Dec. 11: As hostages lit Hanukkah candles in tunnel, Hersh likened their situation to Jews in Nazi Germany

Iran’s Araghchi to visit Beirut after Lebanese foreign minister declines trip to Tehran

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi says he will travel to Beirut for talks after receiving a formal invitation from his Lebanese counterpart, who a day earlier had declined to visit Tehran for direct talks.

On Wednesday, Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raji said “current conditions” prevented him from traveling to Tehran, but stressed that the move did not mean rejection of dialogue with Iran.

Raji told Reuters late on Wednesday that he had invited Araghchi “in a formal diplomatic letter to come to Beirut to hold talks.”

Araghchi says on X that he would “gladly accept the invitation to come to Beirut,” although he said he found Raji’s position “bemusing.” He says foreign ministers of countries with “full diplomatic relations” did not need a neutral venue to meet.

“Subjected to Israeli occupation and blatant ‘ceasefire’ violations, I fully understand why my esteemed Lebanese counterpart is not prepared to visit Tehran,” Araghchi adds.

Raji said on Wednesday that Lebanon was ready to open a new phase of relations with Iran based on mutual respect, sovereignty and non-interference.

He added that no strong state could be built unless the government held the exclusive right to bear arms, in an apparent reference to calls to disarm Hezbollah, the Iran-aligned Lebanese armed group.

As hostages lit Hanukkah candles in tunnel, Hersh likened their situation to Jews in Nazi Germany

Newly released footage shows six Israeli hostages lighting Hanukkah candles before their murder in captivity, with Hersh Goldberg-Polin likening their situation to that of the Jews living in Nazi Germany.

“There’s that picture of the Hanukkiah with a [Nazi flag] above it,” Goldberg-Polin is heard reflecting in one of the clips aired on Channel 12’s “Uvda.”

Later on in the clip, one of the hostages is heard joking, “Where are the sufganiyot?”

Hersh responds, “We’re waiting for Roladin in Israel,” referring to the bakery known for making fancy donuts during the Hanukkah season.

Another clip shows the six hostages marking New Year’s Eve 2024 and sometimes eating a piece of fruit, as their captors attempted to show a different reality of their captivity.

The six, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lobanov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27, were killed by their captors in a tunnel in Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood on August 29, 2024, and were discovered by troops two days later.

The video footage shows each of the hostages, thin but still vital, some smiling at the camera, including Goldberg-Polin, who was missing the lower half of his left arm, which was blown off by a grenade on October 7.

The family members of each hostage are interviewed in the “Uvda” episode and reflect on how intense it feels to see their loved one.

“It’s very confusing, it feels like he’s right there,” says Rachel Goldberg. “And it was hours of footage.”

Almog Sarusi’s father comments on how his son is always smiling in the footage.

During the war, the IDF, upon finding footage or other findings of hostages in Gaza, presented it to their families, who often released it to the public.

The six hostages sit together after the candle lighting, in which they used paper cups for the Hanukkiah, playing some card games while sitting on mattresses.

The Hanukkah footage appears to be after 80 days of captivity.

“What heroes,” says Goldberg-Polin. “Six young luminous people who did everything right and they stayed alive and they did their part, and for us to claim we brought them back, in bags, bags of children to their parents, please don’t count Hersh among the people you saved.”

New footage calls into question IDF explanation for shooting that killed Palestinian in Hebron last week

New surveillance camera footage from a deadly incident in the West Bank city of Hebron last week appears to contradict the military’s claim of a car-ramming attack.

On Saturday, the army said it shot dead a Palestinian who allegedly accelerated in his vehicle toward troops near a checkpoint in Hebron. A second Palestinian, a passerby, was also shot dead amid the incident.

The new video shows the car involved in the incident initially driving past the soldiers, who are behind concrete blocks. The car is then seen reversing, and the soldiers approach the driver, apparently calling on him to halt.

The car continues to reverse away from the troops, hitting one soldier in the process, as gunshots ring out.

#مشهد | يوثق لحظة إعدام قوات الاحتلال للشهيدين "زياد أبو داود" و"أحمد الرجبي" بمدينة الخليل، قبل عدة أيام. pic.twitter.com/WXvnTShOq4

— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) December 11, 2025

PM meets with security cabinet amid fears of renewed Israeli operation in Lebanon

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes his security cabinet in Jerusalem, as doubts emerge about the future disarmament of Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Outgoing Mossad chief David Barnes and the nominee for his replacement, Military Secretary Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman both attend, as does interim Shin Bet director Gil Reich.

Netanyahu will meet later this month with US President Donald Trump, who is pushing for Israel to move to phase 2 of his plan for Gaza.

Court removes arrest restrictions on Bild affair suspects

The Tel Aviv District Court removes all restrictive conditions from Eli Feldstein and Ari Rosenfeld, who were indicted on charges of transferring classified information, in the so-called Bild affair, and criticizes the police over the lack of progress in the legal process in the case.

Feldstein, a former media adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Rosenfeld, a reservist in military intelligence, were held in detention for lengthy periods of time before and after being indicted, after which they were released to house arrest, which was later eased to partial house arrest and a requirement to be accompanied out of their homes.

Judge Ala Masarwa says pointedly in his decision to remove all remaining restrictions that it has been over a year since the two men were indicted without any advancement in the legal proceedings against them, demonstrating, he argued, that they apparently no longer posed a danger to state security.

“It seems that a whole year has passed without any noticeable progress in the main proceedings,” writes Masarwa, adding that the possibility that another suspect, Jonatan Urich, would be indicted could have further implications on the indictment of Feldstein and Rosenfeld, “all of which paint a bleak picture regarding the possibility of advancing the case in the foreseeable future.”

The judge also says that since neither man would return to their former place of work and the circumstances in which they are able to obtain classified documents would not arise again, there was little need to keep them under house arrest.

Feldstein and Rosenfeld were charged with leaking a classified document to the German tabloid, Bild, in September 2024, which ostensibly detailed Hamas’s priorities and tactics in hostage negotiations.

The document was allegedly unlawfully removed from the IDF’s military intelligence database by Rosenfeld, who gave it to Feldstein, who then saw to it that it was transferred to Bild.

Feldstein is accused of leaking the document in order to influence public opinion on negotiations for the release of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in a more favorable direction for his boss, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Report: Netanyahu tells UTJ he can sway coalition to back Haredi draft bill

Channel 12 reports details from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting earlier today with the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, highlighting unresolved disagreements within the coalition over the draft exemption bill and the 2026 state budget.

According to the report, Netanyahu told UTJ representatives that he remains committed to passing the draft law and said there are only two coalition MKs whose support he is uncertain he can secure – Likud’s Yuli Edelstein and Deputy Foreign Minister Sharon Haskel. He reportedly added that he would be able to “apply pressure” on the remaining lawmakers who currently oppose the bill to ultimately vote in favor.

