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US says new sanctions on Iran coming soon, expects allies to follow
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The United States says it will soon impose new sanctions on Iran’s missile and drone program after its weekend attack on Israel, and that it expects its allies and partners to follow with parallel measures.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s announcement comes after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen indicated punitive measures were in the works, and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said his office was working on it.
“In the coming days, the United States will impose new sanctions targeting Iran, including its missile and drone program” as well as the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian defense ministry, Sullivan says.
“We anticipate that our allies and partners will soon be following with their own sanctions,” he adds.
“These new sanctions and other measures will continue a steady drumbeat of pressure to contain and degrade Iran’s military capacity and effectiveness and confront the full range of its problematic behaviors.”
Citing safety, USC cancels speech by valedictorian who backs Palestinians
The University of Southern California cancels a commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian who has publicly supported Palestinians, citing security concerns, a rare decision that is being praised by several pro-Israel groups and lambasted by free speech advocates and the country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization.
Andrew T. Guzman, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs for the private university in Los Angeles, says in a statement that debate over the selection of valedictorian Asna Tabassum to give the May 10 commencement speech took on an “alarming tenor.” Her speaking would have presented “substantial” security risks for the event, which draws 65,000 people to campus, he says.
While Guzman does not specify whether there had been threats, he says that “we cannot ignore the fact that similar risks have led to harassment and even violence at other campuses.”
“The intensity of feelings, fueled by both social media and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, has grown to include many voices outside of USC and has escalated to the point of creating substantial risks relating to security and disruption at commencement,” Guzman writes.
US House resolution condemns chant ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’
The US House of Representatives has passed a resolution condemning the popular pro-Palestinian chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as antisemitic.
The motion passes by 377 to 44.
🚨BREAKING: My legislation CONDEMNING the slogan, “from the river to the sea, ‘Palestine’ will be free” has passed the House.
These antisemitic activists want nothing more than the destruction of Israel & the Jewish people inside it.
America will always #StandWithIsrael.🇮🇱🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/OfIgUI3QII
— Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (@RepDesposito) April 16, 2024
US envoy does not see UN resolution on Palestine helping two-state solution
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters in New York on March 25, 2024. (Angela Weiss/AFP)
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield says she does not see a draft UN resolution by the Palestinian Authority recommending it become a full UN member helping lead to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Thomas-Greenfield makes the comments at a news conference in Seoul, after being asked whether the United States is open to recognizing the request by the Palestinian Authority to have full UN membership.
‘Hit them Israel’: Graffiti painted on Iranian buildings voices support for Jerusalem
Amid the unprecedented direct conflict between Israel and Iran, Hebrew media has reported on some graffiti that has appeared within the Islamic Republic in recent days, following its largescale attack on Israel, which voices support for the Jewish state.
One declares: “Hit them, Israel. Iranians are behind you.”
קצת עידוד מחברים…
גרפיטי אחרי המתקפה האיראנית על ישראל ב- 13 באפריל 2024: "הכי בהם ישראל! העם האיראני לצידכם!" pic.twitter.com/WTqu7gH8OQ
— פנחס יחזקאלי (@yehezkeally) April 14, 2024
Another says: “Strike Israel, we’ll do the rest on the streets.”
עוד גרפיטי מאיראן. בתרגום חופשי – ישראל תרביצי, אנחנו נעשה את היתר ברחוב pic.twitter.com/254rfmw20L
— Sharona Mazalian (@SharonaMazalian) April 15, 2024
A third message states: “War is the ace card for governments in crisis.”
Graffiti in Iran after Iranian missile and drone attacks against Israel: “War, ace card for governments in crisis” https://t.co/YTu9D4TIud pic.twitter.com/JrOSWmBmBo
— FJ (@Natsecjeff) April 16, 2024
And a fourth encourages Israel to bomb Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s home.
🇮🇱🇮🇷 Graffiti in Iran boldly requests Israel to bomb the Supreme Leader's residence, revealing Iranians' extreme opposition to their rulers. pic.twitter.com/DPbEtiDaLa
— Armin Navabi (@ArminNavabi) April 16, 2024
Soldier from elite Shaldag unit seriously wounded in Gaza
The IDF says a combat soldier from the Shaldag special forces unit was seriously wounded yesterday in battle in northern Gaza.
He was taken for treatment in Israel and his family was notified.
Major flooding causing significant disruptions at Dubai airport
Vehicles sit abandoned in floodwater covering a major road in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)
Dubai International Airport (DXB) says that it was experiencing significant disruption due to bad weather and was working to restore normal operations as quickly as possible.
Flights are delayed/diverted and impacted by displaced crew, DXB said in a statement, adding that recovery would take some time.
Dubai’s major international airport diverted scores of incoming flights yesterday as heavy rains lashed the United Arab Emirates, causing widespread flooding around the desert country.
The world’s busiest air hub for international passengers confirmed a halt to arrivals at 7:26 pm (1526 GMT) before announcing a “gradual resumption” more than two hours later.
https://twitter.com/gunsnrosesgirl3/status/1780307713592897542
Columbia University president to testify in Congress on campus antisemitism, conflicts over Gaza war
The statue of Alma Mater on the campus of Columbia University in New York, Oct. 10, 2007. (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff, File)
Four months after a contentious congressional hearing led to the resignations of two Ivy League presidents, Columbia University’s president is set to appear before the same committee over questions of antisemitism and the school’s response to conflicts on campus over the Israel-Hamas war.
Nemat Shafik, Columbia’s leader, was originally asked to testify at the House Education and Workforce Committee’s hearing in December, but she declined, citing scheduling conflicts.
The December hearing instead featured the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose lawyerly responses drew fierce backlash and fueled weeks of controversy. The presidents of Penn and Harvard have since resigned.
Shafik is expected to testify today along with Columbia University board members. Tensions and accusations of hate and bias have roiled Columbia, like at its sibling colleges, but Shafik has the benefit of hindsight in preparing her remarks. In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal Tuesday, Shafik emphasized the delicate balance between protecting free speech and fostering a safe environment for students on campus.
“Calling for the genocide of a people — whether they are Israelis or Palestinians, Jews, Muslims or anyone else — has no place in a university community,” Shafik wrote. “Such words are outside the bounds of legitimate debate and unimaginably harmful.”
IDF says it carried out wave of airstrikes in Gaza in past 24 hours
Palestinians at the scene of an Israeli airstrike in Rafah in the, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)
The Israeli Air Force struck more than 40 targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day, including rocket launchers primed for attacks on Israel, the military says.
The primed rocket launchers were destroyed in the central Gaza Strip, where the IDF is carrying out a pinpoint operation against Hamas.
Amid the operation, on the outskirts of the Nuseirat camp, the military says troops killed numerous gunmen and destroyed sites used by terror groups over the past day, including by calling in airstrikes.
One airstrike was carried out against a cell that was operating an armed drone, according to the IDF.
The army also says that troops of the Nahal Brigade used a drone to kill a gunman, and killed another with sniper fire.
Other targets hit by the IAF in the past day included underground rocket launch positions, booby-trapped buildings, structures where operatives were gathered, observation posts, underground sites, and other infrastructure, the IDF adds.
Italy calls for unilateral Israeli halt to Gaza fighting
IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip in a photo released on April 17, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani calls on Israel to halt its military operations in Gaza, reiterating that it was time for a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.
Italy initially backed Israel’s actions following the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas, but more recently it has softened its support.
In an interview with daily La Stampa, Tajani stressed that the war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s “barbaric” assault.
He then added: “However, now a ceasefire is necessary. Israel must stop the military operations that have massively affected the Palestinian population.”
