Herzog holds on as Labor leader as party votes for 2017 primaries

IDF chief heads to US for defense visit

IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot lands in the United States for meetings with members of the American military and Department of Defense, as Jerusalem and Washington hammer out the final details of the Israeli aid package.

Eisenkot is slated to speak with his American counterpart, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford.

While in the US, Eisenkot will inspect the Israeli F-35 squadron of planes that are currently being built and will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington cemetery. He will also visit the US military’s special forces base in Florida.

“[Eisenkot and members of the US Department of Defense] will also discuss current security challenges, the regional security assessments in the Middle East and military cooperation,” the army says in a statement.

Eisenkot will be replaced by his deputy, Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, while he is in America.

“Eisenkot will be accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Hannah Eisenkot, the Defense Attaché [to the US], Maj. Gen. Yaacob Ayish, and the Head of International military cooperation Brig. Gen. Erez Meizel,” the army says.

— Judah Ari Gross

5 dead in attacks on oil, gas facilities in Kurdish areas of Iraq

Militants assaulted a gas facility and a nearby oil field in north Iraq on Sunday, killing five people in rare attacks inside Kurdish-controlled areas of Kirkuk province, officials said.

Gunmen travelling on motorbikes opened fire on the gas facility’s guards, then killed four of its employees and planted multiple bombs before escaping, officials from Iraq’s North Oil Company and the Kurdish peshmerga forces said.

Militants also attacked the nearby Bai Hassan oil field, the largest in oil-rich Kirkuk province, killing an engineer and sparking a major fire, officials said.

A colonel in the peshmerga said that security forces killed two suicide bombers at the field while a third detonated explosives, setting oil tanks ablaze, and a fourth was still at large.

Police Brigadier General Sarhad Qader confirmed that three bombers were dead.

— AFP

Six arrested for public disturbance in Negev town

Police arrest six people, including two minors, for public disturbance at a construction site in the northern Negev town of Hiran, Ynet reports. The six allegedly attacked police officers and prevented construction machinery from operating.

Abu Khdeir cousin charged with attacking cop

A relative of a Palestinian teen who was murdered two years ago is charged Sunday with a laundry list of crimes, including attempted assault of police officers, throwing stones at cars, public disturbance, arson and discharging a weapon in a residential area, Walla news reports.

Nasser Abu Khdeir, 19, a cousin of Muhammad Abu Khdeir, a resident of the Shuafat neighborhood of East Jerusalem, was indicted at the Jerusalem District Court for the crimes, which took place two summers ago, after his cousin was murdered.

Similar charges are filed against another minor. Prosecutors request the two be held until the end of proceedings.

Police deploy across southern Israel amid security threat

Police officers are deployed in and around the southern city of Beersheba because of an unspecified security threat.

A police spokeswoman says there are no instructions to the public as of now, but urges the public to be aware of suspicious objects or persons.

Stabbing thwarted south of Nablus

A Palestinian attempted to stab soldiers near the West Bank village of Hawara, south of Nablus, but was thwarted by IDF personnel.

No injuries are reported, but the condition of the victim is unknown.

Palestinian attacker shot, seriously injured

The Palestinian man who attempted to stab Israeli troops near Hawara was shot and is in serious condition, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency reports.

Beersheba warning lifted

Police lifts warning in Beersheba. tells citizens to go about their daily business.

Palestinian attacker said dead

The Palestinian who attempted to stab Israeli soldiers south of Nablus is dead, Walla news reports.

The man reportedly got out of a car that approached the checkpoint from Nablus and ran at the soldiers with a knife in his hand.

Palestinian attacker named as Rami Awartani

The Palestinian Health Ministry identifies the man killed attempting to stab soldiers at the Hawara checkpoint as Rami Awartani, 31.

Car catches fire on Route 6, causing blaze

A brush fire rages alongside Route 6 near Petah Tikvah after a car caught on fire. Firefighting teams are on site and trying to control the blaze.

Traffic on the major high speed road is slowed down.

8 charged in soccer hooligan sting

Eight members of a radical Beitar Jerusalem soccer team fan club known as La Familia are indicted for violent crimes after a massive police round-up last week.

A state’s witness named in the charges was an undercover agent working for police to bag suspects, Channel 10 reports.

Italy saves 6,000 migrants, 2 drowned

The Italian navy on Sunday said it had recovered the bodies of two people in an operation that, along aid agencies, had helped pick up 6,000 people since Thursday.

Navy ships patrolling off Libya intervened to help four rubber dinghies and an overcrowded fishing boat, it said.

In one operation by the vessel Vega, “five migrants were picked up out of the sea, three people were resuscitated and two were already dead,” it said on its Twitter account.

According to the latest figures from the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) — issued on July 28 before the latest migratory wave — 89,217 people, most from sub-Saharan Africa have arrived in Italy by sea since the start of the year.

The tally is comparable to the total of 93,000 recorded for the January-July period last year.

More than 3,000 migrants have died trying to make the crossing, an increase of more than 50 percent compared to the same period in 2015, according to the International Office of Migration (IOM).

On Thursday, Italy launched a campaign on the Internet, TV, radio and social media to warn African migrants of the many dangers they face in trying to reach Europe.

Dubbed “Aware Migrants,” the €1.5-million ($1.66-million) campaign is targeting 15 countries in West and North Africa which have been big sources of the migratory wave.

It features migrants recounting their suffering at the hands of ruthless smugglers or enduring the perilous Mediterranean crossing.

