployment opposite them, but warnings were dismissed in the chain of command on the basis of Zeira’s bold low-danger-of-war assessment.

Reports from foreign intelligence sources (11 in September) likewise warned of serious Arab intentions to launch a war in the coming days.

Zeira continued to insist that the danger of war was low almost until the sirens sounded. Only in a death-bed interview last year (2025) at age 97 did he admit that he had been wrong.

Ironically, it was MID, during his tenure, that had come up with a device regarded as insurance for tracking any Arab decision to go to war.

In the spring of 1973, a helicopter carrying communication technicians and a commando escort flew at night into Egypt and landed near military communication hubs where the technicians inserted special taps which could be activated from Israel – reportedly from Zeira’s office. The phones being tapped were of Egyptian units that would be involved in war preparations.

The device came to be called Special Means. After tests confirmed that the taps worked, the device was shut down.

The intelligence failure that left Israel blind

AS TENSIONS built up in the week before Yom Kippur (which fell on October 6), Elazar twice asked Zeira if he had picked up anything relevant. Zeira gave Elazar to understand that the device was activated but not producing anything relevant. But the taps had not been activated. Zeira feared that activation risked exposure.

Col. Yoel Ben-Porat, head of the vital Signals Intelligence section which tapped electronic devices in the Arab world, asked for permission to mobilize 200 intelligence reservists, in view of rising tensions.

“Yoel, listen well,” said Zeira. “I don’t permit you to even think about mobilizing a fraction of a reservist. It is not intelligence’s job to drive the public crazy nor to undermine the economy.”

When the veteran intelligence officer then recommended activation of Special Means, Zeira refused.

“What do these resources exist for,” asked an exasperated Ben-Porat, “if not for situations like the one we’re facing?”

“The situations you see,” replied Zeira, “are not the ones that I see.”

Zeira had apparently not turned the device on because he was certain, as he had been in the spring, that Sadat saw war as too risky. To activate the device during this fraught period risked its discovery by the Egyptians.

Two days before Yom Kippur Dayan asked what the device was producing. Dayan could not be denied. The device was turned on for several hours, but the conversations picked up were banal.

After the war, the diary of an Egyptian soldier was found on the battlefield and turned over to intelligence analysts.

Sgt. Mahmoud Nadeh introduced himself in his fresh notebook on the shore of the Bitter Lake. “We’ll begin from the beginning. I serve as a sergeant in the armed forces. We’ll be going to war in the next few days. I’m 2.5 km. from the enemy. We’ve been told that we will be the first to cross the [Suez] Canal to free our lands and expel the enemy.”

He promised in the name of “historical truth” to keep an accurate account of events.

The notebook offered insight into the mind of a university-educated Egyptian soldier whose kind was now to be found in large numbers in the armed services alongside peasants and urban slum dwellers.

A third-year humanities student from Alexandria, he had been trained as a commando but was now attached to an amphibious armored unit that was to cross the Bitter Lake. “We are to proceed with all possible speed to the Mitla Pass after an artillery barrage of 50 minutes. I hope to emerge alive from the battle because I believe in God. There is a smile on everyone’s face, even my officer’s.”

Four days before Yom Kippur, Sgt. Yoram Krivine’s platoon took over Strongpoint 111 on the Golan ceasefire line. It was a routine rotation of units, but it struck the 21-year-old paratrooper that the soldiers being relieved seemed unusually happy about leaving. The dark basalt rocks of the igloo-like fort seemed stout enough to withstand even direct artillery hits.

The hillock on which 111 was situated offered a view across the rocky Syrian plain. Krivine could see countless artillery pieces, tanks and half-tracks nestling under camouflage netting. Opposite was Tel Kudne, a strong Syrian position on a volcanic cone. A hundred meters from 111 was one of the UN observation posts positioned along the ceasefire line.

The newcomers were briefed by an intelligence officer attached to the unit they were relieving. The officer identified the Syrian units they were facing.

“The whole Syrian Army is out there,” he said in conclusion. “I’m happy I won’t be here when the war starts.”

Warnings from the front lines

PRIME MINISTER Golda Meir’s contentious meeting with Austrian chancellor Bruno Kreisky about his decision to close down a transit camp for Jews from the Soviet Union on their way to Israel was still on her mind the next day, Wednesday, October 3, when she met with her senior military advisers.

“He didn’t even offer me a glass of water,” she said.

The meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office was described as a consultation by Moshe Dayan, who had requested it.

Though he was a military icon, Dayan related to the 75-year-old grandmother with the deference due her position.

There were reports, he said, that Egypt was bent on war, but the situation on the Syrian front was more troubling. The Syrians had deployed their most advanced SAM antiaircraft missiles not around Damascus, their capital, but covering the Golan.

“This is not a normal defensive deployment,” he noted.

If the Egyptians crossed the canal, Dayan said, they would find themselves in desert with Israeli tanks attacking them from every side. But the Syrians, with just one quick thrust, could hope to push Israel off the Golan and then be protected against counterattacks by the steep heights and the Jordan River below.

Zeira, who had called in sick, was represented by his deputy, Gen. Arye Shalev. On the Suez front, Shalev said, the Egyptian army was engaged in a large-scale military exercise.

“In my opinion,” said the MID officer, “on the basis of much material received in recent days, Egypt believes it is not yet ready to go to war. And if Egypt is not going to war, then neither is Syria.”

Elazar agreed. If Syria were thinking of attacking on its own, he said, Israel would know about it. “When a big machine begins moving, there will be leaks.”

Meir did not choose to challenge a roomful of generals counseling calm, but she remained uneasy.

Security concerns were no longer considered weighty enough by MID to be put on the agenda of the cabinet meeting scheduled for the next day, Thursday, October 4, to hear Meir’s report on her European trip. The government thus remained unaware that the possibility of war was being mooted in high places.

Nor would the bold Arab deployment be referred to at the General Staff meeting. The sole subject on its agenda – two days before Yom Kippur – was discipline, especially the need for soldiers to adhere to the military dress code.

So sanguine was the Israeli high command about the situation that no air photos of the Egyptian lines had been taken between September 25 and October 1, a week when large convoys were moving to the canal zone every night.

A scheduled photo mission on October 2 was canceled because of poor visibility. It was rescheduled for the next day, but when the plane returned, it was found that the camera shutter had failed to open. It would not be until the afternoon of the next day, Thursday, that the mission would finally be executed. It would take all night to process and analyze the photos.

Meanwhile, in Cairo, Sadat had summoned the Soviet ambassador, Vladimir Vinogradov, on October 3 to inform him that Egypt and Syria had decided to go to war against Israel in order to break the Middle East deadlock.

“What will the Soviet attitude be?” he asked.

The reply from Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev was cool. The decision about war was for the Egyptian leadership alone to make, he said. No well wishes were offered for Arab success.

Brezhnev asked permission to land large passenger planes at an Egyptian airbase the next day to evacuate families of Soviet advisers.

Sadat did not like any part of that reply but did not make an issue of it.

Teams of Israeli photo interpreters combed through the films brought back by the reconnaissance plane all Thursday night, counting every tank and artillery piece. The photos showed a stunning Egyptian buildup the length of the canal.

“You can get a stroke just from the numbers,” said Dayan. “There are 1,100 artillery pieces compared to 802 eight days ago. You people don’t take the Arabs seriously enough.”

Elazar was still not certain there would be war and did not request mobilization, but he canceled all leaves; many frontline soldiers were scheduled to be released for Yom Kippur in the coming hours.

Leading a nation into war was not a role Meir had ever imagined for herself. But she was coping thus far with the steadiness that marked her long public career, picking up the nuances in what the military men were saying and asking relevant questions.

Responding to Meir’s closest adviser, minister Israel Galili, Elazar said he would not mobilize reserves unless there were further indications of war. Initiating mobilization could itself easily lead to escalation by the other side.

The warning that finally reached Israel

MOSSAD CHIEF Zvi Zamir was wakened at 2:30 a.m. in Tel Aviv by a call from his bureau chief, Freddy Eini, who informed him that his most important agent, Ashraf Marwan, wished to meet with Zamir in London the coming night.

Marwan was the son-in-law of former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, and a prolific spy. Among other things, he had transmitted to Zamir a copy of Egypt’s plans for an initial attack on Israel. Zamir asked Eini to book a ticket for him on the earliest morning flight to London and arrange for security teams to accompany him on the flight and in London.

As he sat in bed mulling over the call, the phone rang again. This time it was Zeira, who rarely called him at home. He wanted to inform Zamir about the Soviets evacuating the families of their advisers and to know what Zamir made of it.

Zamir, in turn, told him of Marwan’s phone message and of his own plan to fly to London in the morning to meet him. He also told of the code word signaling war.

He didn’t want to wake Golda at this hour, so he asked Zeira to inform her of his trip in the morning. The two men disliked each other, whether for professional or personal reasons, but they managed to conduct this informative conversation civilly.

For Egyptian commanders, the absence of any sign that Israel might be aware of the coming attack was reason for either concern or comfort. Might the Israelis be planning a massive ambush? Or will they be totally surprised?

Toward midnight, scouting teams were sent across the canal at several points to report on any activity they saw. All returned before dawn with the same message: The Jews are sleeping.

One Jew wide awake was Zamir. In London, he was not fasting, and he had not heard a cantor singing the Kol Nidre prayer. But no Jew this Yom Kippur night was gripped by a greater sense of worldly portent than he was. He was meeting with Marwan in a private apartment.

“He [Sadat] is starting the war tomorrow,” said Marwan.

The attack plan was little changed from the one he had passed on to Zamir a few months before. First, an air attack on the Bar-Lev Line – 16 “forts” spaced along the eastern bank of the nearly 200-km.-long Suez Canal. Intensive shelling would follow. Then five infantry divisions would cross the canal in rubber boats, a crossing that would take two days to complete. They would establish two bridgeheads on the Sinai bank. Prefabricated pontoon bridges would then be lowered into the water and floated across.

After dark, commando units would be helicoptered deeper into Sinai to prepare ambushes for Israeli reserve units that would be on their way to the front within a day or two.

Once or twice, Marwan said he was sure that the situation was clear to the Israelis and that they were taking the necessary steps.

He sounded, in fact, like he wasn’t sure. “How can you people not see that this is war?”

The odd remark, Zamir reckoned, may have stemmed from something his sources in Cairo had told him, perhaps that Egypt was unaware of any Israeli countermeasures.

After the meeting, Zamir and Marwan’s case officer and their security detail walked 15 minutes to the apartment of the Mossad station chief in London. The Israeli Embassy was shut because of the holy day, and the only way to transmit his message – the most important Zamir would ever send – was by telephone.

Before leaving for London, he had arranged with his bureau chief, Eini, that he would compose his message as a bland, boring business letter with code words that would enable Eini to ferret out the meaning.

Zamir sat down at a table and asked for paper and a pencil. He then drafted the message about visitors who would be coming to Israel despite the holiday.

The hidden message Eini would reveal would be stunning – before the blast of the shofar marked the end of Yom Kippur this coming night, before the last invocation calling on God to open the gates of heaven and receive his people’s prayers, Israel would be at war on two fronts, with two thirds of the army – its reserves – still unmobilized.

The writer, a former reporter for The Jerusalem Post, is the author of The Yom Kippur War (Schocken), The Boats of Cherbourg (US Naval Institute Press), and The Battle for Jerusalem (Jewish Publication Society). His most recent book is Jerusalem on Earth (updated edition). abra@netvision.net.il

Unfortunately, we have gotten used to snarling haredi (ultra-Orthodox) rabbis and politicians who dismiss the concerns of the general Israeli public and disassociate themselves from the burden (actually, the privilege) of running and defending the State of Israel.

By their own admission, all they seek is sinecures for their secluded public, especially the narrowly self-defined Torah/yeshiva “world.”

From this distorted, so-called “Torah perspective,” the task of haredi politicians has been to secure haredi interests against Israeli society and to defend “their people” from “our state” – the “impure” and threatening Zionist state.

Alas, “our” army is not their responsibility. “Our” economy is not their responsibility either. God alone, “their” God, will take care of the bigger picture, along with the beleaguered Israeli taxpayer who pays through his nose and the “suckers” who serve in the Israeli army.

One might have thought that the trauma, suffering, financial deprivation, and household disruption of the past three years in the general Israeli public and in the “Torani” (ardently Torah observant) Religious Zionist community would shock the haredi community out of its crushingly insular shell.

One had hoped that honorable haredi leaders would be stirred toward somewhat increased integration in Israeli society and would nudge forward toward national service in frameworks specially attuned to haredi sensibilities.

One might have imagined great haredi leaders participating in at least one or two of the many funerals for fallen soldiers, or showing up at soldier shiva houses to pay condolences, or quietly taking a minyan (prayer quorum) of their boys late at night to pray at the Mount Herzl military cemetery.

But nada. No movement at the leadership level. Haredi politicians, like the recently deposed MK Moshe Gafni of the Degel HaTorah/UTJ party, spent 40 years insulting and sneering at the secular and Religious Zionist publics and only doubled down on this over the past three years.

