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Toronto Police are investigating suspected antisemitic attacks on Jewish businesses after shattered windows were discovered Sunday morning at two locations of the Jewish-owned Kiva’s Bagel Bar chain.

The damage was discovered when the locations opened Sunday morning and is believed to have occurred overnight between Saturday and Sunday.

At around 8:12 a.m., police received a report that a window had been struck by gunfire at the bakery’s location at Yonge Street and St. Clair Avenue.

Police confirmed that evidence of firearm use was found, including a bullet hole in the business’s front window.

Then at around 8:30 a.m., police were called to another Kiva’s location on Steeles Avenue West near Bathurst Street,  shattered front window was also found there, although police found no evidence of gunfire.

Both locations belong to the same Jewish-owned chain, which is known as a popular gathering place for Toronto’s Jewish community, particularly on Sunday mornings. No injuries were reported in either incident.

Suspected hate-motivated crimes

Police are treating the incidents as suspected hate-motivated crimes and have increased their presence in the area.

No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing.

A police officer who briefed the media said, “We understand that this is a concerning incident for residents and employees in the area, and especially for members of the Jewish community. All resources are available to us to investigate the case thoroughly.”

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow strongly condemned the attacks, calling them “vile and unacceptable.”

“There is no place for hate in Toronto. I will always stand with the Jewish community against antisemitism,” she said.

Noah Shack, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), described the bakery as a “hub” for Jewish families and expressed concern that the incidents could mark an escalation following previous shootings targeting Jewish institutions in the city.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also responded to the attacks on Sunday, stating in a post to X/Twitter “I am following with concern the worrying news from Toronto of further attacks against Jewish businesses this morning.”

I am following with concern the worrying news from Toronto of further attacks against Jewish businesses this morning.

While thankfully none were injured, this is the latest attack in a long and horrifying line of violence and intimidation against the Canadian Jewish community.…

— Gideon Sa’ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) July 26, 2026

“While thankfully none were injured, this is the latest attack in a long and horrifying line of violence and intimidation against the Canadian Jewish community.” He added.

“The Canadian government must confront this antisemitic violent wave!”

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei called for continued jihadist attacks against Israel, while praising the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah in a series of statements attributed to him on Sunday.

In the statements, which were released in response to a Hezbollah letter pledging allegiance to Iran’s Islamic Republic, Khamenei allegedly asserted that “there remains no path forward except jihad and resistance” against the US and Israel.

He continued to claim that Hezbollah’s steadfast commitment to terrorism has “become an inspiring message” for those in pursuit of “liberation from global arrogance” and “divine victory.”

Defense of Hezbollah is Iran’s ‘strategic mandate,’ Khamenei says

Khamenei was also quoted as stating that, in line with policy set by Khamenei’s father and previous supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the defense of Hezbollah is Iran’s “strategic mandate.” 

He also allegedly asserted that Iran’s primary condition for reaching a peace agreement with the US is the halting of all Israeli operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Khamenei also lamented the killing of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by Israeli strikes in 2024. He described Nasrallah as “Hezbollah’s master of martyrs,” crediting him with growing Hezbollah from a “sapling of Islamic resistance into a mighty tree.”

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Vivian Aisen will serve as Israel’s next ambassador to Colombia following the government’s unanimous approval of her appointment, the Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday.

Aisen, who previously served as ambassador to Macedonia, was appointed as part of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s efforts to renew and restore relations between Israel and Colombia amid warming ties between Israel and Latin American countries.

Aisen also previously headed the Foreign Ministry’s Central America Department and served at Israel’s embassies in London and Chile, as well as at its missions in Brussels and to the European Union.

Me siento profundamente orgullosa y honrada de haber sido aprobada por el Gobierno de Israel para servir como Embajadora de Israel en Colombia.

Vivimos un momento muy especial en las relaciones entre nuestros dos países. Estoy convencida de que trabajaremos juntos por la… pic.twitter.com/m8zrxUkl3A

— Vivian Aisen 🇮🇱 (@VivianAisen) July 26, 2026

“We are living through a very special moment in the relations between our two countries. I am convinced that we will work together for the prosperity of our nations and the well-being of our peoples,” said Aisen in an X/Twitter post, adding that she is “eager and excited at the prospect of soon assuming my duties and representing Israel in Colombia.”

Fully restoring diplomatic relations after severed ties over Gaza

Sa’ar spoke with Colombian president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella and met with Omar Bula Escobar, Colombia’s designated foreign minister, to discuss on the new direction in bilateral relations on July 16.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro severed diplomatic ties with Israel in May 2024 over Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

Israel and Colombia are expected to fully restore diplomatic relations following the inauguration of Colombia’s new president on August 7. The process will include the immediate appointment of ambassadors, the opening of a Colombian embassy in Jerusalem, and a series of additional joint initiatives.

Late last month, lawmakers from Latin American countries signed a resolution supporting the expansion of the Isaac Accords and calling for greater regional cooperation with Israel. The resolution also renewed efforts to encourage additional Latin American countries to move their embassies to Jerusalem.

Representatives from Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Honduras, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Panama participated in the Latin America Chairmen’s Conference in Buenos Aires.

The Foreign Ministry also announced the appointment of Nissan Amdur, who was selected to serve as Israel’s ambassador to Croatia, as the country’s nonresident ambassador to North Macedonia, replacing Aisen.

The appointments were approved by the Ministerial Committee for Appointments in the Foreign Service, chaired by Sa’ar, before receiving final government approval.

Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.

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A suspicious object was found outside the home of MK Avi Maoz, head of the far-right Noam Party, on Sunday night, according to a statement released by Maoz’s office.

Israel Police bomb squads responded to the scene of the incident, inspected the suspicious object, and took it for further examination.

This is a developing story.

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Former prime minister Naftali Bennett has replaced the suits and button-down shirts he wore in recent months with jeans and T-shirts as his campaign seeks to present him as younger, more accessible and energetic ahead of Israel’s October election.

Bennett, who leads the centrist Together party, has appeared in casual clothing at nearly every public event and television interview over the past two weeks.

The wardrobe change was a deliberate decision by campaign managers Hillel Kobrinsky and Yotam Ben-Yitzhak as part of a broader effort to reshape Bennett’s public image.

Campaign officials said the new clothing was intended first to appeal to younger voters by making Bennett appear less formal and distant and more approachable and familiar.

They said the change also affected the way Bennett conducted himself during interviews and public appearances. Instead of sitting stiffly in a suit in a television studio, he could move more freely, use more natural body language and project greater energy.

Bennett’s campaign strategy reflects the ‘coming to work’ slogan

The new look complements slogans the campaign has promoted in recent weeks, including “We’re coming to work,” “We’re coming to fix” and “We’re coming to put things in order.”

The campaign is seeking to present Bennett as an experienced former prime minister who is prepared to roll up his sleeves and speak directly to voters.

Campaign emphasizes Bennett’s weight loss

Sources familiar with the campaign said the makeover was also intended to sharpen the contrast between Bennett and other leading candidates in Israeli politics.

Bennet is looking to project youth and energy 

The campaign is presenting him as a younger, sharper and more energetic leader than several of his older rivals.

Bennett has also undergone a physical transformation in recent months, losing approximately 15 kilograms, or 33 pounds.

His weight loss and new wardrobe are among several changes made by the campaign as it works to refresh his political brand and present him as a more approachable and dynamic candidate.

Israel is scheduled to hold its first national election since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on October 27.

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The IDF shot down a Hezbollah drone in southern Lebanon on Sunday, Army Radio’s Doron Kadosh reported.

The drone was fired upon after it was observed gathering intelligence on IDF soldiers in the Ali Taher Ridge area, according to the report.

The report noted that the drone was equipped with a camera but was unarmed.

This is a developing story.

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Finance Minister and Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich urged new immigrants to back his party in Israel’s upcoming election, telling The Jerusalem Post that RZP had championed many measures to help olim settle in Israel.

“Remember, the Aliyah Minister was from our party,” he noted, referring to Minister Ofir Sofer.

“We introduced tax exemptions for new immigrants, recognition of foreign diplomas, rental assistance, and greatly expanded the work of the Aliyah Ministry. We want our brothers and sisters to come here and feel that this is their home.”

Smotrich added that his party is “committed to Israel’s security,” stressing RZP would set out to “put an end to the disastrous idea of dividing the land, handing over territory, and establishing a terrorist state in the heart of the Land of Israel.”

Smotrich: RZP pushes to strengthen Israel’s Jewish identity

In addition, Smotrich pointed to the party’s work supporting judicial reform – a process to limit the courts’ power that was championed by the coalition prior to the Israel-Hamas War – saying he would “ensure that we have a real democracy, where the Knesset, the government, and the judiciary do not step on each other’s toes.”

As finance minister, Smotrich also stated he and his party “led the economy through the longest and most expensive war in Israel’s history,” adding that with him at the helm, Israel has been given “a strong shekel, a rising stock market, and a high-tech sector breaking records.”

“We serve all the people of Israel, just as the State of Israel does, and I believe we are deserving of a great deal of public trust,” he concluded.

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An Israeli man convicted of tax fraud was extradited to Israel from Panama on Sunday after an international manhunt lasting nearly two-and-a-half years, according to a statement by a spokesperson for the Tax Authority.

The criminal, Yaniv Mualem, was convicted in one of Israel’s most serious fraud cases in the country’s history, involving hundreds of millions of shekels.

Mualem initially fled Israel in the midst of his legal proceedings following a confession, resulting in a global pursuit involving the Tax Authority, the State Attorney’s Office, and the Israel Police, as well as Interpol.

He was eventually discovered in Panama in September 2024, after which he was arrested, and extradition efforts began.

Interpol transferred custody of Mualem to Israeli authorities upon landing at Ben-Gurion Airport, with the Northern District Customs and VAT Legal Department filing a request to extend his detention until legal proceedings are completed.

Prior to fleeing the country, the Nazareth District Court convicted Mualem of money laundering and using shell companies to distribute hundreds of fictitious tax invoices, which included defrauding the State Treasury of NIS 65 million.

After confessing to the crimes, a plea deal was arranged where Mualem would face heavy fines and be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Court orders NIS one million asset forfeiture after escape

Upon his escape, the court ordered a forfeiture of approximately NIS one million of Mualem’s assets, acting against his guarantors.

“Tax offenders cannot escape the threat of justice,” the Tax Authority spokesperson stated. “Even those who choose to flee to the ends of the earth will be found, extradited, and brought to justice.”

Authorities noted that any person who assisted Mualem in his escape would face charges as well.

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The Religious Zionist Party finalized its Knesset slate on Sunday after party committee members voted throughout the day to determine who will make up the party’s list ahead of the upcoming elections.

The far-right party is led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who will remain in the first spot on the list and will also have the ability to select candidates for two of the party’s top 10 slots.

While Smotrich has two reserved slots the top ten seats – one of which will go to Tzvika Mor, father of slain hostage Eitan Mor – the party elected MKs Orit Strock and Simcha Rothman to the number second and third slots, with MKs Tzvi Sukkot and Ohad Tal closely behind at fourth and fifth. The final list, including the reserved slots, must be submitted to the Central Elections Committee before September 9.

Smotrich told The Jerusalem Post at the list launch event that the RZP had done a lot for olim to bring them to Israel: “We want our brothers to come [to Israel]. We want olim to feel that it is their home.”

“The Religious Zionist Party strengthens the identity of the Jewish people,” he said.

Smotrich also told the Post that the party cares for the country’s security and that it will bring “fixes to the judicial system.”

“We bring real democracy,” he added. “We lead the country’s economy … The shekel is strong.”

The final list was announced after more than 100 party committee members voted in the primaries at polling stations in Jerusalem and at the party headquarters in Shoham.

Several primary candidates are already MKs, others would be new if elected

The primary candidates included members of Knesset who are currently on the party’s slate, along with new figures.

Candidates running who are currently members of the Knesset include National Missions Minister Orit Strock, as well as MKs Michal Woldiger, Ohad Tal, Zvi Sukkot, and Simcha Rothman.

New figures running for spots on the list included Deputy Mayor of Petah Tikva Tzvika Weizengrad and Deputy Mayor of Rosh Ha’ayin Eitan Tam.

Others were Nathan Zauberman, leader of the Tikvah Program that works to bring young olim from France to Israel, Rabbi Shmuel Sasson, and Omer Rahamim, who is the director-general of the Yesha Council that represents West Bank settlements.

Parties are not required to hold primaries in Israel, and only a few do so.

The RZP reserved a spot on its Knesset slate for Zvika Mor, the father of former hostage Eitan Mor. Smotrich expected to place him in one of the party’s top slots.

Mor’s son Eitan was working as a security guard at the Supernova music festival when Hamas invaded on October 7, 2023, and kidnapped him. Eitan was held captive for two years and released as part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal in October 2025.

Mor, 49, is the chairman of the Tikva Forum, founded by the family members of the hostages kidnapped into Gaza during the October 7 attacks. It holds a right-wing stance and, throughout the war, pushed against a partial hostage-ceasefire deal with the terror group.

The Religious Zionist Party stated in May that Mor’s addition was intended to strengthen the list with a values-based national voice and to prevent “a return to dangerous conceptual failures that led to the October 7 attacks.”

Recent polls show the party just passing the electoral threshold and receiving approximately five seats. In the 2022 elections, RZP ran with the far-right Otzma Yehudit Party, led by Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer, a current member of RZP, announced recently that he would not be running in the upcoming elections. MK Moshe Solomon from RZP also announced last week that he would not be running.

Solomon has been a vocal critic within the party of legislation supported by RZP that was recently passed in the Knesset, which opponents argue encourages draft evasion even amid the IDF’s severe manpower crisis.

Smotrich removed Solomon from his role in all Knesset committees last month as a disciplinary measure after Solomon voted against a separate contentious bill to enshrine Torah study in Basic Law.

RZP currently holds seven seats in the Knesset. Smotrich is also the head of the Settlements Administration, a Defense Ministry body established in 2023 that manages matters in West Bank settlements and advances construction and housing in the area.

The far-right minister’s statements calling for West Bank annexation often draw sharp international condemnation, as well as criticism for harming Israel’s global standing.

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Mark Oppenheimer, a lifelong bookworm and author of the entertaining new biography Judy Blume: A Life, admits, “When I was 11, the only author I reread was Judy Blume.” 

The prolific Blume, still alive and well at age 88, has sold over 80 million copies of her books worldwide. Iconic titles include Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (1970), Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (1972) and others in the “Fudge” series including Superfudge 1980) and Double Fudge (2002), as well as such classics as Forever (1975), Blubber (1974), Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great, as well as other books across all genres, including children’s young adult and adult fiction.  

Oppenheimer, who lives in New Haven, Connecticut, not far from Yale University, which houses Judy Blume’s correspondence, drafts, audiovisuals, photographs, awards, and more in its Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, spent hours combing through and finding useful gems in the archives.  

But it is his careful reading and rereading of all of Blume’s books and his considering the social, historical, and political contexts of the periods in which they were written that help readers understand Blume’s important contributions to children, young adult (YA), and adult literature.

Oppenheimer masterfully weaves in the details of her life, which he learned through countless conversations, in-person meetings, and emails with Blume and members of her family. He clearly formed a meaningful, trusting, and ongoing relationship with Blume and her family.  

Blume’s rich and complicated life, captured, in part

He reports that, early in his research, Blume turned over notes – some handwritten, some typed – that she had made for a memoir which she later abandoned. The two remained in touch throughout the project.  

When Oppenheimer shared his final draft of the book, he reports that Blume sent back “hundreds of comments in the margins… and a separate memoir, 40 pages long, offering suggestions, disagreements, and assorted thoughts covering every era discussed in the draft.” 

He has managed to capture details of Blume’s rich and sometimes complicated life, and her uncanny ability to understand angst and issues facing children and teens. And he tells Blume’s story in an entertaining manner.

Oppenheimer is no stranger to telling stories both in writing and through the spoken word. He has become somewhat of a household name in his own right through his books, articles, columns and his podcasts.

His numerous books include Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting & the Soul of a Neighborhood (2021), about the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh; The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia (2019), Wisenheimer: A Childhood Subject to Debate, a memo of sorts about his debating years; and Thirteen and a Day, a book about bat and bat mitzvah. He is currently working on The Dirty Bicker: Princeton, the Jews, and the Scandal of 1958, about the notorious scandal when an unusually high number of Jewish students were denied admission to Princeton University’s prestigious eating clubs. 

Oppenheimer holds a PhD in religion from Yale and has hosted the popular podcast Unorthodox for eight years – as well as the podcast Gatecrashers, about the history of antisemitism in the Ivy Leagues.  

He wrote the beliefs column for The New York Times for years and currently serves as executive editor of Arc Magazine, an online journal of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics based at Washington University in St. Louis. 

In Judy Blume: A Life, Oppenheimer tells Blume’s story in 31 chapters, each covering a chapter of her life as he brings the rich, multi-faceted, ahead-of-her-time, genre-defying author to life. 

Blume was born Judith Marcia Sussman in 1938. 

Oppenheimer captures Blume’s Jewish heritage and her upbringing in middle-class New Jersey and Miami around the time of World War II. 

He describes her childhood and relationship with her brother (who struggled with mental health issues), her dentist father (who died suddenly at an early age), her well-read homemaker mother, and various relationships and marriages.  

Blume never even considered being a writer until she was nearly 30 years old, unhappily married to “a well-meaning personal injury lawyer,” and a stay-at-home mother of two young children. It was then that she began taking the bus to New York City every Monday night to attend an evening class at New York University in writing for children.

Her early works from the class never got published, but she persisted. Her hard work, natural ability, sense of humor, lived experience, and her keen eye for what was going on around her and deep within people of all ages allowed her to eventually deliver books that would tackle topics that had until then been mostly absent from children’s literature, including budding sexuality, puberty, divorce, loss, family complexity, and bullying. 

Blume was always “spot on” and managed to speak to generations of readers in an intimate, understanding, and practical way.

Charming, annoying, entertaining younger siblings

Her protagonists are almost universally known. Margaret Simon, the 11-year-old protagonist in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret permitted readers to explore and question their religious identity and as they learnt about puberty.  

Peter Hatcher and little brother, “Fudge” – known worldwide through Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Superfudge – introduce us to charming, annoying, and entertaining younger siblings. (Who doesn’t remember two-year-old Fudge going to the hospital after swallowing Peter’s pet turtle, Dribble?)

And Sally J Freedman in Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself is a curious Jewish girl who, much like Blume, moves to Florida in the 1940s after WWII and deals with feeling like an outsider.

Blume showed her versatility with the release of bestseller Wifey in 1978.  The book was groundbreaking because it marked a pivot to adult fiction. Blume was not afraid to tackle issues then still considered taboo. 

One of Oppenheimer’s significant contributions is in honestly and respectfully sharing details of Blume’s not-always-picture-perfect private life. She experienced unsuccessful – and successful – marriages, as well as aborted pregnancies.  

Blume moved a lot – to places such as New Jersey, Florida (Miami and Key West), Connecticut, New York, Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. She loved and cared for her many homes, and she was very philanthropic. She also cheered on librarians and booksellers in ongoing battles against censorship.  

Oppenheimer gives the reader an honest and loving picture of this beloved author and leaves readers hoping that the almost nonagenarian will grace us with at least one more book.

JUDY BLUME: 
A LIFE

By Mark Oppenheimer
G.P. Putnam’s Sons
480 pages; $20

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A group of 80 UK MPs and peers has written to the new British prime minister asking him to impose sanctions on Israel, including a full arms embargo and a ban on trade that supports Israel’s settlements.

The letter, led by MP Kim Johnson, urges the government to “decisively change its stance in order to uphold the rights of the Palestinian people and to prevent Israel’s continued violation of international law.”

It notes that, last month, the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry report “confirmed Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza” and urged the government to recognize this finding.

The letter also draws on the Genocide Convention, which requires all signatories – including the UK – to take action to prevent genocide as soon as they become aware of a risk.

“The previous administration has willfully ignored the rulings of international courts. It has still failed to issue a formal response to the July 2024 International Court of Justice judgment […] which requires Britain to cease all actions that aid or assist [Israel’s] grave violations of international law.”

UK lawmakers urge Burnham to break with Starmer’s Israel policy

“Now is the opportunity for this government and for you, as the new Prime Minister, to truly turn a new page.”

Alongside recognition of the UN finding, the MPs called on the government to implement the ICJ ruling in full, impose comprehensive sanctions in Israel including a full arms embargo, and ban all trade in goods and services with Israeli settlements.

The letter was signed by well-known MPs such as Diane Abbott, Jeremy Corbyn, Baroness Jenny Jones and Baroness Warsi.

Johnson urges Burnham to break with Starmer’s Israel policy

In an op-ed in Labour Outlook, Johnson said that Palestine has become the “defining test” of whether the Labour Party still believes that international law applies equally to everyone.

“If we condemn violations in one part of the world while excusing or ignoring them elsewhere, we undermine the very rules-based international order that Britain claims to defend,” she said.

“Burnham tells us he has a plan to renew confidence in Labour. If that renewal is to mean anything, it must begin by making a clean break with the failures of Starmerism on Palestine. If we are truly serious about turning the page, there could be no clearer place to begin.”

The letter is backed by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which spent the last few weeks campaigning for PM Andy Burnham to “break with Starmer’s shameful legacy” by imposing wide-ranging sanctions against Israel, including a full arms embargo, an end to all military cooperation and diplomatic support, and a total ban on all trade.

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Biden administration officials predicted that Israel would expand the war in Gaza to be able to strike Iran and Lebanon, sources told The New Yorker.

During the Biden presidency, as part of ongoing clashes with Iran, Israel launched strikes on significant parts of Iranian infrastructure and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-backed terror groups in the region, such as Hezbollah.

In a detailed long-form report for the magazine, several former administration officials said that former president Joe Biden reportedly believed that any pressure that the US put on Israel during the war in Gaza would lead to bigger attacks from Iran. This would mean that the US would have to step in to defend Israel, even if it caused a larger regional war.

Biden’s former White House coordinator for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, argued that immovable support for Israel would help contain Iran.

Even though the administration told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on multiple occasions to refrain from provoking Iran or its terror proxies in the region, he continued to blindside the US administration by launching strikes with no real notification ahead of time.

Biden officials feared Israel would expand war in Gaza

For instance, sources told the New Yorker that the Israeli government did not warn the Biden administration before it carried out several strikes on Hezbollah and Iranian officials, including the September 2024 beeper attack.

One former White House official added that Israel assassinating former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah nearly two days after the US called for Israel and Hezbollah to observe a temporary ceasefire was a “humiliation” for Biden.

However, the former administration did not publicly criticize Israel for the moves, although many times it led to clashes where the US felt compelled to defend Israel.

Most notably in April and October of 2024, when the US helped defend Israel against Iranian strikes during which very few people were injured.

Netanyahu unsuccessfully pushed unwilling Biden officials to attack Iran

However, officials told the New Yorker that Netanyahu wanted to attack more of Iranian infrastructure in additional strikes, and only backed down “reluctantly.”

Former Biden administration officials told the New Yorker that looking back, they regret that the protection the US  provided unintentionally led Netanyahu to push boundaries with Israel’s closest ally.

“We could advise them very firmly, and Biden did that with Bibi repeatedly: ‘Goddammit, take the win and don’t drag us into a further war.’ But the Israelis knew we were going to defend them,” Philip Gordon, former national-security adviser to then-vice-president Kamala Harris, told the New Yorker.

Former defense secretary Lloyd Austin reportedly went so far as to compare Netanyahu to a gambler “playing with house money.”

But then, US President Donald Trump was elected to office. One former senior Pentagon official said Biden’s team warned the incoming Trump administration that “the Israelis were not going to let this opportunity go.”

Within the first half of Trump’s term, the US has engaged twice in conflict with Iran.

In the latest round of fighting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the US struck because American intelligence believed that Israeli strikes on Iran were imminent, which would have launched a subsequent attack on US forces in the Middle East.

“We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that they would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio told reporters in March.

Though Trump said he “might have forced Israel’s hand” in the strikes earlier this year, the report notes that Rubio’s recount of the reasons to strike Iran was familiar to Biden officials.

The former administration, and potentially the current one, felt as if it could not stop Israel from attacking targets in the region, but felt the need to “shoulder the burden” no matter the outcome.

Gordon told the New Yorker that Washington was in a “moral hazard” due to its staunch support of Israel, which emboldened Netanyahu to expand the war in Gaza to Iran.

Some former senior Biden administration officials told the New Yorker that, at least in some aspects, the Iran war was an extension of the Israel-Hamas War.

Notably, some senior administration officials, McGurk included, argued that public condemnation of Israel, like that which occurred after the World Central Kitchen incident, led to Hamas believing that regional war could be possible.

Additionally, the New Yorker report noted that US intelligence agencies believed that Iran would leave actual combat for its proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.

It also noted that the agencies believed that the then-supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was risk-averse due to his age.

However, some intelligence reports generated after the October 7 massacre suggested that a small number of Iranians believed that this was the moment to wipe Israel off the map.

Now, as Israel stays on alert for a new round of potential fighting with the Islamic Regime, Biden officials told the New Yorker that they blame Trump for allowing the war in Gaza to last until last October, expand to Iran, and cause regional instability. 

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Born in Germany to a prosperous, politically progressive, secular Jewish family, Hannah Arendt was educated at the University of Marburg and received a PhD in philosophy from the University of Heidelberg in 1929.

Briefly imprisoned by the Gestapo for her research on antisemitism in 1933, she fled to Paris. Arendt escaped the Nazis again in 1941, this time emigrating to the United States. With the publication of The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), Arendt became an influential political theorist. 

She is best known these days for her controversial analysis of the trial of Adolf Eichmann, the principal organizer of the deportation of millions of Jews to extermination camps in Eastern Europe. In a series of articles for The New Yorker, subsequently published as Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Arendt argued that Eichmann’s motivation was not hatred of Jews but a “terrible and terrifyingly normal” desire to obey orders and prove his loyalty to the Nazi regime.

In Hannah Arendt: A Life of the Mind, Thomas Meyer (a professor of philosophy at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and editor of a 12-volume edition of Arendt’s German writings) asserts that her life and work is best understood as an attempt to move beyond the limits of an allegedly timeless philosophy – and philosophy’s preoccupation with itself – by embracing politics, “which, in the final analysis, is the human sphere,” and the movement from thought to action and only then, back to thought.

Meyer is acutely aware of the limitations of Arendt’s published work. She was frequently categorical, he emphasizes, and “not always consistent.” Her arguments were not always supported by footnotes or references to secondary sources. Instead of weighing all sides of an issue, she “required her readers to make a stark choice of pro or con.”

Recently discovered archival material illuminate experiences

For these reasons, perhaps, but no doubt to the consternation of readers of his book, including this reviewer, Meyer does not provide detailed assessments of Arendt’s work.

That said, he draws on recently discovered archival material and underutilized sources in German to illuminate her experiences and ideas, about antisemitism and Zionism as well as philosophy.

By the early 1930s, Arendt had concluded that assimilation to the non-Jewish bourgeois majority in Germany had failed. With the Nazis in power, the assumption that antisemitism was merely an “opinion” held by individuals, while the majority viewed Jews as “German and nothing more,” was proving to be a fatal error.

“One truth that is unfamiliar to the Jewish people,” Arendt would write, is that a “person attacked as a Jew cannot defend himself as an Englishman or Frenchman.” And she credited Zionism with putting to an end “the dogmatic slumber” that followed confidence in the acceptance – and even embrace – of Diaspora Jews.

Active in the Paris branch of Youth Aliyah, Arendt, we learn, focused on an initiative to send children and adolescents living in France, especially stateless Jews from Eastern Europe, to Jewish settlements in Palestine, which she visited for two months in 1935.

The immigrants, though “admittedly, not a great many,” she reported, were receiving schooling and practical training in farming, played games and sang songs, for up to two years. In despair, but not yet damaged, they would be “converted into strength,” Arendt predicted, “and this strength will rebuild the country.” As tension between France and Germany increased, however, Youth Aliyah in Paris wound down its operations.

In the ensuing decades, Meyer reports, Arendt became more critical of Zionism. In “Zionism Reconsidered,” an essay published in the journal Menorah in 1945, she predicted that with the imperialistic aspirations and binary majority vs minority agenda Zionists were bringing into their national-building process, Jews and non-Jews were highly unlikely to live together peacefully in Palestine: “Heaven help us if that comes to pass.”

Supported admission of 100,000 Jews into Palestine

The following year, Arendt expressed support for the immediate admission of 100,000 Jews into Palestine, the establishment of a Jordan Valley Authority to admit as many additional Jews and Arabs as wanted to settle there, and local councils with representatives of “these two peoples” to set up new political structures. A Jewish state, she emphasized, would not – and could not – protect minorities.

Her friends, including Gershom Scholem, Meyer writes, “must have wondered what had happened to the ‘old’ Zionist Arendt, regardless of whether that belief in Zionism had been credible in the first place.”

Arendt’s refusal 15 years later to accept conventional wisdom about victims and perpetrators in her analysis of the Eichmann trial widened the gap between them.

Relevant to Arendt’s view of antisemitism as well was her decision to reconnect with Martin Heidegger, who was her mentor at Marburg, and with whom she had a love affair in the 1920s. When Heidegger joined the Nazi Party in 1933, Arendt ceased contact with him. But in 1950, they began to exchange notes and letters. In 1969, she participated in a commemoration of the preeminent philosopher’s 80th birthday.

Meyer speculates that the rapprochement freed Arendt to “adopt an interpretively free approach” to, in essence, demolish Heidegger’s philosophy, but not him. “Because there was a before and after,” Meyer writes, “and because she neither would not or could not undo what she had experienced with him, and any way of thinking in philosophical terms depending on whether philosophy was possible, she felt she needed to approach him.”

Her legacy, Meyer suggests, was to declare, again and again, the bankruptcy of a philosophy that defined thinking as acting. And to raise philosophy “to the lofty status it merited by explicating the priority of action as a genuine political and humane” endeavor.

The reviewer is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Emeritus Professor of American Studies at Cornell University.

HANNAH ARENDT: A LIFE OF THE MIND
By Thomas Meyer
Penguin Press
560 pages; $35

This post was originally published on here. 

Iran and the Greater Calamity

Nida Al-Watan, Lebanon, July 18

Despair now governs the behavior of an Iran unable to restrain the blows being dealt to it by the American “Great Satan.” It has therefore widened the scope of its attacks on Arab countries and sought to disrupt the global economy by tampering with vital maritime passages.

The Iranian regime is confronting a dangerous plan unlike anything it has faced before. Should that plan reach its conclusion, it could dismantle the pillars of Iran’s power, sever the limbs of its regional proxies, clip the wings that have enabled it to manipulate the Arab world, and undermine the foundations of its influence over a state it controls through repression, arrests, and executions.

Perhaps it is this relatively new threat that is driving the regime toward suicidal measures at this particular moment, whether by destabilizing the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab Strait or by inviting even greater hostility from its regional surroundings.

Its calculation oscillates between “I am already drowning, so why fear getting wet?” and “After me, the flood.”

This is especially true because Iran now finds itself facing an American president remarkably skilled at employing methods that may appear random on the surface, while developments on the ground reveal an ability to move pieces across the regional chessboard through shocks that strike without mercy.

These methods have also disrupted the inherited Persian skill of weaving crises like carpets, exploiting them, and converting them into gains and victories. They have unsettled Iran’s management of both war and negotiation, depriving it of the patience and maneuvering room that once allowed it to accumulate cards, play the long game, and eventually expand its control and influence.

Perhaps what has most destabilized the Iranian regime is the loss of its strongest card: Lebanon, through Hezbollah.

The new element is not merely the direct negotiations between the Lebanese state and Israel, but Hezbollah’s inability to register any achievement against Israel that Iran could exploit.

It is Hezbollah’s defeat and total inability to confront Israel – not the negotiations themselves – that has pushed Iran to cross every red line in an attempt to regain its balance and continue negotiating while preserving a facade of strength before its own people and maintaining its ability to intimidate its Arab neighbors.

More importantly, the Iranian regime cannot survive in an environment of stability and genuine democratic political participation. In this, it resembles all ideological totalitarian regimes that exploit religious beliefs, molding them to suit agendas of power and using them to control adherents at home and abroad.

Iran therefore wants negotiations not to end its struggle with the “Great” and “Little Satans,” but to preserve enemies useful to the regime’s future, strengthen its grip over its people, and continue its destructive activity across the Arab world.

Yet the latest changes have stripped those enmities of much of their usefulness and shattered the euphoria produced by the memorandum of understanding. Iran has lost its compass and is sinking into the greater calamity. God help us. – Sana Aljak

Iran Wants Negotiations Never To End

Asharq al-Awsat, UK, July 17

Whenever the US and Iran move closer to the negotiating table, the same question returns: Can a lasting agreement ever be reached with the Islamic Republic, or does each round of talks simply become another station in an endless conflict?

The experience since the 1979 revolution suggests that relations between the two sides have never known real stability. Instead, they have moved from one crisis to another and from one negotiating round to the next, each more complicated than the last.

Today, escalation has returned, along with contacts between Washington and Tehran mediated by several countries, most notably Oman, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, and Egypt, in an effort to contain tensions and prevent the region from sliding into a wider confrontation. But the path is far from easy, because each side enters the negotiations with objectives fundamentally different from the other’s.

Many experts believe negotiating with Iran differs from conventional diplomacy not only because of the issues at stake, but because of the nature of the regime itself, which blends religious, political, military, security, and even deeply ingrained behavioral considerations. Any agreement therefore extends beyond a single issue and into a broad network of regional and international interests.

The late Israeli diplomat Uri Lubrani, Israel’s last ambassador to Iran before the revolution, was among those who repeatedly warned against underestimating Iranian negotiating ability. He described Iranians as “a nation of carpet weavers and chess players,” referring to their patience and ability to think several moves ahead. Tehran, in his view, does not treat negotiations as a rapid path to agreement, but as a means of improving its political position and buying time. He even called its negotiating style “a masterpiece in deceiving the world.”

Whether one agrees with that judgment or not, it reflects the impression held by many diplomats who have dealt with Iran over the past several decades.

One of the most distinctive features of Iranian policy is its ability to pursue several tracks simultaneously. Iran negotiates while preserving multiple instruments of pressure through its regional influence, military and security files, and capacity to affect shipping and energy flows in the Gulf.

Tehran is therefore careful never to enter negotiations stripped of leverage.

This is where mediating states become important. They do more than transmit messages; they narrow differences, open discreet channels, and ease tensions when talks reach an impasse. Turkey has accumulated considerable experience in this field through its diplomatic and security services, while Pakistan has strengthened its role by hosting meetings and helping the parties keep dialogue alive despite profound disagreements.

These countries do not regard mediation as diplomacy alone, but as an opportunity to enhance their regional and international standing. Each success gives them more political weight and greater influence over other files.

Iran, meanwhile, understands that time may be among its strongest assets. The longer negotiations continue, the greater the pressure on the other parties, whether because of security concerns, volatility in energy markets, or domestic political calculations. For this reason, many analysts believe the Iranian leadership does not view time as a burden but as a card to be invested in pursuit of better terms.

The American administration faces different pressures. It must demonstrate that it can prevent military escalation while avoiding concessions that could appear excessive to the American public. Any development in the Middle East can also affect domestic politics, particularly as elections approach, narrowing Washington’s room for maneuver.

The difficulty of the negotiations is not limited to the nuclear file. It also includes the future of economic sanctions, Iran’s regional role, security of navigation in the Gulf, and relations with Washington’s allies. A comprehensive settlement therefore requires addressing interconnected files, each governed by its own calculations.

Iran itself faces internal challenges that cannot be ignored. Its economy has suffered under sanctions for years, foreign investment remains limited, and inflation and rising prices continue to burden citizens. The state also needs significant resources for reconstruction and to compensate for losses caused by the recent war.

Tehran therefore needs economic relief, but wants it without appearing to have surrendered its standing or influence.

Washington, for its part, understands that an agreement lacking clear guarantees may amount to little more than a temporary truce.

Talks consequently proceed with great caution, each side testing the other’s intentions before taking larger steps. The central question remains whether diplomacy can bring this long conflict to an end. So far, there is no definitive answer.

History shows that US-Iranian relations have passed through repeated periods of rapprochement and tension, and that previous agreements have not prevented crises from returning. The current phase is therefore another test of diplomacy’s ability to achieve a genuine breakthrough.

Success will depend not only on what is said inside the negotiating room, but also on political, security, and economic developments outside it.

Ultimately, the greatest challenge may not be signing another agreement but preserving it and converting it into lasting stability in a region where temporary settlements so often become the seeds of new crises. – Huda al-Husseini

Will Netanyahu Step Down?

El Watan, Egypt, July 16

Israelis often refer to Benjamin Netanyahu as “King Bibi” or “Bibi forever.” Bibi is the affectionate nickname given to this butcher who committed the crime of genocide in Gaza, while “forever” reflects the fact that he has served longer as prime minister than anyone else in Israel’s history, surpassing David Ben-Gurion, the founder of the state and its first prime minister in the year of the Nakba, 1948.

Yesterday, the Knesset decided that parliamentary elections would be held in October, setting the stage for another dramatic transformation in Israeli politics. These elections will be more than a renewal of parliamentary authority. They will amount to a broad public referendum on a political career spanning more than two decades and on one man who has come to symbolize Israeli politics in the 21st century.

Netanyahu was born in Tel Aviv in 1949 and was the first Israeli prime minister born in occupied Palestine. He is a historic phenomenon, having served for more than 17 years across three periods: 1996-1999, 2009-2021, and in his current term beginning in December 2022. His longevity has given him an exceptional place in Israeli political history.

Netanyahu also has a military background. He served in the elite General Staff Reconnaissance Unit and participated in operations including the 1968 raid on Beirut airport and the 1973 October War. He later studied architecture and business administration at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

His real political rise began when he was appointed Israel’s ambassador to the UN in the mid-1980s, after which he entered the Knesset with the Likud and steadily climbed to the top of the political system. His ambition has not diminished.

Today he faces the most difficult political battle of his career, amid accusations that he failed to prevent Oct. 7, described by the Israeli opposition as the country’s greatest intelligence failure in 50 years.

Nevertheless, Netanyahu insists on remaining in power and has declared his intention to form a broad government that is neither Right nor Left, in an effort to attract a wider electorate and move beyond the criticism directed at him.

The election field includes several rivals from different political currents, all united by one objective: removing Netanyahu and opening a new chapter in Israeli politics.

At the forefront stands former [IDF] chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, who founded his Yashar Party in 2025. Recent polls show Eisenkot surpassing Netanyahu for the first time as the figure considered best suited to serve as prime minister, reflecting a shift in public sentiment toward military leaders during wartime.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett poses no less of a threat. He combines a military background in the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit, entrepreneurship in the technology sector, and roots in religious Zionism and the settlement movement.

Bennett, who once headed the settlers’ council, demonstrated his ability to assemble a governing coalition in 2021 that ended 12 consecutive years of Netanyahu’s rule. Although his government collapsed after only a year, he remains attractive to right-wing voters seeking a less polarizing and more pragmatic alternative.

There is also Yair Lapid, the former journalist turned politician who represents the liberal Center. He founded Yesh Atid in 2012 and quickly became one of Netanyahu’s most prominent opponents. Lapid briefly served as prime minister in 2022 under a rotation agreement with Bennett and continues to wage fierce opposition to Netanyahu’s policies.

Avigdor Liberman, leader of the secular nationalist Yisrael Beytenu Party, is another significant figure. Once close to Netanyahu, he has become one of his harshest critics.

Liberman represents a hardline secular current opposed to the privileges granted to ultra-Orthodox Jews and supports drafting them into the military, placing him in direct conflict with Netanyahu and his haredi allies.

Yet the election raises a question larger than Netanyahu’s political survival: the future of the Zionist project and its strategic direction.

Netanyahu belongs to the hawkish school of Israeli politics and embraces an expansionist vision associated with the idea of Greater Israel. This vision, promoted by far-Right parties, reflects a determination to retain control over the West Bank and an absolute rejection of Palestinian statehood.

But this outlook is not Netanyahu’s alone. Most of his rivals on the Right and Center, including Eisenkot, Bennett, and Liberman, hold similarly hardline security positions and differ little in the substance of their policies toward the Palestinians. Their disagreements are primarily over style, method, and the degree of polarization.

The election will also carry major consequences for the wider Middle East, particularly amid the war with Iran and growing speculation that Israel may strike Iranian nuclear facilities.

Such a scenario appears more likely if Netanyahu remains in office, as Iran has long been one of his highest priorities. An Eisenkot or Bennett government might adopt different tactics, though not necessarily a different strategic objective.

In the Arab world, the outcome could affect the future of normalization. Netanyahu was the principal driver of the Abraham Accords, but his continued rule alongside far-Right allies could complicate relations with Arab states that reject his policies toward the Palestinians.

In Gaza, however, the elections are unlikely to produce a major shift. Nearly all Israeli political forces hold hardline positions toward the Strip, and the assault could continue or intensify under any government. The only difference may be the scale of escalation and the size of ground operations.

Should Netanyahu lose, his fate may be harsh. He would face not only accusations of political and security failure, but corruption charges and legal cases that could regain momentum once he loses political protection. His defeat could bring a long political era to an end, reorder Israel’s party system, and open the door to a new generation.

If he survives, expansionist and escalatory policies will continue, perhaps with an even stronger alliance with religious and ultranationalist parties, pushing Israel toward greater international isolation and internal conflict.

The 2026 Knesset elections will therefore be a defining moment. They are not merely a contest over parliamentary seats, but a struggle over the identity and future of the state: whether Israel will continue along Bibi’s path toward Greater Israel or seek a new course that may differ in style but not greatly in substance.

In every scenario, the Palestinian issue will remain hostage to Israel’s internal struggle, with no fundamental change in policy toward the Palestinians visible on the horizon, regardless of which faces and names prevail. – Refa’at Rashad

Those demanding respect for state must first ask why citizens don’t feel it

Al Mada, Iraq, July 16

Iraqi politicians often declare that the country’s new federal and democratic model differs from the monarchies of the region, particularly in the Gulf. By that logic, Iraq should resemble European democracies.

Yet since living in Europe, I have noticed something I did not experience in Iraq: respect for the state does not begin with fear or with official slogans about prestige.

It begins in the smallest details of daily life. At the university, hospital, government office, and on the street, citizens feel an unwritten bond with institutions telling them: you are part of this state, and this state exists for you.

So, when an Iraqi says, “The state is not respected,” the first question should not be why he used those words, but what experience produced them.

Angry language is often the accumulated result of years in which people found no other way to make themselves heard. The state is not a portrait on a wall, a slogan in an office, or a collection of institutions with grand names. It is the daily relationship between the citizen and justice.

The problem begins when anger becomes the only language they believe will be heard.

One of our deepest mistakes has been to confuse the state with those in power. The state is not the person occupying office, the government that will eventually change, or the official holding temporary authority. It is larger than individuals and must endure after they leave.

Criticizing a government or official is therefore not necessarily hostility toward the state. At times, criticism of authority is a defense of the state itself. Regardless, the state’s prestige does not come from silencing angry voices, but from building trust. 

Equally important: why are citizens always asked to reconsider their words, while authorities are rarely asked to reconsider their actions? In mature democracies, a political apology is not a weakness. 

Power is not an entitlement, but a burden borne before society. Iraqis, however, have lived for years with difficult questions: Where is justice? Where is the protection of rights? Where is accountability for corruption? Where is genuine citizenship? Where is the official who stands before the public when failure occurs?

These questions arose from daily experience. A citizen who cannot find clean water, a dignified hospital, a school that offers his children a future, secure employment, safe streets, or decent public spaces does not experience the state as an abstract constitutional idea. 

The question of respecting the state therefore cannot be separated from another: Has the state respected its citizens? Has it respected the blood of those who protested for their rights, families who lost their children, workers without proper contracts, citizens waiting in government offices for what is theirs, elderly women struggling to survive, children with nowhere to spend the summer, or retirees standing in line when salaries are delayed?

The problem is the enormous distance between the state as a beautiful sovereign concept promoted by influencers in campaigns funded by officials implicated in corruption, and the state as people experience it through relentless daily suffering.

An official is not sacred. He is a public employee whose legitimacy comes from serving people. No authority is above questioning, and no office grants moral immunity from error. Yet in Iraq, apologies often travel in only one direction. 

Iraq has known a period when every dissenting voice was treated as a threat to the state. Experience proved that silencing people does not create genuine respect; it creates temporary quiet while crises remain beneath the surface. A critical voice is not always an enemy of the state. It may be evidence that citizens still want a better one.

The real danger is not the citizen who asks questions, but the citizen who has lost the desire to ask. Societies do not collapse only when angry voices rise; they also collapse when people stop believing change is possible.

Citizens do not want a state that demands verbal expressions of love. They want a state they can feel in the details of everyday life. Before asking why a citizen said the state is not respected, perhaps we should ask what the state has done to make him believe it deserves respect. – Ahmed Hassan 

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

This post was originally published on here. 

Dozens of protesters entered the Ayalon Highway near Tel Aviv’s Azrieli Center on Sunday evening, blocking traffic and calling for the investigation into the disappearance of Haymanut Kasau to be expanded.

Israel Police removed the protesters from the highway. Haymanut’s relatives and activists campaigning on her behalf said the investigation had exhausted the police’s capabilities and demanded that the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) take over the case.

Racheli Abata, a campaign activist and relative of Kasau, told Walla that the family viewed the authorities’ handling of the case as an ongoing failure.

“Her case is an abduction. She is defined as missing, but in practice she was abducted on February 25, 2024, from the absorption center,” said Abata. “The family is now asking for the Shin Bet to enter the investigation because they believe the police have failed.

“Her case was transferred to Lahav 433 – The National Crime Unit, and since then there has been no response,” Abata continued. “Her father is furious, and there is no one to provide answers. He knows that only the Shin Bet can help, and he is asking for a new investigative team to be established.”

Abata said the lack of progress had left the family with no choice but to take to the streets.

“There has been a failure here,” Abata stressed. “A nine-year-old girl was abducted, and 14 minutes were deleted from the recording. We understand that there is no other way except to block roads and take to the streets. For more than two years, I have been seeing stories of unequal treatment. The sweet boy who went missing in Ashkelon, I shared posts about him constantly, and within a day the Shin Bet joined the investigation. What about Haymanut?

Abata: Shin Bet involvement would make ‘enormous difference’

“Look at the enormous difference when the Shin Bet is involved in an investigation,” she added. “We receive no updates and do not know where things stand. This is a family that has been in Israel for five years, and she was abducted after just three years. She is seen entering the complex, but she is not seen leaving.”

She said the family believed the authorities had abandoned them and that time was working against Haymanut.

“The police admitted that this was beyond their capabilities. Enough, we have reached our limit. The authorities have abandoned us. Apart from politics, we do not see them doing anything. We do not know what condition she is in, or whether she is eating and drinking. Time is not on her side.”

Abata said the investigation had been marked by repeated failures since Haymanut disappeared.

“What is left for us to do other than fight? We feel that her case is being neglected. Since she was abducted, there has been one failure after another. Everything appeared to have been planned. It is inconceivable that a girl is abducted and there is deafening silence. Bring her back already.”

Haymanut disappeared from an immigrant absorption center in Safed 882 days ago. Her father, Taspia Kasau, said the rapid discovery of four-year-old Yuval Kogan highlighted the disparity between the response to Yuval’s disappearance and the handling of his daughter’s case.

“First of all, I am happy and moved that Yuval was found quickly, and that his family was spared many more tears,” he told Walla. “But the gap is heartbreaking. All the organization surrounding his disappearance, and the entire system that mobilized to search for and find him, only highlights what was not done for Haymanut.”

Kasau said the family had made the same demand for more than two and a half years, calling on the state to use its advanced technological capabilities to locate Haymanut.

“For two and a half years, we have been saying that the state has advanced technological capabilities to find any person. We held protests, met with people, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and asked them to use those capabilities. None of that happened, and our girl is still not with us.”

He said the family could not ignore its sense that discrimination had influenced the handling of the case.