UTJ lawmakers also raised concerns about budget shortfalls, including funding for the New Horizon program, which funds work in small groups in Haredi schools between teachers and pupils and bumps up teacher salaries, among other initiatives and allocations for yeshivas. Netanyahu is said to have pledged to work with the relevant ministers to address the issue.

Channel 12 further reports that Netanyahu has not yet reached a final decision on the draft bill, amid growing opposition from within the Likud base in recent days.

In a separate report, Kan public broadcaster quotes Netanyahu as telling the faction: “Elections at this time would be a mistake. The conscription law needs to be explained to the public, and I believe there will be no more than 2 or 3 opponents from the coalition in the end,” apparently referring to Edelstein and Haskel.

“We will be required to complete this legislation as soon as possible,” he reportedly added.

The meeting comes as UTJ’s Degel HaTorah faction backs the latest draft of the bill, which would continue to grant military service exemptions to full-time yeshiva students. However, the party’s Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction opposes any legislation containing sanctions on Haredim who don’t serve.

Chair of LA ’28 Olympics: Israeli athletes will be ‘welcome and safe’ at Games

Casey Wasserman, chair of the 2028 LA Olympics organizing committee, promises that Israeli athletes will be welcomed with open arms at the Games in three years and no discrimination will be allowed.

“I do not allow or stand for anybody to discriminate against Jewish athletes,” says Wasserman at an end-of-year event for the Olympic Committee of Israel in Tel Aviv.

Wasserman, who calls himself a “proud Jewish American,” stresses that Israeli athletes must be able to “compete everywhere in the world to show the true face of this country.”

While the International Olympic Committee has steadfastly rejected any efforts to bar Israeli athletes or make them compete under a neutral flag, athletes from Israel at the 2024 Paris Games faced boos, threats and some protests.

“We’re very focused on making sure every athlete has a safe and shared experience,” Wasserman says. “I don’t want the Israeli athletes to feel like they have a different experience because of the security situation, they should feel equally safe doing the same thing as everybody else.”

Noting that there are more Jews living in Los Angeles than in Tel Aviv, Wasserman tells the gathered Israeli athletes that “you will have a rabbi if you need one, you will have good food… and you will be welcome and safe.”

Wasserman, who is currently on his first-ever trip to Israel, met today with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, and yesterday he toured Kibbutz Be’eri in the south, which was ravaged in Hamas’s October 7 attack.

Poll: Plurality of Israelis oppose $841 million Smotrich plan to expand settlements

A plurality of Israelis oppose far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s plan to invest NIS 2.7 billion ($841 million) to expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank, a new poll finds.

About 46% of Israelis said they oppose the plan, which would see funds allocated to expand construction and infrastructure in settlements and to legalize outposts that were built without necessary permits. Some of these outposts have become hotbeds for settler violence against Palestinians.

Around 39% of Israelis said they support the plan, while 15.6% said they have no opinion on the matter.

The survey was conducted by Tatika Research and Media in collaboration with the Adgenda panel.

Smotrich’s plan is part of the budget that will be brought before the Knesset for its approval in the coming weeks.

Israel says Amnesty report accusing Hamas of crimes against humanity ‘falls far short’

After Amnesty International put out a report accusing Hamas of crimes against humanity during and after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Israel says the report is insufficient.

“It took Amnesty International more than two years to address Hamas’s heinous crimes, and even now its report falls far short of reflecting the full scope of Hamas’s horrific atrocities,” writes Foreign Minister Spokesman Oren Marmorstein on X.

“The horrors perpetrated by Hamas and Palestinian civilians on October 7 and thereafter are so grave that even a biased organization like Amnesty International could not overlook them. Fortunately, the world does not need Amnesty International to recognize the truth of the sheer monstrosity of Hamas.”

Report: Israel now realizes damage it inflicted to Iran’s ballistic missile program ‘less severe’ than initially thought

Israel reportedly believes that the damage it inflicted on Iran’s ballistic missile program during the 12-day June war with the Islamic Republic was “less severe” than initially assessed.

Iran currently possesses around 2,000 heavy ballistic missiles, roughly the same number it had on the eve of the war, according to a report by Al-Monitor.

Military Intelligence Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder shared this information with visiting US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz earlier this week, the outlet reports, citing an Israeli security source, indicating that Jerusalem is again urging Washington to act against Iran.

“This is a threat that Israel will not be able to accept for long, and we must coordinate with the Americans the red lines and actions we will take in the future, perhaps even in the near future,” a source familiar with the matter tells Al-Monitor.

However, an Israeli military source denies the report, telling The Times of Israel that Binder did not present such an assessment to Waltz.

The source says that during the meeting, it was noted that the Iranians are restoring capabilities, acquiring equipment, but not to the level it had before the 12-day war, and the assessment that the damage was smaller than initially thought, was not said.

Ghana deports three Israelis in retaliation for alleged ‘inhumane treatment’ of nationals at Ben Gurion

Three Israelis were deported by Ghana yesterday in a reciprocal action over alleged mistreatment by Israel of a group of Ghanaian citizens at Ben Gurion International Airport earlier this week.

“The Government of Ghana has been compelled to activate appropriate reciprocal action by deporting three Israelis who arrived in Ghana earlier today following the ill-treatment and unwarranted deportation of three Ghanaians,” Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, announced yesterday.

After officials from Israel’s embassy in Accra were summoned over the incident, “Both Governments have now agreed to an amicable resolution,” he added.

In an earlier statement from Ghana’s foreign ministry on Wednesday, Accra said that Ghanaian travellers had been “deliberately targeted and subjected to inhumane and traumatic treatment” at Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday, warning that the government was “considering appropriate reciprocal action.”

The statement said that seven Ghanaian travelers to Israel were detained for over five hours “without justifiable cause,” including four members of a parliamentary delegation that planned to attend Tel Aviv University’s Cyber Week 2025 conference. The remaining three were deported on the next available flight and have since arrived in Ghana, the statement said.

Israel has not officially commented on the issue, and the Foreign Ministry did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Mamdani receives warm welcome at Hasidic celebration in Brooklyn

New York City Mayor-elect attended a celebration hosted by the Satmar Hasidic movement in Brooklyn last night, a leading political organizer in the community says.

“The Satmar community was honored to welcome Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani,” says Rabbi Moishe Indig.

The event marked Kuf Alef Kislev, an annual celebration marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Satmar Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum’s escape from the Nazis in 1944.

Teitelbaum later immigrated to New York to build the Satmar movement, one of the leading Hasidic movements in New York.

Images shared by Indig show Mamdani, wearing a kippah, meeting community leaders on the stage at the front of the event.

“It’s our great honor to welcome the honorable Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani,” a speaker tells the crowd in the video, to applause.

The Satmar community was honored to welcome Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at the #KufAlefKislev event at Waterfront Square. This day is celebrated by Satmar communities worldwide in gratitude to Almighty G-d for saving the late Satmar Grand Rebbe, Z”L, from the clutches of the Nazis pic.twitter.com/Fjh3uxR6Xx

— Rabbi Moishe Indig (@MoishIndig) December 11, 2025

“Before the elections, the mayor-elect promised Rabbi Moishe Indig that he will be the new friend of our community, and now even before taking the oath of office, he’s honoring that promise by joining us tonight,” he says.