Despite October 7, “mainstream” haredi politicians have stuck to the line that “yeshiva boys” (about 100,000 of them) cannot be drafted in any minimal way (whether they are really learning Torah full time or not) or educated any differently.

These leaders are purposefully and devastatingly cut off from the war reality that most Israelis are living. Worse still, they are unflinchingly unfeeling toward the broader public, as their spokesmen unfortunately have made clear.

This is a historic tragedy that has the potential to crash the modern State of Israel, no less, in the Heavens and on earth.

Fortunately, and finally, substantial numbers of haredi Israelis are moving away from this hostile approach. They think for themselves and are seeking alternative political leadership.

They realize that the rejectionist, protectionist posture described above may have been sustainable when the haredi community was a small and embattled minority. It cannot provide a vision for a community rapidly becoming a central pillar in Israeli society. It does not provide a satisfying vision for haredi people themselves.

Enter the Haredi Public party, running for the Knesset for the first time. The new political party begins from a wholly different premise from that of UTJ or Shas: that they, haredi people, are part of the Israeli story.

They do not mean to abandon haredi identity; they believe that haredi Judaism is strong enough to take responsibility for Torah, family, and community, as well as responsibility for sustainable livelihood, defense, civic life, and the future of Israel.

As the visionary chair of the new party’s rabbinic committee, Yehoshua Pfeffer said at the party launch event: “Our initiative means moving from a politics of fear to a politics of hope. It means hope that haredi young people will no longer feel forced to choose between belonging to their community and building a responsible life within the Jewish state. 

“It means that the haredi world believes it can grow, mature, and assume a larger and constructive role in strengthening and defending Israel – without losing its soul.

“God did not bring millions of Jews back to the land of our fathers for Israel to fail. Nor did haredi society build its extraordinary world of Torah, family, charity, and community in order to remain forever on the margins of the national story. The next chapter can be different. The question is whether we have the courage to write it.”

The new party, led by its articulate and measured chairman Moti Leitner (a hassidic deputy mayor of Beit Shemesh and a software professional), advocates for protecting those who truly learn Torah full-time while advancing meaningful service for all those who do not, and for giving haredi youth the necessary educational tools to succeed in life and contribute to the Israeli economy and society.

This means working with, not against, the IDF to create haredi service tracks from hesder programs to special brigades and soft military-industrial and civilian-security national service frameworks.

It means rapidly and massively expanding the state-supported haredi school stream that teaches the core curriculum of English, math, science, and civics alongside Torah and Talmud, and which prepares its graduates for potential college study.

Leitner explained that the party was born out of deep conversations with representatives of many haredi communities who felt their voice was not being heard and their needs were not represented within the existing haredi political parties. This includes working haredi people, as well as professionally successful women, haredi immigrants from abroad, and more.

A voice for opportunity and change

These haredim also are horrified by the public and often violent shaming of young haredim who serve in the security force, by campaigns of vilification and terror against even great Torah sages who support cautious change in the haredi world, and by rampant corruption in some haredi municipalities and institutions.

This haredi public also recognizes that too many of its youth are dropping out of schools and feeding the phenomenon of lost street youth without being offered paths that would legitimate a synthesis of haredi identity and professional and national advancement.

Leitner emphasized that the haredi public he represents wants opportunities, not stipends, for haredi young men and women; opportunities to grow and contribute and serve the nation, not to be on the government dole.

The Haredi Public party’s decision to put two women near the top of its Knesset candidate list tells you how bold the new party is. This is unprecedented and long overdue for the haredi public – a breath of fresh air.

The two haredi women in the party – Dr. Nechumi Yaffe (a political psychologist who once worked for the National Security Council) and Ziva Glanz (founder and CEO of the LaShuv olim network) – are impressive leaders.

Rabbi Pfeffer is an intrepid, insightful leader who founded the Iyun Institute at Herut-The Center for Israeli Liberty (formerly the Tikvah Fund), which operates a range of groundbreaking haredi leadership programs and publications.

He is a respected religious court judge, served in the IDF, chairs the public board of Netzah Yehuda, the haredi Nahal brigade, clerked at Israel’s Supreme Court, and is a professor at Hebrew University’s law school.

Pfeffer is truly a model par excellence of a haredi community leader “taking responsibility” for the future of Israel, not shunning and deprecating Israel. I am proud to consider him a close friend!

In fact, I am considering voting for the Haredi Public 40 days from now, even though I do not belong to the ultra-Orthodox community and I dissent from the party platform, which would still give, at least for the next while, a broad exemption from conscription for full-time yeshiva men (not including hesder programs).

This new party – this bold new haredi movement – needs electoral support. Recent polls indicate that it has captured the imagination of the haredi street and the support of about 10% of haredi voters, amounting to about 100,000 voters (or 2.5 Knesset seats), and rising.

This is an astonishing achievement that portends even greater success in the future, but the minimum threshold for election to the Knesset this year will probably be around 150,000 votes (or four seats).

So the new party needs a boost from non-haredi voters who understand the urgency and promise of the Haredi Public and want it to succeed. This will be a worthwhile investment in the long-term health of Judaism and Israeli society!

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

Haredim (ultra-Orthodox) made up roughly 2% of Israel’s population 60 years ago. Today, that number is around 13%, and demographers expect it to climb toward 20%, and even 30% within a generation or two. Growth on this scale changes what a community owes the country it lives in.

The haredi community can no longer function as a small group on the margins while others carry the weight of the economy, the army, and civic life. We are becoming a central pillar of this country, and pillars have to hold weight, not just take up space.

Parnassah (livelihood) has turned into something closer to a daily emergency for enormous numbers of haredi families, and I say that from watching it happen to people I know, including myself. Families are large, expenses grow faster than income, and parents find themselves colliding with a reality they were never given the tools to handle. 

Our schools do extraordinary work building the spiritual and intellectual life of our children, but somewhere along the way we stopped teaching baseline skills such as arithmetic, English, and skills that any adult needs to earn a living in a modern economy.

Furthermore, about half of haredi students who eventually try to catch up through post-secondary study drop out, because they’re starting from too far behind. That’s a structural failure we built ourselves, and we can unbuild it without touching the yeshiva system meant for those who are meant to sit and study full time.

In my own city, Beit Shemesh, serious plans were underway to build a vocational training complex in the heart of the city, close enough that residents in a community soon approaching half a million people could reach it by bus or on foot and walk away with a trade.

Due to fear of militant elements in the community declaring war on that project, it has stalled. Sadly, this is not an isolated story, but happens across haredi cities whenever anyone tries to build a real path toward employment.

This is an act of harm against thousands of families, dressed up as a defense of Torah values. Torah values include the responsibility to support one’s household. Hazal, our great sages, never envisioned a community where the majority of people live from hand to mouth.

Political leadership bears direct responsibility for where we’ve landed. There is a sitting party leader who has spent the past year traveling the country, threatening institutions that try to switch educational networks to a state haredi system that includes more comprehensive studies in English and math, and this leader told administrators things like, “I’ll come to your house, and I’ll drop a torpedo on it,” and other more graphic language that I won’t share. This is bullying, and it has nothing to do with protecting Torah study.

There are currently 18 haredi Knesset members sitting in the government, and whatever leaves their mouths in public, their operating goal has been singular: make sure no haredi ever serves in the IDF. Everything else is theater.

Haredi hesder yeshivot combine Torah study, IDF service

Since October 7, the army has needed thousands more combat soldiers and thousands more in support roles, and the haredi community is one of the most available sources of manpower in the country. Fourteen haredi hesder yeshivot already exist, some for over a decade, combining serious Torah learning with military service, preserving kashrut, prayer, and ongoing Torah study for soldiers who serve. 

These programs work. And yet they get little to no government funding, no institutional recognition, and are treated with open contempt by the same politicians who claim to speak for the haredi public.

When soldiers from our own community went through combat courses, the people who should have stood up publicly to thank them, to embrace them, men like haredi party leaders Yitzhak Goldknopf, Arye Deri, and Moshe Gafni, said nothing. 

Worse, our young men who serve report being ignored, mocked, and undermined by the same leadership that benefits politically from claiming to represent all haredim. If those hesder frameworks were properly funded and expanded, we would not be talking about a few hundred participants. We would likely see thousands, and much of the manufactured tension around this issue would fade, because a respected pathway would finally exist for the many young men for whom full-time study was never realistic in the first place.

Ask any of these politicians what they’ve done to solve any of this, and the honest answer, spoken quietly by people close to them, is nothing. When pressed, the answer is always “yes, of course, someone should serve,” delivered in the exact tone people use when they mean the opposite. 

Campaigns repeat the line while doing nothing to build it. That gap between what’s said and what’s done is the actual scandal here, more than any individual policy failure.

None of what I’m describing is really about economics or the army as separate issues. It’s about whether haredi leadership is willing to take ownership of the future it keeps promising to protect, instead of hiding behind slogans while institutions collapse and families quietly drown. 

The haredi community has the numbers, the talent, and the values to lift this country into a new and bright future; we cannot be the ones to drag it down. What’s missing is leadership honest enough to admit where it has failed, and willing to build something better for the children, the community, and the country we all share.

The writer is chairman of the Haredi Public Party, a new political home for haredim who believe that protecting the world of Torah requires responsible leadership and practical solutions to the challenges facing our community. The party stands for genuine Torah study, increased educational options, dignified employment, appropriate military or national service, economic self-reliance, and a stronger partnership between the haredi community and all of the people of Israel.

Aside from fasting for 25 hours, one of the most challenging requirements of the Day of Atonement is asking forgiveness from someone we hurt or offended in the past year.

“Coming to Yom Kippur and banging on your chest doesn’t do anything. God doesn’t forgive on your behalf. It doesn’t work that way,” said Zev M. Shandalov, a former Chicago pulpit rabbi and an educator, lecturer, author, and community rabbi in Ma’aleh Adumim since 2009.

“We have to go to that person and ask for forgiveness with a heartfelt ‘I’m sorry.’ The struggle today versus, let’s say, just 20 years ago is how that apology should appear.”

Avoiding uncomfortable face-to-face confrontations is easier than ever. We can send texts or voice messages, write emails, or post on social media our requests for forgiveness – mehila, in Hebrew. 

Do these modern modes of communication count, or are they just cowardly cop-outs?

Be authentic

Hillel Fuld, a tech columnist and Israel advocate with approximately 750,000 social-media followers, spends a lot of time interacting with people online. 

Yet when it comes to apologizing, he said, “sending a text message just doesn’t feel authentic. I get a ton of mass messages before Yom Kippur – Please forgive me, blah, blah, blah – but I don’t do that. If you’re going to ask forgiveness, be authentic about it.”

Fuld said that if he feels the need to beg someone’s pardon, “I don’t care if we’re in the digital age or not – I’m gonna get in my car and go meet that person.”

Shandalov, too, said that “the best option is to physically go to the person asking for forgiveness.” He cited the 12th-century sage Maimonides (Rambam), who wrote that proper repentance requires meeting with the wronged party.

“Of course, the Rambam didn’t have WhatsApp, but he could have said it’s okay to write a letter. But he says no, you have to have an interaction with the person and truly ask for forgiveness,” Shandalov said.

“If that’s not possible, do it in a video chat or phone call. However, sometimes saying ‘I’m sorry’ directly is a very tough thing to do. A voice note is the next best option because at least the recipient can hear the inflection in the sender’s voice.”

He considers the least desirable method to be a “general vanilla message on Facebook that says, ‘To all those whom I might have hurt, I’m sorry.’ There’s no meaning behind that.”

Nobody wants to be a checklist item

A different perspective on mass apology messages is offered by lecturer and author Oriya Mevorach, whose Afarkeset Institute provides educational tools, lectures, and workshops for navigating postmodern and Western culture through a Jewish worldview.

“The problem is not the medium,” she said. 

“It’s even a blessing today that we have the opportunity to write something general. In the age of social media, we communicate with so many people – sometimes thousands of people – and we can use the same platform to make amends.”

The problem is that blanket social-media apology posts rarely include the elements necessary to trigger a forgiveness response. Instead, they may be perceived as insulting or insincere.

“What people don’t want to see is that you’re saying sorry as a checklist item. Nobody wants to be a checklist item,” she said.

“When I want someone to ask me for forgiveness, first I would like them to acknowledge what they did wrong; and second, to acknowledge that they know I was insulted or offended by what they did. If a general message would include even just the first part, it’s not that bad,” Mevorach explained. 

“If a person would write, for example, ‘I know I often come across as offensive and I sometimes attack people online, and I’m aware of this weakness of mine, and I want to apologize to anyone who was insulted by me,’ I think that’s legit,” she said. “The text must be elaborated enough so people understand we are taking responsibility for a specific action.”

The ideal approach, however, is to send a direct personal message containing “the exact words that the recipient would like to hear.” 

Because many of us may have difficulty crafting such a message, she suggests using AI tools such as ChatGPT to help phrase a personalized request for mehila. 

Accepting a texted apology

The wording of a texted apology will determine how it is received, Shandalov agreed. 