The interview was conducted ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers of the Group of Seven wealthy nations which will be hosted by Tajani on the Italian island of Capri. Italy holds the rotating presidency of the G7.
Hamas has rejected a deal to release some of the hostages it holds in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and a truce.
Jets hit Hezbollah military compounds, rockets fired at northern Israel
Israeli fighter jets struck several Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon overnight.
The IDF says the targets included military compounds and buildings used by Hezbollah in Khiam, Mansouri, Aalma ash-Shab, and Yater.
This morning, Hezbollah fired several rockets from Lebanon at the Biranit base. The IDF says no injuries were caused, and troops are shelling the launch sites.
Israeli fighter jets struck several Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon overnight.
The IDF says the targets included military compounds and buildings used by Hezbollah in Khiam, Mansouri, Aalma ash-Shab, and Yater.
This morning, Hezbollah fired several rockets from Lebanon at… pic.twitter.com/UnIEw8efI2
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 17, 2024
Meeting UK and German FMs, Herzog calls for global coalition against Iran
President Isaac Herzog (c) meets with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (l) and UK Foreign Minister David Cameron in Jerusalem on April 17, 2024 ( Maayan Toaf / GPO)
President Isaac Herzog holds talks with the British and German foreign ministers in Jerusalem calling on the international community to work “defiantly” against Iran.
“The whole world must work decisively and defiantly against the threat by the Iranian regime which is seeking to undermine the stability of the whole region,” Herzog says in a statement issued by his office.
British Foreign Minister David Cameron and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock are the first Western diplomats to visit Israel since Iran’s unprecedented missile and drone attack last weekend.
Thank you UK Foreign Secretary @David_Cameron and German Foreign Minister @ABaerbock. I appreciate our warm discussion together this morning in Jerusalem. Thank you for both the UK and Germany’s strong stand alongside Israel in the face of the reprehensible attack by Iran. The… pic.twitter.com/i8R21gYdHn
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) April 17, 2024
Iran threatens ‘massive response’ if Israel launches ‘tiniest invasion’
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during Army Day parade at a military base in northern Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Iran’s president warns that the “tiniest invasion” by Israel would bring a “massive and harsh” response, as the region braces for potential Israeli retaliation after Iran’s attack over the weekend.
President Ebrahim Raisi speaks at an annual army parade that was relocated to a barracks north of the capital, Tehran, from its usual venue on a highway in the city’s southern outskirts. Iranian authorities give no explanation for its relocation, and state TV does not broadcast it live, as it has in previous years.
Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel over the weekend in response to an apparent Israeli strike on Iran’s embassy compound in Syria on April 1 that killed 12 people, including two Iranian generals.
Israel, with help from the United States, the United Kingdom, neighboring Jordan and other nations, successfully intercepted nearly all the missiles and drones.
Israel has vowed to respond, without saying when or how, while its allies have urged all sides to avoid further escalation.
Raisi says Saturday’s attack was a limited one, and that if Iran had wanted to carry out a bigger attack, “nothing would remain from the Zionist regime.” His remarks were carried by the official IRNA news agency.
Israel and Iran have waged a shadow war for decades, but the strike over the weekend was the first direct Iranian military attack on Israel.
Human Rights Watch says IDF complicit in settler violence that displaced West Bank Bedouin communities
Illustrative: An Israeli soldier patrols in the Palestinian Bedouin village of Tala in the West Bank on October 26, 2023, after residents were attacked by settlers. (Thomas Coex / AFP)
Human Rights Watch says Israeli forces either took part in or failed to stop settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank that displaced hundreds of people from several Bedouin communities last fall.
Settler violence surged after the Oct. 7 Hamas onslaught on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, leading to the complete uprooting of at least seven Palestinian Bedouin communities and displacement from several others, according to the New York-based rights group.
Settlers launched another wave of attacks late last week after a 14-year-old Israeli boy was killed in what Israeli authorities say was a terror attack. The United Nations’ human rights office yesterday called on Israeli security forces to “immediately end their active participation in and support for settler attacks on Palestinians.”
The Human Rights Watch report released today focused on the earlier rash of violence. The rights group says Israeli settlers assaulted Palestinians, stole their belongings and livestock and threatened to kill them if they did not leave permanently. The settlers also destroyed homes and schools.
The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Reserve pilot describes downing Iranian drones: It was like ‘Top Gun’ meets ‘Star Wars’
This handout picture released by the Israeli army on April 14, 2024, shows an Israeli Air Force fighter aircraft at an undisclosed airfield reportedly after a mission to intercept incoming airborne threats. (Israel Defense Forces/AFP)
An Israeli Air Force reserve pilot who took part in the effort to down the hundreds of drones and missiles fired at Israel by Iran describes the experience as the most complex mission he has taken part in, saying it was like “‘Top Gun’ meets ‘Star Wars.'”
The officer, identified only as Major G, tells the UK’s Telegraph paper that as a reserve officer he was called up from home on Saturday, took part in the mission, and was back in his law office on Sunday by 4 p.m. “shooting off emails.”
“It really was a different thing with hundreds of those UAVs and missiles in the air getting intercepted around you, like ‘Top Gun’ meets ‘Star Wars,’ endless explosions and interceptions going on around you,” he tells the paper.
“It was the most complicated mission I’ve done in 20 years in the air force, knowing that if there is a missed target, maybe it blows up in Israel,” he says.
Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles, with 99% intercepted by Israeli and allied countries’ forces.
“We flew in an amazing coalition with the US, UK and other forces and on the one hand it was a very aggressive attack coordinated by Iran, one which maybe we haven’t seen in modern warfare, but you’re seeing absolute defense in action,” he says.
“It’s always harder to find and take down these targets in the night. They’re flying really low and so you fly low too but you’re unable to see the ground,” he adds.
“You rely on sensors, but at some points it’s really close. You’re seeing street lights or other things on the ground very close to you and it’s a very uncomfortable feeling. But we’re well trained for that and we’ve proven this time that we know how to get the job done,” Major G says.
UK’s Cameron: It’s clear Israel has decided to respond to Iran attack
President Isaac Herzog (r) meets with UK Foreign Minister David Cameron in Jerusalem on April 17, 2024 ( Maayan Toaf / GPO)
British foreign minister David Cameron says it is clear Israel had made a decision to respond to the Iranian drone and ballistic missile attack and he hoped this would be carried out in a way that minimized escalation.
“It’s clear the Israelis are making a decision to act,” Cameron, who was speaking to reporters in Israel, says. “We hope they do so in a way that does as little to escalate this as possible.”
Britain wanted to see coordinated sanctions against Iran, he added.
“They need to be given a clear unequivocal message by the G7,” he said.
Iran navy escorting Iranian commercial ships to Red Sea, commander says
Illustrative: Iranian frigate 'Sahand' of the Southern Fleet of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy takes part in the military parade during celebrations for Navy Day, in Kronshtadt outside St.Petersburg, Russia, July 25, 2021. (AP Photo)
Iran’s navy is escorting Iranian commercial ships to the Red Sea, Naval Commander Shahram Irani says, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
The move follows the first-ever direct Iranian attack on Israel, carried out in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus.
Iran is bracing for a possible Israeli retaliation, with Israel’s war cabinet meeting later today to discuss a response.
“The Navy is carrying out a mission to escort Iranian commercial ships to the Red Sea and our Jamaran frigate is present in the Gulf of Aden in this view,” Irani says.
Tehran was ready to escort vessels of other countries, he adds.
The Red Sea has seen significant disruption to Israel-bound shipping due to attacks from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.
On April 13, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized the MSC Aries, a Portuguese-flagged container ship that Tehran says is linked to Israel.
