April 22: PM’s office asks High Court to instruct Bar to announce date of planned resignation

Rocket sirens are sounding in Sderot and the nearby Gaza border community of Ibim.

A short while later, the IDF says the sirens were false alarms.

11:19 pm

Chief rabbi of Rome, Jewish Community president pay their respects to Pope Francis’ body

By Rossella Tercatin

From left, Victor Fadlun, president of Rome's Jewish Community, and Riccardo Di Segni, chief rabbi, pay their respects to Pope Francis's body, laid out in state inside his private chapel at the Vatican on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)

The Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni, and the president of the city’s Jewish Community Victor Fadlun, visit the Santa Marta chapel on Tuesday to pay their respects to the body of Pope Francis.

“After a long illness, endured with great strength, Pope Francis has left us,” Di Segni said in a statement after the pope’s passing yesterday, as reported by the community’s newspaper Shalom.

“His pontificate marked an important new chapter in the history of relations between Judaism and Catholicism, marked by a dialogue that was sometimes difficult but always respectful.”

“Together with my community, I express our sorrow for his passing and heartfelt condolences to the Catholic world,” he added.

Di Segni met with the pope several times over the years.

“When Francis was appointed, it soon became clear how active he was in his dialogue with the Jewish communities,” Di Segni recalled in a recent interview with The Times of Israel, while noticing that after the Hamas onslaught of October 7, the relations with the pope became more complicated.

Fadlun also expressed his condolences.

“I extend our deepest condolences to the entire Catholic world for the passing of Pope Francis,” Fadlun said in a statement reported by Shalom. “We were deeply struck by the extraordinary strength he showed until the end, especially in the way he faced illness and suffering. Our community remembers him with profound respect.”

10:17 pm

Six arrested at small anti-war protest in Haifa

Police arrest six demonstrators at a small Haifa anti-war protest tonight.

In a statement, police allege protesters disturbed the peace by waving signs and chanting slogans “condemning Israel and its actions in the war in Gaza.”

But protesters insist the demonstration remained peaceful and was forcibly dispersed by cops within a few minutes after it started.

Itay Gavish, who attended the protest this evening, tells The Times of Israel that police explicitly told him not to hold signs with the phrases “genocide,” “massacre,” or “ethnic cleansing.”

Earlier this week, law enforcement sought to forbid protesters from waving hostage posters, pictures of Gazan children and certain slogans referring to “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” as a condition for their approval of a Tel Aviv anti-war demonstration this Thursday.

They soon backtracked on their demands, but cops on the ground regularly confiscate what they deem “incendiary” signs at anti-war demonstrations.

9:58 pm

Netanyahu’s call with Trump was short, focused on Iran and other issues, Israeli source says

The phone call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump earlier today was a short conversation, an Israeli source tells The Times of Israel.

The two discussed Iran’s nuclear program, among other issues, says the source.

The White House readout of the conversation mentioned Iran, but did not mention the 59 hostages still held in Gaza, or the ongoing talks to secure their release.

9:53 pm

PM’s office asks High Court to instruct Bar to announce date of planned resignation

The Prime Minister’s Office has asked the High Court of Justice to seek clarification from Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar as to when he intends to resign from his post, Hebrew media reports.

The request comes after Bar stated in an affidavit to the High Court yesterday that he intends to resign in the near future, but did not specify when.

9:50 pm

Candidates for Shin Bet chief say question of loyalty to PM arose in interview – report

Candidates for the job of Shin Bet chief whom Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu interviewed in recent weeks have said that the question of their loyalty to the prime minister arose during the interview, Channel 13 reports.

The claims come following the dramatic affidavit filed by current Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to the High Court of Justice on Monday, in which he alleged that he had been fired for being insufficiently loyal to Netanyahu and for taking a series of decisions which the prime minister saw as hostile, including opening criminal investigations into Netanyahu’s close aides.

Bar also said that it had been made clear to him that in the event of a constitutional crisis, he was expected to obey Netanyahu and not legal orders by the High Court.

According to the Channel 13 report, in some of the recent interviews for candidates for head of the Shin Bet, Netanyahu discussed the ongoing struggle between the government and the judiciary.

“The expression ‘constitutional crisis’ did not arise explicitly, but issues connected to the relationship between the government and the Shin Bet did come up,” the report quotes one interviewee as saying.

The Prime Minister’s Office describes the report as “total fake news, and cheap gossip.”

9:40 pm

Report: PM asked Ronen Bar to act against former Shin Bet agent and activist Gonen Ben Yitzhak

Gonen Ben Yitzhak is taken by police during demonstrations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on July 18, 2020 (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

One of the anti-government activists whom Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to act against is attorney and former Shin Bet agent Gonen Ben Yitzhak, Channel 12 reports.

In an affidavit Bar filed yesterday to the High Court of Justice, Ronen alleged that Netanyahu had asked him on more than one occasion to use the resources and authority of the Shin Bet domestic security agency against activists in the movement protesting the government’s judicial overhaul agenda, which was advanced in 2023.

“The Prime minister expressed to me, on more than one occasion, his desire to see the Shin Bet act against citizens involved in protest activity and demonstrations against the government,” Bar told the court, adding that he was asked to provide information “about the identities of Israeli citizens and protest activists” who had followed government officials with security details.

In a separate confidential affidavit, Bar reportedly went into further details about the people Netanyahu asked him to act against, including Ben Yitzhak.

Ben Yitzhak was one of the founders of the “Crime Minister” political action group, which was founded to protest against Netanyahu’s tenure as prime minister due to the corruption allegations, and later the indictment, against him.

Ben Yitzhak was a central figure in protests outside the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem and was arrested in 2018 when he stepped in front of Netanyahu’s cavalcade during a visit to the city of Beit She’an.

The Prime Minister’s Office issues a statement denying the allegations in the Channel 12 report, describing it as “another lie by Ronen Bar.”

Says the PMO, “The prime minister never requested to harass any protest activists, but rather requested the obvious from the head of the Shin Bet — to fulfill his duty against lawbreakers who threaten his life and the life of his family, and who breach the security circle.”

9:08 pm

IDF chief meets with families of Gaza hostages

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir met today with the families of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“During the meeting, the chief of staff reiterated that the task of returning all of the hostages is a supreme goal, and all of the IDF’s missions are being made with this task in mind, the military says in a statement.

9:07 pm

Shin Bet chief invited to tonight’s security cabinet meeting, but may send representative instead – report

Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar received an invitation to the security cabinet meeting scheduled to take place this evening but may send a representative in his stead, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

The report appears to mark a departure from the decision taken last week to cancel a scheduled security cabinet meeting after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that he would not attend if Bar was invited.

This evening’s meeting is expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear program and US-Iran talks, as well as the state of the hostage negotiations and the IDF’s operations in Gaza.

