Dec. 18: US CENTCOM deputy promoted to fill post tasked with boosting Israel-PA security ties

Bennett admits hackers accessed his Telegram account, says phone not breached

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett speaks during a tech conference in Ness Ziona, May 5, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett acknowledges that while his cellphone itself was not hacked, unauthorized access was gained to his Telegram account, following claims by an Iran-linked hacker group that it had breached his device.

In a statement released by his office, Bennett says the matter is being handled by security authorities and accuses Israel’s enemies of trying to undermine his return to politics.

“Israel’s enemies will do everything to prevent me from becoming prime minister again. It won’t help them,” he says, vowing to continue “acting and fighting for the State of Israel and the people of Israel.”

According to Bennett, further checks found that although his phone was not compromised, hackers accessed his Telegram account “through various means.”

He says content from his contact list, along with images and chats — some authentic and others fabricated — had been unlawfully obtained and circulated. Bennett cites as an example a fake image showing him alongside Israel’s founding prime minister, David Ben-Gurion.

“The materials were obtained illegally, and their distribution constitutes a criminal offense,” Bennett says.

The statement follows reports earlier today that the Iranian “Handala” hacker group claimed to have infiltrated Bennett’s iPhone as part of what it called “Operation Octopus.” Bennett has frequently described Iran as “the head of the octopus” of forces threatening Israel.

He is seen as the most credible challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in next year’s elections, for which he has already begun campaigning.

Report: Israel, Greece and Cyprus eye joint rapid-response force in eastern Mediterranean

An Israeli Air Force refueling plane flies alongside Hellenic Air Force fighter jets during a drill over Greece, November 3, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Israel, Greece and Cyprus are examining the creation of a joint rapid-response military force in the eastern Mediterranean, Greek media reports, amid growing concern in Athens over Turkey’s expanding military posture.

According to the Greek daily Ta Nea, senior military officials and analysts are discussing a brigade-level force of around 2,500 troops, drawing 1,000 soldiers each from Israel and Greece and 500 from Cyprus. The proposed force would combine land, air and naval components and operate from bases and infrastructure in Israel, Cyprus and the Greek islands of Rhodes and Karpathos.

The plan envisions the participation of one squadron each from the Israeli and Greek air forces, alongside naval assets tasked with protecting critical regional infrastructure. The report suggests that such cooperation would provide Israel with greater strategic depth, while offering Greece and Cyprus an additional deterrent against Turkish challenges in the region.

US Congress ends Syria sanctions

In this photo released by Syrian Presidency press office, US President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa, at the White House in Washington, November 10, 2025. (Syrian Presidency press office via AP)

The US Congress permanently ends sanctions imposed on Syria under the ousted leader, Bashar al-Assad, paving the way for the return of investment to the war-ravaged nation.

President Donald Trump had already twice suspended the implementation of sanctions, in response to pleas from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, allies of the new government headed by former jihadist Ahmed al-Sharaa.

But Sharaa had sought a permanent end to the sanctions, fearing that so long as the measures remained on the books, they would deter businesses wary of legal risks in the world’s largest economy.

The Senate passes the repeal of the 2019 Caesar Act as part of a sweeping annual defense package. The Senate voted 77 to 20 in favor of the legislation, which has already been approved by the House of Representatives and is expected to be signed by Trump.

The repeal, broadly backed by lawmakers of both parties, “is a decisive step toward giving the Syrian people a real chance to rebuild after decades of unimaginable suffering,” says Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The Caesar Act, named after an anonymous photographer who documented atrocities in Assad’s prisons, severely restricted investment and cut off Syria from the international banking system.

The law was intended to prevent the influx of foreign businesses to rebuild Syria at a time when it had seemed that Assad had triumphed following more than a decade of brutal civil war that triggered a massive flow of refugees toward Europe and helped spawn the birth of the Islamic State extremist movement.

Sharaa’s fighters seized Damascus a year ago in a lightning offensive.

Sharaa — now dressed in a business suit and seeking better relations with the West — has impressed Trump, including when they first met during the US leader’s May trip to Riyadh.

Dershowitz says he told Trump US Constitution not clear on whether he can serve third term

Professor Alan Dershowitz (right) listens to US President Donald Trump speak during a Hanukkah Reception in the East Room of the White House, December 11, 2019. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images North America/AFP)

Retired Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz told President Donald Trump the US Constitution is not clear about whether he could serve a third term, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Dershowitz tells the newspaper he had made the comment during a discussion with Trump on Tuesday about a draft copy of a book the lawyer had written on whether he could constitutionally serve a third term.

“I said ‘it’s not clear if a president can become a third term president and it’s not clear if it’s permissible,’” Dershowitz says.

The 22nd Amendment of the US Constitution states in part that “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”

“He found it interesting as an intellectual issue,” adds Dershowitz, who defended Trump during his first impeachment trial. “Do I think he’s going to run for a third term? No, I don’t think he will run for a third term.”

The report comes after Republican megadonor Miriam Adelson, appearing alongside Trump at a White House Hanukkah event, said Dershowitz told her it would be legal for Trump to run for a third term, and pledged that she would donate $250 million to his campaign if the president chooses to run again, as the crowd chanted “four more years!”

Dershowitz confirms to the Wall Street Journal that he spoke with Adelson after meeting with Trump and showed her the draft of the book, which is titled, “Could President Trump Constitutionally Serve a Third Term?”

“Is this real? Oh, my God, I hope this can happen,” Dershowitz quotes Adelson as telling him in response, before her remarks at the reception later Tuesday.

Funeral held for Alex Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor killed in Bondi Beach attack

Alex Kleytman (X; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Mourners gather in Sydney for the funeral of Alex Kleytman, a Ukrainian Holocaust survivor killed in the terror attack on a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach.

A large number of police are on hand for the funeral, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which reports that mourners wept and gathered around Kleytman’s wife Larisa as his remains were put in the hearse.

Kleytman, 87, was the oldest person killed in the massacre on Sunday. According to his wife, he was killed while shielding her from the bullets with his own body.

Australian PM vows crackdown on ‘hate, division and radicalization’ in response to Hanukkah attack

SYDNEY — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promises a crackdown on “hate, division and radicalization” after terrorists opened fire at a Jewish event in Sydney, killing 15 and wounding dozens more.

“It is clear we need to do more to combat this evil scourge, much more,” Albanese tells a news conference, vowing to target extremist preachers and to cancel visas for people spreading hatred.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

After Bondi attack, U of Sydney fires academic filmed calling Jewish students ‘filthy Zionists’

In the wake of the Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre, the University of Sydney has fired academic Rose Nakad after she was filmed in October berating Jewish students as “filthy Zionists” and hurling other antisemitic invective.

Meet Professor Rose Nakad – a media and communications lecturer at @Sydney_Uni.

She's been fired for calling Jewish students 'parasites' and 'filthy Zionists' in a foul-mouthed campus rant. She also spat on them.

The students were abused for celebrating Sukkot.???????? pic.twitter.com/WtUMgI4rsr

— Peter Lloyd (@Suffragent_) December 16, 2025

‘Our little ray of sunshine’: Mourners grieve at funeral for 10-year-old girl killed in Bondi massacre

A bee sticker referencing 10-year-old Matilda, who was killed in the Bondi Beach terror attack, is displayed on a vehicle as a mourner walks past after her funeral service in Sydney on December 18, 2025. (Saeed Khan/AFP)

Mourners gather in Sydney for the funeral of 10-year-old Matilda Britvan, the youngest victim slain in the Bondi Beach terror attack against a Hanukkah event.

“Matilda is our little ray of sunshine,” says the rabbi leading the service, reading out a message from her school.

“She is genuinely the most kind, caring and compassionate young girl, who brightened everyone’s day with her radiant smile and infectious laugh.”

