ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 471
The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they happened.
Several people were wounded, including a 12-year-old boy, in a suspected terror shooting targeting a bus traveling on a West Bank highway south of Jerusalem, the Magen David Adom ambulance service says.
The boy was seriously wounded by gunfire, medics say, and a woman in her 40s was lightly wounded as well.
They are being taken to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center, according to MDA, which says two other people suffering from minor wounds were also evacuated for medical treatment.
The IDF says it has received a report of a shooting attack in the area and will provide additional updates soon.
The Jerusalem-bound bus was traveling on Route 60 from the Etzion Bloc area when it was targeted by gunfire, according to a military source. It then proceeded to the Tunnels Checkpoint with the wounded passengers.
The gunman remains at large.
The Israel Police says it is investigating three vehicles that were set on fire near the Oz Zion outpost in the West Bank earlier this evening.
No injuries were caused in the incident, police say, although all three vehicles were heavily damaged.
The fires are suspected to be an arson attack committed for “nationalist” reasons, police say.
Security forces are searching for the suspects behind the incident.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad says that a delegation including its chief, Ziad al-Nakhala, arrived in Cairo earlier today to discuss developments related to talks on a hostage deal with Israel.
The UN’s Human Rights Office issues a statement condemning the Palestinian Authority after its security forces shot dead a 19-year-old in the northern West Bank’s Jenin Refugee Camp earlier this week.
The PA says it has been operating against terror groups in Jenin for the past week and initially sought to distance itself from the incident before footage of the shooting was posted on social media, showing PA troops opening fire at the apparently unarmed Rebhi Shalabi, killing him and injuring his 15-year-old cousin.
Yesterday, the Ramallah Authority’s forces opened fire on the unarmed Palestinian youth Rabhi Shalabi, killing him on the spot in the West Bank. pic.twitter.com/sGJfmJFKpp
— Warfare Analysis (@warfareanalysis) December 11, 2024
The incident sparked renewed protests against the PA in Jenin.
The Palestinian branch of the UN’s Human Rights Office issues a statement calling on the PA to investigate the conduct of its security forces and hold those responsible for rights violations accountable.
The UN office says the PA’s ongoing operations in the Jenin camp have “disrupted access to education and healthcare,” highlighting the security forces’ takeover of a hospital in the northern West Bank city.
The UN statement makes no mention of the activity in the northern West Bank by various terror groups that the PA has been trying to combat at Israel’s behest in order to restore security and stability to the area.
US President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz will meet later today with the families of the remaining American-Israeli hostages held in Gaza, Axios reports, citing a source familiar with the matter.
It will be the first time that a senior member of the Trump transition team meets with families of the American hostages.
The IDF confirms it has withdrawn from southern Lebanon’s Khiam in accordance with the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.
The Israeli military says it still remains deployed to other areas of southern Lebanon, and will continue to operate against any threats.
The Lebanese army said earlier today that it began to deploy troops to Khiam following the IDF withdrawal, in coordination with UNIFIL. The army also warned Lebanese civilians not to approach the area as it conducts scans of the town for unexploded ordnances.
The IDF has until late January to withdraw from all areas of southern Lebanon under the ceasefire deal.
تمركُز وحدات الجيش حول بلدة الخيام
صدر عن قيادة الجيش – مديرية التوجيه البيان الآتي:
تمركزت وحدات الجيش في خمسة مواقع حول بلدة الخيام – مرجعيون بالتنسيق مع قوة الأمم المتحدة المؤقتة في لبنان- اليونيفيل ضمن إطار المرحلة الأولى من الانتشار في المنطقة، بالتزامن مع انسحاب العدو… pic.twitter.com/1Q0tL85A3J
— الجيش اللبناني (@LebarmyOfficial) December 11, 2024
Dozens of Israeli settlers are filmed harassing Palestinians in their southern West Bank village earlier today.
The settlers raided Susya from at least five different neighboring illegal outposts and tried to steal sheep as they threatened residents and chased away children returning from school, says Beyond the Herd, a solidarity group of Israeli activists that operates to support at-risk Palestinian villages in the southern West Bank.
Uniformed soldiers photographed at the scene accompanying the settlers attacked one of the Israeli activists who was trying to push back the settlers, while other troops tried to prevent those in Susya from filming the altercation, Beyond the Herd says.
As is often the case in such incidents of settler violence in the West Bank, no arrests were reported.
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עשרות מתנחלים, מלפחות חמישה מאחזים שונים, פשטו היום על הכפר סוסיא. הם עברו בין הבתים ודירי הצאן, ניסו לגנוב כבשים, איימו על תושבים, רדפו אחר הילדים בזמן ששבו מבית הספר ואיימו עליהם עם אבנים. הטילו אימה על הכפר כולו. pic.twitter.com/5zfsy24JBX— מחוץ לעדר (@masafering) December 11, 2024
Syrian rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, tells Reuters that the group he leads, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is working with international organizations to secure possible sites where chemical weapons may be located.
The group had already said that it will not use those weapons under any circumstances.
Shaara says in a written statement shared exclusively with Reuters by his office that the group is now working to “dissolve the security forces of the previous regime and close the notorious prison,” where the regime of toppled dictator Bashar al-Assad is estimated to have held tens of thousands of detainees.
He reiterates that he will form a government of technocrats. The current transitional government is set to rule until March 2025, according to a statement by his group.
The Pentagon, in response, says the US welcomes his comments about securing potential chemical weapons sites, but cautions that “actions have to meet words as well.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray will resign his post sometime before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House in January, Fox News reports on Wednesday.
Wray does not have a specific exit date but his departure is expected before the January 20 inauguration. Wray made the announcement to an all-staff meeting at the bureau, Fox reported.
Syrian fighters received about 150 drones as well as other covert support from Ukrainian intelligence operatives last month, weeks ahead of the rebels’ advance that toppled Bashar al-Assad over the weekend, according to the Washington Post.
Citing unnamed sources familiar with Ukrainian military activities, the Post says Ukrainian intelligence sent about 20 drone operators and about 150 first-person-view drones about four to five weeks ago to aid Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
Russia’s foreign ministry had earlier said, without providing evidence, that the rebels had received drones from Ukraine and training in how to operate them, an accusation that Ukraine’s foreign ministry at the time said it “categorically” rejected.
Russia, which is locked in its own conflict with Ukraine after invading the country in February 2022, is a key ally of Assad and stepped in to provide him military support in the country’s civil war in 2015.