The Kan report comes after Bar submitted an affidavit to the High Court of Justice yesterday, asserting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was firing him due to his refusal to be personally loyal to the premier.

8:55 pm

Palestinian man indicted on suspicion of assisting with botched bus bombing spree earlier this year

Bombs used in a botched bus bombing spree across Bat Yam and Holon on February 20, 2025, in an image released by the Israel Police on April 22, 2025. (Israel Police)

Military prosecutors today indicted a Palestinian man suspected of having helped carry out a botched bus bombing spree in the suburbs of Tel Aviv two months ago, police and Shin Bet spokespeople announce.

The defendant, a resident of Nablus in his 30s, is the brother of the suspected terrorist said to have planted the explosives on three buses in Bat Yam. His brother has not yet been caught by police.

On February 20, three empty buses exploded one after the other in parking lots in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam. The timed devices were apparently supposed to have detonated Friday morning when the buses were in use, but went off early. Giora Eiland, a former IDF operations chief, speculated that the timers were incorrectly set.

According to the indictment submitted today, the suspect helped prepare the bombs used in the failed attack, and helped his brother hide from Israeli authorities after he planted the explosives on buses.

Police say that military prosecutors will indict three more suspects, all residents of Nablus in their 30s, over the next two days. All three are suspected of having helped plan the attack in advance.

8:27 pm

Trump to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE from May 13-16, White House says

By Jacob Magid

US President Donald Trump will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from May 13 to 16, the White House announces.

The itinerary does not include a stop in Israel, but Trump has said that it’s possible other stops could be added.

It will be his first trip to the region in his second term.

Saudi Arabia was originally supposed to be his first abroad destination upon returning to the White House, but Trump announced yesterday that he will be attending Pope Francis’s funeral in Rome at the end of the week.

8:12 pm

Hostage families urge public to keep their loved ones at center of Independence Day events

Families of Israelis held hostage in Gaza hold a press conference at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, April 22, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Ahead of Israel’s Independence Day next week, the families of several Gaza hostages urge the public not to normalize the absence of the 59 captives by celebrating the anniversary of the State’s founding as if nothing were amiss.

The families issue their plea during a press conference in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, where they stand in front of large yellow posters declaring in Hebrew that independence “isn’t complete until everyone returns.”

Echoing the message on the posters, Lishay Miran Lavi, wife of hostage Omri Miran, says that the idea of “celebrating” independence right now makes her uncomfortable.

She appeals for the public to adjust their Independence Day plans, warning that Israel must not “become a society that normalizes a situation in which our loved ones are in Gaza.”

“Instead of independence celebrations, hold solidarity rallies. Make sure the yellow flags are raised everywhere. Read the names of the 59 hostages at every opportunity,” she says. “We must not continue to celebrate as if we have complete independence.”

Yotam Cohen, brother of captive IDF soldier Nimrod Cohen, says that for the country to mark Memorial Day and Independence Day without the return of all remaining captives is “a sin against the values of the state and Israel’s heritage.”

“Make sure that they are not forgotten on these important days, do not lend a hand to those who try to normalize the situation,” he urges.”

Striking a similar tone, Nadav Rudaeff, whose father Lior Rudaeff was killed on October 7 and his body taken to Gaza, accuses Israel of breaking the promise on which the country was founded.

“The State of Israel was founded 77 years ago on the promise of being a safe home for all Jews and protecting them from those who seek to harm us. On October 7, the State of Israel and the IDF failed and broke this promise,” he says, adding: “Do not remain indifferent!”

7:29 pm

Iran says expert-level nuclear talks with US will take place Saturday instead of Wednesday

By Reuters

Expert-level Iran-US talks that were supposed to take place on Wednesday will be moved to Saturday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei says.

7:09 pm

Court orders PM’s aides to be released from house arrest, grant police 48 hours to appeal

The Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court orders Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close aide Jonatan Urich and former spokesperson Eli Feldstein to be released from house arrest, despite the state’s request that they be held under such conditions for another 21 days.

The two were arrested in late March in connection with their alleged role in the Qatargate scandal, but released to house arrest at the beginning of April.

The police expressed concerns that Urich would try to obstruct the investigation should he be released, but Judge Menachem Mizrahi says that neither Urich nor Feldstein was suspected of having attempted such activity while under house arrest and could therefore be released.

Mizrahi adds that the further investigative activities which the police have requested to carry out do not warrant keeping the two suspects under house arrest.

The judge suspends the decision to release the two from house arrest for 48 hours, however, to allow the police the opportunity to appeal the decision.

In the so-called Qatargate affair, Urich and Feldstein are suspected of multiple offenses tied to their alleged work for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm, including contact with a foreign agent and a series of corruption charges involving lobbyists and businessmen, while at the same time working for the prime minister.

6:56 pm

US issues new sanctions targeting Iranian liquefied petroleum gas magnate

By Reuters

The United States has issued new sanctions targeting Iranian liquefied petroleum gas magnate Seyed Asadoollah Emamjomeh and his corporate network, the Treasury Department says, amid ongoing talks with Tehran on its nuclear program.

Emamjomeh’s network is responsible for shipping hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian LPG and crude oil to foreign markets, the Treasury says in a statement.

Both products are a major source of revenue for Iran, helping to fund its nuclear and advanced conventional weapons programs, it says, as well as regional proxy groups including Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis rebels and the Palestinian Hamas terror group.

“Emamjomeh and his network sought to export thousands of shipments of LPG — including from the United States — to evade US sanctions and generate revenue for Iran,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says in the statement.

6:30 pm

Trump after call with Netanyahu: ‘We’re on the same side of every issue’; doesn’t mention Gaza or hostages

By Jacob Magid

US President Donald Trump (left) welcomes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House in Washington on April 7, 2025. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP)

US President Donald Trump says he just got off the phone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that he and the Israeli premier “are on the same side of every issue.”

The call covered “numerous subjects including Trade, Iran, etc.,” Trump writes on Truth Social, adding that it went “very well.”

It was their first call since Netanyahu met with Trump in the White House two weeks ago during a visit the Israeli prime minister thought was urged by Washington to discuss tariffs, but learned upon arrival that it really was to give him a heads up about the already-made US decision to enter nuclear talks with Iran.

Netanyahu has since stated that Israel does not oppose talks that lead to Iran completely dismantling its nuclear program, but Trump officials at times have indicated that they’d be willing to accept Iran keeping its nuclear facilities, while adhering to strict caps on its uranium enrichment akin to the deal that was signed in 2015 during the Obama administration.

Notably, Trump does not include Gaza or the 59 hostages being held there in his list of topics discussed amid the ongoing impasse in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

6:06 pm

Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up nearly a quarter of 2025 draft cohort, statistics bureau finds

Ultra-Orthodox Jews currently constitute nearly a quarter of the annual draft cohort of 18-year-old Jewish males in Israel as of 2025, according to figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics set to be presented to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee tomorrow.