Black-clad mourners clutched bouquets of lilies as they filed into the funeral at Sydney’s Chevra Kadisha, a Jewish society responsible for customary burial rites.

Others held balloons emblazoned with pictures of bumblebees, a reference to the young girl’s nickname “Matilda Bee.”

Photos taken in the hours before the first bullets were fired showed the young girl stroking animals at a petting zoo and smiling after having her face painted.

Another Bondi Beach victim identified as father of four killed while walking with his wife

Another victim in the Hanukkah attack has been identified as Adam Smyth, 50, a father of four, who was walking with his wife at Bondi Beach when he was killed.

“We are all trying to come to terms with the senseless shooting, of which Adam was a victim. No words can describe the pain of our loss,” his family says in a statement quoted by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“We will forever cherish the time we have had with him,” the family adds, saying Adam loved English soccer, Australian rules football, rugby and his pets.

“Adam was a generous and kind person who will be dearly missed and is forever irreplaceable.”

We mourn the loss of Adam Smyth who was walking with his wife Katrina along the Bondi Beach, a passerby to the Chanukah celebration and was gunned down, he has succumbed to his wounds and passed away.

Adam a good Australian, was not Jewish, but he he is unequivocally a victim of… pic.twitter.com/3lTLWhQ0P0

— Avraham Berkowitz (@GlobalRabbi) December 18, 2025

Funeral held for Tibor Weitzen, killed while trying to protect family friend at Bondi Beach

Tibor Weitzen. (Courtesy)

The funeral for Bondi Beach terror attack victim Tibor Weitzen is now being held.

Weitzen, 78, moved to Australia from Israel in 1988, and was a father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

He was killed as he tried to protect a family friend from gunfire, according a Chabad-focused publication.

Alex Kleytman’s family recalls his ‘unparalleled passion’ for wife, love of Australia

The family of Alex Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor killed in this week’s terror attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, remembers him in a statement as someone who deeply loved his family and his adopted home of Australia.

Kleytman, 87, was the oldest person killed in the massacre on Sunday. According to his wife, he was killed while shielding her from the bullets with his own body.

The family releases the statement via police following his funeral earlier today, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“He loved his wife, Larisa, with unparalleled passion, the kind you only see in the movies,” the statement says.

“Alex discovered Judaism in his 50s and became observant after immigrating to Australia, where he married Larisa AGAIN on the 25th anniversary of their civil wedding, but this time according to Jewish law,” the statement continues. “Equally, he cherished Australia, the Australian way of life, the freedom, democracy, people, all of it. In his presence, no one could ever criticise anything about his beloved new home.”

It continues, The two gunmen killed him, but his memories, his legacy, and his books will bring light for generations to come … you touched so many lives. You will be deeply missed and never forgotten.”

We mourn the loss of Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman. After enduring the horrors of the Nazi regime, to face the same antisemitic hatred once again at Bondi Beach is truly heartbreaking. Alex, a beloved husband, father, and grandfather, leaves behind a family who cherished him… pic.twitter.com/c23OOQUZPp

— Israel in Australia (@IsraelinOZ) December 18, 2025

Israel’s embassy in Australia memorializes Kleytman as “a beloved husband, father, and grandfather, [who] leaves behind a family who cherished him deeply.”

Australian official says ‘Globalize the intifada’ is hate speech

People stand in front floral tributes left at the promenade of Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 18, 2025, to honour victims of the terror shooting that targeted a Jewish event there on December 14, 2025. (DAVID GRAY / AFP)

The treasurer of New South Wales, the Australian state where the Bondi Beach terror attack took place, says the chant “Globalize the intifada” is hate speech.

Daniel Mookhey made the statement days after the massacre at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, and shortly after the UK said that it would begin cracking down on the chant, announcing the first arrests under the new policy hours later.

“I personally think that any reasonable person would just see what the consequences of that has been on Sunday night. I think a person who is chanting ‘globalizing the intifada’ is chanting a hate speech,” Mookhey says, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

“They are dividing the community. They are jeopardizing community cohesion,” he adds. “I don’t think that there’s a place for that in peaceful protest.”

And the attorney general of Queensland, another Australian state, says the government is weighing expanding its list of banned hate symbols.

“Already, the Nazi symbol is outlawed in this state, and we’re working on others – that work has already commenced,” Deb Frecklington says.

Bondi terrorists said to have holed up in hotel for most of Philippines visit before attack

The facade of GV hotel is seen in Davao City, in the Philippines' southern island of Mindanao, where Bondi Beach terrorists Sajid and Naveed Akram stayed during their visit in November, weeks before their attack on a Hanukkah event killed 15 people in Sydney. (Ferdinandh CABRERA / AFP)

The terrorists who gunned down 15 people in an attack on a Jewish event at Australia’s Bondi Beach this week holed themselves up in a Philippines hotel for weeks and left a tip on their way out, staff tell AFP.

Australian authorities are investigating whether Sajid Akram and his son Naveed trained with extremists last month during a trip to the southern Mindanao region of the Philippines, where there is a long history of Islamist insurgencies.

The Philippines says there is no evidence to suggest that the country was being used to coach terrorists.

The men entered the Philippines on November 1, with Davao listed as their final destination, immigration officials confirmed this week.

They checked into room 315 of the GV Hotel the same day, paying about $16 per night for the small room with two single beds.

The men typically only left their room for an hour or so each day and largely kept to themselves, night desk manager Angelica Ytang, 20, tells AFP.

“They weren’t approachable like other foreigners. Other foreigners usually chat with me, but they didn’t,” she says, adding that her only interactions were with Naveed, while the father “always looked down” and avoided eye contact.

The pair never discussed the purpose of their stay and would typically leave the hotel in the morning, but “didn’t stay out long… the longest we observed was about one hour”, Ytang says.

Ytang says she had never seen the men meet with anyone or take a vehicle.

“They just walked around. That’s all they did,” she says

Staff recognized their faces instantly in news reports about the Sydney massacre, she says. Two other hotel employees confirm their stay.

A regional police spokeswoman says Davao police will release a statement on Thursday, without providing further details.

Albanese plan to counter hate includes more action against extremist speech, limits on visas

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s sweeping crackdown to banish the “evil of antisemitism from our society” includes action against extremist leaders and groups, as well as a tightening of immigration rules.

Albanese announced the plan earlier today in the wake of the Sunday terror attack on a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, where gunmen killed 15 people. The premier has come under criticism from Jewish leaders and opposition politicians for doing too little to combat antisemitism prior to the attack.

The plan includes new powers to target extremist preachers and to refuse or cancel visas for those who spread hate and division.

Australia also plans to develop a regime for listing organizations with leaders who engage in hate speech, he says.

“Serious vilification” based on race would become a federal offense.

The plan also pledges an antisemitism education task force as well as measures to combat antisemitism on university campuses.

Thousands gather for funeral of Reuven Morrison, killed while fighting gunman at Bondi

Reuven Morrison (X; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Thousands of people are gathering for the funeral of Reuven Morrison, who was killed in the terror attack on a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach while fighting one of the attackers.

Video footage shows Morrison, a 62-year-old grandfather, hurling items at terrorist Sajid Akram, after bystander Ahmed Al Ahmed had disarmed him. Morrison was then shot dead by the other terrorist, Sajid’s son Naveed Akram.

At the funeral in Melbourne, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann says Morrison was a modern “Judah Maccabee,” the hero of the Hanukkah story.

“He’s someone that single-handedly tried to take on the terrorists. He tried to stop him in his tracks, and if you watch the video like I sadly have, you’ll see he picks up anything that he can find around him, a stick, a brick,” Kaltmann says.