“If you feel the text message that someone sends you is adequate, then accept the apology, say ‘thank you very much,’ and put it behind you,” he counseled. 

“But if you can’t accept it, you should respond, ‘Listen, I think this requires more of a discussion. I don’t want to make you feel awkward, but we need to talk about some stuff before I could really give you true forgiveness.’ And that’s fine.”

Jewish tradition stipulates that one is permitted to spurn an apology twice, “because sometimes we can’t forgive something or we don’t think the apology is sincere. By the third time you have to say, ‘Yes, I forgive you.’ If you don’t, you are considered a rasha, a bad person – although it depends on the specific situation,” he added. 

According to Shandalov, one must ask for mehila even from a deceased person by vocalizing the apology at the person’s grave.

But as Fuld can attest, it’s certainly preferable to seek forgiveness while the wronged party is still among the living.

Years ago, he got into a heated political discussion with an unknown commenter on his Facebook page. “Unfortunately, I lost my cool and called him a self-hating Jew,” he recalled.

A week later, Fuld was asked by the marketing department of a client company to participate in a phone call pitching the company’s story to a journalist. 

“At the end of the conversation, the journalist is like, ‘Okay, fantastic, I’ll write the story. Oh, and Hillel, by the way: Remember the guy you called a self-hating Jew last week on Facebook? That was me.’”

Fuld felt devastated. 

“When you’re on the Internet, you don’t put a face to it. Speaking to someone whom I called that name was really upsetting for me. So I apologize profusely, and he’s like, ‘It’s totally cool. I know how the Internet works. We get worked up. Totally fine, all good.’ And that was the end of that.” 

A few days later, Fuld was shocked to hear that the journalist had died suddenly and unexpectedly. “I was so grateful that I’d had a chance to make it right with him. The fact that I was able to correct my mistake before he died was of astronomic importance to me.”

The Talmud, said Shandalov, encourages us to emulate God’s attributes. “God is described as mohel v’sole’ah, forgiving and pardoning. So it’s important to understand that granting forgiveness is not just repairing a relationship. It’s a godly act.”

Israeli airstrikes reportedly killed at least three Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to local medics.

One strike near Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza killed Basir Al-Bursh, the son of Hamas-linked health ministry head Munir Al-Bursh, medics and family members said.

The IDF said it had struck several Hamas terrorists on Saturday, including Basir Al-Bursh, without giving further information. 

In video obtained by Reuters, Al-Bursh was seen carrying his son’s body, wrapped in a blanket, with other mourners as it was rushed to hospital by ambulance.

Two others killed in separate strikes targeting Hamas terrorists

Elsewhere, a strike reportedly killed a man in Shejaia, east of Gaza City, while another hit a vehicle in the Sheik Radwan district of Gaza City, killing one person, Hamas and medics said, taking Saturday’s death toll to at least three.

The IDF said the Sheik Radwan strike targeted a Hamas terrorist. The blast reportedly reduced the vehicle to a mangled wreck.

The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) arrested two terrorists on Friday following reports of a fire being set near the Palestinian village of Burqa in the West Bank, the military said on Saturday.

According to the IDF, the terrorists confessed to starting the fire prior to their arrest.

Both suspects were transferred to Israeli security forces for further questioning.

The IDF’s statement follows a Ynet News report earlier on Saturday of a vandalism incident in the Kusra village.

Hebrew graffiti, Star of David spray-painted on Palestinian home in Kusra

According to Ynet, Hebrew graffiti and a Star of David were sprayed on the still-under-construction home of Kusra-resident Louis Beyruti.

The house, which the IDF noted was previously attacked in August, was raided by Israeli settlers, who barricaded themselves in it, attacked reporters, and threw stones, Ynet reported.

The IDF killed a Hamas commander on Thursday who infiltrated Israel during the October 7 attacks, the military confirmed on Saturday.

The terrorist, Muhammad Suleiman Byouk, was killed in an IDF strike on the Khan Yunis area in the Gaza Strip.

According to the IDF, Byouk spent much of the war planting explosive devices across Gaza targeting Israeli soldiers.

He further planned and advanced terror attacks aimed at Israeli soldiers and civilians and also worked to rehabilitate the Hamas terror organization, the IDF added, noting the action as a “systematic violation of the ceasefire.”

IDF kills senior Hamas Rafah Brigade commander

Byouk’s death follows a joint operation by the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) on Tuesday, which killed Hamas’s Rafah Brigade commander, Nael Abu Obeid, in a southern Gaza strike, the military said at the time.

According to the IDF, Abu Obeid was a key Hamas leader who previously served as deputy commander of the Rafah Brigade and commander of the Tel al-Sultan and Yibna Battalions.

He replaced the previous Rafah Brigade commander, Mohammad Shabanah, who was killed by the IDF in May 2025.

Abu Obeid directed terror attacks and offensives against Israeli soldiers during his time as Rafah Brigade commander.

Also on Tuesday, the IDF said it killed Hamas’s Jabaliya Battalion commander, Ahmad Batash, in a northern Gaza strike on Monday in a joint operation with the Shin Bet.

Batash was responsible for managing logistics for the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades Northern Gaza Brigade and was an integral part of supplying weapons and equipment to Hamas terrorists in the region.

Amir Bohbot contributed to this report.

President Isaac Herzog decided to accept Elor Azaria’s request and erase the rest of his criminal record, he announced on Saturday.

“After many long years in which Azaria bore the consequences of his actions, the president believes that the circumstances as a whole, the passage of time, and the regret he expressed justify allowing him to open a new chapter in his life. This decision was made in the spirit of these days as well, and out of a belief in the importance of repair, reconciliation and the ability to move forward,” the President’s Office said.

Azaria began his term in prison in August 2024 after being convicted of manslaughter for shooting Palestinian attacker Abdel Fatah al-Sharif on March 24, 2016, in Hebron during his IDF service.

Defense Minister Israel Katz welcomed Herzog’s decision to accept his recommendation to pardon Azaria and erase his criminal record.

Defense Minister Katz welcomes pardon for Azaria

“On the eve of Yom Kippur, this is a correct, humane and worthy decision, expressing the spirit of forgiveness and the possibility of opening a new chapter,” Katz wrote on X/Twitter.

אני מברך את נשיא המדינה יצחק הרצוג על החלטתו לקבל את המלצתי לחון את אלאור אזריה ולמחוק את רישומו הפלילי. ערב יום הכיפורים, זו החלטה נכונה, אנושית וראויה, המבטאת את רוח הסליחה ואת האפשרות לפתוח דף חדש.

אלאור שירת כלוחם וכחובש קרבי מצטיין בחטיבת כפיר ונקלע לאירוע במהלך פעילות…

— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) September 19, 2026

“Elor served as a combat soldier and an outstanding combat medic in the Kfir Brigade and became involved in an incident during complex operational activity. After a decade, after serving his sentence and paying a heavy personal and family price, the time has come to allow him to leave the past behind, rebuild his life, and build his future.”

“Granting the pardon sends an important message to IDF soldiers and their families: We do not abandon soldiers, and we do not leave them behind.”

“Elor, I stand with you and your family and wish you a gmar chatima tova and a year of new beginnings.”

Adele Raemer is an avowedly secular Jew from Kibbutz Nirim, along the Gaza border, who is preparing for Yom Kippur.

“I’m not an observant Jew, and I don’t fast on Yom Kippur because I think it would be hypocritical,” she told The Jerusalem Post. “For me it’s a day of quiet introspection. Sometimes we have discussion groups, but it’s a day that I appreciate that I’m in my kibbutz, in my country, and the Jewish nation.”

On October 7, 2023, about 150 Hamas terrorists infiltrated Nirim, killing five members of the community and kidnapping five others to Gaza. Three, all women, were freed in a ceasefire deal with Hamas, and two men were killed in the tunnels. 

Three Israeli soldiers were also killed fighting in the kibbutz. Raemer hid in her safe room for many hours before she was rescued by Israeli soldiers and taken to Eilat.

“When we finally arrived in Eilat, I took out my phone and googled Birkat Hagomel (the traditional Jewish prayer said after surviving a potential life-threatening event),” she said. “It was just this instinct. The terrorists tried to murder me because of my Jewishness, and it was just my instinct to do this.”

The October 7, 2023 attack has affected all Israelis somehow, as everyone knows someone who was either killed or taken hostage. Some have questioned God’s existence.

“Where was God on October 7?” asked Jonathan Livny, a Jerusalem lawyer. “I think we invented God because it can’t be that a God would not prevent such a catastrophe.”

Others, even if they are not religious in the traditional sense, do observe Yom Kippur.

“This year I can’t fast because I’ll be eight months pregnant, but I’ll go to shul,” said Danielle Glickman, 34, adding that she usually fasts. “I think I’ll try not to use technology. Since October 7, I think it’s even more important to keep traditions, especially when we are growing our family.”

Others, including some of the former hostages, have drawn closer to religion. 

At his recent wedding, former hostage Eliya Cohen, who was held in Hamas tunnels for more than 500 days and who had believed that his partner, Ziv Abud, had been killed, said that he had vowed that if he ever married Ziv he would publicly say the “Shema Yisrael” prayer, which he did before over 1,000 guests in an emotional moment.

Agam Berger spoke of keeping Shabbat in captivity, and Daniella Gilboa spoke of singing “Shalom Aleichem” in Arabic while in captivity. Other hostages said they fasted on Yom Kippur.

Israel’s special relationship with Yom Kippur

ISRAELIS HAVE always had a special relationship to Yom Kippur. The country, including the airport, completely shuts down, and kids ride bicycles on major highways. 

A recent study by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 60% of Israelis fast completely on Yom Kippur while another 5% don’t eat but drink liquids. This comes as less than 25% of Israelis describe themselves as “Orthodox,” according to the Pew Research Foundation.

Several rabbis said that since October 7, more Israelis are connecting to Judaism, although not necessarily in a traditional way. Rabbi Haviva Ner David runs Shmaya: A Mikveh for Mind, Body, and Soul in Kibbutz Hanaton.

As part of her work, she helps those converting to Judaism via the Reform movement immerse in the mikveh (ritual bath). She said she has seen an increase in people converting to Judaism since October 7, especially non-Jews who are married to Jewish Israelis.

“Many of them have been living in Israel for years, and they say that after October 7, they want to throw their lot in with the Jewish people,” she told the Post.

Israelis have grown in spirituality since October 7, rabbi says

Yom Kippur is often the busiest day of the year at the mikveh, she said, as there is a tradition to immerse on the day before Yom Kippur as part of the process of atonement.

Rabbi Yael Vurgan, who works with all of the kibbutzim near Gaza in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, said there is a growing interest in non-traditional ways of connecting to Judaism. She said the Reform Movement has long offered alternative services on Yom Kippur at one of the kibbutzim, and this year there will be services in two kibbutzim.

Just a few days before October 7, she said, she officiated at a bar and bat mitzvah ceremony for people in their 80s and 90s who had never had this traditional Jewish rite of passage. She taught the group of six for three months, and on October 3, 2023, they held a celebration.

Since October 7, she said, there has been growing interest from many in her area for more connection to spirituality, including get-togethers that might include song and poetry.

The outbreak of the war – and especially the fate of the hostages – encouraged prayers and psalms in almost every synagogue.

“Many people had more and more need for ways to express their feelings in a cultural, spiritual way as a community together,” she said.

“I felt that people want what I have to offer – spirituality done by liberal voices and texts and songs,” she said.

Every Yom Kippur, we confess even to sins we may never have personally committed because Judaism understands moral responsibility as larger than the individual. We bear responsibility for our community, for what is done in its name. And that idea feels urgent in Israel at this time.

After four years of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, after October 7 and the terrible war that followed it, Yom Kippur offers an opportunity to examine ourselves through the oldest moral code we possess. By the measure of the Ten Commandments, we have much for which to atone.

‘I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me’

We have created other gods: nation, power, ideology, and political leaders. Parts of the Israeli Right have turned nationalism from love of country into an object of faith. Loyalty to Israel has too often been confused with loyalty to a government, a political camp, or even a particular man.

‘Thou shalt not make unto thee any craven images’

We have made idols of things. The Land of Israel occupies a profound place in Jewish memory and prayer, yet reverence for it has hardened into a theology of possession in which a hilltop, settlement, or ancient site can acquire greater moral weight than the human beings living there. 

Ultranationalism has acquired its own articles of faith, while territory has assumed an almost religious sanctity. The Land of Israel may be holy; it is not God.

‘Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain’

We have attached God’s name to political ambitions and treated them as though they came from beyond politics. Biblical promises are invoked to sanctify policies devised by human beings, transforming disagreements over settlements and sovereignty into questions of faith.

Once a political objective becomes a divine command, compromise becomes apostasy. Taking God’s name in vain surely includes claiming divine endorsement for choices entirely our own.

‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy’

Shabbat is one of Judaism’s most beautiful ideas, a sanctuary in time that interrupts work and commerce. Israeli religious politics has transformed that gift into arguments about buses, shops, and what citizens may do between Friday evening and Saturday night, which for many is their only time off. 