The presentation shows that 24.4 percent, or 14,035, out of 57,424 18-year-olds who will be eligible to draft this year are ultra-Orthodox — a figure which is expected to rise to 27.2% by 2030.

A bill dealing with the issue of Haredi enlistment is currently stuck in the committee, whose chairman, Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, has stated that he will “only produce a real conscription law that will significantly increase the IDF’s conscription base.”

The army has stated that it is facing a manpower shortage and currently needs some 12,000 new soldiers — 7,000 of whom would be combat troops.

Currently, approximately 70,000 Haredi men between the ages of 18 and 24 are eligible for military service and have not enlisted. According to the IDF’s Personnel Directorate, only 2% of the 10,000 ultra-Orthodox men sent conscription orders from July 2024 to March 2025 have actually joined the armed forces.

In total, 1,721 Haredim have joined the army since the beginning of the current recruitment cycle last year.

6:02 pm

IDF says Hezbollah commander killed in southern Lebanon drone strike earlier today

The IDF says it killed a Hezbollah commander in a drone strike in southern Lebanon’s al-Haniyya earlier today.

The commander was responsible for Hezbollah’s forces in Majdal Zoun, the military adds.

Surveillance camera footage shows that the IDF first struck a vehicle in al-Haniyya. The target of the strike is seen running out of the car, before being struck again.

لحظة استهداف "بيك أب" في الحنية قرب صور بغارة من مسيرة إسرائيليةhttps://t.co/4hELDGSbTq pic.twitter.com/6Narg14ynP

— Annahar النهار (@Annahar) April 22, 2025

5:56 pm

Report: Latvia closes investigation into Herberts Cukurs, the ‘Butcher of Riga’

By Zev Stub

'Butcher of Riga' Herbert Cukurs. (Wikipedia/ WP:NFCC#4)

A court in Latvia has closed its case against Herberts Cukurs, the “Butcher of Riga” believed to be personally responsible for killing at least 30,000 Latvian Jews during the Holocaust, the Haaretz daily reports.

According to the report, the court said it could not find sufficient evidence of Cukurs’s involvement in Holocaust crimes to implicate him. Right-wing nationalists in the country have long sought to exonerate Cukurs and establish him as a national hero for his prewar accomplishments as a pilot.

The closure of the case may allow Latvia to seek to exhume his remains from Uruguay, where he was assassinated by the Mossad in 1965, and bring them for burial, Haaretz says. Other implications of the decision are not yet clear, it notes.

Cukurs is notorious for his involvement in the brutal persecution and mass murder of Jews in the Riga Ghetto and surrounding areas. Numerous witnesses and survivors have recounted his direct participation in atrocities, including beatings, shootings, and deportations.

After the war, Cukurs fled to South America via the ratline escape routes and lived in Brazil until 1965, when he was assassinated in Uruguay by Mossad agents as part of Israel’s campaign to track down and punish Nazi war criminals.

5:37 pm

‘An important legacy’: Jerusalem patriarch hails pope’s commitment to Gaza

By AFP and ToI Staff

Italian Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa (R) is elevated cardinal by Pope Francis during a consistory to create 21 new cardinals at St. Peter's square in The Vatican on September 30, 2023. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP)

The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, hails Pope Francis’s support for Gazans and engagement with the small Catholic community in the war-battered Palestinian enclave.

The Catholic church’s highest authority in the region, who is considered a potential successor to the late pontiff, Pizzaballa told journalists in Jerusalem that “Gaza represents, a little bit, all what was the heart of his pontificate.”

Pope Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, advocated peace and “closeness to the poor… and to the neglected one,” says the patriarch.

These positions became particularly evident in Francis’s response to the Israel-Hamas war — which erupted on October 7, 2023, with the deadly Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel — Pizzaballa says.

“He was very close to the community of Gaza, the parish of Gaza, he kept calling them many times — for a certain period, also every day, every evening at 7 p.m.,” says the patriarch.

He adds that by doing so, the pope “became for the community something stable, and also comforting for them, and he knew this.”

“Work for justice… but without becoming part of the conflict,” says Pizzaballa of the late pontiff’s actions. “For us, for the Church, it leaves an important legacy.”

Out of the Gaza Strip’s roughly 2.4 million people, about 1,000 are Christians. Most of them are Orthodox, but according to the Latin Patriarchate, there are about 135 Catholics in the territory.

Since the early days of the war, members of the Catholic community have been sheltering at Holy Family Church compound in Gaza City, and some Orthodox Christians have also found refuge there.

The patriarch also thanks the numerous Palestinian and Israeli public figures who have offered their condolences, preferring not to comment on the lack of any official message from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Even as “the local authorities… were not always happy” with the pope’s positions or statements, they were “always very respectful,” he says, appearing to refer to instances in which the pope’s comments on the Gaza war led Israel to issue sharp rebukes.

Pizzaballa says he will travel to Rome on Wednesday, after leading a requiem mass for the pope at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in the morning.

5:24 pm

Palestinian man dies after home set alight during settler attack yesterday, eyewitness says

A Palestinian resident of the village of Sinjil, close to Ramallah, has died after his home was set on fire during a violent settler attack yesterday.

An eyewitness to the attack tells The Times of Israel that Wael Rarabi, 47, died after suffering a heart attack, following beatings by soldiers, tear gas, and smoke inhalation.

Wael’s cousin A’id Rarabi, who was with him throughout the day, says that in the morning, dozens of settlers arrived and set fire to vehicles and homes on the outskirts of the village, including Wael’s house.

Ai’d and three others, including Wael, tried to flee the area when, according to A’id, four jeeps approached. Four IDF soldiers then emerged from one of the jeeps and began to beat Wael and two other Palestinians, Ai’d recounts. He says they also arrested one of the Palestinians and launched tear gas and stun grenades.

“When we saw that the settlers had left the village, we returned to Wael’s house to extinguish the fire,” Ai’d says.”Since the soldiers’ attack, Wael said he had chest pain, and when he entered his house, he said that he couldn’t breathe. He repeated this several times and then collapsed. The ambulance took him to a nearby clinic, where it was determined he had suffered a heart attack.”

He was then transferred to intensive care at Ramallah Hospital, where he was pronounced dead after resuscitation efforts, Ai’d says.

As reported yesterday, during the same incident settlers also set fire to the property and home of a Bedouin family living on the outskirts of Sinjil. According to the Palestinians, one of the family members was injured in settler beatings.

No response has yet been received from the IDF.

5:03 pm

IDF says strikes in Gaza targeted dozens of construction vehicles used by Hamas in Oct. 7 assault

Palestinians examine the remains of bulldozers hit by an Israeli army airstrike in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Some 40 construction vehicles in the Gaza Strip, which the IDF says were used by Hamas for terror activities, were destroyed in airstrikes overnight and this morning.

