April 8: In Gaza, IDF chief tells troops he expects them to defeat Hamas’s Rafah Brigade

US immigration judge to rule Friday on release of detained anti-Israel Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil

Protesters rally in support of Mahmoud Khalil outside his court hearing in New York City, March 12, 2025. (Luke Tress)

An immigration judge in Louisiana says she will decide later this week whether the government can continue to detain Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University activist facing deportation for his role in pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel campus protests.

At an immigration hearing in Louisiana, Judge Jamee Comans gives the federal government until Wednesday to turn over its evidence gathered against Khalil, a 30-year-old legal US resident.

If the evidence against Khalil does not support his removal, Comans says, “then I am going to terminate the case on Friday.”

On March 8, Khalil became the first in a growing number of foreign-born students targeted for deportation by the Trump administration for participating in campus protests against Israel and the war in Gaza.

Far-left Argentine lawmaker indicted for antisemitic, anti-Israel posts

An Argentine federal judge has indicted a far left lawmaker, Vanina Biasi, from the Workers’ Party (Partido Obrero) for a series of posts she wrote on X, comparing Israel with the Nazi regime, and calling Israel a “genocide state.”

According to Judge Daniel Rafecas, Biasi’s statements “constitute a discriminatory act that incites hatred against the Jewish community,” are antisemitic and exceed the limits of freedom of expression.

He says, “An analysis of the posts show that her statements cannot be considered mere criticisms directed at the temporary authorities of the Israeli government for their actions or circumstantial policies.”

He adds that her posts were marked with antisemitic content, characterizing the State of Israel (and not just its government) and Zionism as genocidal and Nazis.

The judge decides to freeze her assets, valued at 10 million pesos (around $9,300), for any future legal proceedings or fines that could be incurred.

Rafecas, who is not Jewish, has written a book on the Holocaust and was a visiting fellow at Yad Vashem.

Vanina Biasi fue procesada por sus declaraciones contra el Estado de Israel | La reacción de la diputada de izquierda https://t.co/NLjG5crrZI vía @Pagina12

— MarTinUsh ✊????????✌️???????????????????????? (@tinchoush16) April 8, 2025

S&P 500 ends down 1.6% as tariff angst kills US stocks rally

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Wall Street stocks tumbled again on Tuesday as initially successful efforts to rebound from big losses faded amid worries over US President Donald Trump’s trade wars.

All three major indices finished firmly in the red, with the S&P 500 shedding 1.6 percent to 4,982.77, its first close below 5,000 points in nearly a year.

The S&P 500 wiped out an early gain of 4.1%, which had it on track for its best day in years.

Uncertainty is still high about what President Donald Trump will do with his trade war. The latest set of tariffs, including a massive 104% levy on Chinese imports, are scheduled to kick in after midnight.

Jets hit Hezbollah weapons depot in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley

Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah weapons depot in Lebanon’s northeastern Beqaa Valley a short while ago, the military says.

According to the IDF, the site was being used to store weapons used by Hezbollah’s aerial defense unit.

“The presence of the weapons in the area constituted a threat to the State of Israel and a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military adds.

Beqqa, Lebanon now https://t.co/9vALXIcgO3 pic.twitter.com/c57Ao7SUTI

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) April 8, 2025

IDF says it will take strong action against resurgence of reservists refusing to serve

People take part in a rally calling for a deal to release the hostages and against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, at Habima Square, April 7, 2025. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

The IDF says it will take strong action against a possible resurgence of reservists refusing to serve amid reports that Air Force commander Tomer Bar had been holding meetings in a bid to foil hundreds from signing a letter that they would do so.

Update: The letter does not call for a refusal to serve, as previously reported. 

“The IDF maintains a clear and crisp policy regarding non-reporting for reserve service,” a military official says, adding that Bar met with former senior officers planning on signing such a letter refusing to serve and highlighted the security implications of their actions.

The official acknowledges that IDF chief of Staff Eyal Zamir briefly took part in one of the meetings.

A copy of the letter that was not published shows that it called for a deal to be released to free the hostages, even at the expense of ending the war in Gaza.

It said that renewed fighting “was serving personal and not security interests.”

“The renewed fighting does not contribute to any of the declared goals and will lead to the deaths of the hostages, IDF soldiers, innocent civilians and wear down the reservists,” it says.

Netanyahu says High Court ruling on Shin Bet chief is ‘puzzling,’ will keep interviewing new candidates

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a meeting with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 7, 2025. (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

After the High Court issues an interim order keeping Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar in his position, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu office calls the ruling “puzzling.”

In a statement released from Netanyahu’s Wing of Zion plane, where the prime minister is en route back to Israel from the US, the PMO notes that the judges affirmed the government’s authority to remove the head of the Shin Bet spy agency.

“Therefore, the High Court’s decision to postpone the end of the Shin Bet’s term by 10 days is puzzling,” says the PMO.

However, the statement does not indicate whether Netanyahu will heed the ruling amid cries from cabinet members to ignore it.

The PMO disputes the judges’ position that Bar should have been given a hearing, arguing that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara did not demand that the police commissioner be given a hearing when National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir asked to dismiss him.

The PMO accuses Baharav-Miara of being motivated by a desire to prevent Bar’s firing, using the ongoing investigation by Bar into the Qatargate scandal in Netanyahu’s office as a pretext.

“It is unthinkable that the Israeli government would be prevented from removing a failed Shin Bet head from office simply because an investigation has been opened that is not related to any of the government ministers,'” argues the PMO, adding that the precedent would allow the agency’s director to open up an investigation to forestall his dismissal.

Netanyahu will continue interviewing candidates to replace Bar, says his office.

US says it is aware of Palestinian American’s killing by Israeli forces in West Bank

The US State Department says that it was aware of the killing by Israeli forces of a Palestinian American teenager in the West Bank and was seeking more information about the nature of what happened on the ground.

A State Department spokesperson makes the comments to reporters in response to a question on the killing of Omar Mohammad Rabea, 14, and the shooting of two other teenagers.

The IDF says troops opened fire on suspects throwing rocks at motorists on a highway in the area of Turmus Aya, endangering the lives of civilians.

Opposition leaders urge government to obey High Court ruling on Shin Bet chief

A court hearing on petitions against the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, April 8, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Opposition leaders are urging the government to obey the interim injunction of the High Court keeping Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar in his position until a deal can be worked out.

“They have to obey the court ruling,” says National Unity Chief Benny Gantz, adding that “not allowing the head of the Shin Bet into discussions and boycotting him is playing with lives.”

Yair Golan, head of the left-wing Democrats, warns the government against trying to evade the ruling.

“Any attempt to evade the High Court will be met by an unprecedented civil struggle by the determined democratic majority,” Golan writes. “A government that does not obey the law cannot remain in office for a single day more.”

Minister indicates government could defy interim court order on firing Shin Bet chief

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, during a discussion in the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee, December 18, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, indicates the government could defy an interim order from the High Court keeping Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar in his position for now.

“No!” he posts on X in response to a news report on the court order.

“The government has to obey the law! An obligation of loyalty to the State of Israel and its laws (!) not to an illegal order with no authority,” he writes.

The High Court of Justice issued an interim injunction stating that Bar must remain in office until further notice while the government and the attorney general’s office try to agree on how to resolve the legal dispute over his dismissal.

The court’s decision also formalizes its proposal to the government and the attorney general to reach such an agreement and gives the sides until April 20, the day after Passover, to do so.

“The ‘creative solution’ is very simple: Ronen Bar will end his term on April 10, that’s our obligation,” Karhi writes.

“What is democratic about the absolute rule of Yitzhak Amit????” he says, referring to the Supreme Court president.

Report: US only told Netanyahu it was talking with Iran after he got to DC; Trump did not promise that deal would meet PM’s demands

President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talk in the White House, before meeting the press in the Oval Office, April 7, 2025. (Avi Ohayon / GPO)

The Trump administration only told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, hours before his White House meeting with President Donald Trump, that the US was entering direct talks with Iran on its rogue nuclear program, Channel 12 reports.

Furthermore, the report says, Trump has given Netanyahu no assurances that the US will ensure Israel’s demands are met as regards the terms of an acceptable deal to thwart Iran’s nuclear weapons program, and no commitments regarding what the US might do if the talks fail or if Tehran subsequently reneges on their terms.

The report says the prime minister’s surprise visit to Washington was instigated when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Netanyahu’s team that he ought to fly out as soon as possible.

Netanyahu’s circle believed the main reason for the unexpected invitation was the tariff issue and prepared accordingly. Netanyahu, who was in Budapest, flew to the US on Sunday after making a statement at the airport noting that he would be the first world leader to meet with Trump in person about the tariffs: “This reflects the special personal connection and the special connection between the United States and Israel, which is so vital at this time,” he said.

Only when Netanyahu met Witkoff at the Blair House on Monday did Witkoff tell him the real reason he had been invited with such speed was Iran, that the US was opening negotiations with the regime on Saturday, and that it did not want to present him with a fait accompli, the report says.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff at the Blair House in Washington on April 7, 2025 (Avi Ohayon/GPO)

When Netanyahu and his team met with Trump and his team at the White House soon after, the TV report says, Trump opened their meeting with the question, “What do you have to say on Iran?”

Channel 12 says Netanyahu set out his position about the only acceptable deal with Iran being along the lines of the Libyan model, with the Iranian nuclear facilities destroyed — as he restated earlier today — and also discussed the need for military action if necessary.