Indig’s endorsement of Mamdani in the mayoral election sparked a split in the Satmar community.

Indig later defended the decision in an interview with Mishpacha magazine, saying the endorsement was in the interest of the community.

The Satmars are non-Zionist, but on theological grounds, and are not aligned with the anti-Israel activist movement that Mamdani is affiliated with.

Mamdani has opposed stripping public funding from yeshivas — a priority for the Hasidic community — that are out of compliance with state education standards.

The Satmar enclave in south Williamsburg, Brooklyn, overwhelmingly voted for Mamdani’s opponent, Andrew Cuomo, in the mayoral race.

Palestinian reportedly killed after wall collapses due to heavy rainfall in Gaza City

A Palestinian was killed after a wall collapsed on him due to the heavy rainfall in Gaza City’s Shati refugee camp, Al Jazeera reports, citing a source in the emergency services.

Doctor wounded by IDF gunfire to the leg in Jenin, PA health ministry says

A doctor was wounded by IDF gunfire to the leg in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry says.

Medical sources cited by WAFA, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, say the unnamed doctor was shot in the thigh after leaving the home of a bereaved family, and was taken to Jenin’s Ibn Sina Hospital.

The report does not specify the doctor’s condition. Nor is it clear from the report if he was on duty at the time of the shooting.

The IDF does not immediately comment.

Berri knocks US envoy for suggesting Lebanon could be incorporated into Syria

Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah, blasts US envoy Tom Barrack for recent comments some saw as advocating the incorporation of Lebanon back into Syria.

“It is totally inconceivable to talk to the Lebanese in this way, especially by diplomats,” Berri tells a group of senior Lebanese journalists.

He says the comments were a “major mistake that is absolutely unacceptable.”

Speaking in Doha earlier this week, Barrack called to “bring Lebanon and Syria closer, align these two ancient and beautiful civilizations.” The comments followed more explicit remarks in July that “if Lebanon does not move, it will return to Bilad al-Sham,” a name for greater Syria.

Under their 1920 mandate, the French separated Lebanon from the rest of historical greater Syria, a move that angered Syrian nationalists. The two countries have never formally marked a border between them, and Syria occupied Lebanon from 1976-2005.

Ben Gvir vows to remove Ezzedine al-Qassam’s tomb in northern Israel

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir vows to remove the grave of Arab nationalist leader Ezzedine al-Qassam, whose tomb lies in Israel and whose name was given to the armed wing of the Hamas terror group.

Ben Gvir posts a video on X showing him accompanying security forces as they dismantled a prayer tent next to the grave of the Syrian-born militant.

Al-Qassam, who was killed in a firefight in 1935, fought against British and Zionist forces in Mandate Palestine before Israel’s creation in 1948.

His grave is situated near Haifa in northern Israel and has been vandalized on several occasions over the years.

“The tomb of arch-terrorist Ezzedine al-Qassam in Nesher must be removed. And yesterday at dawn, we took the first step,” Ben Gvir writes on X.

את קברו של הארכי טרוריסט עז א-דין אל-קסאם בנשר צריך להעיף. ואתמול לפנות בוקר עשינו את הצעד הראשון. ברה… pic.twitter.com/mgjSTG7Be4

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) December 11, 2025

The far-right minister had already called for the grave’s demolition during a parliamentary debate in August.

Israel Hayom reports that security forces also took down surveillance cameras around the burial site and removed a person guarding the premises.

When asked by AFP about the incident, Israeli police insisted they had not been involved and referred inquiries to the authority in charge of cemeteries.

In a Hamas statement, senior official Mahmoud Mardawi decries the threat as “an unprecedented level of transgression against sanctity and desecration of holy sites, and a violation of the sanctity of graves.”

“Targeting the grave of al-Qassam… is not merely an attack on a grave, but rather an attempt to erase the memory of a nation and remove a testament to our ongoing struggle,” the statement adds. “Extremism has become an official, declared policy, requiring international action to curb this barbarity.”

Netanyahu meets with ultra-Orthodox party to discuss 2026 budget and Haredi draft bill

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met this evening with members of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party “as part of a series of meetings [he] is holding with all coalition factions,” a spokesman for the ruling Likud party announces.

In a statement, the spokesperson says that the meeting centered on “the issues currently on the agenda,” a likely reference to both the coalition’s draft exemption bill and the 2026 state budget. The Haredi UTJ and Shas parties have both said they will fight to ensure that the budget includes funding for yeshivas, which was cut in 2024 following the High Court ruling that military exemptions for yeshiva students were illegal.

While UTJ’s Degel HaTorah faction stating that it supports the latest draft of the bill, which would continue to grant military service exemptions to full-time yeshiva students, the party’s Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction opposes any legislation containing sanctions on Haredim who don’t serve.

Hamas rejects Amnesty accusations of crimes against humanity as ‘lies’

Hamas rejects a report by Amnesty International that accused the Islamist movement and other Palestinian terror groups of crimes against humanity during and after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.

“The report’s repetition of the lies and allegations promoted by the occupation government concerning rape, sexual violence, and the mistreatment of captives clearly demonstrates that the purpose of this report is incitement and distorting the image of the resistance,” Hamas says in a statement, calling for the human rights organization to retract the “flawed and unprofessional report.”

Hasidim mourn, vow to rebuild after arson attack destroys Ukraine’s historic Sadigura synagogue

Members of the Hasidic community of Sadigura (Sadhora) in Ukraine held a burial ceremony yesterday for hundreds of religious books that were burned in an arson attack two weeks ago, as they expressed hope of rebuilding the historical synagogue.

The elaborately designed synagogue, known among Hasidim as the Kloiz Kadisha, was destroyed on November 27 when a man, said to be mentally disturbed, allegedly entered the synagogue in Sadigura and set it on fire when the guard briefly left his post.

The suspect, said to be a former army officer and boxer, was arrested and is being held in custody until trial. According to a statement put out by the community, police are exploring whether the suspect was working with others, as he threw his phone into the flames to eliminate evidence. No money or possessions were taken during the attack.

In the aftermath of the destruction, a delegation of Sadigura Hasidim spent hours collecting the ashes of the burnt books in order to bury them in the city’s old Jewish cemetery in a ceremony of prayer and mourning, the statement said.

“These are scenes reminiscent of the Holocaust,” said Rabbi Mordechai Shalom Yosef Friedman, head of the Sadigura sect.

The iconic synagogue was built by Rabbi Israel of Ruzhin, the founder of the Sadigura dynasty, some 180 years ago. It was abandoned during World War I, and re‑consecrated and restored in a multi-million dollar renovation several years ago.

Community members pledged to rebuild the synagogue to stand as “a beacon of Torah, prayer and Hasidic heritage,” according to the statement.

Israeli Navy wraps up five-day drill with US Navy’s 5th Fleet in Mediterranean

The IDF says it has wrapped up a five-day-long bilateral drill between the Israeli Navy and the US Navy’s 5th Fleet.

