After deadly West Bank terror shooting, Smotrich urges IDF to ‘go on the offensive’

US State Department ‘unequivocally condemns’ Huwara terror attack

Israeli security forces secure the scene of a shooting attack in Huwara, in the West Bank, August 19, 2023. (Flash90)

The US State Department condemns the terror shooting that killed two Israelis in the West Bank town of Huwara earlier today.

“We unequivocally condemn today’s terrorist attack in the West Bank that killed two Israelis. The United States expresses its condolences to their families and calls for immediate steps to end the violence and incitement to violence,” the State Department says in a statement.

‘We heard gunshots, got away’: Driver met terror victims moments before attack

Israeli security forces secure the scene of a shooting attack in Huwara, in the West Bank, near Nablus, August 19, 2023. (Flash90)

A shuttle bus driver from Ashdod says he met the victims of the Huwara terror attack at a store that fixed air conditioners minutes before the shooting.

The driver, Avi Elharrar, tells Channel 12 there hadn’t been many Israeli vehicles in the area.

“I was there with them and talked with them,” he says. “They asked if I was also from Ashdod and we got to talking. We talked a little bit then the dad said, ‘I’m going to the carwash outside.’ He went out for a carwash. When we heard gunshots, we hit the gas and got away.”

“There were gunshots and we immediately got out of there,” he says. “I gave their friend a lift. I’m never going back there. It’s frightening.”

Toddler drowns in pond near Zikim beach

Zikim beach. (Gili Yaari/Flash90)

A three-year-old boy drowns at a pond next to a beach in southern Israel.

The boy, from the Bedouin town of Tel Sheva, near Beersheba, drowns at Zikim beach, just north of Gaza’s northern border.

He is brought to Barzilai Medical Center in critical condition, but medics are unable to resuscitate him, and his death is declared after several hours, medics say.

Medics responding to call found the boy unconscious, lying next a “pond” adjacent to Zikim’s beach area. There is a reservoir nearby, and part of the sand dunes near the public beach sometimes fill with water, but remain separated from the ocean.

The ponds do not have lifeguards and have been fenced off, but some visitors go into the water anyway.

Several years ago a 45-year-old man drowned in one of the ponds while rescuing a woman and three children.

Settlers throw rocks at Palestinian cars, homes in West Bank

Settlers reportedly attack Palestinian property in the West Bank, likely in revenge for a deadly terror shooting earlier in the day in the town of Huwara.

According to Palestinian media reports, settlers throw rocks at homes in a neighborhood in Huwara, and at a vehicle near the town of Baytin, northeast of Ramallah.

Settlers also throw rocks at Palestinian vehicles driving by the settlement of Yitzhar, north of Huwara, according to reports.

🚨מתנחלים תוקפים וזורקים אבנים על בתים בשכונה הצפונית בחווארה.
🚨מתנחלים תוקפים רכבים פלסוינים באבנים בכניסה לעיירה ביתין מזרחית לראמאללה.
🚨עימותים עם כוחות נבטחון בעיירה ביתא דרומית לשכם, מספר פצועים מחנק מגז. pic.twitter.com/GOVrQK0tQZ

— Asslan Khalil (@KhalilAsslan) August 19, 2023

Labor chief: In opposition, current coalition MKs danced on blood of terror victims

Labor party leader Merav Michaeli attends a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on June 5, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Labor party chair Merav Michaeli slams the government over rising deaths in terror attacks, after only a year ago while in opposition, they were blaming her government for increasing attacks.

“At every terror attack that occurred on the watch of the previous government, this government’s members came to the scene of the attack in order to dance on the blood of the victims,” Michaeli tweets.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, then an opposition lawmaker, would often arrive at the scene of terror attacks, and one time, got into a shouting match with his predecessor Omer Barlev.

“They came to the scene of the murder together with a cheerleading squad, sang and screamed with megaphones at the previous governments’ ministers. The year has not yet ended and there are already over 30 murdered under the current government, but they swallow their tongue. They closed the nightclub for dancing on blood,” she writes.

“Now, some of them stay silent, while some blame the opposition for terrorist attacks. The responsibility is never on them. There is no group more dangerous and irresponsible for the State of Israel,” she adds.

Tel Aviv protests end; police open roads to traffic

Anti-judicial overhaul marches have dispersed in Tel Aviv, the Ynet news site reports.

Police have opened all roads in the city to traffic.

Smotrich: ‘IDF must go on the offensive in Judea and Samaria’

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calls for the military to “go on the offensive” to restore security after today’s terror attack that left a father and son dead in the West Bank town of Huwara.