Trump, for his part, indicated that there are 60 days from Saturday allocated for the talks, and said that Witkoff would keep Israel in the picture as to their progress.

However, the report says, Trump did not commit to meeting Israeli demands as regards an acceptable deal and did not give commitments regarding what the US would do, including militarily, if the talks fail or if the Iranians don’t honor any deal.

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 7, 2025. (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

Broadly speaking, indeed, the TV report summarizes, there was “no great difference” between what was said behind closed doors and what Trump and Netanyahu said publicly in the Oval Office when they emerged from their meeting.

In Gaza, Zamir tells troops he expects them to defeat Hamas’s Rafah Brigade

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir meets with troops in the southern Gaza Strip on April 8, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Visiting the southern Gaza Strip earlier today, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir tells troops he expects them to defeat Hamas’s Rafah Brigade.

“You returned to fight in the Gaza Strip, in an area where IDF troops are operating for the first time. I expect of you to defeat the Rafah Brigade and lead to victory wherever you are fighting,” Zamir says to troops in the so-called Morag Corridor area.

The IDF in September declared that Hamas’s Rafah Brigade had been defeated, although it had not operated in all areas of the city, including a large area of land between Rafah and Khan Younis, now known as the Morag Corridor.

The military says Zamir held an assessment with the head of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor and commander of the 36th Division, Brig. Gen. Moran Omer, the latter of whom is leading the offensive in the Morag Corridor.

Suspected US strikes in Yemen kill at least 2 people, Houthi rebels say

Houthi supporters chant slogans during a weekly anti-US and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, March, 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Suspected US airstrikes pounded the area around Yemen’s Red Sea port city of Hodeida tonight, killing at least two people and wounding 13 others, the Houthi rebels say.

The strikes hit around Hodeida’s al-Hawak District, home to the city’s airport, which the Iranian-backed rebels have used in the past to target shipping in the Red Sea.

Footage aired by the rebels’ al-Masirah satellite news channel shows chaotic scenes of people carrying wounded to waiting ambulances and rescuers searching by the light of their mobile phones. The target appeared in the footage to be a home in a residential neighborhood, likely part of a wider decapitation campaign launched by the Trump administration to kill rebel leaders.

Other strikes target Yemen’s mountainous Amran governorate, north of the rebel-held capital of Sanaa. There, the Houthis described American strikes hitting telecommunication equipment. Previous US strikes also targeted telecommunications gear in Amran near Jebel Aswad, or the “Black Mountain.”

The US military’s Central Command, which oversees American military operations, did not immediately acknowledge the strikes. That follows a pattern for the command, which now has authorization from the White House to conduct strikes at will in the campaign that began March 15.

The American military also hasn’t been providing any information on targets hit in the campaign. The White House has said over 200 strikes have been conducted so far.

High Court interim ruling says Netanyahu can’t fire Shin Bet chief Bar for now or limit his powers

Left: Shin Bet Chief Ronen Bar (Yonatan Sindel/Flash 90); Right: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Dudu Bachar/POOL)

The High Court of Justice issues an interim injunction stating that Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar must remain in office until further notice while the government and the attorney general’s office try to come to an agreement on how to resolve the legal dispute over his dismissal.

The court’s decision also formalizes its proposal to the government and the attorney general to reach such an agreement and gives the sides until April 20, the day after Passover, to do so.

Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs and representatives for the Attorney General’s Office appeared willing to hold a dialogue as to how to resolve the dispute, after Justice Noam Sohlberg initially suggested in court that the matter be sent to the advisory committee for senior civil service appointments for its recommendation.

The court tells the government that it cannot take any action to remove Bar from office while the interim injunction is in place, including declaring that it has found his replacement, and must not impede his authority as Shin Bet chief or change the working relations between the government and the domestic security agency.

Abbas tells Hamas to stop giving Israel ‘excuses’ in Gaza

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a conference at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Feb. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas calls on the Hamas terror group to stop giving Israel “excuses” to keep up its devastating offensive in Gaza.

Israel resumed major strikes on the Gaza Strip on March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire with Hamas.

In a statement, the Ramallah-based Palestinian presidency calls on Hamas to “cease making any irresponsible decisions to spare our people the consequences of [the Israeli] aggression.”

The statement pointed to the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. “Stop giving the occupation any excuses to continue its genocide,” it says.

It called on Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, to “adhere to the official Palestinian position and the Arab initiatives.”

Air Force chief said working to prevent publication of new letter from reservists refusing to serve

IAF chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar speaks at a pilots graduation ceremony at the Hatzerim Airbase in southern Israel, December 25, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar met this week with several reservists and veterans, including several former IAF commanders, surrounding their plans to issue a public letter calling to stop serving, according to Hebrew-language media.

Update: The letter does not call for a refusal to serve, as previously reported. 

The letter was put together by the reservists and veterans over the IDF’s resumption of fighting in Gaza — which they argue is politically motivated — as well as the advancement of the government’s judicial overhaul, the firing of Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, and attempts to remove Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, the reports say.

According to the reports, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir attended one of the meetings with Bar.

The letter has not been published, and the IDF has not yet commented. However, Channel 12 reports that hundreds of air force reservists signed the letter and had intended to publish it this morning ahead of a High Court hearing on efforts to fire Bar.

During the government’s original push for the judicial overhaul that was suspended on October 7, 2023, hundreds of reservists — with dozens of pilots among them — refused to serve in protest, saying the moves undermined democracy in Israel and cast shadows over the legitimacy of orders issued to the military.

After stormy hearing, High Court urges sides to reach compromise on firing Shin Bet chief by end of Passover

Supreme Court Chief Justice Yitzhak Amit at a hearing on petitions against the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, April 8, 2025.(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit encourages the government and the attorney general’s office to come to some form of compromise arrangement over the legal dispute surrounding the dismissal of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, at the end of an 11-hour hearing on petitions requesting the court reverse the decision.

Justice Noam Sohlberg first suggests of his own accord that the government bring the matter to the advisory committee which appoints the Shin Bet chief to give its recommendation, as the attorney general herself told the government it must do before it fired Bar.

The judges then leave the courtroom to discuss their position. Upon their return Amit suggests the two sides come to an agreement as to how to resolve the dispute by the end of the Passover holiday. However, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs, who has been present in court, insists an agreement be reached by the beginning of Passover which starts Saturday night.

“We are not setting a deadline, we are encouraging dialogue,” says Amit, adding that if the two sides fail to come to an agreement, the court will need to issue a ruling on the petitions against Bar’s dismissal.

Bar’s last day in office is supposed to be this Thursday, but it appears likely that the court will need to extend that date in order for the sides to mutually resolve the matter.

UN chief rejects new Israeli plan to control Gaza aid, says Strip is a ‘killing field’

A UN staff member stands in front of humanitarian supplies for Gaza stored at Egyptian Red Crescent warehouses storing aid for Gaza, in the Egyptian border town of El-Arish, on April 8, 2025. (Photo by Benoit Tessier / POOL / AFP)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres rejects a new Israeli proposal to control aid deliveries in Gaza, saying it risks “further controlling and callously limiting aid down to the last calorie and grain of flour.”

“Let me be clear: We will not participate in any arrangement that does not fully respect the humanitarian principles: humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality,” Guterres tells reporters.

No aid has been delivered to the Palestinian enclave of some 2.1 million people since March 2. Israel has said it would not allow the entry of all goods and supplies into Gaza until Palestinian militants Hamas release all remaining hostages.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, met with UN agencies and international aid groups last week and said it proposed “a structured monitoring and aid entry mechanism” for Gaza.

“The mechanism is designed to support aid organizations, enhance oversight and accountability, and ensure that assistance reaches the civilian population in need, rather than being diverted and stolen by Hamas,” COGAT posted on X on Sunday.

Israel last month resumed its strikes of Gaza after a two-month truce and sent troops back into the enclave.

“Gaza is a killing field – and civilians are in an endless death loop,” says Guterres as he again called for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, a permanent ceasefire, and full humanitarian access in Gaza.

No longer shunned, far-right Ben Gvir to visit US, eyeing official meetings

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir leads Otzma Yehudit faction meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem on March 24, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is slated to visit the United States after the upcoming Passover holiday, a source familiar with the matter tells to the Times of Israel.

Ben Gvir will make stops in Washington and Florida, the source says, adding that the minister is aiming to meeting with US officials, Republican influencers and Jewish community leaders.

This will be the leader of the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party’s first trip to the United States as a representative of the Israeli government as well as his first visit since his childhood. According to the Maariv daily, Ben Gvir was invited to meet with counterparts at the Department of Homeland Security, but the source tells The Times of Israel no meetings have been finalized.

The upcoming trip represents a marked shift in Washington’s approach to the far right firebrand, who was effectively boycotted by the administration of former President Joe Biden. While the Biden White House ultimately refrained from doing it, the administration had at one point considered sanctioning Ben Gvir.

Last November, Washington condemned Ben Gvir after photos emerged showing the hardliner paying his respects at the grave of extremist rabbi Meir Kahane.

Ben Gvir, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, has previously attempted to distance himself from his association with Kahane, who headed the proscribed ultra-nationalist group Kach before his death at the hands of an assassin in 1990.

“As we’ve said on previous and similar occasions, celebrating the legacy of a terrorist and a terrorist organization is abhorrent. We strongly condemn any attempt to whitewash acts of terrorism,” a State Department spokesperson said at the time.