“I have no doubt at all that this is based on a racist attitude. We are new immigrants, we do not speak Hebrew, we are not powerful, and we have no connections or money. By contrast, this child came from a family that knew how to mobilize all the resources, connections, and forces, and he was found within about 24 hours. It only highlighted what we have always felt, that this is connected to the fact that we are Ethiopian and do not speak Hebrew.”

One of the family’s main demands is for the Shin Bet to join the investigation.

“In Yuval’s case, both the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence were involved. In our case, the Shin Bet did not become involved at all. If they had been involved, we would have known,” he said.

Kasau said that although the attorney general approved the possibility of involving the Shin Bet in the investigation in January, the agency had not joined the case.

“We were told that no nationalistic motive was suspected, and therefore the Shin Bet did not become involved.”

He added that security professionals had told the family that Haymanut’s disappearance from a public institution operated by the Jewish Agency and the Aliyah and Integration Ministry justified the agency’s involvement.

‘An attack on an entity of the state’

“This is an attack on an entity of the state,” he said.

Kasau said the family’s meeting with Netanyahu had also failed to produce any change.

“He told us he would examine the matter and get back to us with an answer. We have not heard from him since.”

He also criticized the police’s handling of the investigation, saying the family had received little information about its progress.

“I do not even know where things stand today. At Lahav 443, they do not answer my calls. The police in Safed did not do what they needed to do. Even when we brought them information, they did not really examine it. Only after members of Knesset raised the issue in a Knesset committee did they go and investigate.”

Kasau stressed that his criticism was directed at the state and its institutions, rather than the Israeli public.

“My anger is directed at the state, the government, and the authorities, not at the citizens. The citizens are the ones showing us the way through the darkness. They help us, march with us, and strengthen us. I can see on their faces that their hearts are broken.”

He called on the public to continue supporting the family’s campaign and to urge the government to bring the Shin Bet into the investigation.

“Stand by us and help us call on the state to bring the Shin Bet into Haymanut’s case. I am asking people to pressure the government to do this. I believe that the girl was abducted, that she was taken and is being held by people. She must be searched for using every available means.”

Kasau said he struggled to describe the reality his family had faced since his daughter disappeared.

“It is impossible even to express in words what it feels like when your son or daughter is taken from you, and you do not know where they are. You cannot sleep, you cannot eat, and you cannot speak. I know that this is what Yuval’s parents felt while he was missing. But for us, this has already continued for 882 days. I feel as though I am between the living and the dead. My younger children also constantly ask why she was taken and where she is. When I walk down the street and see little girls her age, I am constantly searching. I constantly think that perhaps I will find her. I would not wish this experience on anyone.”

He said Haymanut deserved the same treatment as any other Israeli citizen.

“This country belongs to all of us. It is a country for all Jews, regardless of the color of our skin. I expect the public to demand that the state give Haymanut the same treatment. There is no fundamental difference between them. We are all citizens of the same country.”

Haymanut’s family said its campaign would not end with a single protest and would continue to press the authorities to expand the investigation.

This post was originally published on here. 

The deadly shooting in the village of Tell, south of Nablus, in which an IDF commander and a member of the Gilad Farm security squad were killed on Friday by a Palestinian who snatched a firearm during clashes, has sharpened tensions across the West Bank.

The fatal incident followed a wave of what is described as “revenge attacks” by Israeli extremists, including vandalism of property and two mosques in villages south of Tulkarm and Nablus, according to Palestinian media reports.

Palestinians have warned the violence could further escalate, denouncing the statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz to step up legalization of settlement outposts, known as agricultural farms, in the West Bank and to establish new ones in response to the Tell incident.

Nablus Governor Ghassan Douglas claimed that Israeli authorities have failed to take harsh steps against radical Israelis who commit acts of violence against Palestinians for political reasons. He argued that as elections for the Knesset approach in October, the Israeli government is “reluctant to act against its supporters.”

“This is an election time for Israelis, and Netanyahu and members of his government want to appease the settlers who vote for them,” Douglas told The Jerusalem Post. “That’s why Netanyahu and his political allies avoid confronting violent settlers and do not take significant punitive measures against them,” he stated.

Douglas argued that Palestinians in Tell “were acting in self-defense,” saying that “settlers were the ones who entered the village and made provocations that fueled clashes.”

Clashes erupt in West Bank village of Tell

On Friday, a group of Israelis entered the outskirts of the village of Tell, claiming they were on a trip. The IDF stated that this outing had not been coordinated with their forces in advance. Clashes erupted, and the group called for assistance from the civilian security team of Gilad Farm.

A member of that team, Benayahu Melet, arrived at the scene, where a Palestinian seized his firearm and shot him dead. Additionally, an Israeli officer, Maj. Yuval Ezra, was also killed during the incident.

Following the incident, Israeli forces intensified operations in the area, including raids, increased checkpoints, arrests, and measures to combat terror threats.

Palestinians said that attacks by radical settlers have intensified, with incidents occurring almost daily, pointing to raids on Palestinian villages, abusing residents, intimidating them, and, among other things, setting fire to property. 

Douglas said that “the aggression has continued to escalate,” and that “settlement expansion has only increased,” calling for foreign countries to take action.

“The outposts the Israeli government seeks to authorize were illegal and remain illegal,” Douglas said. “We hope the international community intervenes to stop this.”

‘Both sides will ultimately pay the price’

A Palestinian resident from a village near Tell warned that the situation could deteriorate further, saying that both sides would ultimately pay the price. “We haven’t seen any strict Israeli policy to contain those people who attack Palestinians. No one is placing limits on them,” he said.

“Instead, we are the ones now facing more restrictions and crackdowns,” the resident said, claiming that such measures would not help bring calm. “When you put more pressure on people and keep them confined in a cage, things eventually explode. If you go on a trip, there are plenty of other places. Why come here? What are you looking for in Palestinian villages?” he said.

“These provocations by settlers are meant to trigger a reaction,” the Palestinian resident charged. “Then they can say, ‘the Palestinians are the terrorists who harm us,’ and use it as an excuse to push forward with their plans to expel us from this land and take over.”

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday sent letters to leaders of several countries as well as to the EU and the UN Security Council, calling for “urgent action to stop the Israeli continued aggression and settler terrorism.”

He asserted that “the occupied Palestinian territory is witnessing a dangerous escalation as a result of attacks carried out by Israeli occupation forces and armed settler groups against the Palestinian people, under the direct protection and support of the Israeli army and government.”

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry stated that “these systematic crimes are an extension of policies of incitement, protection and impunity that encourage settlers to commit further attacks against our people.” 

The Ministry called on the international community to “take practical measures to stop settler terrorism, and to designate armed settler groups that carry out systematic daily crimes against Palestinian civilians as terrorist organizations.”

This post was originally published on here. 

In the first 13 months of US President Donald Trump’s second term in office, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu racked up a hefty amount of miles flying the Tel Aviv-Washington route.

During this period, Netanyahu met Trump no less than six times in the US, an average of a meeting every 2.5 months. By comparison, he met then-president Joe Biden face-to-face only three times during Biden’s four years in office.

On Monday, the prime minister is set to fly to Washington, where he will meet Trump on Tuesday and participate in a memorial ceremony for staunch Israel supporter Lindsey Graham. This time, however, Netanyahu’s arrival will come after the longest gap between their meetings since Trump returned to office: five-and-a-half months.

And what a five-and-a-half months it has been.

When Netanyahu last walked into the White House on February 11, the issue at hand was Iran. Tehran had just carried out a bloody crackdown on nationwide protests, with estimates of the death toll running into the tens of thousands, and was moving with great speed to rebuild its ballistic missile program.

Trump has been perceived as Netanyahu’s ‘puppet’ as war started immediatley after meeting with Netanyahu

Just over two weeks after that meeting, on February 28, the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran, igniting a war that has continued ever since without a clear and decisive US victory and that has extracted a high political cost from the president.

The proximity of that February meeting to the start of the war triggered speculation that it was Netanyahu who talked Trump into taking military action, leading Trump to push back against the narrative that he is somehow a puppet at the end of Netanyahu’s string. His comment that Netanyahu “knows who is boss” can be seen, at least in part, as an attempt to push back against that narrative.

Nevertheless, this meeting comes amid heightened tensions once again with Iran and uncertainty, fueled by Trump’s often contradictory comments, over whether the US will launch another major offensive against Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, or whether the current low-intensity warfare is what to expect for the immediate future; one that could last weeks or even months.

If Trump does indeed take intensive military action shortly after meeting Netanyahu, one can already hear the pundits saying, once again, that it is all because of Israel. That is reportedly one reason there was some difficulty setting up the meeting in the first place.

But the meeting is going ahead nonetheless, and Netanyahu has several issues he needs to clarify.

First, what, in Trump’s eyes, does victory look like? What is the president’s endgame, and how much war is he willing to undertake to achieve it?

Second, Netanyahu needs to clarify what, in Trump’s mind, Israel’s part in all this should be. Does the president expect or want Israel to join in at some point? And if he does, Netanyahu will be looking for assurances that this time the president will not call off the war before Israel has been able to attain its objectives.

In other words, Israel is not necessarily looking for a green light. Rather, it wants to know where the red light will come once another green light is given.

The nightmare scenario for Israel is to begin another campaign, expose itself again to Iranian missiles, achieve only part of its objectives, and then have Trump say after four or five days: “Enough, I’ve got a deal.”

How will the Israel-Syria-Lebanon diplomatic issue be addressed in the meeting?

And then there are Lebanon and Syria.

In the five-and-a-half months since their last meeting, Israeli policy in Lebanon has been among the most contentious issues the two countries have had to navigate.

Trump’s original MoU with Iran, the one that has recently gone up in the smoke of nightly US raids followed by Iranian retaliation the next day, tied a ceasefire in Iran to an Israeli ceasefire in Lebanon, something very much not in Israel’s interest.

Trump demanded an end to offensive Israeli action, and Israel begrudgingly acquiesced, unable to say no to this president. While events on the ground in Iran have overturned that understanding, Lebanon will definitely be high on the agenda: What does Trump now envision there?

It is worth noting that Netanyahu’s meeting comes after Trump met last week with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and earlier this month with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi. Trump also met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara on July 8.

Taken together, these meetings point to an American attempt to build a new post-war regional architecture, with those countries as instrumental players.

Netanyahu will want to have a say in what that architecture should look like.

And then two other issues recently burst onto the scene, both also having to do with the shape of a new post-war Middle East.

The first is Trump’s signal of intent to sell F-35s to Turkey, despite that country’s stridently anti-Israel policy. This much-hyped sale, however, is no fait accompli, as a letter the State Department sent last week indicates. That letter stated that the Turks still do not meet the legal requirements necessary to receive delivery of the F-35s.

Indeed, one source of recent friction between Jerusalem and Washington has been this proposed sale, with Netanyahu essentially going over Trump’s head and making appeals in the US media against the weapons deal, even though Trump has indicated a preference to go through with it.

And the other issue is one that burst onto the news cycle last week seemingly out of the blue: the US-Saudi civilian nuclear agreement, including the question of whether Riyadh would eventually be allowed to enrich uranium and whether normalization with Israel would be a precondition.

Trump himself weighed in after the agreement was signed, saying the Saudis will not have the right to enrich uranium and that the deal will go through only if they join the Abraham Accords. In other words, the terms of the deal are still being discussed, and Netanyahu will want input on that deal’s final contours.

Taken together, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, these issues point to something larger than a series of individual disagreements between Jerusalem and Washington. They are all pieces of an emerging post-war regional order that Washington is trying to shape.

Netanyahu’s concern will be to ensure that in Trump’s eagerness to turn battlefield developments into a new Middle East architecture, Israel’s security interests are not sacrificed along the way.

What will be with Gaza – dismantling Hamas and reconstruction?

And then, of course, there is Gaza.

While Gaza was the main topic of conversation in the first five meetings between the two leaders, it has since dropped in priority because of the war with Iran. Gone from center stage, perhaps, but hardly out of sight.

The two leaders are expected to discuss the stymied efforts to dismantle Hamas, a precondition for moving forward with the president’s 20-point plan for Gaza. And here, too, the underlying question is similar: How does Trump envision getting from the current military reality to the political arrangement he wants to put in its place?

Finally, there is the domestic political element.

This visit is coming just three months before the October 27 election. Netanyahu will want to use it to signal closeness with Washington, especially as his opponents will be highlighting polls showing that Israel’s position in the US, at least among the public, has never been worse.

Trump, too, has domestic considerations. He will want to use the meeting to project control over Middle East developments, reinforce the “I am the boss” narrative, and present himself as the indispensable broker around whom the region revolves.

And, by the way, this is unlikely to be the last meeting between Trump and Netanyahu before the elections.

Netanyahu is expected to attend the UN General Assembly meeting in New York in September, and he will likely meet Trump again on that trip, either on the sidelines of the gathering or in Washington.

A meeting in New York could be a special election gift, especially in the face of the fierce opposition from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his calls for protests. Few things can help Netanyahu’s campaign more than being portrayed as hounded by, and standing firmly up to, those obsessively anti-Israel.

But that is September.

First comes Tuesday, and a meeting between two leaders who have seen each other extraordinarily often, but who have not sat down together in five-and-a-half months – five-and-a-half months during which their actions dramatically changed the Middle East they discussed at their last meeting.

The question hovering over their upcoming meeting is a simple one: Now what?

This post was originally published on here. 

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan’s dismissal after around two years of scandal for alleged sex and sexual harassment crimes is a seminal event.

There are large impacts that can be called good news, bad news, and just a plain ugly mess.

Among the pro-Israel coalition, there are generally two views about the ICC, both defining the ICC as unfairly biased toward Jerusalem.

The first view is that the ICC should not exist, that it is an unsalvageable institution, and anything that can be done to bring it down should be pursued.

This crowd is on a high right now and views Khan’s fall as brilliant news. For them, it seems to prove everything that they have ever argued about the ICC: that it is an alternately anti-Israel and anti-US or ivory tower style institution divorced from the realities of having to fight asymmetric warfare against terrorists, and that it is full of hypocrites.

Two camps, two strategies for Israel to confront the ICC

Punchline: Khan unfairly accused Israel of war crimes, while he was perpetrating sex crimes on the side.

This camp also believes that the entire ICC case against Israel rested on Khan trying to cover up his alleged crimes, and so they are hoping his fall will make the cases go away.

Then there is the second camp, whose view is that the ICC is a fact which the Jewish state must deal with, like it or not, and that dialogue with it, even if aggressive, is the best strategy, albeit imperfect, to handle the problem.

According to this view, it makes sense to attack Khan and the ICC for allegedly going after Israel in order to cover up his alleged sexual crimes, but that is only the secondary defense.

The primary defense remains going after the substantive charges themselves.

These arguments break down into multiple tracks.

One is attacking the idea that the ICC can have jurisdiction when the UN Security Council does not recognize a State of Palestine as a full-fledged voting member and when the Oslo Accords explicitly prohibit outside interference in the parties resolving their decades-long dispute.

Another is claiming the ICC must stay out of the issue because Israel has its own legal system and rule of law which is in the midst of around 100 criminal probes and over 3,000 disciplinary probes of its own soldiers for alleged violations.

Such arguments delayed the ICC from going after Israel in a criminal probe from 2009 until 2021 and delayed arrest warrants until Spring-Fall 2024.

There is still hope that such arguments will prevent indictments and any trial, and there is even stronger hope that it would be nearly impossible to convict to the criminal law standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt” in such a trial.

This second camp is ready to fight this fight knowing that much of the world is relatively ignorant about the ICC pro or con narratives, and will just generally accept it as an important moral body with which to contend.

Both camps believe that Khan, at minimum, rushed his final decision forward on Israel at least partially to try to cover for the sexual allegations probe against him at the time, and his decision on Israel did buy him some additional months in office before the story burst forward fully.

This is because Khan was due to visit Israel to dialogue with Israel about its counterproofs to his allegations and at the last minute cancelled his visit, jumping on to CNN like a political campaigner instead of filing a legal brief with the ICC like a standard apolitical prosecutor.

Also, both camps reject the false defense by Khan that the sexual charges were trumped up by Israel to get rid of him. His accuser is a Malaysian woman who is strongly in favor of prosecuting Israel and who herself tried to suppress the issue from going criminal, until the controversy leaked. It definitely seems that Israel worked hard to raise scrutiny on the charges once they existed, but Khan literally made his own bed here.

However, the two camps then split somewhat about the next question: if Khan had been pushed to the side in May for the sexual allegations probe, would the ICC have still gone after Israel?

The first camp probably thinks no, whereas the second camp probably thinks yes.

Israel would have faced war crimes charges and arrest warrants regardless of Khan

Whether the first or second camp is right about how best to handle the ICC as a challenge will continue to be hotly debated, but all evidence the Jerusalem Post gathered at the relevant times from both ICC and Israeli legal sources indicated that Israel would have faced war crimes charges or arrest warrants anyway.

Look at what has happened since Khan took indefinite leave in mid-May 2025.

When the ICC Prosecution filed its first brief after Khan’s suspension to fight back against Israel on May 21, 2025, his deputy, Shameen Khan (no relation), signed the papers. Meaning there was little internal debate. If his subordinates had disagreed with his call, this would have been their moment to roll it back.

Also, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber itself endorsed Khan’s arrest warrants, albeit in a 2-1 split vote, making them even less dependent on Khan as an individual.

One perplexing aspect of Shameen Khan’s role in all of this is that she comes from Fiji, which has an awful human rights record.

In fact, Shameen Khan, according to local coverage of Fiji developments, was fired from the country’s High Court in a dispute over political coups.

She was then out of public service for some years until she was plucked up again to serve on the UN Human Rights Council and from there to the ICC office.

Without getting deeply into which side Shameen Khan was on, the point is that she is no stranger to politics mixing in with law, and comes from a country with a problematic version of democracy, all of which raises questions about how she will understand Israel’s complex context versus the Palestinians.

Israel is not free from ICC scrutiny

In any event, her signing on to continuing the Israeli arrest warrants showed that Khan’s extended leave from his position, and now his dismissal, did not free Israel from the ICC’s ongoing scrutiny.

After all of this, there was one way, and might still be one way, to freeze the ICC arrest warrants.

To date, the ICC has only issued public warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and three secret (leaked) warrants against Betzalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben Gvir, and one still unnamed IDF official.

The ICC was able to issue these warrants because all of Israel’s 100 criminal probes and 3,000 disciplinary probes are against lower and mid-ranked soldiers.

On May 4, 2024, weeks before Khan made his fateful decision, former deputy attorney-general for international affairs Roy Schondorf said that the best way that Israel could mitigate the potential war crimes allegations threat from the ICC would be by opening an external independent Israeli state inquiry to be led by a former judge.

Schondorf led Israel’s efforts to defend itself against war crimes and the ICC for about 13 years, until mid-2022, and is still viewed as one of Israel’s top experts on the issue, having also served for over a decade as an IDF lawyer.

Essentially, Schondorf’s suggestion was to adopt the Turkel Commission model, which Israel used to successfully ward off ICC scrutiny after the 2008-9 Gaza conflict, along with the UN Goldstone Commission Inquiry, which came after Israel was subsequently probed for alleged war crimes related to that conflict.

The Turkel Commission, led by former Supreme Court justice Jacob Turkel, evaluated Israel’s entire war crimes probing system and made several recommendations that eventually fundamentally altered the system to be more aggressive, faster, and transparent about such probes.

Much of the Israeli legal community backed Schondorf’s recommendation, but Netanyahu disregarded this recommendation.

Many Israeli lawyers have also pressed for Israel to publish more of its probe results and more rapidly as it did after past wars, but the Jerusalem Post has reported that various government parties have repeatedly delayed such publication.

The ICC has already damaged Israel’s reputation substantially. But opening such an inquiry before indictments are filed could still block such indictments permanently or delay them for years.

Until then, all of this is just plain ugly.

The ICC has tarnished its reputation because of Khan’s alleged sexual violations and how the court handled them.

Israel’s reputation has been tarred and feathered, whether the prosecutor is Karim Khan or Shameen Khan.

And while Israel may have a one-up for a few news cycles due to Karim Khan’s scandal, the battle over the war crimes charges is ugly, and they are not likely to go away if Israel does not alter strategies.

This post was originally published on here. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Russia is seeking an additional 30,000 North Korean troops for its war.

“We also see Russia’s cooperation with North Korea. Russia wants to receive another 30,000 troops from North Korea,” Zelensky said in his nightly address on Saturday. “Since June, preparations have been underway in Russia’s Voronezh region to receive them.”

He also alleged that North Korea will transfer additional launchers for ballistic missiles to Russia.

“This is a threat not only to Ukraine. Russia is helping North Korea learn how to wage war, improve its weapons, and gain real combat experience in using them,” he said.

“All of this is a threat to everyone in Asia who is within range of North Korean missiles.”

How many troops has North Korea sent to fight with Russia in Ukraine?

Ukrainian intelligence estimates that Pyongyang has sent between 12,000 and 14,000 soldiers in 2024 to help Russia’s assault on Kursk.

As many as 6,000 of them have died since then, The Guardian reported in April, citing South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence.

Several international media outlets have reported that North Korea has also sent laborers to Russia to work in slave-like conditions.

One worker told the BBC that he was chaperoned from the airport to a construction site in far-eastern Russia by a North Korean security agent, where he worked 18 hours a day with only two days off per year.

Another worker said that his supervisors wouldn’t allow him to check into a hospital after he gravely injured his face after falling four meters.

Notably, North Korea has not publicly stated the number of its troops lost in Russia, but Pyongyang’s supreme leader Kim Jong Un has mourned their losses.

“Ours is a heroic army … Our army has fully demonstrated its unique qualities. Such a result has cemented its appellation and reputation as the most powerful army in the world,” Kim said in August, according to KCNA.

Kim “highly appreciated their feats of leading the combat units of our armed forces, which participated in the operations to liberate the Kursk Region of the Russian Federation, to victory,” KCNA reported.

This post was originally published on here. 

Seven Palestinians were arrested on Saturday night following a violent incident near the Moreno Farm close to Beitar Illit in the West Bank, in which the suspects are alleged to have attacked an Israeli citizen.

Police received a report about a violent outbreak at the farm on Saturday evening, and determined upon investigation that the suspects likely approached a group of Israelis and instigated the fighting. One Israeli sustained minor injuries to his arm.

The suspects were all detained for further questioning following their arrest. 

When they searched the scene, Israeli security officials found assault weapons and incendiary materials hidden in the bushes, and seized them as evidence for the investigation. 

IDF bans Palestinian workers from Israeli settlements in West Bank after string of terror attacks

This comes as the IDF banned Palestinian workers from entering Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria after Palestinian terrorists carried out a string of attacks against Israeli residents of the West Bank throughout Thursday and Friday.

On Thursday morning, 51-year-old Itamar Cohen was seriously wounded after two Palestinians attacked him, stabbing him in the chest at the Derech Avraham Farm near Elon Moreh.

Later on Thursday, a terrorist stabbed a man in the leg in the Ganim area of the West Bank and was subsequently killed by IDF soldiers. 

On Friday morning, two Israelis, including an IDF officer, were killed and several others were lightly to seriously wounded in a terror shooting near Gilad Farm, a settlement located southwest of Nablus in the northern West Bank.

The two victims were later identified as 32-year-old Benayahu Melet and 27-year-old Major Yuval Ezra.

On Saturday, two Israeli men, one of them an active-duty soldier, were injured in a violent incident in the Susiya Junction near the Hebron Hills, West Bank, when a Palestinian man threw stones towards them and stole a weapon from them.

James Genn and Amir Bohbot contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

Biden administration officials have expressed regret that the former US president’s support for Israel ultimately “enabled” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to broaden the war in the region, according to a long-form New Yorker investigation published last week.

Several former officials told the New Yorker they now view the confrontation with Iran as a direct extension of the Gaza war.

In a detailed long-form report for the magazine, several former administration officials said that former president Joe Biden reportedly believed that any pressure that the US put on Israel during the war in Gaza would lead to bigger attacks from Iran. This would mean that the US would have to step in to defend Israel, even if it caused a larger regional war.

Biden’s former White House coordinator for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, argued that immovable support for Israel would help contain Iran, and warned against any “daylight” between the allies. 

Former Kamala Harris national security adviser Philip Gordon told the New Yorker that Washington created a “moral hazard” through its unconditional backing of Israel, allowing Netanyahu to steadily expand the conflict into other parts of the region. 

According to the New Yorker, doubts began to emerge about Israel’s strategy in Gaza almost as soon as the war started.

US officials were alarmed by Israel’s Gaza strategy at start of war

Inside the administration, officials were stunned by the scale of Israel’s opening air campaign. While the IDF maintained it was operating in accordance with international law, several officials questioned whether the intensity of the strikes could be reconciled with efforts to minimize civilian casualties.

The New York Times previously reported that Israel revised its rules of engagement after October 7, allowing mid-level officers to approve strikes risking up to 20 civilian deaths to eliminate a rank-and-file Hamas operative.

Notably, the IDF has never previously fully outlined what its redlines are in situations like these.

The Jerusalem Post learned in 2024 that the IDF has set ratios. It also views the message of the NYT report – that these ratios are essentially part of a carte-blanche strategy – as inaccurate.

The Post reported that the IDF’s view is that the NYT report confused various minimal parameters that may exist for setting at what level different-ranked IDF officials are mandated to sign off on certain strikes – with being the final call on approving a strike.

Officials questioned whether entire neighborhoods were being destroyed without sufficient distinction between military and civilian targets.

“We were all shocked at how aggressive and deadly it was, and asking, ‘What the f**k are they doing?'” one senior State Department official told the New Yorker.

Humanitarian aid quickly became another major source of conflict between Washington and Jerusalem.

After Hamas’s October 7 attack, Israel sealed Gaza’s crossings, with then-defense minister Yoav Gallant declaring a “complete siege.” 

“No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel, everything will be closed,” Gallant said. “We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly.”

Biden officials’ pleas to allow more aid into Gaza fell on deaf ears, report alleges

According to the New Yorker, Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Netanyahu and Gallant to allow aid into Gaza, arguing it was “a moral responsibility” as well as “a strategic imperative and a legal imperative.”

Netanyahu reportedly resisted until Blinken threatened to cancel Biden’s planned visit to Israel. Even then, Israel agreed only to limited aid deliveries through Rafah and, according to the report, Netanyahu wanted the decision kept quiet to avoid political backlash from Israelis who wanted no aid to enter Gaza. 

Soon afterward, Netanyahu publicly declared Israel “will not allow humanitarian assistance” from “our territory into the Gaza Strip.”

Aid negotiations became a constant feature of US-Israel contacts, with Blinken and Sullivan often negotiating the number of aid trucks entering Gaza and which supplies Israeli inspectors would permit.

Inspectors reportedly blocked items including fertilizer, tent poles, oxygen cylinders, X-ray machines and childbirth kits, while entire truckloads could be rejected if they contained a single prohibited item.

The disagreements extended beyond humanitarian aid.

While no senior Biden administration official questioned Israel’s right to respond to Hamas’s October 7 attack, officials increasingly believed the scope of the military campaign threatened broader US objectives in the region.

According to the New Yorker, Biden, Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan feared that an extended war would endanger US troops, complicate hostage negotiations and increase the risk of a regional conflict involving Iran and Hezbollah.

Those concerns emerged within days of the war.

Netanyahu reportedly ignored US requests to limit Israel-Hamas War to Gaza Strip

When Netanyahu ordered preparatory airstrikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Biden intervened directly, warning that the United States was not yet prepared for the consequences of a wider regional war. Netanyahu ultimately called off the operation.

During Biden’s visit to Israel days later, he publicly cautioned against allowing anger to dictate military decisions.

“While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it,” he said. “The vast majority of Palestinians are not Hamas.”

Behind the scenes, however, the administration urged Israel to narrow its military campaign.

American officials argued that a large-scale ground invasion of Gaza would complicate efforts to free the hostages and make Hamas more difficult to defeat. Instead, they advocated intelligence-driven operations modeled on US campaigns against ISIS and al-Qaeda, and even dispatched senior military officers to share battlefield experience with the IDF.

Israeli leaders remained unconvinced. 

According to New Yorker, former defense minister Benny Gantz outlined a vision in which Israeli troops would continue controlling security corridors across Gaza after the war so that “anyone looking into Gaza would see the backs of Israeli soldiers.”

Administration officials repeatedly pressed Netanyahu to explain what victory would look like and how Hamas could be defeated without a political alternative to replace it.

Blinken also warned Israeli leaders that military operations alone could not eliminate Hamas’s ideology.

When Netanyahu expanded his stated objective from destroying Hamas to achieving “total victory,” officials increasingly concluded the war had no clear endpoint.

By late 2023, frustration within the administration was mounting.

Austin warned that excessive civilian casualties would ultimately undermine Israel’s security.

“You create more terrorists,” he said.

Later, as the fighting intensified, he sharpened the warning.

“If you drive them into the arms of the enemy,” Austin said, “you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.”

Reportedly, everyone on the Biden team, including Austin, believed that Israel was killing more Gazan civilians than was necessary to achieve its goal of dismantling Hamas in Gaza.

One senior White House official told the New Yorker that the IDF “just operate totally differently than we [the US] operate as a ground force.”

Privately, officials also questioned whether they had any real leverage over Netanyahu.

“We tried, but we had no chance of success, in retrospect, because Netanyahu wasn’t talking to us; he was talking to his own public,” senior presidential adviser Amos Hochstein told the New Yorker.

The administration also came to believe it had misjudged Israel’s timetable.

Blinken: “I don’t want to hear that phrase ‘two more weeks’ ever again!” 

For months, Netanyahu and former strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer assured Washington that major combat operations were almost complete.

“Just two more weeks,” they repeatedly told US officials. 

Those assurances shaped Biden’s calculations.

“If it is just a few more weeks, why have a huge fight with Israel?” one official recalled.

Another added: “We thought that this could, would, and should be over in December.”

Instead, the campaign steadily expanded. 

After operations in northern Gaza, Blinken warned Israeli officials: “Don’t do in the south what you did in the north!”

Israel nevertheless launched major operations in Khan Yunis before preparing to move into Rafah.

When Sullivan warned Israeli officials that Rafah would be next, they insisted otherwise.

“No, no, no, we are not going to go after Rafah!”

Within weeks, Netanyahu announced plans for an operation there.

Several former officials said they eventually concluded the repeated promises of “two more weeks” were designed to delay a confrontation with Washington until facts on the ground had changed.

By early 2024, Blinken had lost patience.

“I don’t want to hear that phrase ‘two more weeks’ ever again!” he told Dermer.

“OK,” Dermer replied, “I will say ‘fortnight.'”

Blinken later acknowledged he never fully determined whether Israeli officials had genuinely believed their own timelines.

“Were they being genuine, or were they being disingenuous?” he told the New Yorker. “I think it’s a combination. I would take them at their word, certainly into very early ’24—less so as time went on, and that was a huge frustration.” 

As civilian casualties mounted, the administration turned to a question it had largely avoided during the war’s opening months: whether US military aid should be used as leverage.

Biden’s failed effort to change Netanyahu’s course in Gaza War

Officials debated withholding some offensive weapons, particularly the 2,000-pound bombs used in densely populated areas, while others urged Biden to publicly challenge Netanyahu directly.

One proposal called for Biden to deliver a televised address to the Israeli public arguing that an unlimited war would isolate Israel internationally, jeopardize hostage negotiations and undermine prospects for regional normalization.

The speech was never delivered.

Privately, Biden administration officials would push Netanyahu on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“No one’s going anywhere, no matter what some people on both sides want. So how does this end?” The former secretary of state reportedly told the prime minister.

But publicly, the White House adopted what one official described as a “no daylight” strategy, continuing to pressure Israel privately while avoiding an open breach with Netanyahu.

That approach began to unravel as the war dragged on and Israeli operations expanded despite repeated US objections.

By early 2024, the administration had begun openly debating whether continued military aid could be used to influence Israeli policy.

As civilian casualties mounted and humanitarian conditions deteriorated, officials considered withholding offensive weapons, particularly the 2,000-pound bombs used in densely populated areas. Others argued Biden should publicly confront Netanyahu after months of relying almost exclusively on private diplomacy.

The debate intensified after Sen. Chris Van Hollen pushed legislation requiring the administration to certify that recipients of US weapons were complying with international humanitarian law. Rather than oppose the measure, the White House incorporated much of its language into National Security Memorandum 20, which requires the State Department to assess whether countries receiving American weapons comply with the laws of war.

When did Biden’s approach to Israel change?

At the same time, Biden’s public tone toward Israel began to shift.

He described Israel’s military campaign as “over the top,” saying innocent civilians were “starving” and “dying.” Privately, he warned Netanyahu not to launch an operation in Rafah without an “executable plan” to protect the more than one million Palestinians sheltering there.

The turning point came after an Israeli strike on April 1, 2024, killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including a dual US-Canadian citizen.

For the first time, Biden publicly warned that future US support would depend on Israel taking “specific, concrete, and measurable steps” to reduce civilian suffering. 

Blinken also sent former defense minister Yoav Gallant a previously undisclosed letter warning that continued military assistance would depend on Israel’s compliance with US laws governing humanitarian aid and civilian protection.

When the State Department completed its legal review weeks later, it exposed deep divisions within the administration.

According to the New Yorker, several bureaus concluded Israel had likely used American weapons in ways inconsistent with the laws of war or had obstructed humanitarian aid. Others argued the available evidence did not justify suspending military assistance.

The disagreement became public after reports emerged that the administration had paused deliveries of thousands of 2,000-pound bombs.

Biden acknowledged the decision in an interview with CNN.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs,” he said. “If they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons.”

Despite the warning, the New Yorker reports that Biden approved the transfer of accompanying shipments of 500-pound bombs after rejecting proposals for a broader suspension of military aid.

Did Biden officials believe Israel committed war crimes in Gaza

Officials also struggled with a legal question that remained unresolved throughout the war.

Government lawyers concluded they lacked sufficient evidence to determine whether specific Israeli strikes constituted war crimes, despite widespread concern over civilian casualties.

One lawyer summarized the administration’s dilemma.

“We don’t have definitive proof, but we are very concerned that Israel is committing war crimes.”

The State Department ultimately concluded it was “reasonable to assess” that Israel had used US weapons in ways “inconsistent” with international humanitarian law, but said the evidence was insufficient to suspend military assistance.

Some officials believed the administration had missed its best opportunity to influence Israeli policy.

Former Harris advisor Gordon argued National Security Memorandum 20 “could have been, and should have been, the tool that we used to get the Israelis to do things differently.”

Instead, he said, after the report’s release, “they knew that we wouldn’t.”

Officials involved in ceasefire negotiations also concluded that Netanyahu was prolonging the war for domestic political reasons.

According to the New Yorker, Biden abandoned plans to deliver a tougher public address after Israeli officials indicated they were prepared to pursue a phased ceasefire and hostage agreement. But several former officials said Netanyahu later added new conditions after Hamas signaled it was prepared to move forward.

“Bibi was playing games,” one former White House official told the magazine.

Blinken and Austin later warned Israel that continued restrictions on humanitarian aid could trigger another review of US military assistance. Israel briefly increased aid deliveries, but after Donald Trump’s election victory in November 2024, the administration’s remaining leverage largely disappeared.

Looking back, former officials offered sharply different assessments of their own record.

Some believed sustained US pressure prevented an even greater humanitarian disaster by increasing aid deliveries and encouraging civilian evacuations.

Others concluded the administration’s reluctance to confront Netanyahu publicly prolonged the conflict without substantially changing Israeli policy.

Blinken acknowledged the human cost of the war.

“How can you not have regrets given the toll that this took on innocent men, women and children?” he told the New Yorker.

He nevertheless defended the administration’s intentions, repeating a phrase he often attributed to Biden: “Question my judgments. Don’t question my motives.”

Sullivan said officials repeatedly weighed whether to break more decisively with Israel, but each option carried significant risks.

“We’d get progress and backsliding, progress and backsliding, over and over again,” he said.

“What about the hostages? What about Israel under attack from all sides? What effect would it have on the ceasefire talks and bringing this god-awful war to an end?”

By the administration’s final months, officials prepared one last internal memorandum questioning the military necessity of Israel’s continued operations and warning of “grave concerns” over the starvation and displacement of civilians.

But by that point, it was too late. Trump was already on the way to the White House. 

This post was originally published on here. 

Biden administration officials have expressed regret that the former US president’s support for Israel ultimately “enabled” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to broaden the war in the region, according to a long-form New Yorker investigation published last week.

Several former officials told the New Yorker they now view the confrontation with Iran as a direct extension of the Gaza war.

In a detailed long-form report for the magazine, several former administration officials said that former president Joe Biden reportedly believed that any pressure that the US put on Israel during the war in Gaza would lead to bigger attacks from Iran. This would mean that the US would have to step in to defend Israel, even if it caused a larger regional war.

Biden’s former White House coordinator for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, argued that immovable support for Israel would help contain Iran, and warned against any “daylight” between the allies. 

Former Kamala Harris national security adviser Philip Gordon told the New Yorker that Washington created a “moral hazard” through its unconditional backing of Israel, allowing Netanyahu to steadily expand the conflict into other parts of the region. 

According to the New Yorker, doubts began to emerge about Israel’s strategy in Gaza almost as soon as the war started.

US officials were alarmed by Israel’s Gaza strategy at start of war

Inside the administration, officials were stunned by the scale of Israel’s opening air campaign. While the IDF maintained it was operating in accordance with international law, several officials questioned whether the intensity of the strikes could be reconciled with efforts to minimize civilian casualties.

The New York Times previously reported that Israel revised its rules of engagement after October 7, allowing mid-level officers to approve strikes risking up to 20 civilian deaths to eliminate a rank-and-file Hamas operative.

Notably, the IDF has never previously fully outlined what its redlines are in situations like these.

The Jerusalem Post learned in 2024 that the IDF has set ratios. It also views the message of the NYT report – that these ratios are essentially part of a carte-blanche strategy – as inaccurate.

The Post reported that the IDF’s view is that the NYT report confused various minimal parameters that may exist for setting at what level different-ranked IDF officials are mandated to sign off on certain strikes – with being the final call on approving a strike.

Officials questioned whether entire neighborhoods were being destroyed without sufficient distinction between military and civilian targets.

“We were all shocked at how aggressive and deadly it was, and asking, ‘What the f**k are they doing?'” one senior State Department official told the New Yorker.

Humanitarian aid quickly became another major source of conflict between Washington and Jerusalem.

After Hamas’s October 7 attack, Israel sealed Gaza’s crossings, with then-defense minister Yoav Gallant declaring a “complete siege.” 

“No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel, everything will be closed,” Gallant said. “We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly.”

Biden officials’ pleas to allow more aid into Gaza fell on deaf ears, report alleges

According to the New Yorker, Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Netanyahu and Gallant to allow aid into Gaza, arguing it was “a moral responsibility” as well as “a strategic imperative and a legal imperative.”

Netanyahu reportedly resisted until Blinken threatened to cancel Biden’s planned visit to Israel. Even then, Israel agreed only to limited aid deliveries through Rafah and, according to the report, Netanyahu wanted the decision kept quiet to avoid political backlash from Israelis who wanted no aid to enter Gaza. 

Soon afterward, Netanyahu publicly declared Israel “will not allow humanitarian assistance” from “our territory into the Gaza Strip.”

Aid negotiations became a constant feature of US-Israel contacts, with Blinken and Sullivan often negotiating the number of aid trucks entering Gaza and which supplies Israeli inspectors would permit.

Inspectors reportedly blocked items including fertilizer, tent poles, oxygen cylinders, X-ray machines and childbirth kits, while entire truckloads could be rejected if they contained a single prohibited item.

The disagreements extended beyond humanitarian aid.

While no senior Biden administration official questioned Israel’s right to respond to Hamas’s October 7 attack, officials increasingly believed the scope of the military campaign threatened broader US objectives in the region.

According to the New Yorker, Biden, Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan feared that an extended war would endanger US troops, complicate hostage negotiations and increase the risk of a regional conflict involving Iran and Hezbollah.

Those concerns emerged within days of the war.

Netanyahu reportedly ignored US requests to limit Israel-Hamas War to Gaza Strip

When Netanyahu ordered preparatory airstrikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Biden intervened directly, warning that the United States was not yet prepared for the consequences of a wider regional war. Netanyahu ultimately called off the operation.

During Biden’s visit to Israel days later, he publicly cautioned against allowing anger to dictate military decisions.

“While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it,” he said. “The vast majority of Palestinians are not Hamas.”

Behind the scenes, however, the administration urged Israel to narrow its military campaign.

American officials argued that a large-scale ground invasion of Gaza would complicate efforts to free the hostages and make Hamas more difficult to defeat. Instead, they advocated intelligence-driven operations modeled on US campaigns against ISIS and al-Qaeda, and even dispatched senior military officers to share battlefield experience with the IDF.

Israeli leaders remained unconvinced. 

According to New Yorker, former defense minister Benny Gantz outlined a vision in which Israeli troops would continue controlling security corridors across Gaza after the war so that “anyone looking into Gaza would see the backs of Israeli soldiers.”

Administration officials repeatedly pressed Netanyahu to explain what victory would look like and how Hamas could be defeated without a political alternative to replace it.

Blinken also warned Israeli leaders that military operations alone could not eliminate Hamas’s ideology.

When Netanyahu expanded his stated objective from destroying Hamas to achieving “total victory,” officials increasingly concluded the war had no clear endpoint.

By late 2023, frustration within the administration was mounting.

Austin warned that excessive civilian casualties would ultimately undermine Israel’s security.

“You create more terrorists,” he said.

Later, as the fighting intensified, he sharpened the warning.

“If you drive them into the arms of the enemy,” Austin said, “you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.”

Reportedly, everyone on the Biden team, including Austin, believed that Israel was killing more Gazan civilians than was necessary to achieve its goal of dismantling Hamas in Gaza.

One senior White House official told the New Yorker that the IDF “just operate totally differently than we [the US] operate as a ground force.”

Privately, officials also questioned whether they had any real leverage over Netanyahu.

“We tried, but we had no chance of success, in retrospect, because Netanyahu wasn’t talking to us; he was talking to his own public,” senior presidential adviser Amos Hochstein told the New Yorker.

The administration also came to believe it had misjudged Israel’s timetable.

Blinken: “I don’t want to hear that phrase ‘two more weeks’ ever again!” 

For months, Netanyahu and former strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer assured Washington that major combat operations were almost complete.

“Just two more weeks,” they repeatedly told US officials. 

Those assurances shaped Biden’s calculations.

“If it is just a few more weeks, why have a huge fight with Israel?” one official recalled.

Another added: “We thought that this could, would, and should be over in December.”

Instead, the campaign steadily expanded. 

After operations in northern Gaza, Blinken warned Israeli officials: “Don’t do in the south what you did in the north!”

Israel nevertheless launched major operations in Khan Yunis before preparing to move into Rafah.

When Sullivan warned Israeli officials that Rafah would be next, they insisted otherwise.

“No, no, no, we are not going to go after Rafah!”

Within weeks, Netanyahu announced plans for an operation there.

Several former officials said they eventually concluded the repeated promises of “two more weeks” were designed to delay a confrontation with Washington until facts on the ground had changed.

By early 2024, Blinken had lost patience.

“I don’t want to hear that phrase ‘two more weeks’ ever again!” he told Dermer.

“OK,” Dermer replied, “I will say ‘fortnight.'”

Blinken later acknowledged he never fully determined whether Israeli officials had genuinely believed their own timelines.

“Were they being genuine, or were they being disingenuous?” he told the New Yorker. “I think it’s a combination. I would take them at their word, certainly into very early ’24—less so as time went on, and that was a huge frustration.” 

As civilian casualties mounted, the administration turned to a question it had largely avoided during the war’s opening months: whether US military aid should be used as leverage.

Biden’s failed effort to change Netanyahu’s course in Gaza War

Officials debated withholding some offensive weapons, particularly the 2,000-pound bombs used in densely populated areas, while others urged Biden to publicly challenge Netanyahu directly.

One proposal called for Biden to deliver a televised address to the Israeli public arguing that an unlimited war would isolate Israel internationally, jeopardize hostage negotiations and undermine prospects for regional normalization.

The speech was never delivered.

Privately, Biden administration officials would push Netanyahu on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“No one’s going anywhere, no matter what some people on both sides want. So how does this end?” The former secretary of state reportedly told the prime minister.

But publicly, the White House adopted what one official described as a “no daylight” strategy, continuing to pressure Israel privately while avoiding an open breach with Netanyahu.

That approach began to unravel as the war dragged on and Israeli operations expanded despite repeated US objections.

By early 2024, the administration had begun openly debating whether continued military aid could be used to influence Israeli policy.

As civilian casualties mounted and humanitarian conditions deteriorated, officials considered withholding offensive weapons, particularly the 2,000-pound bombs used in densely populated areas. Others argued Biden should publicly confront Netanyahu after months of relying almost exclusively on private diplomacy.

The debate intensified after Sen. Chris Van Hollen pushed legislation requiring the administration to certify that recipients of US weapons were complying with international humanitarian law. Rather than oppose the measure, the White House incorporated much of its language into National Security Memorandum 20, which requires the State Department to assess whether countries receiving American weapons comply with the laws of war.

When did Biden’s approach to Israel change?

At the same time, Biden’s public tone toward Israel began to shift.

He described Israel’s military campaign as “over the top,” saying innocent civilians were “starving” and “dying.” Privately, he warned Netanyahu not to launch an operation in Rafah without an “executable plan” to protect the more than one million Palestinians sheltering there.

The turning point came after an Israeli strike on April 1, 2024, killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including a dual US-Canadian citizen.

For the first time, Biden publicly warned that future US support would depend on Israel taking “specific, concrete, and measurable steps” to reduce civilian suffering. 

Blinken also sent former defense minister Yoav Gallant a previously undisclosed letter warning that continued military assistance would depend on Israel’s compliance with US laws governing humanitarian aid and civilian protection.

When the State Department completed its legal review weeks later, it exposed deep divisions within the administration.

According to the New Yorker, several bureaus concluded Israel had likely used American weapons in ways inconsistent with the laws of war or had obstructed humanitarian aid. Others argued the available evidence did not justify suspending military assistance.

The disagreement became public after reports emerged that the administration had paused deliveries of thousands of 2,000-pound bombs.

Biden acknowledged the decision in an interview with CNN.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs,” he said. “If they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons.”

Despite the warning, the New Yorker reports that Biden approved the transfer of accompanying shipments of 500-pound bombs after rejecting proposals for a broader suspension of military aid.

Did Biden officials believe Israel committed war crimes in Gaza

Officials also struggled with a legal question that remained unresolved throughout the war.

Government lawyers concluded they lacked sufficient evidence to determine whether specific Israeli strikes constituted war crimes, despite widespread concern over civilian casualties.

One lawyer summarized the administration’s dilemma.

“We don’t have definitive proof, but we are very concerned that Israel is committing war crimes.”

The State Department ultimately concluded it was “reasonable to assess” that Israel had used US weapons in ways “inconsistent” with international humanitarian law, but said the evidence was insufficient to suspend military assistance.

Some officials believed the administration had missed its best opportunity to influence Israeli policy.

Former Harris advisor Gordon argued National Security Memorandum 20 “could have been, and should have been, the tool that we used to get the Israelis to do things differently.”

Instead, he said, after the report’s release, “they knew that we wouldn’t.”

Officials involved in ceasefire negotiations also concluded that Netanyahu was prolonging the war for domestic political reasons.

According to the New Yorker, Biden abandoned plans to deliver a tougher public address after Israeli officials indicated they were prepared to pursue a phased ceasefire and hostage agreement. But several former officials said Netanyahu later added new conditions after Hamas signaled it was prepared to move forward.

“Bibi was playing games,” one former White House official told the magazine.

Blinken and Austin later warned Israel that continued restrictions on humanitarian aid could trigger another review of US military assistance. Israel briefly increased aid deliveries, but after Donald Trump’s election victory in November 2024, the administration’s remaining leverage largely disappeared.

Looking back, former officials offered sharply different assessments of their own record.

Some believed sustained US pressure prevented an even greater humanitarian disaster by increasing aid deliveries and encouraging civilian evacuations.