Assad and his family fled to Russia following the fall of his regime.
Users of WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook report that the apps are down in an apparent outage of their parent company Meta.
According to reports, the issues range from being unable to load the apps or websites at all, to content loading at a much slower pace than normal.
The co-founders of a US luxury real estate brokerage have been arrested on sex-trafficking charges, federal prosecutors say, accusing them of raping dozens of victims.
The Manhattan US Attorney’s office accuses brothers and co-founders of the Official brokerage Oren Alexander and Tal Alexander, as well as their brother Alon Alexander, of drugging and sexually assaulting victims for more than a decade starting in 2010.
The brothers were born to Israeli parents but grew up in Miami, Florida. They got into real estate through their father, Shlomi, a residential developer.
They often invited women to parties or trips, where they would rape them alone or together, sometimes within hours of meeting them, prosecutors say in an eight-page indictment. They sometimes offered the victims travel or concert tickets after the assaults, according to the indictment.
They each face one count of sex trafficking conspiracy and one count of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. Tal Alexander faces an additional count of sex trafficking.
A lawyer for Tal Alexander, 38, declines to comment. Lawyers for twins Oren and Alon Alexander, both 37, do not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Oren and Tal Alexander stepped down from their roles at Official in June, The New York Times reports. Alon Alexander has worked as an executive at a private security firm, prosecutors say.
Official does not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Oren, Tal and Alon Alexander have also been sued in civil court over sexual-assault allegations. All three brothers have denied the allegations.
Official focuses on brokering high-end real estate sales and rentals in New York, Miami, the Hamptons and Aspen, Colorado.
Williams’ office has prioritized sex-trafficking cases in recent years, having secured the conviction of Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and brought charges against hip-hop empresario Sean “Diddy” Combs. Maxwell recently lost an appeal of her conviction, and Combs has pleaded not guilty.
Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.
IDF troops captured several Syrian tanks during operations in southern Syria in recent days, the military says.
Four IDF brigade-level task forces under the 210th Bashan Regional Division are currently operating inside Syria, in the buffer zone between the countries and some cases slightly east of it.
The 474th Golan Regional Brigade captured the tanks during their scans of the buffer zone area. According to the IDF, the tanks were not in recent use.
Meanwhile, the IDF says the 810th “Mountains” Regional Brigade completed an operation on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, during which the troops located and seized a cache of weapons at a former Syrian army post.
The final two brigades, the Paratroopers and Commando are carrying out defensive operations in the buffer zone area, the military adds.
A Jewish Columbia University student who says he was assaulted at an anti-Israel protest next to the campus on Monday says the NYPD is investigating the case and calls on the university to take action.
Jonathan Lederer, 22, says he and his twin brother went to the anti-Israel protest on 116th and Broadway on Monday to document the event and “show our voice.” They stayed across the street from the anti-Israel demonstrators and were wearing Israeli flags and kippahs.
A group of around five protesters wearing keffiyehs harassed the pair, calling them “Nazis” and saying “You like killing babies,” says Lederer, a junior studying computer science. One of the demonstrators tore a flag from Lederer’s hands. Lederer sought to retrieve the flag, at which point one of the protesters punched Lederer in the right side of his face, causing pain but no significant injuries.
The NYPD tells The Times of Israel that the police’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident and releases a photo of the suspect.
NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force is seeking a suspect for an alleged assault on a Jewish Columbia student at a protest on Monday pic.twitter.com/h37CM1XUxc
— Luke Tress (@luketress) December 11, 2024
New York Governor Kathy Hochul says she is “outraged” by the incident.
Lederer caught the incident on video, although his camera was pointed away from the assailant when he threw the punch. The attacker was wearing a mask at the time, but had exposed his face earlier in the event.
Yesterday was the 2ND TIME my brother Jonathan Lederer was assaulted on or around Columbia’s campus by an anti-Israel, Pro-Hamas protestor. This is a violent movement! pic.twitter.com/skkHzfuIyG
— David lederer (@Davidlederer6) December 10, 2024
It’s unclear if the alleged assailant was a student. The demonstration was organized by student organizations and led by Within Our Lifetime, a hardline activist group in the city that has worked with Columbia student protesters. Posts announcing the protest included violent imagery and prompted school officials to tighten security at Barnard, Columbia’s women’s college.
Lederer says university officials including a top dean have reached out to him, but calls on the school to take more action against the student groups. Lederer says he was also assaulted at a protest on campus in April.
“Columbia needs to take a more forceful stance against these clubs. If this was against any other minority, where violence is being called for against them, they would be immediately denounced as a hate group and they wouldn’t be tolerated as recognized clubs on campus,” he says.
Defense Minister Israel Katz tells his US counterpart Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that there is an opportunity to reach a deal for the release of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza amid renewed negotiations.
“There is a chance for a new deal right now that will hopefully release all the hostages, including those with American citizenship,” Katz says, according to an Israeli readout of the call.
The two also discussed the developments in Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the subsequent Israeli seizure of the buffer zone on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, the Defense Ministry says.
The statement adds that the two defense officials “agreed on the danger posed by Iran and its [weapons] shipments, and agreed to cooperate to prevent attempts to smuggle weapons from Iran to Lebanon via Syria.”
A seasonal nativity scene at the Vatican has been removed after backlash over its depiction of the baby Jesus lying on a keffiyeh, the traditional scarf used by Palestinians as a national symbol, Catholic media outlets report.
The keffiyeh-draped cradle, which was displayed in the Paul VI Hall, was one of a series of nativity scenes collectively titled “Nativity of Bethlehem 2024,” designed by artists Johny Andonia and Faten Nastas Mitwasi, both Palestinians from Bethlehem, according to Vatican News.
At the inauguration of the scene on Saturday, Pope Francis called on believers to “remember the brothers and sisters, who, right there [in Bethlehem] and in other parts of the world, are suffering from the tragedy of war.”
According to the Crux news outlet, the Vatican did not offer a reason as to why the scene was removed and did not respond when asked whether its removal represented a political statement.
It was not the main nativity scene displayed in St. Peter’s Square.
A motion submitted by the National Unity party requiring the Knesset to hold a plenum discussion on establishing a state commission of inquiry into Hamas’ October 7 attack is rejected 43-51 and is removed from the parliamentary agenda.
Arguing in favor of the resolution, National Unity chairman Benny Gantz accuses members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition of “trying to cover up in order to evade responsibility” and “selling the security of the state for political needs.”