The drill, dubbed Intrinsic Defender, was held in the Mediterranean Sea — including at the Haifa Bay and off the coast of Nahariya — and in the Red Sea, according to the military.

The IDF says the exercise was intended to “strengthen and maintain the longstanding cooperation between the two navies, expand and improve the response to maritime threat scenarios, and conduct mutual operational learning.”

Footage recovered by IDF shows 6 hostages lighting Hanukkah candles 8 months before execution

Footage recovered by the Israeli military during operations in the Gaza Strip shows the six Israeli hostages who were murdered by their captors in August 2024, lighting Hanukkah candles in a tunnel.

The six, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lobanov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27, were killed by their captors in a tunnel in Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood on August 29, 2024, and were discovered by IDF troops two days later.

The video, filmed by a Hamas terrorist, shows the hostages reciting the candle-lighting blessing and singing the Hanukkah song “Ma’oz Tzur” in December 2023.

During the war, the IDF, upon finding footage or other findings of hostages in Gaza, has presented them to their families, who often release them to the public.

Channel 12 news is set to air additional footage of the six hostages in captivity tonight.

This video published on December 11, 2025, after being obtained by the IDF from Gaza, shows hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi lighting Hanukkah candles in a tunnel in the Gaza Strip in late 2023. (Courtesy)

Report: US warned Lebanon that IDF will strike if Hezbollah doesn’t hand over drones, missiles by year’s end

US envoy Morgan Ortagus told top Lebanese officials that Israel will carry out “major and decisive strikes” against Hezbollah in Beirut’s southern suburbs and in the Beqaa Valley if the terror group fails to hand over its drones and precision missiles by January 1, the Lebanese Al-Akhbar daily reports, citing European diplomatic sources.

The Donald Trump administration has been pushing the Lebanese government to disarm by the end of the year, while the Lebanese army presented a plan to Lebanon’s government that would see southern Lebanon free of Hezbollah weapons by January 1, and the rest of the country in subsequent phases.

Hezbollah has consistently said that it will not disarm.

US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa said yesterday that Israel’s decision to engage in direct talks with Lebanese officials last week does not preclude an operation against Hezbollah: “Just because the negotiations have begun does not mean that Israel will stop its operations. The Israelis see these two matters as completely separate. The talks are being held with the Lebanese government, while their war is directed against Hezbollah.”

He stressed that they are “two distinct issues.”

Sources tell the outlet the US envoy Tom Barrack has been pushing a proposal for a joint economic zone along the border, which would help separate the Shiite population of southern Lebanon from Hezbollah.

China ‘firmly objects’ to Israeli contact with Taiwan after report of deputy FM’s secret visit

The Chinese embassy in Israel says in a statement that it “firmly objects” to any official contact between Israel and Taiwan, following a report today that Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister, Francois Wu, made a secret visit to Israel recently.

“The Chinese side firmly objects to any form of official exchanges with the Taiwan authorities, which seriously violate the one-China principle,” says a spokesperson for the embassy, referencing Beijing’s principle that there is only one China and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.

“We once again urge the Israeli side to faithfully abide by the one-China principle, correct the erroneous actions and stop sending any wrong signals to separatist forces advocating Taiwan independence, so as to uphold the overall interests of China-Israel relations through concrete actions,” the statement adds.

Three sources told Reuters that Wu made an unpublicized visit to Israel recently, with Taiwan seeking defense cooperation with Jerusalem. Like most of the international community, Israel only officially recognizes Beijing and not Taipei, and trips to countries such as Israel by senior Taiwanese diplomats are rare.

The Chinese embassy declined to say whether it knew of the alleged visit, and the Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Palestinian village says IDF uprooted 300 of its olive trees, including ones in Area B

The IDF has uprooted hundreds of Palestinian olive trees in the northern West Bank in an area that the local village council says exceeds the boundaries set by a military order that justified the move for “security measures.”

The uprootings extended to Area B of the West Bank, which is supposed to be under the Palestinian Authority’s administrative control, the Qaryut village council tells Haaretz. Area B is under IDF security control.

The military order in question was signed by Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth and directing the uprooting of trees from roughly 20 acres of Qaryut’s land. But the council says soldiers ended up uprooting trees from 37 acres of land, even though only three of those acres are state land and the remainder belongs to private Palestinian landowners.

The IDF has previously said that it uproots trees and clears vegetation in the West Bank for operational purposes, mainly to increase visibility in forested areas that it deems can be exploited for potential attacks, and has denied that the moves are intended as collective punishment.

Iran appeals to UN over ‘tightening restrictions’ on its diplomats in New York

Tehran calls on the United Nations to intervene in what it calls the “tightening of restrictions on Iran’s diplomatic mission to the United Nations in New York,” according to a foreign ministry statement published on Thursday.

The statement also condemns a decision by the US State Department “to prevent the continuation of the activities” of three employees of Iran’s mission in New York.

The statement does not specify when the restrictions had been tightened, but in September, the United States imposed strict limits on members of the Iranian delegation attending the UN General Assembly in New York, curbing their movement and banning access to wholesale stores and luxury goods.

“The imposition of extensive restrictions on the residence and movement of Iranian diplomats, tightening restrictions on bank accounts, and imposing restrictions on daily purchases are among the pressures and harassment… to disrupt the normal and legal duties of Iranian diplomats,” the statement says.

Prior to the September restrictions, Iranian delegation members were allowed to travel between the United Nations, the Iranian UN mission, the Iranian UN ambassador’s residence and John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington heightened after the two countries engaged in five rounds of indirect nuclear negotiations that ended with a 12-day air war in June in which Israel and the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites.

Baby dies of exposure as torrential rains flood Gaza tents

Torrential rain is sweeping across the Gaza Strip, flooding hundreds of tents sheltering families displaced by two years of war, and leading to the death of a baby girl due to exposure, local Hamas-linked health officials say.

Medics say eight-month-old Rahaf Abu Jazar died of exposure after water inundated her family’s tent in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave.

People mourn the baby Rahaf Abu Jazar, who lost her life due to cold weather conditions in Khan Yunis, Gaza.
📸Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu pic.twitter.com/K5PXRyqKRU

— NABA (@naba_pix) December 11, 2025

Weeping and holding Rahaf in her hands, her mother Hejar Abu Jazar said she had fed the girl before they went to sleep.

“When we woke up, we found the rain over her and the wind on her, and the girl died of cold suddenly,” she tells Reuters.

“There was nothing wrong with her. Oh, the fire in my heart, the fire in my heart, oh my life,” she says.

At a tent encampment in Khan Younis, some men used shovels to remove water and dirt blocking access to shelters, while others prepared sandbags to protect tents against heavy winds and rain.

“Look at this. How am I supposed to let the children sleep? Tell me how?” says Umm Mohammed Abd Elaal as she checked on her tent, toppled by the winds.