Morrison, an immigrant to Australia from the former Soviet Union, “discovered his Jewish identity in Sydney,” Chabad said, and remained deeply connected to the Jewish community there even after moving to Melbourne.

Morrison’s family relocated to Melbourne for his daughter’s schooling, Chabad said, but he continued to split his time between the two cities and worked primarily in Sydney.

Morrison was a “successful businessman,” Chabad recounted, and he donated generously to charitable causes, including Chabad of Bondi.

Man killed overnight in Tamra at the door of his house, police say

The scene of a fatal shooting in Tamra, a northern Arab city, which killed one man outside his house on December 17, 2025. (Screenshot from Ynet)

A 43-year-old man was shot and killed overnight in Tamra, a northern Arab city, police say.

The victim, Mahmoud Akkawi, was ambushed by unknown assailants who followed him home just before midnight, according to Ynet. Once he was at the door of his house, they opened fire and killed him on the spot.

Medics from a local clinic in the city attempted to resuscitate Akkawi, but were forced to declare him dead at the scene.

Police arrived at the scene of the shooting and have launched an investigation. They have not yet arrested any suspects.

Since the start of the year, 242 Arab citizens have fallen victim to homicide, putting 2025 on track to be one of the deadliest on record in terms of violent crime, with police struggling to curb the bloodshed.

‘Do the right thing’: Golan joins opposition figures telling Gantz not to run next year

(L-R) The Democrats party head Yair Golan, National Unity party head Benny Gantz, Yisrael Beytenu party Avigdor Liberman (standing) and Yesh Atid party head and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid hold a joint press conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem on November 6, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Yair Golan, chair of the left-wing Democrats party, says that fellow opposition party leader Benny Gantz should not run in the election due to take place next year if his centrist Blue and White party continues to poll poorly, adding his voice to a growing chorus of opposition figures making the same call.

“Benny Gantz has said on countless occasions that the State of Israel comes before everything else. For many months now [Blue and White] has not been passing the electoral threshold,” Golan says during a radio interview today, according to Hebrew media reports. Coming in below the electoral threshold means a party gets no Knesset seats, and the votes it won are effectively wasted.

“I expect him to do the right thing and — if this situation continues — retire from political life,” he continues.

In response to his comments, Gantz’s Blue and White party says that Golan’s “support for those who refuse to serve, the hatred and division he spreads, and his obsessive focus on others are the greatest gift there is to [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s campaign.”

Other opposition politicians, including Yesh Atid’s Noam Tibon and Gantz’s former number two, Gadi Eisenkot, have also called on the Blue and White leader to resign due to his poor poll numbers. Eisenkot now leads his own eponymous party.

Gantz himself has responded to the calls for his resignation with indignation, demanding to know why opposition figures see him as part of their bloc. That stance marks a shift for Gantz, who, six years ago, was the leading challenger to Netanyahu across a series of elections.

Since then, he has joined Netanyahu-led governments multiple times, first during the coronavirus pandemic and later following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught.

Now, Gantz hasn’t expressly stated that he won’t join a government led by Netanyahu.

IDF strikes Hezbollah training camp, military infrastructure across Lebanon

The IDF says it carried out strikes on Hezbollah targets across Lebanon a short while ago, including a training camp for the terror group and additional military infrastructure.

According to the army, the camp was used by Hezbollah to train operatives, conduct live-fire exercises, operate artillery and store weapons. The IDF says launch sites and other terrorist infrastructure were destroyed in the strikes.

The military adds that additional strikes were carried out deep inside Lebanon on buildings used by Hezbollah to store weapons and conduct operations.

It says the activity violated the understandings between Israel and Lebanon established in a ceasefire last year, and posed a threat to Israel.

IDF says it targeted Hezbollah operative in southern Lebanon

The IDF says it struck a Hezbollah operative in the area of Taybeh in southern Lebanon a short while ago.

The announcement comes after the military said it had carried out a series of strikes across Lebanon, including on a training camp for the terror group and other terror infrastructure.

Breaking | An Israeli drone strikes a vehicle in Taybeh, south Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/KbYEmHa0yn

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 18, 2025

‘I love you Abba, I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you’: Tibor Weitzen’s daughter gives tearful eulogy

Tibor Weitzen. (Courtesy)

The daughter of Tibor Weitzen, 78, killed in the terror attack targeting a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday, eulogizes him through tears as a loving father and community member.

“Above all else, he was a family man. His love for his family was constant, unconditional and deeply felt,” Hanna Abesidon says at Weitzen’s funeral, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“Friends, neighbors and members of the community knew him as kind, generous and dependable,” she continues. “He has a way of making people feel seen and valued.”

Weitzen, 78, moved to Australia from Israel in 1988, and was a father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

He was reportedly killed as he tried to protect a family friend from gunfire.

“I love you Abba,” she says. “”I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you. I’m so sorry.”

She then takes a deep breath, ABC reports, and says, “We’re strong and we’ll move on and we’ll walk around with our heads up high.”

Sa’ar: Israel to open embassy in Fiji next year

Three months after Fiji opened an embassy in Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announces that Israel will open an embassy in the island nation’s capital Suva in 2026.

In a post on X, Sa’ar says he informed Fijian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sitiveni Rabuka of the decision this morning, adding that the new embassy will “tighten the relations between the two countries and help cultivate our longstanding friendship and strengthen our cooperation in the fields of development, economic, security and more.”

He praises Fiji’s support for Israel at the UN and adds, “Israel’s embassy in Fiji will strengthen Israel’s presence in the entire Pacific region, which is friendly to Israel, and will deepen our ties with other Pacific island nations.”

Just spoke with the PM and FM of Fiji @slrabuka, that I met in September during his visit to open Fiji's embassy in Jerusalem.
I informed the PM of my decision to open an Israeli embassy in Fiji in 2026.
Fiji is one of Israel's most consistent supporters, also in the UN arena. In… pic.twitter.com/DJl3LLiRnW

— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) December 18, 2025

Fiji was one of a dozen countries to abstain from the September UN vote that overwhelmingly endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state, which Israel strongly opposes.

Israel previously had an embassy in Fiji, but it was closed in the 1990s due to budget cuts.

Netanyahu reportedly to head committee that will determine scope of government-led probe of Oct. 7

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the plenum hall of the Knesset, December 8, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will head the ministerial team that will determine the scope of a contentious government-led commission of inquiry into the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught, Hebrew media outlets report.

A spokesperson for the prime minister does not immediately respond to a request for comment.

That ministerial team will convene for the first time on Monday, the Ynet news outlet says.

Plans for the government-led commission are advancing as Netanyahu and his allies have rejected setting up a state commission of inquiry to probe the massacre, the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.

Polls have shown that a majority of Israelis support a state commission of inquiry, Israel’s highest investigative authority. But Netanyahu claims such a probe would be biased against him because it would be led by the judiciary, which the government has been seeking to weaken.

Instead, the government has sought to form its own investigative commission. Critics have slammed the effort because the government that is forming the probe was the one in power on the day of the massacre.

A government-backed bill to establish that commission will be brought for a vote in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday.

Under the terms of the bill, the government would set the mandate and parameters for the commission of inquiry. The bill says the members of the committee would be chosen by the coalition and opposition, but the opposition has vowed not to cooperate.

The legislation allows the Knesset speaker, in that event, to choose committee members on behalf of the opposition.

‘Looking for an alibi’: Opposition slams report that PM will lead panel setting scope of Oct. 7 probe

(Clockwise from top left): The Democrats chief Yair Golan, Yesh Atid chief and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, Blue and White chief Benny Gantz and Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman hold a joint press conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem, November 6, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Opposition lawmakers react angrily to a report that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will head a ministerial panel that will set the scope of a contentious government-led probe into the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack.