In a statement, the military says that the heavy equipment was used by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, onslaught to breach the Israeli border barrier in dozens of locations, allowing thousands of terrorists to stream into Israel.

The earthmovers have also been used by Hamas during the war to plant bombs, dig tunnels, and clear rubble to locate weaponry buried under it, the IDF says.

This image released by the IDF on April 22, 2025, shows engineering vehicles that Israel claims are used by Hamas, before they were targeted in airstrikes. (Israel Defense Forces)

“The engineering vehicles that were struck are a major component of Hamas’s ability to carry out terror attacks on IDF troops and the State of Israel,” the statement says.

The IDF says the strike was carried out to “disrupt” Hamas’s heavy equipment capability.

Hamas denounces the strikes, saying in a statement that “the occupation’s destruction of civilian equipment intended to aid and rescue civilians and alleviate their suffering… is a confirmation of the criminal nature of this entity, which is devoid of all moral standards.”

4:46 pm

New Yorkers heavily favor anti-masking legislation, poll says

By Luke Tress

Masked protesters wearing Hamas headbands protest against Baruch College's Hillel student group, in New York City, June 5, 2024. (Luke Tress/JTA)

New Yorkers back anti-masking legislation that would make it a crime for someone to conceal their identity while threatening or harassing someone, a poll finds.

The Siena College Poll says 64% of New Yorkers support the measure, and 24% oppose it.

The legislation is a priority for some Jewish groups and legislators, who see the measure as a way to crack down on harassment and vandalism by masked anti-Israel agitators.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has tried to pass the legislation with the state budget. The budget is stalled, however, and some leftist groups and legislators have come out against the anti-masking legislation.

The poll also finds that New Yorkers have soured on Jewish New York Senator Chuck Schumer.

Forty-nine percent of respondents have an unfavorable view of Schumer and 39% support him. It is Schumer’s worst rating in at least 20 years.

4:43 pm

Dozens of UN ambassadors head to Poland for annual March of the Living

By Nava Freiberg

More than 30 United Nations ambassadors departed from New York to Poland this morning to take part in Thursday’s 37th March of the Living ceremony commemorating the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, announces the spokesperson of Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon.

Led by Danon, the delegation of over 50 total participants will visit several key sites in Poland, including the Warsaw Ghetto, the Jewish Quarter in Krakow, and the Krakow Ghetto, according to the statement.

The delegation includes ambassadors from European Union member states, Latin America, the Pacific Islands, and sub-Saharan Africa—including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Argentina, Panama, Nigeria and Ethiopia.

On Wednesday night, the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the delegation will hold a special memorial ceremony at the Krakow Theater, before participating in the March of the Living ceremony on Thursday.

This year’s march will mark 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz and the end of World War II. The Israeli delegation will be led by President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog and will include 80 Holocaust survivors from Israel and around the world. Polish President Andrzej Duda will also attend.

Following the march, the delegation will go on to visit Israel, according to Danon’s office.

4:34 pm

IDF campaign in Gaza appears to be pushing Hamas toward Israeli hostage deal demands, official says

Israel’s campaign in Gaza is showing signs of pushing Hamas toward accepting Israeli demands at the negotiating table, an Israeli official familiar with the details tells The Times of Israel.

“I believe the combined pressure — military, political, and logistical — is showing its effects,” says the official.

Israel continues to insist it will not agree to an end to the war without Hamas fully disarming and its leaders going into exile.

4:14 pm

Security cabinet to discuss hostage talks, possible expansion of Gaza campaign, official says

Members of the security cabinet will hear updates on hostage talks during the meeting tonight, a senior Israeli official tells Channel 13.

They will also discuss the possibility of expanding the military campaign in Gaza, says the outlet.

The campaign is designed to pressure Hamas into accepting Israeli demands for a new hostage release deal.

4:13 pm

Opposition leaders to hold special Knesset session during recess to discuss Shin Bet chief’s allegations against PM

The leaders of the opposition announce they have gathered enough lawmakers’ signatures to hold a special Knesset session during the current parliamentary recess in order to discuss Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar’s allegations of misconduct against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a joint statement, the opposition heads write that they have “collected 25 signatures for an emergency meeting of the Knesset plenum on the following topics: the affidavit of the head of the Shin Bet and the danger to state security, and the government’s failures and the holdup in returning the abductees.”

Bar told the High Court of Justice on Monday that he had been fired due to expectations from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he be personally loyal to the premier, and said it was made clear to him that he needed to obey Netanyahu and not the Supreme Court in the event of a constitutional crisis. Bar’s termination has been temporarily frozen by the court.

Bar also alleged that Netanyahu asked him on several occasions to act against Israeli citizens involved in protest activity against the government, and wanted him to hand over personal details of protest activists who “tracked” people assigned security details — presumably a reference to government officials.

Following the release of the affidavit, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, National Unity chairman Benny Gantz, Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman, and The Democrats head Yair Golan stated that Netanyahu’s conduct, as described by Bar, “puts our future and existence in danger and harms the security of the state.”

In a letter to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana demanding the special session, opposition lawmakers wrote that Bar’s affidavit “suggests that the Prime Minister apparently crossed red lines and attempted to use the Shin Bet as a tool to attack and persecute citizens who sought to exercise their democratic right to protest.”

They also complained that “senior ministers in the government are explicitly stating that [the hostages’] return is not the most important, supreme and most urgent task” — a likely reference to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s recent statement that “returning the hostages is not the most important thing.”

A date for the special session has not yet been announced, and MKs will not be obligated to attend.

3:45 pm

Smotrich reassures Shin Bet staff that ‘turmoil’ created by Bar won’t ‘tarnish’ their work

In an open letter to employees of the Shin Bet, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich blames the security agency’s chief, Ronen Bar, of “dragging” it into “turmoil” but says that his alleged “misconduct” does not reflect on them or the organization as a whole.

Multiple employees of the agency have expressed “deep frustration with the situation the service has found itself in” as a result of Ronen Bar’s supposed actions, and it is important to stress that the state and government of Israel “have full trust in you and tremendous appreciation for your work,” Smotrich writes.

“Ronen Bar’s misconduct does not tarnish the General Security Service, and certainly not those of you who serve in it,” he continues, calling on Shin Bet personnel to keep their spirits up and remember that their agency “is much bigger and more important than its leader.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who claims to be the victim of a “deep state” plot against him, has previously argued that an ongoing probe against two of his top aides was only ordered by Attorney General Baharav-Miara and begun by Bar to create an ostensible conflict of interest, in which the prime minister could not fire the security chief who was investigating his office.

The premier’s assertion appeared to be based on little evidence and contradicted the known sequence of events, as Netanyahu only initiated the process to dismiss Bar after the investigation into Qatar had already been launched.

On Sunday evening, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid called on Netanyahu to halt incitement against Bar before it leads to “political murder.”