Rabbinic interpretation deserves respect, but in its zeal to protect the Sabbath, the religious establishment has obscured its simplest instruction: keep it holy. There is nothing in the commandment about electrons or forcing people to walk up stairs or suffer without transport to the beach.

‘Honor thy father and thy mother’

A society honors its parents through the dignity it affords them in old age. Israel is home to a dwindling generation of Holocaust survivors and the men and women who built the state, yet many spend their final years struggling with poverty, loneliness, and inadequate care.

We are adept at memorializing the Jewish past while proving outrageously ungenerous toward elderly Jews still among us. Honor requires food, housing, companionship, medical care, and dignity. Words are cheap, and we have been cheapening this commandment.

‘Thou shalt not murder’

October 7 gave Israel an obligation to defend its citizens, rescue its hostages, and remove the threat posed by Hamas, yet a just purpose still requires scrutiny of the means. The enormous civilian death toll in Gaza should weigh heavily on the Israeli conscience, because Jewish morality cannot measure the value of life according to nationality.

The commandment also reaches the West Bank, where Jewish extremists have attacked Palestinian civilians. Our deepest sin may be the numbness that allows another death to become a statistic.

‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’

Adultery is a betrayal of covenant, and Israel has been unfaithful to the covenant made at its birth. The Declaration of Independence envisioned a Jewish state founded upon freedom, justice, and peace, guaranteeing equality irrespective of religion, race, or sex. 

Attacks on institutions, efforts to weaken checks on governmental power, and the treatment of Arab citizens as conditional members of the national community have strained that compact. Israel’s civic covenant, like any covenant, requires fidelity.

‘Thou shalt not steal’

Across the West Bank, Palestinian land has been appropriated through unauthorized outposts, intimidation, and settlement expansion, while ideological settlers have behaved as though biblical attachment confers ownership. The territorial dispute is complicated; the moral principle is simpler. Another person’s property remains his. 

Theft also includes public money distributed according to coalition leverage rather than public need. Sinai required only three words: do not steal. In Israel, it seems we will need many words to convince citizens to fix this on October 27.

‘Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor’

Israeli politics has become saturated with false witness against fellow Israelis. Leftists become traitors, rightists become fascists, protesters become enemies of the state, government supporters become enemies of democracy, and hostage families are assigned sinister motives. 

We increasingly choose facts according to political allegiance and treat disagreement as disloyalty. Democracy requires fierce argument while society requires us to recognize those with whom we argue as neighbors. We have allowed the language of treason to consume the language of disagreement.

‘Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods’

Israeli politics has increasingly entertained fantasies of a Gaza emptied of Palestinians, of mass “voluntary” emigration, and of a territorial problem solved through their disappearance.

Palestinians possess homes, fields, memories, attachments, aspirations, and a sense of peoplehood. Their attachment to this land can coexist with ours. Our tragedy has been the growing conviction on both sides that one people’s attachment invalidates the other’s.

Returning to Jewish life

Yom Kippur does not end with the catalogue of sins. Confession leads toward teshuva, usually translated as repentance, but carrying the deeper sense of return. Judaism asks us to enumerate our failures because it assumes that human beings remain capable of choosing differently. Ashamnu asks us to see ourselves clearly enough to change.

Israel needs such a return: to a Judaism capable of cherishing the Land of Israel without worshiping it, observing Shabbat, each in their way, without coercion, defending Jewish life while grieving innocent non-Jewish life, and arguing passionately without turning fellow citizens into enemies.

The Torah gives us a principle around which to begin: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

A few verses later it goes further: “The stranger who resides with you shall be as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself.” Recognizing humanity beyond tribe is neither weakness nor a foreign ideal. It comes from the heart of the tradition whose name we invoke.

There is a Jewish state strong enough to defend itself and humane enough to grieve innocent life, a Jewish tradition secure enough to inspire without coercing, and a democracy mature enough to contain profound disagreement. The country we have become need not determine the country we choose to be.

So what will we do differently?

At the Neila service, as the long day draws toward its end, religious Jews imagine the gates beginning to close. This year Israel should hear both a warning and an invitation. The gates are still open.

The writer is a former Cairo-based Middle East editor and London-based Europe/Africa editor of the Associated Press. He served as chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem and authored two books about Israel.

Fewer than 5% of fiction writers make a living from their writing, a statistic that seems to shock Paul (Bastien Bouillon), the hero of the new French movie At Work, directed by Valérie Donzelli, which opens in theaters throughout Israel on Thursday.

There is little to surprise anyone familiar with the business of writing and publishing in this movie, and how much you enjoy it will depend on how charmed you are by the performance of Bouillon, an appealing actor who has starred in such films as The Count of Monte Cristo and Leave One Day, as Paul.

Paul is obstinate and maddening, or single-minded and noble, depending on how you see it, as he devotes himself to a floundering writing career that devolves into a struggle for financial survival. Paul, who once ran a successful photography business, gave it up a few years ago to devote himself to writing novels.

He has published several books, all of which were critically acclaimed but none of which sold well. Now his editor (Virginie Ledoyen), whose patience is wearing thin, isn’t happy with what she’s read of his latest book, a memoir about his failed marriage. He has already spent his advance, and she won’t give him any more money.

His career isn’t his only problem. His ex-wife (played by director Donzelli) has just moved to Montreal with their teen children, and apparently, she has a career that helped support him in his writing. Now he must make a living on only a couple of hundred euros a month in royalties.

He rejects his father’s suggestion that he reopen his photography studio; instead, he looks for a part-time job so he can continue writing.

This leads him into the gig economy, and soon he works as a handyman on a site called Jobbers, where desperate people looking for work try to underbid each other, and he takes on difficult, time-consuming jobs for just 18 or 20 euros. Lonely and dehumanized by this grind, he keeps trying to write.

Paul seems to hold grudges against father, wife who left him

All this might have seemed a bit more engaging if it were clearer what drove him to write. He seems to hold obscure grudges against his unsupportive father and the wife who moved away with his kids, but that alone doesn’t explain why he walked away from a successful middle-class life, or why he sticks with writing when he doesn’t seem to know what he wants to say.

As I watched, I kept wondering whether the world needed another book about a mean dad or a failed marriage, which is the last thing I imagine the director wanted me to think. Eventually, though, he finds his voice by writing about the humiliations of the gig economy, a subject that is apparently fresh and alluring to the French reading public.

I had a few thoughts on how the French publishing world differs from the American one as I watched, which I know something about. In America, even one book that doesn’t sell well is generally enough to get an author dropped by their publisher, and editors often barely know the writers, let alone meet with them to discuss their progress.

For example, a friend of mine writing her second book has never met her editor; when she asked the editor if they could have coffee, the editor refused, even though they live about five minutes away from each other.

Another friend in New York tried to deliver a finished manuscript to his editor in person a couple of years ago, and the editor’s assistant wouldn’t even let him say hello. So when Paul drops off a bundle of handwritten notebooks and his editor has an assistant type it all up so she can read it, I kept thinking how lucky he was – which, again, was probably not what I was meant to think.

Film part of French literary movie tradition 

At Work is part of a tradition of French literary movies which are fun if you can find them.

A few of the best are Lost Illusions, an adaptation of the classic Honoré de Balzac novel about an aspiring writer in Paris; Sagan, a biopic about popular novelist Françoise Sagan, who did make a very good living from her fiction; Like a Turtle on Its Back, a comedy about a blocked writer and his supportive wife; and Promise At Dawn, a portrait of the writer Romain Gary and his ambitious mother.

The Jerusalem Biennale will open its seventh and largest edition on Thursday, bringing a powerful message of resilience to the heart of Israel.

Running through November 12, the city-wide contemporary art experience will span 21 venues across Jerusalem and feature over 250 Israeli and international artists in 42 exhibitions. Entry to the Biennale exhibitions is free, except for select venues that require a standard entry fee.

This year’s theme, De Profundis (From the Depths) – derived from the opening words of Psalm 130 – explores memory, spirituality, and identity in the wake of post-October 7 collective trauma. Founder and creative director Rami Ozeri described the theme as a catalyst for movement, stating that art creates a passage from the personal and collective subconscious toward expression, connection, and light.

The 2026 Biennale features several internationally acclaimed Israeli contemporary artists. Yehudit Sasportas will premiere Mishpat Mokesh (A Mined Sentence) on October 12 at the Tower of David Jerusalem Museum. The video and sound installation reflects her exploration of buried histories, trauma, and the possibility of transformation and healing.

Belu-Simion Fainaru will participate in the central exhibition, Or Chozer (Reflected Light). Hanita Ilan, winner of the 2025 Rappaport Prize, will present a solo exhibition at Hamiffal Gallery.

Exhibitions confront current moment complexities directly

Highlighted exhibitions directly confront the complexities of the current moment. Or Chozer features 20 artists engaging with Mordecai Ardon’s utopian windows, questioning how to sustain a vision of peace amid brokenness.

At the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, Open Wound brings together 14 Israeli and Diaspora artists to explore the borderless reverberations of October 7.

Alongside the exhibitions, the seven-week program will include gallery discussions, artist and curator talks, guided tours, workshops, performances, and special events. These gatherings give audiences opportunities to engage directly with the artists and ideas behind the artwork, turning the Biennale into a form of communal prayer reaching for renewal and hope.

For more, visit jerusalembiennale.org

American singer and actor Pat Boone, one of the biggest pop stars of the 1950s and 1960s and a longtime supporter of Donald Trump, issued a friendly but pointed message to the president on Saturday, urging him to talk less, listen more, and take a page from former president Ronald Reagan.

Boone, best known for hits including “Love Letters in the Sand,” addressed Trump directly in a social media post, saying he was offering his advice “in the spirit of friendship and concern.”

“I’ve known and supported President Trump for many years, and I offer these thoughts in the spirit of friendship and concern,” Boone wrote.

I’ve known and supported President Trump for many years, and I offer these thoughts in the spirit of friendship and concern.

Sometimes the strongest thing a leader can do is say less, listen more, and let his actions speak for themselves. I’m praying for our President, as I hope… pic.twitter.com/bJ2eXtRYIU

— ThePatBoone (@Pat_Boone) September 19, 2026

“Sometimes the strongest thing a leader can do is say less, listen more, and let his actions speak for themselves. I’m praying for our President, as I hope all Americans will, and I’m asking him to remember the example of Ronald Reagan: humor, courtesy, respect, and a presidential manner even in difficult times.

“Mr. President, I say this as a friend. For just a little while, try being quiet. You may be surprised how loudly that silence speaks.”

Now in his 90s, Boone was among the defining American pop performers of the pre-Beatles era. His recording of “Love Letters in the Sand” became one of his signature songs, and he remained a major presence on the Billboard charts for years. NPR described Boone last year as a one-time staple of the charts who sold tens of millions of records over the course of his lengthy career.

He has also long been identified with conservative politics.

Boone supported Trump during the 2016 campaign and recorded robocalls aimed at Christian and senior voters on Trump’s behalf in the closing days before the election. In a 2022 interview with The Daily Beast, Boone said he had voted for Trump in both 2016 and 2020.

Reagan as the Republican model politician

Boone’s invocation of Reagan is not incidental.

He appeared with Reagan at political and White House events throughout the 1980s. Records from the Reagan Presidential Library show Boone appearing alongside the president at a 1982 Washington charity reception, an Illinois Republican rally later that year, and a National Religious Broadcasters convention in 1984.

In Saturday’s message, Boone held up Reagan’s style — humor, civility, and presidential restraint even amid political conflict — as the model he believes Trump should follow.

Nor is this the first time Boone has urged Trump to change his rhetoric.

In the 2022 interview, Boone recalled speaking directly to Trump during the 2016 campaign, asking him to stop using insulting nicknames and behaving, in Boone’s words, like a “schoolyard bully,” because it was not presidential. Boone later said he believed Trump had frequently been “his own worst enemy” because of his manner and speech.

His latest appeal thus continues a line of criticism Boone has voiced for years — not of Trump’s policy agenda, but of the way he communicates and responds to his opponents.

The timing is notable.

Boone posted his message one day after Trump announced that CNN, MS NOW, and Politico would be banned from the White House, accusing the three news organizations of repeatedly publishing what he called “fake news,” “fiction,” and “lies.” Trump also warned that other outlets could follow.

Boone did not mention the media ban in his message, and there is no basis to say his comments were a direct response to the decision.

His appeal, however, came as Trump intensified his public attacks on news organizations and defended the ban in exchanges with reporters at the White House.

For Boone, the advice was, in the end, simple: a president does not always need to answer.

“Sometimes the strongest thing a leader can do,” he wrote, “is say less, listen more, and let his actions speak for themselves.”

You know a situation has gotten serious when a comedian addresses it in his sitcom, and that was the case when Hanoch Daum’s Keshet series, “Life Is a Difficult Age,” devoted its Tuesday night episode to the issue of terrorists who have been brutalizing and killing Palestinians in the West Bank.