They say the prime minister should not be in charge of the effort, given that he was leading Israel when the attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history, took place.

“Netanyahu at the head of the committee to determine the mandate? Let’s save the bureaucracy and just let him write the verdict straight away. This isn’t ‘conflict of interest,’ it’s organized crime under the guise of the law,” Democrats party chairman Yair Golan posts on X.

“The man responsible for the greatest disaster in our history isn’t looking for answers, he’s looking for an alibi,” Golan charges. “This committee won’t investigate failures — it will investigate how to pin the blame on the army, on the protest movement, or even on the kibbutz members [who were attacked]. The mandate is clear: to whitewash the leader and cling to power by force.”

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman tweets a Hebrew phrase meaning “a guilty conscience gives itself away,” while Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party announces that it will bring a motion to the Knesset State Control Committee on Monday to require the government to establish a state commission of inquiry, Israel’s highest investigative authority.

Polls show most Israelis support a state commission of inquiry. Netanyahu has claimed such a body would be biased because it will be led by judges whose power his government has tried to curb.

Establishing an alternative committee would be both “a blow to security” and an offense to the families of the victims of October 7, says Gantz. “In the face of this disgrace, we will continue to insist that the failure be investigated, the lessons learned, and the truth brought to light.”

State commissions are established by a cabinet resolution, which also lays out the mandate of the commission, but are then entirely independent of the government. They can also be created by a vote in the Knesset State Control Committee.

The State Control Committee voted down a previous motion to establish a state commission of inquiry in October.

Report that officer was removed from IDF Oct. 7 probe due to politics draws backlash

Illustrative: IDF troops are seen in southern Gaza's Rafah, November 23, 2025. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

A senior reserve officer was reportedly dismissed from an IDF investigative team probing the intelligence failures leading up to the October 7, 2023, attack due to political pressure from people close to Defense Minister Israel Katz.

The report draws harsh criticism from the political opposition.

According to Army Radio, Brig. Gen. (Res.) Roi Alkabetz was dismissed from the so-called Numa Commission investigating the lead-up to October 7 over his involvement in protests against the government’s judicial overhaul in 2023, including his membership in a group called Armored Corps Soldiers for Democracy.

Earlier this month, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir announced that he had appointed Maj. Gen. (res.) Roni Numa to investigate the military’s failed handling of intelligence reports received since 2018, which outlined Hamas’s intent to launch a wide-scale attack against Israel.

Responding to the report of Alkabetz’s dismissal from the panel Numa heads, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid accuses the “anti-Zionist government” of carrying out a “destructive political witch hunt against Israeli officers and civilians.”

Alkabetz is “an Israeli fighter and patriot, his two sons fought in Gaza, no one has ever doubted his professionalism and abilities,” Lapid declares. “His dismissal from the investigative team just because he expressed a legitimate opinion as a citizen is yet another low point and yet another political contamination of the Israel Defense Forces.”

Yesterday after coalition lawmakers voted to advance a bill that would penalize senior officers in the security services for encouraging refusal to enlist in the IDF, calling for reservists to halt volunteering, or “slandering” the security services.

IDF: Airstrike killed terror operative who crossed Gaza ceasefire line

The IDF says it conducted an airstrike that killed a terror operative today in the southern Gaza Strip after he crossed the designated ceasefire line dividing territory held by Israel and Hamas, and approached Israeli forces.

According to the military, troops from the 188th Armored Brigade identified the suspect crossing the so-called Yellow Line in a manner that “posed an immediate threat.” The Israeli Air Force, acting under their direction, carried out the strike.

“IDF Southern Command forces are deployed in the area in accordance with the [ceasefire] agreement and will continue to act to remove any immediate threat,” the army says.

Police arrest third suspect, a teen, in Beit Lid arson attack in West Bank

A 17-year-old suspected of taking part in a large-scale arson attack against Palestinians in the northern West Bank in November 2025, after being arrested on December 18. (Israel Police)

Police have arrested a 17-year-old suspected of taking part in an attack by extremist settlers targeting Palestinians and their property in the northern West Bank last month. He is the third person to be arrested in connection with the incident.

The suspect resides in Jerusalem. He is thought to be one of dozens of masked Jewish extremists who launched a large-scale arson attack in Beit Lid on November 11, setting fire to cars, destroying buildings and attacking Palestinian residents with clubs and stones.

He was one of three suspects detained by IDF soldiers who arrived at the scene after the attack. But he and an accomplice managed to escape before authorities could take them into custody, police say.

Police put out an arrest warrant for the suspect shortly after the rampage. He had been on the run for a month before officers spotted him driving in the West Bank and detained him.

Yesterday, law enforcement arrested the other suspect who fled IDF troops. The suspect who didn’t manage to escape arrest and was taken into custody the day of the attack was indicted on terror charges last month.

The investigation into the rampage and its perpetrators is ongoing, police say.

Saudi, French and US officials to meet today on Hezbollah disarmament plan

Illustrative: Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon on December 4, 2025. (Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)

French, Saudi and US officials will hold talks with the head of the Lebanese army today in Paris aimed at finalizing a roadmap to enable a mechanism for the disarmament of the Hezbollah terror group, diplomats said.

The meeting was planned amid fears that Israel could embark on a new military operation against the Iran-backed group after a December 31 deadline for its disarmament passes.

Israeli strikes against Hezbollah infrastructure and activity have continued in the year-plus since a ceasefire took effect between the sides. The ceasefire required both Israel and Hezbollah to vacate southern Lebanon, to be replaced by the Lebanese military. Israel has withdrawn from all but five strategic posts along the border, and says its strikes are against Hezbollah attempts to rebuild its strength following the war.

It says the Lebanese army is not moving fast enough to take away the terror group’s weapons.

Against that backdrop, the aim of today’s meeting, an official told The Times of Israel on Tuesday, is to “share notes” on how to prevent another outbreak of war in Lebanon.

The US will be represented by Morgan Ortagus, the American special representative for Lebanon, while French President Emmanuel Macron’s Middle East adviser Anne-Claire Legendre will head the French side.

The meeting aims to create more robust conditions to identify, support and verify the disarmament process and dissuade Israel from escalation, four European and Lebanese diplomats and officials tell Reuters.

With legislative elections due in Lebanon in 2026, there are fears political paralysis and party politics will further fuel instability and make Lebanese President Joseph Aoun less likely to press disarmament, the diplomats and officials say.

“The situation is extremely precarious, full of contradictions and it won’t take much to light the powder keg,” says one senior official speaking on condition of anonymity.

With the Lebanese army lacking capacity to disarm Hezbollah, the idea would be to reinforce the existing ceasefire mechanism with French, US and possibly other military experts along with UN peacekeeping forces, the diplomats and officials say.

The parties hope to organize a conference at the start of next year to reinforce the Lebanese army as well as a separate conference to help reconstruction, most notably for Lebanon’s south.

Australian police ram car heading to Bondi, 7 arrested, occupants zip-tied

Australian tactical police reportedly rammed a car heading to Bondi Beach — the site of Sunday’s deadly terror attack on a Jewish event — and arrested and zip-tied the vehicle’s occupants, Australian media reports.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, a white hatchback was rammed by a vehicle carrying heavily armed police, who proceeded, with weapons drawn, to take five men out of the car. The men’s hands were then zip-tied.

Two other men in a separate vehicle were also arrested.

The outlet cited anonymous sources saying a weapon may have been in the car, and that the people who were arrested are known to authorities.

Police said there is no danger to the public, and no known connection between today’s arrest and the ongoing probe of Sunday’s shooting, which killed 15 people. One of the shooters in that attack was killed on the scene and the other is in custody and has been charged.

Bondi Beach has reopened to the public following the attack.

“Police have not identified any connection to the current police investigation of the Bondi terror attack,” a police statement says, according to the Morning Herald.