Others concluded the administration’s reluctance to confront Netanyahu publicly prolonged the conflict without substantially changing Israeli policy.

Blinken acknowledged the human cost of the war.

“How can you not have regrets given the toll that this took on innocent men, women and children?” he told the New Yorker.

He nevertheless defended the administration’s intentions, repeating a phrase he often attributed to Biden: “Question my judgments. Don’t question my motives.”

Sullivan said officials repeatedly weighed whether to break more decisively with Israel, but each option carried significant risks.

“We’d get progress and backsliding, progress and backsliding, over and over again,” he said.

“What about the hostages? What about Israel under attack from all sides? What effect would it have on the ceasefire talks and bringing this god-awful war to an end?”

By the administration’s final months, officials prepared one last internal memorandum questioning the military necessity of Israel’s continued operations and warning of “grave concerns” over the starvation and displacement of civilians.

But by that point, it was too late. Trump was already on the way to the White House. 

This post was originally published on here. 

The lights are up in the Jaffa music video set. The crew is assembled and busy with its work. Camera and lighting producers are present. The style team is arranging accessories, the still photographer is catching playful moments, and the extras are laughing while they jump around on the leather couches.

This is all the direction, design, and vision of international music artist Nicole Raviv.

Raviv is in full-blown pop-star character as she flirts with the camera. She then laughs as she jumps onto the coffee table. It is set with authentic props – a Moroccan tea set that once belonged to her grandmother; a tray of sunflower seeds, because it’s Israel’s national snack. Stylish young women in colorful kerchiefs flow with Raviv as she takes them through the scene at one of three shooting locations.

Her new song “Hayati” is playing loudly on repeat. Raviv sings over it. In Arabic. Then in English. Then in Arabic again.

The single is part of an album expected to be released by the end of 2026. “Hayati” is Arabic for “my life.” It’s equally as popular in the Arab world as its Hebrew equivalent – “haim sheli” used as a term of endearment by Israelis everywhere. The song is a flirtatious, sun-soaked pop anthem that blends modern production with Middle Eastern sounds. It’s a love song. And it’s about a woman calling for her love to take the reins, claim her, and display his love.

Raviv realizes she was constantly translating, not between languages but identities

The music video moves through Jaffa’s colorful streets, stopping for hummus, wandering through carpet shops, and lingering over details that are both unmistakably Israeli and, according to Raviv, deeply personal. It’s catchy enough to become the summer’s soundtrack.

But beneath the polished visuals is a story that took decades to write, with many of the pages having been turned in different places.

“I’ve had a really long artistic journey to get to this point,” Raviv told the Magazine. “I needed to try different styles before I understood what was actually true to me.”

The journey began thousands of kilometers away in suburban Montreal, where Raviv spent her childhood bouncing between her mother’s Romanian phone calls and replying to her parents in Hebrew and measuring up to the French board at primary school.

She calls herself a “third culture kid,” a term used to describe children raised between cultures in a new and foreign country to their parents. Hebrew filled the house because her parents were raised in Israel, despite her mother being born in Romania and her father in Morocco. Even though they were up against cultural battles – dealing with an environment where Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews didn’t typically end up married. The teenage couple had to push their folks to accept their love.

They had met on the stage of a theatrical youth production in Jaffa in the 1970s, performing as actors in an original Hebrew play called The Panther, based on the Mizrahi Jews’ HaPanterim HaShchorim (The Black Panthers) protest movement. The Black Panthers worked to call out ethnic discrimination against the Middle Eastern/North African Jews, who found themselves operating within an Ashkenazi-dominated Israeli society. 

Raviv’s parents’ story defied the stereotypes of their day, and, in fact, they lived out the greater message of the show… after having a performance kiss that would set the stage for a lifetime of real-world love. The young couple went on to become dentists in Israel and later raised a family in Montreal. 

“I could answer the phone in English, hang up, and immediately switch to Hebrew,” she said. “Then my grandparents would call, and another language would come into the conversation.”

Raviv remembers her father telling her grandparents not to speak to her in Arabic, because she wouldn’t understand.

“Which part of this is mine? What is theirs? And what do I wanna keep from each side?” Raviv asked.

For years, she didn’t think of those experiences as something artistic. They were simply her norm. Looking back, however, she realizes she was constantly translating – not only between languages but between identities.

Like many young performers with Broadway dreams, Raviv packed her bags for New York after she turned 18. She enrolled in a musical theater college, determined to build a professional career in one of the world’s most competitive entertainment capitals. 

New York delivered discipline, resilience, ethic

New York delivered exactly what she hoped it would. She learned discipline, resilience, and the relentless work ethic required to survive and earn a buck in the industry. She sang at weddings, played character roles at Ellen’s Stardust Diner for hungry Broadway lovers in Times Square, and got tapped to join a jazz band with Billy Joel’s original saxophone player, Richie Cannata.

She landed major singing opportunities, including performing the national anthem for the NFL’s New York Jets and serving as the exclusive anthem singer for every home game of hockey’s New York Islanders for two seasons. In under a decade, she built a résumé that many aspiring performers spend a lifetime chasing. But there’s one thing that the big city didn’t give her. An artistic voice.

“As a singer, you’re delivering somebody else’s material,” Raviv explained. “You’re telling somebody else’s story. As an artist, you have to stop worrying whether people understand you. You have to express what you actually feel.”

It was in Israel where she truly did that.

After making aliyah and moving to Tel Aviv in 2021, Raviv would also move away from the identity of “singer” into what she considers the identity of an “artist.”

Mizrahi music poured from cafés and taxis. Arabic rhythms drifted through markets. Traditional instruments that had once sounded folky now felt strongly connected to her own family history.

Instead of borrowing the new sounds, Raviv decided to study them – and claim them.

She enrolled in music school at Al Sheikh in Tel Aviv’s Yemenite Quarter and spent nearly three years immersing herself in Middle Eastern musical traditions, for which the school specializes. She studied maqamat, the melodic system that forms the backbone of Arabic music, listened to Lebanese and Egyptian repertoire, explored Andalusian influences, and learned alongside musicians who had grown up with these sounds.

“I didn’t want to fake it,” she said. “If I was going to use these musical elements, I wanted to understand where they came from.”

Those years happened almost entirely out of the spotlight.

In an era when artists are expected to constantly show up on social media, release content and new music every few weeks, and remain permanently visible online, Raviv deliberately stepped back.

“I took a break from industry expectations,” she said. “But not from working.”

She wasn’t lost, though at moments it felt like it. She was preparing. Writing songs. Seeking to recreate the creative professional team she had grown to rely on and express herself with in New York. She finally found them – two music producers named Ben Shopen and Doron Plascow, a sound engineer she met at Shabbat dinner, Israel’s finest instrumentalists pulled from her paid gigs, fellow creatives she could draw energy from, and other Israeli talent with whom she would share the stage sometimes while on the road.

Then she became a mother.

And a moment later, she was living through war.

Suddenly, the planned timeline for a new album wasn’t as important anymore.

“Motherhood during a war will mess you up,” she said with a laugh that quickly turned serious.

Pregnancy, a newborn, canceled performances, and the emotional weight of life in Israel forced Raviv to slow down in ways she hadn’t expected. However, motherhood, she says, stripped away many of the insecurities that had quietly followed her throughout various stages.

“I stopped caring so much about other people’s opinions,” she said. “I started asking myself what kind of artist I actually wanted to be.”

Those questions became even more meaningful after her daughter was born.

“I want her to feel like she can do whatever she wants,” Raviv said. “I want her to be proud that she’s Jewish. Proud that she was born in Israel. Proud of where our family came from.”

Before the baby was born, Raviv had an album written and a handful of demos recorded. Following the birth and Oct. 7, some songs on the album no longer resonated. But “Hayati” still did.

The song is being called the “summer banger” by listeners and social media followers who had been getting a taste of the music through released video shorts on Instagram while awaiting the song’s final release at the end of June.

Working with her stylist Lioz Cohen, Raviv opened her closet and quite literally sorted through the chapters of her life to make the video happen. One item immediately stood out: the jerseys she wore while singing at New York sporting events years earlier. They had made it into the suitcases when Raviv and her husband packed up their lift for Israel. Instead of leaving them behind as relics of her previous chapter, she brought them into the video, layering them with lace, silk trousers, and Middle Eastern costume jewelry sourced from her mother’s jewelry box.

“It’s layering my identities,” she said.

Even the decision to film in Jaffa carried symbolic weight. This ancient port city is a host to multiple cultures, religions, and languages. It mirrors the story Raviv wants her music to tell.

Jaffa a place where different cultures live together

“I didn’t choose Jaffa only because it’s beautiful,” she said. “It’s a place where different cultures live together. That’s the Israel I want people to see.”

For an international audience, that message matters.

Before releasing “Hayati,” Raviv built a growing online following by translating Israeli pop songs into English. She translated and sang Omer Adam’s “Malkat Hador” (“Queen of the Generation”), Noam Bettan’s 2026 Eurovision submission and runner-up “Michelle” (which mixes three languages), and pop sensation Eden Ben Zaken’s “Rolex v’ Casquette” (“A Rolex and a Visor Cap”).

The project quickly resonated with Diaspora audiences who love and desire Israeli music but don’t honestly understand the lyrics.

“They were thirsty for the culture,” she said. “I think that by showing these Israeli visuals and by showing Judaism in my own way in my own cool, sexy, fun way …that it humanizes us. I think it gives us a unique and beautiful portrayal of who we can be versus the headlines and what is being said about this region in a negative way.”

Raviv says she is calling on more people to tell their stories through their art.

“We are the light to the nations,” Raviv said.  

The positive feedback through views and comments on social media shows that there is an appetite for Israeli culture beyond politics and breaking news. And not just from Jews. People of all faiths and backgrounds gave the video their time.

And that’s exactly what Raviv plans to bring overseas once her upcoming album is complete.

Her vision isn’t just to host a concert of her own original music, but to bring an authentic, modern, and sexy Israeli experience to people who previously understood Israel to be greasy falafel and “Hava Nagila.”

“I want people to feel like they just stepped into our world,” she said.

She imagines audiences walking into a venue that feels like Tel Aviv for an evening, complete with live Middle Eastern instruments, modern pop production, dancers, collaborations, and perhaps even food. The goal isn’t simply entertainment. It’s an invitation to Israel today – a place that many haven’t set foot in since Oct. 7.

That world, however, does include Arabic.

For some artists, releasing a song featuring Arabic lyrics in today’s climate feels risky. Since Oct. 7, language itself has become emotionally charged for many Israelis.

“It’s just what this mood is about… and this mood needed Arabic in it,” Raviv explained.

Haaretz published a magazine article in 2025 covering some Arab Israelis in Haifa. The characters noted that they had decided to stop speaking Hebrew in the wake of mounting Arab-Jewish tension in the country. Similarly, many with Arab backgrounds (especially from Yemen) have denounced their country of origin (or parents’ country of origin) in the wake of the attacks from the Houthis, which attracted nationwide support and antisemitism throughout Yemen.

Raviv understands this new reality. Before Oct. 7, she had visited her father’s hometown in Morocco on a family trip for his 70th birthday. She recounts the experience as having been warm and friendly with Muslim Moroccans, telling her they missed the Jewish community, which used to light up their neighborhoods decades ago.

Before the State of Israel gained independence, some 300,000 Jews lived in Morocco. Today, there are only a couple of thousand. Morocco had the most Jews in any Arab country in modern times.

Raviv expected criticism when she released “Hayati” and considered someone might accuse her of cultural appropriation… or suggest Arabic wasn’t hers to use.

Instead, she found something else.

“So far, it’s actually been incredibly positive. I don’t want people to be afraid of a language,” said Raviv. “I’m in a place where I’m deciding not to play it safe and to take risks as an artist.”

Looking around the set during the filming of “Hayati,” all of Raviv’s identities coexist.

The tea glasses sit beside sneakers.

Arabic blends into English.

A New York football jersey shares the screen with a kaftan from Morocco.

Years ago, Raviv thought she had to choose between those worlds. Now she understands that the magic happens when they all appear in the same frame.

“Hayati” is the sound of an artist who finally stopped trying to fit into someone else’s musical category.

“Hayati,” or “My Life,” is a simple yet great English translation for a song title… that actually represents Raviv’s new genre all too perfectly.

This post was originally published on here. 

The lights are up in the Jaffa music video set. The crew is assembled and busy with its work. Camera and lighting producers are present. The style team is arranging accessories, the still photographer is catching playful moments, and the extras are laughing while they jump around on the leather couches.

This is all the direction, design, and vision of international music artist Nicole Raviv.

Raviv is in full-blown pop-star character as she flirts with the camera. She then laughs as she jumps onto the coffee table. It is set with authentic props – a Moroccan tea set that once belonged to her grandmother; a tray of sunflower seeds, because it’s Israel’s national snack. Stylish young women in colorful kerchiefs flow with Raviv as she takes them through the scene at one of three shooting locations.

Her new song “Hayati” is playing loudly on repeat. Raviv sings over it. In Arabic. Then in English. Then in Arabic again.

The single is part of an album expected to be released by the end of 2026. “Hayati” is Arabic for “my life.” It’s equally as popular in the Arab world as its Hebrew equivalent – “haim sheli” used as a term of endearment by Israelis everywhere. The song is a flirtatious, sun-soaked pop anthem that blends modern production with Middle Eastern sounds. It’s a love song. And it’s about a woman calling for her love to take the reins, claim her, and display his love.

Raviv realizes she was constantly translating, not between languages but identities

The music video moves through Jaffa’s colorful streets, stopping for hummus, wandering through carpet shops, and lingering over details that are both unmistakably Israeli and, according to Raviv, deeply personal. It’s catchy enough to become the summer’s soundtrack.

But beneath the polished visuals is a story that took decades to write, with many of the pages having been turned in different places.

“I’ve had a really long artistic journey to get to this point,” Raviv told the Magazine. “I needed to try different styles before I understood what was actually true to me.”

The journey began thousands of kilometers away in suburban Montreal, where Raviv spent her childhood bouncing between her mother’s Romanian phone calls and replying to her parents in Hebrew and measuring up to the French board at primary school.

She calls herself a “third culture kid,” a term used to describe children raised between cultures in a new and foreign country to their parents. Hebrew filled the house because her parents were raised in Israel, despite her mother being born in Romania and her father in Morocco. Even though they were up against cultural battles – dealing with an environment where Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews didn’t typically end up married. The teenage couple had to push their folks to accept their love.

They had met on the stage of a theatrical youth production in Jaffa in the 1970s, performing as actors in an original Hebrew play called The Panther, based on the Mizrahi Jews’ HaPanterim HaShchorim (The Black Panthers) protest movement. The Black Panthers worked to call out ethnic discrimination against the Middle Eastern/North African Jews, who found themselves operating within an Ashkenazi-dominated Israeli society. 

Raviv’s parents’ story defied the stereotypes of their day, and, in fact, they lived out the greater message of the show… after having a performance kiss that would set the stage for a lifetime of real-world love. The young couple went on to become dentists in Israel and later raised a family in Montreal. 

“I could answer the phone in English, hang up, and immediately switch to Hebrew,” she said. “Then my grandparents would call, and another language would come into the conversation.”

Raviv remembers her father telling her grandparents not to speak to her in Arabic, because she wouldn’t understand.

“Which part of this is mine? What is theirs? And what do I wanna keep from each side?” Raviv asked.

For years, she didn’t think of those experiences as something artistic. They were simply her norm. Looking back, however, she realizes she was constantly translating – not only between languages but between identities.

Like many young performers with Broadway dreams, Raviv packed her bags for New York after she turned 18. She enrolled in a musical theater college, determined to build a professional career in one of the world’s most competitive entertainment capitals. 

New York delivered discipline, resilience, ethic

New York delivered exactly what she hoped it would. She learned discipline, resilience, and the relentless work ethic required to survive and earn a buck in the industry. She sang at weddings, played character roles at Ellen’s Stardust Diner for hungry Broadway lovers in Times Square, and got tapped to join a jazz band with Billy Joel’s original saxophone player, Richie Cannata.

She landed major singing opportunities, including performing the national anthem for the NFL’s New York Jets and serving as the exclusive anthem singer for every home game of hockey’s New York Islanders for two seasons. In under a decade, she built a résumé that many aspiring performers spend a lifetime chasing. But there’s one thing that the big city didn’t give her. An artistic voice.

“As a singer, you’re delivering somebody else’s material,” Raviv explained. “You’re telling somebody else’s story. As an artist, you have to stop worrying whether people understand you. You have to express what you actually feel.”

It was in Israel where she truly did that.

After making aliyah and moving to Tel Aviv in 2021, Raviv would also move away from the identity of “singer” into what she considers the identity of an “artist.”

Mizrahi music poured from cafés and taxis. Arabic rhythms drifted through markets. Traditional instruments that had once sounded folky now felt strongly connected to her own family history.

Instead of borrowing the new sounds, Raviv decided to study them – and claim them.

She enrolled in music school at Al Sheikh in Tel Aviv’s Yemenite Quarter and spent nearly three years immersing herself in Middle Eastern musical traditions, for which the school specializes. She studied maqamat, the melodic system that forms the backbone of Arabic music, listened to Lebanese and Egyptian repertoire, explored Andalusian influences, and learned alongside musicians who had grown up with these sounds.

“I didn’t want to fake it,” she said. “If I was going to use these musical elements, I wanted to understand where they came from.”

Those years happened almost entirely out of the spotlight.

In an era when artists are expected to constantly show up on social media, release content and new music every few weeks, and remain permanently visible online, Raviv deliberately stepped back.

“I took a break from industry expectations,” she said. “But not from working.”

She wasn’t lost, though at moments it felt like it. She was preparing. Writing songs. Seeking to recreate the creative professional team she had grown to rely on and express herself with in New York. She finally found them – two music producers named Ben Shopen and Doron Plascow, a sound engineer she met at Shabbat dinner, Israel’s finest instrumentalists pulled from her paid gigs, fellow creatives she could draw energy from, and other Israeli talent with whom she would share the stage sometimes while on the road.

Then she became a mother.

And a moment later, she was living through war.

Suddenly, the planned timeline for a new album wasn’t as important anymore.

“Motherhood during a war will mess you up,” she said with a laugh that quickly turned serious.

Pregnancy, a newborn, canceled performances, and the emotional weight of life in Israel forced Raviv to slow down in ways she hadn’t expected. However, motherhood, she says, stripped away many of the insecurities that had quietly followed her throughout various stages.

“I stopped caring so much about other people’s opinions,” she said. “I started asking myself what kind of artist I actually wanted to be.”

Those questions became even more meaningful after her daughter was born.

“I want her to feel like she can do whatever she wants,” Raviv said. “I want her to be proud that she’s Jewish. Proud that she was born in Israel. Proud of where our family came from.”

Before the baby was born, Raviv had an album written and a handful of demos recorded. Following the birth and Oct. 7, some songs on the album no longer resonated. But “Hayati” still did.

The song is being called the “summer banger” by listeners and social media followers who had been getting a taste of the music through released video shorts on Instagram while awaiting the song’s final release at the end of June.

Working with her stylist Lioz Cohen, Raviv opened her closet and quite literally sorted through the chapters of her life to make the video happen. One item immediately stood out: the jerseys she wore while singing at New York sporting events years earlier. They had made it into the suitcases when Raviv and her husband packed up their lift for Israel. Instead of leaving them behind as relics of her previous chapter, she brought them into the video, layering them with lace, silk trousers, and Middle Eastern costume jewelry sourced from her mother’s jewelry box.

“It’s layering my identities,” she said.

Even the decision to film in Jaffa carried symbolic weight. This ancient port city is a host to multiple cultures, religions, and languages. It mirrors the story Raviv wants her music to tell.

Jaffa a place where different cultures live together

“I didn’t choose Jaffa only because it’s beautiful,” she said. “It’s a place where different cultures live together. That’s the Israel I want people to see.”

For an international audience, that message matters.

Before releasing “Hayati,” Raviv built a growing online following by translating Israeli pop songs into English. She translated and sang Omer Adam’s “Malkat Hador” (“Queen of the Generation”), Noam Bettan’s 2026 Eurovision submission and runner-up “Michelle” (which mixes three languages), and pop sensation Eden Ben Zaken’s “Rolex v’ Casquette” (“A Rolex and a Visor Cap”).

The project quickly resonated with Diaspora audiences who love and desire Israeli music but don’t honestly understand the lyrics.

“They were thirsty for the culture,” she said. “I think that by showing these Israeli visuals and by showing Judaism in my own way in my own cool, sexy, fun way …that it humanizes us. I think it gives us a unique and beautiful portrayal of who we can be versus the headlines and what is being said about this region in a negative way.”

Raviv says she is calling on more people to tell their stories through their art.

“We are the light to the nations,” Raviv said.  

The positive feedback through views and comments on social media shows that there is an appetite for Israeli culture beyond politics and breaking news. And not just from Jews. People of all faiths and backgrounds gave the video their time.

And that’s exactly what Raviv plans to bring overseas once her upcoming album is complete.

Her vision isn’t just to host a concert of her own original music, but to bring an authentic, modern, and sexy Israeli experience to people who previously understood Israel to be greasy falafel and “Hava Nagila.”

“I want people to feel like they just stepped into our world,” she said.

She imagines audiences walking into a venue that feels like Tel Aviv for an evening, complete with live Middle Eastern instruments, modern pop production, dancers, collaborations, and perhaps even food. The goal isn’t simply entertainment. It’s an invitation to Israel today – a place that many haven’t set foot in since Oct. 7.

That world, however, does include Arabic.

For some artists, releasing a song featuring Arabic lyrics in today’s climate feels risky. Since Oct. 7, language itself has become emotionally charged for many Israelis.

“It’s just what this mood is about… and this mood needed Arabic in it,” Raviv explained.

Haaretz published a magazine article in 2025 covering some Arab Israelis in Haifa. The characters noted that they had decided to stop speaking Hebrew in the wake of mounting Arab-Jewish tension in the country. Similarly, many with Arab backgrounds (especially from Yemen) have denounced their country of origin (or parents’ country of origin) in the wake of the attacks from the Houthis, which attracted nationwide support and antisemitism throughout Yemen.

Raviv understands this new reality. Before Oct. 7, she had visited her father’s hometown in Morocco on a family trip for his 70th birthday. She recounts the experience as having been warm and friendly with Muslim Moroccans, telling her they missed the Jewish community, which used to light up their neighborhoods decades ago.

Before the State of Israel gained independence, some 300,000 Jews lived in Morocco. Today, there are only a couple of thousand. Morocco had the most Jews in any Arab country in modern times.

Raviv expected criticism when she released “Hayati” and considered someone might accuse her of cultural appropriation… or suggest Arabic wasn’t hers to use.

Instead, she found something else.

“So far, it’s actually been incredibly positive. I don’t want people to be afraid of a language,” said Raviv. “I’m in a place where I’m deciding not to play it safe and to take risks as an artist.”

Looking around the set during the filming of “Hayati,” all of Raviv’s identities coexist.

The tea glasses sit beside sneakers.

Arabic blends into English.

A New York football jersey shares the screen with a kaftan from Morocco.

Years ago, Raviv thought she had to choose between those worlds. Now she understands that the magic happens when they all appear in the same frame.

“Hayati” is the sound of an artist who finally stopped trying to fit into someone else’s musical category.

“Hayati,” or “My Life,” is a simple yet great English translation for a song title… that actually represents Raviv’s new genre all too perfectly.

This post was originally published on here. 

World Jewish Congress Israel President Sylvan Adams met Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi in Paris on Sunday to discuss their shared vision for a free and democratic Iran, renewed relations between the Iranian and Jewish peoples, and the eventual restoration of diplomatic ties between Israel and a future democratic Iran.

“We are discussing the hope for the freedom and liberation of the Iranian people, who have suffered for many years and long for freedom,” Adams said.

“I believe this will happen in the very near future. The entire Jewish people support your vision of a free, pluralistic, representative, and democratic Iran, and we will stand shoulder to shoulder with you,” he told the crown prince.

Pahlavi said the vision they discussed had deep historical roots.

“What we seek to achieve in the 21st century actually began 2,500 years ago,” Pahlavi said. “Iran and Israel are the only two countries in the world that share a biblical connection.”

Pahlavi criticizes Trump’s Iran policies?

He added: “Thousands of Iranians have recently been killed. They did not die so that a strait would remain open or for the sake of a nuclear agreement. They died for freedom. We have always enjoyed the support of Jews around the world and of Israelis in Iran’s struggle for freedom, and for that we are deeply grateful.”

This appears to be an implicit criticism from Pahlavi towards US President Donald Trump‘s policies towards Iran.

Pahlavi said that once the current regime and the threat it poses are gone, Iran could be rebuilt with the assistance of the international community. He added that he would welcome Adams to Tehran to examine potential sites for future Israeli and Iranian embassies.

Adams said he intends to travel to Tehran and identify a suitable property that could one day serve as Israel’s embassy in a free Iran.

World Jewish Congress President Adams presents Pahlavi with two Jerusalem stone mezuzot for Israel’s future Tehran embassy

As a symbol of hope, Adams presented Pahlavi with two mezuzot carved from Jerusalem stone. The mezuzah cases contain scrolls handwritten by an Israeli sofer stam of Iranian descent, linking the gift to both Jerusalem and Iran.

One mezuzah is intended for Israel’s future embassy in Tehran, while the second is designated for a future Iranian embassy in Jerusalem.

“I am a real estate developer. That is how I built my livelihood,” Adams said. “My hope is to arrive in Tehran very soon and find a property where Israel’s embassy will be established. I brought two mezuzot, one that I hope we will affix together at Israel’s embassy in Tehran, and the other that will be placed at Iran’s embassy in Jerusalem.”

The two agreed to remain in contact and continue strengthening ties between the Iranian and Jewish peoples, expressing hope for a future of freedom, peace, and renewed relations between Iran and Israel.

The meeting was presented by the participants as the beginning of ongoing cooperation aimed at ensuring that when the Iranian people regain their freedom, the foundations for rebuilding relations with Israel will already be in place, paving the way for a new era of peace, cooperation, and shared prosperity.

Idan Kweller contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

World Jewish Congress Israel President Sylvan Adams met Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi in Paris on Sunday to discuss their shared vision for a free and democratic Iran, renewed relations between the Iranian and Jewish peoples, and the eventual restoration of diplomatic ties between Israel and a future democratic Iran.

“We are discussing the hope for the freedom and liberation of the Iranian people, who have suffered for many years and long for freedom,” Adams said.

“I believe this will happen in the very near future. The entire Jewish people support your vision of a free, pluralistic, representative, and democratic Iran, and we will stand shoulder to shoulder with you,” he told the crown prince.

Pahlavi said the vision they discussed had deep historical roots.

“What we seek to achieve in the 21st century actually began 2,500 years ago,” Pahlavi said. “Iran and Israel are the only two countries in the world that share a biblical connection.”

Pahlavi criticizes Trump’s Iran policies?

He added: “Thousands of Iranians have recently been killed. They did not die so that a strait would remain open or for the sake of a nuclear agreement. They died for freedom. We have always enjoyed the support of Jews around the world and of Israelis in Iran’s struggle for freedom, and for that we are deeply grateful.”

This appears to be an implicit criticism from Pahlavi towards US President Donald Trump‘s policies towards Iran.

Pahlavi said that once the current regime and the threat it poses are gone, Iran could be rebuilt with the assistance of the international community. He added that he would welcome Adams to Tehran to examine potential sites for future Israeli and Iranian embassies.

Adams said he intends to travel to Tehran and identify a suitable property that could one day serve as Israel’s embassy in a free Iran.

World Jewish Congress President Adams presents Pahlavi with two Jerusalem stone mezuzot for Israel’s future Tehran embassy

As a symbol of hope, Adams presented Pahlavi with two mezuzot carved from Jerusalem stone. The mezuzah cases contain scrolls handwritten by an Israeli sofer stam of Iranian descent, linking the gift to both Jerusalem and Iran.

One mezuzah is intended for Israel’s future embassy in Tehran, while the second is designated for a future Iranian embassy in Jerusalem.

“I am a real estate developer. That is how I built my livelihood,” Adams said. “My hope is to arrive in Tehran very soon and find a property where Israel’s embassy will be established. I brought two mezuzot, one that I hope we will affix together at Israel’s embassy in Tehran, and the other that will be placed at Iran’s embassy in Jerusalem.”

The two agreed to remain in contact and continue strengthening ties between the Iranian and Jewish peoples, expressing hope for a future of freedom, peace, and renewed relations between Iran and Israel.

The meeting was presented by the participants as the beginning of ongoing cooperation aimed at ensuring that when the Iranian people regain their freedom, the foundations for rebuilding relations with Israel will already be in place, paving the way for a new era of peace, cooperation, and shared prosperity.

Idan Kweller contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

The High Court of Justice on Sunday permitted the publication of the name of a Border Police officer, Hananel Sabag, who is charged with reckless homicide for fatally shooting his friend, IDF soldier Yosef Chaim Rabuch, outside his home in Kiryat Arba, in October 2025. 

According to the indictment filed by the Police Internal Investigations Department, Sabag faces charges of reckless homicide, as well as additional offenses that include negligence involving a firearm and unlawful possession of a weapon.

Following the court’s rejection of Sabag’s appeal on Sunday, his name was cleared for publication specifically in connection with the charges.

Fatal shooting was a tragedy between friends

According to Hebrew media reports from the time of the incident, Sabag and Rabuch were close friends planning to go out together that day. 

Before leaving the house, Sabag allegedly tried to demonstrate something with his gun, resulting in an accidental discharge that hit Rabuch, causing a fatal injury.

Rabuch was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead upon arrival.

Amir Bohbot and Efrat Forsher contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

The High Court of Justice on Sunday permitted the publication of the name of a Border Police officer, Hananel Sabag, who is charged with reckless homicide for fatally shooting his friend, IDF soldier Yosef Chaim Rabuch, outside his home in Kiryat Arba, in October 2025. 

According to the indictment filed by the Police Internal Investigations Department, Sabag faces charges of reckless homicide, as well as additional offenses that include negligence involving a firearm and unlawful possession of a weapon.

Following the court’s rejection of Sabag’s appeal on Sunday, his name was cleared for publication specifically in connection with the charges.

Fatal shooting was a tragedy between friends

According to Hebrew media reports from the time of the incident, Sabag and Rabuch were close friends planning to go out together that day. 

Before leaving the house, Sabag allegedly tried to demonstrate something with his gun, resulting in an accidental discharge that hit Rabuch, causing a fatal injury.

Rabuch was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead upon arrival.

Amir Bohbot and Efrat Forsher contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

Israel’s investment in ensuring access to historic archaeological sites at the expense of the Palestinians who live there is a form of “heritage apartheid,” Alon Arad, executive director of the Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

Arad spoke to the Post only days after UNESCO voted to designate the historic site of Sebastia as a World Heritage site, a move that Palestinian officials hoped would end plans to seize hundreds of acres of land in and around the town.

The archaeological site located in Area C, northwest of Nablus, lies next to a residential village in Area B whose economy relies heavily on tourism from the site and its surrounding olive groves. In November, Israel’s letter to Mahmoud Azem, the mayor of Sebastia, announcing plans to seize control of the site, sparked significant concern among Palestinians.

Telling the Post that he firmly congratulated the people of Sebastia, Arad made no secret that he viewed Israel’s attempts at seizing the land as politically motivated. Israel has frequently defended its need to assert control over key archaeological sites as a matter of necessity, arguing that the Palestinian Authority has failed to stop looting and destruction at these sites.

In a statement to the Post on Thursday, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said, “The land of the Jewish people belongs to the Jewish people. No international organization, certainly not one that acts time and again out of anti-Israel bias, will determine the identity of our heritage sites or rewrite the history of the Jewish people.

“Therefore, we are acting to secure the future of our national heritage sites. As part of this effort, we have advanced the expropriation of lands in the area of the Sebastia site to ensure its protection against any attempt to erase its identity or distort its historical narrative.

Arad asserted that such claims are “fake news” perpetuated by settlers and the state, explaining how the people of Sebastia have embraced the archaeological site as a key component of their identity, and benefit from the tourists drawn to the site. Demanding that Israel provide data to support its claims, Arad said that Palestinians attempting to access the site to preserve or maintain it often face arrest by the Civil Administration.

‘No evidence Palestinians are destroying the site’ said Arad

“It’s quite hypocritical to claim that the Palestinians are destroying the site without providing any supporting evidence, and then use that argument to justify annexation through the expropriation of land and development of the site by the Israeli side, while completely ignoring the Palestinian community. That’s simply hypocrisy,” he argued.

“So the moment Israel puts about $150 million into developing archaeological sites that will only be accessible to Jews and Israelis, I can only see that as a form of heritage apartheid,” he continued. “If Israel has evidence of a specific plan to destroy archaeological sites, it should present that evidence. Unless it does, this is simply fake news, and both the settlers and the State of Israel have failed to provide any proof.”

The PA notably paved a new road through the site in 2023, drawing condemnation from the Israeli government. During the works on the road, a wall from the Herodian era was destroyed and burial caves from the Second Temple period were broken into and looted, according to the organization Shomrim Al Hanetzach (Protecting Eternity).

Arad added that Palestinians had not disputed the site’s Jewish history but instead sought to ensure that all of its history was preserved and presented. He claimed that Israelis had been welcomed by the Palestinian village of Sebastia, which borders the archaeological site, and that the only restrictions on access were being imposed by the Israeli authorities.

The site indeed holds archaeological remnants from successive periods dating back at least to the 9th-century BC capital of the Israelite kingdom, through the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic periods, Crusader and Ottoman eras, according to UNESCO, and its importance stretches beyond the Jewish faith. It is traditionally seen as the burial place of John the Baptist.

‘Israel is damaging the very sites it claims to protect’

Arad claimed Israel’s moves on the land under the reasoning of defending the sites were actually the very thing putting them in danger.

“The more Israel pushes to transform archaeological sites into anchors for annexation, the greater the backlash, and that ends up damaging the very sites it claims to protect,” he said. “When one side turns these sites into a political issue, and in this case that is only the Israeli side, because Israel has governed the West Bank under military rule for almost 60 years, it inevitably creates conflict around them.”

Admitting there is some looting of archeological sites across Area A and B of the West Bank, Arad said this destruction was driven by economic need, not by an intention to destroy Jewish history in the land.

“Israel has been shutting down the borders, preventing workers and employees from entering Israel to work and earn money and salaries. Israel is also shutting down the border with Jordan. So what is expected? That crime will not flourish? We create a problem, then we complain about the problem, and then we invent solutions that only deepen the problem rather than solve it,” he claimed.

“If any solution to the issue of antiquities and heritage sites in the West Bank is considered, I think the only possible solution is to strengthen the Ministry of Tourism, strengthen the Department of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage in the Palestinian Authority, and give them the tools and freedom to deal with these sites.”

Arad accused Israel of violating the 1954 Hague Convention, an international treaty dedicated exclusively to protecting humanity’s cultural heritage during both peacetime and armed conflict, and the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage,  a permanent framework for international cooperation to safeguard heritage sites from neglect, natural decay, and armed conflict.  He suggested this was a core mistake on Jerusalem’s part given the recognition of nine sites within Israel and the fact that Israel was treated as an “equal” state member, the same as the Palestinian delegation.

“If Israel wants to maintain its status, it has to respect the fact that this site is no longer an ordinary archaeological site in the West Bank, but a world heritage… a world heritage in danger,” he advised.

This post was originally published on here. 

Israel’s investment in ensuring access to historic archaeological sites at the expense of the Palestinians who live there is a form of “heritage apartheid,” Alon Arad, executive director of the Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

Arad spoke to the Post only days after UNESCO voted to designate the historic site of Sebastia as a World Heritage site, a move that Palestinian officials hoped would end plans to seize hundreds of acres of land in and around the town.

The archaeological site located in Area C, northwest of Nablus, lies next to a residential village in Area B whose economy relies heavily on tourism from the site and its surrounding olive groves. In November, Israel’s letter to Mahmoud Azem, the mayor of Sebastia, announcing plans to seize control of the site, sparked significant concern among Palestinians.

Telling the Post that he firmly congratulated the people of Sebastia, Arad made no secret that he viewed Israel’s attempts at seizing the land as politically motivated. Israel has frequently defended its need to assert control over key archaeological sites as a matter of necessity, arguing that the Palestinian Authority has failed to stop looting and destruction at these sites.

In a statement to the Post on Thursday, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said, “The land of the Jewish people belongs to the Jewish people. No international organization, certainly not one that acts time and again out of anti-Israel bias, will determine the identity of our heritage sites or rewrite the history of the Jewish people.

“Therefore, we are acting to secure the future of our national heritage sites. As part of this effort, we have advanced the expropriation of lands in the area of the Sebastia site to ensure its protection against any attempt to erase its identity or distort its historical narrative.

Arad asserted that such claims are “fake news” perpetuated by settlers and the state, explaining how the people of Sebastia have embraced the archaeological site as a key component of their identity, and benefit from the tourists drawn to the site. Demanding that Israel provide data to support its claims, Arad said that Palestinians attempting to access the site to preserve or maintain it often face arrest by the Civil Administration.

‘No evidence Palestinians are destroying the site’ said Arad

“It’s quite hypocritical to claim that the Palestinians are destroying the site without providing any supporting evidence, and then use that argument to justify annexation through the expropriation of land and development of the site by the Israeli side, while completely ignoring the Palestinian community. That’s simply hypocrisy,” he argued.

“So the moment Israel puts about $150 million into developing archaeological sites that will only be accessible to Jews and Israelis, I can only see that as a form of heritage apartheid,” he continued. “If Israel has evidence of a specific plan to destroy archaeological sites, it should present that evidence. Unless it does, this is simply fake news, and both the settlers and the State of Israel have failed to provide any proof.”

The PA notably paved a new road through the site in 2023, drawing condemnation from the Israeli government. During the works on the road, a wall from the Herodian era was destroyed and burial caves from the Second Temple period were broken into and looted, according to the organization Shomrim Al Hanetzach (Protecting Eternity).

Arad added that Palestinians had not disputed the site’s Jewish history but instead sought to ensure that all of its history was preserved and presented. He claimed that Israelis had been welcomed by the Palestinian village of Sebastia, which borders the archaeological site, and that the only restrictions on access were being imposed by the Israeli authorities.

The site indeed holds archaeological remnants from successive periods dating back at least to the 9th-century BC capital of the Israelite kingdom, through the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic periods, Crusader and Ottoman eras, according to UNESCO, and its importance stretches beyond the Jewish faith. It is traditionally seen as the burial place of John the Baptist.

‘Israel is damaging the very sites it claims to protect’

Arad claimed Israel’s moves on the land under the reasoning of defending the sites were actually the very thing putting them in danger.

“The more Israel pushes to transform archaeological sites into anchors for annexation, the greater the backlash, and that ends up damaging the very sites it claims to protect,” he said. “When one side turns these sites into a political issue, and in this case that is only the Israeli side, because Israel has governed the West Bank under military rule for almost 60 years, it inevitably creates conflict around them.”

Admitting there is some looting of archeological sites across Area A and B of the West Bank, Arad said this destruction was driven by economic need, not by an intention to destroy Jewish history in the land.

“Israel has been shutting down the borders, preventing workers and employees from entering Israel to work and earn money and salaries. Israel is also shutting down the border with Jordan. So what is expected? That crime will not flourish? We create a problem, then we complain about the problem, and then we invent solutions that only deepen the problem rather than solve it,” he claimed.

“If any solution to the issue of antiquities and heritage sites in the West Bank is considered, I think the only possible solution is to strengthen the Ministry of Tourism, strengthen the Department of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage in the Palestinian Authority, and give them the tools and freedom to deal with these sites.”

Arad accused Israel of violating the 1954 Hague Convention, an international treaty dedicated exclusively to protecting humanity’s cultural heritage during both peacetime and armed conflict, and the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage,  a permanent framework for international cooperation to safeguard heritage sites from neglect, natural decay, and armed conflict.  He suggested this was a core mistake on Jerusalem’s part given the recognition of nine sites within Israel and the fact that Israel was treated as an “equal” state member, the same as the Palestinian delegation.

“If Israel wants to maintain its status, it has to respect the fact that this site is no longer an ordinary archaeological site in the West Bank, but a world heritage… a world heritage in danger,” he advised.

This post was originally published on here. 

Unreleased documentary footage shows that the late US senator Lindsey Graham spent years privately pressing US President Donald Trump and foreign leaders to overthrow Iran’s regime, at times advocating military action that went beyond what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was prepared to support, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

One of the exchanges captured in the footage occurred on March 4, when Graham was planning to travel to Florida to persuade Trump to bring the US into Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon while the Iran war was underway.

Netanyahu urged Graham not to expand the campaign too quickly, warning that a full-scale offensive would leave Hezbollah with no reason to exercise restraint against Israel. Graham accepted the prime minister’s argument, responding, “That’s actually good counsel.”

The conversation was recorded by filmmaker Alex Holder, who had followed Graham since 2023 and had been granted extensive access to the South Carolina Republican’s meetings, travel, and telephone conversations.

Holder is reviewing hundreds of hours of footage for a documentary currently titled Lindsey’s Game, which he intends to release in the coming months. Graham had agreed to participate because he wanted the film to document his Senate career and encourage others to enter public service.

Graham pushed for US intervention against Iran

The footage portrays Graham as a central advocate of US intervention against Iran. He had publicly pushed for American military action before the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28.

Shortly after the strikes began, Graham celebrated while speaking to the documentary crew.

“Look what we’ve done here. I almost cried,” he said, according to the footage. He also told the filmmakers that Trump was enthusiastic about the operation and viewed it as one of the most important decisions of his presidency.

The crew regularly traveled with Graham and recorded him as he spoke with military commanders, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (MbS), and other senior figures. The filmmakers also accompanied him to meetings with Israeli officials and the Mossad as preparations for the Iran conflict were underway.

Several people who spoke with Graham by telephone told WSJ that they had not known their conversations were being recorded.

Graham traveled to meet the MbS as part of his efforts to gain support for the campaign against Iran. During his March conversation with Netanyahu, Graham argued that the collapse of the Iranian regime could create an opportunity for Israel and Saudi Arabia to establish diplomatic relations.

He told Netanyahu that he believed he could secure both Republican and Democratic support for normalization. Netanyahu encouraged him to concentrate first on Iran.

In the weeks before his death, Graham was reportedly seeking an Israel-Saudi normalization agreement before the next US Congress was sworn in.

The recordings also show Graham discussing Middle East diplomacy with Jake Sullivan, who served as national security adviser under then-president Joe Biden.

Graham told Sullivan that he did not believe Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff could manage the negotiations because of what he considered conflicts of interest. He argued that Secretary of State Marco Rubio should take the lead.

A White House official rejected the criticism, describing Kushner and Witkoff as successful negotiators and noting that they had maintained close personal relationships with Graham.

Graham also predicted in March that the Iran war could produce significant political instability inside the country within three to four weeks. The Wall Street Journal noted that the forecast proved inaccurate as the fighting continued.

The senator later expressed frustration that members of the Trump administration and other Republicans were not doing enough to publicly defend the war.

His frustration increasingly extended to Trump. During what became his final filmed interview, conducted at a bagel shop in Columbia, South Carolina, Graham criticized the president for signing a preliminary agreement with Iran in June.

“He’s letting this thing slip away,” Graham said, adding that he needed to speak to Trump directly.

The final weeks of Graham’s life

Graham died earlier in July at age 71. He was widely regarded in Israel as one of the country’s strongest supporters in Washington and was also a prominent advocate for Iranian opposition groups.

The footage also documents Graham’s political transformation from a fierce Trump critic during the 2016 presidential campaign into one of the president’s most loyal congressional allies.

Holder said Graham remained unapologetic about that relationship and appeared to relish the access it gave him to Trump and other international leaders.

During the final weeks of Graham’s life, Holder said the senator frequently appeared exhausted. Graham nevertheless spoke of completing several major objectives, including ending Iran’s regime, helping negotiate an agreement between Russia and Ukraine, and establishing diplomatic ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

This post was originally published on here. 

Even as Turkey and Egypt are experiencing a renaissance in certain areas militarily, senior Israeli defense sources sense opportunities for Israel and Cairo to work together to counterbalance Ankara’s naval interests, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Watching Iran choke the world’s economic interests at the Strait of Hormuz and with Turkey rising as a power in the Mediterranean, both the Jewish state and Egypt may eventually realize they have an interest in coordinating even more against any encroachment in the area by Ankara.

Until now, Israeli and Egyptian naval units have cooperated in the framework of international drills going back years, but neither has been seriously challenged in the Mediterranean.

But that is only one interpretation, and there are at least two others.

Despite the optimistic narrative, Egyptian Defense Minister Lt.-Gen. Ashraf Salem Zaher traveled to Ankara on July 13, which, according to some more pessimistic observers, represented a profound structural shift in the geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Egypt and Turkey may be moving closer diplomatically, possibly counterbalancing against Israel

This pessimistic narrative states that Egypt and Turkey are moving closer together and potentially toward counterbalancing against Israel.

All of this goes back to the original third narrative: that until now, Turkey and Egypt have wanted nothing to do with one another, even if Cairo has also not helped Jerusalem against Ankara.

This narrative, which was true until the past year, was based on the idea that for over a decade, ideological enmity between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was a permanent feature of the regional landscape.

Sisi had blamed Erdogan for supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, which took over Egypt from 2012 to 2013, and the Turkish president had blamed the Egyptian president for forcing the Brotherhood out of power.

But Turkey and Egypt have each benefited from the other, especially in recent months: Sisi is securing access to advanced military technology from Turkey without Western human rights conditions, while Erdogan is gaining a massive conventional partner to legitimize his maritime ambitions.

Moreover, the military cooperation between Cairo and Ankara has quickly evolved past superficial diplomacy into deep, structural integration. Their joint maneuvers over the past weeks showed what appeared to be an alarming level of operational alignment.

Turkey’s Anatolian Eagle aerial exercises integrated Egyptian pilots for training under simulated high-threat environments alongside Ankara’s assets. This was immediately followed by the Egyptian Golden Eagle special forces drills, which focused on command interoperability on multiple fronts and theaters.

According to some observers, these were not routine bilateral military drills, but rather part of a process to synthesize the doctrines of two of the region’s most powerful militaries.

Egypt’s concerns over Turkey align with Israeli maritime interests

Senior Israel Navy sources believe that despite Egypt and Turkey turning over a new, highly positive leaf in their relations, Cairo’s concerns about Ankara taking advantage specifically in the maritime arena work naturally with Israeli interests.

Sisi has strong sensitivities about ongoing issues relating to Libya and other areas where Erdogan’s interests might be different.

In these areas, Egypt could work together not just with Israel, but also with Cyprus and Greece to counterbalance Turkey trying to become more aggressive in the Mediterranean, the Post understands.

In late June, Greek Navy Chief Vice Admiral Dimitrios-Eleftherios Kataras visited Israel and met with Naval Commander Vice Admiral Eyal Harel, as well as members of the Shayetet 13 naval commando unit, as the sides deepened joint mechanisms between the two navies.

Pessimists talk about Israel, Greece, Cyprus, and some European countries uniting against Turkey and Egypt.

In either scenario, Israel’s navy is looking into new tactics, including defending against naval drone swarms, something that is already a major threat by air.

On April 16, the navy revealed that one of the untold stories of Israel’s wars since 2023 has been the new cutting-edge activities and cooperation between the naval Operations Directorate, Shayetet 13, the Mossad, and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).

The Post understands that while in the past there were frequent meetings and exchanges between the Air Force and senior Mossad officials, including visits to each other’s headquarters to plan joint operations, this has increased substantially with the Naval Operations Directorate now also involved.

The navy has said that in mid-April, Shayetet 13 invaded Naqoura in Lebanon from the sea, the first time such an operation had occurred in Lebanon since 2000.

A new attitude by the IDF toward forward-leaning defense

According to the military, this move was made as part of a new attitude adopted by the IDF and the navy after October 7: a forward-leaning approach to defense.