3:41 pm

IDF says unaware of incident in which soldiers allegedly used Palestinian boy to get to father

By Stav Levaton

In response to allegations that soldiers used a 12-year-old Palestinian boy to pressure his wanted father into surrendering, the IDF says it is unaware of the incident and does not have enough evidence to confirm or deny the report.

The accusations, shared earlier this week by a relative of the boy on X, described troops raiding the al-Deek family home in Kafr ad-Dik during a predawn operation and allegedly blindfolding and photographing the child, then sending the images to his father via WhatsApp to pressure him to turn himself in.

Speaking to The Times of Israel, a local Palestinian resident has backed up the claim that forces blindfolded the boy and sent photos to his father.

3:14 pm

Police say they’ve sent ‘findings’ for forensic examination in shark attack search

Teams continue to search on April 22, 2025, for a diver who was attacked by a shark off the coast of Hadera the previous day (Jack Guez/AFP)

Police say they recovered “findings” during their ongoing search for a missing bather, feared dead after he was attacked by a shark off the coast of Hadera yesterday.

“We are on the second day of the search, both in the sea and on the shore, we are sparing no means,” says police spokesman Aryeh Doron.

“At this point I am able to say that there were several findings that were sent for [forensic] examination, and we will await the professional results,” he continues. “We want to end this day by bringing relief to the family. Until there is a final answer for them, we will continue our efforts.”

The search on Hadera Stream Beach has enlisted rescue divers, jet skis and helicopters to find the missing man, reportedly in his 40s. Police have closed the beach as well as nearby beaches to swimmers until further notice.

People on the beach filmed yesterday’s incident with their phones. One man could be heard exclaiming, “Wow, wow, he’s with the shark, he’s fighting him,” as the man was seen in the distance. “They’re eating him, eating the man… Can’t see him.”

3:13 pm

8-year-old seriously injured in Iranian missile attack released from hospital

Eight-year-old Amina Hassouna, who suffered a severe head injury when she was hit by shrapnel during last year’s Iranian ballistic missile attack, was discharged from rehabilitative care at Tel Hashomer earlier today.

The shrapnel from an intercepted ballistic missile fell directly on her family home in the unrecognized Bedouin village of al-Fura in the Negev region on April 14, 2024, during Iran’s first direct attack on Israel.

The Regional Council for the Unrecognized Bedouin Villages in the Negev announces that she has been released from Tel Hashomer’s rehabilitation department, though she still lacks full physical mobility.

Hassouna was hospitalized at Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center with a severe and complex head injury following the attack, and then later transferred to Tel Hashomer after doctors were able to stabilize her condition through several neurosurgeries.

Eight-year-old Amina Hassouna, who was badly injured by ballistic missile shrapnel during Iran’s attack on April 14, 2024, after being discharged from Tel Hashomer’s rehabilitation unit on April 22, 2025. (Courtesy)

Now, over a year later, Amina’s father Mohammed says his daughter is alert and able to talk freely, with her memory still intact. But the incident caused the young girl long-lasting physical impairments. She can no longer move her left arm and has only limited movement in her left leg, allowing her to walk only slowly and with great effort.

She is now staying in an apartment in Arad, rented with the financial assistance of the National Insurance Institute, since her family’s home in al-Fura is not suited for her current state. Mohammed hopes to adapt the house to suit her condition, allowing her to reunite with him and her 13 other siblings.

Last May, Israeli authorities issued a demolition order on the family’s home while Amina was still hospitalized in serious condition. However, the order was soon rescinded after widespread outcry.

Like many unrecognized Bedouin villages in the area, al-Fura lacks bomb shelters that could have kept the girl safe during Iran’s missile barrage.

On top of their lack of shelters, unrecognized Bedouin villages are not protected by the Iron Dome system, which only intercepts rockets directed at urban areas registered on maps, but is not activated when the launch is aimed at “open areas.”

2:25 pm

US universities pan Trump ‘political interference’ amid federal funding cuts

By AFP

On the anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught, anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protesters march in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, on the Los Angeles campus of the University of Southern California, October 7, 2024 in Los Angeles. (Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG, via JTA)

More than 100 US universities and colleges, including Ivy League institutions Princeton and Brown, issue a joint letter condemning US President Donald Trump’s “political interference” in the education system.

The move comes a day after Harvard University sued the Trump administration, which has threatened to cut funding and impose outside political supervision.

“We speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education,” the letter reads. “We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight. However, we must oppose undue government intrusion,” it says.

Trump has sought to bring several prestigious universities to heel over claims they tolerated campus antisemitism, threatening their budgets, tax-exempt status, and the enrollment of foreign students.

The letter says the universities and colleges are committed to serving as centers where “faculty, students, and staff are free to exchange ideas and opinions across a full range of viewpoints without fear of retribution, censorship, or deportation.”

2:22 pm

Organization guides Haredi Israelis abroad on steps to ensure they are not drafted

An ultra-Orthodox organization connected to some of the community’s top rabbinic leaders issues an appeal to Haredi Jews with Israeli citizenship living abroad to take steps to ensure they are not drafted to the IDF when they come to Israel to study in yeshivas.

In an English-language message, the Vaad HaYeshivot (Yeshiva Committee) warns that yeshiva students no longer enjoy a legal exemption from conscription. In order to make sure that they avoid any military entanglements, the committee advises students to approach their local Israeli consulate to change their status to “children of emigrants.”

Under such a status, they are allowed to study for up to four years in a yeshiva in Israel while retaining an exemption from mandatory service.

A recent Times of Israel investigation found that the committee, which until last year enjoyed millions of shekels in annual government funding, has been actively advising Israeli yeshiva students to ignore enlistment orders.

גזירת הגיוס – מערכה חוצת גבולות; ועד הישיבות מפרסם בחו"ל הנחיות חשובות לתקופה זו לתלמידים בני מהגרים המבקשים ללמוד בישיבות בארה"ק pic.twitter.com/rTRpGkAqag

— משה ויסברג (@moshe_nayes) April 22, 2025

2:17 pm

IDF confirms Lebanon strike, says it targeted operative advancing attacks against Israel

The IDF confirms carrying out a drone strike in the Lebanese coastal town of Haret en-Naameh, just south of Beirut, earlier today, killing a prominent member of the Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group) organization.

According to the IDF, Hussein Izzat Mohammad Atwi was also affiliated with Hamas in Lebanon, and worked alongside the Palestinian terror group to advance attacks on Israel.

Atwi was behind rocket fire over the years, and had also directed terror cells in Lebanon to launch attacks on Israel, including infiltrations, the IDF says.

He also acted to advance attacks against Israeli targets abroad, the military adds.

2:17 pm

Smotrich pans coalition ally Gafni: ‘He has no right to talk about the war’

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends the Land of Israel Caucus at the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 9, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

In a continuation of an ongoing public feud, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declares that ultra-Orthodox MK Moshe Gafni “has no right to talk about the war.”