— AFP

Abu Khdeir cousins accused of attacks on police

Both people charged earlier today for alleged assault on police and throwing firebombs at the light rail in Jerusalem are members of the Abu Khdeir family.

Nasser Abu Khdeir, 19, and Muhammad Abu Khdeir, 21, residents of Shuafat and cousins of the teen killed two years ago in Jerusalem by Jewish extremists, are accused of a laundry list of charges committed in 2014 in the wake of the murder.

Herzog greeted with boos at party meeting

Isaac Herzog is welcomed to a Labor Party convention by cries of “Bougie go home” by hundreds of participants, who referred to the party leader by his nickname, Walla reports. The party was gathered to vote on holding primaries.

Kurdish fighters kill four Turkish soldiers — report

Militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) killed four Turkish soldiers Sunday in two separate attacks, local media reported.

Three soldiers were killed during a military operation in Ordu, located on the Black Sea coast in northeastern Turkey, the province’s governor said in comments carried by private Dogan news agency.

Irfan Balkanlioglu said the soldiers were shot by PKK militants and two others were injured, Dogan, said. The operation, in Mesudiye district, was continuing.

In another attack, one soldier was killed and six were wounded in clashes with PKK militants in the southeastern province of Hakkari, the army said in a statement.

One soldier was seriously wounded, the army added. The state-run Anadolu news agency reported the clashes occurred in Altinsu district.

The fatalities occurred two days after eight soldiers were killed in fighting with Kurdish militants, the deadliest attack on the military since the failed July 15 coup.

— AFP

Egypt said to hit IS arms factory in Sinai, killing 46

The Egyptian air force reportedly carried out an airstrike on an illegal arms factory in the northern Sinai, killing at least 46 gunmen, Sky News Arabic reports. The factory reportedly belonged to the Islamic State.

Police bust 2 drug mules with NIS 2m of MDMA

Police annouce that officers arrested two drug mules in possession of 10 kilograms (11 pounds) of MDMA worth roughly NIS 2 million. The drugs were hidden inside bottles of wine and the walls of one man’s suitcase and nabbed on their arrival at Ben Gurion Airport.

The two suspects were brought before a judge and are expected to be charged on Wednesday, police say.

‘Uproar’ as Laborites boo Herzog; then he tries to boot them

Herzog is met with boos at a meeting of the Labor Party in Tel Aviv. He responds saying, “They’ve already called me a dog, I’m unmoved. I’m staying here,” but the cries against him continued as he tries to deliver his speech.

Herzog instructs party secretary Hilik Bar to throw the protesters out of the hall.

“I entered in the midst of an uproar and I was shocked by what was happening in the hall,” Labor MK Shelly Yachimovich tells Channel 2. “It was an expression of people’s anger. I understood that Herzog threatened to throw out those who booed him. He who wants to be a leader shouldn’t be a crybaby.”

Old Kassam rocket found near southern town

An old Kassam rocket, apparently from the November 2012 conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip, is found near the southern kibbutz of Netiv Ha’asara, near the northern border of the Palestinian territory, Army Radio reports. The explosive was disposed of by sappers.

Stoudemire signs with Hapoel Jerusalem

NBA forward Amare Stoudemire will hold a press conference tomorrow to announce his signing with the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team, Sport 5 reports.

Stoudemire just retired after a 14-year NBA career and signed the deal Sunday, and while he isn’t Jewish, he considers himself “culturally Jewish” and has a deep affection for Israel.

Netanyahu speaks with Kerry about Abbas

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he just spoke on the phone with US Secretary of State John Kerry, who updated him on his recent meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris. Netanyahu refuses to provide any detail about their conversations.

The prime minister says he plans another trip to Africa soon, this time to West Africa.

He also says he’s “very careful” not to get involved, in any way in the US elections.

He says he’s “happy to work with whomever gets elected.” Netanyahu will be traveling to New York for the UN General Assembly in the fall, but there are no immediate plans for him to meet with US President Barack Obama.

— Raphael Ahren

Labor elections pushed off to July ’17 in victory for Herzog

After being booed on stage, Herzog nonetheless scores a minor coup after the Labor Party voted to hold primaries in July 2017, with 70% in favor, leaving him party leader for another year.

Palestinian attacker killed was barber

Rami Awartani, the 31-year-old Palestinian man shot dead earlier today attempting to stab Israeli soldiers, was a local barber, according to Palestinian media.

صالون الشهيد رامي عورتاني يغلق أبوابه بعد استشهاد صاحبه على حاجز حوارة جنوب نابلس ظهر اليوم pic.twitter.com/kjdnOUnEkE

— Pal.Info.Center (@PalinfoAr) July 31, 2016

Police investigating Netanyahu attack ads for illegal funding

The investigation into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is looking into suspected illegal funding of an attack ad campaign against former prime minsiter Ehud Barak, Channel 10 reports. The report doesn’t say when the attack ads were aired, nor is it clear whether police investigators found any material.

IDF general accused of sexual abuses resigns

Ofek Buchris, the IDF general accused of several sex abuse crimes, tenders his immediate resignation and the army accepts. Buchris said the reason for his resignation is to manage his legal defense as a civilian and not as an IDF officer, the IDF says.

Trump assembles campaign team in Israel

Donald Trump’s staff has put together a team in Israel to campaign on behalf of the Republican presidential nominee to get the hundreds of thousands of eligible absentee voters in Israel to vote for the GOP, Channel 10 reports.

According to the news report, Trump is expected to come to Israel some time before the November 8 elections, but Trump himself said recently that nothing is planned.