“Our people are not stupid, they understand exactly what you are trying to do. It will not help you,” he continues. “We see that you are ready to dismantle Israeli society, because of the lust for power.”
“The massacre cannot be whitewashed. An investigation of an event of this magnitude requires an organized and legally defined committee, which has expertise, has the time, the knowledge infrastructure and the resources to investigate. A state investigation committee is the only mechanism that exists to investigate this,” Gantz continues — arguing that a commission should begin probing Israel’s failures beginning with Hamas’ victory in the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections.
Speaking on behalf of the government, Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem casts doubt on the impartiality of the judiciary, saying that a “real, impartial investigation committee needs to be established.”
“We will not establish a state commission of inquiry. We will establish a people’s commission of inquiry…will ultimately investigate the whole truth, including the judges,” he says.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells the court during the second day of testimony in his corruption trial that in 2013 he searched for potential buyers to take over the Walla news site after previous owner Shaul Elovitch declined to steer the paper in a more right-wing direction
He says he believed the newspaper “could develop as a quality website” but “was never actualized.”
He says that after he raised the idea to Elovitch, the media mogul told him that it “wasn’t so simple” because it would mean replacing the people who already worked at Walla, to which Netanyahu says he told him: “I would say in such situations, switch the people.”
Questioned further by his defense attorney Amit Haddad, Netanyahu says that after it became clear that Elovitch “wasn’t about to change the make-up of Walla, to change direction by changing personnel,” he concluded that “the appropriate thing was to try and interest buyers” who he thought would be willing to invest in Walla and transform it into a right-wing outlet.
“I sought to interest people from abroad, independent people with right-wing perspectives which were not represented [in the press.]
He says that among the interested parties was Israel Hayom founder Sheldon Adelson.
He says, however, that he didn’t just attempt to convince Adelson to buy Walla, as he “also spoke to him about buying Ynet, Yedioth Aharonot, Maariv.”
“It wasn’t something special with Elovitch,” he says.
The IDF Home Front Command is lifting restrictions in the northern Golan Heights following a security assessment earlier this evening.
According to the decision, the permitted activity level in the area will be increased from partial to full.
Restrictions in the area were first eased following the start of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon last month.
Amnesty International lashes out at FIFA for awarding Saudi Arabia the organization of the 2034 men’s soccer World Cup, claiming the move will put lives at risk amid criticism of the country’s human rights record.
“FIFA’s reckless decision to award the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia without ensuring adequate human rights protections are in place will put many lives at risk,” Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Labour Rights and Sport, says in a statement issued by 21 bodies.
Among those who co-signed the statement were Saudi diaspora human rights organizations, migrant workers’ groups from Nepal and Kenya, international trade unions, fans’ representatives and global human rights organizations.
“Based on clear evidence to date, FIFA knows workers will be exploited and even die without fundamental reforms in Saudi Arabia, and yet has chosen to press ahead regardless,” he writes. “The organization risks bearing a heavy responsibility for many of the human rights abuses that will follow.”
Lina Alhathloul, Head of Monitoring and Advocacy, ALQST for Human Rights, a Saudi diaspora human rights organization, says the awarding of the World Cup to Saudi Arabia is “disheartening.”
“Now it’s happened, urgent and sustained action is needed to mitigate the grave risks of labor and civil rights violations associated with the tournament, including by securing major and credible reforms,” she says in the joint statement.
In a separate statement, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre says that one stadium already under construction for the tournament has been linked to alleged exploitative labor of 10-hour shifts in extreme heat.
“FIFA, its sponsors, and multinational companies likely already eyeing up lucrative infrastructure contracts have a legal and ethical responsibility to respect human rights. Particularly those of the most vulnerable migrant workers…” Phil Bloomer, Executive Director of BHRRC says.
Saudi Arabia denies accusations of human rights abuses and says it protects its national security through its laws.
A resolution by Likud MK Avichai Boaron to compel the Knesset to hold a special hearing in the plenum to discuss firing Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara passes 51-0 after opposition lawmakers walk out of the chamber chanting “shame.”
The passage of the proposal for the agenda item on “the conduct of the attorney general and the damage to the public” comes only a week after the measure was defeated by a single vote, prompting coalition insiders to posit that taking action to fire Baharav-Miara may have less support than commonly believed.
“The proposal concerns a very sensitive issue on the agenda of Israeli society…the governance of the executive branch and its ability to implement its policy,” says Boaron, arguing that the issue boils down to “the question of whether the people govern the country, whether the Knesset is led by the people’s elected representatives.”
“It is incumbent on each of the members of this house to protect Israeli democracy with all their might,” he states, accusing opposition lawmakers of hypocrisy as they scream objections.
During the debate, Labor MK Gilad Kariv yells at Boaron that the security failures of the last year are the fault of the government rather than the attorney general.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin also slams the opposition’s vocal anger, declaring that “this is not how we work.”
Economy Minister Nir Barkat, whose absence from last week’s vote was widely noted in the Hebrew press, writes on X that he supports “a substantive and principled discussion on splitting the role of the attorney general” into two positions: a chief government legal adviser and a chief prosecutor.
“This is a structural problem that requires change” and “I will work together with my friends in the coalition to promote the move in a way that will provide a solution for generations to come,” he writes.
Following the vote, National Unity MK Orit Farkash Hacohen accuses Boaron of being a “useful idiot” while Yesh Atid MK Karine Elharrar calls it a “sad day for Israeli democracy.”
Asked about reforms to Israel’s internet market that would have allowed for competition against Bezeq, which controls Israel’s internet infrastructure, Netanyahu insists that he was in favor of breaking the monopoly it held.
The premier is accused of offering regulatory benefits to Bezeq in exchange for positive news coverage on the Walla news site, then owned by Shaul Elovitch.
“Bezeq had the cables, we needed to open this monopoly and open up this infrastructure to other companies,” Netanyahu says, describing Israel’s internet infrastructure as “Soviet-like.”
“I went up against opponents to break the monopoly,” he says of the reforms, claiming that he backed then-communications minister Gilad Erdan’s attempts to pass them.
Asked by his defense attorney Amit Haddad how the reforms against Bezeq “sit with the idea that you had a ‘give and take’ relationship with Elovitch,” Netanyahu says it proves that he had no such relationship with the media mogul.