The statement said the arrests were made due to “information received that a violent act was possibly being planned.”

New footage shows NSW Police Public Order and Riot Squad with five men now arrested on the footpath of George Street, Liverpool.#Australia #bondiattack pic.twitter.com/8lSu4ajupv

— Harpreet Official (@harpeetsubh) December 18, 2025

Hamas-run health ministry says month-old baby in Gaza died from cold exposure

A month-old baby boy died in Gaza as a result of cold exposure, the Hamas-run health ministry says in a daily report.

The child’s name is given as Saeed Abdeen. Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital announced his death this morning, adding that his family resides in the nearby Mawasi displaced persons camp.

At least four children have died as a result of cold exposure this winter, according to the ministry, which also says at least nine other people have been killed by the collapse of bombed-out buildings under heavy rainfall.

The UN reported in October that over half of Gaza’s structures were destroyed in the war between the Hamas terror group and Israel, and that roughly 40 percent of the remaining structures are severely or moderately damaged.

The UN has said that hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans face the risk of their tents and shelters flooding in heavy rains, and that sufficient materials for shelters and sandbags are not being allowed to enter the enclave.

COGAT, the Defense Ministry body that facilitates the aid, has denied the allegations, saying it has let in hundreds of thousands of tents and tarpaulins and is waiting for international organizations to let in close to 100,000 pallets of “water-related items.”

Otzma Yehudit’s Limor Son Har-Melech to chair Knesset Health Committee

MK Limor Son Har-Melech attends a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting, July 18, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90/ File)

MK Limor Son Har-Melech of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party will soon become chair of the Knesset Health Committee, her faction announces.

The committee has lacked a chairperson since the ultra-Orthodox Shas party withdrew from all coalition roles in the Knesset in October amid a debate over Haredi conscription.

Son Har-Melech’s appointment still requires the approval of the Knesset House Committee.

In a statement, she says that Israel’s healthcare system “is one of the best in the world, but it faces significant challenges.” She said she hopes to shorten wait times for treatment and work on “strengthening medicine in the periphery” and improving mental health care.

“I see this role as a sacred mission. I intend to lead the committee with a matter-of-fact and professional approach, with only one goal in mind: to ensure that every citizen in Israel, regardless of residence or background, will receive high-quality, fast medical care that is most tailored to their needs,” she says.

Netanyahu calls Israel a ‘superpower’ at groundbreaking for Tel Aviv subway

Israel “is stronger than ever,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says at a groundbreaking ceremony for the subway system in the Tel Aviv metro area.

“Israel is a superpower,” he says. “Why is that important?”

“Pacts are made with the strong. Peace is made with the strong,” Netanyahu says.

He notes the massive natural gas deal with Egypt that he announced last night, as well as praise for the performance of Israel’s economy.

Netanyahu’s comments come ahead of his trip to the US at the end of the month to meet President Donald Trump. They are expected to discuss the future of the Gaza ceasefire and potential normalization agreements with Arab states.

10 cops injured during Haredi riots in Jerusalem; police use tear gas on protesters, arrest 4

Police respond to Haredi riots in Jerusalem, December 18, 2025. (Israel Police)

Haredi protesters have injured 10 police officers in ongoing riots in Jerusalem, which, according to police, were sparked by parking tickets issued to ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students in the capital.

Some of the injured officers were evacuated from the scene for medical treatment after protesters threw stones and other objects at forces and overturned a police vehicle. Police have arrested four people involved so far.

The commotion reportedly broke out after municipal inspectors issued parking tickets to several yeshiva students, and quickly realized that they were draft dodgers. When police tried to hand over the students to the Military Police, they were met with resistance from bystanders, which mushroomed into rioting, Ynet reports.

Police are using stun grenades and tear gas on demonstrators, a move rarely taken against Israelis, as the rioting draws widespread condemnation from lawmakers as well as police chief Danny Levy.

Levy calls the rioting a “very grave incident” and vows that police will “hold everyone involved to account.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the police, says that he “unequivocally condemns the extremist rioting in Jerusalem,” and calls the attacks on police officers a “red line.”

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls the rioting an “inconceivable failure of the government,” which signals the “disintegration of government institutions.”

“It cannot be that the Haredi evaders avoid arrest just because they are engaging in violence. The defense minister and prime minister continue to encourage an enterprise of [draft] evasion and refusal on historic scales,” he says in a statement.

According to a spokesman, Lapid’s statement was also in response to two separate overnight incidents in Ramat Hasharon and Herzliya in which dozens of Haredi protesters, mobilized by the extremist ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem Faction, prevented Military Police from arresting draft evaders.

After blocking the soldiers, the yeshiva students danced in celebration. The Jerusalem Faction runs a “national alert system” that sends warnings of IDF operations against draft dodgers.

According to Channel 12, last night’s anti-enforcement protests were the third time this month that protesters had managed to prevent arrests of yeshiva students.

‘Act of terror’: Opposition politicians blame Netanyahu for Haredi violence against cops

This afternoon’s ultra-Orthodox riot in Jerusalem, in which 10 police officers were injured, is “an act of terrorism in every sense,” declares Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman.

The riots are apparently linked to an attempt to arrest Haredi draft dodgers, who were identified after being served parking tickets.

“This is what happens when the country’s leadership is in the pocket of Haredi wheeler-dealers,” Liberman posts on X, adding that “patience has run out and the excuses are over, the people demand enlistment for everyone!”

10 שוטרים נפצעו וניידת הושחתה בעקבות מעצר עריקים בירושלים.

המשתמטים מבינים שהחוק בישראל לא חל עליהם, שלהם מותר הכל – וככה זה נראה.
הגיבוי להשתמטות, ולאלימות נגד כוחות הביטחון מגיע מלמעלה. ראש הממשלה ושר הביטחון אשמים במראות המזעזעים האלה.

הגיע העת לגייס את כולם ולהחזיר את החוק… pic.twitter.com/3B0D9NniLK

— Yair Golan – יאיר גולן (@YairGolan1) December 18, 2025

The Democrats chairman Yair Golan likewise condemns the violence, saying that “the draft dodgers understand that the law in Israel does not apply to them, that everything is permitted to them and this is how it looks.”

“The backing for [draft] evasion, and for violence against security forces, comes from above. The prime minister and defense minister are responsible for these shocking scenes. It is time to draft everyone and restore law and order in Israel, for the sake of Israel’s security,” he posts.

Pope Leo replaces NYC’s Cardinal Dolan, conservative with close ties to Jewish community

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York attends a news conference at the North American College in Rome, May 9, 2025. (AP/Gregorio Borgia, File)

Pope Leo XIV accepts the resignation of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the influential archbishop of New York who was close to the Jewish community and seen as a leading conservative voice in the US Catholic Church.

Catholic cardinals and bishops are formally required to offer their resignations when reaching the age of 75, as Dolan did earlier this year, but Leo could have kept Dolan in place.

Instead, he is replacing him with 58-year-old Bishop Ronald Hicks, who — like Leo — is a Chicago native who spent significant time in Latin America and who is outspoken on the need for a more humane immigration policy in the US.

Dolan came under fire in September for calling slain conservative commentator Charlie Kirk “a modern-day Saint Paul.”

Dolan visited Israel and Palestinian areas in 2024, while wars against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran were raging, and ran to a bomb shelter during a major Iranian missile attack.

“Our Palestinian brothers and sisters especially mourn the devastation in Gaza, and they fear that their already precarious situation in the West Bank will become worse,” he wrote afterward. “And our Jewish ancestors in the faith all have horror stories of the vicious Oct. 7 massacre and the constant attacks on Israel.”