Speaking with Jerusalem Radio, the far-right minister says that he has multiple family members currently serving and insists that if Gafni wants to discuss the conduct of the war in Gaza, he should first send his “children to fight.”

Gafni, the leader of the Degel Hatorah faction of the coalition’s United Torah Judaism party, had previously attacked Smotrich over his comment yesterday that “returning the hostages is not the most important thing.” He compared Smotrich to the Sicarii of the Second Temple period, a group of zealots for whom “the national issue was more important than human life.” Hitting back, Smotrich said that only someone who still holds a “diaspora mindset” and doesn’t believe that the State of Israel is the rightful “return to Zion” is capable of “comparing the current reality to the period of the destruction of the Second Temple.”

2:10 pm

Hardline Gvura Forum calls on Shin Bet chief to resign by mid-May

Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security services, attends a ceremony on May 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Gvura Forum, which represents some families of soldiers killed during the current war, writes an open letter to Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar claiming that he promised them to resign by May 15 and calling on him to fulfill that commitment.

“Your continued tenure at this time, despite the government decision, harms the people, the country, security, endangers the stability of the country, and is leading to an intensification of the struggle between the branches of government,” several dozen families state in their letter.

The Gvura Forum represents hardline bereaved families who say the war must continue “until total victory.”

Bar was fired by the government last month but has claimed, along with several government watchdog groups, that his dismissal was tainted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political considerations as well as severe procedural deficiencies.

The High Court of Justice is weighing petitions filed against his dismissal, but would be able to avoid making a definitive ruling and risking a constitutional crisis with the government if Bar resigns in the coming weeks.

Bar himself said in an affidavit to the court on Monday that he would announce the date of his resignation in short order.

“Sir, in a conversation with several bereaved families including myself last week in your office, you pledged to end your role no later than May 15,” writes Gvura Forum chair Yehoshua Shani in the open letter on behalf of the organization.

Shani implores Bar to “keep your word,” adding that Bar should give notice of the date on which he will resign “immediately,” and before next week’s Memorial Day, calling on him “not to add pain and division to our brokenness.”

1:49 pm

Latin patriarch of Jerusalem among candidates to replace Pope Francis

Cardinal-elect, Patriarch of Jerusalem, Israel, Pierbattista Pizzaballa poses for photos during a press point at The Vatican, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, ahead of his elevation in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican on Saturday. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Among the candidates to replace Pope Francis at the upcoming conclave, one name familiar to many Israeli officials stands out — Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.

The Italian priest has lived in Israel for over three decades, and is a fluent Hebrew speaker.

Pizzaballa, 60, was ordained in 1990 and moved to Jerusalem the same year. He received a degree from the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem, translated liturgical texts into Hebrew and provided pastoral care for the local Hebrew-speaking Catholic congregation.

In 2004, Pizzaballa became Custos of the Holy Land, the head of the Franciscans in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria, Cyprus, Rhodes, and some of Egypt.

Pope Francis selected Pizzaballa to head the vacant seat of head of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in 2016, and appointed him Latin patriarch in 2020, a role that is usually filled by a Palestinian or Jordanian priest. Francis made him a cardinal in 2023. Pizzaballa said his creation as cardinal has raised the “voice of Jerusalem” within the Church and on the international stage.

“Jerusalem is the heart of the life of the world,” he said. “So, from this heart, we should receive life from all over the world. But also this heart, Jerusalem, wants to bring the perspective and desire of life from Jerusalem to all over the world.”

In a 2023 interview with The Associated Press, Pizzaballa said that the region’s 2,000-year-old Christian community has come under increasing attack, with the most right-wing government in Israel’s history emboldening extremists who have harassed clergy and vandalized religious property at a quickening pace.

After the Hamas attacks on October 7 of that year, Pizzaballa said that he would offer himself in exchange for Hamas’s Israeli hostages if it would help bring children home.

“If I’m available for an exchange?” he said in response to a question from a reporter. “Anything, if this could bring about the freedom of children, no problem. My absolute willingness.”

At the same time, Pizzaballa faced criticism from Israel for the initial response to the Hamas attack by Christian leaders in Jerusalem. The patriarch’s statement made no explicit mention of the Hamas attack, restating in general terms its condemnation of any act that targets civilians.

“In my opinion, it would be wonderful if he were elected, not just because he comes from here and he understands us, but because he’s such an exceptionally bright and good person,” Rabbi David Rosen, former American Jewish Committee international director of Interreligious Affairs, tells The Times of Israel.

Farid Jubran, an adviser to the Patriarchate, declines to offer any speculation on Pizzaballa’s chances.

“Cardinal Pizzabala is under the age of 80 and will participate in the conclave,” he says. “But we really pray for a pope that is best for the church. And that’s the most important thing.”

1:34 pm

US’s NSC denies Israeli-American appointed to top Iran role worked for Israeli Defense Ministry

The Trump administration has denied a report that an Israeli-American former Senate staffer, appointed to serve as its director for Israel and Iran in the National Security Council, previously worked for the Israeli Defense Ministry.

The Drop Site outlet said Merav Ceren’s work with Israel’s Defense Ministry “is well known among GOP circles,” and said this past employment was raising questions regarding her appointment to a top role in US national security.

Drop Site noted that in her biography page at pro-Israel think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), it is stated that Ceren “worked at Israel’s Ministry of Defense, where she participated in negotiations in the West Bank between Israel’s Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories and Palestinian Authority officials.”

However, NSC spokesperson Brian Hughes, speaking to Al Monitor, says Ceren “was never employed by the Israeli Defense Ministry, let alone was she an Israeli official. She did a policy fellowship studying resource management in the West Bank, which is overseen by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, which required her to liaison with them for her research.”

Hughes told Drop Site that Ceren is “a patriotic American who has served in the United States government for years, including for President Trump, Senator Ted Cruz, and Congressman James Comer. We are thrilled to have her expertise in the NSC, where she carries out the President’s agenda on a range of Middle East issues.”

Congratulations to former @FDD National Security Fellow @MeravCeren for her appointment to NSC overseeing #Israel and #Iran policy. pic.twitter.com/MIg5CfjyLE

— Reza Behrouz (@RBehrouzDO) April 22, 2025

1:31 pm

Yesh Atid to give all its tickets to Independence Day ceremony to hostages’ families

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on March 31, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

In a letter to Transportation Minister Miri Regev, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid states that his Yesh Atid party will donate all of its tickets to this year’s official Independence Day ceremony at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl to families of hostages —— and asks the cabinet minister to make sure that they encounter “no difficulties” when they arrive.

As in years past, Regev is organizing this year’s ceremony on behalf of the government and has invited released hostages Emily Damari and Eli Sharabi to light torches. The Times of Israel understands that no hostages’ families have been refused tickets by the government.