The show is generally about how Daum’s life in the West Bank is really quite ordinary, and focuses on his regular-guy shtick as he navigates problems with his family, neighbors, etc.

But this week was very different. The setup for this episode on hilltop youth and their crimes is that his buddy, Rafi (Omer Etzion, who does the world’s greatest US President Donald Trump imitation on “Eretz Nehederet”), learns that his son plans to spend the night on his friend’s West Bank farm, where there are no adults around.

This worries Rafi’s wife, who sends him to bring their son home, and Daum tags along.

At first, they are charmed by the hilltop youth they find there, with Rafi praising them for staying true to Jewish values by farming and building instead of playing video games all day. But when they talk to the group leader, who looks to be in his late teens, he says a few things that trouble them both.

First, when Rafi and Daum disagree with him, he calls them Nazis. Then he and his friends laugh about the assassination of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, call far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir a leftist, and disparage the army. Rafi and Daum are stunned and don’t react strongly.

Daum’s rabbi (Shai Avivi) arrives and shows tolerance for their rhetoric, praising their choices, and showing how some of the settlement movement has tolerated and even nurtured these extremists in their midst.

Daum recognizes donkey as stolen from Palestinians

When one of the young men comes in with a donkey, Daum realizes they have stolen it from local Palestinians and that they have carried out a pogrom on an Arab village, where Ali (Nahd Basheir of Nutuk), the contractor who built Daum’s house, lives.

Before long, these hilltop youths have covered their faces and are hurling stones and then Molotov cocktails at an IDF patrol. Ali reports that they have attacked Palestinian villagers, including an elderly man. Daum appeals to the rabbi to calm them down, but the hilltop youth turn on him.

At this point, Daum turns to the camera and makes an uncharacteristically earnest speech about how these masked terrorists are evil and do not represent what the settlement movement is about.

“This is what happens when you ride the tiger – in the end, it devours you. The thing is, I am a settler, so are my family, my neighbors, and my friends. These are good people, really good people, law-abiding and tax-paying; they do military reserve duty,” he says.

“This tiny, anarchistic, extremist minority is not who we are. They do not represent us. Despite this, perhaps precisely because of this, we must shun them. ‘And you shall cast out the evil from among you.’ We must shun them mainly because they simply do terrible and horrible things.”

It was further than I expected him to go, but I wished he had gone even further – not in his remarks but in his portrayal of the hilltop youth. I wish they hadn’t been shown in such a cutesy light in the early parts of the episode.

Most of all, I wish he had shown them in action, physically attacking Palestinians and Jews who help them, as they did a couple of weeks ago when a friend of mine, fed up with their brutality, went to help renovate a house they had destroyed.

He and those with him were attacked by masked terrorists, one of whom threw a rock into the face of my unarmed friend, who is in his 60s, from a few feet away. He hit the ground and needed a head CT; his nose was broken, and his face was bruised, but he was lucky because he could have been killed.

As is so often the case, no one was arrested, and that is the part I wish Daum had emphasized more clearly: the authorities must know, as Daum and Rafi do, exactly who is behind these crimes, but arrests are rare. I hope Daum doesn’t drop this issue here, but returns to it more strongly in future episodes, and I hope that people listen to him.

UK’s ‘Slow Horses’ back on Apple TV+ for sixth season

“Slow Horses,” the often-comic British spy series about a unit of MI5 screw-ups, is back for its sixth season on Apple TV+, and it hooked me from the first few minutes, as it always manages to.

I watch each season as quickly as possible, completely gripped. When they end and a little time passes, I come up with a few criticisms about implausible plotting, but while I am watching, all I want is to see what happens next.

Season five ended with us learning an important truth about Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), the cynical, disgusting, and brilliant head of the Slough House group, nicknamed “Slow Horses”: that decades ago, he once cared deeply about a woman, another agent, and was tortured to protect her.

It added another level of complexity to the character, but he is back to his old profane tricks in the new season, which opens with the murder of a former Slow Horses agent. It turns out someone is assassinating Lamb’s former “joes” one by one, at the same time that Diana Taverner (Kristen Scott Thomas), now the head of MI5, has had all traces of the Slow Horses scrubbed from the agency’s database.

As Lamb mulls these developments, a funeral takes place for his old nemesis, David Cartwright (Jonathan Pryce), the grandfather of one of Lamb’s current agents, River (Jack Lowden), who has finally died after suffering from dementia for years.

The funeral turns into a twisted family reunion for River when his father, Frank (Hugo Weaving), a rogue mercenary who has done dirty work for MI5, turns up, and Lamb is convinced he is the one offing the ex-agents. A lot is going on, and it brings out the best and worst in all the characters, including some familiar faces we thought were gone for good.

There is a great deal to enjoy, including chases through bowling alleys, arcades, and bleak city streets, and the eternal nonchalance of Coe (Tom Brooke), the most eccentric of all the Slow Horses.

If you miss the original French series “Call My Agent!” about a high-level Parisian talent agency, remade in several languages, now you can watch the Call My Agent! movie on Netflix.

It’s much sillier and doesn’t have the wit of the series, which was willing to show ambitious people being cunning and devious to get what they and their clients want. Some of the cast only make cameos, and the movie focuses on everyone’s favorite egomaniac, Andrea (Camille Cottin, who is currently starring in the movie Just An Illusion).

No longer an agent after the breakup of the ASK agency, she is now directing an earnest love story about a female criminal (Laetitia Casta) on the run and the police detective who tracks her down (played by different actors – the casting is part of the story).

After some setbacks, she teams up with flaky Noemie (Laure Calamy) to produce the movie. Cameos include George Clooney, and the film throws in a few nods to Francois Truffaut’s classic film about movie-making, Day for Night, for cinephiles.

Now that Andrea is a mother and a director, though, she’s lost some of her edge, and none of it is as much fun as the series, which unfortunately is no longer available to stream in Israel, although you can watch Call My Agent Berlin on Disney+.

Itzik Barashi, a KAN 11 news director, was killed in a bicycle accident on Highway 44 on Saturday, KAN News reported.

“KAN News mourns the death of our friend,” the company’s management said in a statement.

“Barashi, one of KAN News’ professional and talented directors, joined the broadcasting corporation almost upon its establishment, in 2018. Since then, he has accompanied our broadcasts with professionalism and commitment – in routine and in war.”

כאן חדשות אבלה על מותו של חברנו, איציק בראשי, במאי מוערך בחטיבת החדשות, שנהרג היום בתאונת אופניים בכביש 44 ליד מחלף נשרים.

איציק, מהבמאים המקצועיים והמוכשרים של כאן חדשות, הצטרף אל תאגיד השידור בשנת 2018, וליווה מאז את שידורינו במקצועיות ומחוייבות בשגרה ובמלחמה.

כאן חדשות שולחת… pic.twitter.com/k0MeEOcLrq

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) September 19, 2026

“KAN News sends condolences to his wife, Shirley, his children – Keren, Roy, and Itai – to his family, his friends, and all his coworkers,” the statement added.

The date and other details for Barashi’s funeral have not yet been released, according to KAN.

Barashi was 56 at the time of the accident, according to Maariv, which occured while he was riding along the highway with a group of friends.

“We rode together; everything was wonderful, and we reached the finish line,” Maariv cited one of his fellow riders as saying. “Dear Itzik, you were an exemplary friend, a true friend. It’s hard to comprehend that a ride that began as every Saturday ended with parting ways with you.”

MDA paramedic discusses Barashi’s injuries prior to declaration of death

Maariv additionally cited an MDA paramedic who treated Barashi on scene prior to him being declared dead at the hospital.

“The rider was lying on the road, unconscious and suffering from a severe head injury,” the paramedic said. “We began providing medical treatment that included assistance with breathing, bandaging, and administering medication, and evacuated him to an intensive care unit at Shamir Assaf Harofeh Hospital, where he continued medical treatment, with his condition being classified as serious.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping recently visited Cairo, his first state visit there since 2016. This visit marks a deeper and crucial shift that Israel must not ignore.

President Xi arrived in Cairo for a formal visit at the end of August, right after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit that was held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

This itinerary alone speaks volumes about how Beijing positions Cairo on its strategic map. Relations between China and Egypt are long-standing yet complex, largely because of Egypt’s ties with the United States.

The Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm described the relationship as entering a new phase, marking artificial intelligence and energy as sectors where cooperation is expected to expand.

Just recently, the two nations conducted a joint air exercise in which China, for the first time in history, deployed multirole Shenyang J-16 fighter jets to the African continent. This is not just trade – this is a growing presence by a global power in one of the most significant countries in the Middle East.

Yet the underlying, deeper story playing out here that should concern Israelis is not the one about China or even Egypt itself.

Indeed, this story is just one example of large changes that are taking place in the Middle East, right under Israel’s nose. Nevertheless, the government’s policy in the face of these changes has been either backward or nonexistent.

Further, the government may be incapable of implementing even the most basic steps in this regard.

It goes without saying that Israel’s peace treaty with Egypt and the nations’ ties are anchors of regional stability, even if there are disagreements.

Knowing the importance of these ties, it stands to reason that the government would have an organized, sensible approach to maintaining them.

It should have a plan tailored to an understanding of the nexus of American, Egyptian, and Israeli interests. As for the Gaza Strip, the government should have a vision that includes a strategic anchor like Egypt having more influence than countries like Turkey and Qatar.

Yet, like on so many other regional and global issues, this government has none of these. Its foreign policy is driven entirely by short-term domestic political considerations, and it lacks the ability and credibility to manage complex, difficult dialogue with partners and potential partners.

For example, this government would never put together a plan, implement it, or have the credibility and standing to even convince Egypt to deepen energy and economic ties.

Neither does it have a tactic set to maintain a regular strategic dialogue with the largest Arab state – one that has diplomatic ties with Israel.

When it comes to finding ways to work together on shared challenges, like ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea in the face of the Houthi threat, there seems to be no strategy on this front either.

These are common-sense steps that would strengthen ties that aren’t happening because Israel, under this government, doesn’t have a foreign policy. Ties with Egypt are just one instance among dozens of matters where this is happening. For that, Israelis are paying a price economically, in terms of both security and diplomacy.

Government capable of managing Israel

So what needs to change under the next government?

First and foremost, we need a government that actually manages Israel. Those in senior positions need diverse experience managing complex issues and systems.

They should also have expertise in the field that they are responsible for. As a veteran of Israel’s representation abroad, I know what it looks like when there is a government of career politicians who always put politics first rather than policy and proper management.

We saw this in the government that was led by prime minister Naftali Bennett and foreign minister Yair Lapid, and this year, together, they have built a team like that.

Second, we need a government with a clear policy agenda and process. I know from my own experience representing Israel’s economic interests in Asia that on complex, multifaceted issues, there is often no perfect answer.

But with a clear agenda, compass, and process, decision-making improves. One reason I decided to join Bennett’s team is that while many politicians plan campaigns and meet with political strategists, Bennett did something different.

Bennett spent two years building detailed, thorough action plans to address dozens of challenges facing the country, alongside top experts, rooted in his own understanding of the twists and turns of the political system.

In other words, Israel had the right people and the right plans. It seems simple. But over the last four years, we’ve missed these things dearly.

Because of this, opportunities have passed Israel by, and changes in the region like the ones aforementioned regarding Egypt have occurred with Israel not even being present at the decision-making table.

Politics aside, there won’t be a change in course until the country has a government that spends less time making TikToks, tries to govern with simplistic slogans, and meets with party activists in cases best suited to its own political survival, such as its primaries.

Israel needs a government that spends its time on policy planning, tracking, and trying to influence regional developments, one that understands that running the country is its job, not a side gig to gain political influence.

On October 27, Israelis have the chance to choose such a government and put Israel on the path to repair.

The author is the former head of the Israel Trade & Economic Missions in China and a Knesset candidate from the B’Yachad Party, led by Naftali Bennett.

The head of United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon said on Saturday that it was critical to ensure other UN agencies and Lebanese troops could assume the tasks the force carries out before it begins withdrawing at the end of this year.

Major General Diodato Abagnara of Italy spoke to Reuters in southern Lebanon from a position operated by the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL, which has allegedly monitored hostilities in southern Lebanon for nearly 50 years.

Since a new war erupted after Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah attacked Israel in March, the force has also provided security escorts for humanitarian aid convoys to residents in a small cluster of predominantly Christian southern Lebanese towns where the IDF is fighting Hezbollah.

Residents in much of the rest of southern Lebanon have been displaced due to Hezbollah embedding itself in civilian areas, necessitating their evacuation before strikes against Hezbollah can be carried out.

The UN Security Council has ordered UNIFIL to begin withdrawing at the end of 2026, triggering concerns over whether aid deliveries can continue and how the force can transfer its positions to Lebanese troops.

“There are other United Nations entities here in the south, and so what is very important for us (is) to conduct a very smooth transition to different entities, or for the future of a new mission,” Abagnara told Reuters.

He said UNIFIL was already working with the UN’s country team to ensure humanitarian assistance in areas where Hezbollah has embedded itself and information sharing with the Lebanese army about “sensitive areas (and) how they can manage this situation.”