Earlier this year, Dolan wrote an essay titled “The Evils of Antisemitism” in The Free Press, in which he lamented “lies about the Jewish people and Judaism spread through social media, the rantings of protesters, and on popular podcasts.”

“Countering such opinions should not fall only to our Jewish brothers and sisters,” the archbishop wrote. “Everyone must do their part. Sometimes in the past, sadly, we have been slow to do so.”

“For any Jewish people who might be reading this, please know: The Catholic Church stands with you in the struggle against antisemitism,” Dolan promised.

Hicks belongs to the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, an international order meant to “support the Christian presence in the Holy Land.”

At the same time, his writing and public statements have barely referenced antisemitism or the war in Gaza launched by the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks.

One exception came in February 2024 when, after meeting with Cardinal Pieterbattista Pizzaballa, the top Catholic official in Israel and neighboring countries, Hicks echoed the Catholic Church’s call for a ceasefire in the war.

“Since October 2023, the conflicts in the Holy Land have escalated into a horrible war,” he wrote. “Most of us follow the news with broken hearts and feel helpless. ”

“The Holy Land holds a powerful place in our hearts and in salvation history. It is where Jesus was born, grew up, taught, prayed, performed miracles, suffered, died, and was resurrected,” Hicks continued. “In solidarity, let us join Cardinal Pizzaballa’s call for an end to the violence and for a just and lasting peace in the Holy Land as we turn to God with prayer, obedience, and love.”

Katz, Smotrich call West Bank waste fires national security issue, unveil emergency plan

Smoke from waste fires in the West Bank near northern Israel's Harish in an undated photo from 2025. (Dolev Hilell)

Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declare that illegal waste fires in the West Bank constitute a threat to national security, and announce a national emergency plan after an urgent meeting with local authority heads.

According to a statement by the Defense Ministry, the emergency plan will be led jointly by the Defense and Finance ministries, alongside local authorities and security and enforcement agencies, and will include aggressive enforcement to counter the fires, administrative seizures of Palestinian waste trucks, large-scale waste removal and the establishment of a new waste disposal site in the central West Bank.

The move follows Health Ministry warnings this week urging residents of eastern Shoham, in central Israel, to stay indoors and turn off air conditioners overnight due to severe air pollution caused by illegal waste burning in the West Bank.

Authorities said elevated levels of benzene and other pollutants – exceeding limits set by the Clean Air Law – were detected by a mobile air-quality monitor, while the Civil Administration reported sealing four garbage-burning sites spanning some 45 dunams (11 acres).

“We will not allow residents of communities near the seam line to breathe smoke that poisons and harms health,” Katz says, referring to a swath of West Bank land on the Israeli side of the security barrier.

“We declared this a national phenomenon at the highest level that must be addressed as a national problem,” he continues. “We are going to address this with the utmost seriousness, with full force, to solve the problem once and for all.”

Calling the waste fires “environmental terrorism,” Smotrich says they demonstrate that “the Green Line is virtual, and when Judea and Samaria are the backyard of the State of Israel, the entire people of Israel are harmed.”

“We will eradicate this phenomenon through enforcement, waste removal, harsh and painful fines and of course by creating alternatives for waste disposal, while imposing the cost on the Palestinian Authority,” he adds.

Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Ministry requested some $41 million to combat the fires, but Smotrich left it out of the state budget approved by the cabinet.

Civil Administration imposes sanctions on polluting factories near Hebron

Head of the Civil Administration Brig. Gen. Hisham Ibrahim orders sanctions and the revocation of permits for several Palestinian factory owners operating near Hebron over their “severe environmental pollution,” COGAT says.

According to the Civil Administration – a division of COGAT, the Defense Ministry body that regulates daily life in the West Bank – factories south of Hebron illegally discharged sewage into the Hebron River and nearby open areas, causing significant air and environmental pollution affecting Beersheba and surrounding communities.

“Following several warning calls issued to the owners, a decision was made to revoke crossing permits from the factory owners and their employees, in accordance with the unit’s authority,” COGAT’s statement reads, apparently referring to border crossing permits. “In addition, the factories’ illegal sewage systems were disconnected and sealed.”

The Civil Administration says similar civil sanctions will be imposed elsewhere in the West Bank following assessments “in areas where it is determined that such sanctions will lead to the eradication of polluting factors.”

Asked about Jerusalem riot, spokesman for Haredi party leader shares video of cop hitting Haredi man

Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf arrives at a United Torah Judaism party meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on May 19, 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

A spokesman for United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf declines to comment when asked about this afternoon’s riot in Jerusalem in which ultra-Orthodox demonstrators injured 10 police officers, threw stones and overturned a police vehicle.

When asked for a comment, the spokesman says, “We saw this” and shares a clip of an armored officer hitting young Haredi men with a baton.

שאלתי דובר של גולדנופף להגיב על האלימות בירושלים. הוא שלח לי סרטון שבו שוטר מכה תלמידי ישיבה באלות ואמר: "אנחנו ראינו את זה" pic.twitter.com/97rfyGsbv6

— Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) December 18, 2025

The riot reportedly broke out after municipal inspectors issued parking tickets to several yeshiva students, and quickly realized that they were draft dodgers. When police tried to hand over the students to the Military Police, they were met with resistance from bystanders, which mushroomed into rioting, Ynet reports.

A spokesman for fellow ultra-Orthodox party Shas does not respond to a request for comment on the riot.

More Shas MKs visit draft dodgers in military prison, praise their ‘selfless dedication’

Shas MKs Michael Malkieli and Haim Biton visit ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers in military prison, December 18, 2025. (Courtesy)

For the third time this month, lawmakers belonging to the ultra-Orthodox Shas party visit yeshiva students held in military prison for draft dodging.

MKs Michael Malkieli and Haim Biton met with yeshiva students jailed “for the crime of studying Torah,” a party spokesman says in a statement, quoting the lawmakers as telling the evaders that “an entire generation rests upon your shoulders. Your selfless dedication to the Torah will be remembered for generations.”

Last Thursday, MKs Yoav Ben-Tzur and Uriel Buso made a similar visit, updating the prisoners 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,” according to a previous statement.

The week before, fellow Shas MKs Moshe Abutbul and Yonatan Mashriki also visited draft dodgers in prison, informing them that the 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.

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

Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are 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 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.

IDF: Reservist lightly wounded by stray bullet in northern Gaza

A soldier in the reserves was lightly wounded earlier today by a stray bullet fired from outside the IDF’s area of operational control in the northern Gaza Strip, the military says.

According to the IDF, the soldier was evacuated to a hospital for medical treatment, and his family has been notified.

New conference due in February to support Lebanese armed forces, says France

The political parties holding a meeting in Paris today all agreed to have a conference in February aimed at supporting the Lebanese armed forces, says a French foreign ministry spokesperson.

The spokesperson adds that today’s talks in Paris were focused on how to show progress on the disarming of Hezbollah.

French, Saudi Arabian and American officials are holding talks with the head of the Lebanese army in Paris aimed at finalizing a roadmap to enable a mechanism for the disarmament of the Hezbollah group.

Israel weighs special military tribunal to prosecute Oct. 7 Nukhba terrorists

Defense Minister Israel Katz and Justice Minister Yariv meet with senior IDF and Justice Ministry officials at the Kirya on December 18, 2025 (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Israel Katz and Justice Minister Yariv Levin discuss the possible establishment of a dedicated military tribunal to prosecute terrorists from Hamas’s elite Nukhba force for their role in the October 7, 2023, massacre.

The discussion – held with senior IDF and Justice Ministry officials, including Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Itai Ofir – examines creating a special legal framework to try those responsible for what officials describe as “war crimes and crimes against humanity,” with Katz instructing the military to begin work on the legal, operational and international implications of such a move.