IDF demolishes West Bank homes of attackers from Ra’anana terror spree
IDF troops demolish the home of a Palestinian terrorist in the West Bank town of Bani Naim, early April 17, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Overnight, the IDF demolished the homes of Ahmed Zidat, 25, and Mahmoud Zidat, 44, two cousins from the West Bank town of Bani Naim, who carried out a deadly terror attack in the city of Ra’anana earlier this year.
In the January 15 car-ramming spree, 79-year-old Edna Bluestein was killed and 17 others were wounded.
The IDF says troops operated in Bani Naim overnight to demolish the homes.
As a matter of policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly terror attacks.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, six wanted Palestinians were detained. Since October 7, troops have arrested some 3,850 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,650 affiliated with Hamas, according to the IDF.
At military parade, Iran hails ‘success’ of attack, slams countries that normalized ties with Israel
Iranian army members march during Army Day parade at a military base in northern Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Iran celebrates the “success” of its weekend drone and missile attack on Israel as it stages an annual military parade.
The Islamic Republic launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel on Saturday in response to an April 1 airstrike on its consulate in Damascus that has been widely blamed on Israel.
The operation, dubbed Honest Promise, “brought down the glory of the Zionist regime (Israel),” President Ebrahim Raisi says at a military base on the outskirts of Tehran.
“This operation showed that our armed forces are ready,” he says in a speech addressed to the regular army and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Wednesday’s parade saw the Iranian armed forces showcase a range of military equipment including drones and long-range ballistic missiles.
In his speech, Raisi also hit out at countries that had “sought to normalize relations” with Israel.
“These countries are now humiliated in front of their own people which constitutes a strategic failure for the regime” of Israel, he adds.
In 2020, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco normalized relations with Israel as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords.
Egypt and Jordan signed peace accords with Israel in 1979 and 1994, respectively.
Hamas says 56 Palestinians killed in Gaza over past day bringing toll to 33,899
A Palestinian woman walks past a building heavily damaged by Israeli strike the previous night in Rafah the southern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2024 (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says 56 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours.
The ministry statement says the death toll for Gazans since Hamas launched the October 7 assault on Israel now stands at at least 33,899 people.
This figure cannot be independently verified and does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed some 13,000 Hamas gunmen in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Two hundred and sixty IDF soldiers have been killed since Israel launched the ground offensive to destroy Hamas and get back the hostages.
FM Katz urges UK, German counterparts to designate Revolutionary Guard a terror group
Foreign Minister Israel Katz (r) meets with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock in Jerusalem on April 17, 2024 (Sivan Shahor/GPO)
Foreign Minister Israel Katz meets with his visiting British and German counterparts and urges them to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terror group in the wake of Iran’s unprecedented missile and drone strike on Israel.
“Iran and its proxies endanger regional and global stability. Now we have an opportunity to curb Iran,” Katz is quoted by his office as telling David Cameron and Annalena Baerbock.
“It’s time to call the Revolutionary Guards by their real name – a terrorist organization – and impose painful sanctions on Iran’s missile project,” Katz says.
The US designated the IRGC a terror group in 2019 and Israel has been pushing for other nations and the EU to follow.
Kremlin urges de-escalation between Iran and Israel
Russia is in dialogue with both Iran and Israel and urged the need for de-escalation in the Middle East, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov says.
“We are extremely concerned about the escalation of tensions in the region and we call on all countries in the region to exercise restraint. Further escalation is in no one’s interests,” Peskov tells reporters.
Peskov said that Russia continues to have close contacts with Iran and also has constructive contacts with Israel.
When asked if Tehran had warned Russia ahead of time about the strikes on Israel, Peskov says he has nothing to say on the matter.
Qatari PM says hostage talks at a ‘delicate phase,’ trying to overcome ‘stalling’
Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani speaks to the press as he meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the Treaty Room of the State Department in Washington, DC, on March 5, 2024. (Photo by Drew ANGERER / AFP)
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani says talks on a Gaza truce and a release of hostages are at a “delicate phase.”
“We are trying as much as possible to address this stumbling block,” he says, adding there is some “stalling.”
“We are going through a sensitive stage with some stalling, and we are trying as much as possible to address this stalling,” he says.
Hamas has refused the latest deal put forward by mediators.
Injuries reported in strike in northern Israel’s Arab al-Aramshe
Medics are responding to reports of injuries in a rocket or missile strike on a building in the northern community of Arab al-Aramshe, close to the Lebanon border.
Sirens did not sound.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF on the incident.
At least 6 hurt, 1 seriously, as rocket hits community center in northern Israel
At least six people are wounded in the rocket strike that hit a community center in the northern border community of Arab al-Aramshe, first responders say.
One is listed in serious condition, and the other five are in moderate and good condition, according to initial reports cited by medics.
According to initial reports, six people are wounded in the strike, including one in serious condition. pic.twitter.com/WYmvF6RtvC
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 17, 2024
Hamas leader Haniyeh to visit Turkey for talks with Erdogan
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, shakes hands with Hamas terrorist movement chief Ismail Haniyeh, prior to their meeting in Istanbul, February 1, 2020. (Presidential Press Service via AP, Pool/ File)
Ismail Haniyeh, political leader of the Palestinian Islamist terror group Hamas, will visit Turkey over the weekend to hold talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, broadcaster NTV says.
“I will host the leader of the Palestinian cause at the weekend. We will discuss a number of issues,” Erdogan earlier tells lawmakers from his AK Party in parliament, once again calling Hamas a “liberation movement.”
Kibbutz Be’eri survivors to hold Passover Seder in Hostages Square
Released hostages and survivors speak to journalists in front of the charred remains of the home of Raaya and Hila Rotem in Kibbutz Be'eri on January 1, 2024. (Canaan Lidor/Times of Israel)
Some 500 members of the Kibbutz Be’eri community will hold a Passover Seder on Monday night in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, in a cry to free their loved ones.
On October 7, 100 Kibbutz Be’eri members were killed by Hamas terrorists and 30 were taken hostage to Gaza. Eleven of those hostages remain in Gaza, six were murdered in captivity and 13 others were released at the end of November. The kibbutz numbered some 1,000 on October 6.
“We have never had a Seder this size,” says Be’eri spokesperson Michal Paikin. “The biggest we’ve ever had is around 250 people,” adding that some families will hold their own this year, some in the Dead Sea’s David Hotel, where many of the Be’eri evacuees have been living since October 7.
This Seder, for Kibbutz Be’eri members only, will include a clear call to the government to do everything possible to bring the hostages home and to return the deceased for burial.
Several Be’eri families with loved ones still held in Gaza will participate, said Paikin, including the Gat, Or, Baruch and Ben Ami families. They will be joined by released hostages Ra’aya and Hila Rotem, Alma and Noam Or, Raz Ben Ami, Amit Shani, Emily Hand and Gali Tarshansky.
“This Passover Seder is not a celebration,” says Or Gat, sister of hostage Carmel Gat. “This Seder night has left us with more than four questions.”
Another hostage family member, Yuli Ben Ami, whose father, Ohad Ben Ami, is being held captive, said that observing Seder night in the Hostages Square, “our second home, is the most fitting place.”
UN appeals for $2.8 billion in funding for Gaza, West Bank
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip pass through the inspection area at the Kerem Shalom Crossing in southern Israel, March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)
The United Nations appeals for $2.8 billion in funding to assist more than three million people in Gaza and the West Bank until the end of the year.
A flash appeal published by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that sum was needed to help 3.1 million people and “reduce human suffering and prevent further loss of life.”
A major chunk of funding – $782.1 million – will be destined for food aid for 2.2 million people in Gaza and 400,000 people in the West Bank, the appeal says.