“In anticipation of the Independence Day events and the torch-lighting ceremony, the Yesh Atid faction has decided to pass on the 46 invitations we as Knesset members have received to the families of the kidnapped to the torch-lighting ceremony,” Lapid writes in a letter asking Regev “to ensure that no difficulties are placed on the families’ entry.”

“It is appropriate that those who are paying the unimaginable price of war every day should sit in the front rows,” he writes.

12:25 pm

Police seek to continue house arrests of PM’s aides, accuse one of obstruction of justice

(L) Jonatan Urich, adviser to Benjamin Netanyahu, in Tel Aviv on October 3, 2022 (Avshalom Sassoni/ Flash90/ File) and (R) Eli Feldstein arrive for a court hearing at the Tel Aviv District Court on March 11, 2025. (Yehoshua Yosef/ Flash90)

Police have requested that a Rishon Lezion court extend the house arrest of Jonatan Urich, aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and of Netanyahu’s former spokesman Eli Feldstein, by 21 days.

Urich is also now accused of obstruction of justice, reports say.

12:20 pm

Police confiscate lemur and other exotic animals at Netanya home

During a house search in Netanya last night, police investigators stumbled upon a ring-tailed lemur, a species at risk of extinction, alongside several other exotic animals being held illegally.

This is the first time a ring-tailed lemur has been found kept in a private home in Israel, according to the Nature and Parks Authority. Police also found several finches, chameleons, and a stuffed deer’s head.

A ring-tailed lemur rescued by police during a search of a suspect’s house in Netanya on April 21, 2025. (Israel Police)

The animals were found as cops searched the home of a suspect thought to have helped plant a bomb that went off last week in the central town of Even Yehuda. Investigators also seized an airsoft gun and drugs from the suspect’s house.

Police transferred the animals to inspectors from the Nature and Parks Authority.

According to Uri Laniel, who heads the authority’s Wildlife Trafficking Department, the lemur is in poor health after being kept in isolation and fed improperly.

“This is another grave case of animal abuse,” says Laniel, noting that the lemur is a “complex and sensitive animal” that should never be held in private homes.

He adds that the chameleons found are not native to Israel, and have the potential to be an invasive species, harming local wildlife.

12:12 pm

Shas MK in retort to Smotrich: Hostages ‘must come before everything else’

Shas MK Yinon Azoulay speaks during a Knesset Finance Committee meeting on February 23, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Shas MK Yinon Azoulay joins the chorus of ultra-Orthodox coalition lawmakers pushing back against Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for stating that “returning the hostages is not the most important thing” compared to defeating the Hamas terror group.

Speaking with Radio Kol Hai this morning, Azoulay said that there was an obligation “to make every effort for the hostages,” who he insisted “must come before everything else.”

During a radio interview on Monday morning, Smotrich argued that returning the hostages “is obviously a very important goal, but if you want to destroy Hamas so that there can’t be another October 7, you need to understand that there can’t be a situation where Hamas remains in Gaza.”

On Monday evening, Deputy Transportation Minister Uri Maklev accused Smotrich of harming the families of the hostages and said it was impossible to “remain silent” in the face of efforts to make the hostages’ return a “secondary” priority.

In a statement, Maklev also condemned Smotrich for engaging in “extremist” rhetoric that “causes division and strengthens polarization” and slammed his Religious Zionism party’s members for “defiantly ascending the Temple Mount.”

United Torah Judaism MK Mosher Gafni, meanwhile, compared Smotrich to the Sicarii of the Second Temple period, a group of zealots for whom “the national issue was more important than human life.”

Smotrich in response launched a fierce attack on Gafni, saying that only someone who still holds a “diaspora mindset” and doesn’t believe that the State of Israel is the rightful “return to Zion” is capable of “comparing the current reality to the period of the destruction of the Second Temple.”

In a tweet, Religious Zionism MK Ohad Tal sniped at the ultra-Orthodox lawmakers’ public position on military issues, as three have pushed hard for a bill exempting yeshiva students from military service.

“Reservist generals Yinon Azoulay, Uri Maklev, and Moshe Gafni, they’re waiting for you at the Bakum [military induction base],” he wrote.

11:38 am

Netanyahu to convene security cabinet, with Iran in focus

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani (L) meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi at the Italian Foreign Ministry in Rome before Iran-US nuclear talks Iran at the Omani embassy, April 19, 2025. (Italian Foreign Ministry via AFP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet this evening at 8 p.m., the office of one of the ministers tells The Times of Israel.

Iran’s nuclear program and US-Iran talks will be on the agenda, a second source says.

11:34 am

Egypt has taken lead in Gaza hostage release talks in place of Qatar — official

Egypt has taken the lead in Gaza hostage release talks, an official familiar with deliberations tells The Times of Israel.

Both Israel and the Trump administration pushed for Egypt to take the reins instead of Qatar, says the source, believing that Cairo can more effectively put pressure on Hamas to agree to a deal.

Israel remains optimistic that military pressure in Gaza is working and that Hamas wants a deal to end the fighting, says the source. A working-level Israeli team was in Cairo yesterday to talk with mediators.

11:22 am

Two schoolgirls suspected of spreading fake AI nude photos of teacher, students

Police say they detained two underage school students in Herzliya for questioning yesterday after they allegedly spread so-called “deepfake” nude photos of a teacher and other girls at their school.

A spokesman for law enforcement says the two allegedly “used photos posted to social media of the teacher and other students, edited them using artificial intelligence software to make them appear naked, and disseminated them among students as well as online.”

The investigation was made public yesterday, when police brought the two underage suspects for questioning at the Glilot station.

Police add that they confiscated the students’ electronic devices while conducting searches of their homes.

11:13 am

Netanyahu in court for latest testimony session

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the courtroom in the Tel Aviv District Court before the start of a hearing in his trial, April 22, 2025 (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is at the Tel Aviv District Court again today to give testimony in his criminal trial.

11:10 am

Academy head and teacher sentenced to 7 years for 2018 flash flood disaster that killed 10

Rescue forces near the scene where young Israelis were swept away in the flooding of the Tzafit riverbed near the Dead Sea in southern Israel, on April 26, 2018. (Maor Kinsbursky/Flash90)

The Beersheba District Court has sentenced two men for their roles in the 2018 Tzafit riverbed flash flood disaster that resulted in the deaths of 10 teens.

Yuval Kahan, the principal of the Bnei Zion premilitary academy, and Aviv Bardichev, the institution’s educational director, were both handed seven years in prison. They were also each ordered to pay NIS 210,000 in compensation.

The two were convicted of negligent manslaughter last year. They were held responsible for the deaths of 10 academy and high school students hiking in the Tzafit riverbed in the Dead Sea region, after a flash flood hit the group in a deep gorge.

The pair were accused of disregarding multiple warnings of danger ahead of the trip due to inclement weather, insisting on going ahead with the plan and scorning safety concerns.

The court found in convicting the two that they should have changed the route of their hike because of the poor weather.