While for the ground forces, this has manifested itself in the creation of buffer zones in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria, for the navy it has meant special forces carrying out higher-risk and more aggressive operations behind enemy lines.

Without revealing dates and locations, the navy also disclosed that in one case, it sent five Shayetet 13 special forces soldiers on a mission thousands of kilometers away from Israel with no support and no immediate rescue plan if there were complications.

Shayetet 13 is being sent to parts of the world where it has never operated before

In yet another vaguely described mission, the navy said it sent Shayetet 13 on a mission to a part of the world where it has never operated before. The navy said that its joint operations with the Mossad have hit new levels of cooperation in recent years.

While the navy will not confirm specific locations, defense sources indicated that there is nowhere Israeli soldiers operate where Shayetet 13 cannot operate.

This came after reports to the navy that Shaldag operated in Masyaf, Syria, in September 2024; that Shaldag and special forces rescue units operated in Iraq during periods between 2024 and 2026 according to foreign sources; and that Ethiopian-Israeli soldiers operated a special unit in Somaliland in 2026, according to foreign sources.

The navy has also been notoriously evasive about its involvement against the Yemeni Houthis, but in June 2025 it made a rare admission that two of Israel’s navy missile boats, one of them a Sa’ar 6, fired two long-range precision missiles from hundreds of kilometers away at the Houthi port in Hodeidah.

The IDF said that the explosive power of sea-to-land missiles would leave a lasting mark and promote a different kind of deterrence than air-to-ground bombs.

Involving the navy and the Operations Directorate is part of Israel’s broader strategy to deter foreign ships from using or approaching the port, given that naval vessels can remain in the area and strike repeatedly, much more easily than aircraft, which must attack and then immediately fly back to base, lest they run out of fuel.

In addition, the navy, given its capability to remain at sea for an extended period, can be more precise about the ideal operational moment to strike.

Back in June 2025, the IDF said there would be more naval operations against the Houthis in the future, without specifying a time frame.

When asked whether Shayetet 13 had any role in naval operations against the Houthis, senior defense sources have a twinkle and a glint in their eye and like to say that the Houthis at the Port of al-Salif and other ports dread the Israel Navy.

Shayetet 13 commandos themselves, as demonstrated by the confirmed Shayetet 13 operation in Lebanon from mid-April, are always clear that they are ready to operate wherever they are needed.

In addition, the Naval Operations and Intelligence Directorates have been assisting the IDF Southern Command more frequently than ever in targeting whatever remains of Hamas’s naval commandos and its efforts to rejuvenate them.

Even in the last week, more Hamas naval commandos have been killed.

How is it that with likely around 25,000 Hamas terrorists killed by the IDF, a Hamas naval force still exists?

The Post has learned that the Navy’s Operations Directorate believes that as long as there is even one Hamas fighter with a knife and sufficient naval gear to swim undetected onto Israeli shores, the Israeli navy will view them as a threat.

Hamas also lacks the real ships and fancier gear that it had pre-2023, and the Post has learned that the IDF has not recently detected Hamas naval commandos conducting training drills, probably out of fear that they would be quickly targeted.

(According to the IDF, that assessment is likely accurate.)

However, the IDF suspects that enough Hamas individuals are acting in concert clandestinely and concealing naval gear that could be used for smaller-scale terror attacks from the sea, bypassing meticulous land-border defenses, that the Israel Navy feels it must continue to hunt them down to save Israeli lives.

Regarding targeting operations themselves, in some instances the navy provides the basic intelligence on targets, with the air force carrying out the attack, while in others, the navy itself manages the attack, which has also occurred recently.

This post was originally published on here. 

The Iran war will end “when the Iranian regime falls, or weakens to such an extent that it understands that it must end its nuclear program,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a Sunday interview with Fox News.

This is a developing story.

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The High Court of Justice rejected on Sunday a petition seeking to recognize Alon Shamriz as a fallen IDF soldier, ruling that the law left it unable to grant the request despite what the judges described as his extraordinary courage in escaping Hamas captivity.

Justices David Mintz, Yael Willner and Ofer Grosskopf unanimously upheld the military’s decision not to recognize Shamriz as having been on active service when he was killed, rejecting the petition filed by his parents, Avi and Dikla Shamriz.

The family had also sought to have him buried in a military cemetery and to be formally recognized as the parents of a fallen soldier.

Shamriz was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza during the Hamas-led October 7 massacre. After approximately 70 days in captivity, he escaped with fellow hostages Yotam Haim and Samer Talalka.

The three were mistakenly shot and killed by IDF soldiers in Gaza City’s Shejaia neighborhood on December 15, 2023, after approaching the forces without shirts and with a white flag. They were subsequently recognized as civilian victims of terrorism.

The central question of the case: Had Alon entered military service by the time of his abduction?

At the center of the case was a narrow but decisive legal question: whether Shamriz had entered military service by the time he was abducted.

His family argued that Shamriz, an active reservist in the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit, had been called up on the morning of October 7 and would have joined his unit had he not been kidnapped. They also argued that his military training enabled him to plan and lead the escape from captivity and protect the other hostages once they reached the surface.

The military disputed that a formal call-up had been issued. It said a message sent to Shamriz and other reservists on October 7 was only an availability check, and that Shamriz was not included in a later automated call formally summoning part of the unit.

The court did not ultimately need to resolve that dispute.

Mintz ruled that even if Shamriz had been formally called to reserve duty, the law recognizes a reservist as a fallen soldier only if the fatal injury occurred during military service or while the person was traveling to or from the place where they were required to report.

Shamriz had already been kidnapped into Gaza by the time the alleged summons was issued. He therefore neither reported for service nor began traveling to his unit, the court found.

“The circumstances of Alon’s abduction and death are deeply distressing, and his success in escaping together with the two other hostages, with courage and strength, inspires amazement,” Mintz wrote. “Unfortunately, that does not allow him to be recognized as a fallen IDF soldier under the existing law.”

The court also rejected the family’s argument that the refusal discriminated against Shamriz compared with other civilians who had been recognized retroactively as reservists after their deaths.

The judges said they had examined each of the cases raised by the family, including confidential explanations provided by the military behind closed doors, and found that they involved different factual or legal circumstances. In those cases, the individuals had been performing tasks that the military determined should have been carried out under formal reserve orders, but had not been properly called up because of an administrative failure.

An IDF order allowing the retroactive registration of reservists injured during emergency mobilization also did not apply, the court found, because it covers injuries sustained at a reporting point, a reception center, a military unit or while traveling between them.

The distinction between a fallen soldier and a civilian victim is strictly technical and legal.

Grosskopf said the distinction between a fallen soldier and a civilian victim was legally “formal and technical,” rather than a judgment about the person’s courage or contribution.

That formal test, he wrote, prevents the state from being forced to decide “between blood and blood” according to how bravely a person behaved before their death.

Shamriz, Grosskopf wrote, used the training he received as a combat soldier to escape his captors and lead his companions “to the threshold of freedom.” But those actions were carried out while he was legally a civilian rather than a serving soldier.

“As a court committed to the law of the state, we are obligated to act according to the law,” Grosskopf wrote, apologizing to the family that the court could not “do justice to Alon’s memory.”

Willner similarly wrote that Shamriz’s “supreme heroism” and “extraordinary resourcefulness” were beyond dispute, but that the law left the court unable to help.

Following the petition, the IDF established a committee to examine recognition for civilians and hostages who fought or displayed exceptional courage during the war.

The committee recommended legislation that would permit some civilians to be recognized as fallen soldiers under a narrow set of cumulative criteria. The defense minister and chief of staff chose not to pursue that recommendation and instead created a separate commemoration framework.

The military determined that Shamriz qualifies for that framework, which includes a civilian funeral with military elements if his grave is moved, recognition of his bravery on his gravestone and on the civilian memorial website, and an annual ceremony at the memorial hall for victims of terrorism. A military-style gravestone has already been placed on his temporary grave.

The court said it understood why that arrangement did not satisfy the family, but ruled that deciding whether to expand the legal definition of a fallen soldier was a policy choice for the government and Knesset, not the judiciary.

Yonatan Shimriz, Alon’s brother, called the decision “a slap in the face of the family” that had caused further and unjustified pain.

“This was a political decision from beginning to end, and it should never have had to reach the High Court in the first place,” he said.

He maintained that his brother had been called to reserve duty on October 7 and had operated in captivity as he had during his military service – through planning, leadership and “unmatched courage.”

“Today, Alon was abandoned once again by the country he loved so much,” he said.

Shamriz said that he respected the court’s decision not to overturn the military’s position, although he believed the ruling was wrong.

It should serve as a warning to every soldier, he added: “The state is with you until you criticize its leaders.”

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Ukraine recently carried out a strike on ships in the Caspian Sea, claiming vessels were “used in military cargo shipments involving Iran.” In addition, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Russia was provided “new assistance to the Iranian regime.”

He said, “since the beginning of July, we have recorded active Russian satellite surveillance of the Gulf states and US military facilities located there.”

The Ukrainian accusations are important because they reveal more of the connections between Moscow and Tehran. Many of these connections were already known. Russia and Iran, along with China, are key players in seeking to change the world order and weaken the US hegemony that began in the 1990s.

It’s worth recalling some of the context here. Iran was a US partner during the era of the Shah. That ended with the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

However, the revolution did not lead Tehran to rush into the arms of Russia during the Cold War. The leaders of the revolution wanted to pursue a third way between the US and the Soviets. They also had to deal with the fact that the Soviets were in Afghanistan at the time, and there was an Islamic insurgency there against the Russians.

Iran begins developing missile program

The Iran-Iraq war also began in the 1980s, and the Soviets supplied Iraq with arms.

In the 1990s things began to change. The Soviet Union collapsed, and the Russians had left Afghanistan. America’s hegemony and what George H.W Bush called the “New World Order” had begun. Russia and Iran were now relatively weak powers in that new world order.

Beginning around 1992, just after the Gulf War, Russia has played an important role in supporting Iran’s missile and nuclear capabilities over several decades. Moscow helped complete Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant and has continued nuclear cooperation through the Russian state nuclear company Rosatom.

This matters because the US had shown what its new military power looked like with the Revolution in Military Affairs. Precision weapons and technology had destroyed the Iraqi army. Iran and Russia had to bide their time.

Times were changing. In 1996, China founded the SCO, which included China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. The economic bloc known as BRICS also began to take shape in the late 1990s and early 2000s. For Iran, this enabled a chance to work with non-Western countries, including Russia and China. This relationship has provided Tehran with access to Russian expertise and technology.

Iran was developing its missile program. Technology appears to have come from North Korea, China, and various sources. Russian entities were accused of transferring missile-related technology to Iran. The result was a relationship in which Russia has helped Iran preserve important strategic capabilities. For Moscow, this made sense. Iran could help balance the US. It was a long road back for Moscow to confront the West.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin was willing to bide his time. This concept was also adopted by China. China’s approach, which it called “hide your strength, bide your time,” often associated with the phrase ‘tao guang yang hui’, emerged under Deng Xiaoping as China rebuilt its economy and international position after the Mao era. Deng emphasized avoiding confrontation while accumulating economic and national power.

China’s leader Jiang Zemin largely maintained this cautious approach during the 1990s, as did Hu Jintao after 2002, despite China’s rapidly expanding economic power and increasing influence. Under Xi Jinping, who took power in 2012, China has increasingly departed from this restraint.

Beijing’s military strength is expanding, and it has adopted what is sometimes called “wolf warrior diplomacy.” China’s more assertive and sometimes confrontational diplomatic style, particularly associated with the Xi Jinping era. Chinese diplomats increasingly publicly challenge criticism of Beijing, including on social media, and aggressively defend China’s policies.

Putin felt Moscow had been humiliated in the 1990s, especially during the Kosovo war. He rebuilt Russian power slowly, first defeating the Chechens and then fighting Georgia in 2008. In 2014 Russia invaded Crimea and eastern Ukraine’s Donbas. In 2015 Moscow intervened in Syria. Russia and Iran worked together in Syria. Iran’s IRGC Quds Force head Qasem Soleimani is credited with having encouraged Putin to intervene. For years, the Russians and Iranians dominated at the Astana talks regarding Syria.

However, things began to change after the invasion of Ukraine. Designed to accelerate the decline of the West and reshape world order, the invasion has not gone as planned for Moscow. Iran helped Moscow by supplying it with Shahed drones. Used in the thousands to terrorize Ukrainians, the Iranian drones have not helped Russia win the war.

Russia-Iran connection key to 2015 nuclear deal

As such, the Iran-Russia connection has not actually enabled either country to achieve major wins. However, each country sees it as in its interest to help the other confront the US and the West. There is also an interplay here. Moscow was involved in supporting the 2015 nuclear deal.

The Russia-Iran connection was key to the deal.

When Barack Obama entered office in 2009, his administration sought a “reset” with Russia while making Iran’s nuclear program a major diplomatic priority. One early decision was to abandon the Bush administration’s planned missile-defense deployments in Poland and the Czech Republic, replacing them with a different, phased missile-defense architecture.

The administration argued the change better addressed the evolving Iranian missile threat, while Moscow welcomed the decision. Obama subsequently sought Russian cooperation in talking with Tehran. Russia participated in the P5+1 negotiations that eventually produced the 2015 nuclear agreement. Moscow was able to be both a strategic competitor and pretend to be a “good cop” diplomatic partner for Washington.

This is the broader context of how we got here. Russia has backed Iran for many years. It wants a multi-polar world order. Other countries such as Pakistan and Turkey also want this multi-polar world. It’s plausible that Russia sees the US and Israeli conflict with Iran as an opportunity. Moscow assumes the world will be distracted by the war and that it will use US resources, including munitions, meaning fewer munitions for Ukraine.

Iran sees the conflict as one that spans thousands of kilometers of frontlines in the Middle East, from Jordan to Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen. Russia likely sees it as a world struggle. China does as well. What this means is that Moscow would like to use Iran against the US in the same way Russia believes Ukraine was used against Moscow. 

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The Likud’s top internal court rejected a Netanyahu-backed provision that would have allowed the party to cancel its Knesset primaries in the event of a security escalation, ruling that internal elections are a constitutional obligation that cannot be replaced in advance by an appointed committee.

“The Likud is not a party of one man, and it will lose its vitality if it becomes one,” the three-member panel wrote in a ruling issued Saturday night ahead of Monday’s party convention.

The court said the “ordinary and proper route” for selecting Likud’s candidates is through primaries in which party members elect the national slate and members in each geographic district choose the candidates allocated to that district.

“There is no place to open in advance even a crack at canceling the primaries,” it ruled.

The provision had been included in a temporary election framework approved last week by the Likud constitution committee. It would have allowed the party chairman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to move to a selection committee if a security escalation resulted in restrictions on public gatherings before the primaries.

According to reports, the proposed committee would have comprised five mayors appointed by Netanyahu, who would recommend how the slate should be arranged, with the final decision left to the party chairman himself.

The court ruled that the possibility of a security emergency did not justify creating a mechanism to abandon the primaries. Instead, it identified two alternatives the party must prepare to use.

The first is postponement. The existing election regulations already permit the Likud election committee to change the date of the primaries for special reasons, the court said, adding that a genuine emergency could clearly satisfy that requirement.

It instructed the Likud’s director-general to plan for such a possibility when signing agreements with polling-site operators, venue owners and other service providers, including through contracts whose operation depends on whether an emergency occurs.

The second alternative is electronic voting.

The court acknowledged that the Likud constitution does not currently authorize online voting. Nevertheless, it said an electronic ballot would be “a thousand times preferable” to the far more serious constitutional violation of holding no vote at all.

The party must therefore prepare an electronic alternative if it believes security conditions could prevent members from reaching polling stations, the court said.

At the center of its reasoning was the status of the party constitution itself. The court described it as a contract between the Likud and its members, and among the members themselves. Failing to hold primaries would amount to a serious breach of that agreement.

It also rejected the suggestion that an emergency could automatically excuse such a breach under the legal doctrine of contractual frustration. While the date and nature of the next security crisis cannot be predicted, the possibility that one will occur in Israel is foreseeable and must be planned for, the judges said.

“Therefore, the movement is obligated to hold primaries, and we do not see room to open the possibility of canceling them,” the ruling concluded. Should a genuinely unforeseen situation arise, the court said it would decide the matter at that time.

How do Likud primaries work?

The primaries determine the Likud’s Knesset slate, with the party chairman placed first. Registered members then vote for candidates competing on the national list, while members belonging to geographic districts vote for candidates from their respective districts.

Candidates chosen on the national list are combined with district representatives and places guaranteeing representation for groups including women, immigrants, young members and minorities. The regulations also reserve certain positions for candidates chosen by the party chairman.

In the 2022 primaries, for example, the first group of positions after the party chairman was largely filled by nationally elected candidates, while district positions and guaranteed-representation slots were inserted farther down the slate. Netanyahu was also given several reserved positions.

The precise locations of those different categories are determined before each election through the party’s temporary election regulations. That is why the current fight has centered not only on whether primaries will take place, but on how much of the resulting slate the members will actually control.

Netanyahu initially considered abolishing the primaries entirely and replacing them with a selection committee that included Likud-affiliated mayors. 

The eventual compromise approved by the constitution committee retained primaries but granted Netanyahu eight reserved positions, including six among the first 20 places on the slate. The reported positions were 3, 5, 9, 11, 15, 18, 26 and 31.

The framework also prevented serving ministers, deputy ministers and MKs from competing through the easier district track, with an exception reported for the non-Jewish sector.

Court blocks emergency clause only

The court blocked only the emergency clause that would have allowed Netanyahu to scrap the primaries altogether, and left the rest of the proposed system largely intact. Netanyahu would still receive a number of reserved places on the slate, and he would also be able to use one of those places to move a candidate who had already won a lower position in the primaries higher up the list. His chosen candidates would, however, still have to be approved by the Likud secretariat.

The judges also allowed the party to vote on these expanded powers at the same convention where it approves the rules for the coming primaries – rather than requiring a separate convention devoted solely to changing the Likud constitution.

Judge Yitzhak Bam disagreed on that point, arguing that granting the party chairman such extensive control over the slate was too significant to be passed alongside the technical election rules and should instead be put to a separate vote.

This post was originally published on here. 

Two separate antisemitic assaults have taken place in Manchester and London over the last few weeks, British police have confirmed.

Greater Manchester Police said that officers have arrested two people in connection with a BB gun being fired at members of the Jewish community on Monday.

Three people suffered minor injuries after being shot from a passing vehicle.
 
Following extensive CCTV inquiries, officers identified two suspects and arrested them on suspicion of religiously aggravated common assault.
 
“Threats to our communities will not be tolerated,” GMP said, adding that it is continuing to enhance security in Jewish communities across Greater Manchester.

Campaign Against Antisemitism said that while it thanks Greater Manchester Police for its professionalism in apprehending suspects, it argued that extra spending on policing to protect British Jews is “not the solution.”

“Rampant extremism and Jew-hatred must be tackled at source, including the use of a conflict thousands of miles away to inflame hatred here in Britain,” said CAA.

“Swift justice will be a first step to restoring deterrence for these sorts of crimes. But it is still no substitute for the political and societal leadership that we desperately need to confront the antisemitic and extremist ideologies plaguing this country, with Jews paying the highest cost.”

Father, son attacked in separate antisemitic attack

Separately, London’s Metropolitan Police is appealing to the public to help identify the attacker responsible for an unprovoked antisemitic assault on a father and son in Markfield Park earlier this month.

Police were called at around 5:30 p.m. on July 4 after a man, aged in his 20s, was assaulted alongside his three-year-old son.

The suspect also made threatening remarks towards the victims as well as the wider Jewish community. 

The suspect then left on a red-orange e-bike.

“This was a shocking, unprovoked attack and we know it will cause concern to the local community,” said Detective Constable Benny Palmer, who is leading the investigation.

“We’re doing all we can to identify the offender and are asking the public to get in touch with us if they have any relevant information.

“Across the Met, we are continuing our work to provide visible, intelligence-led and co-ordinated patrols to protect our Jewish communities and keep people safe,” Palmer added.

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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of assisting the Iranian regime on Saturday after Iran threatened Ukraine with potential missile attacks in response to an attack on a ship in the Caspian Sea.

It is not the first time the Russia-Iran partnership has been highlighted; Russia and Iran have been working together for decades. 

“I will instruct our intelligence to share with our partners the information we have regarding Russia’s new assistance to the Iranian regime,” Zelensky wrote on X/Twitter on Saturday. “Since the beginning of July, we have recorded active Russian satellite surveillance of the Gulf states and US military facilities located there.”

“These images subsequently appear in Iran. At the same time, there is a clear correlation between Russia’s satellite imagery of these sites and Iranian strikes – both before the attacks, in preparation for them, and afterward, to assess the damage inflicted,” he added.

“On July 19 and 20 alone, four air bases fell within the area of interest of Russian satellites – two in Bahrain, one in Jordan, and one in Kuwait,” the Ukrainian leader went on to say. “The purpose is clear. None of us in the world should turn a blind eye to one very simple fact: evil always seeks ways to make things worse and spread further. Russia must be stopped. This war must be stopped. Pressure on the aggressor must work.”

‘The two wars have officially merged’

Yaroslav Trofimov, Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent of the Wall Street Journal, gave his opinion as well.

“The two wars have officially merged. Iran says a Ukrainian drone attack on its ship in the Caspian has killed a sailor. Ukraine earlier said it was targeting vessels ferrying arms between Russia and Iran on the Caspian Sea,” he said.

The two wars he refers to are the US strikes on Iran and the war in Ukraine. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and the US and Israel carried out attacks on Iran beginning in February 2026.

Part of the merging of the conflicts is the claim by Zelensky that Ukraine targeted a ship transporting Iranian military items to Russia.

“We also achieved very strong results with long‑range strikes in the Caspian Sea – including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, as well as a warship,” he said. Iran claimed that the Ukrainian attack killed a sailor on the ship.

According to the pro-government Tehran Times, Iran strongly condemned “Ukraine’s attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea.” 

The report said that Iran’s foreign ministry “condemned Ukraine’s attack early Saturday on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, which resulted in the explosion of the ship, the martyrdom of one sailor, and injury to another.”

Iran claims a right to self-defense after Caspian Sea attack

It went on to say that “the attack – acknowledged by Ukrainian officials – constitutes a clear violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter and an act of aggression that risks further expanding regional conflict. Tehran, which has never interfered in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, calls on the UN Security Council and European nations to hold the Ukrainian regime accountable for this criminal act.”

Iran says it has a right to self-defense after this attack, though the country has been supplying Russia with drones throughout the conflict with Ukraine.

Iran and Russia are close partners on other military and economic issues. In May, The New York Times noted that the Caspian was becoming increasingly important amid the Iran conflict.

“The landlocked body of water has taken on new significance, with Russia shipping military and commercial goods to bolster Tehran’s ability to withstand the US assault.”

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A combined Iranian and Hezbollah attack on Haifa Bay, including strikes against civilian shipping near the natural harbor or gas rigs in the Mediterranean, is among several key threats Israel must now prepare for, according to a new assessment published by the Alma Research and Education Center last week.

With a demonstrated willingness to target key maritime assets using ballistic missiles, drones, cruise missiles, anti-ship munitions, explosive boats, and potentially underwater threats and commando capabilities, the center warned that the threat must be taken seriously, even though Israel has proven defensive capabilities against each individual threat.

Much of Israel’s energy and water needs depend on rigs and facilities located along the Mediterranean coast. More than 70% of Israel’s electricity is produced from natural gas extracted from offshore rigs, while more than half of the country’s water supply comes from desalination facilities that purify seawater, making attacks on this infrastructure potentially devastating for the Jewish state.

Hezbollah is still capable of disrupting these key assets, the center reported, even with its diminished capabilities. Hezbollah’s shore-to-missile and its naval unit still pose a significant threat, as was demonstrated with the drone attack on the Karish reservoir in July 2022.

Though Hezbollah’s arsenal is now understood to primarily hold short- and medium-range missiles, the center assessed that it retains limited anti-shipping cruise missiles such as the Yakhont and Ghadir, alongside anti-shipping ballistic missiles such as the Khalij Fars.

Highlighting this, the center assessed based on open-source information that Hezbollah used the Paveh Iranian cruise missile in March, which fell in the south of Beqaa in Lebanon. A thwarted smuggling attempt between Syria and Iraq on July 16 also showed that Hezbollah was attempting to access components of this type of missile.

Hezbollah launched three drones toward the Karish reservoir, which were successfully intercepted. The field had already been a source of tension, as Lebanon claimed part of the natural reservoir fell in Lebanese territory. Then-Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah described attempts to extract gas from the field as a “red line” for Hezbollah.

To face the combined risk the Iranian axis poses, the center noted that Israel has advanced many defensive protocols. The Saar 6 ships have carried out a test with the Barak LRAD interceptor, the long-range version of the Barak MX system, which seems to be directed at strengthening defensive layers against ballistic missile threats on aerial and maritime targets. Additionally, the center noted seaports are already protected by a land-based multi-layered air-defense system, which includes Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow 2 and 3, with plans to integrate laser cannons to defend against drone threats. Recently, the Navy also began operating unmanned underwater vessels in Israel’s economic waters in order to build a maritime intelligence picture, analyze threats, and protect strategic assets.

Many new layers of Israel’s defense remain untested for joint-strike scenarios

Though advanced, the center noted that numerous newly developed and strategized layers of Israel’s defense have yet to be fully tested, and Israel must be prepared for a combined and coordinated attack on several energy and maritime targets simultaneously. If such an attack combined ballistic missiles, attack drones, cruise missiles, shore-to-sea missiles, explosive boats, and suicide drones, in coordination with electronic interference, it must be known whether Israel’s defensive layers would still be able to detect and intercept.

Additionally, the center warned of threats of underwater attacks on gas infrastructure or access routes.

Beyond posing a risk to Israel’s water and energy supply, the center noted that seaports are essential for maritime trade and such trade could be disrupted by an escalation.

In both the 12 Day War in June and in March, Iran targeted Israel’s ports, gas rigs, and oil refineries as clear wartime targets. To mitigate many of these threats, Israel proactively elected to shut down several rigs, including the Karish and Leviathan.

However, the Bazan oil refinery, which has a maximum daily production capacity of approximately 26,600 tons of oil, around 70% of which is distributed on the domestic market, was damaged in attacks on March 30 and March 19, “illustrating that the threat to Israel’s energy hinterland is no longer merely a theoretical scenario but a capability that has been used in practice.”

Though proof that Iran maintains the capabilities and desire to harm energy infrastructure, the center noted that the wars demonstrated Israel was able to maintain partial continuity of its maritime and energy economy. Proactive shutdowns, multi-layered defensive response capabilities at sea and on shore, and the maintenance of port operations, even under direct threat, were positive signs that Israeli infrastructure can cope under less than ideal conditions.

However, the maritime energy infrastructure of Israel is largely dependent on a few critical assets, meaning any successful attack would create pressure on the system. A Calcalist report in March warned, for example, that the loss of even one rig would translate to billions of shekels in damages to Israel.

One destroyed rig might be all Iran needs

While the loss of a rig may be the best-case scenario for Iran, the center warned that it would be enough to achieve a temporary shutdown of production, frightening civilian crews, hardening marine insurance conditions, or creating risk to commercial shipping, which is enough to produce a strategic effect.

“This is exactly the result seen in the two most recent wars: Israel itself chose to shut down facilities so as not to risk a direct hit, indicating that the threat was perceived as sufficiently real to justify a calculated self-inflicted disruption to production continuity,” the center noted.

Over-hardening or preventative shutdowns are part of Iran’s strategy, the center suggested.

For years, the Navy has focused on protecting energy grids and routes, designing Sa’ar 6 ships to defend the exclusive economic zone and deploying advanced aerial and maritime defense systems, including C-Dome and MF-STAR radars, to respond to missile and drone threats against rigs. However, Iran’s attacks have not only targeted these rigs but also complexes located nearby, creating the threat of an attack and the possibility of a costly shutdown with far greater ease than striking an offshore rig.

The attack on the Bazan complex, rather than an offshore rig, demonstrated that coastal processing facilities, refineries, pipelines, and power stations may be more accessible targets while being just as costly to disrupt.

Haifa and Ashdod ports are also key targets for the Islamic regime’s axis, as attacks or a sustained threat on these areas could disrupt the import of raw materials, fuel, military equipment, and civilian containers. These ports remained open during the June war, but imports were restricted to exclude hazardous materials, and additional resources were allocated to address threats in the maritime theater.

While Hezbollah and Iran’s capabilities mainly pose a risk to Haifa, the center noted that the Iran-aligned Houthi terror group in Yemen could also cause trouble for Israel’s southernmost city, Eilat.

The Houthi threat to shipping in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait has impacted shipping patterns, leading to a decline in port activity in Eilat by more than 90% since the Houthis first began their campaign against Israel. Such a threat led to multiple reports over the past few years that the port was facing closure due to financial collapse.

Another key threat Israel must address is in cyberspace. Iran and pro-Iranian actors have claimed operations against energy companies, airports, banks, and infrastructure in the Gulf and in Israel. In some cases, these attacks have seen leaks, while others have attempted to penetrate operational systems.

For Israel’s energy and water infrastructure, this could translate to disruption of cargo-management systems, industrial control, ship coordination, electricity systems, communications, navigation, AIS, and GPS. The center stressed that these threats meant it was essential for maritime infrastructure to be segmented, backed up, hold manual drills, be continuously monitored, and ready to operate under cyberattack.

This post was originally published on here. 

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A bipartisan group of lawmakers is seeking to keep the US Air Force’s A-10 Thunderbolt II flying through 2033. This is important because the iconic close air support platform does not have a unique replacement for some of the missions it performs.

A-10s played a role in supporting the rescue of the crew of an American F-15 that was downed over Iran in April. It has played a role in many major conflicts in the Middle East as an essential element of US Central Command’s arsenal.

US Congressman Abe Hamadeh introduced the Bolstering Recognition, Resurgence, Retention, and Remembrance of the Thunderbolt Act, known as the BRRRRT Act, on July 20. The bill is co-led by Representative Don Davis and has several cosponsors. Its name is a reference to the distinctive sound of the A-10’s cannon.

The legislation comes amid a long-running debate over the future of the A-10 and whether newer aircraft can adequately replace its close air support and combat search and rescue capabilities.

Lt. Col. Joel Bier, a retired US Air Force Weapons School instructor pilot with more than 2,500 hours in the A-10, argues that keeping at least 126 of the aircraft flying is important. The Air Force must also preserve the training, maintenance, and institutional knowledge that enable the A-10 community to perform its missions.

Bier was qualified as a Forward Air Controller (Airborne) and as a Rescue Mission Commander (Sandy 1) Instructor Pilot until his recent retirement, and he commanded at the squadron level. He now works as a contract pilot, independent consultant, and freelance author.

Bier served 21 years in the Air Force and began flying the A-10 in 2007 after graduating from the US Air Force Academy and completing his pilot training. He said efforts to reduce or retire the A-10 fleet repeatedly surfaced during his career.

A-10’s claim to fame in Operation Epic Fury rescue mission

The importance of the A-10 gained renewed attention after an American F-15 was lost during Operation Epic Fury. A-10 pilots took part in the effort surrounding the recovery of the aircrew. “When DUDE44 went down, there were A-10 pilots there at the beginning when they picked up the pilot and then A-10s led the second mission,” he said.

“The A-10 is a unique combination of man and machine,” he said. A-10 squadrons specialize in close air support and combat search and rescue, meaning their pilots develop deep expertise in missions that may receive less emphasis in other fighter communities.

After originally moving to fully retire the A-10 in 2026, the Air Force announced in April that it plans to keep A-10s flying through 2030. Current plans envision an active-duty squadron at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia and a reserve squadron at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. The BRRRRT Act would go further by requiring the Air Force to maintain the aircraft through 2033.

However, Bier argues that simply extending the retirement date does not solve the problem. He compared maintaining aircraft without the infrastructure behind them to keeping something alive without its vital organs. Training new pilots, maintaining depot-level support, producing spare parts, and preserving the Air Force Weapons School pipeline are all necessary if the remaining aircraft, around 100 of them, are expected to remain operational in numbers that matter and can contribute to overseas operations.

The A-10 depot at Hill Air Force Base, for instance, was shut down in January, Bier said. The Weapons School has also been affected as the Air Force moves toward retirement of the fleet. In April, the pilot training unit in Arizona graduated its last class, just weeks before the Air Force announced A-10s would fly through 2030. The BRRRRT Act seeks to preserve or restore some of this institutional backbone.

The numbers also matter. Previous legislation established a minimum inventory of 103 A-10s. Bier said supporters are now seeking 126 aircraft, enough to sustain operational squadrons while providing aircraft for testing, training and the Weapons School.

Without such numbers, the remaining force could face a punishing deployment schedule. Bier said Air Force plans could otherwise leave roughly 54 aircraft, insufficient to reasonably maintain deployments and training.

This debate is not new. The A-10 was developed after the Vietnam War as a dedicated close air support aircraft, designed around its powerful cannon and intended to operate close to ground forces. Its relatively low speed, maneuverability, survivability, and ability to operate from austere locations were designed for a potential confrontation with Soviet armored legions in Europe.

The US Air Force has considered retiring or replacing the aircraft for decades, as early as 1984 when A-10 production ended. Even after its excellent performance during the 1991 Gulf War showed it was still relevant, the Air Force increasingly favored multirole fighters that could conduct air superiority missions while also carrying out other tasks.

The A-10 nevertheless remained heavily involved in the post-September 11 wars. Bier deployed to Afghanistan in 2009, where he flew close air support missions from Kandahar.

He recalled one mission in which he scrambled after a helicopter was downed during fighting involving a US Army convoy. Without a Joint Terminal Attack Controller on the ground immediately available to direct fire, Bier worked directly with the convoy commander while coordinating with Apache helicopters. The A-10s remained overhead until a quick reaction force arrived.

Experiences such as these underpin the argument for retaining specialized close air support aircraft.

What could replace the A-10 if the US military stops flying it?

The larger question is what eventually replaces the A-10. The Air Force is investing heavily in advanced aircraft such as the F-35 and future F-47. However, Bier argues that an F-35 or another sophisticated fighter cannot simply become equally proficient at every mission the A-10s do without dedicated training.

There is also a cost calculation. Using an expensive new fighter for missions that can be performed by an existing A-10 may not always make sense. Bier compared buying high-end fighters for close air support to “using a Ferrari to mow your lawn.”

The BRRRRT Act therefore represents more than an attempt to preserve a historic and well-known aircraft that has performed well for fifty years. It raises a broader question about how the US military manages the transition from proven systems to future capabilities.

The A-10 will eventually leave service. The question is whether the close air support and rescue expertise built around it is maintained in a new platform and, if not, how these key roles will be performed by F-15s or F-35s.

Bier argues that the Air Force should maintain the aircraft and the ecosystem behind it until a replacement can actually perform those missions. The bill’s proposed 2033 deadline, he said, provides more time for industry to sustain production and maintenance while the military determines what comes next.

This post was originally published on here. 

An oil tanker exploded in the Strait of Hormuz after colliding with a naval mine, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-linked Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday.

Tasnim said the tanker struck the mine after leaving the route designated by Iran in the strategic waterway.

There was no immediate official statement from Iranian authorities regarding the incident.

This is a developing story.

This post was originally published on here. 

We all know Israel’s hospitality industry had barely recovered when it was heavily hit by Oct. 7. Yet one of Jerusalem’s flagship hotels, the Inbal, is attempting to find a niche to distinguish itself in a reduced market.

Indeed, Inbal CEO Roni Timsit told In Jerusalem that the hotel’s heavy focus on international tourists had an immediate effect on business due to canceled flights following the massacre, as well as during the heightened conflicts with Iran. “We responded proactively by launching targeted campaigns for the domestic Israeli market,” Timsit said.

Before the Israel-Hamas War began, the Inbal saw approximately 80% international guests and 20% domestic, but this shifted drastically, with Israelis making up approximately 60%-70% in the past year, Timsit said.

Many of the remaining international guests are from North America, with many visiting family who live in Israel, including relatives serving in the IDF.

The hotel last underwent a major renovation in 2019, Timsit noted, including adding two new floors featuring Premium Rooms and Suites, a new lobby, and an upgraded swimming pool. Additionally, last Passover, the hotel renovated all of its remaining guest rooms.

Jerusalem stone blends into modernity

However, the standout of the hotel is its food and drinks services. Approximately a year ago, Bar 22 opened, offering a luxury drinks experience to pair with the flagship 02 Restaurant, as well as the other food and drink options on offer, headed by Hotel executive chef Kfir Hadad and 02 Restaurant chef Avraham Freizen.

Arriving at the Inbal, I noticed that the entrance hall and lobby merge Jerusalem stone walls with modern fixtures and furniture.

The check-in was quick and pleasant, and I was taken to my room, a Grand Premium, with a spectacular view of the Old City walls.

A welcome package was waiting for me in the living area of the room, including a fruit platter, wine, and pastries.

The room itself was well designed with plenty of storage areas, including a fridge – essential for keeping drinks cool in the summer – as well as comfortable sitting areas both inside and outside on the balcony.

The bathroom was segmented into a washing area with a bath and shower off to one side and a toilet on the other, adding to the comfort of the layout. Hotel bathrooms can often feel like they are trying to force things into a small space, but this was the opposite.

After relaxing on the balcony for a short while, I went downstairs to explore the lobby areas.

The main entrance has a few sofas and couches with some coffee tables, but the main public seating area is located between the 02 Restaurant and Bar 22, with many more tables and chairs, all comfortable.

The highlight, though, is for those who have access to the Executive Lounge.

Located on the ninth floor, the lounge, which requires you to scan your room key to enter, is for adults only and comes with a generous selection of hot and cold foods and drinks.

Its main attraction, though, is the space to sit and relax. While many hotels have such lounges, the Inbal really excels in having arranged it into separate rooms and areas, including a balcony terrace, ensuring that it never feels too busy.

A hotel focusing on food and drink

It became clear from the staff who guided me to my room that the hotel’s main focus is its food and drink offerings.

The food at the 02 Restaurant was varied and exquisite.

The first starter offered was an Armenian cucumber salad, with pickled cucumbers, pickled onions, nectarine, aioli, chili slices, hazelnuts, mint drizzle, and a cashew yogurt (NIS 62).

There was a good balance of mint, the kick from the chili, the sharpness from the pickled onion, the sweetness from the nectarines, and the crunch from the cucumbers. I found it refreshing on a warm night after a hot day and a long shift at work.

The next starter, a red tuna tartare, arrived on a slice of fluffy, thick bread with a lemon-based drizzle and aioli (NIS 62).

The bite started milder, with the fish flavor hitting stronger with each chew. The bread was quite thick, making it a complicated bite, but all was delicious.

The next starter tasted was cured picanha, charred celery root, cashew labaneh, and a pecan gremolata (NIS 78).

This was my least favorite of the starters for two reasons:

Firstly, it was served in only half the bowl, which is a style that I personally dislike. However, the presentation itself was attractive, with the picanha rolled up.

Secondly, I personally dislike cashews and pecans, and so the nuts covering the whole dish were just not to my taste.

However, the charred celery root had a powerful, smoky flavor, while the picanha was deep and rich and full of flavor.

Possibly my favorite dish of the whole experience, the sirloin roast beef starter, served with an assortment of pickled onions, cucumbers, and radishes, as well as egg salad (NIS 72), was perfect for my taste.

The beef was pull-apart soft, with a deep beefy flavor. Some may find it too strong, but with the provided pickles and egg salad, the dish comes with its own palate cleanser.

The main dish was lamb cutlets with roasted kohlrabi and a scallion salsa (NIS 90/100gr.). I ordered two cutlets, weighing approximately 250 gr., and a side portion of fries (NIS 34).

The fries were warm, crunchy, with skin on. However, they came quite salty. I personally like this, but others may find it too much.

The lamb was delicious, but it sat on a bed of oil, which meant that it did cause a slight drip when picked up, if one is not careful. However, it was perfectly cooked and seasoned.

Kohlrabi is maybe one of the most underrated vegetable side dishes, and this dish was able to highlight why.

For dessert, I was advised by the waiter to try the sticky date pudding with caramel toffee and almond ice cream (NIS 56).

A spin on a popular British dessert, sticky toffee pudding, but with a date base to add that Middle East twist, it was warm, rich, and fluffy in texture.

The ice cream came over an almond crumb, and looked so attractive that, despite not liking almonds, I had to give it a taste. The texture was more like thick cream than like ice cream, and I highly recommend it to someone who likes the taste of almonds more than I do.

I finished my meal with a lemon cream that came with a burnt meringue, blueberries, and almond crumble (NIS 62).

The cream had a strong hint of both milk and lemon flavors balancing each other, with the char of the meringue offering flavor variety. The cream was thick and kept its shape once dug into.

The 02 Restaurant did the hotel proud, while also not being notably more expensive than other prestigious meat and fish restaurants in Jerusalem.

Bar 22, an experience even for a nondrinker

Bar 22 was an experience for me, as someone who almost never drinks alcohol. In fact, this proved to be a good test for the occasion, as I believe a true test of a bar staff is their ability to create off-menu nonalcoholic drinks that are still delicious.

I was upfront with my barman about not usually drinking alcohol, and decided to order a variety of alcoholic drinks that I thought I might like, as well as one nonalcoholic drink, which I asked him to design for me.

The barman asked which fruit flavors I would usually seek out, so when I told him citrus, he designed one based on the flavor profile provided.

After being offered a pina colada ice-cream shot aperitif while I waited, I was served my four drinks, all of which were delicious.

One, the Classic Paloma based on Patron tequila and red grapefruit (NIS 47), was tasty, but too alcoholic for my personal liking.

It was dressed with a mango chili chip on top, which was delicious, starting off sweet and then with chili notes rising in the background – a perfect cocktail companion.

I then tried the Market Charm, a spiced rum, honey, passion fruit puree, and lime juice drink (NIS 54), which was served with a foam topping.

There was a sharp citrus flavor without heavy alcohol overtones. For a nondrinker aiming to taste a cocktail, this is one of my top recommendations.

However, possibly my favorite cocktail of all time (and I think my barman agreed with me) is a Singapore Sling, so noticing it on the menu, I had to order it.

The classic cocktail, composed of gin, Cherry Heering, Cointreau, and Amaro di Angostura (NIS 56), did not disappoint. It came in a tall glass and was the only cocktail I drank that was served with a straw. It remains my favorite, and for good reason.

My off-menu nonalcoholic drink was pineapple with citrus added and a basil leaf served in a whiskey tumbler (NIS 38).

It was very sharp with a strong basil leaf flavor cutting through in a cleverly balanced tone. It also came with quite attractive sugar “roses” and was a true sign of skill from the bar staff to create.

In the morning, I went downstairs for breakfast.

The main breakfast area is famously well stocked with everything you expect to find at an Israeli hotel breakfast, including fresh warm bread (which was delicious), a large variety of cheese and fruit, and eggs made to order.

The standout was the breakfast’s tabun oven offerings, which included various types of pizza that appeared very popular with the hotel’s younger guests.

The food, served buffet-style, was fresh and high-quality, and nobody felt rushed.

Personally, though, I decided I would like a quiet breakfast experience rather than the bustle of a buffet, and so went to the Executive Lounge to relax.

The lounge during breakfast offered trays of hot food, including shakshuka, as well as bread, smoked salmon, spreads, cheeses, and fruit, in addition to its usual servings of hot and cold drinks.

All the facilities on offer you could wish for

After breakfast, I walked around to explore the facilities that the hotel offers.

Underground, the hotel has a well-laid-out conference and business suite floor that I stumbled on while trying to find the swimming pool and spa.

The hotel also has a gym with plenty of exercise machines for those guests who do not want to miss out on their daily workouts, and a spa that offers all of the treatments you could hope for, including aromatherapy, body scrubs, deep-tissue massages, hot stone treatments, and reflexology.

The pool area was well laid out, in an attractive outdoor space, and with comfortable deck chairs.

At the time, it was not too busy, and so space was no issue, but in peak seasons, or when tourism fully returns to Israel, there is a chance it would be too small to facilitate guests from all 300+ rooms that the hotel has.

Intriguingly, to the left of the main entrance, adjacent to the lobby, the hotel hosts stores certified by the Tourism Ministry and Israel Antiquities Authority to sell biblical artifacts – another example of the Inbal juxtaposing historical Jerusalem and Israel with the modern-day.

The Inbal, a hotel or a food experience?

That being said, the hotel’s main facilities are something regularly on offer at top hotels in Israel, and have almost become expected among guests, especially international ones, who are used to top-level facilities at hotels around the world.

The staff appears to believe that the hotel is seeking to stand out as a food and drink experience, and it certainly achieves that.

However, while the hotel’s food and drink are exquisite, including the other food on offer at the Jerusalem Street Food Festival during the spring and summer seasons, and the winter’s Soup Festival, reservations for the 02 Restaurant and Bar 22 are available to non-hotel guests.

While Timsit confirmed that “every effort” is made to give priority to hotel guests, the ability to book as an external guest means that the Inbal may be shifting from a hotel with high-quality food to a high-quality food experience with available accommodation and other facilities attached.

In such a congested marketplace with a reduced customer base, this may not be a bad idea.

The writer was a guest of the hotel.

This post was originally published on here. 

Family members of those murdered on 9/11 have launched a petition calling for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to be excluded from the 25th-year memorial events on account of his association with extremism and refusal to condemn antisemitism.

The petition was launched by Florida relator Giovanni Galante, whose girlfriend was among those killed by al-Qaeda terrorists on 11 September, 2001. It has now gathered over 5,000 signatures.

The petition says that concerns have been raised about Mamdani’s public positions, associations, and responses to rhetoric that many perceive as hostile to shared American values.

These positions include a perceived reluctance to “clearly and unequivocally condemn phrases such as ‘globalize the intifada,’ which many interpret as endorsing or normalizing violence,” the petition reads.

It also cited Mamdani’s support for, or associations with, individuals whose public statements or records are viewed by family members as dismissive of American institutions or insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies.

Key arguments against Mamdani’s participation

The petition notes that Mamdani’s own father penned a book shortly after 9/11 in which he argued that suicide bombers should be “understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism.” Mamdani has previously said that his father has been influential in shaping his views.

Mamdani has also praised Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who was named as an alleged co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and served as a character witness for the “Blind Sheikh,” who was convicted in 1995 of plotting terror attacks against the United States.

More recently, Mamdani appointed Ramzi Kassem, who previously represented Ahmed al-Darbi (convicted in an al-Qaeda tanker bombing plot), as New York City’s chief counsel.

The NYC mayor also endorsed candidates such as Aber Kawas, who described 9/11 as an attack “a couple of people did in the context of US capitalism, racism, white supremacy, and Islamophobia,” and who also expressed sympathy for Ahmed Ferhani, who pleaded guilty to plotting to blow up a Manhattan synagogue.

“For 9/11 families, this is not simply a public ceremony, it is a deeply personal day of mourning,” wrote Galante. “The presence of individuals whose words or associations are perceived as conflicting with the solemn purpose of the event risks detracting from that focus and causing additional pain.”

Given the concerns expressed, the families in the petition respectfully asked the organizers to “carefully consider whether Mr. Mamdani’s participation would align with the intention of the ceremony and the expectations of the families most directly affected by the tragedy.”

“The 25th anniversary should remain centered on remembrance, unity, and an unambiguous rejection of the violence and extremism that defined that day. Ensuring that all participants reflect these principles is essential to preserving the integrity of the commemoration.”

9/11 survivors speak out 

Several 9/11 survivors have commented on the petition.

“As a survivor of the WTC attack on 9/11 I believe that based on Mayor Mamdani’s past performance in regard to Israel and radical Islamic terrorism that he should be barred from all WTC memorial ceremonies,” wrote Craig.

Silverio wrote, “Many tears had shed on that day, but why was Mayor Mamdani’s own reason he cried? [Because] his aunt stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her hijab.”

“Seeing 9/11 Live on the news while at my first Active Duty Duty Station, and subsequently deploying ISO OER in Afghanistan during rotation one, it is an affront to the memory of all who perished that day and in the following days while hunting the vile Islamic perpetrators that anyone who has voiced support for those despicable death cultists would be given a voice of any kind at that event,” wrote Justin. “Shame on all who would put the relatives of those fallen in a position wherein they have to tell anyone they do not want these individuals at that ceremony.”