Deri accuses Gantz of blocking compromise on ultra-Orthodox draft
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and youth raise placards during a protest against Israeli army conscription outside an army recruitment office in Jerusalem on April 11, 2024. (Menahem Kahana / AFP)
Shas chairman Aryeh Deri accuses war cabinet minister Benny Gantz of “blocking any possibility of agreements” on the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox Jews in the IDF.
“He submits a law whose meaning is the elimination of the Torah world, and he knows that there is no chance in the world that this law will pass, because his goal is not to reach a solution and agreements,” Deri tells the Shas-affiliated HaDerech newspaper.
Turning to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Deri says that he is “very sorry” that the Likud minister “tied himself to Gantz” and conditioned his support for any legislation on the issue on Gantz’s approval because “it is not possible to reach agreements with him in any way.”
“It is a shame that this is how things are at this time, in the midst of a war,” he says. “You are asking me if there is a solution? Currently we don’t have one.”
Gantz has pushed back against a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to regulate the enlistment of yeshiva students, saying that it did not go far enough, and threatened to bolt the coalition if it was approved. He has instead pushed his own outline for the conscription of Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli army.
Addressing a conference organized by the Israel Hayom daily newspaper on Tuesday, Gantz stated that talks are ongoing and rejected the idea of a “political compromise” that would protect yeshiva students’ exemptions as harming Israeli security.
“We need a comprehensive and broad [military] service plan,” he declared.
Last week, Shas distanced itself from one of its members, Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, after he stated that there was no longer a “moral” justification to exempt ultra-Orthodox Jewish men who were not studying in a yeshiva from army service.
Hezbollah claims attack on northern Israel community center
Hezbollah claims responsibility for the attack on Arab al-Aramshe, saying it targeted a building used by the Israeli military with guided missiles and explosive-laden drones.
The terror group says the attack was a response to the killing of three members, including two commanders, in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon yesterday.
At least seven people were wounded in the attack, including two seriously, medics say.
Additional footage shows the Hezbollah explosive-laden drone striking the community center in Arab al-Aramshe, wounding seven people. pic.twitter.com/DEE13pxE26
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 17, 2024
IDF targets missile launch sites in southern Lebanon after attack
Following the Hezbollah drone and missile attack on northern Israel’s Arab al-Aramshe, the IDF says it targeted the launch sites.
Fighter jets also struck a building where Hezbollah operatives were gathered, in southern Lebanon’s Ayta ash-Shab, the military adds.
Following the Hezbollah drone and missile attack on northern Israel's Arab al-Aramshe, the IDF says it targeted the launch sites.
Fighter jets also struck a building where Hezbollah operatives were gathered, in southern Lebanon's Ayta ash-Shab, the military adds, pic.twitter.com/kmO7Wveezq
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 17, 2024
Toll in Hezbollah attack rises to 13 wounded, with 4 in serious condition
The number of wounded from the Hezbollah drone attack in northern Israel has risen to 13, the Magen David Adom ambulance service says.
Among them are four listed in serious condition.
One person is listed in moderate condition, and the remaining eight are lightly hurt, MDA says.
Netanyahu meets German, UK FMs, says Israel reserves right to self-defense after Iran attack
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, left, meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, April 17, 2024. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with the visiting German and British foreign ministers in Jerusalem, telling them Israel reserves the right to self-defense in the wake of Iran’s missile and drone attack.
“I want to make it clear, we will make our own decisions, and the State of Israel will do everything necessary to defend itself,” he says.
Netanyahu meets German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and British Foreign Minister David Cameron, thanking them for their “unprecedented” support in foiling the attack, his office says in a statement.
Netanyahu also briefed them on the scope of humanitarian aid entering Gaza, the statement says, adding that the prime minister completely rejected claims by international organizations that there was starvation in Gaza.
“Israel is going above and beyond on the humanitarian situation,” the statement says.
Grandchildren call to release elderly hostages ahead of Passover
Talya Dancyg as a baby with her grandfather, hostage Alex Dancyg (upper left), Noam Safir with her grandfather, hostage Shlomo Mantzur (upper right) and hostage Chaim Peri and his grandson, May Albini, bottom (Courtesy)
Three grandchildren of elderly hostages Chaim Peri, Alex Danzig and Shlomo Mansour speak to the press about their grandfathers and the impossibility of celebrating Passover without them.
There can’t be a Seder without her grandfather, Alex Danzig, said Talya Danzig, 18, whose 75-year-old grandfather suffers from heart disease. He was taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz.
“He leads the show and tells the stories and the jokes,” says Danzig. “It’s called the Seder, but it won’t have any order,” added Danzig, referring to the Hebrew meaning of seder.
Noam Safir, granddaughter of 86-year-old Mansour, the eldest hostage, who was taken hostage from Kibbutz Kissufim, tells about her Iraqi-born grandfather’s early years, when his family was caught in the Farhud massacre, in which Jews were killed, raped, tortured, kidnapped and assaulted, their homes and stores looted and burned.
“He hid on a roof and cried,” says Safir. “He went through a second Holocaust on October 7.”
Safir said his Passover “won’t be the same as previous years, it’s less of a celebration and more of marking the holiday.”
Netanyahu tells ministers Israel will decide on Iran response itself
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will decide on its own how to respond to Iran’s weekend missile and drone attack.
Speaking at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu mentions his talks with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and visiting UK and German foreign ministers, noting he has plans to speak to more leaders.
“They have all sorts of suggestions and advice, I appreciate it, but I want to make clear, we’ll make out decisions myself, and the tSate of Israel will do what it needs to defend itself,” he says, according to a statement from his office.
The comment, which appears to reject international pressure for Israel to avoid hitting Iran, echoes one Netanyahu’s office says he passed to UK Foreign Minister David Cameron and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
University of Haifa appoints Arab rector, in first for an Israeli school
Incoming rector of University of Haifa, Prof. Mouna Maroun, right, with incoming President Prof. Gur Alorey, in a picture released on April 17, 2023. (courtesy)
The University of Haifa announces that its academic senate has elected Prof. Mouna Maroun, a neuroscientist and expert in post-trauma stress disorder, to be the university’s new rector. Maroun, a Maronite Christian from the Mount Carmel village of Isfiya, is the first Arab to be appointed rector of an Israeli university.
Maroun, 54, has been a faculty member of the university for over 20 years and completed her PhD in psychobiology there. Her research focuses on how the brain regulates emotions and on the effects of environmental and childhood stress on the brain.
She has served the University of Haifa as chairwoman of the Sagol Department of Neurobiology and as a member of the academic senate, among other positions.
“I’m grateful that the University of Haifa entrusted me with this position… I’m committed to continuing to invest all my academic resources to promote the University’s excellent research and do everything in my power to ensure the University continues to be a beacon of excellence in the heart of Israel’s North. Together, we promote a common vision of a shared society where members of all religions and denominations can co-exist in peace,” Maroun says in a statement announcing her appointment.
Maroun is set to assume the role at the start of the next academic year, in October, succeeding Prof. Gur Alroey, who is to become the university’s new president.
German foreign minister urges Israel to ‘act prudently,’ avoid escalation
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock looks on as she delivers remarks at Ben Gurion International airport, April 17, 2024. (AP/Leo Correa)
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says she made clear during talks in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others that the Middle East must not be allowed to slide into a situation whose outcome is completely unpredictable.
“Everyone must now act prudently and responsibly,” Baerbock says before departing Israel for a Group of Seven meeting that she said would discuss Iran sanctions.