Ben Gvir, who has previously been convicted for incitement to racism and supporting a terror organization, has himself threatened people with his own personal handgun on more than one occasion.

In December 2021, the Knesset security chief summoned him for a talk after he brandished a pistol during an argument with Arab parking attendants in Tel Aviv. The following October, he again brandished a gun during a tour of an East Jerusalem neighborhood at a time of intense clashes between Jewish Israelis and Palestinians.

US energy secretary sees tighter sanctions on Iran without deal

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright says that Iran can expect tighter sanctions if it does not come to an agreement with President Donald Trump on its nuclear program.

“So absolutely, I would expect very tight sanctions on Iran, and hopefully drive them to abandon their nuclear program,” Wright says in an interview with CNBC.

Wright on Wednesday will launch a nearly two-week tour of three Middle East countries, including Saudi Arabia, marking his first visit as a US official to the de facto leader of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

In Egypt, Macron says Gaza aid resumption top priority as situation ‘intolerable’

French President Emmanuel Macron (CR), Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi (R) and France's Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot (CL) listen to Dr Amal Emam, CEO of the Egyptian Red Crescent (2nd L), as they visit Egyptian Red Crescent warehouses storing aid for Gaza, in the Egyptian border town of El-Arish, Egypt, on April 8, 2025. (Photo by Benoit Tessier / POOL / AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron, during a visit to Egypt, urges the immediate resumption of aid to Gaza and condemns an Israeli attack on medics.

“The situation today is intolerable,” Macron says in the city of El-Arish near the border with Gaza, calling for “the resumption of humanitarian aid as quickly as possible” to the territory.

He also “strongly condemned” an Israeli attack on paramedics and aid workers last month. Israel says 6 of the 15 killed were Hamas operatives.

Dutch Foreign Minister summons Israeli ambassador over Gaza

Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Caspar Veldkamp has summoned the Israeli ambassador in the Netherlands over the situation in Gaza, the government says in a statement.

It adds that the meeting will be held on Wednesday.

Netanyahu says Iran deal will only work if nuclear facilities blown up, otherwise military force needed

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in a video message before departing Washington on April 8, 2025. (Screenshot/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that a deal between the US and Tehran can only work if Iran’s nuclear facilities are physically blown up and dismantled.

After a White House visit in which he found himself unexpectedly and publicly out of sync with US President Donald Trump on key issues, Netanyahu tries to put a positive spin on the visit while laying out his positions on Iran nuclear talks, trade tariffs, and tensions with Turkey.

On Iran, Netanyahu says in a Hebrew video statement that he and Trump “agree that Iran will not have nuclear weapons. This can be done by agreement, but only if the agreement is a Libya-style agreement,” he says, whereby those responsible “go in, blow up the facilities, dismantle all the equipment, under American supervision with American execution. That is good,” says Netanyahu.

He says that this goal can be achieved diplomatically, but only if it is similar to the 2003 nuclear disarmament of Libya, during which US forces destroyed or shipped out the components of the country’s nuclear program. “We go in, blow up the facilities, dismantle all the equipment, under American supervision and American execution — that is good,” says Netanyahu.

“A second possibility is that this does not happen” and Iran “simply drags out talks. And then the option is military. Everyone understands this,” he says, adding that he and Trump discussed that eventuality at length.

On tariffs, Netanyahu says he is committed to reducing the trade deficit with the US to zero.

“This is the least we can do for the United States and its president, who do so much for us,” says Netanyahu.

Turning to Syria, Netanyahu says that Turkey wants to establish military bases there, and “this is a danger to Israel.”

“We oppose this, we are working against this. I told President Trump, who is my friend, also a friend of Erdogan: ‘If we need your help – we will talk to you about it.'”

Trump praised Erdogan at length during their Oval Office meeting yesterday.

Netanyahu’s stresses that Israel remains committed to eliminating Hamas, and bringing home all the hostages.

“The president looked at me and said to the reporters there: ‘This man is working all the time to free the hostages,” says Netanyahu, referring to Monday’s statements in the Oval Office. “I hope that with this, he has shattered the lie that is spread all the time in the news that I am not working for them, that I do not care.”

“It was a very good visit, “he insists, “a very warm visit, and there are other things you’ll hear about later.”

Police, Shin Bet probing suspected settler arson attack on Palestinian wedding hall

A Palestinian man walks past graffiti reading in Hebrew: "Revenge (R), Fight the enemy, not the ally (L)", in a building after a reported attack by Israeli settlers, in the town of Sadya near the West Bank city of Salfit on April 8, 2025. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

West Bank police and the Shin Bet are investigating a suspected arson attack by settlers last night on a Palestinian wedding hall.

Spokespeople for the agencies say they received a report earlier today “that several Israeli citizens set fire to a Palestinian event hall during the night, adjacent to the village of Bidya.”

Settlers are also said to have vandalized walls throughout the central West Bank town. Photos posted to social media show graffiti reading “Revenge,” “Death to Arabs,” and “Fight the enemy, not the friend.”

Security forces arrived at the scene the next day; no injuries were reported.

Trump envoy says Hezbollah ‘a cancer,’ they can’t sit in new Lebanese government

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets with US deputy special envoy for Middle East peace Morgan Ortagus, center, and US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa A. Johnson at the presidential palace in Baabda, in east of Beirut, Lebanon, April 5, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)

In two interviews, Morgan Ortagus, the US deputy special presidential envoy to the Middle East, criticizes Hezbollah, calling the group “a cancer” and saying the group must be disarmed as soon as possible.

In an interview with the Saudi channel Al Arabiya, Ortagus describes Hezbollah as a “cancer.” “When you have cancer in the body, you don’t just treat part of it — you cut it all out,” she says.

She adds: “Lebanese leaders can either choose to let Lebanon decline further into the abyss or take back their country. If they make the hard decision, they will have US support.”

The interviews followed Ortagus’s second visit to Lebanon, during which she met with the newly elected Lebanese president and prime minister, as well as members of parliament and other government officials.

In another interview with the Lebanese channel LBCI, the envoy says it was personally important to her that Hezbollah not be represented in the newly formed Lebanese government.

However, regarding the possibility of normalization between Israel and Lebanon, she states that the topic did not come up in her meetings with Lebanese officials. “You have to crawl before you can run — we’re still in the crawling stage,” she says.

Hebrew U student protest calls for end of war in Gaza, ‘stop the genocide’

Dozens of students take part in a protest at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, calling for an end to the war in Gaza and accusing Israel of committing genocide.

Footage from the scene shows students holding signs reading “stop the genocide” and “stop the war” and chanting in Arabic.

Many of the students wear Palestinian keffiyehs.

״האוניברסיטה העברית״ בירושלים הכבושה- הפגנה של תאי הסטודנטים נגד הטבח בע׳זה ב״אוניברסיטה העברית״. pic.twitter.com/LIPuKtBVBD

— رسالة – רסאלה (@RISALA_2) April 8, 2025

At the same time, a protest was held at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, a Palestinian town east of Jerusalem.

According to Palestinian media, it was a demonstration of solidarity by students with the residents of Gaza.

Videos show the protest being dispersed by Israeli police forces using tear gas and stun grenades.

There was no immediate comment from police.

At High Court, petitioner acuses Netanyahu of trying to turn Shin Bet into ‘the Stasi’

Supreme Court Chief Justice Yitzhak Amit at a hearing on petitions against the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, April 8, 2025.(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Head of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, attorney Eliad Shraga, accuses the prime minister and the government of trying to turn the Shin Bet domestic security agency into “the Stasi,” the feared secret police force in Communist East Germany.

Addressing the High Court of Justice in the hearing over the government’s firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, Shraga also alleges that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to install a new head of the service who would be specifically loyal to him.

Shraga also denounces the severe disturbance to proceedings at the beginning of the hearing, expressing concern for his own safety and wondering aloud if lawyers would need to bring weapons to the next hearing.

“It can’t be that the subject of an investigation can wake up one morning and fire his investigator,” says Shraga in reference to the Qatargate scandal, although it is Netanyahu’s close aides, not the prime minister himself, who are suspects in that case.

Shraga also references a declaration sent by Bar to the court ahead of the hearing in which he alleged that Netanyahu asked him to tell the Jerusalem District Court presiding over his criminal trial that security concerns prevented him from testifying regularly.

And the attorney pointed to comments by Netanyahu’s representative in court Zion Amir about what he said was Bar’s failure to tackle IDF service refusal during the judicial overhaul protests, in the months before the October 7 attacks.

“They want the Shin Bet chief to use its tools against people who ceased their voluntary service, who were protesting. Is this not the Stasi? This is what the Shin Bet needs to do, to employ invasive tools against IDF soldiers?” asked Shraga.

He also denounced the chaotic scenes earlier in the court when an uproar broke out in the courtroom forcing the judges to halt the proceedings for over an hour, describing it as “a day which will be remembered as an eternal disgrace,” and that the disruption of the proceedings was akin to “bringing an idol into the sanctuary.”

Said Shraga “This was the embodiment of a disgrace, and shameful. The fortress walls fell and were breached, an incited mob broke into the courtroom and desecrated the holy of holies of democracy in Israel.

“In 35 years in the courtroom, I have never seen a spectacle like that which has taken place here in this courtroom. A mob trying to terrorize Supreme Court justices. As lawyers, we cannot go to the bathroom in the Supreme Court, they call us traitors. Shall we come to the next trial with weapons?”