Brian wrote that his brother David was murdered on 9/11 and that he is “incensed that a terrorist excuser is now Mayor, and outspoken sympathizer for terrorist perpetrators.”

“He is disqualified from attending the 9/11 remembrance ceremony and ought be barred.”

The Post reached out to Galante for comment.

This post was originally published on here. 

The ship Ukraine struck in the Caspian Sea on Saturday contained components for drones and missiles on their way to Iran, Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk said in an interview with N12 on Sunday. 

Iran claimed the ship was carrying civilian goods when it was attacked by Ukraine and accused Ukraine of seeking to expand the Russia-Ukraine war.

⚡️Zelensky says Ukraine successfully struck vessels in the Caspian Sea that were transporting military cargo between Russia and Iran pic.twitter.com/GdrIXIo8Ag

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) July 25, 2026

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the attack on Saturday in a post to X/Twitter, saying that Ukraine had conducted “long‑range strikes in the Caspian Sea – including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran.”

Kornychuk stated that this was not the first time Ukraine had hit such military targets and that the expectation is it will happen again, adding that Ukraine views such shipments as legitimate military targets. 

Israel and Ukraine are fighting the same enemy, Kornychuk said, different sides of the same evil axis. 

Trump says Russia not supplying weapons to Iran

This comes on the heels of a recent statement from US President Donald Trump on Truth Social on Friday, in which he claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin assured him that Russia was not selling weapons to Iran. 

“If they did, it would be very bad for them – certainly not in their best interests,” Trump emphasized in the post.

This post was originally published on here. 

The Palestinian Authority must end its continued use of arbitrary detention, torture, and other forms of ill-treatment against Palestinians, particularly journalists, dissidents, and political activists, under the pretext of “security reasons,” the UN Human Rights Office demanded last week.

The office noted that many of the dozens of Palestinians held arbitrarily or unlawfully by the Palestinian Authority were detained under a law that the Palestinian Supreme Constitutional Court had declared unconstitutional.

Although the announcement did not name the law, the UN office is likely referring to the Jordanian Crime Prevention Law of 1954 (Law No. 7 of 1954), which the court deemed unconstitutional in 2023. The law allows administrative governors, who report directly to the Interior Ministry, to hold individuals in administrative detention without standard criminal procedures or judicial oversight.

The office also confirmed multiple instances in which individuals, including children, were held by security forces despite court orders mandating their release.

Torture, ill-treatment must stop ‘immediately’

Concerningly, Palestinian detainees in the detention centers reported experiencing forms of torture and ill-treatment, including being positioned in painful stress positions, severe beatings and whippings, and prolonged solitary confinement.

Several also complained of being hung in the ‘Shabeh’ position, where individuals are suspended with their hands shackled behind their backs from the ceiling by their wrists for days at a time.

“The Palestinian authorities must immediately stop all forms of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees and all arbitrary or unlawful detention. Those deprived of liberty must be treated with humanity and respect for their dignity. Among others, they must be provided with regular outdoor access, sufficient living space to prevent overcrowding, and adequate food, medical care, clothing, and sanitation facilities and hygiene conditions,” the office demanded. “They must also be entitled to challenge the lawfulness of their detention before a court.” 

This post was originally published on here. 

Israeli telecommunications company Cellcom announced Sunday that it would make HBO Max available to Cellcom TV+ subscribers as part of an expanded television and fiber-internet package.

Under the company’s summer promotion, new customers will be offered Cellcom fiber-optic internet, Cellcom TV+, and the HBO Max Standard plan for NIS 99 per month during the first three months.

Existing Cellcom TV+ subscribers will also be able to add the HBO Max Standard plan and receive their first three months at no additional charge, the company said.

HBO Max’s content library includes HBO dramas such as House of the Dragon, The Last of Us, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and The Pitt, as well as Warner Bros. Discovery films and series.

The service also carries older international hits, including Friends and The Big Bang Theory, alongside children’s programming and content from the Harry Potter, DC, and Warner Bros. brands.

Cellcom to offer new TV shows in connection with HBO Max

Upcoming releases listed by Cellcom include the Big Bang Theory spin-off Stuart Fails to Save the Universe and DC Studios’ Lanterns.

“The connection with HBO Max is a direct continuation of the launch of Cellcom TV+,” Cellcom chief marketing officer Michal Betzer said.

Betzer said the company had invested in its television technology and content library to improve the viewing experience and offer programming from leading international studios.

“We know that the summer period brings challenges for every household in Israel, with children at home and expenses increasing,” she said. “It was therefore important for us to expand the content offering at this particular time.”

She added that the promotion would allow subscribers to use HBO Max during Israel’s summer vacation and the Jewish holiday season.

Cellcom expands August schedule

Cellcom also announced a slate of series scheduled to join Cellcom TV+ in August, including several programs that it said would be exclusive to its platform in Israel.

The first two seasons of the Canadian hockey comedy Shoresy will become available during August, with additional seasons expected to follow.

The company will also add both seasons of Flowers, the acclaimed British comedy-drama starring Olivia Colman, and the Greek crime and mystery drama Save Me.

Other additions will include the third season of Taylor Sheridan’s espionage thriller Lioness, starring Zoe Saldaña, Nicole Kidman, and Morgan Freeman.

The second season of the Emmy-winning mystery series Poker Face, starring Natasha Lyonne, and police drama Boston Blue, starring Donnie Wahlberg, will also join the service.

The HBO Max agreement is the latest expansion of Cellcom’s television business following the launch of the updated Cellcom TV+ interface and its Ultra Live broadcasting technology.

Cellcom said the technology reduced the delay between live events and their appearance on internet-based television services during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

This post was originally published on here. 

Iran has been using Kheibar Shekan missiles, cheap, mobile, and accurate missiles, which have a range of at least 1,400 kilometers in their recent strikes against US assets across the Middle East, the Wall Street Journal cited US officials as saying on Saturday. 

The solid-fuel, medium-range Kheibar Shekan missiles differ from older Iranian missiles that require prelaunch fueling, a lengthy process which the Kheibar Shekan can bypass by being kept fueled and are capable of being loaded quickly into trucks or other vehicles for launching, making it easier to evade US and Israeli warplanes seeking to knock out Iranian missile launch sites, military experts told WSJ. 

While the US and its allies have shot down most Kheibar Shekans throughout the war, one of the US officials told WSJ that some have gotten through. According to the officials, Iran has been using different flight paths, maneuvers, and speeds to confuse US defenses. 

Kheibar Shekans are also harder to destroy than other missiles, as they have higher maneuverability. Some variants have small engines in the nose section that carry the explosive warhead and detach during the final phase of flight. This makes it capable of adjusting direction as it approaches its target at about 10,000 kilometers per hour, WSJ wrote. 

Iran is combining the Kheibar Shekan launches with those of high-speed attack drones and less sophisticated missiles, targeting, among other assets, radars supporting air defenses across the region and housing areas for US troops at bases across the Middle East, US officials told WSJ. 

Iran adapts to previous failed strikes, experts say

“I think what it tells us is Iran is paying attention, and they’re learning, and they’re looking at ways that they can get at us,” WSJ cited Army Gen. Joseph Votel, who has led US Central Command, as saying. 

“This is a military that has a well-developed drone capability; it’s had a missile program, a rocket program for a long period of time. They’ve got a lot of expertise in this area,” he added. 

While Iran was believed to have 2,500 Keibar Shekan and other medium-range missiles before the war began, according to US and Israeli estimates, it may be assembling more from components in underground bases. However, the production facilities where the missile engines were built have been destroyed, Fabian Hinz, an independent missile expert, told WSJ. 

Iran likely studied previous launches in order to maximize their chances of their missiles reaching their targets, according to Hinz. 

‘Every combat use gives you some sort of data’

Iran “has seen what types of maneuvers are the most effective ones for overcoming missile defense. Every single combat use gives you some sort of data, so that’s very useful for the Iranians,” Hinz told WSJ. 

Iran hasn’t disclosed the cost of a Khebar Shekan, but analysts told WSJ that they are far cheaper than US and Israeli interceptors used to stop them, at a cost between $2 million and $15 million, depending on the system, according to WSJ. 

Israel said it shot most of the Kheibar Shekans fired at it by Iran, which claimed it targeted the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as another attack with the missiles last month. 

This post was originally published on here. 

IDF intelligence officials and commanders on the ground have warned in their operational assessments of “a very tense situation” for some time, a senior officer in the IDF Central Command stated on Sunday.

Despite the extensive dismantling of terrorist infrastructure by the IDF Central Command, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and the Border Police, the officer said the threat posed by lone attackers and locally organized terror cells seeking to exploit opportunities to attack Israeli civilians or IDF soldiers continues to loom.

Only hours before the deadly attack, the Judea and Samaria Division, under the command of Brig.-Gen. Kobi Heller, had concluded a counterterrorism operation focused on Jenin and Nablus.

At the same time, the senior officer said that since the launch of Operation Rising Lion, “we have seen an increase, for a variety of reasons, in the scale of terrorism developing in the West Bank, including semi-military terror cells and lone attackers.”

According to the officer, the trend has also been fueled by “additional factors that have steadily intensified through Iranian direction from Gaza and Turkey, including the smuggling of weapons and terror funds, some of them transferred digitally.”

Alongside the IDF’s and Shin Bet’s extensive efforts against terrorist infrastructure, security forces are also working continuously to prevent the transfer of terror funds into the West Bank and to secure the seam line in order to thwart and disrupt terrorists attempting to infiltrate deeper into Israeli territory.

Number of outposts, troop deployment in West Bank increases

The senior officer confirmed that prior to the attack, the IDF Chief of Staff decided to reduce troop deployments in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip and transfer an additional brigade to the West Bank. Following the attack, additional combat battalions are expected to arrive.

The officer also noted that 19 new communities have been established in recent years, creating additional security demands as the number of unauthorized outposts continues to grow. At this stage, not including new outposts established overnight, there are now 80 new outposts.

In addition, there are currently 126 farms across Judea and Samaria, excluding the Jordan Valley, which the officer described as posing a significant challenge in defending against terrorist attacks.

“Violent outposts are one of the issues challenging our ability to maintain control of the area and uphold law and order,” the senior officer said, highlighting the Samaria and Binyamin regions. “We are heading into tense days and weeks.”

The IDF is currently working to arrest everyone involved in the attack in the village of Tel.

This post was originally published on here. 

The United Nations recognizes the Golan Heights as part of Syria, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, condemning Israel’s actions in the region during his visit to Damascus on Saturday. 

“I’d like to remind the international community that the Golan Heights are Syrian territory,” he said. “Violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are unacceptable and must cease.”

Guterres’ comments came during a Saturday press conference alongside Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al‑Shaibani after being welcomed to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s palace. The Damascus appearance is part of the first visit to Syria by a UN chief since 2009, before the civil war that dismantled the Assad regime. 

The secretary-general went on to describe “a future defined by peace, dignity, and opportunity by the Syrians themselves,” in reference to the Golan Heights. 

He recognized the UN’s absence from the region, calling it a “conscious decision not to come to Syria since the beginning of the brutal repression of the Syrian people in 2011 until the fall of the regime.”

The moment for ‘partnership and solidarity’ with Syria

Guterres then urged the international community to take a more active role in mitigating Israel’s involvement in Syria while pledging continued UN advocacy on the issue. In his opinion, now’s the time for “partnership and solidarity.”

He covered a plethora of other topics in his address, including underscoring the need for post-war reconstruction and promising the UN’s support in that process. 

The Syrian people have endured years of hardship, loss and uncertainty.

Yet they have never lost the qualities that have long defined this country.

And I look around, #Syria is today the pillar of stability of the Middle East.

–@antonioguterres https://t.co/f0h9mXNVBi pic.twitter.com/7tpmHDiZhq

— UN Spokesperson (@UN_Spokesperson) July 25, 2026

“No country emerges from a very severe conflict and rebuilds itself on its own,” Guterres said. “We have no UN agenda for Syria. Our agenda is the agenda of the Syrian government and the Syrian people.”

Guterres is expected to continue his talks with Sharaa and other senior officials. He is also slated to be scheduled to speak with women’s groups, civil society representatives, and members of various communities.

On Monday, Guterres is expected to address the Syrian parliament, before concluding his trip and heading to Cyprus. 

This post was originally published on here. 

Israel’s Security Cabinet is expected to discuss on Sunday a new Gaza proposal drafted by the Board of Peace (BoP), two Israeli sources told The Jerusalem Post.

It remains unclear whether ministers will vote on the proposal.

The Security Cabinet will also discuss the launch of the pilot phase for Gaza’s reconstruction, which is expected to begin in Rafah.

The plan involves temporary structures that will be built to provide housing for Gaza residents. Those who wish to live there will reportedly undergo strict screening procedures to ensure that they are not affiliated with Hamas.

This would be the first area to be administered by the Palestinian “technocratic government” (NCAG), with support from the multinational International Stabilization Force (ISF).

The goal is to begin the pilot project in the coming weeks. If it proves successful, it will be expanded to additional areas.

Last week, BoP CEO Nickolay Mladenov and US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Aryeh Lightstone met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials to brief them on the progress of the Cairo talks and the next steps planned by the BoP.

A Board of Peace official told the Post that “these were productive and constructive meetings.”

Israeli, Egyptian senior officers discuss Gaza in Cairo meeting

In early July, Israeli public broadcaster KAN News reported that an Israeli delegation, including senior IDF officers, held “strategic” discussions with senior Egyptian military officers in Cairo.

Sources familiar with the details said the meetings were part of a “strategic dialogue” focusing on the two countries’ common interests in the region. 

The discussions included attempts to advance to the next stage of reconstruction in Gaza in accordance with Trump’s Gaza plan, all the while Hamas refused to disarm. 

The report noted that the Egyptians are more hawkish toward Hamas, as opposed to Turkey and the Qataris, and are willing to receive their surrendered weapons. 

This post was originally published on here. 

The United Nations recognizes the Golan Heights as part of Syria, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, condemning Israel’s actions in the region during his visit to Damascus on Saturday. 

“I’d like to remind the international community that the Golan Heights are Syrian territory,” he said. “Violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are unacceptable and must cease.”

Guterres’ comments came during a Saturday press conference alongside Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al‑Shaibani after being welcomed to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s palace. The Damascus appearance is part of the first visit to Syria by a UN chief since 2009, before the civil war that dismantled the Assad regime. 

The secretary-general went on to describe “a future defined by peace, dignity, and opportunity by the Syrians themselves,” in reference to the Golan Heights. 

He recognized the UN’s absence from the region, calling it a “conscious decision not to come to Syria since the beginning of the brutal repression of the Syrian people in 2011 until the fall of the regime.”

The moment for ‘partnership and solidarity’ with Syria

Guterres then urged the international community to take a more active role in mitigating Israel’s involvement in Syria while pledging continued UN advocacy on the issue. In his opinion, now’s the time for “partnership and solidarity.”

He covered a plethora of other topics in his address, including underscoring the need for post-war reconstruction and promising the UN’s support in that process. 

The Syrian people have endured years of hardship, loss and uncertainty.

Yet they have never lost the qualities that have long defined this country.

And I look around, #Syria is today the pillar of stability of the Middle East.

–@antonioguterres https://t.co/f0h9mXNVBi pic.twitter.com/7tpmHDiZhq

— UN Spokesperson (@UN_Spokesperson) July 25, 2026

“No country emerges from a very severe conflict and rebuilds itself on its own,” Guterres said. “We have no UN agenda for Syria. Our agenda is the agenda of the Syrian government and the Syrian people.”

Guterres is expected to continue his talks with Sharaa and other senior officials. He is also slated to be scheduled to speak with women’s groups, civil society representatives, and members of various communities.

On Monday, Guterres is expected to address the Syrian parliament, before concluding his trip and heading to Cyprus. 

This post was originally published on here. 

The Palestinian Authority must end its continued use of arbitrary detention, torture, and other forms of ill-treatment against Palestinians, particularly journalists, dissidents, and political activists, under the pretext of “security reasons,” the UN Human Rights Office demanded last week.

The office noted that many of the dozens of Palestinians held arbitrarily or unlawfully by the Palestinian Authority were detained under a law that the Palestinian Supreme Constitutional Court had declared unconstitutional.

Although the announcement did not name the law, the UN office is likely referring to the Jordanian Crime Prevention Law of 1954 (Law No. 7 of 1954), which the court deemed unconstitutional in 2023. The law allows administrative governors, who report directly to the Interior Ministry, to hold individuals in administrative detention without standard criminal procedures or judicial oversight.

The office also confirmed multiple instances in which individuals, including children, were held by security forces despite court orders mandating their release.

Torture, ill-treatment must stop ‘immediately’

Concerningly, Palestinian detainees in the detention centers reported experiencing forms of torture and ill-treatment, including being positioned in painful stress positions, severe beatings and whippings, and prolonged solitary confinement.

Several also complained of being hung in the ‘Shabeh’ position, where individuals are suspended with their hands shackled behind their backs from the ceiling by their wrists for days at a time.

“The Palestinian authorities must immediately stop all forms of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees and all arbitrary or unlawful detention. Those deprived of liberty must be treated with humanity and respect for their dignity. Among others, they must be provided with regular outdoor access, sufficient living space to prevent overcrowding, and adequate food, medical care, clothing, and sanitation facilities and hygiene conditions,” the office demanded. “They must also be entitled to challenge the lawfulness of their detention before a court.” 

This post was originally published on here. 

Israeli television presenter and social media personality Korin Gideon revealed that former cabinet minister and UN ambassador Gilad Erdan approached her about a possible move into politics ahead of Israel’s 2026 national election.

“A ballot slip with Korin Gideon’s name? No. Absolutely not,” Gideon said during the filming of a new advertising campaign for international lingerie brand Triumph.

She then confirmed that she had received political overtures.

“Yes, I was approached. I met with Gilad Erdan,” she said.

Erdan is a veteran Israeli politician who held several senior ministerial positions as a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party before serving as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations from 2020 to 2024.

“He is a serious person with a great deal of experience,” Gideon said. “His perspective on how the world sees Israel, because of the positions he has held in Israel and abroad, is very interesting. It was a good meeting. I mainly came to listen and also to share my views.”

Asked whether Erdan had sought to recruit her, Gideon said: “Yes, he wanted to explore the possibility of my joining him. It was only an initial examination.”

Gideon, one of Israel’s best-known television personalities and online influencers, said she was not currently prepared to leave the media industry for political life.

“I am not at a point in my life where I want to leave everything and enter politics,” she said. “People pay heavy personal prices there. This country is important to me, the future of my children is important to me, and I love this place and want life here to be good.”

Social media’s growing political influence

Gideon said her influence on social media was also discussed during the meeting with Erdan.

“I think politicians are beginning to understand,” she said. “The arena today is social media. Anyone who is not there has to be there.”

Israeli politicians have increasingly turned to television personalities, journalists and online creators to reach voters outside traditional political channels.

Gideon said she had yet to decide which party she would support in the election.

“There is still time,” she said. “I intend to read, listen, examine and research everything thoroughly. It is important to me to choose someone who will focus on the important issues rather than distractions.”

Her comments came during filming for Triumph’s new “Feels Like Triumph” campaign, which shows Gideon dancing inside a home instead of posing in a conventional studio setting.

Gideon has represented the company in Israel for five years, including during her pregnancies and after giving birth. The campaign focuses on comfort, confidence and body acceptance, according to its producers, who said the images were published without digital retouching.

“Years ago, I would not have felt comfortable being photographed like this,” Gideon said. “Since becoming a mother, I have become much more comfortable with my body.”

She said motherhood had changed the way she viewed femininity and the message she wanted to pass on to her daughter and other women.

“You can feel beautiful and feminine at every stage and with every body type,” she said.

Gideon also discussed a breast-lift procedure she had previously disclosed publicly, describing it as a personal goal she had wanted to pursue for years.

“I fulfilled that dream, set myself a goal and carried it out,” she said. “Today, I genuinely feel much better about my body.”

Gideon addresses exchange with Israeli singer Odeya

Gideon also responded to criticism over a social media post in which she pointed out a Hebrew-language error made by Odeya, a popular Israeli singer and songwriter.

“I did not say anything insulting,” Gideon said. “It was a joke about a mistake in Hebrew. I am simply a language nerd. I have always loved Hebrew.”

She said she had made clear that she admired Odeya and that both women treated the exchange humorously.

“She was brilliant and amazing,” Gideon said of Odeya’s response. “That is exactly what makes her such a popular and approachable singer. Her reaction was charming.”

During the filming, Gideon’s husband, Hili Sorotzkin, sent flowers to the set. Her mother, Varda, also accompanied her throughout the shoot.

This post was originally published on here. 

Merging the everyday and the elevated, Leo Ray manages to capture the simplicity of everyday motifs – painting dogs, cats, birds, and people in slightly distorted images with classical art references.

A known colorist, painter, graphic artist, and small-scale sculptor, he was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, in 1950 (then part of the USSR), where he studied theoretical physics at Vilnius University and art at Vilnius Academy of Arts. 

After making aliyah in 1991, he lived in Tel Aviv. Shortly thereafter, the same year, he showed his paintings in a group exhibition in Tel Aviv and entered the local art scene. Since then, he has had many individual shows in Israel and abroad. 

For over 30 years, up to the pandemic, he taught art at Art School, Ein Vered, and BASIS School of Sculpture, Beit Yanai, where he also headed the painting program from 2006 to 2014. 

He paints constantly, every day, exploring infinite painting, in which one canvas is a continuation of the previous one. During the interview for the Magazine, he showed me 99 paintings, like a chain of stories. 

Renaissance, classical, often referenced in Ray’s modern, eclectic compositions

The Renaissance and classical art are often referenced in Ray’s modern, eclectic compositions. When he paints in colors, which is what he is known for, his colors are vibrant and defined. When he steps away from them, he paints just in black and white. His brushstrokes are very characteristic, and he seems to play with layering oil, acrylic, and gouache. 

Many define his art as naive and childlike; during the interview, he told me he disagrees with those opinions. But he agreed that his art can bring out the child inside of us. 

In my view, Ray’s paintings put a smile on viewers’ faces. That’s why I wanted to meet this artist and introduce him to The Jerusalem Post’s wide audience of readers. In the dark times we live in, Ray brings a basic way of joy into his work.

We met in his modest art studio, filled with brushes and paintings, located between car repair shops and workshops, in the industrial zone of Tel Aviv. Leo Ray welcomed me with tea; he was covered with paint, taking a break from the endless painting to talk to me.

When I first saw your painting three years ago, I literally smiled! A big yellow dog was smiling from the canvas back at me. Recently, at the Freshpaint Art Fair, I saw a collection of your paintings and smiled again. They make me happy. Is it your goal to make people happy?

Absolutely. Life can be very difficult, and I think one of the great functions of art is to make people happy in this or other ways. I think that, for example, the art of Charlie Chaplin is no less important, great, and artistic than some, let’s say, tragedies. I think that laughter and joy are very valuable things.

Thank you for doing it. And my other thought when I saw your paintings was that they’re like illustrations for children’s books. Was it right or not? 

No, I never illustrated children’s books, and some people say that my style is childish. I absolutely disagree.

I wouldn’t say it’s childish, but I think when you paint dogs, birds, cats, and people in not-so-realistic proportions, in a dreamlike way, it awakens the child within us.

Yes, of course! I think the child in us doesn’t die before we die. 

That’s a great sentence! Have you painted this way all your life? 

Well, that’s a question: if I’ve changed. Yes, I did. One of my friends said that the painting itself changed in a way; that the process of painting became more fun over the years.

In your case, or in general? How come?

In general. For example, if you compare a painting by [Johannes] Vermeer to a painting by Jackson Pollock, I think Pollock had more fun. 

Interesting, I didn’t think about it this way… and in your case?

My fun is mainly discovering what appears in the painting, what is building up in a painting I am working on.

So, you don’t plan the painting; it comes in the process? 

Sometimes I do plan the paintings and make sketches, but usually, when I start the real one, it changes everything. 

We’re sitting in your studio, and there are lots of brushes, from small to extremely large ones. Do you choose them, play with them, like with instruments?

Of course, brushes are very important instruments, and every brush does what it does. It has individuality. My professor once said that there is no bad brush. And he is right, because [even] a used brush makes what it makes. No new brush can make the same. So, I’m using different kinds of brushes for different kinds of, let’s say, strokes.

And you also use different kinds of paints. 

I paint in oil, acrylic, and gouache (when on paper). And I use Indian ink. I’m trying to be democratic with the painting. I don’t think the use of a kind of material describes the style of a painting. 

What would you say describes your style? 

I would say that I do things in a concise way. I like short sentences. I like short lines in poetry. And I like short jokes. So, this kind of brief message is my style. 

Brief messages. And why those very defined colors, like yellow and red? 

Because I love them.

Trained in calligraphy, ‘that’s why I use brushes’

In opposition to your colorful world, which you are known for, you also paint only in black and white. Which kind of paint do you use for this? 

Sometimes I’ll use acrylic, but if I work on paper, it’s Indian ink. 

What do you like about black and white?

In the academy, I had a leading professor who was teaching calligraphy, so I’m a little bit trained in calligraphy, and so I love it a lot. That’s why I use brushes.

In your paintings, there are repetitive characters.

Yes. My principal male character is a nobody. So he can have any name you want to give him. I cannot say anything about the women. 

This is interesting. You said the man is nobody, and women have some character? 

They always have some character, and they are always very tempting. And they are beautiful and gracious. 

Do the dogs, birds, and cats in your paintings have names? 

No. I don’t give names to cats and dogs. They have to think about that themselves. 

Are there, or were there, real cats and dogs in your life? 

Yes. I came here with a cat.

From Lithuania, from the collapsing Soviet Union? 

A few months before the collapse. I came from the Soviet Union formally. I had to refuse Soviet citizenship and so on… So, I came with my cat.

What was his name?

It was Otto, because of the perfect symmetry of the name and the perfect symmetry of the cat. 

Your cat, in the painting that I’m looking at, has a symmetric face – but its legs are not symmetric… 

It depends on the viewing angle. If it’s a little bit twisted, you don’t see the symmetry.

Your paintings often have rich textures. When do you decide to apply layers of paint? For example, this painting is mostly flat, but the child’s face is covered in more layers of paint, and the cat’s eyes are more layered.

It is not a rational decision. It’s a feeling that I need here to do something. Every color, every texture has its meaning. 

What meaning does it have to you? 

The meaning is mysterious. Painting is a mysterious thing. I once said that the ultimate purpose of a painter is to deepen the mystery. And I was very surprised to find out not very long ago that almost the same words were said by Francis Bacon. 

So, I think like everything that is in the world, like astronomy, physics, mathematics, chess, love, and painting. These are mysterious things that can be explained, only to have a purpose to spoil them. 

The paintings we are talking about, despite the fact that you don’t want to describe them as naive, have naive and surrealistic elements. But you also paint in a more realistic style.

Yes, there was a period when I tried to combine the realistic images with my traditional style, [by this I mean] the flat, two-dimensional, bright-colored things, and see if they go together well. I have a series of the so-called Rembrandt women, where I combined paintings made from some images from Rembrandt, more or less in a realistic style, with my images.

You also portrayed Rembrandt himself in your paintings.

Yes, sometimes. 

Apart from paintings, you also sculpt. Is it very different from painting for you?

It’s a different kind of thinking; it’s a different kind of three-dimensional thing you have to plan. 

You grew up in Lithuania when it was still part of the Soviet Union and began your artistic education as a teenager. Could you tell me a little about that?

When I was 14, I asked my parents if they would allow me to attend an art school, and they did. 

Can you tell me something about your parents, your family? 

My parents were Jewish, of course. Many generations of Vilnius Jews. Both of my parents were scientists in the field of chemistry. My sisters also went into science. 

So there were no art traditions from home. And what do you recall from the way you were taught art in that school? 

At this art school for children worked [at the time] very good Vilnius artists. I met some outstanding personalities. It’s a pity that as a child, you didn’t fully understand with whom you were dealing. 

The way of teaching was rather traditional. Every day we had to draw cubes, and we had to draw plastic casts of ancient, let’s say, gods and philosophers. Well, it was very hard for me as a child.

Why was it hard? 

Well, drawing with a pencil, because when you don’t understand what you are doing, the teachers put some models, some still lifes, and you had to draw them.

But despite that, you continued your art education afterward.

Yes, I did. It was a master’s five-year program at the Academy of Art in Vilnius. But I’m learning all my life, whenever I start a new painting. 

You came to Israel in 1991, with the big wave, the aliyah of Soviet Jews. From a very different reality. Was it a cultural shock for you to come here? 

Yes, but now it’s gone. 

What was your first impression of the local art scene when you came here? 

I don’t remember. I don’t think that I saw the art scene when I came here. I was busy with very different things. But I started painting, of course, immediately. As if I knew what was going to happen.

I came here in April 1991, and in September (same year), there was a big exhibition of newly arrived painters, organized by the Association of Artists in Tel Aviv. Two galleries chose my works from the photographs.

We’re talking about the pre-Google era, so was the fact that they heard about you already a success?

No, they didn’t hear about me. It was advertised everywhere; you just had to send photos and your materials to the Association of Artists. And there, the commission, the jury, chose what they liked.

And since then, you… 

Since then, I somehow entered the art scene. One gallery in Tel Aviv chose me, and I worked with that gallery for four years.

When did you start teaching in Israel? 

I started teaching maybe in 1993. It was the private art school established by my friend and sculptor David Zundelovitch. I taught at this school, later called the BASIS School of Sculpture, Beit Yanai, until COVID. 

When you taught art, what was your message to the students? 

I didn’t have one message. I taught them mainly composition. I think that composition is the most important thing that the art student has to learn to understand the principles, and then you can do it with anything that you want. Skills come while working, in the process. 

Speaking of process, please tell me about your infinite painting practice? When you say infinite painting, does it mean that each painting has a story that continues on the next canvas?

Absolutely, yes. When I came up with the idea that I am moving on with the painting, I’m adding canvases one to another, and it’s an infinite thing. I thought about other infinite things, and I understood that infinite things contain everything. So, I tried there to paint things that I can paint. There are abstract pieces, there are realistic pieces, and there are realistic people.

For example, these wrapped paintings [Ray pointed] are my infinite painting, so-called infinite painting, which now has 99 canvases joined together. It was exhibited in Israel and in the US. 

Ninety-nine? That’s very impressive! Do you paint every day? 

Yes. I come to the studio in the morning or early afternoon. It’s the best time to paint. Best light.

Are you preparing a new exhibition right now? 

No, I’m just working on separate works. 

At the end of our conversation, I have to ask how you speak Polish, my native language, so well (we spoke on the phone before the interview, and you surprised me). Polish is a completely different language from Lithuanian and even from Russian. Where did you learn it?

At first, as a child, we had a Polish-speaking nanny there, a woman who helped my mother. But I really learned it when I was young and wanted to read books that weren’t published in the USSR. There was a bookstore in Vilnius that sold books in Polish and German, and I chose Polish to read them. I really like the language. [He smiled.]

Dziekuje [thank you, in Polish] for talking to me.

Dziekuje for visiting me at my studio!

www.leorayart.com

This post was originally published on here. 

Typhoon Noul will dump heavy to torrential rains across much of southern China for two days, authorities said, after sweeping the province of Guangdong and neighboring Hong Kong with gale-force winds, following landfall on Sunday.

China declared its highest alert for flash floods in several provinces as the year’s strongest typhoon forced the relocation of more than 700,000 people in Guangdong, authorities said.

The year’s 12th tropical cyclone and China’s third this month, Noul, which means the glow of sunrise or sunset in Korean, struck the coast of Huidong county at about 3:50 a.m., provincial officials said.

It is expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain to nearby provinces such as Jiangxi and Hunan as it moves inland, state broadcaster CCTV said, with the rains likely to persist until Tuesday.

Extremely heavy to exceptional downpours are expected to lash some areas including the province of Fujian, as the National Meteorological Center forecast heavy to torrential rain from Sunday until Monday morning across much of China’s south.

Typhoon weakening as it moves inland

Authorities urged local governments to pay special attention to flood-prone areas such as mountainous and riverine zones, building sites, valleys, and bridges.

The typhoon is weakening as it moves inland, Hong Kong’s Observatory said, though southwesterly gales pounded parts of the Asian financial hub, where authorities downgraded the typhoon signal to No. 3 from No. 8 by afternoon.

Overnight, the storm had passed within 80 km of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong airport authorities said flights will gradually resume on Sunday afternoon, after being mostly suspended for more than 12 hours.

This post was originally published on here. 

Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara has asked the High Court of Justice to strike down a law suspending enforcement against ultra-Orthodox (haredi) yeshiva students who fail to report for military service, arguing that it leaves their duty to enlist intact while removing the consequences of refusing.

In a Friday response, the Attorney-General’s Office described the amendment as a discriminatory “group immunity mechanism” that protects one sector from arrest, investigation and prosecution while leaving other draft evaders exposed to the force of the law.

“The law has no legal future,” the state concluded.

The law passed the Knesset on July 14. Justice Ofer Grosskopf froze it the following day and ordered the state and Knesset to explain why it should not be struck down. Five petitions will be heard by an expanded nine-justice panel.

Baharav-Miara’s argument rests on a simple distinction: The amendment does not formally exempt yeshiva students from military service, but prevents the state from enforcing that obligation against those covered by it.

Draft orders remain valid, and qualifying students do not receive lawful exemptions or deferments. However, those who declare that they meet the law’s Torah-study requirements are protected from arrest, investigation, prosecution and other proceedings.

Previous haredi enlistment frameworks were struck down partly because they relied on voluntary cooperation and lacked meaningful sanctions. This amendment goes further, the state argued, because it removes existing enforcement tools without replacing them with enlistment targets, economic incentives or another mechanism intended to increase enlistment.

The response said the law creates two forms of discrimination.

The first concerns the burden of military service. By blocking enforcement against one group, the amendment limits the state’s ability to recruit additional soldiers from that population, leaving conscripts and reservists to carry a heavier wartime burden.

The second concerns equality before the law. A member of the general public who ignores repeated draft orders remains exposed to arrest, investigation, and criminal proceedings. Someone accused of the same conduct who qualifies under the amendment receives protection from those measures.

The government has argued that arrests and criminal sanctions will not produce meaningful haredi enlistment, and that lasting change requires legislation reached with the community and military frameworks adapted to haredi needs. Aggressive enforcement, it says, could deepen distrust and drive potential recruits away.

Baharav-Miara did not claim enforcement alone would solve the problem. The response recognized the need for adapted service tracks, outreach and arrangements allowing haredi soldiers to maintain their way of life.

Individual consequences, including arrest and restrictions on leaving the country, are one part of a broader enlistment policy, the state said. Military officials have told the court and Knesset that such measures encourage some draft evaders to come forward and regularize their status.

The IDF has also expanded haredi service options, including the Hashmonaim Brigade, technology tracks and Border Police programs. Legal and military officials have nevertheless said those efforts must be accompanied by effective enforcement against those who refuse to report.

The Attorney-General’s Office previously asked the government to present an immediate enforcement plan, noting that many measures could be adopted without new legislation. According to the response, those requests went unanswered.

Ruling could cause ‘deep rupture’ within public

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir warned that protection from enforcement would create a clear incentive not to report and undermine efforts to increase haredi enlistment.

He also objected to requiring the IDF to establish a committee deciding which students qualify for protection. The army, he argued, should not approve immunity while asking soldiers and reservists to make exceptional sacrifices.

Doing so could cause a “deep rupture” with the serving public, damage confidence in the system’s fairness and force the IDF to examine yeshiva attendance, an area outside its expertise.

The law was enacted “out of recognition of the importance of Torah study.”

Baharav-Miara did not dispute that Torah study is a value the Knesset may recognize. Her argument is that the amendment does not regulate or encourage Torah study itself. Its practical effect is to protect yeshiva students from enforcement of an obligation that continues to apply to them.

The question is therefore not whether Torah study is important, the response said, but whether that importance can justify protecting an entire group from the consequences of breaking a law applying to everyone else.

Previous arrangements sought, at least formally, to balance Torah study, increased enlistment and reduced inequality. Amendment 28 abandons that balance because it contains no meaningful mechanism to increase enlistment or ease the burden on serving soldiers.

The recently enacted Basic Law recognizing Torah study as a fundamental value does not automatically make every law passed in its name constitutional, the state added. Recognizing a value does not allow the Knesset to disregard equality and the rule of law.

Supporters called the amendment a temporary bridge until the next Knesset passes a comprehensive draft law. Baharav-Miara rejected that.

Legislative process fundamentally ‘defective’

The High Court struck down the previous framework in 2017. It expired in June 2023 without a replacement. In June 2024, the court ruled unanimously that there was no legal basis for treating yeshiva students differently and that the Security Service Law must be enforced equally.

After years of failed legislation, the state said there was no reason to believe suspending enforcement would make the next Knesset act faster. Removing the immediate consequences could instead reduce pressure to reach a permanent solution.

The state also said the legislative process was fundamentally defective.

The proposal began as a broad 2022 government bill intended to regulate haredi enlistment while balancing military service, Torah study and employment. The government revived it through the Knesset’s continuity procedure, allowing debate to resume without beginning again.

But after lengthy committee discussions over a comprehensive framework, the coalition replaced it with a narrower measure focused on suspending enforcement.

The Attorney-General’s Office said the old bill was used as a “legislative skeleton” for a substantially different law that had not undergone the same full process.

Baharav-Miara asked the court to keep the amendment frozen and ultimately declare it void, concluding that “the unconstitutionality inherent in it speaks for itself.”

This post was originally published on here. 

For decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran and, lately, Turkey have been funding and arming extremist militant and terrorist networks throughout the Middle East to be used against Israel.

It’s long overdue for Israel to counter their destructive plans by using parallel strategies they use against it. 

Not by using conventional proxies, like the Iranian-backed Shia militias in Iraq and Yemen, who are paid to do Tehran’s dirty work – but rather a real partnership with a reliable regional ally that has a similar ideological alignment, common adversaries, and a willingness to fight. The people that Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called a “natural ally.”

I approached Gen. Hussein Yazdanpana of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), a Kurdish armed group that has been fighting against the tyrannical ayatollah regime in Tehran for decades. 

I asked the general, “Should Israel arm the Kurdish national liberation movement?” Without any hesitation, he said: “The national security of Israel and the Kurdish people is closely interconnected. Therefore, such support is not only in the interests of the Kurdish nation, but also serves Israel’s own strategic interests.”

He said that if Kurdistan and Israel were to become strategic partners and allies, they could stand together against state-sponsored threats and extremist movements across the region, while contributing to greater regional stability and security through constructive relations with other nations.

The general’s assessment is spot-on. Israel and the Kurds share a long history of covert cooperation dating back to the 1960s. They both have fought against the odds with the same Arab, Turkish, and Iranian enemy in their struggles to establish a homeland for their persecuted people. 

Both the Kurdish and the Jewish people face the same demonization, popular animosity, and rejectionism by those who oppose their right to exist as people. 

The Kurdish population is about 50 to 60 million, and their ancestral homeland, Kurdistan, stretches over a large mountainous territory and lies within the borders of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria.

Just in the past decades alone, close to half a million Kurds were murdered and millions uprooted by the four states occupying Kurdistan. 

In September 2017, the results of the Iraqi autonomous Kurdish Region independence referendum showed an overwhelming majority of Kurds (93%) voted for breaking away from Iraq. 

Israel was the only country that supported the move. Following the results, there was a massive backlash in the regional media inciting against the Kurds. The Kurds were accused of being “Zionist puppets” working with Israel towards building a “second Israel,” an entity that would disintegrate their so-called Arab world. 

The ‘second Israel’ accusation

The term “second Israel” can be traced back to 1966, when then-Iraqi defense minister Abd al-Aziz al-Uqaili, an Arab nationalist, blamed the Iraqi Kurds for seeking to establish a “second Israel” in the region. Sixty years later, the term is still perpetuated, claiming Kurdistan is imitating “Yahudistan,” meaning the land of the Jews or Israel. 

Prof. Ofra Bengio, head of the Kurdish studies program at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, said the “linkages and parallels are intended to demonize and delegitimize both Jews and Kurds, while also implying illegitimate relations between them.” 

Gen. Yazdanpana is right when saying supporting the Kurdish cause “also serves Israel’s own strategic interests.” About 12 to 15 million Kurds reside mostly in northwestern Iran (Iran’s Kurdish region), along the borders with Kurdish regions of both Turkey and Iraq. 

Israel arming and supporting Kurdish factions will provide Israel with direct leverage to erode Tehran’s internal control. Kurdish forces located along the border with Iran-Iraq are highly disciplined, and Israel supplying them with weaponry is win-win for both the Israelis and the Kurds, as they could potentially serve as a force to challenge the Iranian regime. 

Israel’s support of the Kurds in Iraq, Syria, and Iran will also disrupt the “Shi’ite Axis” and Tehran’s ability to supply weapons to its proxies in Iraq and Lebanon.

Following October 7, Turkey has become the hub for Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas leaders. Hardly a day goes by without a senior Turkish politician or public figure calling for the destruction of Israel or to liberate Jerusalem. 

In March 2025, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during a prayer service marking the end of Ramadan, said: “May Allah, for the sake of his name, destroy and devastate Zionist Israel.” 

In July, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, ahead of the NATO Summit, said Israel has become a “burden that humanity can no longer bear.” 

These remarks are not isolated outbursts. They reflect Turkey’s increasingly hostile position toward Israel and Jews in general since Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack.

Ankara’s support for radical Islamist groups also goes beyond Hamas. Turkey has a long history of supporting Islamist groups operating in Syria and the wider region. Ankara refuses to designate the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas as terrorist entities, whereas other Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have done so.
 
About half of the total Kurdish population lives in Turkey, roughly 20 million, making up 20% to 25% of Turkey’s total population. They are mainly concentrated in the mountainous east and southeast regions (Kurdish region of Turkey), which share borders with the Kurdish regions of Syria and Iraq, home to some of the most highly disciplined Kurdish forces, such as Peshmerga fighters in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). 

It goes without saying that the overwhelming majority of Kurds living in Kurdistan and the diaspora aspire to establish a Kurdish homeland. 

Israel’s moral support of the Kurdish people falls short. Israel must play a more active role in supporting and arming the Kurdish national liberation movement.
 
I understand that Israel’s hands are tied due to a lack of interest or commitment by the American administration to an independent Kurdistan. Americans and their allies often emphasize the territorial integrity of those countries who occupying Kurdistan, neglecting to mention that an overwhelming majority of Kurds reject being part of those illusory fascist states. 

The writer is a Kurdish-Swedish journalist and researcher specializing in Middle Eastern affairs. She was an Israel-based journalist and podcast presenter for the Arabic and English series Exposing the Lies – The Voice of Truth from the Middle East at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. She previously worked as a field producer and journalist for several Qatari media outlets.

This post was originally published on here. 

Yesh Atid MK Ron Katz announced on Sunday that he was resigning from the Knesset and would not be running in the upcoming elections.

He will be replaced by the next person on Yesh Atid’s list, Mohammad Abu al-Hija, who is an Arab Israeli community figure and educator.

Katz’s resignation marks another departure from the faction after Yesh Atid’s merger with Bennett’s new party, Together, which is led by Bennett. The party has seen its support decline in recent polls.

Together is a core party in the opposition bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming elections set for October 27.

“After 15 years of meaningful public service, it is time to take a break from public life and begin a new chapter,” Katz said, announcing the departure.

He added that he chose to submit his resignation during the Knesset recess rather than wait until it ended because he did not want to continue receiving a public salary after deciding to leave political life.

“I do not believe it is right to continue receiving a public salary after I had already decided to embark on a new path,” he said.

Mohammad Abu al-Hija, Atidna founder, to replace Katz

Following the announcement of the departure, Yesh Atid stated that it was proud to welcome Abu al-Hija to the Knesset.

The party said Abu al-Hija was currently working as the director of the Informal Education Department in the Tamra Municipality, treasurer of the Union of Youth Departments in Israel, and head of Yesh Atid’s Arab headquarters.

Yesh Atid added that Abu al-Hija has worked as an educator and social entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in education, youth development, and the integration of young Arab citizens into Israeli society.

“He founded Atidna, Israel’s first Arab-Zionist youth movement,” Yesh Atid added.

The party noted that he was born and raised in the northern Arab city of Tamra and is married with three children.

Yesh Atid, Yair Lapid thank Katz for years of service 

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana said that Katz had submitted his letter of resignation to him, and that the next person on Yesh Atid’s list was Abu al-Hija. The addition comes as the Knesset is in recess ahead of elections and does not convene for plenum sessions unless under special circumstances. 

Yesh Atid stated that it wanted to thank Katz for “his years of meaningful, dedicated, and principled public service.”

“Ron, one of Yesh Atid’s longtime grassroots activists, served with professionalism and deep commitment on behalf of the citizens of Israel,” the party added.

Yesh Atid Party leader Yair Lapid said regarding Katz’s departure that he had been “a longtime member of Yesh Atid and one of the pillars of the party’s grassroots organization”.

“He is my friend and will continue to be part of our extended family. I thank him for his years of service to the Israeli public and wish him every success in the next chapter of his journey,” Lapid added.

In May, Yesh Atid MK Boaz Toporovsky also announced his departure from politics and from the Knesset. Toporovsky was one of the founders of Yesh Atid and had served as the coalition whip in the government led by Bennett and Lapid between 2021 and 2022. The Bennett-Lapid government was the first to include an Arab party in its coaltion in the country’s history.

Bennett and Lapid’s Together alliance had been polling in past months as the largest party in the opposition bloc, but in recent weeks was overtaken by the Yashar Party, led by Gadi Eisenkot.

Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern has said that, if he remains in politics ahead of the elections, he would only do so as part of Eisenkot’s framework.

This post was originally published on here. 

Iran and Oman have made “some progress” over navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, though it remains unclear whether Iran will accept the proposal currently on the table, two sources familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

One of the sources said Oman has proposed establishing a regional consortium that would oversee maritime security, search-and-rescue operations, and other forms of regional cooperation.

“The key point is that participation and payments would be voluntary,” the source said.

According to the source, Iran has so far opposed the idea, insisting instead on mandatory payments, arguing that vessels would otherwise be barred from transiting the strait.

Iranian Foreign Ministry confirms talks

Earlier on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei confirmed that several rounds of talks took place between the deputy ministers of Foreign Affairs in Tehran

He noted that discussions focused on exchanging views on common principles and operational mechanisms for managing safe shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz while respecting the sovereign rights of both coastal states.

The spokesman emphasized that the talks were productive and progress was made, adding that the Omani delegation left Tehran on Saturday evening, but technical and political consultations between the two sides have continued.

This post was originally published on here. 

The Defense Ministry on Saturday requested that the nationwide declaration of a special home front emergency be extended until August 11, subject to approval by the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

The current declaration is set to expire on Tuesday. 

In a document submitted to the government, the ministry said the need for any further extension would be reassessed before the new expiration date in accordance with the security situation.

The explanatory notes accompanying the proposal state that despite the ceasefire declared in connection with the fighting against Iran and the agreement signed with Lebanon, uncertainty remains regarding both fronts. The document also noted that, “as of this time, Iran continues to carry out missile fire of varying intensity toward different countries across the Middle East.”

According to the document, “Given the uncertainty regarding the situation on the Iran and Lebanon fronts, security officials continue to assess that there is a high probability of an attack against the civilian population.” 

On that basis, the Defense Ministry is proposing to extend the nationwide special home front emergency declaration.

No active Home Front Command directives for civilians

The ministry emphasized that there are currently no active Home Front Command directives for the civilian population, but such instructions may need to be reinstated if circumstances change. 

It added that as long as the declaration remains in force, the Home Front Command retains various authorities under the Civil Defense Law, including the power to issue instructions to the public, require people to remain in protected spaces, impose restrictions on educational activities, direct auxiliary organizations, and issue additional orders necessary to safeguard lives and property.