“A spiraling escalation would serve no one, not Israel’s security, not the many dozens of hostages still in the hands of Hamas, not the suffering population of Gaza, not the many people in Iran who are themselves suffering under the regime, and not the third countries in the region who simply want to live in peace,” she says.
Baerbock was visiting Israel for the seventh time since Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 to aid in efforts to de-escalate tensions since Iran’s weekend attack on Israel.
Number of wounded in Hezbollah attack up to 18, with 1 in critical condition
Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya says 18 people were admitted to the hospital following a Hezbollah drone strike in Arab al-Aramshe.
It says one victim is listed in critical condition and two are seriously wounded.
Another four people are listed in moderate condition, while the remaining victims are lightly hurt, the hospital adds.
Iran military chief at army parade says forces on high alert
A Russian-made S-300 air defense system is carried on a truck during Army Day parade at a military base in northern Tehran, Iran, April 17, 2024. (AP/Vahid Salemi)
The head of Iran’s military says the country’s security forces are on high alert, speaking on the sidelines of a military parade at which Iran displayed attack drones, ballistic missiles and other weapons.
Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi says even deadlier weapons were kept out of the parade but will be deployed in case of an Israeli retaliation for a weekend drone and missile attack.
“Currently, we are in a state of readiness to deal with possible evils, and what we displayed throughout the country today was a small part of our capabilities,” he says, according to state-run media.
He also claims that Israel has decided not to embark on a military response due to its monitoring of Iran’s defensive measures.
Government okays settlements official as new National Security Ministry director
The appointment of settlements official Rafael Engel as director-general of the National Security Ministry is approved by the government, the far-right Otzma Yehudit party announces in a statement lauding the selection.
As deputy chief of the Binyamin Regional Council, Engel, who is also a member of the Likud Central Committee, managed security issues including “the establishment and maintenance of security elements in the settlements” and maintaining relations with various security bodies, the statement says.
According to Haaretz, however, Engel lacks substantive security experience, though that did not stop the Civil Service Commission from approving him for the role earlier this month.
“The Commission has deviated from its policy in order to approve an appointment that does not meet the standards it demanded,” a commission source told the Hebrew daily at the time.
The ministry’s previous director-general, Shlomo Ben Eliyahu, resigned last September, citing “personal reasons,” although media reports indicated that he may have left due to clashes with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Mother of Israeli-American hostage Goldberg-Polin named to Time influential list
Rachel Goldberg on day 98 since her son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was abducted by Hamas, in Jerusalem, January 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Time magazine lists Rachel Goldberg, mother of 23-year-old hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, as one of the 100 most influential people of 2024.
Time describes Goldberg as one of the most visible advocates for the hostages and their families, having met with dozens of world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and the pope.
Also making the annual roster is Qatar prime minister and foreign minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, noted for his role as “trusted interlocutor” in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas. Palestinian photographer Motaz Azaiza is recognized for spending nearly four months documenting the war in Gaza, doing so at great risk as he called for international intervention.
Jewish comedian Alex Edelman is listed for his unique perspectives about racist white nationalists, internet trolling and antisemitism in his Broadway show “Just for Us.” Ynon Kriez, the Israeli-born CEO of toy behemoth Mattel, is also named thanks to the success of the “Barbie” movie.
Turkish foreign minister reveals talks with Hamas leader Haniyeh
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met Hamas terror group politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh during a visit to Qatar on Tuesday, a Turkish diplomatic source says.
The two discussed humanitarian aid to Gaza, ceasefire efforts and hostages.
Haniyeh is slated to visit Turkey over the weekend to hold talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Government okays NIS 19 billion Gaza border reconstruction plan
The cabinet has approved a five-year, NIS 19 billion ($5 billion) plan to rebuild and strengthen communities near the Gaza border after the October 7 attack, the Prime Minister’s Office says.
The funds are slated to go toward housing, infrastructure, education, employment, health and other areas.
“Hamas terrorists wanted to uproot us – but we will uproot them and deepen our roots,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says in a statement. “We will build the Land of Israel and protect our country.”
Included in the package is NIS 307 million ($81.3 million) to rehabilitate the environment of the area near Gaza by 2028, including projects such as waste removal and new waste facilities, creating nature sites for Gaza border residents, and lining streets with trees for shade.
The earmark omits the NIS 72 million ($19 million) that the Environmental Protection Ministry estimates is needed to return some 7,000 dunams (1,730 acres) of open space back to health after they were damaged by military vehicles in connection with the war against Hamas in Gaza.
14 soldiers among 18 injured in Hezbollah drone strike
The IDF says 14 soldiers were wounded in the Hezbollah drone and missile attack on Arab al-Aramshe earlier today.
Six troops were seriously wounded, two are listed in moderate condition and another six are lightly hurt, the military says.
In all, 18 people were taken to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya for treatment.
The injuries were the result of a drone smashing into a community center in Arab al-Aramshe. Though the town has been largely evacuated, soldiers are stationed there and may have used the building as a gathering space.
Additional footage shows the Hezbollah explosive-laden drone striking the community center in Arab al-Aramshe, wounding seven people. pic.twitter.com/DEE13pxE26
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 17, 2024
The army also says its fighter jets hit buildings used by Hezbollah and other infrastructure in Naqoura and Yarine in southern Lebanon.
Security Council to vote on full Palestinian UN membership Friday; US expected to veto
File: Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour speaks during a session of the United Nations Security Council, at the UN headquarters in New York, March 25, 2024. (Angela Weiss/AFP)
Diplomats say the United Nations Security Council is scheduled to vote Friday on a Palestinian request for full UN membership, a move that Israel’s ally the United States is expected to block because it would effectively recognize a Palestinian state.
The 15-member council is due to vote at 3 p.m. Friday on a draft resolution that recommends to the 193-member UN General Assembly that “the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations,” said diplomats.
A council resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the US, Britain, France, Russia or China to pass. Diplomats say the measure could have the support of up to 13 council members, which would force the US to use its veto.
A senior diplomat for a country on the Security Council tells The Times of Israel that the US is expected to veto the resolution if the vote goes ahead.
The Biden administration maintains that Palestinian statehood would be better advanced through direct negotiations between the parties, rather than unilateral declarations at the UN, which wouldn’t have a practical impact on the ground.
Moreover, the US notes that it is currently in the midst of efforts to advance the cause as part of its diplomatic engagements aimed at bringing an end to the Gaza war and brokering a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Biden urges Congress to act on Israel aid, replenish air defense batteries; says Iran aims ‘to destroy Israel forever’
United States President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (unpictured) in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, April 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden is calling on Congress to immediately pass an aid package for Israel and Ukraine, in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal.
Legislation has been stalled for months amid opposition from House Republicans fueled by former US president Donald Trump.
“While both countries can capably defend their own sovereignty, they depend on American assistance, including weaponry, to do it, and this is a pivotal moment,” Biden writes, pointing to strikes by Iran and Russia on Israel and Ukraine over the weekend.
Iran, he writes, seeks to eliminate Isrsael. “The government of Iran wants to destroy Israel forever—wiping the world’s only Jewish state off the map.”
“If Iran succeeds in significantly escalating its assault on Israel, the US could be drawn in,” Biden warns. “Israel is our strongest partner in the Middle East. It’s unthinkable that we would stand by if its defenses were weakened and Iran was able to carry out the destruction it intended this weekend. We can make that outcome less likely by replenishing Israel’s air defenses and providing military aid now, so its defenses can remain fully stocked and ready.”
Biden notes that the US-funded David’s Sling and Iron Dome air defense systems were critical in thwarting Iran’s missile and drone strikes and points out that the military equipment funded by Washington would be produced by American manufacturers, thereby boosting the US economy. “We’d help our friends while helping ourselves.”