“I was advancing a reform that would do severe damage to Bezeq. This totally contradicts that theory, it collapses it….the allegation collapses, it is as clear as day,” he says. “It [an agreement] never happened and this is the proof.”
He says that he put no pressure on Erdan to provide benefits for Bezeq and that he actually “gave him full backing to break up Bezeq’s monopoly.”
“Not only did I not tell him to delay [the reforms] I advanced it.”
Columbia University’s alliance of anti-Israel activist groups is reinstated to Instagram after being suspended from the platform earlier this week.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of dozens of student groups, was suspended after posting plans for a protest targeting university trustees that included an image of a figure holding a Molotov cocktail.
That protest targeted Barnard College, the women’s college associated with Columbia. Barnard condemned “inflammatory posts with violent imagery” and stepped up security measures on campus in response.
Meta, Instagram’s parent company, did not respond to a request for comment on the suspension at the time.
Instagram is the student group’s main platform for organizing and advertising its events. The account has more than 47,000 followers.
Several other anti-Israel student and activist groups in New York City have had their accounts taken down in the past year.
Prosecutors are calling for two years in jail for a man suspected of punching and kicking Israeli tourists in Amsterdam last month during a violent attack following the Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer match which Israeli and Dutch officials have said was motivated by antisemitism.
The 22-year-old identified as Sefa O. is one of five suspects before an Amsterdam court on charges relating to the chaos in the city following the soccer match.
Israeli officials said 10 people were injured in the November 7 violence, perpetrated by local Arab and Muslim gangs against Maccabi fans after the match. Hundreds more Israelis huddled in their hotels for hours, fearing they could be attacked. Many said that Dutch security forces were nowhere to be found as the Israeli tourists were ambushed by gangs of masked assailants who shouted pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans while they hunted, beat and harassed them.
The court sees images of a man alleged to be O. kicking a person on the ground, chasing targets, and punching people in the head and the body.
O. played a “leading role” in the violence which “had little to do with football,” the prosecutor alleges.
However, the prosecutor claims that “in this case, there was no evidence of… a terrorist intent and the violence was not motivated by antisemitic sentiment.”
“The violence was influenced by the situation in Gaza, not by antisemitism,” says the prosecutor.
O, who sits hunched and looking down at his hands, says he “very much regretted his presence” at the violence and that he wanted “to start a new life” with his family.
“My wife is pregnant. For my family and my parents, I have decided from now on only to hang around with good people,” says O, who handed himself to the police and has since been in detention.
Prosecutors called for a second suspect, named as Lucas D., to receive a jail sentence of six months for throwing stones at police and illegal possession of fireworks.
He also stands accused of being part of a Snapchat group in which violence was incited against the Israeli fans.
The five men, ranging in age from 19 to 32, are facing a three-judge bench at the Amsterdam District Court in staggered appearances. Two more suspects are to appear on Thursday.
All seven have been charged with public violence. A further six suspects are set to appear at a later stage. Three of these suspects are minors and their cases will be heard behind closed doors.
The court is expected to hand down its verdict on December 24.
The US State Department confirms Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s departure to the Middle East where he will be discussing efforts to secure a hostage deal and advance a smooth transition in Syria during visits to Jordan and Turkey.
“He will discuss the need for the transition process and new government in Syria to respect the rights of minorities, facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance, prevent Syria from being used as a base of terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbors, and ensure that chemical weapons stockpiles are secured and safely destroyed,” a US readout says.
“He will also discuss the urgent need to conclude a ceasefire agreement in Gaza that secures the release of hostages, facilitate additional humanitarian assistance to vulnerable Palestinian civilians, and continue to implement the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah,” it adds.
An international consortium focused on early diagnosis of schizophrenia, headed by Prof. Hossam Haick of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, has received a €8 million ($8.4 million) European Union grant, the Technion announces.
The project, labeled VOLABIOS, “aims to develop advanced, cost-effective diagnostic tools that improve patient quality of life, reduce diagnostic errors by 30%, and optimize treatment and monitoring processes,” the press release says.
The initiative involves cooperation between 20 research partners from 11 countries around Europe, including Aachen University in Germany, the University of Cambridge in the UK, the Greek Ministry of Health and the French company FIRALIS, the notice says.
Project leader Haick, an Arab-Israeli academic, scientist and engineer from Nazareth, studied at Ben-Gurion University, the Technion, the Weizmann Institute of Science and Caltech. At the Technion, he is the dean of Undergraduate Studies and a faculty member of the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering.
Netanyahu tells the court Nir Hefetz, a former confidant and key witness in Case 4000, had once floated the idea of a mutually beneficial deal with Shaul Elovitch, which would see the premier receive positive coverage on Walla in exchange for providing benefits for the Bezeq telecommunications giant, of which Elovitch was the controlling shareholder.
“I said don’t bring me things like this,” Netanyahu recalls. “Everyone knows that this is my attitude.”
He says that he would have had the same response if Elovitch himself had approached him with the idea.
“It’s not good to be a friend of Bibi, because it doesn’t help,” he says, referring to himself in the third person.
“But it didn’t come up,” he adds. “He [Elovitch] didn’t ask or hint.”
Israel must withdraw forces from the buffer zone separating the Golan Heights from Syrian territory, France’s foreign ministry says.
“Any military deployment in the separation zone between Israel and Syria is a violation of the disengagement agreement of 1974… France calls on Israel to withdraw from the zone and to respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” a foreign ministry spokesman says.
Israel has stressed that its presence in the buffer zone is “temporary” following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
A UK high school is encouraging students to join a “collective fast” this coming Friday to raise money for Gaza amid Israel’s war with the Hamas terror group.
George Green’s School, located in London’s Tower Hamlets, has held a series of fundraiser events in recent weeks for UNICEF’s Gaza Appeal for Children in Crisis, and after raising more than £1,000 (roughly $1,270) across two bake sales and two sports tournaments, the school is now encouraging students to join a “Collective Fast Event” this coming Friday.
“On 13th December, both staff and students will come together in a collective fast, demonstrating our solidarity and raising awareness,” the school states on a fundraising page for the event. “Through this initiative, we aim to gather much-needed funds to provide food, medical aid, and other critical resources. Every donation, no matter the size, will make a significant difference.”
The UK’s Jewish Chronicle newspaper says that it obtained a copy of the letter sent to parents in an effort to encourage their children to sign up for the event.
“We are asking students to sign up for the fast and raise sponsorship,” the letter states. “We are already halfway to our target of £2500 but need your support.”