“The State of Israel is committed to punishing the perpetrators of the massacre in a way that makes it unequivocally clear — anyone who harms Israeli civilians will be held fully accountable,” Katz says.

The meeting comes shortly after National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party published updated points of controversial legislation it is advancing to impose a mandatory death penalty on terrorists involved in the October 7 attack.

The bill, which passed a first reading in November and is now being debated in the Knesset National Security Committee, would allow military courts to impose capital punishment on Palestinian terrorists by a simple majority of judges.

Settler activists enter Gaza, plant Israeli flag before being escorted back by troops

Settlers briefly enter Gaza on December 18, 2025. (Nachala)

Several settler activists cross into the Gaza Strip, taking pictures of themselves planting an Israeli flag in the ground before they were taken back into Israel by IDF forces.

According to the far-right activists, who are part of a settlement cadre organized by the Nachala settlement movement, they took the pictures at the site of the old Kfar Darom kibbutz settlement in the central Gaza Strip. Much of what was formerly Kfar Darom would be beyond the Yellow Line of IDF deployment at present.

The pictures show several civilian Israeli vehicles at the site, indicating that the activists entered Gaza by car.

The IDF says in response that “several Israeli civilians crossed the border from Israeli territory to the Gaza Strip,” adding that the civilians “were under permanent observation by IDF surveillance troops” and that IDF forces in the area went to the site and returned the civilians to Israeli territory.

עם הוידאו "עם ישראל בתוך עזה" https://t.co/Q8fXMO4Uzs pic.twitter.com/PSfKxIE1Up

— إليشع بن كيمون. Elisha Ben Kimon. אלישע בן קימון (@elishabenkimon) December 18, 2025

The IDF adds that several dozen other Israeli civilians tried to cross the fence between Israel and Gaza at another point but that IDF forces and police prevented them from entering the territory.

“The IDF emphasizes that any entry into the combat zone is prohibited, endangers civilians and interferes with the activities of IDF forces in the area,” the military says.

“Two years after the [Oct. 7] massacre and the war that broke out in its wake, this is a clear message: Gaza belongs to the Israeli people alone and will not be handed over to the Americans or any other foreign entity,” the Nachala movement says of the incident.

“Just like the Maccabees, the People of Israel chose independence and action rather than capitulation,” the organization adds.

Families of jailed Palestine Action activists on hunger strike urge UK government to act

Police officers carry a protester during a protest to support Palestine Action in London, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025.(AP Photo/Joanna Chan)

Families, lawyers and supporters of the detained pro-Palestinian activists who are on hunger strike in Britain issue an urgent plea to the government, warning that their loved ones face life-threatening danger.

Eight people have joined the hunger strike, some from its start in early November, and lawyers say the health of the six who are still striking, aged 20-31, is deteriorating and that death is likely unless the government intervenes. One of the six is on partial hunger strike due to diabetes-related health concerns.

Qesser Zuhrah was taken to hospital on Wednesday after 46 days without food, according to campaign group Defend Our Juries.

“His heart is giving in, and his pulse is slowing down… so what are we waiting for?” said Shahmina Alam, whose brother, 28-year-old Kamran Ahmed, has been on hunger strike for 39 days. “We call on the government… to meet with us urgently because the lives of the hunger strikers are in their hands.”

Four of the activists were jailed over alleged involvement in a break-in at an Israeli-linked defense firm last year, while another four were accused of breaching a military air base in central England and damaging two aircraft in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.

All have been charged with offenses allegedly carried out on behalf of Palestine Action, before the group was banned and designated a terrorist organization.

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer tells reporters the government was continuing to monitor the wellbeing of those on hunger strike.

Palestine Action was banned in July, putting it on a par with Islamic State or al-Qaeda and making it a crime to be a member, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

Official figures show that of the 1,886 terrorism-related arrests in the UK for the year ending September 2025, 1,630 were linked to support for Palestine Action.

The activists on hunger strike have spent more than a year in pre-trial detention, and their demands include immediate bail, an end to the ban on Palestine Action and to be able to communicate without censorship. Supporters argue they should not be held in custody without a trial.

Belgian Jewish leaders protest reported decision to withdraw cops from Antwerp Jewish district

Illustrative: An Orthodox Jew and a boy pass two police officers in Antwerp, Belgium, on May 25, 2014. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

Belgian Jewish leaders are up in arms after learning that authorities reportedly plan to withdraw police security forces in Antwerp’s Jewish district starting in January, despite soaring antisemitism in the country and around the world.

The 16 federal police officers that had been deployed in the district will be moved to Brussels, and responsibility for the neighborhood’s security will be shifted to local police, Mayor Els van Doesburg revealed on state television Tuesday.

She called the decision “incomprehensible,” saying the city could not allow a security vacuum to emerge, particularly after the Bondi Beach terror attack in Australia, in which 15 were killed and dozens injured at a Hanukkah party this week.

Ralph Pais, vice-chair of the Jewish Information and Documentation Centre (JID) says the decision “has created genuine unrest within the Jewish community in Antwerp,” leading to a “profound sense of insecurity.”

“Antisemitic incidents remain frequent and persistent: verbal abuse, intimidation, physical violence, and graffiti continue to occur on a weekly basis, and in some cases even daily,” he says in a statement today. “Many incidents are no longer reported because people feel exhausted or have lost confidence that reporting will make a difference.”

JID is working to reverse the decision, he adds.

ISIS calls Bondi Beach terror attack ‘source of pride,’ but doesn’t claim responsibility

People stand near a floral tribute outside Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP/Steve Markham)

The Islamic State group says the deadly terror attack targeting a Hanukkah gathering at Sydney’s Bondi Beach was a “source of pride,” in an article published on the group’s Telegram channel.

The group does not explicitly claim responsibility for Sunday’s attack in which two gunmen killed 15 people and wounded dozens.

In a lengthy statement released today, the Islamic State praises the Bondi Beach attack, calling the two perpetrators "lions", and warning that more attacks are to come, the group has not explicitly claimed the attack but it is understood by the statement that they enabled it.… https://t.co/Kv5IOd9K2B pic.twitter.com/iuLPONSw0l

— Brant (@BrantPhilip_) December 18, 2025

Katz signs controversial detention order against Bedouin man accused of weapons smuggling

Defense Minister Israel Katz speaks at a cadets' graduation ceremony at the Bahad 1 officers' school in southern Israel, October 30, 2025. (Screenshot: Israel Defense Forces)

Defense Minister Israel Katz has issued an administrative detention order for a Bedouin Israeli suspected of smuggling a vast quantity of weapons into Israel, the police and Shin Bet announce.

The suspect, from the southern village of Bir Hadaj, is described in the agencies’ statement as a “central arms smuggler” and allegedly used drones to spirit the contraband into Israeli territory.

The move marks a rare instance in which authorities employ the controversial policy of holding suspects without charge for long periods against someone suspected of committing criminal, rather than security-related, offenses. The agencies call Katz’s decision “groundbreaking.”

He was placed in administrative detention in the “absence of a criminal alternative” and in light of his “significant involvement” in cross-border arms smuggling.

Earlier this year, Katz ordered that the policy of administrative detention stop being used against Jewish suspects, leading to allegations of state-sanctioned discrimination, since it continues to be used against Palestinians as well as a handful of Arab Israelis.

Police say that a recent uptick of arms smuggling into Israel poses a national security threat, claiming that terror groups are able to exploit the phenomenon to arm potential gunmen.

Otzma Yehudit amends bill to ease restrictions on sentencing Palestinian terrorists to death

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, left, and Otzma Yehudit MK Tzvika Fogel attend a National Security Committee meeting at the Knesset on December 8, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party publishes an amended draft of the controversial bill it is pushing to legislate the death penalty for terror convicts.