Abagnara acknowledged that it could be “very difficult” to hand over some of UNIFIL’s posts to Lebanese troops given that more than half lie within areas where the IDF took control after clearing Hezbollah terror infrastructure.

Israel working to clear Hezbollah infrastructure built near UN post

Diplomats worry UNIFIL’s departure will mean an end to the UN’s “eyes and ears” in southern Lebanon.

Abagnara spoke to Reuters at a position overlooking Mansouri, a town where Israeli forces have been carrying out demolitions since ordering residents to leave in June so Hezbollah terror infrastructure could be cleared. Reuters reporters could see excavators in the town knocking down trees and homes.

Abagnara claimed that the demolitions are “another violation” of UN Security Council resolutions on Lebanon. Israel’s military has said it is destroying Hezbollah infrastructure across southern Lebanon, which was built while UNIFIL was stationed in the area.

Lebanese army efforts to disarm Hezbollah stall

As a US-backed plan for Lebanon’s army to disarm Hezbollah and take control of southern Lebanon has stalled, a diplomatic scramble is underway to address the vacuum that will be left by UNIFIL’s withdrawal.

Lebanon wants an extension. Other countries have discussed a new multinational mission, though it remains unclear what kind of mandate it would have.

Abagnara said an extension would be “a great honor” but that without a new Security Council decision, his force would need to stop operating at the end of the year.

“It’s not a long time,” he said. “The presence of United Nations in the South is very, very essential. And according to me, more now than ever.”

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

Veteran pro-Israel Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman issued a stark warning to Israel over the weekend, arguing that shifting American public opinion, continued settler violence, Israel’s limited investment in its diplomatic apparatus, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s place in the cabinet are putting Israel’s international standing and its relationship with the United States at risk.

“Every Israeli official and every Israeli voter should watch this clip, which should be translated into Hebrew,” Sherman wrote alongside a CNN segment he shared.

“Yesterday I spoke with the Israeli ambassador. I don’t think he, or most Israelis, understand what is at stake.”

The CNN segment Sherman highlighted showed a dramatic shift in American attitudes toward Israel.

According to an analysis by CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten, Israel’s average net favorability stood at plus 51 points in 2018, during US President Donald Trump‘s first term, compared with minus 16 points today – a 67-point shift over eight years.

The same analysis cited polling showing that 55% of Americans believe US military assistance to Israel should either be reduced or ended. CNN also presented four separate national surveys – from Ipsos, Fox News, Marquette University Law School, and Pew Research Center – in which Israel’s net favorability was negative, ranging from minus 10 to minus 23.

Sherman warns of risks to US weapons access, diplomatic support

Sherman warned that, from Israel’s perspective, the stakes in its relationship with Washington go far beyond the annual military assistance package.

“It’s not just the traditional $3.8 billion of annual aid,” he wrote. “It’s access to American weapons and diplomatic support.”

He argued that Israel has not done enough to respond to its deteriorating image abroad.

“Israel has been unwilling to take even a few steps to improve its image in the world. They don’t fund their Foreign Ministry. Ben-Gvir in the cabinet is an existential threat. Israel cannot survive without friends in the world.”

The comments are notable given Sherman’s long record on Israel-related issues in Congress. The California Democrat has served in the House since 1997 and is currently a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the ranking Democrat on its Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee. His official congressional site has for years listed the US-Israel relationship among his core foreign-policy priorities.

Sherman has also worked on legislation and funding initiatives to strengthen US-Israel ties, including efforts related to Israel’s admission to the US Visa Waiver Program and joint American-Israeli research programs.

Against that background, his message to Israelis was particularly pointed.

“The anti-Israel feelings found in large parts of the world and in many parts of the American political system may be unjustified,” Sherman wrote.

“I hear from Israelis that their actions are justified, and because they are right, they don’t have a problem. This demonstrates ignorance of Jewish history.”

Sherman: ‘Settler violence will continue’ unless those in power ‘genuinely oppose’ it

Sherman devoted much of his warning to developments in the West Bank.

“Settler violence will continue until the relevant ministries are held by people who genuinely oppose settler violence,” he wrote.

“The poll numbers CNN reports will only get worse as long as settler violence continues.”

The polling Sherman circulated reflects a broader trend, not a single survey.

CNN’s July analysis found negative net views of Israel across each of the four national polls it examined. Enten described the change as extending beyond the Democratic base to the broader American electorate.

Among Democrats, the shift has been even sharper.

A separate CNN analysis showed Israel’s net favorability among Democratic voters falling from plus 35 points in 2018 to minus 51 points in 2026 – an 86-point swing over eight years.

Sherman’s message was not a call to end the US-Israel relationship. Rather, it was a warning from a longtime congressional supporter of Israel that he believes Israeli leaders and voters are underestimating how substantially the political environment in the United States has changed – and how the consequences of further erosion in public support could extend well beyond the annual debate over US military assistance.

Istanbul prosecutors said on Friday that Israeli citizens allegedly managed an international investment fraud network operating from Turkey that defrauded victims around the world of more than $3 billion, according to a statement by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. 

The operation, which was led by Turkey’s Interior Ministry and National Intelligence Organization in coordination with the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Istanbul Security Directorate’s cybercrime unit, and Interpol, ended with the arrest of 191 suspects, including nine Israelis. 

According to statements from the Turkish Justice Ministry, the investigation found that the operation was a large organization rather than the activity of individual companies. Prosecutors alleged that the organization was “managed by Israeli citizens” and referred to its leaders as “Israeli fraud barons.” The prosecutors said the Israelis appointed managers in various countries, who established companies and service centers used to operate the alleged fraud network.

Turkish Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said earlier that the investigation was part of four criminal cases opened by Istanbul prosecutors this year. According to Gurlek, an examination of company ownership structures and ultimate beneficiaries showed a dominance of entities with “links to Israel.” The investigation also includes Turkey’s intelligence agency MIT, the Financial Crimes Investigation Board MASAK, Istanbul Police, and Interpol.

According to prosecutors, the network operated companies in Turkey that were presented as service, consulting, and tourism centers. Through advertisements on social media, search engines, and websites, the network promised potential investors high returns from foreign exchange and cryptocurrency investments. Details of people interested in investing were transferred to customer management systems and then to representatives who spoke their languages and persuaded them to transfer funds.

Nine Israelis arrested in Turkish Interpol operations

Prosecutors described a highly secretive operation in which employees recruited by the network were given code names and a fabricated “life story,” sometimes even claiming they had studied at prestigious universities such as Oxford.

Before beginning work, employees allegedly underwent polygraph tests intended to determine whether they had ties to law enforcement authorities. Workers were prohibited from bringing phones into offices and were reportedly forbidden from speaking Hebrew inside the offices.

According to prosecutors, the operation used, among others, the names of platforms Inefex, Quantum AI, Algo Education and Exentral-Int. When complaints accumulated against a particular platform, the suspects allegedly moved to operate under another name. Victims were initially asked to transfer small sums of money and were later persuaded to invest larger amounts. Prosecutors alleged that the suspects controlled the data presented to investors and could create the appearance of profits in order to encourage additional transfers.

When investors requested to withdraw their money, they were allegedly told that their accounts had been blocked and that they needed to transfer additional funds to pay taxes or remove the restrictions. Investigators said the money was not actually invested, but instead transferred to bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets controlled by the network.

The alleged Israeli connection featured prominently in the prosecutors’ statement. According to findings by MIT, the Turkish intelligence agency, cited in the statement, after Israel banned binary options activity in 2017, the Israeli figures allegedly managing the operation sought to move the activity to other countries.

Prosecutors alleged that the “Israeli fraud barons” explicitly instructed their employees not to target Israeli citizens. Prosecutors also said the network excluded US citizens from its targets.

Countries whose citizens were allegedly major targets of the fraud included the United Arab Emirates, the UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Russia, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden and South Korea.

Financial institutions, money laundering and organized crime allegations

According to prosecutors, the amount of money taken from victims is estimated at more than $3 billion, and the funds were allegedly held in bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets outside Turkey.

In a joint operation by MIT and Istanbul Police, authorities raided 44 locations belonging to 29 companies and 286 addresses in Istanbul and Mugla Province. Of the 239 suspects targeted by prosecutors, 191 were arrested. Authorities did not provide the number of Israeli suspects among those arrested. Authorities seized or froze real estate, vehicles, bank accounts, and cryptocurrency assets, and searches for additional suspects are ongoing.

The Turkish Interior Ministry separately said it seized property suspected of being proceeds of crime worth about 1.5 billion Turkish lira during the operation, including 80 vehicles and 12 properties.

The allegations being investigated include fraud through information systems and financial institutions, violations of capital markets laws, establishing and participating in a criminal organization, and money laundering.

In much of the West, asking someone about the weather is about as inconsequential as small talk gets. In parts of the Middle East, however, even a conversation about the weather with someone across the border can cross a legal line. In countries where contact with Israelis is criminalized or restricted, a seemingly harmless exchange can carry the risk of imprisonment or execution.

The Abrahamic Movement was founded on the idea that these communication barriers can be challenged. Bringing together Israelis and people from across the Muslim world, the movement seeks to build relationships across religious and national divides, drawing on their shared Abrahamic heritage.

With artificial intelligence and international travel more accessible than ever, forms of diplomacy once largely reserved for governments and the wealthy are increasingly within reach of ordinary people, which is perhaps why the movement has grown so rapidly in recent years.

The Jerusalem Post spoke with Tom Wegner, CEO of the Abrahamic Movement initiative and author of The Abrahamic Revolution, as well as several members of the group, some of whom risked their freedom and potentially their lives by speaking with an Israeli journalist about their desire for peace.

Wegner originally started the group in 2019, though it did not gain momentum until after October 7, 2023, when 1,200 people were killed by Islamists.

Wegner realized that something had to change and reached out to the diverse contacts he had built over years of working in the IDF’s District Coordination and Liaison unit in Jericho, where he facilitated coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority’s police; as a spokesperson for former prime minister Ehud Barak; and as a spokesperson for the Peres Center for Peace.

Telling them that “the regional configuration is not working for us,” Wegner explained that the region’s destabilization had been apparent long before Hamas’s invasion. The massacre of the Yazidis, the civil wars in Yemen and Iraq, and the conflicts that followed were all evidence that something was not working compared to the seemingly functional Western world.

Shared Abrahamic identity

Though Europe seems peaceful compared with the often volatile Middle East, Wegner highlighted that the West has not always enjoyed such stability. Before the formation of the European Union, Europe experienced civil uprisings, invasions, and two world wars, resulting in hundreds of millions of deaths.

Wegner attributed much of that shift toward peaceful coexistence to the development of a European collective identity. That identity “wasn’t coerced on the people. It is not about oppressing someone to fit your narrative, but of creating an umbrella identity, which means that the French can continue to eat frogs and the Greeks can continue to break plates. The Protestants can remain Protestants, and the Catholics can remain Catholic, but everyone is part of a bigger story,” he explained.

The Abrahamic Movement seeks to create that same sense of collective identity in the Middle East, based on a shared Abrahamic heritage.

“The world has missed, to some extent, that 100% of the people involved in this conflict – whether a secular Jew, an Orthodox Jew, a very religious Muslim, a liberal Muslim, an ex-Muslim, a Christian Arab, a Druze, or an Alawite – agree on the Abrahamic narrative. Meaning, we all agree that we came from Abraham,” he said.

This shared heritage, he added, means it is important to view the conflicts as fighting among cousins and families rather than through the Western-centric lens of occupiers and colonists.

The idea that conflicts can be solved simply by drawing lines on maps, Wegner said, is too Western, too managerial, and too simplistic to address conflicts rooted in identity. Rather, he argued, the solution lies in creating a broader “in-group,” limiting the conflict that can arise from in-group and out-group social dynamics.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s opposition

Whether it is soccer hooligans in the UK, gangs in the United States, or ethnic groups in the Middle East, the same in-group versus out-group dynamic can contribute to conflict, with people defining themselves in opposition to those they see as belonging to another group, Wegner argued.

The concept is well established in social psychology, with research showing that in-group identification can contribute to out-group prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination, creating conditions that can deepen hostility between groups.

Beyond creating a shared in-group identity, it is also imperative to create an identity that is oppositional to the Muslim Brotherhood and its Shia alternatives, like Hezbollah, Wegner insisted.

The Islamist identities are currently all-consuming, he said. The Muslim Brotherhood and Shia groups such as Hezbollah have no mainstream counter-ideology for the average individual living in a Muslim country and are therefore more effective in their recruitment.

The all-encompassing Islamist movements and their various branches provide thought leaders, media, education, healthcare, employment opportunities, social circles, community, and everything an individual could ever need. Wegner explained that all these factors can draw people toward an extreme ideology when no opposing ideology balances it out.

The idea of “Abrahamic Islam,” true to the Quran in its acknowledgment that the Children of Israel will return to the promised land (Surah Al-Isra, 17:104), “enables Muslims to remain loyal to their original religion,” he said, adding that this new ideological approach could be the driving force in finally ending Israel’s wars against extremist groups.