“I’ve been clear about my concerns over the safety of civilians in Gaza amid the war with Hamas, but this aid package is focused on Israel’s long-term defensive needs to ensure it can maintain its military edge against Iran or any other adversary,” the US president writes. “Importantly, this bill has funding that will allow us to continue delivering urgent humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza as well as others who have felt the impact of conflicts around the world.”
Deri says government should heed US, not retaliate against Iran
Shas party leader MK Aryeh Deri in the Knesset, Jerusalem, March 13, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Shas party head and war cabinet observer Aryeh Deri says Israel should not strike back at Iran following the weekend missile and drone attack, which he says was fended off thanks to “unparalleled miracles.”
Deri tells the Haderech newspaper that Israel has enough on its plate with the war in Gaza, the hostage crisis and hostilities in the north.
“So the right thing at this time is to focus on that and not open more fronts, not to look for ways to escalate the situation,” he tells the paper, largely seen as a Shas party organ.
“Our enemies are looking for that, hoping for, as I said, us to get to a situation of the fronts combining, and we don’t need to be dragged to that place,” he adds.
Deri adds that it is important to listen to allies, noting that rabbis he has met with over the years have all counseled keeping close ties with Washington.
US House speaker says bills on aid for Israel, Ukraine to be filed today, vote Saturday
US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson says the text of bills providing assistance to Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific will be filed “soon today.” A fourth bill with “other measures to confront Russia, China and Iran” will be posted later in the day.
“We expect the vote on final passage on these bills to be on Saturday evening,” Johnson announces.
Columbia U. president defends record against claims of rampant campus antisemitism
Students participate in a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protest outside the Columbia University campus in November 2023. The banner features, at left, a map showing Israel, the West Bank and Gaza in the colors of the Palestinian flag. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP)
Columbia University President Nemat Shafik tells a Congressional hearing that she unequivocally denounces antisemitism on her campus, rebutting claims that she has allowed Columbia to become a hotbed of hatred.
“We condemn the antisemitism that is so pervasive today,” she says in an opening statement at a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing. “Antisemitism has no place on our campus, and I am personally committed to doing everything I can to confront it directly.”
With the advantage of hindsight, Shafik acknowledges there has been a rise in antisemitism on Columbia’s campus but says it’s far from pervasive, describing instead a campus split mostly over political differences. The “vast majority” of demonstrations have been peaceful, she said, and officials have worked to unite students.
“We brought in extra security expertise and had regular contact with NYPD and the FBI,” she says. “I have spent most of my time since becoming president on these issues, holding over 200 meetings with groups of students, faculty, alumni, donors, parents, some of whom are here, and 20 meetings with other university presidents to learn from each other.”
Her vision clashes with one presented by Republicans in Congress and some Jewish students who say antisemitism has gone unchecked at Columbia. As evidence, they cited a Jewish student who was hit with a stick on campus while putting up posters of Israeli hostages, and protesters yelled chants that some consider a call for the genocide of Jews.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chair of the committee, says the school has done too little and acted too late to address antisemitism on campus.
“Columbia stands guilty of gross negligence at best and, at worst, has become a platform for those supporting terrorism and violence against Jewish people,” she says.
Foxx and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., appear with Jewish students from Columbia who say they have faced threats and physical confrontation. They describe a student who had Star of David necklaces torn off while walking to class and taunts from students who say “the Holocaust wasn’t that special.”
Stefanik says Republicans will hold Columbia accountable for failing to protect students.
“Despite claims otherwise, Columbia’s leadership refuses to enforce their own policies and condemn Jewish hatred on campus, creating a breeding ground for antisemitism and a hotbed of support for terrorism from radicalized faculty and students,” she says.
Israel said to strike deep inside Lebanon
Lebanese media outlets are reporting an Israeli airstrike in northeastern Lebanon’s Baalbek District.
The strike is reported near the town of Iaat.
Footage posted to social media shows smoke rising from a targeted site.
من الضربة الإسرائيليّة على سهل إيعات في بعلبك. #إيعات #بعلبك #البقاع #إسرائيل #ليبانوس pic.twitter.com/NnLxujUxmg
— Lebanos (@lebanosnews) April 17, 2024
Baalbek, an area identified in the past as a Hezbollah stronghold, is around 100 kilometers from the Israeli border.
The strike, deep in Lebanon, comes following a drone attack carried out by Hezbollah today that wounded 14 soldiers and four civilians.
Hamas says Iran attack on Israel ‘legitimate and deserved’
Palestinian terror group Hamas says Iran’s weekend attack on Israel was a “legitimate and deserved” response to a strike on the Islamic Republic’s consulate in Syria.
In its first reaction to the Iranian aerial attack, Hamas calls it a “legitimate and deserved response to the Zionist entity’s… targeting of the Iranian consulate building in Damascus” on April 1.
“The response from the Islamic Republic of Iran confirms that the time when the Zionist entity could act as it wanted without accountability or punishment has ended,” Hamas adds.
Europeans looking to expand sanctions on Iran and others fueling attacks on Israel
Speaking ahead of an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels, French President Emmanuel Macron says Europe should widen its sanctions regime on Iran, adding that sanctions should target entities involved in the production of drones and missiles in particular.
European Union leaders will meet today to discuss stepping up sanctions against Iran after Tehran’s missile and drone attack on Israel.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani says European foreign ministers also want to impose new sanctions on those who arm Israel’s foes and those who attack ships in the Red Sea.
“There was a unanimous consensus that sanctions should be imposed on all those who give drones, weapons and missiles to those who attack Israel and those who attack ships in the Red Sea,” Tajani says the day after a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Tajani says the issue of sanctions would also be addressed during a meeting of Group of Seven foreign ministers that he is due to chair over the coming three days on the Italian island of Capri.
IDF says it wrapped up pinpoint operation against terror group members in north Gaza
IDF troops operate in the northern Gaza Strip, in a handout image published April 17. 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The Israeli military says it has wrapped up a pinpoint operation against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, aimed at detaining members of the terror groups.
In a statement, the IDF says troops, led by the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade, raided two school buildings in Beit Hanoun, following intelligence that Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives were gathered there and were “using the civilians sheltering there as a human shield.”
Before the troops entered the buildings they called on the civilians to evacuate, the IDF says.
US House releases text of bills on aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan
The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives releases the text of three bills outlining additional aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, even as the bills’ chance of passage remained unclear.
A fourth bill with “other measures to confront Russia, China and Iran” will be posted later in the day.
US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier today that he expects “the final passage on these bills to be on Saturday evening.”
House bill includes $26 billion for Israel to restock interceptors, buy advanced weapons
A bill put forward by House Republicans in the US Congress would give Israel $26.38 billion in military aid, according to a text released by the House Appropriations Committee.
Some $4 billion of the funds would go to replenishing interceptor missiles for Iron Dome and David’s Sling short and medium-range air defense systems.
Another $4.4 billion would go to restocking depleted supplies of other Israeli arms, and $3.5 billion is earmarked for procuring “advanced weapons systems, defense articles and defense services,” according to a summary published by House Republicans.
The bill includes $2.4 billion to fund US forces operating in the Middle East in response to threats against Israel.
It also funnels $1.2 billion to the Iron Beam program, which is developing a short-range rocket and mortar interceptor.
A Senate bill passed in February meant to fund Israeli defensive needs would have sent $14 billion to Jerusalem.
Ashdod Port used to ship aid to Gaza for first time during war — IDF
A truck of flour supplied by the United Nations' World Food Program is seen at Ashdod Port, before entering the Gaza Strip on April 17, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says that for the first time humanitarian aid that arrived via Ashdod Port is entering the Gaza Strip.