Attorney Boaz Arad representing the Movement for Integrity in Government in his presentation read off a reel of what he said were procedural violations by the government in firing Bar.

Arad said that the government had ignored instructions from the Attorney General’s Office on how to conduct the dismissal of Bar, while also failing to specifically detail what the reasons were for the government’s loss of faith in him in order to enable Bar to defend himself in a cabinet hearing.

“The failure to demonstrate one example of the lack of trust testifies to the rash behavior ahead of [Bar’s] dismissal… and reflects the anger of the prime minister towards the head of the Shin Bet that he continued investigations into his advisers and violated what he sees as the obligation of personal trust which the head of the Shin Bet owes the prime minister,” says Arad.

“The prime minister doesn’t want trust in the head of the Shin Bet but loyalty without limit.”

In growing rift over tariffs, Musk slams senior Trump trade adviser as a ‘moron’

Demonstrators gather outside the Minnesota State Capitol during the nationwide "Hands Off!" protest against US President Donald Trump and his advisor, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, in St. Paul, Minnesota, on April 5, 2025. (Photo by Tim Evans / AFP)

Elon Musk describes Peter Navarro, a senior White House trade adviser, as “truly a moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks” in a growing rift over Donald Trump’s tariff policy.

Musk, a key aide to the president, has signaled opposition to the tariffs, and the Tesla CEO hit out after Navarro described him as “not a car manufacturer” but “a car assembler.”

After appeal, IDF releases ex-chief of staff Halevi’s Oct. 7 schedule

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi holds an assessment at the IDF Southern Command in Beersheba, October 8, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

For the first time, the IDF releases former chief of staff Herzi Halevi’s schedule, revealing meetings held on October 7, 2023, following Hamas’s attack.

The release follows a Freedom of Information petition by the nonprofit Hatzlacha – For the Advancement of a Fair Society, after the army failed to respond to the request for over a year.

The petition, filed in February 2024, requested Halevi’s administrative diary from October 2023 onward. Despite repeated inquiries, the IDF remained silent for months and only issued a partial response at the court’s final deadline, providing entries for the last three months of 2023.

The schedule omits any mention of meetings with journalists, despite the petition’s explicit request.

The IDF claims that not everything was documented due to the initial shock of Hamas’s onslaught.

According to the schedule, Halevi’s first meeting on October 7 was at 7 a.m., half an hour after Hamas’s initial attack, for a situational assessment. He only met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at 9:45 a.m.

In addition, Halevi held a security briefing on the evening of October 5, just 36 hours before the beginning of the war, on the IDF’s war preparedness.

This marks the first known instance of an IDF chief of staff’s diary being disclosed under Israel’s Freedom of Information Law.

The Tel Aviv District Court criticized the state’s conduct during the delay.

In response to such criticisms, the IDF says, “In light of the numerous security challenges and the complex operational reality, an extended period of time was required to formulate a response to the request, which demanded the attention of professional bodies, including information security officials.”

Iranian officials say they won’t dismantle nuclear, missile programs, citing threat from Israel

Missile fire in a drill by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, January 15, 2021. (IRGC/Sepahnews via AP)

Iranian officials tell Reuters that US President Donald Trump’s aims for the upcoming talks are unacceptable to Tehran.

They say that beyond the nuclear issue, the US wanted to push other issues too, including Iranian influence across the Middle East and its ballistic missiles program, which they said were off the table.

“Trump wants a new deal: end Iran’s regional influence, dismantle its nuclear program and halt its missile work. These are unacceptable to Tehran. Our nuclear program cannot be dismantled,” a senior Iranian official says.

“Our defense is non-negotiable. How can Tehran disarm when Israel has nuclear warheads? Who protects us if Israel or others strike?” says another official.

US stocks open higher as global stocks rally, Dow +3.5%

A woman checks her phone in front of an electronic sign board showing the closing price of the Heng Seng Index in Hong Kong on April 8, 2025. Asian and European markets battled on April 8 to recover from the previous day's tariff-fuelled collapse, though Donald Trump's warning of more measures against China and Beijing's vow to "fight to the end" raised concerns of a spiralling trade war. (Photo by Peter PARKS / AFP)

Wall Street stocks surge higher as global markets rallied following deep losses in hopes of trade agreements that would remove US President Trump’s heavy tariffs.

All three major US indices were up more than three percent in opening trading as Trump described an upbeat call with the head of South Korea while US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Japan had sought quick negotiations.

Zelensky says Ukraine captured two Chinese nationals fighting for Russia

President Volodymyr Zelensky says that Ukrainian troops had captured two Chinese citizens fighting alongside Russian forces and said Kyiv would demand an explanation from Beijing and a reaction from allies.

“Our military captured two Chinese citizens who fought in the Russian army. This happened on the territory of Ukraine — in the Donetsk region. We have the documents of these prisoners, bank cards and personal data,” Zelensky says in a post on social media that included images of one of the alleged Chinese prisoners.

Our military has captured two Chinese citizens who were fighting as part of the Russian army. This happened on Ukrainian territory—in the Donetsk region. Identification documents, bank cards, and personal data were found in their possession.

We have information suggesting that… pic.twitter.com/ekBr6hCkQL

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 8, 2025

Knesset committee vote to chose candidate for AG oversight group cancelled after deadlock

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends the swearing in ceremony of Justice Isaac Amit as president of the Supreme Court, at the Israeli President's residence in Jerusalem, February 13, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism) cancels a planned vote to choose the Knesset’s representative on the five-member public committee that is responsible for appointing the attorney general and plays a substantial role in her dismissal process as well.

The discussion and vote are first postponed and then cancelled after the coalition fails to agree on a single compromise candidate out of several coalition lawmakers who submitted their candidacies for the role.

The committee comprises a former Supreme Court justice chosen by the president of the Supreme Court with the agreement of the justice minister; a former justice minister or attorney general chosen by the government; an MK chosen by the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee; a representative of the Israel Bar Association (IBA); and a law professor chosen by the deans of Israel’s university law faculties.

Last month, the cabinet voted unanimously in favor of a no-confidence motion against Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, in a move designed by the government to hasten her dismissal from office.

The committee is currently missing a former justice minister or attorney general and an MK. Filling these empty spots is a necessary prerequisite to ousting Baharav-Miara, as the cabinet resolution that governs the process explicitly states that the matter must be discussed by the committee before it is brought to the government.

In a statement to the press, a spokesperson for the committee says that “the selection process is starting over” and that a new date for the vote will be set, “which will be published at least two weeks in advance, and nominations will be allowed up to a week before the selection date.”

22 reported hurt as bus overturns in Rishon Lezion

At least 22 people have been hospitalized after a public bus overturned while traversing a traffic circle in Rishon Lezion, the Magen David Adom rescue service says.

One woman, 35, is listed in moderate condition, while the others were lightly hurt, MDA says.

The circumstances of the crash remain unclear, but a video appears to show the bus landing on its side after somehow driving through the center of the roundabout.

*תיעוד דרמטי מהתהפכות האוטובוס בעיר ראשון לציון*????

(יאיר שילון)

*בראשית החדשות*???? pic.twitter.com/gz5kc0wxHL

— ☚????????✡ מוֹן, דָּנִיאֵל מוֹן ✡????????☛ (@fvR6KfG7JChnun6) April 8, 2025

Meanwhile, a van that caught fire on Route 1 near the Latrun interchange has sparked traffic chaos after authorities briefly blocked the main highway connecting Tel Aviv to the capital.

Police say officers are working on restoring traffic. No injuries are reported.

Polls finds support for government disobeying court order on Bar firing

More than a third of Jewish Israelis believe that the government should not obey a potential High Court order reserving the firing of Shin Bet security service chief Ronen Bar, a new poll by the Israel Democracy Institute finds.

Despite the opposition to the judiciary on the right, the poll appears to reflect a significant increase in support for disregarding its ruling on the right, a view previously thought to remain beyond the pale — and which could precipitate a constitutional crisis.

According to the survey of almost 750 Hebrew and Arabic speakers carried out over the past week, 54% of Jews believe that the government should obey the court while 36% believe it should not.

Among Arabs, 71% believe that the government should obey the court and 8% believe it should not. Among the general population, 56.5% believe the court’s ruling should be obeyed versus 31% who believe it should not.

96.5% of those on the left and 73% on the political right believe that the court should be obeyed while on 32% agree with this position on the right — and, going by voting patterns from the 2022 Knesset election, “no right-wing party has a majority in favor of obeying the High Court of Justice,” IDI says.

Last month, the government fired Bar, stating that he would vacate the position by April 10. However, he remains in his post after a temporary injunction was imposed on his dismissal by the High Court of Justice, which today is hearing petitions against the firing.

Members of Netanyahu’s cabinet have declined to confirm that they would obey a ruling against the government. Netanyahu has argued that the court cannot intervene on such a decision since appointing and firing the head of the Shin Bet is a security issue in which, by tradition and precedent, the court almost always declines to involve itself, on the grounds that it lacks expertise over such matters.

Russian parliament okays defense treaty with Iran

Russia’s lower house of parliament has voted to ratify a treaty to deepen political, military and economic ties with Iran.

Amid deepening military cooperation over the last three years, Iran has been accused by Kyiv and the West of supplying weapons, including self-detonating “Shahed” drones, to Russia for its campaign against Ukraine.

In the treaty, the sides agree to help each other counter common “security threats,” but it stops short of a mutual defense pact like the one signed between Russia and North Korea last year.