In his tweet, Smotrich extends his condolences to the family of Shay and Aviad Nigrekar.

“The IDF must go on the offensive in Judea and Samaria and restore deterrence and security, while we work to intensify construction and strengthening of settlements in the area,” Smotrich tweets, using the biblical name for the West Bank.

Around 100,000 protesting in Tel Aviv, as Netta leads singing of national anthem

Netta Barzilai sings the national anthem at a protest against the government's judicial overhaul, in Tel Aviv, on August 19, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Some 101,000 people are protesting at the main anti-judicial overhaul rally in Tel Aviv, Channel 13 reports, citing data from the CrowdSolutions firm.

Netta Barzilai, the Israeli winner of the 2018 Eurovision song contest, leads the weekly singing of Israel’s national anthem, Hatikva, at the rally.

“My parents come here every week, and there was no way I would leave them alone here. We hear every day about exclusion and violence against women, and we will not be trampled on,” Barzilai tells protesters.

“Thank you for fighting for democracy. Jimi Hendrix said when the power of love overcomes the love of power, we will have peace,” she adds.

נטע ברזילי המדהימה הגיעה הערב לקפלן, שרה את ההימנון וסיפרה שהוריה מגיעים מדי שבוע לקפלן: "ההורים שלי חינכו אותי לאהבת הארץ, לכבוד כאדם וחופש הביטוי, ואין סיכוי שאני משאירה אותם לבד ומאכזבת אותם". pic.twitter.com/UsdRALeN8i

— Or-ly Barlev ~ אור-לי ברלב (@orlybarlev) August 19, 2023

Father and son terror victims named as Ashdod residents Shay and Aviad Nigreker

An undated photo shows Shay Silas Nigreker, 60 (right) and his 28-year-old son Aviad Nir, who were killed in a terror attack in the West Bank town of Huwara, August 19, 2023. (Courtesy)

The father and son killed in today’s terror shooting are named as Shay Nigreker, 60, and Aviad Nir Nigreker, 28, residents of the coastal city of Ashdod.

Ashdod’s Mayor Yehiel Lasri says in a Facebook post his city is mourning the death of the two whose “lives were taken in a cruel and criminal way.”

Lasri expresses condolences to the victims’ family and says the municipality will take responsibility for organizing a funeral.

The mayor gives his backing to security forces, and says he is confident “they are working diligently and will successfully catch the murderers.”

“As it is written in the book of Psalms 18: ‘I will hunt down my enemies and I will overtake them, and I will not return until they are all gone,'” Lasri writes.

Israeli man released from Turkish prison after serving 5 years for drug trafficking

Danny Aweke. (Courtesy)

Danny Aweke, an Israeli man imprisoned in Turkey for almost five years on a drug trafficking conviction, is released from prison and is making his way back to Israel, Hebrew media reports.

Danny Aweke, 35, was arrested in 2019 on suspicion of smuggling khat leaves through Turkey and was later convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison. In recent months, his mental condition has deteriorated, prompting the personal intervention of Minister of Foreign Affairs Eli Cohen and President Isaac Herzog, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.

Cohen announced his release Thursday evening, attributing Aweke’s release to “warming relations between Israel and Turkey.”

Lapid: No to unity with Netanyahu; government will fall and we will have elections

File: Opposition leader Yair Lapid speaks at an anti-judicial overhaul protest in Hod Hasharon, July 15, 2023. (Courtesy)

Opposition leader Yair Lapid tells protesters in the northern Krayot area he won’t enter into a unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Some members of the opposition expressed openness to the idea this week.

Lapid also slams Netanyahu’s allies for attacks on the top military brass for its alleged soft-hand approach to military reservist volunteers who are refusing to report for duty due to the judicial overhaul.

“This government attacked the chief of staff because he hates the truth, but they don’t have a choice. The problem isn’t the readiness of the IDF. The problem is with Netanyahu,” Lapid says.

“This government isn’t working and it needs to go home. This is our plan. We won’t believe in miracles that won’t happen. We won’t go to a fraudulent unity government that will break our moral backbone. The government will fall and we will go to elections,” he adds.

Dichter: Coalition, not security chiefs, must solve the problems causing IDF divides

Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, interviewed on Channel 12, August 19, 2023. (Channel 12 screenshot)

Likud’s Avi Dichter, a member of the security cabinet and a former head of the Shin Bet, says “everybody” is worried about the impact on the security forces of the national dispute over the judicial overhaul, as evidenced by volunteer reservists refusing to report for duty.