According to the document, because no Home Front Command directives are currently in effect, the economic impact of extending the declaration is expected to be negligible. It also stressed that if there is a significant change in the security situation, the declaration could be revoked or narrowed to apply only to areas where it is deemed necessary.

This post was originally published on here. 

Dalia Gubbay had attended Milan’s April 25 Liberation Day march many times before. There had always been shouting when supporters of the Jewish Brigade reached the center of the city, she said, but the hostility had usually been confined to a tense corner or a brief confrontation. This year, she said, the atmosphere was different. 

The Jewish Brigade, whose volunteers fought alongside Allied forces during World War II, was being commemorated during Italy’s annual celebration of liberation from fascism. Gubbay, vice president of the Jewish Community of Milan, said demonstrators surrounded Jewish participants carrying Israeli and Jewish Brigade flags, shouted insults and ultimately forced them out of the procession under police escort. 

One woman looked at Gubbay and called her a murderer. Nearby, a man wrapped in an Israeli flag sat down in the street and refused to move, shouting that he was Jewish and would remain where he was. Gubbay said she cried when the group finally withdrew, not from fear but from anger. “Milan is my city,” she later wrote. “I was born here, and my children were born here.” That afternoon, she said, it felt as though the city had betrayed them. 

Less than three months later, the Jewish community learned of an anonymous Google form asking members of the public to report Israeli tourists, Jewish visitors, hotels, businesses, property purchases and projects allegedly connected to what its authors described as “Zionist tourism” and “Zionist neo-colonization” in Italy. 

The questionnaire circulated through social media and messaging groups with connections to Milan, although it sought information from across the country. It asked respondents to provide locations, supporting sources, and details about local organizations already addressing what it called the phenomenon. The form stated that the information would be shared confidentially with the Global Sumud Movement, a pro-Palestinian activist network that denied creating, commissioning, or knowing about the form when it appeared in press reports. 

The questionnaire was removed after the intervention of Gen. Pasquale Angelosanto, Italy’s national coordinator for the fight against antisemitism. Its authors have not been publicly identified. 

Publication condemned across Italy

For Italy’s Jewish leaders, the form did not emerge in isolation. It appeared after years of increasingly aggressive campaigns against people and institutions classified as Zionist, as well as a succession of incidents involving Jewish students, tourists, businesses and public commemorations. 

The Google form was not the first recent attempt to create a list of alleged Zionists in Italy. 

In August 2024, the fringe Nuovo Partito Comunista Italiano published a lengthy online document naming Jewish community figures, politicians, journalists, businesspeople, companies and other organizations it accused of forming part of a “Zionist bloc.” The group indicated that its research was incomplete and could be expanded. 

The publication was condemned across much of Italy’s political spectrum. The Jewish Community of Rome described it as a proscription list that exposed individuals by name and professional affiliation. Senate President Ignazio La Russa warned that identifying people publicly in that manner could endanger their security. 

There is no evidence that the communist organization created the Milan form or that the two projects were coordinated.

The initiatives nevertheless followed a similar method: define people through a real or presumed relationship with Israel, record their identities or locations, and encourage others to act against them. 

The form represented a further step. Rather than concentrating primarily on public figures and organizations, it sought information about ordinary travelers, places where Israelis were staying, property transactions and businesses connected, accurately or otherwise, to Jewish or Israeli activity. 

Walker Meghnagi, president of the Jewish Community of Milan, warned that collecting such information could provide practical assistance to someone intending to commit violence. Community representatives alerted Italian authorities and contacted journalists and politicians shortly after the questionnaire appeared. 

Gubbay said the community’s secretary-general posted the form in a board group and told members the issue could not be ignored. Meghnagi used his contacts with government officials, while Gubbay reached out to the press. By the next day, the form was no longer available. 

The speed of the intervention reassured community leaders, but not enough to persuade them that the underlying problem had been resolved. 

Benjamin Birely, a PhD candidate and researcher at L’Orientale University in Naples and the creator of @holylandspeaks on social media, said he was more surprised by the public shock over the questionnaire than by its existence. He had already encountered the earlier online database of people described as Zionists, including names, cities and business details. “This website was taken down, but there will be another one,” Birely told The Media Line. 

His own experience in Naples illustrates how the language used in such lists can be directed against an identifiable person. Birely arrived in the city in the fall of 2024 to begin his doctoral research. During his first month, he said, he found the words “Intifada until victory” painted on the entrance to one of L’Orientale’s main buildings. 

The neighborhoods surrounding L’Orientale and the nearby Federico II University were filled with anti-Israel posters and graffiti, he said. Some promoted organizations or language associated with violent resistance rather than making a general appeal for Palestinian rights. 

Birely expected Naples to have a strong left-wing and pro-Palestinian political culture. What he did not expect, he said, was the hostility he experienced after other students and members of the university community learned he was Israeli. 

The situation intensified after pro-Palestinian activist Vincenzo Fullone published a video apparently describing Birely as a “soldier without a uniform” and alleging that he had been sent by the Israeli government to influence debate at L’Orientale.

Birely denied both claims and said he plays no role in the Israeli military. 

‘Are you a Zionist?’

Shortly afterward, Link Orientale, a student organization represented in several university bodies, published material calling him a “PhD candidate in genocide,” according to Birely. He said Fullone’s video and the student group’s posts set off a wave of hostile messages and threats from people who knew his university department and where he lived. “The only reason I’m being accused of being a soldier and of genocide is simply because I’m a Jew with an Israeli passport,” Birely said. 

Before the public campaign, Birely had repeatedly encountered a question that he said has become central to the treatment of Israelis in Italy: “Are you a Zionist?” 

He said owners or employees at restaurants, cafés and stores sometimes asked him the question after hearing that he had moved from Israel. In several cases, he said, identifying himself as a Zionist would have meant being told to leave. To avoid confrontation, he sometimes responded that he opposed the war, opposed the Israeli government and supported peace. 

In much of Italy’s current political discourse, Birely said, Zionist is no longer treated as a descriptive term for support for Jewish national self-determination. It has become an accusation associated with murder, racism and genocide. “When people say ‘Zionista,’ it is just the new way of saying ‘Ebreo,’” he said, using the Italian word for Jew. 

Gubbay described a related demand in Milan. Italian Jews, she said, are frequently expected to distance themselves publicly from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government before being accepted in social or political spaces. 

“If I’m not with Bibi, I’m OK,” she said, describing the condition imposed on Jewish participants rather than stating her own political position. “But why should I have to say something like this? They don’t ask Russians, Chinese or Iranian people to dissociate themselves from the government of another country.” 

Birely argues that Italy’s current atmosphere cannot be explained by the Israel-Hamas War alone. He points to three historical and political traditions that he believes have combined with the anger generated by the conflict. 

The first is Italy’s incomplete confrontation with its fascist past. Italy was governed for two decades by Benito Mussolini’s regime and enacted racial laws in 1938 that stripped Jews of fundamental rights. Thousands of Italian Jews were later deported to Nazi concentration camps. 

Birely said postwar Italy built much of its national identity around resistance to German occupation and the heroism of the partisans, while failing to address fully the role Italians and Italian institutions played in persecuting Jews. 

The second factor, he said, is the persistence of older Catholic imagery involving Jewish guilt. Italy is now broadly secular, and the Catholic Church formally rejected the accusation of collective Jewish responsibility for the death of Jesus during the Second Vatican Council in 1965. Even so, Birely said Christian symbolism remains culturally powerful. 

Birely pointed to religious imagery used during the Gaza war, including a statement he attributed to Cardinal Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, that “Christ is …  buried under the rubble” in Gaza. He also cited Italian nativity scenes showing Jesus wrapped in a keffiyeh and public art presenting him as Palestinian. “This taps into these old cultural ideas about Jews being something sinister,” Birely said. “Just as the Jews killed Jesus, now Jews are killing babies in Gaza.”  

The third element is Italy’s political left, which was shaped for decades by a communist movement larger than any other in Western Europe. Birely said some of the language promoted during the Soviet period, particularly the portrayal of Zionism as racism or colonialism, remained part of the country’s political vocabulary. He said those ideas can still be heard in universities, trade unions and local activist groups, where hostility toward Israelis is sometimes defended as anti-Zionism rather than treated as discrimination. 

That conflict now reaches beyond demonstrations and university politics. It has become part of the debate over how Italy should define contemporary antisemitism and whether public institutions should use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition. 

Jewish organizations say clearer standards are needed when anger toward Israel is transferred to Jewish communities or individual Israelis. Opponents worry that such standards could be applied too broadly and limit legitimate criticism. Gubbay said criticism of Israel, including criticism of its government, is not in itself antisemitic. The distinction, she said, lies in whether the argument addresses policy or turns a person’s Jewish identity or Israeli nationality into grounds for exclusion. 

She cited plans for a luxury resort in Perledo, near Lake Como, involving Israeli architect Yehiel Tsubery. Local environmental groups have raised hydrogeological concerns that remain under review by the relevant authorities. 
Gubbay said those objections should be investigated on their merits. Her concern was with activists who described the development as a “Zionist resort” and opposed Tsubery’s involvement by arguing that he was born in an illegitimate state. 

A similar dispute arose in Valsesia, a mountainous area of Piedmont where Israeli families have purchased or are considering purchasing abandoned homes through an initiative known as Project Baita. 
Gubbay described the families as doctors, engineers, teachers and parents seeking a quieter life in Italian communities affected by depopulation. Opponents portrayed their arrival as the establishment of an Israeli “colony.” 

The choice of that word was not neutral, she said. It transferred the political language used to describe Israeli settlements into Italian villages where families were legally purchasing homes, sending children to local schools, and contributing to the economy. “Baita means home,” Gubbay noted. “Valsesia is not becoming a colony. It is becoming a place where the sound of children walking to school can be heard again.” 

The controversy later escalated beyond public rhetoric. A mayor in the area received a threatening letter containing a bullet after supporting the arrival of Israeli families, according to the material provided for this article. 

Another project near Perledo drew a protest from activists who called it part of a Zionist takeover of the area. For Jewish leaders, these cases show how Israeli involvement in ordinary property development can be recast through the vocabulary of occupation and settlement, regardless of the location or legal circumstances. 

The pressure is also affecting daily family life in Milan. Gubbay said some parents now tell children not to wear a kippah, show ritual fringes, or speak Hebrew in public. Jewish schools and synagogues operate under police protection, which she praised but said was increasingly difficult to explain to young children. 

She described an incident in which three Orthodox Jewish children, ages 13, 11 and 9, were stopped and searched by a security guard in a Milan store after saying they were Israeli. According to Gubbay’s account, the guard searched their pockets and wallet but found no stolen merchandise. 

Days later, she said, an older brother returned to the shop with his pregnant wife and young child. The same guard allegedly searched him and continued to detain the family after finding nothing. When the man began recording the confrontation, store management demanded that the images be erased before the family was allowed to leave, according to Gubbay. 

In a separate case, two young Argentine Jews wearing kippot were attacked near a Milan supermarket, Gubbay said. One suffered a broken nose, and both decided to leave Italy shortly afterward. 

The source material for this article did not include police reports or responses from the businesses involved in those incidents. Gubbay presented them as examples of a fear that has become routine among Jewish families, even when no national controversy or organized protest is involved. 

That fear now shapes decisions about education and emigration. Gubbay’s daughter, Rebecca, is 18 and will soon have to decide where to attend university. She was born in Milan, has close family there, and had expected to build her future in Italy.

After witnessing the exclusion of Jewish participants from the April 25 march and absorbing what Gubbay described as a constant stream of antisemitic content on social media, Rebecca began questioning whether she could attend an Italian university without hiding her identity. Studying in Israel is another possibility, but leaving would mean separating from much of her family. Gubbay said many young Italian Jews are now considering similar choices. 

The concern is no longer limited to whether an anonymous online form can be removed or whether the authorities will condemn the next list. It is whether Jews born in Italy will continue to believe they can live openly in the country. “Rebecca is Italian. She was born in Milan,” Gubbay wrote. “Do we really want to watch our young people leave and hand them a world we promised would never exist again?”

This post was originally published on here. 

Former Gaza hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel found out they’re going to be grandparents on Monday, their daughter Shir Siegel posted to her Instagram account. 

In the video, Shir Siegel presented her parents with what appears to be a cookie jar. Once Aviva began unwrapping the gift, she found a positive pregnancy test, cheering and jumping to hug her daughter.

The Siegels have four children, Shai, Gal, Elan, and Shir, and five grandchildren already. This is the first child for Shir Siegel and her husband Yuval Bar-On.

The news comes almost three years since Keith and Aviva Siegel were taken hostage on October 7 after being dragged out of their safe room and taken across the border while held at knifepoint. 

Although they were initially held together, Aviva was released after 50 days while Keith remained in captivity for 484 days. The Siegels have become outspoken activists after their harrowing experiences in Gaza, which they described as “torture,” both psychological and physical. 

Keith and Aviva Siegel were hostages of Hamas in the tunnels under Gaza.

They just found out they’re about to become grandparents: pic.twitter.com/2QLOGa7PjP

— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) July 25, 2026

Holding onto hope for family kept the Siegels going in captivity

“I was alone without any other hostages for six months, a 60-year-old man, completely alone, not knowing the fate of my loved ones,” Keith Siegel said in a testimony before the UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) last November.

The Siegels have said that faith in their family’s safety was a major point that kept them going in Hamas captivity, making their daughter’s announcement all the more striking. 

“We felt firsthand the meaning of holding on to hope even in the hardest moments,” Keith Siegel said at the SID Israel conference in January.

At the event, the couple also said that their experience being held in Gaza motivated them to enter humanitarian work. They partnered with IsraAID, one of Israel’s leading humanitarian aid organizations, and are set to travel with the NGO to Kenya, where they will visit the world’s largest refugee camp in Kakuma.

This post was originally published on here. 

A mosque in the West Bank village of Kusra was set on fire on Saturday night, in what is suspected to be a nationalist crime in response to the deadly attack that occured the day earlier.

The words “Revenge for Benayahu,” one of the victims killed in Friday’s terror attack, were spray-painted on the entrance wall alongside a Star of David.

“Imagine the reaction if a Palestinian, or even a Frenchman, had set fire to a synagogue,” said MK Ahmad Tibi in an X/Twitter post on Sunday. “When a mosque is burned, and those responsible are not arrested, that is not a ‘price tag.’ This is Jewish terrorism.”

Tibi went on to condemn the “settler-terrorists” as “invaders, arsonists, uprooters, and murderers,” before labeling the attack an action of “Jewish supremacy.”

In addition, five vehicles were set ablaze in the village of Beitillu. Near Khirbet Abu Falah, tractors and trucks were also torched. Two Palestinians who were apparently beaten during the incident were evacuated from the scene to a hospital for medical treatment.

מתנחבלים הציתו את מסגד אלרחמה בכפר קוסרה, באזור שכם, וריססו על קירותיו את הכתובת: ״נקמת הבניהו״.

תארו לעצמכם מה הייתה התגובה אילו פלסטיני, או אפילו צרפתי, היה מצית בית כנסת.

כשמסגד נשרף והאחראים אינם נעצרים, זה אינו ״תג מחיר״.זה טרור יהודי. פולשים, שורפים, עוקרים ורוצחים.
זו… pic.twitter.com/YGnpu0v9M4

— Ahmad Tibi (@Ahmad_tibi) July 26, 2026

Israelis attacked in recent days in the West Bank 

The incidents came two days after Benayahu Mellet, a member of the local emergency response squad and the agriculture coordinator at Havat Gilad, was murdered in a shooting attack near the outpost on Friday. Maj. Yuval Ezra, 27, from Herzliya, a battery commander in the Artillery Corps, was also killed in the same incident.

In light of the escalation in recent days, OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth on Sunday barred Palestinian laborers from entering Israeli communities in the West Bank, with the exception of industrial zones, in an effort to reduce friction between the populations, according to a security source.

The source added that construction sites may receive exemptions at the request of local communities.

The weekend escalation began with Friday’s deadly attack. The IDF assesses that the incident was spontaneous, but stressed that the group’s departure on the excursion without prior coordination was a serious breach and that the entire incident remains under investigation.

According to a military source, dozens of Palestinians were inside the village during the incident. In the initial confrontation, a rifle and a handgun were taken from a member of the local emergency response squad, after which the attacker opened fire and killed him.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

One person was killed, and 17 were wounded after a vehicle driven by a suspected Islamist rammed into the crowd at Berlin’s Christopher Street Day Pride event on Saturday night, Berlin police announced.

Police added on Sunday morning that several of those wounded had been reportedly hurt with “stabbing weapons.”

The suspected perpetrator has been identified as 21-year-old Abdul B., Berlin police announced on Sunday, describing him as wearing a black hoodie and white pants.

A police spokesperson added that B. is a member of the city’s “Islamist scene,” but has not yet been arrested.

“We have now identified a suspected perpetrator. Measures against this suspected perpetrator, who has not yet been arrested, are underway. However, this suspected perpetrator is known to the police as a member of the Islamist scene here in Berlin,” the spokesperson told reporters at the scene.

Earlier, the Berlin police had announced that the event was canceled on Saturday night after a vehicle drove into the crowd, striking and wounded several people.

“According to our latest information, the vehicle drove… into the Tiergarten around 10 p.m., injuring several people in the process, and then came to a standstill after hitting a tree here in the Tiergarten,” a police spokesperson at the scene said. 

“It was empty, which is why we are currently working intensively to track down the perpetrator or perpetrators.”

Bild cited a witness as saying a white van drove into the crowd at high speed and a man then got out of the vehicle and fled on foot. 

The police stated that officers and rescue units were on the scene, and that they were conducting a manhunt for the suspect.

Emergency services were treating the injured at the scene, police said, adding that there were “numerous injured, including several with life-threatening injuries.”

Among the 17 wounded, eight had serious injuries and of those, three were in life-threatening condition, a fire brigade spokesperson said.

Thousands gather for one of Europe’s largest Pride events

Hundreds of thousands of people had gathered peacefully in the German capital for the annual Christopher Street Day celebrations, one of Europe’s largest Pride events, before the incident ended the festivities.

“It’s one of the worst days for the queer community, and a day I personally hoped I’d never have to experience… I’m shocked,” said Julian Methig, who attended the event.

Christopher Street Day draws hundreds of thousands of people to the German capital each year. The event commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York and combines a parade with political demands for equality, inclusion and protection against discrimination. 

First held in West Berlin in 1979, the CSD has grown from a small demonstration into a major fixture of the city’s cultural and political calendar. The parade is the centerpiece of the CSD, but it is accompanied by a wide range of political, cultural and party events held across the city. 

This post was originally published on here. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been a fixture of Israeli politics for so long that his campaign promises can start to blur into one another, as every time elections roll around, the country hears a familiar chorus of pledges on cost of living, security, and reform that’s been sung for years.

This election cycle, however, is different in one important respect. For the first time, Netanyahu has carried a coalition through a full four-year term without it collapsing early. 

That staying power makes this a rare moment to ask a question that usually gets cut short by early elections: not “what did he promise,” but “what did this coalition actually accomplish with the time it had?”

Cost of living

When Netanyahu promised to lower the cost of living in 2022, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) had Israel ranked as the most expensive developed country in the world. At the time, price levels were 38% higher than the OECD average, with the minimum wage sitting at NIS 5,300 per month and the average household income was estimated at approximately NIS 22,013.

According to the National Insurance Institute, nearly 2 million Israelis fell below the poverty line that year, including 873.3 thousand children and 152.5 thousand senior citizens.

Today, the OECD still ranks Israel among the five most expensive countries, and housing and food continue to be the biggest drivers of high prices. 

The minimum wage stands at NIS 6,443.85 per month, and the average household income is closer to NIS 24,000, although exact data for the year cannot be calculated yet.

In 2022, Israel’s inflation was at a high that hadn’t been seen since 2008, when Ehud Olmert led the country. This year, Israel is on track to remain within the Bank of Israel’s annual target range of 1%–3%, but the overall cost of living in the country remains higher than most of the world.

Free education for young children

In 2022, Netanyahu had placed high importance on expanding free education for children from birth to age three, as a way to both ease the cost of living and help parents return to the workforce.

In April 2023, Netanyahu announced that his plan would include committing NIS 2 billion to building state-funded daycare centers, as well as subsidies for parents to help pay for childcare.

At the time, this plan was expected to reduce costs for about 25% of children, largely because most children were not in the supervised daycare system and there were too few available places.

While the October 7 massacre did not halt the program entirely, there were many disruptions, and funds had to be diverted to emergency recovery from the war.

As of 2026, Israel still does not provide free preschool or daycare for all children from birth to age three. Families continue to pay for most childcare, although many do receive subsidies. 

Housing and infrastructure

Netanyahu’s 2022 platform promised increased construction of housing units, and continued investment in roads, rail, and public transportation. 

On housing, the government’s approach centered on streamlining planning approval and increasing housing starts. 

Netanyahu’s government’s continued push to develop more towns in Israel’s periphery and the West Bank has led to expanding housing options on an accelerated scale, though OECD data shows the construction rate still remains behind population growth.

The Israel-Hamas War, of course, slowed the rate of construction, and damage from missile strikes meant the government had to divert focus to repairing destroyed homes rather than building new ones.

More notably than the housing, the fact is that Israel’s roads – and the traffic on them – are some of the worst in the OECD, and nothing the government has done can seem to fix it, as congestion has continued to worsen despite increased investment.

Rail, light rail, ports, broadband, and energy generation all improved measurably since 2022, but roads and public transit – the areas most directly tied to daily commuting and, by extension, housing accessibility – remained the weakest links. 

Traffic congestion in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area ranks among the worst in the OECD, as public transport remains comparatively undersized, and the bureaucratic procedures to expand Israel’s infrastructure are notoriously slow-going.

While investment has increased on all infrastructure fronts, nothing has successfully kept pace with population growth, and the planning and permitting delays have left a gap the government couldn’t close.

Strengthening governance

Netanyahu’s 2022 platform included a pledge to crack down on crime, particularly organized crime and violence in Arab communities, while giving police greater authority. 

Over the past few years, Arab murder victims rose from 116 in 2022 to a record 252 in 2025, according to the Abraham Initiatives, and with nearly 150 recorded by July 1, 2026, it is on a similar trajectory.

Firearms remained the weapon in 85–90% of Arab-sector murders throughout the period, pointing to continued illegal weapons circulation despite the pledge for greater police authority. 

Even as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir continues to push for police crackdowns across various sectors, including countrywide raids against organized crime, illegal weapons, and drugs, there remains a growth in extortion and protection-money schemes targeting businesses and contractors

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime continued to list Israel among countries facing significant organized-crime challenges, citing extortion, human trafficking, illegal firearms, and infiltration of legitimate businesses.

Public confidence reflected this trajectory: by the end of 2025, roughly 65% of Israelis reported little to no faith in the Israel Police, according to Israel Democracy Institute polling, with only about a third of the public expressing trust in the force.

Regional security

Throughout 2022, Netanyahu campaigned on the slogan “Only Likud Can,” insisting that only Likud – with him at the helm – could restore deterrence, and vowed to take a tougher approach toward terrorism, Hamas, and Iran.

From the day Netanyahu was elected until October 6, 2023, over 2,000 rockets and missiles were fired toward Israel, with most being during the May 2023 Operation Shield and Arrow.

At least 3,000 rockets were fired at Israel by Hamas during the first few hours of the October 7, 2023 massacre, with official estimates from the IDF putting the total number of the day closer to 5,000.

Overall, in the past four years, some 17,000 rockets and other projectiles have been fired toward Israeli territory from Gaza, nearly 13,000 fired from Lebanon, 300 from Yemen, and 70 from Syria.

Additionally, the Iranian regime has fired approximately 1,150 missiles toward Israel across multiple rounds of fighting from April 2024 onward.

Thousands of Israeli citizens, both civilians and soldiers alike, have been killed due to the ongoing wars on various fronts.

In March 2026, only 13% of Jewish Israelis believed negotiations with the Palestinian Authority would lead to peace in the coming years, according to the Tel Aviv University Peace Index.

Additionally, IDI polling from late 2025 found that less than half of Jewish Israelis believed there was a high likelihood of a regional peace process beginning at all.

Four years is long enough to answer the question a snap election usually cuts short: what a government does with the time it’s given, not just what it promises at the podium.

The record across these various areas is mixed. Cost of living remains largely unchanged; Israel is still among the world’s most expensive countries, even as inflation has cooled. Childcare subsidies expanded, but the universal system Netanyahu campaigned on wasn’t reached. Housing and infrastructure did see real investment, with more units built, more rail and port capacity online, but growth in both areas trailed population demand. 

On governance, crime and organized-crime indicators rose over the period, alongside a decline in public trust in police. And on regional security, the term brought October 7 and two additional active fronts, a very different trajectory than the deterrence Netanyahu’s 2022 campaign promised to restore.

October 7 reshaped nearly every one of these aspects, redirecting budgets and attention toward a war no one anticipated in 2022, context that matters when judging the past four years. Even so, the space between promise and outcome will remain a large part of what voters weigh when Israel returns to the polls in October.

This post was originally published on here. 

“AI layoffs” have become a familiar phrase at tech companies in the past two years. More and more companies, especially in the software sector, are downsizing workforces, citing the development of AI as the reason. These cuts can sometimes reduce a significant proportion of the company’s employees in a single round of layoffs.

AI layoffs can arise for several reasons, or a combination of these reasons. The development of AI in recent years has led to situations where human work is replaced by AI, or AI can do the same job faster or at a lower cost. In other instances, companies may reduce their human capital so that they can free up resources for the necessary investment in AI.

There are also times when the development of AI threatens the business model of companies, and those companies have no choice but to cut back and change if they want to survive in the new world. This story has been given the frightening name “SaaSpocalypse”, an apocalypse of SaaS companies, which provide enterprise software as a subscription in the cloud.

Shares in the sector have fallen by tens of percent in recent months, amid capital market concerns that AI will damage, or even make redundant, the solutions companies offer and the entire SaaS business model.

In addition, it cannot be denied that there may also be cases in which it is convenient for companies that are carrying out an aggressive round of layoffs to blame AI for the cuts they would probably have carried out anyway.

Reaching Israelis too

AI layoffs are of course also affecting Israeli software companies and causing an upheaval. The most recent example is monday.com (Nasdaq: MNDY), which announced on Wednesday the layoffs of 620 employees, which is about 20% of its workforce.

As of the end of 2025, Monday had 1,729 employees in Israel, about 55% of its employees. monday.com, which provides an AI-based platform for managing work tasks, is traded on Nasdaq at a market cap of $3.1 billion, after its stock fell by about 75% in the past year.

The company, led by co-founders Roy Mann and Eran Zinman, has made what it describes as the most significant change since the company was founded. monday.com explained that the change transforms the company from a work management platform to one that also does the work using AI agents that are integrated into it, allowing humans and agents to work together. The change also led to a new pricing model, in which customers will buy credits from Monday.com and use them to consume features it offers.

Meanwhile, the stock market has not yet been convinced, and the stock is trading at levels close to its lowest.

Someone who has already experienced a crisis that led to AI layoffs is Avishai Abrahami, founder and CEO of Wix, who also serves on the board of monday.com and was one of its first investors..

Wix allows users to build and manage websites. Last year, as part of the understanding that change was needed due to the rise of AI, the company made the very successful acquisition of Base44, which is involved in Vibe Coding, allowing users to create digital works using natural language, without the need for code.

Base44 has become the engine of Wix’s growth, with annual recurring revenue (ARR) that has jumped from a few million dollars to about $150 million in a year. With Wix too, investors have not been convinced, and the company’s stock has fallen 67% in the past year (although it has recovered slightly from the recent low), with the main concern being that AI would harm the company’s traditional activities and make them redundant.

Abrahami recently told the US podcast 20VC, “I would be happy to say that in three years our team will consist 1,000 employees at Base44, 1,000 employees at Wix, and all the rest will be AI agents, but I’m not so sure that’s possible. We all give too much credit to AI and what it can do.”

Wix cut 20% of its employees this year, about 1,000, layoffs that were explained both by the development of AI, which requires it to become a leaner and faster company, and also by the strengthening of the shekel.

The layoffs at Fiverr

An Israeli company that has made significant changes and cuts in response to the development of AI almost a year ago is Fiverr (NYSE: FVRR). The company, led by founder CEO Micha Kaufman, announced last September that it would lay off 250 employees, about a third of Fiverr’s workforce.

At the time Kaufman explained, “The speed at which technology is changing, and the possibilities it provides, are amazing and require new thinking and greater speed to stay ahead… We can and should dream bigger, and build Fiverr faster as an AI-focused infrastructure.”

To this end, it was decided to make the company leaner, with fewer management layers, or as Kaufman defined it, “return to a startup state.” Investors in Fiverr also seem to prefer to wait for the picture to become clearer, and the stock has fallen by about 58% in the past year.

These Israeli examples are of course part of a much broader picture. According to “TechCrunch,” in the first half of 2026 alone, the number of layoffs worldwide reached 165,000. Oracle, for example, laid off 13% of its employees (21,000) and Microsoft announced 4,800 layoffs, after last year it had already explained the layoff of thousands of employees as a need to cut expenses, to adapt to rapid technological change and the large investments required for AI.

Software company Salesforce laid off 4,000 employees in customer support roles last year, and the CEO explained that following the development of AI, it needed fewer employees.

Hiring employees again

About a month ago, software company Intuit laid off 3,000 employees, which constitutes 17% of its workforce, due to a business focus on AI-based products. However, the company’s CEO Sasan Goodarzi told “CNBC,” “This has nothing to do with AI. The goal is to become more effective.” This may be part of a shift in tone on AI layoffs. Recent articles are beginning to question the moves that have been made, for example, a CNBC article said that companies are starting to reconsider focusing on AI at the expense of employees.

A Ford VP said in the article that the company is rehiring engineers: “AI is a fantastic tool, but only as good as the information you train it on.” An IBM executive said there that if entry-level employees are not hired, “What will happen in 3-5 years? The well will run dry.”

“Forbes” also found that some companies are starting to rehire human workers. “The company first announces that it is going to use AI to do the work. The number of employees is reduced. Then 6-12 months later it turns out that the AI has only successfully performed 60% of the tasks, and the company rehires the people,” it said.

It’s hard to say there’s a change in trend, but it seems that skepticism remains, both as companies reduce employees and as they invest in AI, and in the capital market at least, investors are waiting for more clarity.

This post was originally published on here. 

As tensions in the region escalate, including a renewal of fighting between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, analysts question whether the Houthis’ capabilities and regional alliances can sustain a prolonged conflict on multiple fronts.

Saleh Hamdan, who requested to go by a pseudonym, is a man in his forties employed by the General Corporation for Roads and Bridges, stands in Al-Sabeen Square in Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, waving his personal AK- 47 during a large demonstration organized by Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis.

Exhausted after years of not receiving his salary and deteriorating living conditions, he shouts: “We are starving while our salaries are with Saudi Arabia. We have starved because Saudi Arabia is besieging us, blocking food, travel, and salaries.”

Around him, relatives and people from his community insist that the Houthis should wage a direct war against Saudi Arabia to break what they describe as the “blockade.”

The demonstrations coincided with the Houthis’ announcement that they had carried out an attack using ballistic missiles and drones targeting Abha International Airport in southern Saudi Arabia. The Houthis also announced a ban on maritime navigation for Saudi vessels, a move that observers viewed as the beginning of a new round of military escalation.

Behind these developments lies the complex issue of Sana’a International Airport. While Yemen’s internationally recognized government says it does not oppose resuming Yemenia Airways flights under previously agreed arrangements, the Houthis insist on operating direct flights between Sana’a and Tehran via Iranian airlines, which analysts describe as an effort to use the airport issue to advance broader regional objectives.

Houthis tied survival to Iran’s operations, analyst says

Political analyst Abdul Salam Mohammed told The Media Line that decisions on war and major military operations, such as strikes deep inside Saudi Arabia or disrupting maritime navigation, remain tied to the operations room of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

He said the Houthis have connected their survival to Iran’s regional strategy, operating as Tehran’s most loyal proxy in the region, while the leadership in Sana’a is largely tasked with mobilization and carrying out operations on the ground.

Mohammed added that insisting on opening a direct Sana’a–Tehran air route and using the airport as leverage serves the broader agenda of Iran’s regional alliance by complicating international calculations and increasing the costs of the conflict.

Even if progress is made on reopening the airport or advancing negotiations over the UN-backed roadmap, Mohammed believes the Houthis’ leadership will find new justifications for continued escalation.

Indeed, the Houthis have found a reason for escalation.

In the early hours of Thursday, the Houthis announced they had targeted two Saudi oil tankers with missiles and drones in the Red Sea as part of what they described as a maritime “blockade” imposed on Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, the IRGC said the Strait of Hormuz was “completely closed,” and transit would require coordination with Tehran.

According to Windward, the maritime intelligence platform: “Five tankers heading toward Bab al-Mandeb reversed course as blockade threats rose. Four were carrying Saudi-origin cargo: crude, gas, oil, and naphtha, totaling an estimated 3.84 million barrels.”

Houthis have a registered force of thousands of fighters

Regarding the logistical and human resources needed to sustain a multi-front conflict for months, sources speaking to The Media Line said the Houthis estimate they have a registered force of more than 200,000 fighters, in addition to over 250,000 personnel affiliated with popular mobilization formations in areas under their control. These figures are estimates provided by a Houthi source and could not be independently verified.

The Houthis also depend on trained personnel within government institutions and universities, as well as tribal support estimated in the hundreds of thousands, although the extent to which tribal members would participate in a full-scale conflict remains uncertain.

A source working with the Houthis’ General Mobilization Forces told The Media Line that the Houthis are fully prepared for confrontation.

“The Ansar Allah are fully ready for this war, whether on the domestic front, against Saudi Arabia, or against any enemy by land, sea, or air,” they said.

The source added: “There will be no retreat this time unless all the rights of the Yemeni people are secured from Saudi Arabia,” describing the kingdom as “a house of glass that fears stones.”

In addition, the same source said the Houthis’ battlefield capabilities have become more cohesive, citing a unified command structure, an advanced missile arsenal, military aircraft, drones, one-way attack drone boats, and autonomous underwater vehicles operated under the supervision of specialists. He said these capabilities would enable the Houthis to withstand and manage a prolonged war of attrition.

He concluded: “We are the most experienced in this kind of warfare. Saudi Arabia, its allies, and even Israel understand the danger posed by this force. Bab al-Mandab, Saudi airports, and every other target are awaiting zero hour.”

In contrast, Abdul Wali Al-Kazmi, a member of the Moral Guidance Directorate at Yemen’s Defense Ministry, told The Media Line that government forces are now at their highest level of military readiness after completing efforts to reorganize and unify the armed forces under a single command.

He said the internationally recognized government’s forces currently number about 400,000 fighters, a figure that also requires independent verification, and benefit from substantial air support and international backing.

The source said the government’s decision not to launch a comprehensive military operation to retake Houthi-controlled territory reflects the leadership’s commitment to peace, its desire to protect civilians and infrastructure, and Saudi Arabia’s continued efforts to advance the roadmap process while maintaining flexibility with Yemen’s political actors. 

Nevertheless, Abdul Salam Mohammed believes the Houthis’ calculations could be undermined by a significant shift in Saudi policy.

He said Riyadh, whose strategy has focused on protecting its southern border and securing shipping lanes while keeping direct confrontation at a relatively low level, has begun reassessing its options in response to direct threats against its airports and critical infrastructure, as well as mounting pressure on maritime navigation through the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

According to Mohammed, continued Houthi pressure could ultimately compel Saudi Arabia to provide full political, military, and logistical backing to Yemeni government forces for a decisive ground offensive toward Sana’a, with direct US support, in an effort to reduce the Houthis’ military capabilities after it has come to be viewed as a threat to the global economy and energy security.

Alongside military mobilization, the Houthis have accelerated measures to strengthen their domestic front. These include requiring medical personnel in government hospitals to sign pledges placing them at the disposal of the “Supreme Emergency Committee” for deployment to field support units, while instructing them to keep their mobile phones on and remain at their assigned locations.

The plan also includes training, through the Civil Defense Authority, employees of government institutions and private companies in evacuation procedures and firefighting, as well as converting warehouses and basements of strategic facilities and schools into undisclosed shelters and alternative accommodation centers in preparation for the possibility of intensive airstrikes.

A source in the Supreme Emergency Committee in Sana’a told The Media Line that these measures are precautionary steps intended to enhance preparedness and ensure the continuity of essential services and the resilience of the domestic front in the event of any escalation by what the source described as the “Forces of Aggression.”

As military and political tensions continue to intensify, Yemen appears to be approaching a critical phase, with the convergence of humanitarian challenges and regional strategic calculations, raising the risk of a broader conflict extending beyond the country’s traditional front lines.

This post was originally published on here. 

Marvel Studios returned to San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday to unveil a slate of upcoming projects, such as Ghost Rider, starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Shawn Levy, and Black Panther 3.

Set for release on Dec. 15, 2028, Black Panther 3 will introduce David Jonsson as a new T’Challa, the son of the previous Black Panther portrayed by the late Chadwick Boseman.

The release of Ghost Rider is also planned for 2028, though no date has been specified yet.

The panel also featured first-look footage from the franchise’s next major project after Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which arrives in theaters on Friday, Avengers: Doomsday.

“Is this really happening?” Gosling asked, surprising fans as he emerged onstage for Ghost Rider.

“If we’re going to do this, there’s only one director,” the Barbie actor added.

Shawn Levy, who directed Deadpool and Wolverine, then joined him on stage.

“We’ll see you in 2028,” Levy said.

Later, Ryan Coogler and some of the cast of Black Panther 3 took to the stage, including returning stars Letitia Wright and Winston Duke.

“I want the screen to do the talking. But believe me, the honor is entirely mine,” Jonsson said of taking on the title role.

Audiences also got a glimpse of footage in which the villain Doctor Doom overpowers the Avengers in battle. The teaser also revealed that Doom commands an army of Sentinels, the giant mutant-hunting robots familiar from Marvel’s X-Men comic books.

Isn’t easy being green

The evening’s festivities were led by Marvel president Kevin Feige, who welcomed the large Avengers: Doomsday team to the stage with a mega-panel featuring directors Anthony and Joe Russo and cast members Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal, Paul Rudd, Anthony Mackie, Simu Liu, James Marsden, David Harbour, Letitia Wright, Lewis Pullman and others. Hayley Atwell also joined the panel, confirming she will return in the new film as Peggy Carter.

Each attendee was gifted a Doctor Doom mask and cloak to wear, and invited by Robert Downey Jr., who began speaking in his Victor von Doom persona, to put on their new apparel in support of the new villain.

“It isn’t easy being green,” Downey Jr. said.

Other highlights included surprise appearances by Jon Bernthal, who plays the hardcore anti-hero The Punisher, and Ryan Reynolds, who plays the raunchy superhero Deadpool, who dresses in red.

Marvel generates billions at global box offices

Marvel ⁠movies have generated nearly $33 billion at global box offices, the highest total for any film franchise.

Avengers: Endgame, released in 2019, ​is the second-highest-grossing movie of all time.

Avengers: Doomsday will be ​released on December 18, the same day as the third installment of Warner Bros.’ sci-fi series Dune, setting up a box-office battle dubbed “Dunesday.”

Following Doomsday, the next major franchise film, Avengers: Secret Wars, arrives in theaters in December 2027.

From August 14 to August 16, 2026, D23, Disney’s large-scale convention centered on the company’s latest developments, will take place in Anaheim, California. Marvel will have a major presence at the convention.

This post was originally published on here. 

Israel Railways announced on Sunday that train service between Tel Aviv and Lod was gradually returning to normal after being temporarily suspended due to a localized fault in the railway’s electrification network.

The company said its crews were working to restore normal service as quickly as possible and recommended that passengers consider using alternative means of transportation in the meantime.

Last week, Israel Railways announced that a fire in the Be’er Ya’acov area had temporarily halted train service between Lod, Rehovot and Ashkelon, as well as between Lod and Rishon Lezion HaRishonim.

The disruption also caused delays and service changes affecting trains serving the Ashkelon, Ashdod Ad Halom Metropol, Yavne East, Be’er Ya’acov, Lod and Rishon Lezion HaRishonim stations.

Israel’s firefighters ill-equipped to fight fires from electric bikes, scooters on trains, IFR commissioner says

Israeli Fire and Rescue (IFR) Commissioner Eyal Caspi warned that Israel’s firefighters are ill-equipped to extinguish fires in electric vehicles at the Association for the Promotion of Fire Safety’s main fire and safety conference in May. 

He warned that a fire starting within a train car due to the charging of electric bikes and scooters may pose extra risks to passengers, saying the car can fill with smoke and become a death trap in seconds. 

Caspi noted that Israel Railways had begun an advertising campaign encouraging passengers to charge their electric bikes and scooters on trains, but the IFR shut it down because the risk of thermal runaway increases during charging.

Esther Davis contributed to this story.

This post was originally published on here. 

Israeli startup Plantopia, which has developed a first-of-its-kind platform for producing high-quality proteins through advanced biomolecular agriculture, has completed a $9 million financing round led by US dairy giant Schreiber Foods and with the participation of Siddhi Capital and local investors, Yotvata, Arkin Capital and the foodtech incubator Fresh Start. The new funds, which will allow the company to move forward to the industrial production stage, brings the total raised by Plantopia to date to over $16 million.

Plantopia, founded by Prof. Alexander Vainstein, Tal Lutzky and Amir Tiroler, is based on innovative biotechnology developed at the Herbrew University’s Faculty of Agriculture, for the production of complex animal components in plants. The company has succeeded in producing all milk proteins identical to the original, lactose-free, at a competitive price and plant-based — a critical step for a supply chain that produces oxygen, not carbon dioxide or methane (like dairy farms) — and is therefore also considered 100% green. Plantopia is the first and only company in the world to have succeeded in producing complete casein with all four of its components (αs1, αs2, β, κ).

About 12% of the US population currently uses weight management medications. Doctors and nutritionists recommend significantly higher protein intake, given the risk of losing 25-40% of body weight as muscle mass. Whey protein is considered the Gold Standard due to its complete amino acid profile and rapid absorption rate. 70% of Americans now report that they are trying to consume more protein, compared with 59% four years ago. Food companies are adding milk proteins to almost everything from breakfast cereals to drinks from fast food chains.

Plantopia, founded in 2018 in Kiryat Shmona, has developed its technology after engaging in intensive R&D for the past eight years. This technology will be implemented this year in a new factory, which the company has already begun to build in Kibbutz Sdot Yam. The technology is unique to Plantopia and distinguishes it from other companies in the field, providing a green alternative to dairy farms, which until now have been the sole source of producing milk protein in general, and casein in particular — a market worth an estimated $50 billion annually in North America alone.

Unlike other alternative technologies, which are built or based on fermentation processes that require huge investments in equipment, are high-cost and produce CO2, Plantopia’s technology is based on indoor vertical farming of sprouts, produces oxygen, does not require light or special conditions, does not depend on cattle crops or large production areas, and can be implemented and expanded relatively easily and anywhere, according to demand, and without compromising the quality of the protein produced, or the quality of the cheese — and most importantly — is very cost-effective.

Plantopia cofounder and CEO Tal Lutzky said, “Plantopia’s technological achievement is the Holy Grail of the cheese world. Producing high-quality proteins, identical in composition to those in cow’s milk, will allow us to meet the growing demand for protein, and produce alternative dairy products that are much closer to the original. After extensive testing and research, we are moving forward to the industrial manufacturing phase. We are grateful to our significant partners, who have experience and knowledge, and who express trust in the company and are willing to take part in realizing Plantopia’s vision, and the company’s journey to the forefront of the global innovative industry.”

This post was originally published on here. 

IDF forces mapped two terrorists’ houses in the village of Tel on Saturday in preparation for their sealing and demolition, the military announced on Sunday.

The two terrorists had committed a shooting attack on Friday, killing 27-year-old Maj. Yuval Ezra and 32-year-old Chief Sgt. First Class (res.) Benayahu Melet.

The IDF announced that they had mapped the homes of both the terrorist who carried out the shooting, as well as the terrorist who had stolen the weapon used in the attack.

IDF, Palestinian Authority disagree on events leading to shooting

According to the IDF, a group of Israeli civilians had illegally crossed into Palestinian Authority-controlled territory while hiking in the area. The military said Palestinians confronted the group and began throwing rocks before one of them opened fire.

The IDF said troops and other security forces rushed to the scene, where they exchanged fire with the suspected attackers.

The Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry said at least four Palestinians were killed and four others were wounded, including three in critical condition. A different account was provided by Essam Saifi, a local Fatah leader from the area, who told Reuters that about 25 to 30 Israeli settlers initially entered the area, attacked residents, and attempted to break into two homes. According to Saifi, local residents came out to confront them, at which point the settlers opened fire.

James Genn contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

Rescuers were searching on Sunday for 23 people missing after a Vietnamese ship sank in the busy waterway of the South China Sea, while 39 were pulled from the waters, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said.

Authorities in the southern province of Hainan said the cargo vessel Khoi Nguyen 18, with 62 Vietnamese nationals aboard, ran into distress in waters near Fiery Cross Reef, CCTV added.

A distress flare from the vessel was first spotted by a Chinese rescue ship, the Nanhai Jiu 115, on Saturday evening, CCTV said.

Six Chinese vessels, a rescue helicopter, and a Vietnamese vessel joined the search and rescue effort at the site, it said.

The Vietnamese-registered vessel is nearly 70 m. long with a gross tonnage of 999 tons.

China claims sovereignty over waterway

The area around the reef is part of the disputed Spratly Islands, which China calls the Nansha Islands, a group of highly contested reefs, islets, and atolls in the resource-rich South China Sea.

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire strategic waterway, including the Spratly Islands, where it has built runways and militarized artificial islands.

But Beijing’s sweeping claims overlap with those of Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei.

This post was originally published on here. 

International scientists, including researchers from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and Yale, have identified a new species of monkey with a silky black coat and orange cream skin around its mouth in the rainforest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

While the monkey has been seen before, both by locals who call it “Likweli” in one local dialect and “branch shaker” in another and by conservation field scientists who took a photo in 2008, it was not declared a new species until a paper published July 15 in the journal PLOS One determined they were distinct from other monkeys and named the species Colobus congoenisis. 

Co-author of the paper Junior Amboko chose the name to recognize “the Congo Basin’s remarkable natural heritage and, we believe, marking the first primate named after the Democratic Republic of Congo itself – underscoring both its global importance and local pride,” Amboko said in a statement. 

The photo in 2008 was far from enough to study the species, not even containing the whole animal, and the Likweli monkey was not seen again until 2018, when field researcher and co-author of the paper, Jean Pierre Kapale, managed to photograph one, according to Smithsonian. 

Kapale and his team spent the next 10 months conducting dedicated surveillance patrols and had seven more sightings. More researchers joined in the attempt to discover more about the Likweli, and between 2018 and 2022, researchers recorded 114 field observations of the monkeys. 

Researchers describe monkeys as watchful

The monkey has a “quiet and watchful nature,” Kate Detwiler and Junior Amboko, two other coauthors of the paper, told BBC’s Discover Wildlife. 

“When we encounter a group, the monkeys don’t usually flee as many other primates do. Instead, they climb higher into the canopy and simply watch us. It often feels as though we’re studying each other,” they said. 

Researchers also examined skin, skeleton, and tissue samples from three dead monkeys that had been confiscated from hunters. 

An FAU statement described the monkey as “draped in glossy black fur with cape-like shoulders, a long sweeping tail and a vivid orange-cream patch around the mouth and nose,” with a “striking, mask-like appearance unlike any known colobus monkey.”

It is also smaller than the other species, weighing only about 15 pounds, about as much as a small dog.  

Monkeys provide new insight into monkey evolution

While genetic studies proved that the Likweli monkey was part of the genus Colobus, they also provided new insights into African primate evolution, according to Kate Detwiler, Ph.D., co-author and associate professor at FAU.

“Its closest known relative is Colobus satanas, found more than 1,200 kilometers away in west-central Africa. Yet our genetic evidence shows the two species diverged roughly 4 to 5 million years ago, marking one of the oldest known evolutionary splits within the Colobus lineage,” Detwiler said. 