“The signing of the treaty does not mean the establishment of a military alliance with Iran or mutual military assistance,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko says in an address to the State Duma.

Instead, the treaty states that if either side is subjected to aggression, the other will not provide “assistance to the aggressor.”

The comprehensive strategic partnership deal was signed by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Masoud Pezeshkian in January, with votes in Moscow’s rubber-stamp parliament necessary before it can come into force.

After protests, justices briefly hear from lawyer for bereaved backing Bar’s ouster

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit allows a legal representative of families whose relatives were killed on October 7 to express their opposition to petitions against the government’s decision to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.

Amit’s decision to grant attorney Yehudah Puah 10 minutes to plead his case follows chaotic scenes in the court earlier after a bereaved father denounced the court for hearing the petitions that could result in Bar remaining in his position against the government’s will, leading to an uproar in the courtroom and outside it as protesters accused the court of lacking the authority to overturn the firing.

Puah accuses Bar of negligence, which he says resulted in the deaths of the children of his clients.

“He should have been fired on October 8. The fact that the government didn’t do what it should have done until now is a crime, but it can’t be that the Shin Bet chief who didn’t issue warnings despite the intelligence he received is still in office,” says Puah.

“After the government makes the decision [to fire Bar], at the very least, the decision should come into effect.”

Citing procedural issues over Bar firing, justices appear to put government on defensive

The judges on the High Court of Justice panel hearing petitions on the government’s dismissal of Shin Bet head Ronen Bar appear skeptical of the government’s position that its authority under the law allows it to fire the security chief regardless of circumstance, pointing to several procedural flaws in the manner in which the decision was made, as the court reconvenes after a short recess for lunch.

Attorney Zion Amir, representing the prime minister and the government, argues that the government has “total authority” under the law to hire and fire the head of the Shin Bet, but both conservative judge Noam Sohlberg and liberal judge Daphne Barak Erez point out that the obligations and principles of administrative law still apply.

“This court has held since the 1960s that no [government] body has total discretion,” Barak Erez tells Amir.

Sohlberg and Barak Erez point out that Bar was not given sufficient time to prepare for a disciplinary hearing in front of the government, nor was he presented with a concrete list of the complaints against him.

And Supreme Court President Isaac Amit points out that a senior public office holder at the level of the Shin Bet chief has never before been fired by the government.

Amir counters that the security situation in Israel following October 7 is also unprecedented.

Amit also opines that he believes the attorney general’s opinion that the decision to fire Bar needed to be brought to the advisory committee for senior appointment was “correct,” essentially piling on further procedural questions over Bar’s firing.

Sohlberg says during the hearing that he would have wanted to hear from Bar himself to clarify aspects of the case, since “none of the eight petitioners have provided a factual infrastructure which I, as a judge, can rely on.”

Attorney Aner Helman, representing the attorney general, tells the court that Bar can come to the court within 30 minutes to address the judges in a closed-door session if the judges so wish.

Iran foreign minister says no plans for direct nuclear talks with US

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Tehran is insisting on indirect talks with the US on its nuclear program due to concerns that Washington would use direct talks to impose pressure or use threats to reach its goals, and says there are no plans for the talks to become direct in the future.

Speaking to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency from Algeria, Araghchi also says Tehran is willing to make “confidence-building” concessions in exchange for sanctions relief.

“Our main goal in the talks is naturally restoring the rights of people as well as lifting sanctions and if the other side has a real will, this is achievable, and it has no relation to the method, either direct or indirect,” Araghchi says.

“For the time being, indirect is our preference. And we have no plan to alter it to direct.”

Araghchi also says Tehran will not follow a so-called Libyan model, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred on Monday to the northern African country’s 2003 decision to fully dismantle its program in the face of Western threats, despite not receiving any security or financial concessions.

Netanyahu, who has opposed nuclear talks with Iran, said during an Oval Office visit Monday that an agreement “the way it was done in Libya… would be a good thing.”

“That will never come true,” Araghchi says.

Israeli IT group SQLink inks NIS 20 million deal for Ra’anana product design firm

Israeli IT services consultancy group SQLink buys product design firm PitangoUX at a company valuation of NIS 20 million ($5.3 million).

Ramat Gan-based SQLink says PitangoUX will be integrated into the IT group but remain an independent company, to offer its customers advanced user experience and user interface design services tailored to improve the user-friendliness of their products.

Since it was founded in 1994 by CEO Tamir Goren as a software firm, SQLink has expanded its pool of IT services and offers technology solutions and services, in the areas of digital and software development, AI, data analytics, business intelligence, big data, cybersecurity, QA and automation and IT infrastructure.

The group has 2,800 employees who supply IT computer services to Israel’s largest companies, banks, financial institutions, and government ministries, including Bank Hapoalim, Migdal, Phoenix, Amdocs, Microsoft, Cisco, Bezeq, Israel Electric Co., Teva, Strauss and the IDF.

“The digital world is based on user experience that often determines the fate of a product or a company, and whether it will be a success or failure,” says Shali Mehrez, SQLink VP of Technologies and Business Development.

Founded in 2005, Ra’anana-based PitangoUX says it has assisted and worked with over 750 startups and tech companies in the Israeli high-tech industry alongside global tech firms and government organizations including Playtika, Iron Source, Elbit Systems, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Mastercard, Altshuler Shaham, the IDF’s elite intelligence Unit 8200, Ichilov and Soroka Hospitals, and the Tel Aviv Municipality. The firm employs 65 workers.

Likud MK Ofir Katz named to judge oversight panel

MK Ofir Katz, chairman of the Knesset House Committee, leads a hearing, March 12, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Knesset House Committee has selected its chairman, Ofir Katz, as its representative on the committee that chooses the state ombudsman for judges.

The judicial ombudsman oversees disciplinary procedures against judges. Last month, the Knesset passed a law dramatically changing how the position is filled, creating a new seven-member committee tasked only with the appointment.

The law is widely seen as giving lawmakers a greater say in how the justice system is run.

The committee for appointing the ombudsman comprises seven members including the justice minister, who will chair the panel; the labor minister; an MK to be chosen by the Knesset; a retired judge to be chosen by the Supreme Court; a retired judge to be chosen by the presidents of the district courts; a retired rabbinical courts judge to be chosen by the chief rabbis; and the public defender.

Any member of the committee will be empowered to nominate two candidates. The committee will then choose a new ombudsman based on a majority vote.

The choice of Katz, a Likud MK who is also coalition whip, comes after Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party announced that it had withdrawn its lawmakers’ candidacies for spots on the committee and a second panel tasked with appointing the attorney general because it would “not take part in the continued systematic destruction of the judicial system and the dismantling of the status of gatekeepers.”

The Knesset Constitution Committee is slated to select the Knesset’s representative on the attorney general selection committee this afternoon.

Report: Hezbollah looking to start smuggling in weapons via sea

Diggers remove earth at the blast site next to the silos at the port of Beirut on August 16, 2020, in the aftermath of the massive August 4 explosion there that ravaged Lebanon's capital. (Anwar Amro/AFP)

An Arabic-language report citing a Western official claims that the Hezbollah terror group is using a naval route to smuggle weapons from Iran to Lebanon, after its overland and air conduits were largely shut down.

According to the report in the Saudi al-Hadath news outlet, Hezbollah is reasserting control over Beirut’s seaport, which was largely destroyed in a gargantuan 2020 blast when ammonium nitrate stored at the site caught fire, creating an explosion that killed hundreds and caused damage across the Lebanese capital.

Attempts to investigate Hezbollah’s role in storing the explosives at the civilian site have been repeatedly stymied by politicians and other figures connected to the terror group.

The Western source quoted in the report expresses fears that Hezbollah’s resumed use of the port could put its operations in danger as the country attempts to recover from Israel’s military campaign against the Iranian proxy last year.

Iran’s use of Syria as an overland route to smuggle weapons is thought to have ended with the fall of Bashar Assad late last year. Israel has also threatened to put Beirut’s international airport out of service if it is used to bring in Iranian arms, as Hezbollah looks to re-arm following the war.

The report names a number of Hezbollah and Iranian officials it says are involved in the attempts to establish the maritime route, including figures from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force.

Russia cheers on US-Iran nuke talks

The Kremlin says Russia backs both direct and indirect talks between Iran and the US over Tehran’s nuclear program that it predicts could lead to a de-escalation of tensions between the two sides.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterates Russia’s support for a diplomatic and political settlement.

On Monday, US President Donald Trump announced what he called direct, high-level contacts set to take place on April 12. Iran describes the talks, planned to occur in Oman, as indirect.

Russia and Iran have deepened their diplomatic and military ties since Moscow ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022. Russia has previously offered to help facilitate talks between Tehran and Washington.

Earlier, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev predicted more countries would get nuclear weapons in the coming years, blaming the West for pushing the world toward the brink of World War III by waging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.

Diplomats say the remarks from the anti-Western Kremlin hawk give an indication of thinking at the top levels of the Kremlin elite.

“The situation is such that even with the complete cessation of the conflict over so-called ‘Ukraine,’ nuclear disarmament in the coming decades is impossible,” Medvedev wrote on his official Telegram channel.

“The world will create new, more destructive types of weapons, and new countries will acquire nuclear arsenals.”

Gantz says ‘heartbreaking’ court rumpus a window into government-wrought rifts

National Unity party chief Benny Gantz decries protest that loudly disrupted a High Court hearing on the termination of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, saying the chaos presents a picture “of a state and a society being torn apart” and a “government that does everything to tear us apart.”