“There’s nothing (we can do). The bedding gets soaked with water, and we need two or three days to dry it before we can sleep on it again. These tents don’t protect from rain or strong weather at all,” says her neighbor, Ahmed Salem.

Time magazine names ‘Architects of AI’ as Person of the Year

Time magazine named the “Architects of AI” as its Person of the Year on Thursday, highlighting the tech titans whose work on the cutting-edge technology is transforming humanity.

Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, OpenAi’s Sam Altman and xAI’s Elon Musk are among the entrepreneurs who have “grabbed the wheel of history, developing technology and making decisions that are reshaping the information landscape, the climate, and our livelihoods,” the magazine said.

“They reoriented government policy, altered geopolitical rivalries, and brought robots into homes. AI emerged as arguably the most consequential tool in great-power competition since the advent of nuclear weapons.”

‘The Architects of AI’ have been named Person of the Year by TIME. pic.twitter.com/PchNJIJ91r

— Pop Base (@PopBase) December 11, 2025

Netanyahu meets with visiting chair of 2028 Los Angeles Olympic organizing committee

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets in Jerusalem with Casey Wasserman, the chairman of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games organizing committee.

Wasserman, a sports and talent agent and lifelong Democrat, tells Netanyahu, “Your leadership over the past two years makes me proud to be Jewish,” according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Sports and Culture Minister Miki Zohar and Israel’s Olympic Committee chairwoman Yael Arad also attend.

Katz says he’ll bring proposal to close Army Radio for government approval in a week

Defense Minister Israel Katz says that he will bring his proposal to close Army Radio for government approval on Sunday, December 21.

Last month, Katz announced that he intends to shut down the IDF-controlled station, ordering broadcasts to cease by March 1, 2026.

The decision to close the station is likely to be challenged in court.

Miami Beach man charged after slapping, spitting on Jewish teacher

A suspect in Miami Beach faces hate crime charges after allegedly making an antisemitic remark to a Jewish day school teacher, then slapping her, spitting in her face, and stealing her cellphone.

According to local media reports, the teacher was walking toward the Lehrman Community Day School yesterday around 7:40 a.m. when 33-year-old Slemons Graves approached her, made an antisemitic slur, and slapped her in the back of the head, police say. He then grabbed her cellphone and smashed it, shattering the device.

The victim ran to the school, where a coworker called the police. Officers arrested Graves around 11 a.m. after spotting him nearby. He later confessed and was charged with strong-arm robbery and battery. The two had never interacted before, the victim notes.

“It’s important to note that the victim was wearing a Star of David on her necklace, and that’s how we believe the offender labeled her in the Jewish community,” a police spokesperson says. “This attack is not something that we tolerate.”

The attack comes in an environment of soaring antisemitism throughout the US since Hamas launched its war against Israel on October 7, 2023.

Lapid, Gantz vow state inquiry into Oct.7 will be established after PM defends government’s planned probe

Opposition party heads vow to establish a state commission of inquiry into the October 7, 2023, massacre after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rails against an “organized pressure campaign” by former officials against the government’s proposed investigation.

“There is no clearer and severe conflict of interest than the prime minister of October 7 and his ministers,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid writes on X in response to the premier’s statement.

“A state commission of inquiry will be established, if not now, then the first week of our government,” he says.

“The camel can’t see its hump,” Blue and White chair Benny Gantz also writes on X.

“‘Former’ security officials cannot be involved in determining how the October 7 failure will be investigated, but the people who formed the cabinet and the prime minister himself can,” he says sarcastically.

“An independent state commission of inquiry will be established, because it is our duty to the security of the country, to bereaved families and the entire nation of Israel,” Gantz declares.

14 rescued from vehicles trapped in floodwaters in Yavne, reports say

Fourteen people were rescued from vehicles trapped in floods throughout the city of Yavne, Hebrew media outlets say.

Footage on social media shows floodwaters flowing through streets as rains brought on by Storm Byron fall heavily on the city.

בינתיים יבנה מוצפת בעקבות גשם רב שירד שם בשעה האחרונה. pic.twitter.com/W5v1j1tpxD

— שלמה ⛈️ מזג אוויר (@MezgAvirIL) December 11, 2025

Footage also shows a Rami Levy supermarket in Yavne flooded.

הסופה "ביירון": סניף רמי לוי הוצף ביבנה | תיעוד

אורלי אלקלעי
קרדיט: סעיף 27א' pic.twitter.com/ZOLTHzM4Cj

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) December 11, 2025

Netanyahu slams ‘organized pressure campaign’ by former officials against government’s Oct. 7 probe

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubles down on his decision not to form an independent state commission of inquiry into the October 7, 2023, massacre, decrying what he calls an organized campaign against the investigating panel that the government has decided to establish.

“In recent days, we are seeing an organized pressure campaign by senior ‘former’ officials, who seek to distort the facts and dictate to the government how it should act,” Netanyahu says in a statement.

Among these officials is former Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, who on Tuesday called for the government to establish a state commission of inquiry in his first public address since leaving his post in June.

Netanyahu accuses these officials of allowing “anarchy” to infiltrate the country and “undermine cohesion in the IDF.”

“Today, they are trying to influence the nature of the investigation that will examine the failures they led in the October 7 disaster,” he writes.

“We will ensure that the national commission of inquiry will be broad, clean, professional, will represent the entire public, the opposition and the coalition equally, and will be committed to only one thing: the truth for the sake of Israel’s security,” he writes.

Netanyahu compares the probe he is establishing to the 9/11 Commission, a bipartisan investigation set up by the US Congress to investigate the September 11 terror attacks.

“What is good for America is good for Israel,” he writes.

Poll finds falling approval of Trump’s handling of economy, immigration, and crime

WASHINGTON (AP) — US President Donald Trump’s approval ratings on the economy and immigration have fallen substantially since March, according to a new AP-NORC poll, the latest indication that two signature issues that got him elected barely a year ago could be turning into liabilities as his party begins to gear up for the 2026 midterms.

Only 31 percent of US adults now approve of how Trump is handling the economy, the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds. That is down from 40% in March and marks the lowest economic approval he’s registered in an AP-NORC poll in his first or second term. The Republican president also has struggled to recover from public blowback on other issues, such as his management of the federal government, and has not seen an approval bump even after congressional Democrats effectively capitulated to end a record-long government shutdown last month.

Perhaps most worryingly for Trump, who’s become increasingly synonymous with his party, he’s slipped on issues that were major strengths. Just a few months ago, 53% of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of crime, but that falls to 43% in the new poll. There’s a similar decline on immigration, from 49% approval in March to 38% now.

The new poll starkly illustrates how Trump has struggled to hold onto political wins since his return to office. Even border security — an issue on which his approval remains relatively high — has declined slightly in recent months.

The good news for Trump is that his overall approval hasn’t fallen as steeply. The new poll finds that 36% of Americans approve of the way he’s handling his job as president, which is down slightly from 42% in March. That signals that even if some people aren’t happy with elements of his approach, they might not be ready to say he’s doing a bad job as president. And while discontent is increasing among Republicans on certain issues, they’re largely still behind him.