This post was originally published on here. 

As an Ethiopian-Israeli and American, and as a former New York City public servant who spent more than two decades serving New Yorkers through the city’s court system, I understand the meaning of public service.

Government exists to protect its citizens, uphold the law, and improve the lives of the people who elected it. Every elected official takes office with a defined responsibility.

The mayor of New York City has one of the most demanding jobs in America, leading a city of more than eight million people and managing challenges that affect millions of lives every single day.

That is why I was deeply troubled by public statements indicating that New York City’s mayor would seek to act against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he were to visit the city. 

Regardless of where one stands concerning Netanyahu or Israeli politics, this debate raises a much larger question about democratic leadership and political priorities. 

New Yorkers did not elect a mayor to conduct foreign policy. They elected a mayor to govern New York.

This is not about Netanyahu. Israelis have every right to debate his leadership, criticize his government, or vote to replace him. Israel is a vibrant democracy where political disagreements are often intense. Those decisions belong to Israeli citizens through Israel’s democratic institutions. 

The real issue is whether a mayor should devote political energy to symbolic international disputes while the city he governs continues to struggle with urgent local problems.

As someone who spent more than 20 years serving New Yorkers, I believe the answer is no. 

New York City today faces enormous challenges. Public safety remains a major concern in many neighborhoods. Families struggle with the rising cost of housing. Small businesses continue recovering from years of economic uncertainty.

Mental illness and homelessness are visible across the city. The transit system requires continued investment. Schools continue to face difficult educational challenges. Every one of these issues falls squarely within the responsibilities of municipal leadership.

At the same time, New York has experienced a troubling rise in antisemitic incidents. Jewish schools, synagogues, and community institutions have increased security. Many Jewish New Yorkers feel less safe than they did only a few years ago. 

Whether one is Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Black, Latino, Asian, immigrant, or native-born, every resident deserves a city government focused first on protecting its people and strengthening the communities they call home. That is the mayor’s responsibility. 

Instead, American politics increasingly rewards symbolic gestures that dominate headlines but do little to solve practical problems. Social media, 24-hour news cycles, and ideological politics encourage elected officials to speak about global controversies while basic municipal responsibilities become secondary.

The importance of New York

As someone who has lived under different political systems in Ethiopia, Israel, and the United States, I have learned that democracy succeeds when leaders respect the proper role of their office. 

Municipal governments exist to solve local problems. National governments conduct foreign policy. International institutions address international disputes. 

Democracies function best when each institution understands its responsibilities and remains accountable to the citizens it serves. This principle becomes especially important when discussing Israel. 

Supporting Israel does not require agreeing with every decision made by its government. Israelis themselves disagree passionately about security policy, judicial reform, diplomacy, and elections. 

Vigorous debate is one of Israel’s greatest democratic strengths. But there is an important distinction between criticizing an allied government’s policies and allowing international political disputes to overshadow the responsibilities of local government.

New York occupies a unique place in the relationship between the United States and Israel. It is home to the largest Jewish community outside Israel, along with one of the world’s most diverse populations. 

It is also a city where people from nearly every nation live side by side. That diversity should inspire municipal leaders to build trust across communities, reduce tensions, and ensure that every resident feels equally protected under the law. 

The mayor’s office should be a force for civic unity, not another arena for international political confrontation.

I write these words not only as an American, but also as an Ethiopian-Israeli whose own community embodies the diversity of the Jewish people. Ethiopian Jews prayed for Jerusalem for centuries before many Western nations even recognized the modern State of Israel. 

Our community understands both the importance of democracy and the importance of responsible leadership. We know that political disagreements must never eclipse the fundamental responsibility of government: serving its citizens faithfully. 

As a former New York public servant, I also understand something else. Every hour devoted to symbolic politics is an hour not devoted to making neighborhoods safer, helping struggling families, improving public services, or restoring confidence in government. 

Public trust is built through competence, not political theater.

America’s constitutional system wisely assigns different responsibilities to different levels of government. Municipal officials should focus on governing cities. Governors should govern states. The federal government is responsible for foreign affairs. 

Respecting those distinctions is not a limitation on leadership; it is one of the strengths of American democracy.

The mayor of New York carries one of the most important public offices in America. It deserves a leader fully committed to solving New York’s problems before attempting to influence the politics of another democracy. 

New Yorkers elected a mayor to govern their city. They did not elect a mayor to conduct foreign policy. That distinction is not merely procedural. It is essential to good government.

The writer is a former New York City Supreme Court detective, an investigator and educator in conflict resolution and restorative peace, and a moral diplomacy expert. His upcoming book, Moral Diplomacy for a Broken World, is inspired by the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

This post was originally published on here. 

It is time for Israel and the United States to help turn the Gulf’s growing willingness to confront Iran into a formal regional defense alliance.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Bahrain and Kuwait secretly sent fighter jets earlier this month to strike Iranian drone and missile facilities. The United Arab Emirates reportedly supplied intelligence and defensive air cover. Kuwait has denied taking part; Bahrain has stayed silent.

Even with those caveats, the report describes a Middle East that would have been hard to imagine a few years ago. Gulf states that once waited for Washington to answer every Iranian provocation now appear willing to hit Iran themselves.

Saudi Arabia is also back in direct conflict with the Iran-backed Houthis. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree announced “a maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy,” invoking what he called “an eye for an eye.”

Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthis’ Supreme Political Council, threatened further attacks. The Saudi-led coalition answered that it would respond “firmly.”

Iranian attacks reshape regional alliances

Missiles, aircraft, intelligence, and air defenses are being used by Arab governments that have concluded Iran poses a direct threat to them.

For decades, the Arab-Israeli conflict shaped the region’s alliances and public language. Tehran exploited that reality, describing its armed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Gaza, and Yemen as “resistance.”

That argument is harder to sell when Iranian missiles are aimed at Bahrain and Kuwait, and Houthi attacks threaten Saudi oil facilities and Red Sea shipping. US Central Command said in June that Iran had fired ballistic missiles toward both Kuwait and Bahrain. American and Bahraini forces intercepted several of them.

The biggest change is that Arab governments are acting for themselves.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa are making decisions based on their own security, economies, and plans for the future.

They are not waiting for Israel to design their strategy. In May, MBS condemned Iranian attacks on the UAE and affirmed Saudi “support for the UAE in its defense of its security and stability.”

Israel should welcome this without treating the Gulf states as supporting actors in an Israeli drama.

Israel still has much to offer: experience against Iranian missiles and drones, intelligence reach, cyber capabilities, and layered air defense. The Gulf states bring geography, bases, airspace, money, and political influence. The US remains the only country able to connect those assets across the region.

Some of that work is already happening. On July 1, US Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Adm. Brad Cooper met in Bahrain with senior military officials from 12 regional countries to discuss defense cooperation. Israel was absent from the official list.

That tells us how far Arab military coordination has moved and how much political work remains.

Regional allies need shared defenses against Iran

The next step should be practical. The US, Israel, and willing Arab states should build shared early-warning systems, coordinate missile and drone defenses, protect shipping routes, and agree in advance how to respond when Iran or one of its proxies attacks a member country.

Regular exercises and clear chains of command would prevent the confusion that so often marks the first hours of a crisis. Iran has long counted on hesitation, deniability, and disagreement among its enemies.

It should have to assume that an attack on one country will bring a coordinated answer from several.

Saudi-Israeli normalization belongs in this discussion. It would give public and political form to security contacts that have developed quietly and make it easier for officers, intelligence agencies, and political leaders to plan together before the next emergency.

The obstacles are serious. Kuwait has denied involvement in the reported strikes. Bahrain has not acknowledged them.

Oman and Qatar still keep channels open to Tehran. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have pursued different policies in Yemen; and Arab opinion remains deeply affected by the Palestinian issue.

Israel must therefore avoid boasting. A regional alliance will survive only if every country has a real voice and can explain the arrangement to its own public.

For years, Arab states opposed Israel publicly, feared Iran privately, and turned to Washington when danger came. That pattern is breaking down.

Arab governments are now acting for themselves. Israel and the US should help them turn that action into a permanent regional defense system before the next attack forces everyone to improvise again.

This post was originally published on here. 

Wildfires in southwest France have forced organizers of the Tour de France to reconfigure the final stage, set for Sunday.

The change is necessary because multiple first responders have been diverted to the fires. The new route will leave a smaller race footprint for local officials to secure.

“As numerous wildfires are currently affecting France, particularly the Gironde region, emergency services are fully mobilized to combat the blazes, while internal security forces are working to secure the affected areas and protect the population,” the Amaury Sport Organisation said in a statement.

“In light of this, the Ministry of Interior has decided to redeploy a portion of the internal security forces initially mobilized to ensure security for the final stage of the Tour de France, in order to reinforce the response efforts in the areas affected by the wildfires.”

The wildfires have led to the evacuations of about 200,000 people.

New Tour de France route shorter, limited to Paris

Stage 21 had been set as a 132.5-kilometer ride from Thoiry down the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

The re-imagined Stage 21 still will end along the famed road, just after a circuit on the Montmartre. But the run now will occur solely within the Paris boundaries and travel just 89 km. Cyclists will take two extra circuits along the Champs-Elysees before heading out for the Montmartre climb.

The Montmartre circuit has proven to be popular after it was used in the 2024 Paris Olympics and then added to the 2025 Tour de France. The area can accommodate large gatherings of fans, who turn the area into a party atmosphere.

Earlier in the Tour de France, fans were asked to stay away from the final 40 kilometers of Stage 3 because of wildfires and the need to deploy first responders to the area.

This post was originally published on here. 

Much of Buenos Aires and Argentina’s Jewish community gathered Friday morning at Pasteur Street at the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina in Spanish – or AMIA), to mark 32 years since one of the worst antisemitic terrorist attacks in the Diaspora.

The attack killed 85 people and wounded over 300 when a vehicle packed with explosives was detonated outside the Jewish community center.

It also marked the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentinian history.

I attended the event, where I was given, alongside everyone else, a poster of one of the victims of the attack. The commemoration began with a siren that sounded at 9:53 a.m., the exact time that the bombing occurred over three decades ago. Throughout the event, attendees would hold the posters bearing the images of the victims high in the air.

The speakers included Osvaldo Armoza, president of AMIA, who said that since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks in Israel, “the international community has witnessed a terrifying and alarming resurgence of antisemitism.”

‘A flame fueled by the heat of an injustice that burns us from within’

“In the past year, there have been no significant developments in the AMIA case,” he said at the ceremony. “It’s as if it has stalled or been shelved. We oppose this stagnation by keeping our flame alive. A flame fueled by the heat of an injustice that burns us from within, but at the same time, motivates us to continue fighting.

“We are fighting to ensure that, once and for all, the legislative branch implements modern laws to combat terrorism. Just as other countries have suffered this scourge, Argentina must modify its legal structure in accordance with the demands of the present day.”

He then referred to the victims’ families. “You have given us an unparalleled lesson in dignity. You walk tall even though a part of your lives was buried right here under the rubble. You did not give up. You have bequeathed to us the ethical legacy of never wavering in the pursuit of what is right. Your fortitude is the main reason we are here today.”

Relatives of the victims of the bombing who spoke at the ceremony included Andres Said, brother of Marisa Said; Alberto Abadi, son-in-law of Jaime Plaksin; Maria de Los Angeles Ramirez, daughter of Olegario Ramirez. The main event was hosted by Argentinian Jewish actor Martin Seefeld, who lost his friend, Fabián Schalit, in the attack.

Argentinian President Javier Milei, the Israeli ambassador to Argentina Eyal Sela, US ambassador to Argentina Peter Lamelas, and Jewish Agency for Israel President Doron Almog attended the event, according to AMIA’s website.

Israeli embassy bombed in Buenos Aires two yeras prior

The bombing came two and a half years after the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires; at the time, that was Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack until the AMIA bombing.

In 2024, a high court in Argentina ruled that Iran was responsible for both attacks, with Hezbollah also being involved in the 1994 AMIA bombing.

The ruling also characterized Iran as a terrorist state, according to The New York Times, with the ruling adding that “a state can be held responsible for financing and planning a terrorist attack even if it was carried out by non-state actors.” The Islamic Republic has denied any involvement in the attacks.

However, that same year, Milei had officially requested and signed for the arrest of the IRGC Commander-in-Chief Ahmad Vahidi.

The writer is a studio producer for The Jerusalem Post, where he edits many of the newspaper’s podcasts.

This post was originally published on here. 

The early history of Mandatory Palestine and the State of Israel was marked by many pivotal moments that have become ingrained in the national consciousness. 

November 2, 1917, Balfour Day, was the date on which the British government issued its statement supporting a national home for the Jewish people; on November 29, 1947, the UN voted in favor of partition; and on May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel’s independence.

Yet, the bombing of the King David Hotel, another seminal moment in the history of pre-state Israel, which took place on July 22, 1946 – 80 years ago this week – is not nearly as well-known to most Israelis today.

What was the significance of the attack, and what contemporary lessons can be learned for our time? 

From resistance to revolt 

In May 1945, after the Germans had surrendered, the Zionist leadership in Palestine thought that the British would rescind the White Paper, which had limited Jewish immigration to Palestine. However, despite the war in Europe having ended, they continued to restrict immigration.

As a result, in September 1945, the three Jewish military organizations in Palestine – the Hagana, the most organized group, which was aligned with the Jewish Agency; the Irgun, the Revisionist movement led by Menachem Begin that had initiated many military actions; and Lehi, which was the acronym for “Lohamei Herut Yisrael,” the smallest and most extreme of the three – put aside their differences and rebelled against British rule to pressure the revocation of the White Paper.

For 10 months, from October 1945 until August 1946, the three organizations worked in tandem as the United Hebrew Resistance Movement, targeting British infrastructure, breaking into the Atlit prison and releasing 200 illegal immigrants detained by the British, bombing railroads and train stations, and attacking British police stations. 

On June 16, “The Night of the Bridges,” Palmah forces – the Hagana’s elite fighting units – blew up eight railway and road bridges linking Palestine to neighboring countries. The symbolism of the attack was not lost upon the British; if Palestine was closed to Jewish refugees, the Hagana would close the country to everyone else.

The British responded by launching Operation Agatha on Saturday, June 29, 1946, in which 25,000 British troops participated, raiding the Jewish Agency headquarters and imposing curfews, seizing arms, and confiscating documents detailing Hagana operations and the activities of the joint resistance movement. 

They arrested 2,700 individuals, including Moshe Sharett, head of the Jewish Agency’s Political Department and future prime minister; David Remez, chairman of the Jewish National Council; Yitzhak Gruenbaum, director of the Jewish Agency’s Labor Department; and Dov Yosef, a prominent Jewish Agency member and future minister. 

Due to the seriousness of the raid, that day was described in the Yishuv as “Black Saturday” (until it was superseded by the events of Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023).

The documents seized by the British were taken to the British Mandate Secretariat, located in the King David’s southern wing. As the center of British rule in Palestine, the hotel was considered a target even before Operation Agatha. The transfer of documents to the secretariat hastened the decision to bomb the hotel.

Completed in 1930, the King David was considered one of the most luxurious hotels in the Middle East. In 1938, the British army took over the hotel’s fourth floor as its Palestine headquarters, and shortly thereafter, the civilian government took the hotel’s south wing where its secretariat was located. 

In 1939, with the outbreak of World War II, the army took additional space on the third floor. By this time, less than a third of the hotel’s rooms – just 62 bedrooms and 24 bathrooms in the center and north wings of the first two floors – were available to the public. 

The attack and the warnings

The Irgun proceeded with its plans to bomb the hotel. Shortly before noon on Monday, July 22, 1946, a stolen delivery truck arrived at the King David Hotel. Two Irgun members held up the kitchen staff at gunpoint, while four other Irgun fighters delivered seven milk churns to the King David’s basement. 

Each churn was filled with 100 pounds of explosives and was labeled “Mines – Do not touch” in Hebrew, English, and Arabic. A gun battle soon began between a British officer who had seen the holdup and the Irgun members. In addition, the hotel’s switchboard operators, who were in the basement, heard what was happening and called the military police.

The Irgun fighters left the hotel basement as the military police were arriving. One Irgun fighter was killed, and the rest escaped. In the meantime, between 12:20 and 12:27 p.m., a non-lethal explosion was set off near the hotel to enable the operatives to escape in the confusion.

As soon as the diversionary bomb exploded, a teenage Irgun courier called the hotel at 12:22 p.m., warning the hotel’s switchboard in Hebrew and English of the bombs. She announced, “This is the Jewish Resistance Movement; we have planted bombs in the hotel. Please vacate it immediately. You have been warned.” 

After she completed the call, she ran to a second phone booth on King George Street and provided the same warning to the French Consulate at 12:27 p.m.

Four minutes later, the courier called the offices of The Palestine Post, later to be renamed The Jerusalem Post, asking them to relay her warning to the hotel once more, which they did. 

Six minutes later, at 12:37 p.m., the bombs detonated. The six-story southern wing of the hotel collapsed. Ninety-one people were killed, including 41 Arabs, 28 Britons, 17 Jews, and five other individuals of other nationalities.

At the time, Begin, head of the Irgun, claimed that Sir John Shaw, chief secretary of the British Mandatory government, had received the warning and had dismissed it, saying, “I am here to give orders to the Jews, not to take orders from them.” Shaw denied this, saying he never received the warning.

Author Thurston Clarke, in By Blood and Fire: The Attack on Jerusalem’s King David Hotel, wrote that the hotel’s assistant manager was indeed made aware of the earlier calls but assumed they were a hoax, as there had been numerous fake bomb threats in Jerusalem in the past. This warning was never passed on to Shaw.

Condemnation, division, and British withdrawal

While the Hagana had originally supported the bombing, Chaim Weizmann, head of the World Zionist Organization and later Israel’s first president, withdrew his backing before it took place. 

Weizmann demanded the Hagana back out. Moshe Sneh, head of the Hagana National Command, and Yisrael Galili, the Hagana’s national commander and chief of staff, asked Begin to postpone the attack. Begin initially complied but eventually decided to proceed.

Begin himself, who had ordered the bombing and insisted that warning be given beforehand, was disconsolate at the human cost of lives. 

In his book The Revolt, which details the history of the Irgun, he wrote, “For some reason the hotel was not evacuated, even though from the moment when the warnings had been received there was plenty of time for every living soul to saunter out. Instead the toll of lives was terrible. More than 200 people were killed or injured. Among the victims were high British officers. 

“We particularly mourned the alien civilians whom we had had no wish to hurt, and the 15 Jewish civilians, among them good friends, who had so tragically fallen. Our satisfaction at the success of the great operation was bitterly marred. Again we went through days of pain and nights of sorrow for the blood that need not have been shed.”

Benny Morris, a leading scholar of the Arab-Israeli conflict who has written extensively about the final years of the British Mandate, the birth of Israel, and the events surrounding the War of Independence, says there was considerable confusion about the event. 

“There is a lot of blur in this period,” he says. “It’s not all that clear who said what. But the Hagana in general opposed this particular act of terrorism. Since many Jews also died in the explosion, it was attributed to the Irgun. It persuaded more people that they were actually terrorists, not just freedom fighters demanding independence from Britain. It also strained the relations between the various Jewish organizations.”

Ben-Gurion was aware of the planning of the bombing, says Morris, and while he condemned the bombing, in a sense, it made his job easier. 

“The Hagana also wanted the British out. So in some ways, the Hagana was using the Irgun, much as [Yasser] Arafat in later years used more extreme groups in the Palestinian so-called resistance. They condemned them in certain attacks but actually were happy they were doing it against the Jews. Here we have the Hagana condemning an attack, but Ben-Gurion probably understanding that it’s doing the Jews’ work, the Hagana’s work, in getting the British to decide to leave.”

The bombing played a major role in the breakup of the United Hebrew Resistance Movement, ending the Hagana’s alliance with the Irgun and Lehi. The Hagana concentrated its efforts on bringing Jewish refugees into Palestine, while the Irgun and Lehi continued their armed campaign against British rule. 

After the bombing, the British and Americans were furious. Morris says the bombing prompted a forceful British response. 

“The British cracked down on the Yishuv,” he explains. “They also cracked down on the Hagana, arrested many of their leaders and activists, and in the Yishuv in general. In some ways, it also deepened the antagonism between the British and the Yishuv, persuading the British that cooperation was impossible not only with the Arabs, but with the Jews as well.”

Interestingly, the reaction of Israel’s chief rabbis was equally negative. Sephardi chief rabbi Ben-Zion Uziel said, “I call on all those who have had a hand in this sin: cease from this dangerous path which is forbidden by the law of Israel, and from which there can be no returning for those who take it.”

Ashkenazi chief rabbi Yitzhak Halevi Herzog called the bombing “a dastardly crime,” adding, “I could never have imagined that the descendants of those who received the law of life on Mount Sinai could show such disregard for the security of human life.”

In the wake of the bombing, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported on August 6, 1946, that for the first time in centuries, the Jews of Jerusalem were forbidden to visit the Western Wall on the eve of Tisha B’Av. 

“The curfew which has been in effect since the King David Hotel bombing,” they reported, “was not lifted despite appeals by the Jewish community to the British military authorities.”

Many have speculated that the King David Hotel bombing was one of the major reasons the British left the Holy Land in 1948, leading to Ben-Gurion’s proclamation of statehood in May of that year. 

“The whole campaign by Irgun and Lehi, and the cumulative losses in British life in Palestine, eventually led to their decision in February 1947 to leave. This was probably one of the most important events. It’s probably the most because so many people died there,” notes Morris.

Almost seven months later, on February 18, 1947, British foreign secretary Ernest Bevin announced that the government would refer the future of Palestine to the United Nations.

“The opening of British records over the past decades,” says Morris, “has firmed up the belief that it was this series of terrorist attacks by the Irgun and Lehi which persuaded the British that there was no future for British rule in Palestine, and no future for any hope of Jewish-Arab reconciliation mediated by the British. These two things together basically persuaded the British to leave – plus of course, the expense of keeping a large army here.”

Would one call the bombing of the King David a terrorist act, I ask Morris? “The word terrorism is always problematic,” he replies. “It was an attack which killed dozens of civilians. In that sense, that’s an act of terrorism. But the Irgun could say the British were a foreign occupying power in Palestine, and this was a struggle for liberation.”

Morris points out that the Arabs claimed the Jews were major terrorists, and did not differentiate between the Hagana, Lehi, and the Irgun. “The Arabs claimed the Jews were busy using terror as well.” 

Is there a rejoinder to that, I ask? “No, no, there’s no rejoinder. The Jews did indulge in terrorism, and the Arabs then and before and later also indulged in terrorism.”

How the bombing is remembered

Few people alive today remember the bombing, which took place so many years ago. One person who remembers the event quite well is 94-year-old Hassia Yehuda – my mother-in-law – who today lives in an assisted living facility in Jerusalem. In 1946, she was 14 years old and lived with her parents in Jerusalem’s Geula neighborhood. 

“I was sitting with my mother,” she recalls. “We were talking about current events. All of a sudden, I heard a boom. People were leaving their homes to find out what had happened. Soon after, I heard the sirens as ambulances were going back and forth. In a moment, everyone knew what happened.”

Eighty years later, the King David Hotel still stands, with its dun-colored stones shining in the hot summer sun. It is still one of the best-known hotels in Israel and retains its place among the country’s top destinations. 

“Outside the main entrance to the King David Hotel in Jerusalem,” wrote author Tom Segev in his 2010 book, One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate, “a small blue plate with an ornate golden rosette is fixed to the wall, informing visitors in Hebrew, Arabic, and English that during the British Mandate the building served as the offices of the British administration and that on 22 July 1946, ‘the Jewish underground Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organization) blew up the Southern Wing.’ 

“It is an official sign, put up by the Israeli government tourist office and the Jerusalem municipality; there is no reference to the gruesome results of the attack, which cost the lives of over 90 people – British, Arabs, and Jews.

“Outside the hotel, there hangs a second, larger, prominent official sign written in Hebrew and English only; it offers the perpetrators’ version. Erected in 2006, it is topped by the emblem of what the British simply called ‘The Irgun’: a muscular arm holding a rifle over a map of Palestine up to the Iraqi border and the words ‘The Only Way.’ 

“The text on the sign first points out that in addition to the Mandate Secretariat, the Army Headquarters were also located in the building, which may have rendered the attack on the hotel some operational legitimacy.”

The Irgun, the text continues, did not act on its own behalf but on Hebrew Resistance Movement orders, which for a while included the three major Zionist anti-British underground organizations. 

Having planted the explosives in the basement, the text continues, warning phone calls were made to the hotel’s switchboard, the offices of The Palestine Post newspaper, and the nearby French consulate, urging the hotel’s occupants to leave immediately: “The hotel was not evacuated, and after 25 minutes the bombs exploded.”

“The English text is not identical with the Hebrew,” concluded Segev, “and it wouldn’t be Jerusalem if that tragedy could be commemorated without insulting somebody’s national pride. 

“Indeed, the sign provoked angry protests from the British Embassy, which threatened to escalate into a diplomatic crisis. For originally the sign had stated: ‘For some reason the British did not comply with the demand to evacuate the building, and as a result, 91 people were killed, including 28 Britons.’ 

“Ultimately, the Israelis replaced that sentence with the words, ‘To the Irgun’s regret, 92 persons were killed.’”

It is likely that with the passage of time, the bombing of the King David Hotel will recede even further from the collective memories of Jews, Arabs, and Britons. Yet its place in the turbulent final years of the British Mandate and in the events that led to Israel’s establishment will remain a subject of debate for years to come.

This post was originally published on here. 

Following the recent series of terror attacks in the West Bank, IDF Central Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth banned Palestinian workers from entering Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, a source told Walla on Saturday night. 

Should Israeli community members request it, exceptions can be made for industrial areas and construction sites, the source added. 

This comes after Palestinian terrorists carried out a string of attacks against Israeli residents of the West Bank throughout Thursday and Friday. 

On Thursday morning, 51-year-old Itamar Cohen was seriously wounded after two Palestinians attacked him, stabbing him in the chest at the Derech Avraham Farm near Elon Moreh. Cohen is a member of the town’s security team and was at the scene in order to put out a fire that had been set by Palestinian residents of Beit Furik, a nearby village. Cohen’s two attackers were killed at the scene. 

Later on Thursday, a terrorist stabbed a man in the leg in the Ganim area of the West Bank and was subsequently killed by IDF soldiers. 

IDF kills terrorist who fatally shot two Israelis, wounded three others in West Bank

On Friday morning, two Israelis, including an IDF officer, were killed and several others were lightly to seriously wounded in a terror shooting near Gilad Farm, a settlement located southwest of Nablus in the northern West Bank.

The two victims were later identified as 32-year-old Benayahu Melet and 27-year-old Major Yuval Ezra.

According to the IDF, a group of Israeli civilians had illegally crossed into Palestinian Authority-controlled territory while hiking in the area. The military said Palestinians confronted the group and began throwing rocks before one of them opened fire.

The IDF said troops and other security forces rushed to the scene, where they exchanged fire with the suspected attackers.

The head of Gilad Farm’s emergency response squad also responded to the incident, along with other squad members. At approximately 8:20 a.m., reports were received of a gunshot wound after Palestinians stole the weapon of the emergency response squad chief and fired at the Israelis, Walla learned.

The IDF conducted a manhunt for the terrorist, locating and killing him after the shooting incident.

IDF locates weapon stolen by Palestinian man during confrontation, rock throwing with Israelis

On Saturday, two Israeli men, one of them an active-duty soldier, were injured in a violent incident in the Susiya Junction near the Hebron Hills, West Bank, when a Palestinian man threw stones towards them and stole a weapon from them.

The IDF clarified in a statement that, contrary to initial reports, the incident was not a shooting attack but a violent clash that included stone-throwing against the Israeli civilians. 

The statement added that the attacker took the weapon from one of the civilians involved, at which point shots were fired into the air.

The Mount Hebron Council confirmed that one of the men involved was a local farmer from the area and the other one was an active-duty soldier who was on leave at home.

Security and armed forces were deployed to the area and conducted an extensive search to find the attacker, with the military adding that the stolen weapon was located and recovered.

Following this attack, the IDF conducted a large-scale operation on Saturday night, arresting more than 70 terror suspects from the West Bank. 

James Genn and Amir Bohbot contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on here. 

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is lucky. Some mayors are cursed with early snowstorms that cloud their entire tenure. Mamdani’s New York has been blessed with a Knicks championship and July 4th tall ships, with one epic Taylor Swift wedding and endless World Cup parties.

John V. Lindsay called being New York’s mayor the “second toughest job in the world.” The mayor serves 8.5 million residents, managing a $125.8 billion municipal budget, coordinating 60 city agencies, and 330,000 city workers. New York’s government is larger than the governments of 12 states, combined. On a given workday, 10 million people fill the Big Apple. The job generates a never-ending to-do list.

Nevertheless, Mamdani keeps finding time to bash Israel obsessively – continuing the age-old reflex and prioritizing of antisemites. As usual, it works. Anti-Zionism is Mamdani’s go-to, get-out-of-jail-free card. Whenever his anti-capitalist campaign slows, he riles his minions by yelling “Gaza genocide,” or promising to arrest Israel’s duly-elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Alas, 12% of his constituents, New York’s 960,000 Jews, suffer from Mamdani’s anti-Zionist demagoguery. Can anyone claim to be surprised that in his first six months as mayor, antisemitic hate crimes jumped 71%, as Jews absorbed 60% of the city’s hate crimes? The fish stinks from the head down: leadership counts, tone matters.

Paranoid Jews aren’t connecting the dots; evil Jew-haters are. The Palestinian national movement has spent decades interweaving antisemitism into its anti-Zionism (and its anti-Americanism). That’s why, when leaders declare open season on Israel, haters declare open season on the Jews.

Predictably, Mamdani will mouth pieties and feign surprise if some Jew-beating spurs headlines. But he can’t help himself. It’s in his programming. Last week’s New York Times interview devoted a surprising amount of discussion to a tiny country 5,710 miles away.

“We’re speaking about the World Cup,” he said. “It’s a moment where the entire world is celebrating this tournament. And even in that moment, the genocide continues for Palestinians.”
Huh?

It’s a familiar leap. Flipping from the world’s most popular sport – soccer – to Mamdani’s favorite pastime – Israel-bashing – is the tell of the bigot, revealing obsession. All roads lead back to your fixation. The persistent genocide accusation, 10 months into the Gaza ceasefire, when true genocides involved mass killings, remains astounding – even as more Americans buy this Big (oft-repeated) Lie.

The busy mayor also wasted time threatening to arrest the Big Bad Zionist Wolf, Benjamin Netanyahu. “I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague. He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,” Mamdani said, ignoring the ICC prosecutor’s sexual misconduct scandal overshadowing the charge.
 
Frittering away city resources on his posturing, Mamdani admitted to “an active conversation with our legal department,” about trying to arrest Netanyahu when he arrives on official business to address the UN.

America’s Constitution explicitly repudiates such treasonous grandstanding. As the Supreme Court confirmed in 1936: the President is the “sole organ of the federal government in the field of international relations.” The rarely enforced Logan Act threatens up to three years imprisonment for citizens who try conducting their own, rogue, foreign policy.

Arresting Netanyahu would violate the concept of diplomatic immunity, mock America’s 1947 UN Headquarters agreement, and compel New York City cops to break the American Service-Members’ Protection Act. That federal law, 22 USC Section 7421, prohibits any American official from cooperating with the ICC, including executing warrants.

Imagine New York cops doing Mamdani’s bidding, confronting Secret Service agents doing their jobs to protect an honored American guest. Such anti-Zionist lawlessness would undermine every Democratic complaint about US President Donald Trump’s contempt for the law. It would, however, earn Mamdani the (admittedly fictional) Jefferson Davis Insurrectionist Prize.

When anti-Zionism becomes a litmus test

It’s not surprising that many pro-Israel Americans find Mamdani’s all-consuming vendetta unnerving. It resounds amid Vice President JD Vance’s anti-Israeli government rantings, Ro Khanna’s posturing, and Rahm Emanuel’s delusional claim that presidents have never handcuffed Israel. 

Meanwhile, a cabal of Mamdani comrades, equally fixated on Israel-bashing, risks turning the Democratic Congressional Caucus into an outpatient clinic for pathological anti-Zionist, anti-Americans.

Rather than wringing our hands, it’s time to start drawing lines. By mainstreaming these anti-capitalist, anti-American, anti-Zionist (un)Democratic Socialists, the Democrats make it easy for Republicans to create litmus tests of their own. 

They should run ads asking every Democrat: “In 2019, New York’s congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier tweeted: ‘I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me.’ Do you agree? Do you also sully the flag? If not, why don’t you oppose her candidacy?”

Similarly, American Jews should learn from the Mamdani experience that fighting anti-Zionism doesn’t make them one-issue voters; just simply patriotic and self-protective. Just as Democratic candidates, no matter how anti-Trump, become toxic if they bait gays, demean blacks, or assault women, American Jews must demand zero tolerance for candidates from either party who are anti-Zionist in intent – which makes them antisemitic in effect.

In a time of rising antisemitism – and growing intolerance throughout America – the question isn’t political, it’s existential.

This, then, should become a moment of Jewish empowerment. Jews must learn the power of “no,” the art of dissent, the thrill of standing tall, even if alone.
 
And let all Americans learn from those Jews who take back the Zionist night. They should turn acts of defiance into expressions of affirmation, embracing Jewish tradition, Zionist ideology, and those two lands of liberal-democratic possibility – Israel and the United States of America.

The writer is an American presidential historian and a senior fellow in Zionist thought at the Jewish People Policy Institute in Jerusalem. For America’s 250th, he published, with David Suissa, 250 Reasons to Thank America, and, with the JJPI, The Essential Guide to the US-Israel Partnership: The 250th Anniversary Edition.

This post was originally published on here. 

A drone was found in the Givat HaAvot neighborhood of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, on Saturday evening, close to the home of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The IDF recovered the drone and took it for examination. No injuries were reported.

A military source said it was a small drone and clarified that it was found in Ben-Gvir’s neighborhood, not near his home.

Later, KAN reported that the drone belonged to a youth who lives in the neighborhood, and had fallen on Friday.

Shin Bet details explosive UAV plot to assassinate national security minister

In September, the Shin Bet and Israel Police revealed that a cell of Hebron residents had been arrested on suspicion of plotting to assassinate Ben-Gvir using explosive drones. The suspects allegedly received funding from Hamas headquarters in Turkey.

According to statements the suspects gave investigators, the plot was motivated by the war in Gaza.

Investigators found that the three terrorists initially planned to assassinate Ben-Gvir during a visit to Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs. They monitored his social media accounts and determined that he would visit the area during the Jewish High Holidays period.

The three planned to carry out the assassination using explosive drones. They purchased two drones and a laptop online for approximately $2,000 and then equipped the drones with explosives.

The investigation found that the three acted together, with a clear division of responsibilities and advance planning, intending to target Ben-Gvir and Israeli government institutions.

One of the terrorists told investigators that an accomplice had approached him and asked for help financing the attack. He said he was told that the plan was to target a senior public figure using an explosive drone.

They had received funding from Hamas officials based in Turkey, which they used to purchase two UAVs, which they equipped with explosives, as well as a laptop for a total of approximately $2,000.

This post was originally published on here. 

A massive fire broke out shortly before midnight on Friday near the grave of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of the Chabad Hasidic movement, in Hadiach, in Ukraine’s Poltava region.

The complex, which includes the main synagogue, sustained millions of dollars in damage and was largely destroyed. Initial assessments indicated that the fire may have been caused by an electrical short circuit, although investigators are still examining all possible causes.

The kitchen and guest facilities were also damaged. No injuries were reported, and the local Chabad emissary, Rabbi Shneur Zalman Deitsch, and his family are safe. No further details were immediately available.

Major prayer site amid the war

The gravesite complex is the second largest Jewish prayer site in Ukraine. Before the war, tens of thousands of people visited the site each year. Despite the ongoing war, it continues to attract approximately 10,000 visitors annually.

About one third of those visitors arrive for the commemoration of the rabbi’s death during the Hebrew month of Tevet, which usually falls in December or January.

Other visitors include local Jews traveling in organized groups, as well as tourists from Israel, Europe, and the US. Many fly to Chisinau, Moldova, and drive 12- to 15-hours to Hadiach.

The Ba’al HaTanya’s flight and death

Rabbi Shneur Zalman, also known as the Ba’al HaTanya, was born in Liozna, in what is now Belarus, in 1745 and founded the Chabad Hasidic movement. 

In 1812, Rabbi Shneur Zalman fled his home in Liadi during the war between Russia and France. 

He became ill while fleeing toward Kremenchuk, in what is now Ukraine, and died on December 26, 1812.

His body was transported by wagon approximately 200 kilometers to Hadiach, where he was buried. Jews continued to visit his grave over the years, but the city’s Jewish population was murdered during the Holocaust. Communist rule later made it difficult for worshipers to reach the site.

In the early 1990s, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson sent special emissaries to restore the grave. The site has since become a major Jewish pilgrimage destination.

The scale of the complex

The complex was established nearly 20 years ago and continued to expand over the years. It included a large synagogue, which was completely destroyed in the fire, a ritual bath, dozens of guest rooms, a kitchen, and dining halls. Some of the other facilities were also damaged.

Several hundred Jews live in the Poltava region. Rabbi Shneur Zalman Deitsch, the rabbi of Hadiach and the official responsible for the complex, was not at the site when the fire broke out.

This post was originally published on here. 

The police arrested nine protesters Saturday night after establishing that the protest was unlawful because of a lack of coordination with the security forces.

The protest, which was held on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv, was evacuated shortly after, the police said in a statement. 

“During a protest that took place without authorization and without coordination with the police this evening on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv, several demonstrators began to disrupt public order and block the roadway, obstructing the movement of vehicles,” the police said in a statement.

Protest groups demand October 7 inquiry

Earlier, several protest groups announced a mass demonstration in Habima Square in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, calling for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 massacre and demanding equality in bearing the burden of the war.

The protest was held three days before the Supreme Court is due to hear petitions against the law freezing the arrests of draft evaders, in a hearing set for Tuesday before an expanded panel of nine justices.

“The Knesset may have dissolved, but the government has not stopped trying to evade responsibility and place a heavier burden on the serving public,” the protest organizers said.

This post was originally published on here. 

Ahead of World Drowning Prevention Day on Saturday, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a new seven-point policy package aimed at reducing drownings, as the Israel Meteorological Service warned of especially rough seas and waves of up to 2.5 meters over the weekend.

According to WHO data, about 300,000 people die from drowning every year. Children and young people under the age of 29 account for 57% of all victims, and children under age 5 account for nearly a quarter of all deaths. Drowning is the fourth most common cause of death worldwide among children ages 1 to 4, and the third among children ages 5 to 14.

More than 90% of deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, where children and adults are exposed to open water sources as part of daily life. Drownings occur not only at sea, but also in rivers, lakes, wells, household water reservoirs, swimming pools, canals, and floods.

The new policy package includes seven main areas: adapting infrastructure around water sources, improving rescue and resuscitation capabilities, protecting workers near water, setting safety standards for water transport, teaching swimming and water safety, creating safe supervision frameworks for children, and preparing for floods and extreme weather events.

World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that “every drowning is a tragedy, and most of them can be prevented.” 

He said responsibility for preventing drownings does not rest with just one government ministry, but requires cooperation among health, education, transport, welfare, local authorities, and emergency bodies.

One of the central steps in the plan is preventing children from gaining unsupervised access to water. The organization is calling on countries to require pool fencing, well and water reservoir coverings, self-closing and self-latching gates, and protected play areas for toddlers.

According to the organization, physically separating children from the water source significantly reduces the risk of drowning.

Expanding supervision aids child safety

Another recommendation concerns expanding supervision frameworks for young children, especially in areas where parents work near rivers, lakes, or water sources. In places where community day-care programs for children were introduced, drownings declined, alongside improvements in other health and development indicators.

The World Health Organization is also calling for broader swimming instruction and the teaching of water survival skills to school-age children. At the same time, the organization stresses that a child who knows how to swim can still drown, and that swimming lessons do not replace adult supervision or swimming in a location where rescue services operate.

According to the organization’s estimates, a global investment in just two measures, operating supervision frameworks for toddlers and teaching basic swimming to children, could prevent the deaths of about 774,000 children by 2050. An additional 178,000 children could be spared severe and long-lasting injuries caused by nonfatal drowning.

Drowning begins when submersion of the face in water prevents proper breathing. A lack of oxygen can quickly lead to loss of consciousness, heart rhythm disturbances, brain damage, and cardiac arrest. 

Contrary to the familiar image from movies, a person who is drowning usually cannot shout, wave their hands, or call for help. The struggle to breathe is sometimes silent and lasts only a short time.

Even a person rescued alive may suffer severe injury. Oxygen deprivation can cause permanent brain damage, impaired memory and movement, seizures, and the need for prolonged nursing care. The severity of the injury is affected by the time spent in the water, the water temperature, the victim’s medical condition, and the speed of rescue and resuscitation.

Drowning rates increase in Israel

The data from Israel are especially worrying. According to data published in early July by Beterem, Safe Kids Israel, 12 children and teenagers had drowned to death since the start of 2026. By the end of June, the number of victims stood at 11, compared with just two children during the same period in 2025, a 5.5-fold increase.

The rise was recorded even before the peak of the summer vacation, the period when children and teenagers spend more time at the sea, in pools, at guesthouses, and at open water sources. Data from recent years show that toddlers are at particularly high risk of drowning in private pools, bathtubs, and water reservoirs around the home, while teenagers are more often harmed at beaches, streams, and lakes.

For toddlers, even a shallow layer of water is enough to create a life-threatening danger. Their center of gravity is high, and their heads are relatively heavy compared with their bodies, so when they fall face-first into water, they may be unable to lift themselves back up. Drowning can happen while an adult looks down at a phone, speaks with another person, or leaves the area for a short time.

Among teenagers, the risk mechanism is different. Entering the water at an unregulated beach, swimming after drinking alcohol, jumping from a height, moving far from shore, peer pressure, and overestimating swimming ability can all lead to distress. Sea currents can sweep away even experienced swimmers, especially at hours when no lifeguard is present or on beaches where swimming is prohibited.

The new plan also addresses the impact of the climate crisis. Floods account for about 75% of deaths in flood disasters, and heat waves cause more people to seek relief in the sea, rivers, and lakes. A study conducted in Britain found that the number of drowning cases rose by 7.2% with every increase of one degree in temperature, and the risk was nearly five times higher on days when the temperature exceeded 25 degrees.

Water transport safety

Another area covered by the plan is water transport safety. In many countries, ferries and boats are used as a daily means of transportation, sometimes without sufficient oversight, life jackets, passenger limits, or emergency-trained crews. The organization is calling for licensing standards, load limits, mandatory lifesaving equipment, periodic inspections, and crew training.

In the event of a drowning, rescue services should be called immediately, and the victim should be removed from the water only without endangering the rescuer. If the victim is not breathing, resuscitation should begin in accordance with emergency dispatch instructions, and a defibrillator should be used where available. A child who has been rescued and continues to cough, has trouble breathing, is drowsy, confused, or vomiting needs urgent medical evaluation, even if at first it seems that their condition is improving.

In private pools, guesthouses, and vacation homes, the main recommendation is to make sure in advance that the pool is fenced on all sides and fitted with a gate that closes and locks automatically. When toddlers are nearby, one adult should be assigned at every moment to supervise within arm’s reach, with no phone, conversation, reading, or any other distraction.

In Israel, Dr. Amir Givati, director of the Meteorological Service, said on Friday that from the afternoon hours and on Saturday, winds, strong currents, and high waves are expected. He said westerly winds are to blame, bringing waves of 2 to 2.5 meters and strong currents along the Mediterranean coast. 

According to Dr. Givati, the forecast is for the highest waves of the current summer season so far, which led the Meteorological Service to issue a “high and dangerous sea” warning for Friday and Saturday. 

After a short break, the heat wave is expected to return in full force in the middle of next week, with temperatures higher than usual for the season.

This post was originally published on here. 

Two Israeli men, one of them an active-duty soldier, were injured in a violent incident in the Susiya Junction near the Hebron Hills, West Bank, on Saturday, when a Palestinian man threw stones towards them and stole a weapon from them.

The IDF clarified in a statement that, contrary to initial reports, the incident was not a shooting attack but a violent clash that included stone-throwing against the Israeli civilians. 

The statement added that the attacker took the weapon from one of the civilians involved, at which point shots were fired into the air. 

The Mount Hebron Council confirmed that one of the men involved was a local farmer from the area and the other one was an active-duty soldier who was on leave at home.

Security and armed forces were deployed to the area and conducted an extensive search to find the attacker, with the military adding that the stolen weapon was located and recovered.

Magen David Adom treated the two men, referring one to Soroka Hospital

According to Magen David Adom, the victims of the attack, aged 20 and 25 years old, were wounded during the incident. One of them was treated at the site, while the other was referred to Soroka Hospital in moderate condition with a head injury, MDA added.

The incident followed a wide-scale IDF operation in the West Bank overnight, launched after Friday’s terror shooting near Gilad Farm, southwest of Nablus, which wounded two Israelis and led to the arrest of more than 70 terror suspects.

This post was originally published on here. 

Australia used to be known as “the lucky country.” For many Jewish families – including my own – it truly was.

Thousands of Holocaust survivors, like my grandfather, fled to the farthest place on Earth from the atrocities they experienced in Europe, and played a pivotal role in building the Jewish communities. Australia became home to one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors outside of Israel, welcoming them with opportunities, security, and the chance to rebuild their shattered lives.

And rebuild they did. With the support of devoted community leaders and Chabad emissaries – including my great-grandfather (on my grandmother’s side), Reb Zalman Serebryanski – vibrant Jewish communities took root and flourished.

Jews became respected contributors to Australian society, serving as community leaders, professionals, and, with time, philanthropists.

While the Jews thrived, they simultaneously developed into proud Australians who carried a deep sense of gratitude to the country that provided them with this safe haven and a new beginning.

Inherited gratitude and pride in country

Growing up in Australia, I inherited that gratitude almost unconsciously, alongside a pride in my home country and everything it stood for: a strong sense of inclusivity, a laid-back pace of life, an affinity for the beach, and an obsession with sports.

Sundays at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch the footy (Australian rules football) were woven into the fabric of my childhood as tightly as my Jewish identity. And I was far from alone. At the local train station, streams of supporters in jerseys and scarves packed the carriages, punctuated by many dots of kippot and even some tzitzit strings swaying as the train moved toward the stadium.

I still remember sitting in a jam-packed stadium (95,000 fans!) on Hol Hamoed Passover, which happened to coincide with Anzac Day that year – the national memorial day for Gallipoli, when Australians fought in World War I – with the smell of treif meat pies and beer permeating the air.

I was holding tightly to my matzah and cheese sandwich, with crumbs flying into the air every time I jumped to my feet with the roaring crowd as my team scored a goal.

And that was the Australia I remember so fondly: a place where I could freely intertwine my strong Jewish heritage with the local culture.

Some of my most vibrant childhood memories are linked to Jewish holidays. Whether it was the Lag Ba’omer parade where local streets were closed off so we could march proudly, singing Hebrew songs, or skipping in the streets during Sukkot as we went “sukkah hopping” with our youth group, our voices echoing through the streets in carefree Hebrew chants and laughter. Judaism was never something hidden or hushed.

The standout event was Hanukkah in the park, organized by Chabad. In Australia, Hanukkah falls in the middle of the summer, and candle lighting isn’t till very late – after 9 p.m. – a thrilling novelty for children allowed to stay awake long past bedtime. I can still taste the fairy floss (that’s Australian for cotton candy) on my sticky fingers and see the dazzling fireworks that lit up the sky after candle lighting at nightfall.

‘Why would you leave Australia?’

Aside from Osem soup croutons and many other imported foods tasting stale by the time they reached the Australian shores (something I only realized many years later), Jewish life was thriving, vibrant, and secure.

Sixteen years ago, I moved to Israel. At the time, people often reacted with surprise.

“Why would you leave Australia?”