In a post on Instagram, Gantz calls the incident “heartbreaking.”

Court president says Netanyahu raised conflict of interest worries over Bar

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit alleges that comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had created concerns that he had a conflict of interest in firing Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, since Netanyahu stated that indictments against his aides for mishandling classified documents were politically motivated to harm him.

Amit, presiding over a hearing on petitions seeking to block Bar’s firing, makes the comments in response to Netanyahu’s legal representative, attorney Zion Amir, who dismisses claims that the firing creates a conflict of interest due to the Shin Bet’s involvement in probes against the officials as “vacuous” and without foundation.

“The prime minister inserted himself into this, he said the indictments ‘are against [the aides], but the purpose is to harm me, it’s a witch hunt,'” says Amit.

Amir responds by saying that Bar’s involvement in a subsequent investigation into alleged work for Qatar by Netanyahu’s aides was itself a conflict of interest for the Shin Bet chief since he knew he was about to be fired.

“This cries out to the heavens,” he says.

West Bank cousins handed life in prison for deadly 2024 terror spree in Ra’anana

Israeli security forces work at the site of a Palestinian car-ramming and stabbing attack at a bus stop, in Ra'anana, January 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

The Lod District Court has sentenced two perpetrators of a 2024 car-ramming and stabbing attack, which killed an elderly woman, to life imprisonment plus 60 additional years.

Cousins Ahmed Zidat, 25, and Mahmoud Zidat, 44, were convicted of repeatedly ramming vehicles into pedestrians across several locations throughout Ra’anana on January 15, 2024. The terror attack killed 79-year-old Edna Bluestein and injured at least 17 others.

The perpetrators, from the southern West Bank town of Bani Naim, had been working in the Ra’anana industrial zone without proper documentation. The two pleaded guilty and were convicted in July 2024 on terror charges including aggravated murder, attempted murder, causing injury and other offenses.

Ra’anana resident Edna Bluestein, 79, was killed in a terror attack in the central city on January 15, 2024. (Courtesy)

According to an indictment filed by prosecutors in February 2024, both identified with the Hamas terror group and had planned other terror attacks in the past. They carried out their rampage using three cars in separate parts of the city.

Ahmed rammed into one pedestrian at high speed, exited his wrecked vehicle, then hijacked another car to run into two other pedestrians. He again got out of the car and began stabbing one of his victims.

Mahmoud, meanwhile, spotted a crowded bus stop and rammed his car into those waiting there, running over 18 people, including Bluestein.

IDF dissolves platoon, punishes commanders after reservists vandalize West Bank camp

Inflammatory graffiti by IDF soldiers in the West Bank, depicting an Israeli flag over two rifles and an Arabic phrase, unknown date. (screen capture: Twitter, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

The IDF has dismantled a platoon of reservists and dismissed several officers for vandalizing Palestinian property during a raid in the Deheisha refugee camp near Bethlehem last week.

During a counter-terror raid in the camp on April 2, soldiers “graffitied slogans on buildings in the village, as well as vandalized equipment, in a way that exceeds the procedures and commands given prior to the operation,” the IDF says.

The operation was halted, the graffiti was covered up, and the commander of the West Bank division. Brig. Gen. Yaki Dolf and commander of the Etzion Regional Brigade, Col. Gal Rich, launched an investigation.

The findings are handed to IDF Central Command Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, who says the “grave” incident “contradicts the level of professionalism and values expected of IDF soldiers.”

IDF soldiers operate in the West Bank, in a photo cleared for publication on April 3, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says the commander of the battalion whose troops carried out the vandalism was reprimanded, and it will go on his permanent record; a company commander who was present during the incident was dismissed from his role; another company commander was reprimanded; two additional commanders and several soldiers involved in the incident were all dismissed.

In addition, the IDF says the platoon involved in the vandalism was dismantled.

Coalition lawmakers back protesters behind High Court ruckus

Activists hold posters with writing reading "Rule of the people Not rule of the High Court" as they stage a demonstration against the power of the judiciary outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Justice Minister Yariv Levin and other members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet appear to back protesters who loudly disrupted a High Court hearing on the termination of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, forcing a lengthy delay in the proceedings.

“The cries heard today in the Supreme Court hall echo the cries of millions, whose rights are being trampled on and whose democratic choice they made at the ballot box is being taken from them by a handful of arrogant and detached judges,” states Levin.

“For decades, this has been done quietly, with the appearance of respectability, and when the voices of criticism have been immediately silenced,” he continues. “Over the past two years, since I laid the legal reform on the table, the truth has come to light. The people, who are asking for true freedom on the eve of Passover, can no longer be silenced.”

Tuesday morning’s hearing was repeatedly interrupted by protesters, including Likud MK Tally Gotliv, who argued that she could not be removed because she has parliamentary immunity. She was ejected from the courtroom after she immediately interrupted the proceedings upon their resumption following an hour-long recess called due to the protests.

Likud MK Tally Gotliv pictured as the High Court of Justice hears petitions against the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar in Jerusalem, April 8, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Culture Minister Miki Zohar also blamed the judges for the disruptions, stating that while “the scenes from the Supreme Court this morning are difficult, they are the result of judicial activism that has been increasing for many years.”

“It is clear that a large part of our people is no longer willing to accept conduct that is contrary to all democratic values,” he says.

Education Minister Yoav Kisch, meanwhile, tweets that “When the High Court takes upon itself powers of the Knesset and the government, powers that are not its own, it is natural that many citizens will feel that this is the place where they are supposed to cry out.”

Instead of dismissing the petitions against Bar’s firing, the justices are “continuing the discussion on a matter where the law is clear to everyone,” he adds. “The head of the Shin Bet must end his duties on April 10.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who had pushed for Bar’s firing, argues that it is “regrettable that the head of the Shin Bet is clinging to the horns of the altar, instead of taking the hint and going home.”

“He tries time and time again to stay in power in his position. It is not democratic, it is not professional – and it will not succeed,” he declares in a video message.

Across the aisle, Yair Golan, the chairman of the opposition The Democrats party, tweets that Netanyahu’s “poison machine entered the Supreme Court with the aim of terrorizing the judges — this is how the mafia operates.”

Palestinian woman shot by troops after alleged stone-throwing, attempted stabbing

A Palestinian woman who allegedly hurled stones at soldiers and Israeli vehicles at the Gitai Avisar junction near the large West Bank settlement of Ariel, and tried to carry out a stabbing, was shot by troops, the military says.

According to the IDF, the soldiers opened fire on the woman after she drew a knife on them.

The condition of the woman is unclear. There are no other injuries as a result of the incident.

Lapid says PM exploiting bereaved for ‘orchestrated riot’ in court, party won’t join judge oversight panel

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies of using families who lost soldiers on October 7 or in the ensuing war to push his political agenda and undermine judicial proceedings after a High Court hearing over petitions against the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar is disrupted by protesters, including a bereaved father and Likud MK Tally Gotliv.

“The orchestrated riot at the Supreme Court and the shameful exploitation of the pain of bereaved families by Netanyahu and his people is a pathetic move by the criminal October 7 government that is trying to harm the rule of law and our joint life in Israel,” Lapid states.

His Yesh Atid party also announces that it has withdrawn its lawmakers’ candidacies for spots on the committees to appoint the attorney general and the state ombudsman for judges, stating that “it will not take part in the continued systematic destruction of the judicial system and the dismantling of the status of gatekeepers.”

“In light of today’s events, in which the government once again puts political considerations first, the party will not be a party to the coalition’s improper and forceful moves, and will not cooperate with any attempt to act in a terrifying manner and to disparage Israeli democracy,” Yesh Atid says in a statement.

The judicial ombudsman oversees disciplinary procedures against judges. Last month, the Knesset passed a law dramatically changing how the position is filled, creating a new seven-member committee tasked only with the appointment.

The Knesset House Committee and Knesset Constitution Committee are due to select the Knesset’s representatives for the ombudsman and attorney general selection committees this afternoon.

Settlers accused of burning down wedding hall, painting ‘death to Arabs’ in West Bank village

Palestinians say Israeli settlers set fire to a wedding hall in the central West Bank village of Bidya overnight.

Footage from the scene shows a blaze raging through the building.

Pictures also show graffiti sprayed on walls in the town, reading “Revenge,” “Death to Arabs,” and “Fight the enemy, not the friend.”

https://x.com/PalHighlight/status/1909477555645956455

No injuries are reported in the incident.

An Israeli report says police have opened an investigation, but there is no immediate confirmation from Israeli authorities.

High Court kicks out Likud MK after she heckles court again moments after reconvening

Likud MK Tally Gotliv pictured as the High Court of Justice hears petitions against the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar in Jerusalem, April 8, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)

In an unprecedented scene, High Court president Isaac Amit orders MK Tally Gotliv to be removed from a hearing on petitions against the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar after she immediately interrupts the resumed proceedings.

Amit had just reconvened the session and read out his decision that the hearing would be held without an audience in the courtroom following disruptions from Gotliv and others.