Asked on Channel 12’s “Meet the Press” when he would reach the stage of demanding a halt to the overhaul legislation for fear of the impact on the IDF becoming untenable, Dichter replies: “I can’t tell you when [IDF preparedness will be deeply affected]: Some say by the end of the year, some say a few months, some say today.

“The problem exists, it worries all of us — the prime minister, the defense minister, security cabinet members, government ministers — and I believe most Israeli citizens. And of course the security echelons.”

Asked, again, when he will demand a halt to the legislation, Dichter says, “First we have to put the brakes on what has happened. The IDF depends on its reservists. And anyone who thinks that on the day when the order is given [for a call-up for vital service], everyone will report, and it will all be okay — it won’t be okay. And it won’t be okay if people [in vital jobs] aren’t fully trained.”

While several members of the coalition have denounced IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar for failing to tackle the reservists’ protests more forcefully, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly castigated the two in a phone call earlier this month for acknowledging the harm being done to IDF preparedness, Dichter says that “it is our task — as politicians, as members of the cabinet, as ministers” to ensure that the problem is resolved.”

“This has to be stopped,” he says, and the obligation to do so “can’t be placed on the shoulders of the chief of staff, the head of the Shin Bet” and other security chiefs. “They have to be supported. They should brake it; they can’t prevent it.”

He notes that the Knesset does not return from summer recess until October and urges that agreements be reached, especially on the core planned overhaul legislation to remake judicial selection. The “correct balance” needs to be found, Dichter says. “We are seeking agreements… To my sorrow, the parties on the other side of the political spectrum are not there.”

Protesters block Tel Aviv intersection, as Ayalon reopened

Anti-overhaul protesters from the Tel Aviv suburb of Givatayim block the Derech Hashalom-Moshe Dayan intersection on their way to the main rally at Kaplan Street.

Meanwhile, the Ayalon Highway is reopened to northbound traffic after being briefly blocked by protesters.

PM sends condolences to terror victims’ family, vows to bring murderer to justice

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sends his condolences to the family of a father and son killed in a terror attack in the West Bank town of Huwara earlier today.

“I send my condolences to the family of the two murder victims, father and son, whose lives were cut short in such a cruel and criminal way over Shabbat,” he writes.

“Security forces are working diligently in order to find the murderer and call him to account, exactly as we have done with all murderers until now,” Netanyahu adds.

Halutz slams opposition MKs amid talk of unity government with Netanyahu

File: Dan Halutz, former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces and commander of the Israeli Air Force, speaks at a rally against the goverment's judicial overhaul bills outside the Knesset in Jerusalem on February 20, 2023 (Gili Yaari/Flash90)

Former IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz slams opposition lawmakers who came out this week in favor of a unity government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“One, Matan Kahana, called for a unity government under the accused and promised him two years of quiet, the same one that called pilots and military reservist refusers ‘barn burners,'” Halutz tells protesters in Rehovot, referencing a proposal by the National Unity lawmaker for his party and Yesh Atid to join a unity government, in exchange for Netanyahu retiring in two years.

“The second, Elazar Stern, made a similar call on behalf of Yesh Atid. Opposition members, are you confused? At most, you represent your parties but not the public that has fought for 33 weeks in order to preserve democracy,” he says.

Halutz then slams President Isaac Herzog for contributing “to the creation of the illusion that there is a possibility of resolving this crisis.”

“We are at the core of an unprecedented crisis of distrust between the majority of Israeli citizens and the leadership that governs us. Benjamin Netanyahu is not the solution, he is the problem,” Halutz adds.

IDF bracing for potential revenge attacks on Palestinians after terror attack

The Israeli military is preparing to prevent Israeli settlers from potentially carrying out revenge attacks following the deadly terror attack in the West Bank town of Huwara.

The Israel Defense Forces has bolstered the area with the Givati Brigade’s reconnaissance battalion and a number of Border Police teams.

Meanwhile, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi tours the scene of the shooting and is briefed by officers on the attack.

The IDF believes the father and son, who are not residents of the area, were in Huwara for a number of hours before the attack, carrying out various personal errands. The attack occurred as the pair were standing by their car as it was being washed.

Anti-overhaul protesters block northbound traffic on Ayalon

Protesters against the coalition’s judicial overhaul block the northbound route of Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway.

Demonstrators light torches and flares while chanting slogans against the government.