“Losing your honor in this part of the world is worse than losing your life. When it comes to Arab and Muslim society, you’re better off losing your life than losing your honor,” he said, highlighting that Hezbollah, Hamas, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and every other enemy of Israel face the choice to die in battle as a martyr or sacrifice their honor by surrendering to Israel.

“If we understand that killing all the radicals is not a very good or solid plan, then we should ask ourselves what the way out is. And over here, the Abrahamic Movement represents a way out for many reasons…. It implies that this is common ground, and when you come to common ground, that’s not surrendering,” he said. “That’s an identity that both of us can live with, without losing our honor.”

‘The Quran: A Zionist document’

Wegner believes that Jews “missed the Quran,” overlooking the wisdom it could offer and its potential to help Zionists communicate with people in the region in terms they can understand and accept.

Familiarity with the Islamic holy text, he said, has allowed him to win heated debates with Islamist scholars and bring large numbers of people closer to accepting the humanity of Zionists and their place in the region.

“The Quran is a Zionist document,” he claimed, recounting how heated debates often cool when he can cite Quranic verses in support of his position.

Though many seek to counter Islamists by relying on passages they believe undermine Islamic teachings, including frequently citing the Prophet Muhammad’s marriage to Aisha bint Abi Bakr, such arguments will never be fruitful and are no way to conduct diplomacy, he argued.

Instead, he pointed to the Quran’s numerous references to the Children of Israel, or the Jewish people, as a basis for engaging with Muslims on terms rooted in a text they recognize as authoritative.

In Surah Al-Ma’idah (5:21), Moses tells the Children of Israel to enter the holy land that God prescribed for them. In Surah Al-Isra (17:104), the Quran instructs the Children of Israel to live in the land until the end of days, while Surah Yunus (10:93) states that God settled the Children of Israel in a blessed place and provided them with good provisions.

“If we really want to speak with the Muslim world and create some sort of dialogue, the whole approach of saying ‘Muhammad was a pedophile,’ or all that jazz that basically tries to contradict Islam at face value, is not relevant. It’s not helping anyone,” he insisted. “It’s only creating more animosity and tension.

“We can probably get better results if we speak to our cousins the way cousins speak to each other, focusing on our shared heritage and the things that are common to us.”

Peace in the Middle East is often painted as a pipe dream, and many might call Wegner idealistic for his ambitions. But the Abrahamic Movement has gained tens of thousands of supporters and now has more than 20 branches across the Muslim world – including in countries that criminalize communication with Israelis – thanks solely to the efforts of volunteers and without funding.

Several members readily volunteered to speak with the Post about why they were so invested in peace despite the potential cost. One Pakistani member, in particular, insisted he did not want to speak anonymously, despite concerns about potential risks to his safety.

‘I am not pro-Israel; I am pro-Abraham’

Khurram Ali Raza, chairman of the movement’s Pakistan branch, insisted that the Post use his name despite repeated warnings that doing so could put him in danger.

While Pakistan does not have a specific law criminalizing contact with Israeli citizens, Islamabad does not recognize Israel, and Pakistani passports explicitly state that they are valid for travel everywhere except the Jewish state.

In a country where people are still lynched for accusations of blasphemy, Raza remained confident about his safety, despite acknowledging that his advocacy for normalization with Israel had already cost him a great deal.

Sharing several articles he had written for his website, Faith and Freedom News, about his desire for peace, Raza said he had already been investigated by Pakistani authorities, who initially appeared to suspect that he was working for Israel. He said the unfounded suspicions led to his imprisonment for four months in a jail where he said the conditions were “hell.”

“Somehow, I made them understand that I am doing this for peace, harmony and tolerance among these three religions, not for intelligence agencies or anything else,” he said. “I am not pro-Israel; I am pro-Abraham, and if you are pro-Abraham, the first religion is Judaism…. We are like brothers. We are from one family and one home.”

The conditions of Raza’s four-month detention, spent in a cramped room without a fan or light, have continued to affect him, but they have not deterred him from carrying out his work with the movement as openly as he can.

Despite being free, Raza said, it is impossible to access his website in Pakistan without a VPN, suggesting an unofficial block on his publications to prevent the masses from accessing them.

In his personal life, close relatives have also urged him to keep his distance, fearing that his work could have consequences for the wider family.

The lack of education in Pakistan, Raza argued, has led to many accepting without critical thought what they have been told about Jews and acting with hostility to those seen as part of an out-group.

According to Pakistan’s Education Ministry, the country’s current literacy rate stands at only 62.3%, meaning an estimated 60 million people remain illiterate.

Asked why, given all that he has suffered, he would continue to speak out in favor of a country he has never visited, Raza said that one day he will stand before God and answer for everything he has done in his life, and that he would be proud to answer for his efforts to promote peace and tolerance.

‘Iraq can benefit from establishing peace relations’

In May 2022, the Iraqi parliament passed the “Criminalizing Normalization and Establishment of Relations with the Zionist Entity” law, with 275 of 329 lawmakers voting in favor. The law imposes severe penalties, including life imprisonment or the death penalty, for a range of activities involving normalization or relations with Israel or Israelis.

Under Article 7, promoting Zionist or Masonic ideas, whether through public speeches, conferences, publications, or social media posts, is punishable by death or life imprisonment.

In July 2025, the Karkh Criminal Court in Baghdad sentenced a man to life imprisonment for promoting the “Zionist entity” on social media. According to Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council, he had posted photos and videos supporting normalization with Israel, while Hebrew-language books and newspapers were seized from his home.

Despite the apparent risks of holding such views, speaking with the Post, and participating in the Abrahamic Movement, the Sunni scholar Abu Musa Al-Iraqi said he believes it is in Iraq’s interest to normalize ties with Israel.

“Iraq can benefit from establishing peace relations to prevent extremism and ideological and cultural terrorism from taking root among religious extremists, as well as to end this unjustified conflict,” Al-Iraqi, who used his alias, told the Post. “We can send messages of peace to future generations of Jews and Muslims. We do not want to pass this hostility on to them, but, rather, establish social and economic relations and communication to develop the land and reject the divisions created by extremists for narrow personal interests.”

Working closely with Iraq’s Sunni and Sufi communities, Al-Iraqi has had opportunities to study Islamic and Abrahamic texts. Through this research, he said, he came to understand that the conflict between Jews and Muslims “is not a genuine one.”

“Islam respects Judaism, but some Quranic texts and their meanings have been distorted and interpreted outside the context in which they were formulated, and misrepresented by those who are ideologically corrupted and do not want there to be a relationship or communication between Judaism and Islam, for purely political purposes,” he explained, adding that he understands Islam to be an extension of Judaism.

Though his research may have provided a clearer understanding of Islam, it was not well received in Iraq. Many newspaper articles Al-Iraqi sent to the Post showed individuals affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces, Hizb ut-Tahrir, and other Islamist groups complaining about an “Israeli influence network within Iraqi territory.”

Hizb ut-Tahrir even published a statement in June complaining of the “increasingly active” Abrahamic Movement’s presence in Iraq, saying it is largely viewed “as an extension of normalization with Israel.”

Except for Wegner himself, none of the Abrahamic Movement’s members or leaders interviewed by the Post have had the opportunity to visit Israel. 

The movement faces no shortage of obstacles, from laws restricting contact with Israelis to Islamist groups that have openly opposed its activities.

There is no guarantee that personal relationships will translate into political change, or that large numbers of people will embrace the concept of Abrahamic Islam.

Still, movement members continue to risk their freedom, safety, and livelihoods in the hope of ending a conflict that predates the establishment of the Jewish state and, for many, living memory.

A shipment of sensitive components for the F-35 stealth fighter jets, which was on its way from Australia to the United States for repairs, was unexpectedly diverted to Hong Kong and disappeared. 

The incident raised concerns that China may gain access to the highly classified technology of sophisticated US weapons, Politico reported Friday.

According to three sources familiar with the details of the case, the shipment left Australia headed for the United States. However, the flight was diverted en route to Hong Kong. It is unclear who currently holds the classified components or whether they are being transferred to Chinese authorities

A broker handled the shipment for Lockheed Martin, the maker of the F-35. The Pentagon confirmed that some of the components were missing. The Defense Department’s F-35 Joint Chiefs of Staff said it was “aware of the issue with the shipment of unserviceable F-35 Lightning II components” and that it was working with US authorities and industry partners “to recover the components, investigate the incident, and institute safeguards to prevent a similar incident from occurring again.”

According to two of the sources who spoke to Politico, the shipment included one of the aircraft’s cockpit canopies. The canopy is not just a transparent covering that protects the pilot, but a key component of the F-35’s stealth envelope.

China is trying to obtain more information about US aircraft

It is coated with a thin, transparent layer of radar-absorbing material that helps reduce the aircraft’s signature and hide it from enemy radar systems.

Access to the canopy could allow a rival country to examine its materials and production methods, compare them with information already collected through intelligence means, and even attempt to reverse-engineer the technology. 

“It’s no secret that China is aggressively trying to obtain information about the F-35 through electronic espionage and other means. Even if they already had specifications or other information about the component, having a real item can provide them with additional information and verify or refine what they’ve already learned,” said JJ Gertler, former member of the House Armed Services Committee and a military aviation expert at the Congressional Research Service.

The previously undisclosed incident led to a series of briefings for staff members of key national security committees in Congress. Representatives from the State Department and the Pentagon held the first briefing in June, and additional briefings are expected in the coming weeks, according to Politico’s sources.

The transfer of components to Hong Kong is of particular concern in Washington due to China’s tightening control over the city in recent years. Chinese national security laws give Beijing authorities extensive influence over what happens in Hong Kong and the ability to access equipment within its borders. 

US State Department declined to comment

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said it was unaware of the incident. The US State Department declined to comment. Lockheed Martin said it could not discuss the status of shipments for security reasons, but stressed that it complies with all US regulations for the transfer of aircraft components. “Our teams handle each shipment with the utmost care and safeguards to ensure the integrity of the F-35 program and the security of our allies,” the company said.

The F-35 supply chain is a complex global system that relies on facilities in many countries to manufacture, transport, and repair parts. There are maintenance centers for the aircraft in Australia, but none of them are yet capable of repairing the cockpit canopies. That is why the canopy had to be shipped to the United States.

The countries participating in the program, including the United States, Britain, Australia, Denmark, Norway and Poland, use a shared global pool of spare parts. The components remain the property of the US Department of Defense until they are installed on the aircraft, but it is Lockheed Martin and not the Pentagon who manage information about the parts’ movements.

A 2023 report by the US Office of the Comptroller found that more than a million F-35 spare parts had gone missing in the five years prior to its release. The report said the Pentagon could not verify the loss of parts worth tens of millions of dollars because Lockheed Martin and prime contractors held the relevant information. 

The US State Department’s announcement on Thursday that it is advancing the sale of 48 F-35 aircraft to Saudi Arabia represents far more than a massive arms deal worth $24.3 billion. For Israel, it highlights a concerning diplomatic shift: one of Washington’s most valuable security leverage tools with Riyadh is now moving forward on its own track, without Saudi Arabia first being required to normalize relations with Israel.

The State Department approved the possible sale of 48 F-35A Lightning II aircraft, alongside 49 Pratt & Whitney F135 engines, communications and encryption systems, electronic warfare capabilities, simulators, training, spare parts and logistical support.

The move does not yet constitute a final contract. The announcement is a stage in the US arms sale process, and a legally required review period in Congress has now begun. In Saudi Arabia’s case, the official review period is 30 days.

The administration is presenting the deal as part of efforts to strengthen Saudi Arabia’s ability to confront current and future threats and deepen its joint operational capabilities with the United States and regional partners. The official announcement explicitly stated that the deal “will not alter the military balance in the region.”

In the United States, Israel’s qualitative military edge is enshrined in law. The statement touches on the core of Israel’s concern: Israel is currently the only country in the Middle East operating the F-35, in its Israeli configuration, the F-35I “Adir.”

US law requires the administration to ensure that arms sales to other countries in the region do not harm Israel’s “Qualitative Military Edge,” meaning its qualitative military advantage. The requirement was codified in legislation in 2008 and requires significant regional arms deals to be examined through the Israeli security lens as well.

The political price Israel sought for the F-35 deal

The Trump administration approved the sale of advanced F-35 aircraft to Saudi Arabia. Israel sought a diplomatic price.

However, Jerusalem’s concern is not only technical or related to air capabilities. In November 2025, Israeli officials said that Israel did not fundamentally oppose Saudi Arabia receiving F-35 aircraft, provided the deal was part of full normalization between Riyadh and Jerusalem.

“We told the Trump administration that supplying F-35s to Saudi Arabia should be contingent on Saudi normalization with Israel,” an Israeli official said at the time.

Another Israeli official warned that providing the aircraft to Riyadh without receiving diplomatic concessions would be a “mistake” and a move that would work against US interests.

That link did not materialize. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said during his visit to the White House last year that he was interested in Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords, but conditioned progress on the creation of a “clear path” toward a two-state solution.