איזו התנהלות בושה וחרפה של חברת הכנסת @TallyGotliv באולם. לא מפסיקה להפריע באולם.
הנשיא עמית: "מעבר לכך, אין להקל ראש במה שקרה. זה אירוע חמור. שלטון החוק והדמוקרטיה מחייבים שבית המשפט יוכל לקיים דיון כהלכתו ללא מורא".
עמית ממשיך: "זה שערוריייתי שהרשות המחוקקת לא מאפשרת לרשות… pic.twitter.com/MtKR6QcGi1

— aviad glickman (@aviadglickman) April 8, 2025

Amit calls the heckling “severe” and is again interrupted by Gotliv, leading him to order the session momentarily suspended again and for her to be removed from the courtroom, adding that it is “quite outrageous” that the “legislative branch is not allowing proceedings in the judicial branch.”

Chaotic scenes unfolded earlier in the courtroom and outside after a father whose son died in the current war castigated the judges in court for holding the hearing, leading Amit to freeze the session for nearly an hour.

Security guards removed him from the courtroom, causing outrage among those who supported his sentiment, while outside the courtroom an uproar erupted among supporters and opponents of the government.

Gazans say 26 killed in overnight strikes

Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight and into Tuesday killed at least 26 people, according to health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital says 15 people were killed in separate strikes in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, including five children as young as 2 years old.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says seven people were killed in a strike in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, and four others were killed in a separate attack northwest of Gaza City.

There is no comment from Israel on the strikes. The tolls cannot be verified and Gazan health authorities do not differentiate between fighters and civilians.

Meanwhile, Palestine Today, a media outlet affiliated with the Islamic Jihad terror group, says a second journalist was killed in a strike in Khan Younis Monday that killed another reporter and injured six others.

Israel said the strike targeted Hassan Eslaiah, who took pictures for the Associated Press after entering Israel alongside invading Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. Israel accused Eslaiah, who was injured in the strike, of being a Hamas operative.

Israel says it only targets terrorists and takes measures to avoid harming civilians, blaming Hamas for operating in densely populated areas.

Pro-Iran militias in Iraq mulling disarming under threat of US attack, sources say

Members of the Hashed al-Shaabi carry the coffin of a comrade, who died in American airstrikes targeting Iran-backed militia groups the day before, during his funeral at the Hashed al-Shaabi headquarters in Baghdad on January 25, 2024. (Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP)

Several powerful Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq are prepared to disarm for the first time to avert the threat of an escalating conflict with the US Trump administration, 10 senior commanders and Iraqi officials tell Reuters.

US officials told Baghdad that unless it acted to disband the militias operating on its soil, America could target the groups with airstrikes, the people add.

Izzat al-Shahbndar, a senior Shi’ite Muslim politician close to Iraq’s governing alliance, tells Reuters that discussions between Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and several militia leaders are “very advanced,” and the groups are inclined to comply with US calls for disarmament.

The apparent shift comes after the US launched significant military strikes against Iran’s Houthi rebel group in Yemen, which has attacked Red Sea shipping lanes and fired ballistic missiles at Israel.

“The factions are not acting stubbornly or insisting on continuing in their current form,” Shahbndar says, adding that the groups are “fully aware” they could be targeted by the US.

The six militia commanders interviewed in Baghdad and a southern province, who request anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation, are from the Kataib Hezbollah, Nujabaa, Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada and Ansarullah al-Awfiyaa groups.

Some of the groups launched attacks against Israel following the October 7, 2023, attack, though they have seemingly pulled back from such action since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon reached in November.

The commanders say their main ally and patron, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) military force, gave them its blessing to take whatever decisions they deemed necessary to avoid being drawn into a potentially ruinous conflict with the United States and Israel.

The militias are part of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of about 10 hardline Shi’ite armed factions that collectively command about 50,000 fighters and arsenals that include long-range missiles and anti-aircraft weapons, according to two security officials who monitor militias’ activities.

High Court suspends Bar hearing after lengthy interruption from bereaved father

Security guards struggle with Itzik Bontzel, whose son Amit was killed fighting in Gaza in December 2023, on April 8, 2025, during a High Court hearing on petitions against the ouster of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit calls a break in the hearing over petitions against the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, after repeated interruptions, including a lengthy speech by a father, Itzik Bontzel, whose son died during the current war with Hamas.

Bontzel denounces the court for hearing the petitions, saying that Bar’s hands “are dripping in blood” and that since he took responsibility for the failure to foresee the October 7 attacks, there is no reason to even discuss the petitions, asking the court to reverse his dismissal.

עימות בתוך אולם בג"ץ שדן בהדחת ראש השב"כ בין המשפחות השכולות לראשי מערכת הביטחון לשעבר: "באתם להגן על מי שפשע ב7 באוקטובר. בושה בושה, אין לכם סמכות" pic.twitter.com/Za62TnQsLm

— חזקי ברוך (@HezkeiB) April 8, 2025

Guards are seen pulling Bontzel out of the room.

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit consults with Justice Daphne Barak Erez for several minutes as Bontzel yells criticism of the court, and then announces that judges will take a break, after which they will lay out rules for the hearing.

Former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen is escorted from the courtroom amid the shouting.

ראש השבכ לשעבר, יורם כהן, יוצא מבית המשפט מלווה במאבטחים. איזו בושה. תתביישו לכם תומכי נתניהו pic.twitter.com/0xWGPiESN6

— aviad glickman (@aviadglickman) April 8, 2025

And security guards clear the courtroom.

בג״ץ רונן בר: המאבטחים מוציאים את הקהל מהאולם – ביניהם גם רוני אלשיך pic.twitter.com/bEgl4rWaZu

— Bini Aschkenasy ביני אשכנזי (@BiniAshcknasy) April 8, 2025

“No court in the world can be run like this,” says Amit.

Court chief threatens to boot Likud MK for heckling hearing on Bar firing

Likud MK Tally Gotliv pictured as the High Court of Justice hears petitions against the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar in Jerusalem, April 8, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit threatens to remove Likud MK Tally Gotliv from the hearing over petitions against the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar after she repeatedly interrupts the beginning of the session.

“MK Gotliv, you are in a courtroom not in the Knesset, please don’t interrupt,” says Amit.

חברת הכנסת @TallyGotliv לא מפסיקה לצרוח. אחרי שהוציאו את האב השכול איציק בונצל כדי שיירגע בחוץ, ואז החזירו אותו pic.twitter.com/QkPzwpGPrT

— aviad glickman (@aviadglickman) April 8, 2025

Gotliv retorts that she has immunity and cannot be removed from the court.

She is seen chewing gum and fiddling with her phone in the front row of a spectator gallery as petitioners begin presenting their cases.

Top justice calls Bar firing unprecedented as High Court starts hearing

The High Court of Justice hears petitions against the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar in Jerusalem, April 8, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)

The High Court of Justice is beginning a high-stakes hearing for petitions against the government’s controversial decision to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, with Supreme Court President Isaac Amit presiding over the case, together with incoming deputy president Noam Sohlberg and Justice Daphne Barak-Erez.

The hearing is being livestreamed online.

Protesters are heard chanting “you have no authority” as the judges enter.

Amit starts the hearing by calling the government’s move to fire Bar “unprecedented.”

The March 21 decision to fire Bar amid a Shin Bet investigation into the dealings of the prime minister’s close aides in the Qatargate scandal prompted opposition parties and government watchdog groups to file petitions to the court.

Spectators chant as the High Court of Justice hears petitions against the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar in Jerusalem, April 8, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)

They accused Netanyahu of trying to stymie the probe and of firing Bar for political reasons, and requested that the court reverse the decision since, they argue, it was made with a conflict of interest and out of ulterior motives.

Netanyahu and the government in response have argued that the issue of who heads the Shin Bet is a security issue which the court cannot get involved in; that the government no longer has faith in Bar to do his job; that forcing the government to work with Bar would harm national security; and that there is no conflict of interest since Netanyahu is not a suspect in the Qatargate affair.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin has said that if the court rules to reinstate Bar, the government should simply refuse to work with him in order to force him out.

But experts have suggested that the court may be wary of reversing the decision due to the discretion the government has over hiring and firing the head of the Shin Bet, and may instead try and find a solution where the government commits to appointing a successor based on purely professional considerations.

The court is not expected to rule on the petitions today.

Crowds gather at Supreme Court ahead of Bar hearing

Crowds of reporters, activists and others are gathering outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, where a High Court hearing is set to begin on petitions against the government’s controversial decision to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, with Supreme Court President Isaac Amit presiding over the case, together with incoming deputy president Noam Sohlberg and Justice Daphne Barak-Erez.

Video shows a line of guards keeping a group of people from entering the hearing.

הדיון עומד להתחיל. גיבורי ישראל כדוגמת נועם תיבון, רוני אלשייך, דן הראל, נמרוד שפר הגיעו לדיון. גם תומכי נתניהו הגיעו pic.twitter.com/mtF6hqTcKX

— aviad glickman (@aviadglickman) April 8, 2025

Among those at the courthouse are former police chief Roni Alsheich, former Shin Bet head Yoram Cohen and former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, all of whom served under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The hearing is being livestreamed online.

Florida wins NCAA tournament as Jewish coach bests Israeli guard in final moments

Florida's Walter Clayton Jr. (1) jumps to knock the ball from Houston's Emanuel Sharp (21) during the second half in the national championship at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP/Eric Gay)

The University of Florida Gators have won the NCAA basketball championship with a thrilling comeback win over the University of Houston Cougars, clinching the 65-63 victory with a defensive stop over Houston’s Israeli-American guard Emanuel Sharp in the title game’s closing seconds.

The win for coach Todd Golden’s Gators marks the first time in 40 years that a Jewish coach has led a team to victory in the March Madness tourney.