Earlier this month, the government approved opening Ashdod Port for humanitarian aid deliveries, in a bid to increase the amount of food and medical supplies for Palestinian civilians.
The military says eight trucks of flour supplied by the UN World Food Program entered Gaza after arriving in Israel via Ashdod Port today.
The truck underwent a “thorough” inspection at the port and then entered the Strip via the Kerem Shalom crossing.
IDF says large-scale drill held in north to ready for possible battle
The IDF’s 91st “Galilee” Regional Division has wrapped up a “large-scale” drill in northern Israel, simulating attack and defense scenarios, the military says.
The army says the drill is part of “accelerating the IDF’s readiness for defense and a strong attack in the northern arena.”
The scenarios included “dealing with complex terrain, difficult weather conditions and mass casualty incidents,” the military says.
The drill also involved the Israeli Air Force, Israel Police and rescue authorities.
The exercise comes amid daily attacks by the Hezbollah terror group on northern Israel amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has warned it can no longer tolerate Hezbollah’s presence along its border following the October 7 atrocities, and has warned that should a diplomatic solution not be reached, it will turn to military action to push Hezbollah northward.
Video shows Gazans cooling off at beach
Video and images showing masses of Palestinians in central Gaza frolicking at the beach provide a jarring counterpoint to the scenes of fighting, rubble and death that have come out of the Strip since war erupted over six months ago.
These are the beaches in central Gaza today; this is what usually “starving” people who are afraid of “genocide” do. Also, this is why Hamas, thanks to Biden, is rejecting all deals. FJB pic.twitter.com/bRSbdkqIAW
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) April 17, 2024
The scenes are filmed near Deir al-Balah, near an east-west corridor that is the only part of Gaza still actively occupied by troops. Despite its proximity, no soldiers are seen in the video, and the free movement of Gazans shows the extent to which troops have pulled back.
Online, some Israel advocates latch onto the footage as evidence that claims of famine or genocide are overblown.
April 17th, 2024
Beach, Dir El Balah, central Gaza
Worst
Genocide
And
Ethnic
Cleansing
And
Famine
EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR#Israel#HamasLies#HamasRapists #HamasisISIS #HamasNazis pic.twitter.com/8uxAeM1u0b— 🇮🇱((((TheJew))))🇮🇱 (@maincoolman) April 17, 2024
Temperatures in the area soared to 36°C (96°F) today, according to nearby Israeli meteorological readings.
US says it wants answers after report alleges Israel abused detained UNRWA staffers
The United States is deeply concerned by claims in a report from the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA that staff and others detained by Israeli forces in Gaza were subjected to ill-treatment, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel says.
Washington will press Israel on the need for a full investigation into allegations regarding UNRWA staff, Patel says, after a report outlined incidents including severe beatings and detainees being forced to strip naked.
In a report published on Tuesday, UNRWA said that staff that were detained, in some cases while performing official duties, were “held incommunicado and subjected to the same conditions and ill-treatment as other detainees,” which it said included several different forms of abuse.
The agency said staff members had said they were subjected to beatings and treatment akin to waterboarding, threats of rape and electrocution, and other forms of ill-treatment.
“UNRWA has made official protests to the Israeli authorities about the reported treatment of agency staff members while they were in Israeli detention centers,” it said. “UNRWA has not received any response to these protests to date.”
The Israeli military has said it acts according to Israeli and international law and those it arrests get access to food, water, medication and proper clothing. The military and the Israel Prison Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the claims in the UNRWA report.
Qatar says it may drop role as mediator in hostage talks
Qatar’s prime minister says the country is reassessing its role as a central mediator in talks for a Gaza truce and a hostage release because it is being misused by some for their own goals.
“Qatar is in the process of a complete re-evaluation of its role because there has been damage to Qatar,” Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani tells a press conference.
He says there was a “misuse of this mediation for narrow political interests,” but does not name any politicians.
Qatar’s embassy in Washington on Tuesday criticised comments made by US Democratic congressman Steny Hoyer, in which he called on the US to “reevaluate” its relationship with Qatar.
Hoyer said on Monday that Qatar must threaten Hamas with “repercussions” if Hamas “continues to block progress towards releasing the hostages and establishing a temporary ceasefire,” echoing a consistent request from Israel.
The prime minister notes that the role of mediator has limits: “[Mediators] cannot provide things that the parties themselves refrain from [offering].”
Some other US lawmakers have suggested in recent months that Qatar supports Hamas, an accusation rejected by the Gulf state, which hosts the terror group’s leadership, as well as some 10,000 US troops, the largest US military presence in the Middle East.
Over the weekend, the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar had hosted a major regional effort, led by the US, to help down a barrage of Iranian missiles and drones fired at Israel, according to an Israeli source. Qatar also participated in the effort.
At the same press conference, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of taking advantage of regional tensions “to stay in power.”
“It is clear that Netanyahu is trying to drag the region into war to stay in power,” Fidan says in Doha.
He adds that he spoke for “three hours” in Doha on Wednesday with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and other political leaders of the Palestinian terror group, including about ceasefire talks.
Israel acknowledges attack on Hezbollah site in Baalbek after drone strike
Israeli fighter jets struck a site belonging to Hezbollah’s air defense unit in northeastern Lebanon’s Baalbek earlier this evening, the IDF says.
The strike comes as a response to a drone and missile attack carried out by Hezbollah earlier today, wounding 14 soldiers and four civilians.
The IDF says the targeted air defense infrastructure was located north of the city of Baalbek, almost 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Israeli border.
Biden urges Congress to pass Israel, Ukraine aid bills quickly
US President Joe Biden is urging Congress to swiftly pass legislation on a long-delayed supplemental aid package for Ukraine and Israel so he can sign it into law “immediately.”
“I strongly support this package to get critical support to Israel and Ukraine, provide desperately needed humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, and bolster security and stability in the Indo-Pacific,” Biden says.
“Israel is facing unprecedented attacks from Iran, and Ukraine is facing continued bombardment from Russia that has intensified dramatically in the last month,” the president adds. “The House must pass the package this week and the Senate should quickly follow. I will sign this into law immediately to send a message to the world: We stand with our friends, and we won’t let Iran or Russia succeed.”
US House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson, facing a mutiny from within his Republican Party for pushing aid for Ukraine, says the House will vote on the packages Saturday.
War cabinet, security cabinet to meet Thursday — report
Both the war cabinet and high-level security cabinet are set to meet Thursday, the Ynet news site reports.
On the agenda will be a possible response to Iran’s weekend attack, moribund talks with Hamas for a hostage deal and Gaza truce, and fighting with Hezbollah in the north, the report says.
The war cabinet has met several times since the Iran missile and drone attack in the early hours of Sunday to discuss a response, amid international pressure for restraint.
UN chief calls again for ‘maximum restraint’ in Israel-Iran flare-up
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is reiterating his call for “maximum restraint” between Israel and Iran.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric tells reporters that rhetoric in the Middle East is becoming “increasingly dangerous.”
Dujarric says the world and the region “cannot afford another open conflict.”
Hezbollah publishes footage from drone attacking building in north
The Hezbollah terror group publishes footage showing its drone attack on a community center in Arab al-Aramshe earlier today, in which 14 soldiers and four civilians were injured, some of them seriously.
The heavily edited propaganda video uses satellite footage and video from the explosives-packed kamikaze drone to show that military vehicles were at the site at the time of the attack.
The video claims the attack targeted the headquarters of a recon company.