The gap between Riyadh and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on the Palestinian issue has remained. Despite that, the F-35 track continued to advance.

This is the central difference between the deal Israel hoped to see and the deal as it currently appears: Jerusalem wanted the stealth aircraft as part of a broader regional strategic package centered on normalization. Washington, at least at this stage, is not waiting for such an agreement before moving ahead.

China concerns surrounding the Saudi F-35 sale

Jonathan Ruhe, a specialist in US strategy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), told Walla that in his view, the F-35 deal should not move forward in its current form before two central issues are resolved.

The concern is not merely theoretical. The New York Times reported two days ago that US intelligence officials warned in internal assessments that China could obtain F-35-related technology through espionage in Saudi Arabia or through its security and technology ties with the kingdom.

One report by the Pentagon’s intelligence agency addressed, among other issues, Chinese access to Saudi bases and Saudi use of Chinese communications infrastructure. Reports on Thursday’s deal also noted that expanding security ties between Riyadh and Beijing are among the concerns surrounding the sale.

Ruhe’s second concern directly relates to Israel.

“The entire F-35 program is intended to support US-led collective defense,” he said. “America needs to demonstrate leadership in integrating Saudi Arabia into a new regional security architecture, and Riyadh also needs to show that it is a committed partner before it can receive F-35 aircraft.”

According to Ruhe, Israel’s qualitative military edge must remain part of the equation.

“Israel’s QME is a central factor in this regional integration, and it needs to be reflected in any possible F-35 deal with the kingdom,” he said.

Ruhe added that the United States has significant leverage in the matter.

“The United States has leverage here, because it can offer Saudi Arabia much more than China can,” he said.

Even if the deal is completed, a significant question remains over the exact capabilities that will be transferred to Riyadh.

The aircraft intended for Saudi Arabia are expected to be less advanced in several areas than Israel’s F-35I aircraft, partly as part of the US effort to preserve Israel’s qualitative military edge. Israel also benefits from the ability to integrate unique Israeli systems into its aircraft.

The issue became more complicated after US President Donald Trump publicly said that Saudi Arabia would receive advanced aircraft similar to Israel’s. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reassured Netanyahu and told him that Saudi Arabia would receive a downgraded version and that the United States remained committed to preserving Israel’s qualitative military edge.

Therefore, even after the State Department announcement and assurances regarding reduced capabilities for Saudi Arabia, key details remain undisclosed: which capabilities will be included in the aircraft, what restrictions will be placed on their deployment and access, and what Israel will receive to ensure that its advantage is maintained.

But on the diplomatic level, a significant development has already taken place: the F-35, which Israel wanted to see as part of the price Saudi Arabia would pay for joining the Abraham Accords, is moving toward Riyadh even as normalization itself remains stalled.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee is not a conventional diplomat. A Baptist pastor, former Arkansas governor, presidential candidate, and television host, he came to the post after decades in American public life and an even longer relationship with Israel.

He also came with a style of his own. Huckabee can move from geopolitics to Scripture to a homespun analogy without much warning. He is direct, sometimes blunt, and rarely sounds as though his words have made a preliminary stop at the State Department diplomatic-language desk.

When Huckabee joined me at The Media Line studios, I began with Iran. Despite the damage inflicted on Tehran and its military capabilities, Iran could still move toward nuclear capability, threaten shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, and exert influence in the Red Sea through the Houthis. There are also concerns about what the Houthis might do next against Saudi Arabia.

Huckabee’s thoughts on Iran

Where, I asked, does Huckabee think Iran and its regional proxies stand today?

“The good news is, thanks to President Trump, in concert with Israel, Iran is at their weakest point in 47 and a half years,” Huckabee said. “They’re weaker militarily, they’re weaker economically, and they’re growing weaker by the month.”

Whether that weakness eventually produces regime change is another question.

“Will it lead to regime change? We can only hope,” he said.

Huckabee rejected the idea that confronting Iran is chiefly Israel’s problem.

“A lot of people, particularly in America, may think, well, what does that have to do with us? It has everything to do with America, because the ultimate target has always been the United States.”

President Donald Trump said he had decided that Iran could not be allowed to possess nuclear weapons, enrich uranium, or control shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz.

“It’s a process, but it is a process that I believe is working.”

What about the Iranian people? I asked where they stood now and whether another popular uprising was possible.

Huckabee said Iranians seeking to challenge their government face a basic problem: They are largely unarmed.

“At some point, I do believe we’re going to see another uprising,” he said, adding that perhaps next time the people could be “better prepared, armed, and be able to truly resist” a government he expects to be weaker still.

Lebanon presents Washington with another problem. With UNIFIL preparing to leave, the question is whether the Lebanese Armed Forces can extend state authority into the south, prevent a security vacuum, and confront Hezbollah at the same time.

Huckabee believes it can, but not overnight.

“Incrementally, they can. I don’t think it’s going to be the flip of a switch,” he said. “They’re going to have to grow into the role of being the only army, the only security force.”

Hezbollah, he noted, remains active and is trying to rebuild after being badly weakened by Israel. As long as Iran can continue financing and arming it, Huckabee said, Hezbollah will remain a threat.

Huckabee says he has considerably less patience with UNIFIL

“UNIFIL is going to go out of business—way overdue for that to happen,” he said. “It’s been a totally ineffective entity.”

“I can’t say that I can point to one specific way in which UNIFIL has been instrumental in making Lebanon freer and better.”

When I pressed him on the timetable months or years? he answered, “It could be years.”

But Huckabee said his experience traveling between Jerusalem and Washington during talks over Lebanon had shown him “extraordinary progress.” One of the most important developments, in his view, was Lebanese recognition that Israel does not want Lebanese territory.

“They don’t want to annex one meter of Lebanese property. They don’t want to be there. They want to go home,” he said.

Israeli reservists, he said, are exhausted and want to return to their families, but Israel will not leave its northern communities exposed to renewed rocket, missile and drone attacks.

Huckabee said he longs for the day when the Lebanese army is strong enough to secure the area itself: “The Israelis can go home, the Lebanese will be at home, and there will be no Hezbollah.”

We also spoke about the new joint defense agreement involving Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, which pledges to treat an armed attack on one as an attack on all. With three important US partners building their own collective security framework, I asked whether Washington sees that as a welcome development and what it means for the wider regional balance.

“It’s a wait and see,” Huckabee said.

These are sovereign countries entitled to make agreements they believe serve their interests, he said. All three have reasons to be concerned about Iran, while the arrangement could also be intended to protect them from the Houthis or other armed groups.

What he had not encountered was alarm in Washington.

“I never certainly saw or heard any anxiety in Washington that, ‘Oh my gosh, this is a terrible thing.’ I don’t think that anyone saw it that way.”

Would Israel help Saudi Arabia if the kingdom came under attack?

“I don’t know. I mean, that’s the honest answer. I don’t know.”

Huckabee said Israel would welcome a security agreement with Saudi Arabia and would like to see the kingdom join the Abraham Accords. He also pointed to existing military and intelligence contacts.

For what normalization can achieve, he looks to the United Arab Emirates.

“The UAE is the gold standard, the model of how this has all worked,” he said, pointing to gains in tourism, travel, trade and technological cooperation.

“I hope the Saudis will look next door and say, you know, this is working out pretty well for the Emirates. Maybe we ought to go the same path.”

Few issues are more closely associated with Huckabee than the territory Israelis generally call the West Bank and much of the international community calls the West Bank. He has strongly defended Israelis who live there, but he has also condemned recent attacks on Palestinians and described those responsible as terrorists.

Is Israel doing enough to stop terrorists

“Israel is increasingly aware that this has to be dealt with and dealt with in a very strong way,” Huckabee said.

He did not back away from his choice of the word terrorism.

“When you frighten people into changing the way they live because of things that you do to them, you don’t have to murder them, but you do terrorize them into being afraid to come out of their homes, being afraid to go shopping, being afraid to go to a place of worship,” he said. “So it’s unacceptable, whoever does it.”

At the same time, Huckabee stressed that those responsible represent a very small fraction of the Israeli population in the territory. He called them a “tiny, tiny sliver” and said many do not even live there.

“There are 500,000 Israelis living in Judean Samaria, living peacefully,” he said. “They don’t want to burn an olive tree. They don’t want to torch a mosque.”

I asked what more Israel should be doing.

Investigations and arrests need to be followed by real penalties, Huckabee said, particularly for offenses such as burning mosques, stealing livestock or taking over someone’s home.

“They need to be arrested,” he said of repeat offenders. “They need to spend a few nights, a few weeks, maybe a few months in jail.”

Huckabee confronts Tucker Carlson, antisemitism in American politics 

Our conversation then moved to a different source of friction over Israel: the changing American political debate.

Huckabee recently encountered Tucker Carlson at Ben-Gurion Airport and challenged several of Carlson’s assertions about Israel. Carlson has since argued that Israel is driving the war with Iran for its own regional interests while US interests are being sacrificed.

I asked Huckabee whether similar arguments about Israel are now converging from opposite ends of the American political spectrum—and how worried he is about the long-term implications for the US-Israel relationship.

“I’m very concerned about it because it’s based on things that are fundamentally not true,” he said. “Tucker Carlson’s allegations about Israel are off the mark.”

Huckabee also rejected accusations of genocide and apartheid and claims that Israel is unsafe or unfair for Christians.

“As a Christian living in Israel, I find that utterly offensive and totally factless,” he said.

He has known Carlson for years and said he does not understand what has changed.

“This is not the same person I once knew and once worked with,” Huckabee said.

With the US midterm elections approaching, I asked whether events in the Middle East would have much effect on American voters.

Probably less than domestic issues, Huckabee said. He then turned to the Democratic Socialists of America and what he sees as the radicalization of part of the American left. He cited liberal commentator Bill Maher as an example of someone who has also criticized that movement.

“The Democrats historically, they’ve been different than the Republicans, but they haven’t been crazy,” Huckabee said.

He was equally unsparing about calls for socialism, saying replacing the American economic system with one that he believes has repeatedly failed is more than a conventional political disagreement.

Another subject has become impossible for anyone in the news business to avoid: artificial intelligence.

Huckabee warns about the dangers of AI

At The Media Line, we spend considerable time sourcing, vetting, and explaining information. That becomes more complicated as AI makes fabricated images, voices, and claims easier to produce and harder to detect. Technology leaders themselves have warned about the potential consequences.

What did Huckabee make of it?

“AI is like fire,” he said. “It can cook your food and warm your house. It can burn your house down and kill you.”

“How do you use it? That’s the question.”

For Huckabee, the danger is not theoretical. He pointed to his own long-running lawsuit against Meta, which he said stems from AI-generated material that damaged him professionally when he was hosting a television program in the United States.

“I saw firsthand what AI can do in creating perceptions, images, the misuse, the abuse of one’s name, image, and likeness,” he said. “And it has to be brought into some level of responsibility.”

Does that mean government regulation?

Huckabee is wary.

“I’m always hesitant to say I’d like to see the government get involved because the government usually messes up whatever they touch,” he said.

One possibility, he suggested, would be for the major AI companies themselves to establish ethical norms, much as other professions have developed standards without having every rule imposed by government.

“There was a sense of self-governing, self-regulation,” Huckabee said. “Maybe that’s the answer.”

Huckabee speaks on upcoming anniversary of Oct. 7

With the anniversary of Oct. 7 approaching, more than 1,000 pastors are expected to come to Israel for events organized by Christian and Jewish groups. Antisemitism, meanwhile, has risen rather than receded.

Can visits like these make a difference?

Huckabee hopes they can remind people of the scale of what happened on Oct. 7.

He translated the attack into American terms, asking his audience to imagine an assault from Tijuana into San Diego that, adjusted for population, left 40,000 Americans dead in one day and another 10,000 taken hostage.

“Ask ourselves as Americans, what would we do? How would we respond?”

He also invoked Sept. 11, 2001, and the lasting changes it brought to American life after the deaths of nearly 3,000 people.

“Twenty-five years later, our whole world changed in the United States because of that,” he said. “Scale that up 10 times plus, and it’s hard to even fathom what the response would be.”

I saved a different kind of question for last.

Huckabee is a Baptist pastor who spent more than a decade in the governor’s office and now serves as America’s ambassador to Israel. He has lived in the worlds of faith, politics, and diplomacy—three places where people can look at the same set of facts and come away insisting on very different versions of reality.

Is truth actually attainable? And how do you know when you have found it?

“Truth is objective. Perceptions are subjective,” Huckabee said.

Three people can stand on a street corner, witness an accident, and each see something different, he said. Their perceptions may differ, but that does not change what actually happened.

“The truth is not what I think. It’s not what I feel. It’s not what I believe. It’s what is.”

That, Huckabee said, is something younger people in particular need to learn in an age when opinion and fact are increasingly difficult to separate.

“What we have to do, especially among younger people, is to force people to move beyond what I think, what I feel, what I believe, and get to what is the absolute concrete fact upon which then I can feel, believe, and think.”

He left it there.

“Without objective truth that from any angle looks the same, we are in real trouble.”