Speaking to the news outlet, a parent of a Jewish student at George Green’s School says that the event, and a previous one like it last December, instills a feeling of “shame” in her child and other Jewish students.
“The school has decided who is good and who is bad. Judaism has been portrayed as bad,” she tells the Jewish Chronicle. “No one is going to go out and announce [they are Jewish] at that school.”
In response, the school’s principal Jon Ryder tells the Jewish Chronicle that the event is “entirely voluntary,” but that it is “well-supported by members of the school community, including students, parents and staff.”
Netanyahu tells the court that he never discussed the idea of a mutually beneficial relationship with Shaul Elovitch, former owner of the Walla news site, dismissing the idea as “absurd.”
“I don’t need any agreement to turn to someone with a request, not understandings, agreements, nothing,” he says.
Asked by his defense attorney Amit Hadad whether there was any change in Walla’s coverage of him following his meetings with Elovitch, Netanyahu says: “Yes, there was a change. It went further to the left.”
The line of questioning on the second day of Netanyahu’s testimony has so far focused on a critical dinner he and his wife Sara shared with Elovitch and his wife Iris in 2012.
The prosecution has alleged that the dinner in question was when the two men came up with their plan for regulatory benefits in exchange for positive media coverage.
Netanyahu alleges, however, that the two men didn’t discuss business during their dinner.
“He didn’t speak to me about his business, didn’t hint to me about them, and didn’t request anything from me. And if we would have requested something, anything, he would have got a decisive ‘no,'” the premier alleges.
Hadad asks whether Netanyahu viewed the dinner as important at the time, to which he responds that “it wasn’t significant, it was routine — it wasn’t a portentous event, it was another event, no more, no less.”
He says he wasn’t aware if Elovitch had expected help advancing his own economic interests, as it “didn’t come up.”
Regarding the prosecution’s claim that the two men had a mutually beneficial agreement in place, Netanyahu points out that “it was election time” during the period of interest.
“No one knew if I was going to be elected — if I would have had an agreement with Elovitch, this was the time to use it,” he says.
Demolition work begins at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, one of the Gaza border communities worst hit by the Hamas attack on October 7 last year.
Ninety-seven buildings have been designated for demolition, but no decisions have been made yet about 48 buildings in the “Young Generation” neighborhood.
Of 37 residents of this neighborhood, 11 were murdered and seven were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip. In total, out of the 1,000 residents of Kfar Aza, 62 were killed during the October 7 terror onslaught in southern Israel.
Some 1,200 people were killed, mainly civilians on that day, and 251 were seized as hostages and abducted to the Gaza Strip.
As part of Kfar Aza’s rehabilitation, 400 buildings will be renovated (360 residential buildings and 40 public ones), and damaged infrastructure will be repaired.
The Tekuma Directorate, charged with rehabilitating the Gaza border area, will allocate NIS 200 million (nearly $56 million) to Kfar Aza for the works. These will include building a new Young Generation neighborhood in a different location on the kibbutz, and a new residential neighborhood.
The kibbutz, currently housed in temporary accommodation in Kibbutz Ruhama, has contracted with the management company A. Epstein & Sons (1995) Ltd.
Earlier at the Knesset, Paraguayan President Santiago Peña was received with a standing ovation.
Peña said he came to Israel “to tell the criminals, you did not win,” referring to Hamas.
“There are moments when you must take a stand,” said Peña, calling Jerusalem “the eternal capital of Israel.”
“The decision to open the embassy in this city is based on the values of solidarity and brotherhood,” he said. “Without an embassy in Jerusalem, diplomatic ties will not be with true heart and soul. With this transition in our friendship, there will be a beating heart, and I hope we can inspire other countries to do the same.”
Testifying at court, Netanyahu addresses questions about his interactions with Shaul Elovitch, former owner of the Walla news site. Netanyahu insists he never had an agreement with Elovitch regarding the site’s coverage. He characterizes their conversations as general discussions about the media landscape.
Netanyahu describes his first dinner meeting with Elovitch, saying he viewed it as an opportunity to get to know him, emphasizing that Bezeq, the telecommunications company owned by Elovitch at the time, was not discussed. Instead, he says he spoke broadly about Israel’s media environment, which he described as dominated by left-leaning outlets, and advocated for greater diversity.
“I told him there’s an economic opportunity in providing the right-wing public with an outlet that reflects its positions,” Netanyahu says, while stressing that he made similar appeals to other media figures.
Netanyahu notes Rupert Murdoch’s creation of Fox News in the US, saying it showed the economic potential of catering to underrepresented audiences. He says he had hoped Walla could evolve into a quality right-leaning website.
Asked why he believes Elovitch didn’t implement changes at Walla, Netanyahu suggests that Elovitch, despite his right-wing inclinations, was “frightened” by the potential backlash from staff and media critics.
Asked if the two discussed a quid pro quo arrangement, Netanyahu says: “Absolutely not. There was no discussion of give and take.”
Netanyahu also dismisses the notion that he frequently contacted Elovitch, asserting that their discussions were limited and focused on the site’s potential.
A new report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) notes significant progress in Egypt’s education reform, with 80% of schoolchildren now studying from revised textbooks. The changes promote peace, tolerance and coexistence while rejecting violence and extremism, IMPACT-se says.
The revised elementary curriculum has removed or restructured antisemitic and anti-Israel content. For instance, Israel is presented as a legitimate peace partner, and Christian Education textbooks reference Jewish historical connections to Jerusalem. Grade 9 students study the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, with students learning of the “advantages of peace for Egypt and the Arab states.”
However, prejudice persists in unrevised materials used in higher grades, which still depict Zionism negatively, the group says. These textbooks are slated for reform as part of Egypt’s ongoing 12-year curriculum overhaul, currently in its seventh year.
The Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet say they eliminated two senior Hamas operatives in recent airstrikes in Gaza.
According to the IDF, Fahmi Salami, commander of the elite Nukhba forces in Hamas’s Zeitoun Battalion, was killed in an airstrike on a building that had previously served as the Al-Falah School. Salami led the October 7 attack on the Paga military post, which resulted in the deaths of 14 Israeli soldiers, the army says, adding that he continued to lead terror operations throughout the ongoing conflict.
In a separate strike, Salah Dahman, the head of Hamas’s paraglider unit, was killed in the Jabalia area. The Shin Bet says that Dahman was responsible for overseeing the group’s aerial activities.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes the witness stand for the second day of his testimony in his criminal trial on corruption charges, during which his defense attorney Amit Hadad will continue to question the prime minister about the allegations against him.