بالفيديو | مشاهد من عملية استهداف المقاومة الإسلامية للمقر المستحدث لسرية الاستطلاع التابعة للواء الغربي (الفرقة 146) في جيش العدو الإسرائيلي في قرية عرب العرامشة شمال فلسطين المحتلة pic.twitter.com/La4AfBnoLR
— قناة المنار (@TVManar1) April 17, 2024
In the footage, the drone can be seen crashing into a glass skylight, which likely allowed it to penetrate the building and cause greater damage than had it crashed into an outer wall.
Scientists pour cold water on speculation cloud seeding to blame for Dubai deluge
Vehicles drive through heavy rain on the Sheikh Zayed Road highway in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, April 16, 2024. (Jon Gambrell/AP)
Experts are casting doubt on speculation that cloud seeding could have caused a historic downpour in the United Arab Emirates that left parts of Dubai underwater.
Several reports have quoted meteorologists at the National Center for Meteorology as saying they flew six or seven cloud-seeding flights — small planes flown through clouds to disperse chemicals aimed at getting rain to fall — before the deluge.
But experts say the storm systems that produced the rain were forecast well in advance and that cloud seeding would not have caused such flooding
Flight-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press showed one aircraft affiliated with the UAE’s cloud-seeding efforts flew around the country Monday.
The National, an English-language, state-linked newspaper in Abu Dhabi, quotes an anonymous official at the center as saying no cloud seeding took place on Tuesday, without acknowledging any earlier flights.
The center does not respond to questions from the AP.
The UAE, which heavily relies on energy-hungry desalination plants to provide water, conducts cloud seeding in part to increase its dwindling, limited groundwater.
Jeff Masters, a meteorologist for Yale Climate Connections, says the flooding in Dubai was caused by an unusually strong low-pressure system that drove many rounds of heavy thunderstorms.
“You don’t need cloud seeding’s influence to account for the record deluge in Dubai,” Masters says.
Scientists also say climate change in general is responsible for more intense and more frequent extreme storms, droughts, floods and wildfires around the world.
Lebanon says Mossad behind mysterious killing of Hezbollah money mover
In this grab taken from video, mourners pray over the coffin of Lebanese money changer Mohammad Srour, 57, who was found killed inside a villa in Beit Meri, during his funeral procession in Labweh village, near the border with Syria, northeast Lebanon, Thursday, April 11, 2024. (Photo)
Lebanon’s interior minister alleges that the mysterious abduction and killing of a Hezbollah-linked Lebanese currency exchanger in a villa on the edge of a quiet mountain resort town earlier this month was likely the work of Israeli operatives.
The killing of Mohammad Srour, 57, who was sanctioned by the US and accused of funneling money from Iran to Hamas, was like something out of an international spy thriller. Pistols equipped with silencers and gloves were found in a bucket of water and chemicals at the scene, apparently intended to remove fingerprints and other evidence, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi tells The Associated Press.
Thousand of dollars in cash were left scattered around the body of Srour, also known as Sarur, as if to dispel any speculation that robbery was the motive.
“Lebanese security agencies have suspicion or accusations that Mossad was behind this operation,” Mawlawi says. “The way the crime was carried out led to this suspicion.”
He provides no specific evidence for his allegations. Mawlawi says the investigation is still ongoing and once it’s over the results will be made public and referred to judicial authorities.
The Israeli prime minister’s office, which oversees the Mossad, does not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Three Lebanese judicial officials familiar with the investigation tell the AP that a man posing as a customer had contacted Srour from abroad and asked him to deliver a cash transfer to a woman in the mountain resort of Beit Meri.
The officials say Srour first went with his nephew and left after handing the woman the money. He was contacted by the same person with another request a day after his first visit, the officials say. This time he went alone, after which his family lost contact with him.
Mawlawi says the phone the woman used to contact Srour was only activated to contact him.
He says the perpetrators had first tried to rent an apartment in Beirut’s southeastern suburb of Hazmieh, a detail that has not been previously reported, but later canceled, apparently because “they did not find (the apartment) suitable to carry out the operation.”
Mawlawi says the killers then shifted to the quiet town of Beit Meri, where they rented a three-story villa on the edge of the town using fake Lebanese identity cards. The country’s General Security Directorate is looking into the identities of people who entered and left the country around the period of the killing, he says.
Srour went missing on April 3 in Beit Meri, and his body was found a week later in the villa. Mawlawi says investigators found “a large number of bullet” wounds in different parts of his body, including his arms and legs. He was reportedly handcuffed.
The villa is near a police checkpoint and a few hundred meters from a military post.
A Hezbollah spokesperson declines to comment on the killing, citing the ongoing investigation. The spokesperson refuses to say whether Srour was a Hezbollah member but says he worked in the past for the al-Qard al-Hasan Association, the financial arm of the Iran-backed group.
Man shot to death near Nazareth
A man who was shot during a violent confrontation in the northern town of Yafia has died of his wounds.
The death of Nazieh Hatib in the Nazareth suburb marks the 56th killing in the Arab community this year, the Abraham Initiatives advocacy group says.
The number of murders is nearly 10 percent higher than last year’s record-setting toll at the same point, according to the organization, which tracks crime stats in the Arab community.
Netanyahu iced pre-approved plans for immediate Iran reprisal after Biden call — report
The Kan public broadcaster reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shelved pre-prepared plans for retaliation against Iran’s weekend barrage after speaking with US President Joe Biden shortly after the attack early Sunday.
According to the report, the cabinet had already approved a series of possible responses depending on the scope of the Iranian attack, which were slated to be carried out immediately following the Iranian fusillade.
“The response won’t be what was planned any longer, diplomatic sensitivities won out,” a senior source is quoted telling the network. “There will be a response, but it seems it will be different from what was planned.”
The network notes that the comments likely point to a weaker response than what had been approved.
Kan also quotes unnamed Western diplomats saying that “the understanding is that Israel will respond.”
The Ynet news site reports that most of the Israeli leadership and military brass support an attack on Iran in response, but some are opposed, led by Shas leader Aryeh Deri, who publicly spoke out against allowing the situation to escalate earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Doron Gavish, the former commander of Israel’s air defense who is now serving in reserves, says the air force is preparing for future attacks from Iran, with Tehran threatening an immediate response should Israel retaliate.
He says the Air Force has been reviewing its successful defense against Iran’s missile attack over the weekend as it makes adjustments for potential additional fighting.
“We are preparing ourselves for the next time, debriefing the mission and seeing how could we prepare ourselves for the next attack,” Gavish says from a military base in southern Israel.
Over 7,000 injured in fighting since October 7
Since October 7, 7,209 newly wounded military personnel have entered the Defense Ministry’s rehabilitation system, according to official numbers showing high numbers of mental health issues.
Ninety-five percent of them are men under the age of 30 serving in the IDF reserves.
Thirty percent of the newly wounded, 2,111 individuals, developed mental health issues of various kinds. For 60%, the psychic wound was their primary injury.
The Defense Ministry estimates that by the end of 2024, there will be 20,000 newly wounded members of the military from this war. Some 8,000, or 40%, will face psychiatric challenges, including anxiety, depression, PTSD, adjustment and communication difficulties, and psychotic conditions.
The weeks between Passover and Israeli Memorial Day are generally difficult for military veterans, especially those with mental wounds.
The Defense Ministry’s regular support and treatment programs are being expanded for wounded soldiers and their families during this period. The ministry also requests that family members and friends be especially aware of wounded soldiers’ emotional health at this time and seek help if they notice signs of changed behavior or additional distress.
Rocket sirens go off near Metula
Rocket sirens are sounding near the Lebanon border, breaking several hours of calm after an earlier attack from Hezbollah.
Sirens are heard in the city of Metula in the Galilee panhandle, along with nearby towns Kfar Yuval and Kfar Giladi.
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