Yuval Kahan, who was the head of the Bnei Zion pre-military academy school at the time of the Tzafit riverbed hiking disaster, arrives for a hearing at the Beersheba District Court, September 13, 2022. (Flash90)

“The testimonies of family members heard in court, in which they spoke with great pain about their loved ones who perished in the disaster, left not a dry eye [in the room], and allowed a glimpse into the lives of the deceased, their hobbies, activities, aspirations, the values they were raised on, and their commitment to society,” the court said in a summary of the sentencing.

The court said it emphasized Kahan’s negligence and that “despite his senior managerial position and the unusual and extreme situation in which the group was traveling, he was not interested and did not know what exactly the group was doing, and when he did [finally] understand what it was doing — he did not stop it.” Kahan was not physically with the group at the time of the disaster.

The court said of Bardichev that he did not give adequate consideration to the warnings he had received “and entered the stream with a group of young people who trusted him, despite those warnings and the prevailing weather” at the time of the disaster.

“The court emphasized the high level of harm to the sanctity of life and other values, including the harm to the relationship of trust between parents and educational staff” in the wake of the disaster.

Prosecutors had sought a 12-year prison sentence, but the court found that such a sentence could not be justified by previous rulings, while also rejecting requests by the defendants’ lawyers that the two serve their sentences in community service.

10:44 am

Palestinian family claims soldiers used boy to pressure wanted father to turn himself in

By Stav Levaton

A Palestinian family alleges that Israeli forces used a 12-year-old boy as leverage to pressure his wanted father to turn himself in, according to a family member’s testimony shared on X earlier this week.

The incident reportedly occurred during a predawn raid in the northern West Bank town of Kafr ad-Dik. Soldiers stormed the home of the al-Deek family, searching for Ahmad Abdul Karim al-Deek, who is wanted by Israeli authorities but who was not present at the time.

According to the family, troops blindfolded and restrained his 12-year-old son, also named Ahmed, and took photos of the child. The images were allegedly sent to the father via WhatsApp, with threats to arrest his son and other family members if he did not surrender himself to authorities.

In addition, the family claims the boy was forced at gunpoint to record a voice message pleading with his father to surrender out of fear for his safety.

This child is Ahmad Abdul Karim al-Deek, a 12-year-old boy from the village of Kafr ad-Dik, Slfit, West Bank. Yesterday, Israeli forces raided his family’s home in search of his father, who they want.

When they couldn’t find him, the soldiers blindfolded and bound the child,… pic.twitter.com/u38F7UgXks

— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) April 21, 2025

Palestinian news outlets reported that al-Deek is a released detainee.

The IDF has not immediately responded to a request for comment.

10:12 am

Reports: Commander in group tied to Muslim Brotherhood killed in Lebanon strike

Earlier today, media in Lebanon reported an Israeli airstrike targeting a vehicle south of Beirut.

According to Arab media reports, the strike killed Hassan Atwi, a commander in the Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya organization, which is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in Lebanon.

The organization has taken part in fighting against Israel alongside Hezbollah.

بالصور: غارة إسرائيلية استهدفت سيارة في #بعورتا قرب #الدامور pic.twitter.com/6FtI7lHdp4

— Voice of Lebanon 100.3 100.5 (@sawtlebnan) April 22, 2025

9:40 am

IDF demolishes home of terrorist behind deadly July car-ramming

During overnight operations in the East Jerusalem Palestinian town of A-Ram, the IDF says it demolished the home of a terrorist who carried out a deadly car-ramming attack outside a military base in central Israel in July.

On July 14, Mohammed Shahab rammed a car into a bus stop at the Nir Tzvi junction, adjacent to the IDF’s Tzrifin base, fatally wounding Cpt. Ariel Topaz, an intelligence officer, and injuring three other soldiers.

As a matter of policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly attacks.

כוחות הביטחון הרסו הלילה את ביתו של המחבל מוחמד שאהב שביצע את פיגוע הדריסה בצומת ניר צבי כתוצאה ממנו נהרג סרן אריאל טופז ז״ל ונפצעו שלושה חיילים נוספים

כוחות צה״ל מחטיבת בנימין, לוחמי יחידת יהל״ם וכוחות מג״ב איו״ש הרסו הלילה את ביתו של המחבל מוחמד שאהב בכפר א-רם שבחטיבת בנימין.… pic.twitter.com/m2l4APOUeF

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) April 22, 2025

8:49 am

70% of living Holocaust survivors will be gone in next 10 years, report shows

By AP

File: A man walks through the gate of the Sachsenhausen Nazi death camp with the phrase 'Arbeit macht frei' (work sets you free) on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, in Oranienburg, north of Berlin, Germany, Jan. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

Eighty years after the Holocaust, more than 200,000 Jewish survivors are still alive but 70% of them will be gone within the next 10 years — meaning time is running out to hear the voices of the last generation who suffered through one of the worst atrocities in history.

Currently, the survivors’ median age is 87, and more than 1,400 of them are over 100 years old, a new report says.

“We have known that this population of survivors would be the last, our final opportunity to hear their first-hand testimonies, to spend time with them, our last chance to meet a survivor,” says Greg Schneider, the executive vice president of the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also referred to as the Claims Conference, which published the study.

The report’s analysis of population projections and mortality rates provides details through 2040. It is based on the extensive data collected since 1952 by the Claims Conference, which includes survivors who receive direct payments or social welfare services funded by the organization as a result of ongoing negotiations with Germany.

Notably, nearly 50% of all Holocaust survivors will pass away within the next six years, while 70% will die within 10 years and 90% within 15 years, according to the report titled “ Vanishing Witnesses.”

Those still alive are often of frail health and suffer from ailments that come with age and have been amplified by traumas in their youth.

8:29 am

Searches renewed for man believed attacked by shark in Hadera

Searches have been renewed for a man believed to have been attacked by a shark yesterday off the coast of Hadera, after having been paused overnight.

The Hadera Stream Beach remains closed.

Rescuers are doubtful the man will be found alive, after beachgoers witnessed the attack and called for aid.

8:10 am

In first, Syrian regime arrests senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad officials

Palestinian media reports that the new Syrian regime has arrested Khaled Khaled, in charge of the Syrian arena in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organization, and Abu Ali Yasser, responsible for the organization’s executive committee in Syria.

There is no official confirmation from Syrian authorities on the matter, but the PIJ confirms that both were arrested five days ago by authorities in Damascus. In an official statement, the terror organizations says they were arrested in a manner “it wouldn’t expect” from Syria, and calls for their immediate release.

Until the fall of the Assad regime, senior PIJ officials including leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah were based in Syria. Shortly before the regime’s fall, al-Nakhalah fled the country, but according to Arab media reports, some operatives remain active in the country.

6:37 am

Report: Israeli delegation currently in Cairo for ceasefire negotiations