Fewer Likud MKs have come to support the prime minister in court today. There are no demonstrations outside the Tel Aviv District Court where Netanyahu’s testimony is being heard, and the media presence is noticeably smaller.
On Tuesday, Hadad sought to undermine key aspects of Case 4000, in which Netanyahu is accused of making regulatory decisions that greatly benefited former Bezeq owner Shaul Elovitch financially, in return for positive press coverage on the Walla news website owned by Elovitch.
Hadad and Netanyahu sought to demonstrate that Walla’s coverage did not become especially favorable after an alleged agreement was reached between the two and that Netanyahu received nothing and can therefore not be found guilty of taking a bribe, as the indictment alleges.
The prosecution will likely argue, when it holds its cross-examination in several weeks, that it does not need to prove Walla totally changed its coverage, but rather that Netanyahu got some positive coverage due to special treatment from Elovitch as a result of the regulatory benefits Netanyahu advanced for him.
The defense questioning is expected to last for many sessions before cross-examination can begin.
The tomb of ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s father Hafez was torched in his hometown of Qardaha, AFP footage shows, with rebel fighters in fatigues and young men watching it burn.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor tells AFP the rebels set fire to the mausoleum, located in the Latakia heartland of Assad’s Alawite community.
Speaking at a special Knesset session honoring Paraguayan President Santiago Peña, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praises his counterpart for pledging to stick by Israel no matter the price.
“There are many who turn their backs, there are many who prefer to remain quiet, there are many who go over to the other side,” says Netanyahu.
“But you chose not to stand on the side, and history will remember those who chose to stand alongside Israel in its hour of difficulty.”
Paraguay is reopening its embassy in Jerusalem tomorrow.
“Jerusalem is the capital of the people of Israel and them alone for more than 3,000 years,” says Netanyahu.
“Fifty-seven years ago we unified Jerusalem, and it will never be divided again,” he says to applause, including from Peña.
Netanyahu says the world “appreciates” what Israel has done to Iran and its proxies.
“We hope that new fronts won’t open,” he says, as IDF forces operate in Syria after the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Netanyahu says that “it is possible that another front has been added.”
“Israel is planted in the heart of the Middle East,” he says. “It’s a wild space, a stormy space, and rough. And specifically because of that, we are not letting up on our mission for a single moment.
“Israel will continue to smash the terror proxies of the axis of evil led by Iran,” he promises, adding that Israel will make peace with whoever desires peace with Israel.
Netanyahu blasts as absurd and antisemitic the decision of the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for himself and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and says IDF soldiers could also face arrest in the future. “But you, Santiago, came out with bravery against this lie and for the truth.”
The Afghan Taliban’s acting minister for refugees, Khalil Rahman Haqqani, has been killed in a blast in the country’s capital Kabul, his nephew Anas Haqqani says.
Khalil Haqqani became a minister in the Taliban’s interim government after foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021. He was a senior leader of the Haqqani network, a militant faction blamed for major attacks during the 20-year war, according to the US State Department.
Security forces from the new Syrian government announce the capture of a large warehouse used to manufacture and store drugs, including Captagon.
Bashar al-Assad’s regime earned billions of dollars by smuggling highly addictive Captagon amphetamines out of Syria, mainly to oil-rich Arab Gulf states. The drug is used recreationally and by people with physically demanding jobs to keep them alert.
It was also reportedly consumed by ISIS and Hamas terrorists, including those who carried out the October 7 massacre, earning Captagon the moniker ‘ISIS drug.’
The warehouse seized today was managed by Assad’s brother Maher, Syrian sources report. Its location is not disclosed.
Three researchers from Tel Aviv University officially received the prestigious Rousseeuw Prize for Statistics at a ceremony held last week at the Catholic University of Leuven, in Belgium, where “protests by students and faculty members have called for a full academic boycott of Israeli universities,” TAU says in a press release.
Prof. Yoav Benjamini, Prof. Daniel Yekutieli and Prof. Ruth Heller from the Department of Statistics and Operations Research were given the award for their work on the False Discovery Rate (FDR), a statistical methodology for discovering errors among large datasets first described by Benjamini and the late professor Yosef Hochberg in the 1990s.
The award, which was designed to be the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for statistical research, is overseen by the King Baudouin Foundation and comes with a $1 million prize. The TAU winners were first announced in August.
The award ceremony was conducted without incident, although “outside the building where the ceremony took place, students distributed flyers advocating for a comprehensive boycott, similar to the policies adopted by other Belgian universities,” the TAU statement noted.
In a speech accepting the award, Benjamini emphasized “the importance of science as a bridge between societies” and called for “the preservation of scientific collaborations, avoidance of boycotts, and protection of science from political interference.”
Speaking in Spanish during a special plenum session welcoming Paraguayan President Santiago Peña in the Knesset, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid welcomes Asunción’s decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem, “the eternal capital of Israel.”
“Here, in the streets where the prophets of Israel and Jesus Christ walked, it is appropriate that the Paraguayan flag be waved. Thank you on behalf of a whole nation,” Lapid states.
“Not only here in Israel, everywhere, we live in a world that has gone mad,” Lapid continues, switching back to Hebrew.
Citing recent democratic setbacks in Romania and Georgia and “what has been happening in the courtroom in Tel Aviv over the past two days,” Lapid says that “we live in a world where there is no difference between truth and lies, where dictators speak in the name of democracy, corrupt rulers speak in the name of the rule of law, and social networks controlled by totalitarian states engineer public opinion with the help of addictive algorithms.”
“We have friends, Mr. President, friends like you, but your voice is not heard enough,” Lapid tells Peña.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says the weakening of the anti-Israel “resistance” after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad in Syria will not diminish Tehran’s power.
Some, “unaware of the meaning of resistance, imagine that when the resistance becomes weak, Islamic Iran will also become weak… Iran is strong and powerful and will become even more powerful,” Khamenei says.
According to Khamenei, different “invaders” in Syria are pursuing different aims.
“Their goals are different. Some of them are seeking to seize the lands of northern or southern Syria. America is seeking to strengthen its position in the region,” he says.
The Kremlin condemns Israel’s strikes on Syria and the entry of forces into the buffer zone along the Golan Heights, saying it wants to see the country quickly “stabilized.”