Sharp, born in Tel Aviv to former Maccabi player Derrick Sharp, was blocked by Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. from taking a potential game-winning three-pointer with less than five seconds remaining.

YOUR NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: THE FLORIDA GATORS ????????#MarchMadness @GatorsMBK pic.twitter.com/XatLv5x2hm

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 8, 2025

With Sharp looking for room, Clayton ran at him. The Houston guard dropped the ball and, unable to pick it up lest he get called for traveling, watched it bounce.

Alex Condon dived on the ball, then flipped it to Clayton, who ran to the opposite free-throw line with the buzzer sounding and tugged his jersey out of his shorts. Next, the court was awash in Gator chomps and orange and blue confetti.

“We guarded them hard and then I saw the ball loose and I just hoped we beat them to the ball,” Golden says.

Florida celebrates after beating Houston in the national championship at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Monday, April 7, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP/Eric Gay)

Houston trailed only 64 seconds all night, and yet fell short of its first national championship.

The tourney had been marked in the Jewish community for the unusually high number of players and coaches with Jewish or Israeli connections among the top four teams to make it to the final rounds, including Duke’s Israeli-American coach Jon Scheyer and Auburn’s Jewish coach Bruce Pearl.

The last Jewish coach to take home the collegiate basketball trophy was Larry Brown, who led the Kansas Jayhawks to victory in 1985.

Witkoff, top Iran diplomat Araghchi to lead nuke indirect talks Saturday, Tehran says

Steve Witkoff, White House special envoy for the Middle East, speaks with reporters at the White House, March 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP/Alex Brandon)

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will lead talks with Iran on its nuclear program in Oman set to take place Saturday, Iran’s state media reports.

The Iranian side will be represented a team led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, with Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi mediating the contacts, according to the report.

Araghchi said earlier that the talks would be held indirectly, tweeting that the meeting “is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America’s court.”

Iran and the United States will meet in Oman on Saturday for indirect high-level talks.

It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America's court.

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) April 7, 2025

US President Donald Trump announced the negotiations during a White House meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing them as direct talks.

Report claims Houthi intelligence chief killed in US strike

Saudi-based news site al-Hadath reports that US airstrikes in Yemen have killed Houthi intelligence chief Abdul Nasser  Al-Kamali.

صورة القيادي بالمخابرات عبدالناصر الكمالي الذي أعلن الحوثيون مقتله بغارة أميركية#اليمن#مليشيا_الحوثي#أميركا#قناة_الحدث pic.twitter.com/Dg9UyZUTLI

— ا لـحـدث (@AlHadath) April 8, 2025

On Telegram, a spokesperson for the Iran-backed rebel group says US warplanes carried out eleven strikes in the rebel-held capital of Sa’ana and its surrounding areas overnight.

Nine more airstrikes are reported in the neighboring region of Mar’ib, deeper inside the Yemeni interior.

There is no confirmation of the report on Kamali’s killing.

There is also no comment on the reports from the US Central Command, which has offered few details about its operations against the Houthis since they were launched on March 15.

On Monday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the military was set to step up its campaign against the group, speaking during a White House meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump.

“We are not going to relent, and it’s only going to be more unrelenting until the Houthis declare they will stop shooting at our ships,” ” Hegseth said.

Europe saw hottest March on record, monitor says, as mercury in Israel set to spike

Israelis on Palmachim beach on March 15, 2025. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Global temperatures hovered at historic highs in March, while the Continent saw the hottest March ever recorded by a significant margin, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service says, blaming the high temperatures for driving rainfall extremes.

The news comes as Israel is expected to be hit by a heatwave Tuesday, with temperatures in Beersheba and the western Negev region forecast to rise as high as 37°C (98.6° F), according to the Israel Meteorological service.

The world saw the second-hottest March ever recorded in the Copernicus dataset, hitting 1.6° C (2.9° F) above pre-industrial times, the European monitor says. It fell just 0.08°C (0.14° F) short of the previous record set in March 2024.

Meanwhile, March in Europe was 0.26° C (0.47° F) above the previous hottest record for the month set in 2014, Copernicus says.

It was also “a month with contrasting rainfall extremes” across the continent, says Samantha Burgess of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which runs the Copernicus climate monitor.

Some parts of Europe experienced their “driest March on record and others their wettest” for about half a century, Burgess says.

Elsewhere in March, scientists say that climate change intensified an extreme heatwave across Central Asia and fueled conditions for extreme rainfall which killed 16 people in Argentina.

Harvard plans to borrow $750 million after federal funding threats over protests

Pro-Palestinian supporters from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) rally at an anti-Israel encampment at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 22, 2024. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP)

Harvard University plans to borrow $750 million from Wall Street as part of contingency preparations, it says, days after President Donald Trump’s administration announced a review of $9 billion in federal grants and contracts to the Ivy League school in a crackdown on alleged antisemitism on campuses.

In a letter to Harvard last week, the government listed conditions that Harvard must meet to receive federal money, including a ban on protesters wearing masks to hide their identities and other restrictions.

Harvard acknowledged receiving the letter but did not comment further.

“As part of ongoing contingency planning for a range of financial circumstances, Harvard is evaluating resources needed to advance its academic and research priorities,” Harvard University says.

Harvard’s plans come less than a week after Princeton University said in a notice dated April 1 that it was also considering the sale of about $320 million of taxable bonds later this month. Princeton said last week the US government froze several dozen research grants to the school.

Harvard intends to issue up to $750 million of taxable bonds for “general corporate purposes,” a spokesperson says. The university had $7.1 billion of debt outstanding at the end of fiscal year 2024, and anticipated about $8.2 billion after the proposed bond issuance. The university most recently issued $434 million in tax-exempt bonds in March 2025 and $735 million in tax-exempt bonds in spring 2024, its spokesperson says, adding it also issued bonds in 2022.

Harvard has a $53 billion endowment, the largest of any US university. Advocates, students and several faculty members have called on university leadership to resist the demands from the Trump administration.

US Supreme Court lets Trump pursue deportations under 1798 law, with limits

The US Supreme Court allows Donald Trump to pursue deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members using a 1798 law that historically has been employed only in wartime, as part of the Republican president’s hardline approach to immigration, but with certain limits.

The court, in an unsigned 5-4 ruling powered by conservative justices, grants the administration’s request to lift Washington-based US Judge James Boasberg’s March 15 order that had temporarily blocked the summary deportations under Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act while litigation in the case continues.

Despite siding with the administration, the court’s majority places limits on how deportations may occur, emphasizing that judicial review is required.

Detainees “must receive notice after the date of this order that they are subject to removal under the Act. The notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs,” the majority write.

The court has a 6-3 conservative majority. Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett and the court’s three liberal justices dissented.

Trump’s administration has argued that Boasberg encroached on presidential authority to make national security decisions.

Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act on March 15 to swiftly deport the alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang, attempting to speed up removals with a law best known for its use to intern Japanese, Italian and German immigrants during World War Two.

High Court to hear high-stakes challenge to government’s firing of Shin Bet chief

Nine-justice panel at the High Court of Justice hearing petitions demanding the immediate conscription of ultra-Orthodox young men to the Israel Defense Forces, June 2, 2024 (Screen grab)

The High Court of Justice is set to hear petitions this morning against the government’s highly contentious move to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.

The high-stakes session is set to begin at 9 a.m., and will be livestreamed here.

The case is about far more than Bar himself, and is seen as part of the government’s clash with judicial authorities and its efforts to remove checks on its power.

Critics accuse Netanyahu of seeking to scapegoat Bar for the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, while shirking responsibility himself. The premier maintains he has every right by law to remove the head of the internal security agency, and doubly so following the failures that enabled the Gaza onslaught.

The petitioners argue that the prime minister had a clear conflict of interest in removing Bar from office since the Shin Bet is involved in the Qatargate investigation, in which close aides to Netanyahu are alleged to have conducted work promoting Qatar’s image in Israel while working for the prime minister. Netanyahu has claimed, without offering evidence, that the investigation is part of efforts by the so-called “deep state” to harm his leadership.

Read Jeremy Sharon’s analysis of the case here.

Germany’s likely last Holocaust convict Irmgard Furchner dies at 99

Irmgard Furchner appears in court for the verdict in her trial in Itzehoe, Germany, December 20, 2022. (Christian Charisius/Pool Photo via DPA)

A 99-year-old former Nazi camp secretary, who may be the last ever person to be convicted in Germany for crimes committed during the Holocaust, has died, a court said today.

Irmgard Furchner was handed a two-year suspended sentence in 2022 for complicity in the murder of more than 10,000 people at the Stutthof camp in what was occupied Poland.

A spokeswoman for a court in the northern town of Itzehoe, where she stood trial, confirmed the death of Furchner, the first woman in decades to be prosecuted in Germany for Nazi-era crimes.

Almost 80 years after the end of World War II, time is running out to bring to justice criminals linked to the Holocaust. In recent years, several cases have been abandoned as the accused died or were physically unable to stand trial.

Between June 1943 and April 1945, Furchner took the dictation and handled the correspondence of camp commander Paul Werner Hoppe while her husband was a fellow SS officer at the camp.

An estimated 65,000 people died at the camp near today’s Gdansk, including Jewish prisoners.

Delivering the verdict in 2022, presiding judge Dominik Gross said that “nothing that happened at Stutthof was kept from her” and that the defendant was aware of the “extremely bad conditions for the prisoners.”