מפגינים עם לפידים חסמו את איילון צפון | עדכונים שוטפים מההפגנות ברחבי הארץhttps://t.co/3H7q7zwqfN pic.twitter.com/K62RJP26wZ

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) August 19, 2023

Head of doctors’ protests says Israel in a ‘dystopic reality’

Prof. Hagai Levine, head of the White Coats doctors protest group, tells anti-overhaul protesters in Netanya that Israel has fallen into a “dystopic reality.”

“Health workers in Israel oppose discrimination in treatment. We are currently in a dystopic reality. The Israeli government is controlled by dangerous extremists that support discrimination against women, the elderly, Arabs, secular people and homosexuals,” Levine who is also chairman of the country’s Association of Public Health Physicians, says.

“Whoever stays silent and supports discrimination and racism, in the end, it will be turned against him or her. The treatment is us — the nation. We still haven’t lost hope to be a free people in our own land,” he adds.

Man killed, mother lightly hurt in Lod shooting

A man dies, while his mother is lightly injured, in a shooting in Lod, police say.

Doctors say the two arrived at Shamir Medical Center by themselves, where the 30-year-old man was declared dead, and the mother was in light condition.

The background of the shooting is unclear, and police are investigating the incident.

2018 Eurovision winner Netta thanks fans supporting slated protest appearance

Netta Barzilai appears at a Pride event at the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC on June 29, 2023. (Shmulik Almany, Embassy of Israel via JTA)

Netta Barzilai, the Israeli victor of the 2018 Eurovision song contest, thanks followers for their support after it was announced she will sing at the main anti-judicial overhaul protest at Kaplan Street.

“Thank you for the messages of support that I’ve received since this morning. This was not a simple decision but I have to go with my truth,” she writes in an Instagram post.

“After the terrible murder today in Huwara I will sing only Hatikva today at Kaplan, may their memory be a blessing,” she adds, referencing the killing of a father and son in a terrorist shooting today.

Greek authorities rescue dozens of migrants on small boats in Aegean Sea

Greek authorities rescued nearly 80 migrants in inflatable dinghies trying to cross from Turkey to the nearby eastern Aegean Sea islands in three separate incidents, the coast guard says.

In recent weeks, Greece has seen a rise in such arrivals, mostly in small unseaworthy boats provided by smugglers.

A coast guard statement says a patrol boat located 41 people early Saturday on an inflatable dinghy that was drifting off the island of Lesbos. All were safely evacuated and taken to a reception center on the island.

Following a chase earlier in the day, a coast guard patrol boat stopped another dinghy carrying 17 people near the eastern Aegean islets of Arkii. The migrants were taken to the island of Patmos, while one of them was arrested on suspicion of belonging to a smuggling ring.

Late Friday, another boat carrying 17 people was found adrift off the island of Samos. One of the migrants required medical treatment, while the rest were taken to a reception center on Samos.

Greek officials have blamed the increase in arrivals largely on conflicts in Africa that are adding pressure on the main smuggling routes to Europe, and also on a burgeoning black market industry in Turkey that produces low-quality inflatable boats. Better summer sailing conditions have also contributed to the hike in numbers.

UN condemns ‘heinous’ Russian attack on Ukraine city center

A local resident stands amid the debris and shattered glass of windows following a missile strike in Chernihiv, on August 19, 2023. (Anatolii Stepanov/AFP)

The UN blasts a “heinous” attack on Ukraine’s northern city of Chernihiv that killed seven people and wounded more than 100.

“It is heinous to attack the main square of a large city, in the morning, while people are out walking, some going to church to celebrate a religious day for many Ukrainians,” says Denise Brown, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine.

She was referring to the Orthodox holiday of the Transfiguration of the Lord, which saw some in Chernihiv attending church services in the morning.

“I condemn this repeated pattern of Russian strikes on populated areas of Ukraine… Attacks directed against civilians or civilian objects are strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law,” she adds.

Weekly overhaul rallies to start with a moment of silence for day’s terror victims

Weekly protests have begun throughout the country against the government’s judicial overhaul plan, now taking place for the 33rd straight week.

At major rallies later in the evening, organizers have said they will hold a moment of silence for the two victims of today’s terror attack in the West Bank, a father and son shot at a carwash in the Palestinian village of Huwara.

Roads have been closed in Tel Aviv and Haifa ahead of rallies in the cities.

In Tel Aviv, only women will speak, as demonstrators highlight recent incidents of discrimination against women in public spaces. These will include top doctor Prof. Idit Matot, Israel’s first female officer on a naval vessel Maj. (res.) Ora Peled Nakash, and others. Performing will be the singer and Eurovision winner Netta Barzilai.