Two girls lightly hurt by falling tree at school; some areas record around 200 mm of rain

Two girls aged around 10 years old were lightly hurt by a falling tree at their school in Rishon Lezion as Storm Byron bears down on Israel, the Magen David Adom ambulance service says.

The girls were taken by medics to Shamir Medical Center, MDA says.

Some areas of Israel have recorded around 200 millimeters (nearly 8 inches) of rain since the beginning of Storm Byron, Hebrew media outlets report, with Nahal Ma’arot Nature Reserve receiving 205 mm and the northern town of Atlit 193 mm.

MDA: Rescuers working to free several drivers trapped in floodwaters

Several vehicles have become trapped in flood waters as Storm Byron hits Israel, the Magen David Adom ambulance service says.

MDA says they have received calls from drivers across the Shfela region, and are working to rescue them from their trapped vehicles.

Footage on social media shows flood waters rising above cars’ wheels on a street in Rehovot.

צוותי מד"א הוזנקו לכמה זירות של כלי רכב שנלכדו בהצפות בגזרת השפלה | תיעוד מרחובות

אורלי אלקלעי
קרדיט: סעיף 27א' pic.twitter.com/o5IATEAuTE

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) December 11, 2025

Austria passes law banning headscarves in schools for girls under 14

VIENNA, Austria — Austrian lawmakers approve a law banning headscarves in schools for girls under 14, a move rights groups and experts say is discriminatory and could deepen societal divisions.

The conservative-led government — under pressure from rising anti-migration sentiment — proposed the ban this year, arguing it is to protect girls “from oppression.”

The opposition Green party votes against the ban, saying it is unconstitutional.

Eisenkot warns Netanyahu Haredi draft bill ‘dangerous’ for Israel, won’t strengthen IDF

Writing to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot warns that the purpose of the coalition’s proposed bill regulating ultra-Orthodox military service is “not to strengthen the IDF, but you decided to pass it at any cost” anyway.

The law is “dangerous for the security of the State of Israel” and “dismantles the framework of the people’s army,” argues the former IDF chief of staff, who previously served as an observer in Netanyahu’s now-defunct war cabinet.

“As a military man for most of my life, as chief of the general staff under your government, and someone who has sat at the crossroads of security decision-making for years, I am stating unequivocally that the conscription law currently under discussion in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee harms the ID’s exclusive mission: defending the State of Israel, ensuring its existence, and victory in war,” he continues, arguing that “we cannot correct a historical mistake with another historical mistake, which is unlikely to be correctable, and which will be a source of grief for generations.”

Eisenkot describes his letter as a “serious strategic warning for Israel’s security and the values of Israeli society, similar to the one I sent you in August 2023, almost two months before the failure of October 7.”

In late 2023, Eisenkot warned that the government’s judicial overhaul and the reservist protests against it would have a negative impact on the IDF.

At odds with others in party, Rothman defends Haredi draft bill, slams Bank of Israel over its criticism

Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman slams the Bank of Israel after it releases a report warning against the coalition’s proposed Haredi draft exemption law, arguing in a tweet that the financial institution does not have the requisite expertise to weigh in on the controversial legislation, which it said will not result in enough soldiers enlisting to cover the country’s security needs or reduce the economic costs of reserve duty.

“I didn’t know what I thought about the draft law, and then came the report by the experts on social processes and recruitment targets at the Bank of Israel,” Rothman writes.

“I am eagerly awaiting the letter from 100 doctors saying that the law harms health,” he quips, arguing that the “only truly professional and important message that has actually been examined and researched, the Shkedi Committee, is completely absent from the public discourse.”

That committee, led by a former commander of the Israeli Air Force, Maj. Gen. (res.) Eliezer Shkedi, laid out how the country could effectively recruit and integrate members of the ultra-Orthodox community into the IDF, including through the adoption of Haredi-oriented service tracks. The IDF has several such tracks, including the recently established Hasmonean Brigade.

“Recruitment will come when the IDF builds the appropriate frameworks for it, and the purpose of the law should be to allow this important process of drafting and integration to take place — not to interfere with it. You won’t hear that opinion echoed in the media, because it disrupts the campaign. And these are exactly the matters that we in the Religious Zionism party are demanding be included in the law,” Rothman adds.

Rothman’s comments appear at odds with several other members of his party who have heavily criticized the bill. In a press conference last week, Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer condemned the “shameful law” and pledged to vote against it, even if it cost him his cabinet position.

On Wednesday evening, the party denied reports that it agreed to support the bill after consultations with senior rabbis, declaring that it would “vote only for a law that will bring about real and rapid enlistment of Haredim into the IDF, in order to meet Israel’s security needs and ease the burden on the fighters and their families.”

Red Crescent: Woman killed by IDF fire in north Gaza’s Jabalia

A woman was killed and five people were wounded by Israeli artillery fire in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society says.

The strike hit the area of the al-Yaman al-Saeed hospital, the Red Crescent says. According to Al Jazeera, the area is on the Hamas-controlled side of the Gaza ceasefire line.

The IDF does not immediately comment.

Shas MKs visit draft dodgers in prison, declare support for legislation exempting yeshiva students from IDF

For the second time in just over a week, lawmakers belonging to the ultra-Orthodox Shas party visit yeshiva students held in military prison for draft dodging.

Acting on behalf of party chairman Aryeh Deri, MKs Yoav Ben-Tzur and Uriel Buso update the yeshiva students on their party’s efforts “to secure their release and to advance legislation in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to regulate their status,” Shas says in a statement.

“In the Jewish state, yeshiva students will not be arrested for studying Torah. The Shas movement, led by the Council of Torah Sages and the party chairman Rabbi Aryeh Deri, stands as a wall for the yeshiva students and works with all its strength to fortify and strengthen the Torah world even in these difficult days,” Ben-Tzur and Buso state. “We will not rest, and we will not be silent until the status of Torah students is regulated by law.”

Last week, fellow Shas MKs Moshe Abutbul and Yonatan Mashriki also visited draft dodgers in prison, informing them that their Sephardi ultra-Orthodox faction was working “to immediately advance the law that will regulate the status of yeshiva students” and allow them to return to their studies.

Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted. The IDF has said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits due to the strain on standing and reserve forces caused by the war against Hamas in Gaza and other military challenges. The IDF has arrested multiple draft dodgers in recent months as part of an effort at enforcement.

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is currently debating a controversial government-backed bill to regulate the conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jews. The legislation, as currently laid out, would continue to grant military service exemptions to full-time yeshiva students while purportedly increasing conscription among graduates of Haredi educational institutions.

However, the bill would also remove various provisions from a previous version of the bill that were intended to ensure that those registered for yeshiva study are actually studying, and would cancel all sanctions on draft evaders when they turn 26.

The bill is supported by Shas, while the United Torah Judaism party’s Degel HaTorah and Agudat Yisrael factions are split. Some members of the coalition, including within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, have come out against the bill, which has been dismissed as an “evasion law” by critics.