“The strikes, the actions in the Golan Heights, and the buffer zone hardly contribute to the stabilization of the situation in the already destabilized Syria,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says.
Addressing Paraguayan President Santiago Peña during a special plenum assembly in the Knesset, Speaker Amir Ohana says that by moving its embassy to Jerusalem, his country “joins a distinguished, even if not yet broad, circle of nations that stands for truth and model courage.”
“You are taking part in the fulfillment of prophecy, bending the arc of history toward morality and justice,” Ohana states in English — adding that, by standing with Israel, “Paraguay has chosen its principles over popularity” and that “history will vindicate your valor and generations will praise your courageous stand.”
The Kremlin says it is in contact with the new Syrian leadership over the fate of Russia’s military bases in the country, following the overthrow of Moscow’s ally Bashar al-Assad.
“We are in contact with those who control the situation in Syria,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells reporters. “This is necessary since our [military] base and diplomatic mission are there.”
Australian federal police have launched a special operation to investigate an increase in antisemitic threats and violence since the war between Israel and Hamas began last year.
Jewish leaders say prejudice against their community has reached unprecedented levels, with most incidents reported in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia’s largest cities, where 85 percent of the nation’s Jewish population lives.
President Isaac Herzog welcomes Paraguayan President Santiago Peña at his official residence in Jerusalem, as part of a state visit that will see the inauguration of the South American nation’s new embassy in Jerusalem.
“It means a lot to the people of Israel, the fact that you’re coming here after a year when the Israeli public, the Israeli people, the Israeli nation has gone through a most challenging time — painful, agonizing,” Herzog tells Peña.
“We are very excited that you will inaugurate the Paraguayan embassy in Jerusalem, our holy city, united city, the eternal capital of the State of Israel and the Jewish people,” he continues, expressing his hope that the visit “will bring a message of peace and a bright future.”
In response, Peña calls the visit a “tipping point in our own history,” and states that it constitutes “a moral obligation that the Paraguayan people have asked us to do, and we feel that we are bringing the heart and feeling of more than six million Paraguayans that they feel so close or attached to the people of Israel.
“This is important for us coming here and opening the embassy as a symbol, because this symbolizes something that is much larger, which is our friendship and the faith that we have on a brighter future, and we all deserve to have a brighter future,” he says.
Most countries do not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and base their embassies in Tel Aviv, often opening smaller consulates in Jerusalem.
Currently, five countries — the US, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, and Papua New Guinea — have embassies in Jerusalem.
In 2018, Paraguay’s outgoing president Horacio Cartes announced that his country would open an embassy in Jerusalem, following similar moves by the US and Guatemala. But the embassy was moved back to Tel Aviv by Cartes’s successor Abdo Benitez after just five months. Benitez said he had not been consulted in the original decision and indicated that it harmed efforts to maintain a more neutral approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Peña, who came into office last year, decided to reopen the Jerusalem mission.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir appears to call to deport Arab lawmaker Ayman Odeh over comments he made regarding the Palestinian right to struggle against Israel.
Speaking at the Knesset Science and Technology Committee yesterday, the Hadash-Ta’al chair stated that, while Hamas’s attack on innocent civilians on October 7, 2023, constituted a “very deep moral injury,” he also believed that every nation “has a right to struggle against its conqueror.”
“This is true in every place in the world, and this is the right of the Palestinian people,” Odeh said, expressing his opposition to “harming innocent people.”
Calling Odeh the “representative of the terrorists in the Knesset,” Ben Gvir posts a video of the lawmaker’s remarks and quips that soon legislation allowing for the deportation of the families of terrorists “will also apply to you.”
The Knesset in November passed a bill permitting the deportation of family members of terrorists.
The controversial law gives the interior minister the power to expel a first-degree relative of someone who carried out an attack if they had advance knowledge and either: (a) failed to report the matter to the police, or (b) “expressed support or identification with an act of terrorism or published words of praise, sympathy or encouragement for an act of terrorism or a terrorist organization.”
Both the Justice Ministry and the Attorney General’s Office raised concerns about the legislation, which stipulates that those being expelled would be sent either to the Gaza Strip or other destinations, depending on circumstances.
Syria’s new interim prime minister says he aims to bring back millions of Syrian refugees, protect all citizens, and provide basic services, but he acknowledges it will be difficult because the country lacks foreign currency.
“In the coffers, there are only Syrian pounds worth little or nothing. One US dollar buys 35,000 of our coins,” Mohammed al-Bashir tells Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera.
“We have no foreign currency and, as for loans and bonds, we are still collecting data. So yes, financially we are very bad.”
He also appeals to “all Syrians abroad: Syria is now a free country that has earned its pride and dignity. Come back.” He adds that “the rights of all people and all sects in Syria” will be guaranteed.
Bashir ran the rebel-led Salvation Government in a tiny pocket of northwestern Syria, before the 12-day lightning rebel offensive swept into Damascus and toppled veteran autocrat president Bashar al-Assad.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Turkey on Friday to discuss the developments in Syria following the toppling of strongman Bashar al-Assad, a Turkish official source says.
“He will be in Turkey on Friday,” the source says of the visit, which will come just five days after Assad’s unexpected ouster, pledging to share more details “as they are finalized.”
Palestinian medical officials say an Israeli strike on a home where displaced people were sheltering in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 19 people.
That is according to the Kamal Adwan Hospital, which received the casualties on Wednesday, after the overnight strike in the town of Beit Lahiya. Hospital records show that a family of eight were among those killed, including four children, their parents, and two grandparents.
There is no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel has been waging a renewed offensive against Hamas in northern Gaza since early October.
The Adass Israel Synagogue has raised more than $600,000 in a crowdfunding campaign for its reconstruction, after it was destroyed in an antisemitic arson attack last Friday.
“The horrific attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue was an attack on the very heart of the Jewish community and on our Australian way of life,” the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) says in a statement. “We can’t let that un-Australian hate destroy the country we love. We have to stand with the Adass community and help them to rebuild, and rebuild even stronger.”
The Adass Synagogue is home to a Hasidic congregation of several hundred families.
It was founded in 1949 by Holocaust survivors from Hungary, Germany, the former Czechoslovakia, and Poland. Many of the current members are Holocaust survivors or descendants of Holocaust survivors.
Some of the Torah scrolls that were saved from last week’s fire had been rescued from the ashes of the Holocaust, the campaign’s website notes.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Iran has evidence that the toppling of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was a result of a plan by the US, Israel, and one of Syria’s neighbors that he does not name.