To many, Australia represented the ideal Diaspora life: safe, prosperous, relaxed, tolerant, and an unsurpassed quality of life. Israel, on the other hand, was viewed as the “complicated” place. The place people worried about.

But something has shifted.

Nobody asks me that question anymore.

Since Oct. 7, things have unraveled in Australia – to put it mildly.

It began with a large demonstration outside the Sydney Opera House on October 9, with all types of Australians calling for the demise of Jews and Israel. Then started the graffiti on Jewish school fences; synagogues were set on fire, cars were put up in flames, and it all came to a shocking crescendo at the barbaric shootings of 15 innocent souls at the iconic Bondi Beach during Chabad’s Hanukkah celebration.

These are the larger incidents that have dominated headlines, but what the Royal Commission into Antisemitism has more recently exposed is the quieter, persistent undercurrent bubbling in everyday interactions. The hostility, exclusion, and shocking slurs that rarely make the news, but are shaping the emotional reality on the ground – maybe even more profoundly.

During the Royal Commission, Jews have shared disturbing reports of Nazi salutes in classrooms, workplace bullying, and children being taunted with offensive slurs.

What’s most ironic and deeply distressing is that the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Holocaust survivors are now encountering this rhetoric in the very country their ancestors once turned to in search of safety, refuge, and belonging.

This is not the Australia I grew up in. This is not the sunburned country where we embraced the melting pot of backgrounds, customs, and cultures that filled our coastlines and parks.

And for that, I grieve. I grieve from afar as I watch the Australia I once knew so intimately unravel – a place where Jewish life felt open and secure, and where belonging was never something we questioned.

I hope the Royal Commission leads to meaningful change. I hope the broader Australian public understands that what is at stake is not only the safety of Jews, but the character of the country itself. And I hope Jewish children growing up there today will one day speak about Australia with the same fondness that I feel.

Qantas, Australia’s national airline, is known for its signature anthem, “I Still Call Australia Home,” which is played on every flight – a gentle reminder that no matter how far Australians travel, there is a longing for home.

But a few years ago, sitting on a Qantas flight and listening to those familiar lyrics, I realized something had shifted within me, too. I no longer instinctively called Australia home, nor did I feel that same pull toward it.

Australia will always hold a deep and special place in my heart, and it also profoundly shaped my views and approach to life. But for me, home is now Israel. 

The writer was born and raised in Melbourne, studied in New York City, and now resides in Jerusalem with her husband and four young children. A marketing consultant by profession and writer at heart, she often finds her best ideas while swimming in the pool or cycling in the Jerusalem Hills.

This post was originally published on here. 

Physical safety is not the only threat to Jewish life in the UK; the shift toward casual antisemitism in wider society, where Jews are judged based on their views on Israel, is equally significant, doctor and Rabbi Yoni Birnbaum said.

In North London, where a majority of British Jews live, sits one of the UK’s largest synagogues, Kinloss. Positioned between Finchley and Golders Green, the synagogue is surrounded by a low fence, where, since October 7, security has slowly increased.

The area in which children used to play outside during services is now filled with British charity Community Security Trust volunteers.

Only one of the synagogue’s many entrances is open at a time, akin to the COVID-19 one-way system. Security monitors all entries through the single door, operating an airlock of sorts: no one passes through the second door until the first has closed.

Following Yom Kippur’s deadly attack on Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester, the arson attack on Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green, an attempted firebombing of Finchley Reform Synagogue, and many other incidents, The Jerusalem Post interviewed Kinloss’ Birnbaum about rising antisemitism in the UK and the shift in societal attitudes that he has noticed over the last few years.

Birnbaum made it clear that he did not want to pass on a message of despair or hopelessness.

Although there had been a “dangerous shift in certain parts of society toward a new form of antisemitism,” he said, it was important to remember that while the issue existed and was growing, “it was not everywhere.”

New test being used to decide who are ‘the good ones’

Birnbaum was booking a family holiday to the South of France when he was subjected to this litmus test.

After booking a place to stay through a private company, Birnbaum received an email from the property owners around a month after paying a 50% deposit on the house.

The email read: “Our curiosity was piqued by your email address, from which we gather that you are a rabbi … Can you confirm to us that you are a member of a progressive, liberal Jewish movement and that this movement condemns the violent actions of the Israeli army, on orders from the Israeli government, in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and recently, in Lebanon?”

Birnbaum told the Post that this experience was not unique; Jews across the globe have been subjected to this benchmark of whether one was “one of the good Jews,” meaning a Jew who held views more easily digestible for wider society.

As the rabbi wrote in his opinion piece in The Jewish Chronicle, “The lesson from this episode extends far beyond one holiday rental in France. It is a reminder that antisemitism, and indeed prejudice of any kind, rarely announces itself as prejudice.”

Birnbaum told the Post that it was important to be careful about saying that this was the only experience of British, and indeed international, Jewry.

“There’s always the danger of the echo chamber,” he said, adding that “we have a lot of friends, and a lot of people who are outraged for us … But there has also been a very dangerous shift in certain parts of society.”

A new way to express Jew-hate

This shift, marking a fresh way to express Jew-hate, was the purity test that he spoke of – the idea that one’s acceptance by broader society as a Jew was dependent on taking an anti-Israel position.

A survey by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research in October 2024 found that approximately two-thirds of British Jewry considered themselves Zionists, while only 10% identified as anti-Zionist.

Birnbaum said that when Jews are required to pass a test that no other people are required to do, it becomes “actual anti-Jewish hatred.”

As a leader of one of the largest Orthodox Jewish communities in the UK, Birnbaum has a unique understanding of the impacts of antisemitism in and on Britain.

There is a danger of antisemitism becoming normalized because it is dressed up in people saying, “I’m just anti-Zionist, I’m just anti-Israel, I’m not antisemitic,” he said.

But when one takes up such an extreme level of anti-Israel sentiment, “it becomes anti-Jewish.”

“Because people are not even able to see how prejudiced it is to turn around to a Jew simply because they’re a Jew and say, ‘You need to declare your position on the Israeli government,’ otherwise, you are not welcome in society,” Birnbaum continued.

“It is antisemitic to demand that of Jews, right?” he questioned. “And that’s the message that we have to get across.”

Still, Birnbaum’s overall message was one of encouragement and hopefulness. He said he understood how easy it was “to allow prejudice to fester.” 

Yet, he said, he believed that through conversation, refusing to ignore antisemitism, and “taking agency in how we respond” to it, one can help move toward a more peaceful and welcoming society.

“Our lives as Jews are not defined by the threats we face, by antisemitic rhetoric and hate. They’re defined by the fact that we live as proud British Jews, and that we enjoy our faith.” 

This post was originally published on here. 

How many of you out there have heard of Anne Frank? Silly question, right? Okay, on the same subject matter, how many of you have heard of Etty Hillesum?

I’d be willing to wager a month’s (albeit not particularly impressive) income that the show of hands for the second query would be far more modest. Yes, there is Hagai Levy’s miniseries, Etty, which was screened at Lev cinemas around the country, in two parts, but that still leaves Hillesum trailing in her fellow Dutch-Jewish Holocaust-era diarist’s posthumous superstardom wake.

Perhaps that public profile imbalance will be tipped a smidgen toward parity following performances of The Thinking Heart at the Jerusalem Theatre on August 6 and 7 (7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., and noon, respectively), as part of this year’s Israel Festival. Indeed, we are hardly talking about mass audience gatherings at the Henry Crown Auditorium, but those who do fork out on tickets will undoubtedly return home with plenty to mull over, as per the show title, in both a cerebral and emotional sense.

The festival kicks off on July 28 and runs through to August 20, with shows, concerts and cultural events set for various venues around Jerusalem, as well as spots in the Western Negev and in the North. As the festival blurb has it, there will be “hundreds of artists, partners, and cultural figures in an open space of creation, curiosity, and dialogue.”

The latter triad of elements is core to The Thinking Heart, which was crafted by Neta Shpigelman and will be performed, across a broad range of disciplines and perspectives, by Shpigelman and five other female artists. The production subheading – Six Diary Performances, in the Style of Etty Hillesum – spells out the director’s expansive line of thought.

Nothing short of breathtaking, eminently inspiring

It must be said that she and the rest of the performer crew – Meital Raz, Sara Siegel, Netta Spiegel, Talya Danzig, and Idit Kishi – had an abundance of juicy raw material to work from. Each of the artists familiarized themselves with Hillesum and her astounding and all-too-brief life by reading her diaries.

They were eventually published in Dutch in the 1980s as Het verstoorde leven (An Interrupted Life), and later in English, as An Interrupted Life: The Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943. The Hebrew version goes by the name of Hashamayim Shebetochi (“The Heaven within Me”).

The book is nothing short of breathtaking and eminently inspiring. The journal is as intimate an account as one could encounter of a young Jewish woman living under Nazi occupation. 

One of the most impressive aspects of the chronicle is the writer’s zest for life, which never dims, even under the most desperate of emotionally and physically challenging existential circumstances. These are the musings and recording of day-to-day life – very much inner as well as outer – of a young woman searching for the meaning of life and grappling with her inner turmoil, her own worth and identity, and her place in the world.

Had the increasingly invasive, and ultimately lethal, ravages of the Holocaust not been raging around her, the diaries may have been just that, a record of the thoughts and feelings of an evolving character going through universal pangs of maturation. This is the epitome of coming-of-age chronicling by a highly intelligent, relentlessly inquisitive person willing to risk everything to get to the truth, her own truth and to the very essence of life.

Hillesum was 27 when she started putting pen to paper, much older than Frank and, hence, her writing relates to a more advanced stage of life and state of consciousness and awareness.

The diaries take us along her odyssey through stratified philosophical, erotic, and practical personal climes, enabling us to follow her gradual growth and epiphanies. She was a truly remarkable character who lived life to the utmost, in seemingly impossible circumstances in Auschwitz, right until the bitter end.

She was murdered there, along with the other members of her family, in 1943, despite having the opportunity to save herself. True to her unflinching efforts to maintain her principles, she preferred to go to her death, at the age of just 29, rather than run the risk of someone else being forced to take her place.

Shpigelman was taken with Hillesum, her courage and integrity, from the off, even if it did take her a while to get around to it. The diaries also caught her at a serendipitous vantage point of her own life. 

“It happened 13 years ago, when I was 30,” she recalls. “I’d just gotten divorced and was going through a tough time. Back then I wasn’t really interested in spirituality, working on my inner self, meditation, and that sort of thing. I was into the romanticism of suffering, and being a theater actress and losing myself completely in the parts I took on.”

Then a theater director told her he wanted to produce a show based on Hillesum’s life. “I had no idea who she was,” says Shpigelman. Everything changed when she settled down to read the journal, and a familiar imprint emerged. “I was immediately taken – this may sound silly – with her modern personality.”

The chemistry was there

The chemistry was there. “I was surprised by how much Etty was like me. She was busy with her love life, philosophy, literature, and art. And she talked about chastising herself for not writing enough, and she wanted to be Dostoyevsky. I knew that tortured and dramatic soul so well. There was something so free and daring in her.”

That partly comes through as Hillesum talks about her passion for life, her quandaries about how to make her way through that, and her tempestuous feelings for her psychologist, a German Jew called Julius Spier who helped her make sense of her emotional morass and was twice her age.

Everything about Hillesum seems to tend toward the stratospheric. She never did anything by halves, always driven to see whatever notion or feeling that cropped up through to the end.

“Many of her texts, about love and desire – in Buddhism it is described as the desire to devour life rather than enjoying it. And there is the pain of things that are beyond your reach. She talks about how a beautiful landscape pains her, and how external beauty hurts her because she cannot merge with it.”

Thirty-year-old fresh divorcée Shpigelman could identify with that. “I felt it was very relevant for me. From that moment on I was hers,” she states. She’d taken Hillesum on, lock, stock, and barrel. “It was as if I’d written her words myself. That led me into spiritual realms, and Etty was my teacher. I could listen to her. She wasn’t the banal spiritual teacher one imagines. She was just like me.”

If getting into, and identifying with, a character before an actor portrays them on stage or on the screen, then Shpigelman had hit gold.

The Shpigelman-Hillesum tango goes on. “She was caught up in the Holocaust, and my father contracted cancer. I turned my time with him, toward his death, into a spiritual lesson. I said, if Etty can do that, I can too.”

That fits the bill to a T. Hillesum writes about helping others, which she carries out tirelessly as everything around her falls apart. And before she is incarcerated in Westerbork transit camp, Hillesum entrusts her diaries and letters to a non-Jewish friend with the request that they be published should she not survive. Hence, we are party to invaluable confidentialities spawned by the inner machinations of an extraordinary person who stuck to her hard-earned principles come what may.

Shpigelman certainly benefited from the Dutch writer’s revelations during a trying passage of her own life, and believes we all stand to gain from Hillesum’s pearls of wisdom and insight. “It is not just about learning how to perceive our trials without falling into the trap of seeing ourselves as victims. She shows us how to view life, and the things that happen to us, in a non-victim way.”

Identifying so closely with the heroine led Shpigelman to spread Hillesum’s word as far and wide as she possibly could. “I began to buy copies of the book and give them to family and friends,” she notes.

But she made sure she kept a special version for herself. “I have one which has a dedication to the buyer’s grandmother. She asks her grandmother to read the book patiently, even if there are things there she finds hard to deal with. 

She writes that the grandmother will find her, and the issues she has to deal with, between the words, and that the grandmother’s own issues will look different after she reads the book. It is an attempt by the granddaughter to offer a helping hand and strengthen the bond between them.” That is quite a dedication, which made the copy all the more precious for Shpigelman. “You realize the grandmother is a Holocaust survivor.”

There is another antecedent at play behind the scenes of the Israel Festival production – Siegel’s own grandmother, whom she called Nona. The eponymous show Siegel created featured in the 2022 Israel Festival, and was subsequently performed at Tmuna Theater in Tel Aviv.

That gave Siegel emotional firsthand insight into Hillesum’s credo and experiences, and how to go about crafting her slot in The Thinking Heart. 

“I grew up with my grandmother. She was a partisan in Italy during the war. She was tough. Somehow all her close family members survived,” she explains.

That makes the forthcoming Israel Festival work all the more personal and pertinent for Siegel. “I think we need to look at the Holocaust with fresh eyes,” she posits. “So many people use that word for political or national ends, and they make comparisons. It has become a clichéd tool, and most people no longer connect with the real meaning.”

There is a lot to say for Siegel’s perspective. Even if there is nothing nefarious or self-seeking behind an unfeeling approach to the most catastrophic passage in Jewish history, it is hard to relate to such an enormous figure – that most frequently trotted out of statistics, of six million – as anything but that, just a number, even with its cataclysmic human backdrop.

By shining a deftly professionally created spotlight on the life and end of Etty Hillesum, Shpigelman, Siegel et al offer us the opportunity to ponder the ostensibly self-understood fact that we are talking about six million individuals whose lives were summarily and bestially decimated and then cut short by the Nazi killing machine.

And that is even without considering the emotional fallout that affected the victims’ relatives across the ensuing generations.

As a senior member of our cultural domain recently noted to me, why do we take visiting heads of state and politicians to Yad Vashem to show them how much the Jews have suffered over the years? Why not balance that out, for example, by dropping by, say, the ANU Museum in Ramat Aviv where they can also get some idea of Jewish achievements and successes? Hillesum would, presumably, have gone for that.

Like the director Siegel says, the diary raises elements of life that are just as pertinent today. “She talks about issues that engage me, and all of us. These are things we can all identify with, on a mundane level too – depression, love, and sex. That is what makes the diary so powerful. Through her we can address that era in a special way, not the way we generally imagine it was. In a non-trivial way.”

Siegel says Hillesum’s writings have changed her, and served as a catalyst for a new way of thinking for her. “I feel I am at the start of a process. I am pre-Etty.”

That applies to the vast majority of the rest of us too. It is hard to comprehend how Hillesum maintained an unyielding grasp on life, and every life-affirming element she could possibly glean, as her world was collapsing around her. That, in post-October 7 Israel, is something to marvel at and, hopefully, put at least some of Hillesum’s insight into practice ourselves.

From her diaries we learn that she frequently engaged with God, although not in a strictly religious context. And rather than blame the calamity of the mass murder of the Jews on divine intervention, or the lack thereof, she says she needs to make room for God in her own heart and soul and help Him. That is some concept to adopt and try to put into practice.

Hillesum also declares that she refuses to hate anyone. She hardly mentions the Nazi brutality that engulfs her. “The digital format of the book has a word search feature, and if you look for Hitler you find the name appears just once, in the entire diary,” Shpigelman notes. “She says, sometimes it’s Hitler, or Ivan the Terrible, or a plague. She says a person has to bear suffering. The question is how they do that.”

That suggests we are capable of mitigating our trying circumstances by exercising our own subjectivity instead of constantly bemoaning our fate. The Thinking Heart should help channel the Jerusalem Theatre audience in that positive direction as they take their place – on the stage together with the performers – for the six 10-minute slots that run the gamut of artistic disciplines and the full breadth of human emotion.

For tickets and more information: www.israel-festival.org

This post was originally published on here. 

At six years old, Hila Mukdasi was captivated by her parents’ Israeli folk dance sessions. As she sat on the sidelines, the only child in the room, she was mesmerized by the movement and energy around her.

“I started dancing thanks to my parents. I was six years old. My parents are still dancing. They took me once to their session because there was no babysitter. I was sitting there, and I was looking at the people. I was fascinated. I don’t remember exactly what I felt, but I wanted to go every week,” Mukdasi told In Jerusalem.

What began as childhood fascination became a lifelong passion. Mukdasi learned the dances by watching others before eventually joining in. Over time, she noticed a gap: most Israeli folk dance groups were dominated by adults, with few young participants.

That realization planted the seed for something bigger.

While studying Sociology-Anthropology and Linguistics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mukdasi introduced Israeli folk dance to her peers. The response surprised her.

“We didn’t dance new songs. We danced old dances, such as ‘Tsadik katamar,’ different horas, and some line dances we used to do in kindergarten. And people were flying in the air. They were so enthusiastic about that. They loved it,” she said.

The birth of Komuna

Encouraged by this enthusiasm, Mukdasi created a dedicated space for young dancers – the first of its kind in Israel and abroad. While still a student, she began organizing weekly sessions, renting a venue and inviting friends. Her goal was simple: a place where young people could relieve stress, socialize, and connect to Israeli culture through dance.

The name Komuna – a blend of community and lanua (movement) – was coined in conversation with her mother. It also echoes the phrase Kumu Lanua (get up and dance), reflecting both action and collective spirit.

“I wanted to create something unique that would continue living without me. Something bigger than a regular dance session. You come to Komuna. You come to us. You come to what we create – together,” said Mukdasi.

Within a year, Komuna gained national attention. Mukdasi received the Taglit Hashana (Discovery of the Year) award from the Culture and Sport Ministry in 2018. She later appeared in media interviews, including Channel 12.

“They gave it to me because I founded a creative way to bring young people into Israeli folk dance culture. No one had succeeded in doing this before. It’s something new. Completely new. And it’s a contribution to culture because a new generation is joining,” Mukdasi affirmed.

In 2024, she received the Contribution to Society award in the presence of President Isaac Herzog. She was also chosen from among thousands of alumni to join the Hebrew University’s Influential Young Leaders Team; the university personally called her to inform her.

From passion to profession

What began as a grassroots initiative quickly became a full-time endeavor as Komuna expanded and Mukdasi learned to manage logistics, branding, and community-building.

“No one teaches you how to do this. No one taught me logistics, music equipment, contracts, or how to build a brand and lead a community. It all appeared along the way. I learned a lot about people, culture, and myself.”

Today, Komuna operates in cities across Israel, including Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa, as well as in Hebrew classes for new immigrants. It offers weekly dance classes, social events, volunteering, and trips.

Participants include secular and religious Israelis, native-born citizens, and olim. For many newcomers, it combines language learning with cultural immersion through movement and music.

I met Hila at Ulpan Etzion in the capital, where I studied after making aliyah four years ago. It was there that I was first introduced to Israeli folk dance. Once a week, Hila ran classes at the ulpan, which I attended with friends.

Although I was (and still am) uncoordinated and found the dances challenging, I remember enjoying them very much. The atmosphere was always lively and fun, and the sessions were highly interactive. Hila was incredibly patient, often repeating the steps until we got them right.

I also appreciated that the class was mainly in Hebrew, which exposed me to the language in a natural setting and deepened my understanding of Israeli culture. I still remember many of the songs.

After leaving ulpan, I attended a few classes in Jerusalem, though I haven’t been in a while. Several friends still go regularly, and Komuna has become an important part of their life in Israel. They’ve built new friendships and a community of both Israelis and olim.

Chaim, 31, who made aliyah from Mexico six years ago, also discovered Israeli dancing while he was at Ulpan Etzion. Despite having never learned formal dance before, Komuna quickly became a central part of his life. At one point, he was dancing up to six times a week in various cities. 

After moving to Tel Aviv, he became deeply involved in Komuna, attending regularly and later teaching in both its Tel Aviv and Jerusalem sessions.

Talking to In Jerusalem, he described dancing as “the biggest part of my life,” and said that the Komuna participants “became my friends… my whole community.” He added that “rikudei am (Israeli folk dancing) actually opened the doors for me to enter Israeli society,” helping him build a social circle of both olim and Israelis.

Deborah Brown, who made aliyah from the United States three and a half years ago, quickly found a sense of belonging at Komuna. She recalled arriving at her first session in Tel Aviv “with no idea what I was walking into,” staying until the very end, and that “I basically haven’t missed a week since.” 

What began as a continuation of her love for Israeli dancing became central to her life, offering both joy and community.

She described Komuna as her “happy place.” 

“It’s my comfort,” she said. “The people feel like a second family.” Through dancing, she has built deep connections with a diverse group, noting that “We form really meaningful connections just by dancing together before we’ve even said a few words [to each other].”

Dance, community, and social impact

For Mukdasi, Komuna is more than dance; it is a cultural education tool. Olim learn Hebrew through lyrics and instruction while engaging with Israeli traditions and shared cultural space.

She described Komuna as a space for growth, connection, and belonging.

“I believe in communities. It’s a place for people to grow, express themselves, feel belonging, and realize their potential.”

This philosophy extends into social action. Komuna members have organized volunteering initiatives during crises, including support for soldiers, NGOs, and bereaved families. 

Mukdasi has also run events for mothers who lost sons in the IDF and workshops for cancer survivors.

Participants say these efforts deepen the emotional significance of the community, turning it into more than a social outlet. For many, it becomes a space of solidarity and mutual support in difficult times.

Beyond volunteering, Komuna has helped participants form lasting friendships and expand their social networks, strengthening the sense of belonging Mukdasi envisioned.

Expanding horizons

Komuna has grown internationally over the past nine years, and since the age of 21, Mukdasi has been invited to run Israeli folk dance workshops abroad – in Europe, the United States, Australia, and beyond. 

She now also mentors organizations seeking to adopt her model.

Her long-term vision is to build a global network of independent Israeli folk dance communities led by trained instructors.

“I want to pass on my knowledge and experience to the next generation – to be an anchor for young people and give them confidence. We are here for something bigger than ourselves, and we want to keep it alive,” she said, adding that “our culture is beautiful and valuable. It’s really important to preserve it as part of our Israeli Identity, living here on this special land.”

Despite its success, she acknowledges the emotional weight of sustaining it: “It’s a baby. You can’t leave it.”

This Friday, Komuna will celebrate its ninth anniversary with a daytime summer celebration, bringing together members from across the country to mark nearly a decade of building community through Israeli folk dance.

A vision for the future

Mukdasi continues to expand Komuna and plans to train new instructors and document her methodology for international use.

She draws inspiration from participants themselves.

“I find strength in people who fulfill their dreams, and in Komuna members who share how much it means to them. It’s important for me to stay grounded and keep my inner peace, faith in the path, and optimism, despite the challenges,” she shared.

From a childhood fascination to a cultural movement, Mukdasi has helped transform Israeli folk dance into a living, evolving form of identity and community.

This post was originally published on here. 

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Syria on Saturday, in an important visit that Damascus sees as transformative. It comes in the wake of Syria signing a new pipeline deal to link Iraq to the port of Baniyas and also comes after Syria’s president met US President Donald Trump.

“I have just arrived in Damascus for a visit of solidarity,” Guterres said. “My message is clear: The UN stands with Syria at this pivotal moment, and I appeal to the international community to spare no effort to support the people of Syria as well.”

Syrian state media SANA noted that Syria’s “Foreign and Expatriates Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani and UN Secretary-General António Guterres pledged to deepen cooperation between Syria and the United Nations during talks in Damascus on Saturday, with reconstruction, recovery and Syria’s sovereignty dominating discussions.”

Syrian state media also noted that the UN leader spoke at “a joint press conference at Tishreen Palace following an expanded meeting attended by Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Hind Kabawat, Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed al-Saleh, Central Bank Governor Safwan Raslan and Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ibrahim Olabi.”

This is the first visit by a UN chief in 17 years. Syria was in a civil war from 2011 to 2024. Syria hopes to see UN and also IMF and other support for reconstruction and for Syria’s return to the international community. The US and others have worked to end sanctions on Syria. Syria is also working to re-establish air connections with numerous countries and commercial carriers.

Syria prioritizes reconstruction as millions immigrate to the country

Around 3.5 million Syrians have returned to the country, Syria’s state media noted. “The government’s priority is rebuilding the country through legislative reforms while calling for the removal of all remaining restrictions that hinder reconstruction,” the SANA report said. “Al-Shaibani also said Syria had established a strategic model for peace by consolidating the state’s monopoly on the use of force and stressed that Israeli violations of Syrian territory pose a direct threat to regional security.”

“Syria is creating opportunities for everyone and laying the foundations for a better future for all Syrians,” Guterres said. “The United Nations looks forward to cooperating with Syria in all areas and with the international community to support its future and prosperity,” Guterres added.

Syria’s President Ahmed al Shara’a discussed Syria-UN cooperation as well. The UN was quick to begin to work with the new authorities in Damascus after the Assad regime fell. UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher visited Damascus in December 2024.

The news of the UN visit comes as Aleppo has said it is moving forward with restoration work on the UNESCO-listed Old City. Abdul Hamid Dahna, director of the Old City Directorate in Aleppo Governorate, told Syria’s Al-Ikhbariya TV “that restoration work is underway on five historic markets and several landmark buildings damaged during years of war.”

Aleppo restoration plan targets historic markets and schools

SANA further noted on the Aleppo restoration that “the projects, scheduled under the 2025-2026 restoration plan, include the rehabilitation of the Al-Attarin, Al-Battiya, Al-Sarmatiya, Istanbul and Al-Joukh markets. Crews are also clearing debris, reopening access routes and stabilizing damaged heritage structures, including the Shadbakhtiya and Halawiya schools. Restoration of the Halawiya School is expected to begin in 2027.”

According to the report, the “Old City Directorate is working with the Directorate of Antiquities and Museums to ensure restoration complies with internationally recognized conservation principles while safeguarding the city’s historic character. Encouraging residents to return to the Old City remains a priority, he said, describing their presence as essential to restoring the area’s vitality.”

The UN visit and Aleppo restoration are symbols of Syria’s return to the international community and its focus on reconstruction. Meanwhile, a new pipeline is supposed to connect Iraq to the port of Baniyas in Syria. “The United States has begun importing fuel oil of Iraqi origin shipped through Syria for the first time, according to shipping data and two sources familiar with the operations, as Iraq expands a Mediterranean export route established after disruptions to Gulf trade routes earlier this year,” Reuters added.

In other news, Syria is also working to merge a large university, called Rojava University in eastern Syria, into Syria’s state institutions. In addition, Syria has graduated 1,000 new air force cadets. Also last week, Syria’s Interior Minister Anas Khattab received Iraqi Chargé d’Affaires Jubeir Shallal Aqab to discuss cooperation. 

This post was originally published on here. 

An altruistic kidney donation brought together a survivor of a deadly terrorist attack and the brother of the man who saved his life, in a coincidence discovered shortly before the transplant, Clalit Health Services announced on Thursday.

Yonatan Rom decided to participate in an Israeli paired kidney exchange program as an anonymous donor about a year ago. Ahead of the transplant he was matched for, Rom decided to meet the recipient at Clalit-Beilinson Hospital. 

In the initial conversation between Rom and Reuven Tam, the two discovered that Rom was a teacher at a pre-military academy when a terrorist attacked 24 years ago. Beyond that, however, Reuven Tam’s brother, Eyal Tam, was the emergency response squad commander who ended the incident. 

“Your brother saved my life 24 years ago, and today I am saving yours with my kidney,” Rom told Tam after they traced their connection.

“None of this was planned,” he went on. “Eyal stopped the terrorist and ended the massacre. I arrived at the scene in my car, the terrorist opened fire on us, and only minutes later Eyal arrived and neutralized him.”

‘A new chance at life’ 24 years post-terror attack

Now, Rom has a chance to return the favor. “We feel wonderful. I want to thank Yonatan for giving me a new chance at life. We hope to remain friends for the rest of our lives,” Tam said ahead of his transplant.

During the height of the second intifada in 2002, a terrorist infiltrated the academy in the Israeli community of Atzmona in the Gaza Strip’s Gush Katif region, killing five students and injuring 21 more. 

Had Eyal Tam not been on the scene and acted as quickly as he did, many more people likely would’ve died, the Clalit press release said. Rom is echoing that same notion of selflessness with his donation. 

“Altruistic kidney donors truly embody the meaning of altruism. They make an extraordinary decision to save the life of someone they have never met,” said Dr. Eviatar Nesher, Director of the Transplant Department at Clalit-Beilinson Hospital. He went on to commend the exchange as an “almost unbelievable full circle.”

Clalit-Beilinson Hospital does over 200 kidney transplants a year, and Rom could’ve been matched with any number of other recipients. 

“What are the chances that, out of all the donors and recipients, these two people would be brought together, the recipient whose brother had once saved the donor’s life during a terrorist attack?” Anat Briger, Transplant Coordinator at Clalit-Beilinson Hospital, said. 

This post was originally published on here. 

US President Donald Trump has not yet made a final decision on whether to launch a major strike against Iran, sources familiar with the administration’s decision-making process told The Jerusalem Post.

As the president said on Friday, the United States is continuing diplomatic talks with Tehran while keeping the military option fully prepared.

“We’re locked and loaded,” Trump said, adding that Washington could escalate its military campaign “to a much higher level” if necessary, but that his preferred option remains a negotiated agreement.

He also said Iran appears to be taking the talks more seriously than before, while reiterating that the administration’s bottom line remains unchanged: “They cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

This is also true for “regular daily attacks” that we got used to.

In Israel, a proposal was submitted to the government on Saturday stating that “there is a high probability that an attack on the civilian population will occur.”

With the possibility of an Iranian attack, the proposal asked to extend the special situation in the Home Front Command until August 11th.

First interruption of strikes against Iran in two weeks

The order marked the first interruption in nearly two weeks of sustained US military operations against Iranian targets. During the previous 13 days, Trump had approved strike plans presented by military officials each afternoon, with the attacks generally carried out within hours, Axios reported earlier on Saturday.

Trump received another proposed strike plan on Friday but declined to authorize it, instead instructing the military not to launch new attacks, two sources familiar with the decision told Axios.

It remained unclear whether the pause was limited to Friday or represented the beginning of a longer suspension. The US military remained capable of resuming strikes on relatively short notice and continued drawing up plans for a possible return to major combat operations, the report said.

Trump had not ordered the military to begin preparations for such a broader campaign, despite publicly saying that the US remained ready to intensify its operations. On Friday, he said the United States was “locked and loaded” but was continuing to communicate with Tehran.

Trump favors diplomacy but keeps military options open

Shortly after issuing the order to hold fire, Trump told reporters at the White House that he retained the option of continuing or escalating the attacks, including “knocking out everything they have.”

He nevertheless said he believed the “smarter strategy” was to reach an agreement with Iran.

“We’re talking to [the Iranians] right now. I think they’re getting more and more serious as the days go by. We’re locked and loaded and ready to go, but we’re talking to them,” Trump said.

The president later appeared more cautious about the prospects for an immediate breakthrough. Speaking at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Friday, Trump said he did not believe Iran was ready to reach an agreement at that stage, “but I’m willing to listen.”

The decision followed a campaign of US strikes against Iranian military targets, including missile sites, drone infrastructure, radar installations, naval assets and coastal defenses near the Strait of Hormuz. US officials said the operations were intended to reduce Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the strategic waterway.

Trump’s directive came several hours after an Omani delegation arrived in Tehran for talks aimed at reaching a new arrangement for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Two regional sources familiar with the negotiations told Axios that progress had been made and that Oman and Iran could reach an agreement over the weekend. Earlier Iranian-Omani negotiations focused on maritime traffic and possible mechanisms for securing shipping through the strait.

Any proposed agreement would still require Trump’s approval, leaving the future of the military campaign dependent on both the diplomatic negotiations and the president’s assessment of the deal.

The pause reflected Trump’s willingness to provide additional space for diplomacy, according to the report. It also suggested that the administration believed the current scale of attacks had reached the limit of what it could achieve without a return to significantly broader combat operations.

Questions have continued to surround the possible next phase of the US campaign, including whether Washington will maintain limited strikes near the strait, pursue a negotiated maritime arrangement or expand its attacks deeper into Iran.

The White House did not respond to Axios’s request for comment.

This post was originally published on here. 

The Wall Street Journal recently revealed that Israel is spending roughly $50 million on an American influence campaign involving artificial-intelligence-generated text messages, conservative media, online influencers, and former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale. 

According to the report, millions of Americans have received messages from seemingly friendly senders named “Emma” or “Sarah,” asking for their opinions about Israel, Iran, and global security. 

This story was published only a matter of days after Vice President JD Vance accused some Israeli officials of attempting to manipulate American opinion in order to keep the Iran conflict going and frustrate US diplomacy via influence campaigns in America. 

Israel is right to spend serious money defending itself on the cognitive battlefield. The failure is not the size of the investment. 

The failure is both that we didn’t expose those detractors running campaigns in America twisting the truth against Israel and that we treated an existential national-security responsibility as a marketing challenge that can be outsourced to advertising agencies, political consultants, and algorithms.

Fifty million dollars can buy messages, impressions, consultants, and data. As the famous Beatles song suggests, “money can’t buy you love.” 

What our government forgot is that it also cannot buy you trust in a short-term campaign. Without trust, the campaign risks becoming another missile fired at Israel’s own legitimacy.
The accompanying cartoon captures the problem. 

In an American town square, people happily drink apparently pure water while polished robots assure them, “We just want to explain Israel to you.” 

But beneath the ground, the information pipes have been fed by Qatar, Iran, China, and Russia for decades. Nearby, hostile operatives pour accusations of “genocide,” “war crimes,” and “death to the IDF” into the public reservoir.

The drinkers see the sparkling fountain. They do not see who is influencing the content of the pipes.
This is how cognitive warfare operates. The objective is not simply to persuade someone to accept one false allegation. 

It is to influence the entire information environment through which that person interprets every subsequent event. Once the water supply is contaminated, offering the public an explanation is not a winning strategy.

Israel’s enemies understood this long ago. Qatar did not merely purchase advertisements promoting its agenda. It invested for decades in media, universities, research institutions, political relationships, and cultural influence. 

Iran, China, and Russia do not separate intelligence, diplomacy, information operations, cyber activity, and national strategy into unrelated assignments. They construct ecosystems intended to shape what societies see, whom they trust, and which political choices become acceptable.

Israel, by contrast, repeatedly behaves as if its problem is insufficient explanation (i.e. hasbara – public diplomacy). 

When hostility rises, we produce another video, hire another spokesperson, launch another campaign, and count another million impressions. We measure how many people saw our content, not whether legislation changed, a university acted, a false legal allegation was defeated, or an ally maintained political support.

That is a communications activity. It is not strategic influence.

From hasbara to strategic influence

The new campaign does contain important innovations. Israel has correctly identified younger Americans – including younger conservatives – as a critical audience.

It recognizes that artificial intelligence and search engines are becoming gateways through which people understand history and current affairs. It is collecting audience data, producing content at scale, and attempting to compete in environments Israel neglected for too long.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is also correct that public diplomacy must be funded as seriously as jets, bombs, and missile interceptors. 

The latest Pew data explain why: 60% of American adults view Israel unfavorably, as do 57% of Republicans between 18 and 49. 

This is no longer only a problem on the progressive Left. It has reached the emerging generation of the Republican Right and is weakening what was once a broadly bipartisan alliance.

But responding to an existential threat through a collection of commercial contracts creates a dangerous contradiction. If the cognitive war is truly a war, where is the war cabinet? 

Where is the national intelligence assessment? Where is the chain of command integrating the Prime Minister’s Office, Foreign Ministry, intelligence community, IDF, Diaspora Affairs Ministry, and Israel’s diplomatic missions?
 
Who defines the strategic objectives, tests the messages, examines unintended consequences, and measures policy outcomes?

Most importantly, who is accountable if the strategy fails?
The IDF would never outsource the defense of Israel’s airspace to mercenaries and then evaluate them by counting how many interceptor videos received views. 

Yet Israel has placed significant elements of its defense against cognitive missiles in the hands of advertising firms, foreign consultants, and politically connected intermediaries.

These contractors may be talented. Parscale understands political data and digital targeting. Media firms understand distribution. Influencers understand their audiences. But none of them is responsible for the national security of Israel or the safety of Jewish communities worldwide. 

Ultimately there are four major failures with the campaign that need addressing:
 anonymity instead of authenticity;
 impressions instead of policy impact;
 contractors instead of an integrated national command;
 persuasion without policy feedback.

The reported use of AI personas presents an additional danger. A recipient who believes she is communicating with a person named Emma, only to discover an automated system connected to a foreign government campaign, is unlikely to feel better about Israel. 

She will feel manipulated. The tactic can validate the very allegation Israel’s adversaries promote: that support for Israel is manufactured through concealed influence rather than earned through truth and shared values.

In cognitive warfare, credibility is ammunition. Once expended, it is extremely difficult to replace. Israel needs a permanent cognitive-security directorate operating under a national-security authority. 

It must research the networks contaminating the information supply, expose their funding and methods, communicate through credible and properly disclosed messengers, receive continuous feedback, and connect that feedback to policy decisions. 

Its measurements must move beyond clicks and impressions to consequences: votes, regulations, diplomatic decisions, prosecutions, university policies, media corrections, and durable changes in public attitudes.

This command must also be capable of telling Israel’s political and military leaders when the problem is not merely how a policy is explained but how it is understood and experienced. 

Public diplomacy cannot succeed if it functions only as the final packaging department for decisions already made. Strategic influence requires communication to be considered before, during, and after policy formation.

Israel is not facing an eighth “front” that can be addressed with occasional public relations. 

It is fighting an all-out war – one that affects its freedom of military action, diplomatic alliances, legal legitimacy, economic relationships, and the physical security of Jews around the world.

The government deserves credit for finally putting serious resources into this battle. But purchasing reach is not the same as building influence, and neither is it the same as earning trust.

Israel does not need more robots to build trust and legitimacy. It needs to defend the reservoir, expose those poisoning it, and take responsibility for the entire system – from the source of the information to its ultimate effect on policy.

The national security of Israel and the Jewish people is too important to outsource.

This post was originally published on here. 

I didn’t want to leave Israel. Not now when the world hates us. Not when there are endless flight delays, and no one knows what tomorrow might bring. 

Especially not to go to Greece – a country that deported its Jews to Auschwitz in World War II. On my last trip to Athens, in a sadly empty Jewish Museum, I learned that the once robust Jewish population in Greece of about 75,000 had dwindled to approximately 5,000 Jews. 

But my American son was coming into Crete, ironically to decompress from a tour of Poland and Auschwitz, so my husband and I decided to meet him there. Traveling along with a plane load full of Israelis, watching some of the younger ones rudely cutting lines and behaving badly, it suddenly occurred to me – we are all ambassadors. 

No matter where we travel, whether or not we are “identifiably” Israeli or Jewish, whether we accept the job or not, each and every one of us is a representative – and it is important to be aware of it.

“F*** the IDF” said graffiti on an electrical box as I trudged up one of Crete’s many uphill streets. “F*** Zionists” was blasted across a billboard near the airport. “Free Palestine” messages decorated the other side of the road. 

‘I was reminded of my identity everywhere I went’

Although I only saw three instances of graffiti in my 48 hours in Crete, I was reminded of my identity everywhere I went and with everyone I spoke to, as a representative of my people.

Israelis can be raucous, outspoken, and loud, and like most, they are ready to party, especially on vacation, but now, more than ever, I felt compelled to rein it in and remember – we are, each and every one of us, ambassadors for a greater cause. 

Whether on line at an airport, checking in to a hotel, walking on narrow crowded sidewalks within a rush of other tourists, or enjoying a spa treatment, travelers should be keenly aware of the “tourist tightrope” we tread. We are being observed, judged, and measured – as a tourist, but more importantly as an Israeli. 

That means even if you don’t do it at home, put garbage in the bin, clean up after yourself, and exercise good manners everywhere and with everyone – even when people seem impolite to us.

My kippah-wearing husband and son were gazing out at the beautiful sunset over the Mediterranean when they were approached by a gentleman from Denmark. They exchanged pleasantries, and he asked where my family was from. My husband acknowledged that he was from Israel. 

“Some members of my family have big problems with what we are seeing on the news about Israel,” the tourist said. “We saw a story about a Palestinian family that had been living in their home for 45 years and got dragged out of their house by the IDF. It seemed so tragic.”

My husband asked for context – was the family in a legal habitat? Was it brought to a court of law? The Danish man didn’t know. My son, who is a lawyer in the US, spoke about different laws that may govern disputed residential habitats. Together, they explained that watching footage, most likely taken by advocacy groups with a particular agenda, doesn’t necessarily reflect the entire story – and can be easily taken out of context.

The gentleman listened attentively. No one lost their temper or raised their voice.

Then he told my family that when Israel was attacked in 1967, he was a medic in the Danish army. He said he was so moved by his feelings for Israel that he was ready to go and help defend the country. Fortunately for everybody, that war ended quickly and victoriously, but he regretted never getting the chance to assist Israel.

“The television and social media are set-ups for bias,” was my husband’s takeaway from the encounter. “I believe most people are open-minded, as this man was. I may not have convinced him to change his mind, but perhaps the next time he watches TV, he might realize there is another side to the story.”

“People in Greece respect our tourists,” Maria, a massage therapist at the Intercontinental Hotel, told me. “Crete goes dark in the winter, and we work hard to please people during the summer tourist season. I’ve met lots of Israelis, and we hear things about Israel. Meeting nice ones who talk to us helps us understand the situation better.

“I can’t imagine living with sirens and missiles,” she added. “Running for shelter along with my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter would be a terrifying experience.”

My revelation from the short trip was twofold.

First, I realized that even in these uncertain times, when I dread traveling, every Israeli must understand the responsibility of carrying Israel’s message to the world.

Second, traveling enables us to learn, grow, and connect with people we would never meet otherwise. 

While it pulls us far out of our comfort zones in so many ways, it also allows us to accomplish far more, both for ourselves and for Israel, than we ever could from behind our keyboards.

This post was originally published on here. 

Sally Reidman, founder and president of Reidman College of Complementary and Integrative Medicine, received the Sylvan Adams Nefesh B’Nefesh Bonei Zion Prize in 2023 for her achievements in education.

How did her life lead up to this prestigious moment?

Born in Pennsylvania in 1949 to Holocaust survivors, Sally grew up with her mother in California and studied psychology at California State University.

She founded Reidman College in1987, and it is now recognized as Israel’s largest institute of its kind. Today, more than 4,000 students are enrolled in the college’s five vocational schools: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Natural Medicine, Somatic Therapies, Holistic Psychotherapy, and Holistic Coaching.

The college has four campuses, with its main campus in Tel Aviv and branches in Jerusalem, Haifa, and Beersheba.

The Magazine recently sat down with Sally in her Tel Aviv office.

What influenced you to make aliyah?

I didn’t go to a Jewish school or belong to a Jewish youth group. Still, over the years, my mom would tell me how much she wanted me to go to Israel and that she would pay for the ticket. 

One day, an Israeli friend – my only Israeli friend at the time – told me she was going to Israel to visit her dying grandmother. That was the trigger. 

When the plane landed and my feet touched the ground, I became very emotional and started to cry. I ended up staying for two months, returned to California to wrap things up, and then made aliyah in 1983. 

I had no money, only one distant relative in Israel, and no idea what I was going to do. I just knew I was meant to be here. I was a spiritual seeker and felt that here I could be a channel for love and light.

How did you get started and what do you recommend to new olim who want to succeed here professionally?

Since childhood, I have been used to hard work. I came to Ashdod with my massage table and initially lived in an absorption center. I would take the table with me on the bus as I traveled to work in three different places. 

After 18 months, I moved to a small apartment in Tel Aviv and rented space in a gym for my practice. Eventually, I was running a small school, which later became Reidman College. 

My advice to new olim is to work hard, love what you do, become good at it, and be passionate. Although I’m not religious, I am spiritual and have always had a connection to God. I believe God brings me what I need.

Was Reidman your family name?

It was the name of my former husband. We were married for less than four years, had no children, and divorced before I moved to Israel. 

How would you sum up the mission of Reidman College?

We believe in the advancement of natural medicine by working side by side with conventional medicine through integration and cooperation.

At one time, natural medicine was considered alternative medicine. Today, the proper terms are “complementary” and “integrative” medicine.

The goal of natural medicine is to identify the underlying cause of a condition and promote long-term wellness, often reducing reliance on pharmaceutical drugs.

Natural medicine, therapy, various courses

How does the religious community relate to natural medicine?

In general, the religious community is very supportive of natural medicine. In Jerusalem, we have separate courses for men and for women. Because the demand is so great, we’re planning a dedicated wing at our Jerusalem campus.

Do you have courses in English?

The college is launching an English-language program of massage therapy, to include holistic Swedish massage and basic medical massage.

What advice would you give someone looking for a massage therapist?

Make sure your therapist is insured. Insurance companies will not insure someone who does not have a certificate from an accredited school. 

Beyond credentials, there are the personal qualities: attention, intention, and love. We want therapists who give us their full attention, whose intentions are clear, and who genuinely love their work. 

Does AI have any effect on your profession?

As AI takes over more and more professions, the idea of a career in therapy is becoming increasingly popular. Ours is a profession that AI is unlikely to replace. In fact, it is one of the fastest-growing professions. 

In a Jerusalem Post article published in May, Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Lieberman wrote: ‘We need more therapists.’ What’s your view?

I totally agree. Especially since Oct. 7, the need has become desperate. That’s one reason our college continues to grow.

Not everyone comes here simply to find a job. Some want to raise healthier families. Some come to heal themselves. We also have many hi-tech professionals who work with computers all day and come to us to unwind and interact with other like-minded people.

In a 2026 message for Valentine’s Day in the ‘Algemeiner Journal,’ you wrote: ‘It is known that people with pets to care for and receive love from them live longer and are happier than most others. Dogs, in particular, are renowned for giving unconditional love.’ Would you add anything?

It may not be accidental that the Hebrew word for dog is ‘kelev.’ Lev means “heart.”

Your closing thoughts?

At Reidman, we focus on helping you become the best you, so that you, in turn, can give to others. As we heal ourselves, we help heal the planet.

Sally Reidman
From Los Angeles to Ashdod, 1983

This post was originally published on here. 

Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon denounced New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recent anti-Israel and anti-Netanyahu rhetoric, as well as the recent attack on Jews on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, during an appearance Friday on Larry Kudlow’s Fox Business program.

On Wednesday, Mamdani admitted in a video statement released by the mayor’s office that his administration does not have the authority to enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Calls for Netanyahu’s arrest and rhetoric vilifying Israel featured prominently throughout Mamdani’s election campaign and have continued since he entered City Hall.

Danon said Mamdani’s claims that he intends to arrest Netanyahu are baseless and amount to an attempt to distract from his own failures.

“He cannot arrest anyone. He’s a clown. He knows that. It is baseless.” Danon said. “He wants to get attention, and so he speaks about Prime Minister Netanyahu.”

Danon warns anti-Israel rhetoric has dangerous consequences