Trump planning to tap two-star US general to head Gaza stabilization force

The Trump administration is planning to appoint an American two-star general to command the International Stabilization Force in Gaza, Axios reports, citing two US officials and two Israeli officials.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

US President Donald Trump said yesterday he will announce the members of the Board of Peace overseeing the postwar management of Gaza early next year, in the latest sign that the effort is stalling.

Last week, US officials told The Times of Israel that Washington was aiming to announce a transition to phase two of Trump’s Gaza peace deal, as well as the members of the various bodies involved, by Christmas.

Jacob Magid contributed to this report.

Government set to approve NIS 100 million plan to encourage growth in Negev

The government is slated to approve a new “plan to encourage demographic growth and sustainable economic development in the communities of the Eastern Negev” during a special cabinet meeting in Dimona on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announce in a joint statement.

The plan will see more than NIS 100 million ($31 million) allocated for “infrastructure, personal security, environment, transportation, innovation, and energy” projects in the cities of Arad, Dimona, Yeruham, and Mitzpe Ramon in 2026.

This includes advancing planning for an airfield in Mitzpe Ramon, building up local police, establishing and expanding public buildings, and expanding urban forestry, as well as substantial investment in formal and informal education, the statement adds, explaining that the program’s goal “is to bolster local resilience, attract new populations, and create high-quality engines of growth in the region.”

The government has already invested over NIS 3.2 billion in recent months ($994 million) in the region in recent months, including efforts to turn Beersheba into a major city, boasts Netanyahu.

“This is practical Zionism: bringing real opportunities, quality employment, and a high quality of life to the periphery,” says Smotrich. “Together, with God’s help, we will continue to ensure that the Eastern Negev becomes a major growth engine for the entire country.”

After Bank of Israel report, Lapid says it’s ‘utter madness’ to keep subsidizing Haredi draft evasion

It is “utter madness” to subsidize ultra-Orthodox draft evasion, declares Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, following the release of a report by the Bank of Israel warning that the coalition’s proposed Haredi draft exemption law will not result in enough soldiers enlisting to cover the country’s security needs or reduce the economic costs of reserve duty.

“The Bank of Israel is essentially saying that continuing to advance the draft exemption for thousands of Haredi youths has a destructive impact on the Israeli economy,” Lapid declares in a statement.

“Continuing to pay 60 billion shekels a year to draft dodgers is complete madness. We will use that money to lower the cost of living for the middle class,” he continues. “We will not allow this law to pass. We will not allow the cost of living to continue to rise and the burden on the working and serving public to increase.”

Lapid is referring to allocated subsidies for the ultra-Orthodox community, including funding for yeshivas and yeshiva students, many of whom are not part of the workforce and do not serve in the army like other Jewish Israelis. He frequently cites estimates that the failure of Haredim to enlist carries an annual cost to the economy of NIS 60 billion ($18.6 billion).

Friday gathering planned for final hostage Ran Gvili at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square

A Friday afternoon gathering for Ran Gvili, the fallen police officer whose body is the last one remaining in Gaza, will take place for the second week in a row at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square.

Gvili’s body is assumed to be held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The terror group said Tuesday in a statement that it was no longer holding any captives. Israeli officials claim that the terror group has information relating to the location of Gvili’s body.

The Kabbalat Shabbat gathering at Hostages Square is called “Until Rani Returns,” and it is meant to usher in the Sabbath and call for Gvili’s return.

It will be hosted by the Kibbutz Movement and led by the members of Kibbutz Ma’ale HaHamisha, located outside Jerusalem.

The Kabbalat Shabbat gatherings have been held on most Friday afternoons since the start of the war, hosted by the various kibbutz communities in the south. They are now the main focal point for the struggle for the return of Ran Gvili’s body, given the end of the Saturday night Hostages Square rallies.

Participating in the Friday afternoon event will be Itzik Gvili, Ran Gvili’s father, and Ruby Chen, the bereaved father of Staff Sergeant Itay Chen, whose body was returned to Israel from Gaza on November 5.

Tomorrow, given the expected inclement weather, Kabbalat Shabbat will take place in the lobby of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, whose plaza has been renamed Hostages Square.

Bank of Israel: Haredi draft bill won’t recruit enough troops to relieve reserve duty’s burden on economy

The Bank of Israel says the Haredi draft exemption law being advanced in the Knesset will not result in enough soldiers enlisting to cover the country’s security needs or reduce the economic costs of reserve duty.

Weighing in on the debate, the bank states the economic cost resulting from a reservist leaving his day job for a month and performing his military duties is approximately NIS 38,000, reflecting the “immediate cost of lost productivity” and “future harm to productivity growth as a result of loss of experience and/or promotion at work.”

“In contrast, the economic cost of recruiting a young Haredi for compulsory service is very low, because in most cases conscription does not replace participation in the labor market,” the bank says, adding that conscription itself may push ultra-Orthodox citizens to join the labor market.

“Accordingly, conscripting a young Haredi for 32 months of service could even achieve a capitalized economic benefit estimated at 22,000 NIS per month of service on average, if, as a result, the scope of employment of the young Haredi who enlists is comparable to that of a non-Haredi Jew,” it says.

The bank says the recruitment of 20,000 Haredim — an annual recruitment of 7,500 for 34 months — would eventually reduce the annual economic cost of reserve duty by at least NIS 9 billion.

The current “wording of the law is deficient in a way that will not result in the recruitment of Haredim that meets security needs while reducing economic costs,” the central bank says.

Heritage minister said mulling classifying damaged homes in Be’eri as national heritage sites

Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu is reportedly weighing designating multiple homes damaged in Kibbutz Be’eri near the Gaza border on October 7 as national heritage sites despite a recent decision by residents to demolish all but one of them.

According to Channel 12, Eliyahu is considering the use of a clause in the Antiquities Law allowing him to designate a structure of more modern construction for preservation if it is of historic significance.

The community of Be’eri announced on Monday that its residents had voted to demolish all the homes damaged in the two neighborhoods worst-hit on October 7, save for a single house that will remain as a memorial to the destruction and bloodshed.

The house will initially remain standing for five years. The kibbutz did not specify which home would be preserved.

Ofer Gitai, Be’eri’s community director, said the move would help “preserve the memory of the October events, in a way that respects the narrative that the community chooses for itself, and will leave it in full control of the story.”

Asked for comment, Eliyahu’s office releases a statement asserting that any consideration of designating houses as heritages sites was only being conducted at the behest of victims’ families and would only be implemented if no other solution was available.

“In response to the many requests received by the heritage minister’s office from families of those murdered in the towns and kibbutzim to invoke the clause in the law that would designate specific homes as national heritage sites, Minister Eliyahu replied that this is a last resort, and that the Heritage Ministry has been working tirelessly for over two years to reach broad agreements with each community and kibbutz according to its unique character and needs,” Eliyahu’s office says.

Iran to launch three satellites from Russia on December 28

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Three Iranian satellites will be carried to space aboard Russia’s Soyuz launcher from the Vostochny Cosmodrome on December 28, Iran’s Nour news agency reports.