The IDF says two more rockets were launched from Gaza a short time ago.
The rockets were intercepted by the military.
Three Israelis who visited Joseph’s Tomb in the West Bank’s Nablus overnight without coordination were lightly injured when gunmen opened fire at their vehicle.
The three, members of the ultra-Orthodox Breslov Hassidic sect, fled and received medical treatment at a Jerusalem hospital.
The IDF says it identified two rocket launches from the Gaza Strip a short time ago.
The rockets activated some sirens in the area and fell in open areas, causing no damage.
Human trafficking has risen sharply due to conflicts, climate-induced disasters and global crises, according to a United Nations report.
In 2022, the latest year for which data is widely available, the number of known victims worldwide rose to 25% above 2019’s pre-pandemic levels, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s Global Report on Trafficking in Persons says. A sharp fall in 2020 had largely disappeared by the following year.
“Criminals are increasingly trafficking people into forced labor, including to coerce them into running sophisticated online scams and cyberfraud, while women and girls face the risk of sexual exploitation and gender-based violence,” the report says, adding that organized crime is mainly responsible.
Children account for 38% of detected victims, compared to 35% for figures for 2020, which formed the basis of the previous report.
The daughter of two slain American-Israeli hostages says US President Joe Biden should have issued the kind of statement released last week by President-elect Donald Trump, who warned of “all hell to pay” if captives in the Middle East weren’t immediately released.
“All world leaders should have done on October 8, 2023, what Trump did in his tweet,” Gad Haggai and Judy Weinstein’s daughter Iris tells The Times of Israel.
“Our situation would have been a lot different. We would have saved many lives — not only Israelis, not only hostages’ but also Palestinians — if only world leaders took a stand for the unconditional release of all these hostages,” she says after meeting with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Washington along with relatives of the other remaining seven American-Israeli hostages.
Asked specifically whether her critique of world leaders extended to Biden, Weinstein Haggai responds, “definitely,” in a rare critique of the outgoing president who has repeatedly been heralded by the American hostage families for his efforts to secure their loved ones’ release.
She recognized that Biden has several times throughout the war called for the unconditional release of the hostages, and she expressed appreciation for the president’s decision to visit Israel days after October 7. “But the demand for them to be released ‘or else,’ is what I’m looking for,” says Weinstein Haggai, whose parents’ bodies are both being held in Gaza since they were murdered during the Hamas onslaught.
She clarifies that she doesn’t expect Hamas to immediately comply with such demands, but states they would lead the terror group to understand the international community is not accepting its narrative and that it therefore doesn’t have legitimacy to raise demands in negotiations or refuse to engage in talks at all.
“When these Hamas terrorists… see that world leaders don’t pressure them… it sends a message to them that they can execute six beautiful young people and there are no consequences, that they can release these propaganda videos and nobody’s going to do anything,” Weinstein Haggai says.
While many world leaders have demanded the immediate release of the hostages, they have done so as part of calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, which the hostages’ daughter laments is something they haven’t done when addressing other conflicts.
“It hurts my soul to see what’s happening in Gaza. My family lived a mile from Gaza for a reason. We were the first in line to advocate for peace and for a two-state solution, but the hostages can’t be used to solve the Middle East crisis,” Weinstein Haggai argues.
Regardless, she says it’s “never too late” for world leaders to issue the kind of statement Trump did.
Russia transported Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted as Syria’s president by a lightning rebel offensive, very securely to Russia, the country’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, tells NBC News in an interview aired on Tuesday.
The Kremlin said on Monday that President Vladimir Putin had made the decision to grant asylum in Russia to Assad. His fall is a big blow to Iran and Russia, which had intervened in Syria’s 13-year civil war to try to shore up his rule despite Western demands that he leave power.
“He is secured, and it shows that Russia acts as required in such an extraordinary situation,” Ryabkov tells NBC, according to a transcript on NBC’s website. He adds that he will not elaborate “on what happened and how it was resolved.”
SYDNEY — Vandals daubed anti-Israel graffiti in a Sydney suburb on Wednesday, police say, sparking “outrage” from Australia’s government days after a Melbourne synagogue was set ablaze.
Police say they are seeking two people aged 15-20 who wore face coverings in relation to the incident, in which a car was also torched in the early hours.
Graffiti was spread over the burned car, another vehicle, two buildings and a footpath, state police says.
Images on local media showed the misspelled phrase “Kill Israiel” painted in black on a white wall in the eastern suburb of Woollahra, which has a long-established Jewish community.
A contractor painted over the graffiti soon afterwards.
Woollahra this morning. pic.twitter.com/p2SgiKtTve
— Claire Lehmann (@clairlemon) December 10, 2024
“The incident in Sydney is an outrage and another antisemitic attack,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says in a statement on social media.
“I stand with the Jewish community and unequivocally condemn this attack. There is no place for hatred or anti-Semitism in our country.”
The Australian leader says he will be briefed by a federal police task force that was set up this week to investigate antisemitic attacks.
Insurgents who overthrew the Syrian government now say they have wrested control of the eastern city of Deir Ezzor after intense battles with a Kurdish-led, US-backed force.
Hassan Abdul-Ghani, a senior commander of the jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — which leads the insurgent alliance, says that the rebel forces completely took control of Deir Ezzor.
A member HTS says in a recorded video that the group will soon conduct a thorough sweep of the city’s neighborhoods to secure the area, adding that the strategic nearby town of Boukamal has also fallen to opposition forces.
“We will advance toward Raqqa and Hasakah and other areas in eastern Syria,” the HTS fighters says.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces had only held the city for a few days. The SDF said it deployed to Deir Ezzor and west of the Euphrates River on Friday, replacing Syrian government forces. At the time, the SDF said its fighters were not in control of the Boukamal border crossing with Iraq, which Israel has struck numerous times over the years to thwart arms transfers to Iran-linked groups.
Two US Navy destroyers escorting three merchant vessels through the Gulf of Aden defeated an attack by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, the US military says.
The Houthis launched multiple drones and a cruise missile while the ships were transiting the Gulf yesterday and today, the US Central Command says in a post on X.
“The reckless attacks resulted in no injuries and no damage to any vessels, civilians or US Naval,” CENTCOM says.
A military spokesman for the Houthis said earlier today that the group had targeted three supply ships and two American destroyers accompanying them in the Gulf of Aden.