The devices will be used in agriculture, natural resources, and environmental monitoring, it says.

Russia’s Soyuz carried an Iranian-made telecommunications satellite into space in July.

Taiwan’s deputy FM made unreported trip to Israel recently, sources say

Taiwan’s high-profile Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Wu made a previously unpublicized visit to Israel recently, three sources familiar with the trip tell Reuters, at a time when Taiwan is looking to the country for defense cooperation.

Taiwan has few formal diplomatic ties due to pressure from Beijing, which views the island as one of its provinces and not a country. Like most other countries, Israel only officially recognizes Beijing and not Taipei, and while senior Taiwanese diplomats do travel abroad, trips to countries such as Israel are rare.

Still, Taiwan views Israel as an important democratic partner and offered strong support to the country after the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in southern Israel and subsequent war in Gaza, and since then, there has been an increased level of engagement.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, tell Reuters that Wu had gone to Israel in recent weeks. Two of the sources say the trip happened this month.

The sources decline to give details of whom he met or what was discussed, including whether he touched upon Taiwan’s new multi-layered air defense system called T-Dome, which President Lai Ching-te unveiled in October and is partly modeled on Israel’s air defense system.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry declines to comment on whether Wu had visited Israel.

“Taiwan and Israel share the values of freedom and democracy, and will continue to pragmatically promote mutually beneficial exchanges and cooperation” in areas such as trade, technology and culture and welcome more “mutually beneficial forms of cooperation,” it says in a statement.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry does not respond to a request for comment.

Netanyahu to meet Lapid for security update later today, reports say

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Opposition Leader Yair Lapid for a security briefing later today, Hebrew media outlets report.

The leader of the opposition is traditionally briefed once a month by the prime minister on sensitive national security issues, although Netanyahu and Lapid have not kept to this regular schedule.

Footage shows shootout between crime families on streets of northern Arab town

Footage shows gunmen from organized crime families fighting a gun battle on the streets of the northern town of Tuba-Zangariyye, as a crime wave in the Arab community continues to spiral.

The Upper Galilee Regional Council instructs residents of nearby communities to remain indoors, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

Illegal Palestinian entrant shot, seriously injured, by car owner while allegedly trying to break into vehicle

A Palestinian who illegally crossed into Israel from the West Bank was shot while allegedly trying to break into a car in Rehovot overnight, police say.

According to police, a 60-year-old man saw the man trying to break into the car, and fearing for his life, shot the suspect, seriously injuring him.

The suspect was hospitalized at a medical center nearby and is being held in police custody.

A court hearing will be held later today on the extension of the suspect’s custody, police say.

US denounces Houthis over continued detention of Yemen embassy staffers

The United States condemns the ongoing detention of current and former local staffers of the US embassy in Yemen by the Houthi movement.

“The United States condemns the Houthis’ ongoing unlawful detention of current and former local staff of the US Mission to Yemen,” US State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott says in a statement.

“The Houthis’ arrests of those staff, and the sham proceedings that have been brought against them, are further evidence that the Houthis rely on the use of terror against their own people as a way to stay in power,” Pigott says.

In first, Amnesty accuses Hamas of crimes against humanity during Oct. 7 attack and Gaza war

Amnesty International accuses Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups for the first time of crimes against humanity during and after the October 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war in Gaza.

“Palestinian armed groups committed violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes and crimes against humanity during their attacks in southern Israel that started on 7 October 2023,” the human rights watchdog says in a 173-page report.

Amnesty, which had previously accused Hamas of committing war crimes on October 7, adds that the terror group “continued to commit violations and crimes under international law in their holding and mistreatment of hostages and the withholding of bodies seized.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Khaled Mashaal: Hamas can mothball weapons but won’t disarm; stabilization force inside Gaza is ‘occupation’; 51% of US youth pro-Hamas

Senior Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal says the terror group can “store” its weapons, but won’t give them up as stipulated in US President Donald Trump’s comprehensive Gaza ceasefire plan.

“There are those who want to impose their vision on us, contrary to the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim position,” Mashal says in an interview with Al Jazeera. “For example, the issue of the resistance’s (Hamas’s) weapons.”

“The idea of total disarmament is unacceptable to the resistance. What is being proposed is a freeze, or storage (of weapons)… to provide guarantees against any military escalation from Gaza with the Israeli occupation,” he says.

The experience of Palestinians is that “when the Palestinian is disarmed… massacres follow,” states Mashal, citing the 1982 massacre at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp in Lebanon that took place in the wake of the PLO’s expulsion from the country.

“Disarmament for a Palestinian means stripping away his very soul,” he declares.

Mashal also rejects as “occupation” the International Stabilization Force that would take over Gaza from Hamas and the IDF, as part of Trump’s proposal.

On the other hand, Hamas “has no objection that there be an international stabilization force on the borders,” says Mashal, citing UNIFIL, the international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, as a model.

Mashal also praises Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023, saying that while Gaza and also the West Bank have paid a heavy price, the ensuing war with Israel has exposed the country’s “ugly face” and given the Palestinians’ cause new life among US and European youth.

“Fifty-one percent of American youth are supportive not only of the Palestinian cause, but of Hamas,” Mashal says.

AFP contributed to this report.

US considers hitting UNRWA with terrorism-related sanctions

Officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration have held advanced discussions on hitting the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, UNRWA, with terrorism-related sanctions, say two sources with direct knowledge of the matter, prompting serious legal and humanitarian concerns inside the State Department.

The United Nations agency operates in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, providing aid, schooling, healthcare, social services and shelter to millions of Palestinians.

Top UN officials and the UN Security Council have described UNRWA as the backbone of the aid response in Gaza, where the two-year war between Israel and Palestinian terror group Hamas unleashed a humanitarian crisis.

Israel and the Trump administration, however, have accused the agency of links with Hamas, allegations UNRWA has vigorously disputed. Israel has published evidence of UNRWA employees taking part in the October 7, 2023, onslaught and in taking and guarding hostages, as well as accusing the agency’s school of consistently glorifying terrorism and opposing the State of Israel’s right to exist.

Washington was long UNRWA’s biggest donor, but halted funding in January 2024 after Israel accused about a dozen UNRWA staff of taking part in the massive Hamas attack that triggered the war in Gaza. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio then accused the agency in October this year of becoming “a subsidiary of Hamas,” which the US designated as a terrorist organization in 1997.

It is not immediately clear if current US discussions are focused on sanctioning the entire agency or just specific UNRWA officials or parts of its operation, and US officials do not appear to have settled on the precise type of sanctions they would deploy against UNRWA.

Among the possibilities that State Department officials have discussed include declaring UNRWA a “foreign terrorist organization,” or FTO, the sources say, though it is not clear if that option — which would severely isolate UNRWA financially — is still a serious consideration.

Any blanket move against the entire organization could throw refugee relief efforts into disarray and cripple UNRWA, which is already facing a funding crisis.