The legislation, which passed its first reading in November despite widespread opposition from rights groups and others, is being debated in the Knesset National Security Committee before advancing to the Knesset for a second and third reading.

Among the changes made to the bill are that the death penalty will be the mandatory sentence for those who took part in the October 7 massacre, and for “terrorists who reside in the Palestinian Authority” — that is, Palestinians from the West Bank who do not possess Israeli citizenship.

Under the amended proposal, a military court would have the authority to impose the sentence on Palestinian terrorists based on a simple majority of judges rather than a unanimous decision. The legislation would also ease the requirements for judges on the panel while revoking the authority of the IDF regional commander to commute or overturn sentences.

According to the bill’s text, the death penalty will automatically apply to anyone who “intentionally caused the death of an Israeli citizen or resident.”

The legislation also specifies the authorized methods for carrying out the death penalty, including execution by firing squad, electric chair, hanging, or lethal injection.

The purpose of the law is to “strengthen deterrence” and reduce the incentive for abductions and “extortion through deals” to release captured terrorists for Israeli hostages.

Currently, capital punishment is reserved for extremely rare cases and has not been used since the 1962 hanging of Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann, one of the Nazi architects of the Holocaust.

Second group of settler activists says it entered Gaza, waved Israeli flag

Settlers enter Gaza on December 18, 2025. (Nachala)

A second group of settler activists from the Nachala settlement organization crosses into Gaza and plants a flag at a site they say is close to the former settlement of Morag in the southern part of the territory.

A photograph issued by Nachala shows several dozen men, women, young children and babies belonging to one of the group’s settlement cadres gathered around a large Israeli flag.

Earlier on Thursday, another group of Nachala activists crossed into Gaza and planted a flag that the organization said was at the site of the former Kfar Darom kibbutz and settlement in the central Gaza Strip.

The IDF said it removed those activists, and prevented others from entering the territory.

Nachala staged its Gaza entry and flag waving mission as part of its efforts advocating for the establishment of new Jewish settlements in Gaza, and its declared policy of supporting the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza.

“It is precisely now that we must say in a clear voice what is obvious: Gaza belongs to the people of Israel,” said Nachala leader Daniella Weiss. “We must begin to settle in Gaza now.”

Police say their investigation of Sde Teiman video leak nearly over

IDF soldiers accused of abusing a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility appear at a High Court hearing on the investigation into the leak of the video showing the alleged abuse, at the High Court in Jerusalem, November 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The police are in the final stages of their investigation of the Sde Teiman video leak and the actions of former military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi in leaking surveillance footage from the military facility, and will finish their probe in the coming days.

The police provide this information to the State Attorney’s Office for a submission filed to the High Court of Justice today in response to Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s request from the court that it allow him to appoint State Ombudsman for Judges Asher Kula as a supervisor for the investigation.

Levin appointed Kula in November to oversee the investigation, asserting that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara had a conflict of interest over the affair, a claim upheld by the Justice Ministry’s legal adviser.

The court ruled in mid-November that Levin could appoint a supervisor, but not Kula since the terms of his current position preclude him from taking up any other roles. Levin then sought to appoint retired judge Yosef Ben-Hamo, but the High Court ruled at the beginning of December he did not meet the criteria it had set out for the position.

Earlier this week, Levin asked the court if Kula could serve as supervisor if he temporarily stepped down as ombudsman. The court requested the input of other parties to the case, and is yet to rule.

Witkoff to meet Gaza deal mediators in Miami on Friday amid frustration over implementation pace

US special envoy Steve Witkoff speaks at the America Business Forum, on November 6, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Top White House envoy Steve Witkoff will meet tomorrow in Miami with senior Qatari, Egyptian, and Turkish officials to discuss phase two of the Gaza ceasefire, a White House official tells The Times of Israel, confirming a report in the Axios news site.

The four countries believe that both Israel and Hamas are dragging their feet to avoid implementing the deal’s second phase, and are eager to decide on a joint approach for getting both sides to move forward, according to the report.

The meeting, the highest-level gathering of mediators since the Gaza ceasefire went into effect in October, will be attended by Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.

The gathering comes ahead of a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on December 29 to discuss, among other issues, the Gaza ceasefire.

Israel, Germany sign $3.1b expansion to Arrow 3 missile defense deal

Israeli and German officials sign a $3.1B expansion to the Arrow 3 missile defense deal on December 18, 2025. (Defense Ministry)

Israel and Germany officially sign off on a major expansion to their Arrow 3 missile defense deal, following approval yesterday by the German Bundestag, the Defense Ministry says in a statement.

The expanded agreement adds an estimated $3.1 billion to the deal signed approximately two years ago, bringing the total value of the Arrow 3 program for Germany to more than $6.7 billion, making it the largest defense export deal in Israel’s history.

The signing ceremony took place in Germany and was led by the Defense Ministry’s Missile Defense Organization head Moshe Patel, and the head of Germany’s federal defense procurement office, Annette Lehnigk-Emden, with officials from both defense ministries and Israel Aerospace Industries in attendance.

The agreement follows the delivery earlier this month of the first Arrow 3 battery to Germany, as Berlin accelerates investment in air and missile defense amid the threat posed by Russia.

US Jewish legal group accuses Guinness records of consumer fraud for not revealing it blocked Israel

Illustrative: People hold a certificate after breaking the Guinness World Record for most nationalities in an exhibition soccer match organized by FIFA, in Rabat, Morocco, November 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

A US Jewish legal advocacy group accuses Guinness World Records Limited (GWR) of deceiving consumers by blocking submissions from Israel, in a letter to the US Federal Trade Commission.

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law says Guinness is deceiving consumers by claiming that its world records are “for everyone, everywhere,” without disclosing that it had blocked applications from Israel, making the claim misleading.

Guinness, which is based in the UK, said earlier this month that it had blocked submissions from Israel and the Palestinian territories since November 2023 — weeks after Hamas’s October 2023 invasion of Israel.

“For more than two years, GWR has excluded entries from Israel without informing American consumers that it has ceased publishing ‘world’ records and instead publishes records that only represent a portion of the world. This materially misrepresents the core claim of the product that Guinness ‘World’ Records advertises and sells in the US,” the letter to the Federal Trade Commission says.

“GWR may publish whatever ‘records’ it wishes. But under US law, GWR may not mislead American consumers by hiding that its ‘world’ records actually consist of the greatest achievements only in the non-Israeli part of the world,” the letter says, citing Section 5(a) of the FTC Act, which bans “deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.”

The Brandeis Center notes that Guinness still accepts submissions from countries with poor human rights records, such as North Korea, Syria and Iran.

“Guinness has a right to exclude Israeli records and publish anything they want, but they don’t have a right to deceive their readership and customer base by claiming that it is publishing ‘world records,'” said Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center. “Any so-called ‘world record’ excluding such talented challengers must, at a minimum, carry an asterisk to disclose that it is not truly a record for the entire world. Without any asterisks on their so-called ‘world records,’ GWR has falsely presented its findings.”

The letter to the leaders of the Federal Trade Commission asks the federal agency to halt Guinness’s “deceptive business practice,” prevent Guinness from continuing to deceive American consumers, and require Guinness to compensate consumers who were misled.

US imposes sanctions on 29 ‘shadow fleet’ tankers carrying Iranian oil

The United States has imposed sanctions on 29 vessels and their management firms as Washington targeted Tehran’s “shadow fleet,” which it says exports Iranian petroleum and petroleum products.

The targeted vessels and companies have transported hundreds of millions of dollars of products through deceptive shipping practices, the US Treasury says.

The shadow fleet refers to ships that carry oil that is under sanctions. They are typically old, their ownership opaque, and they sail without the top-tier insurance cover needed to meet international standards for oil majors and many ports.

Treasury will “continue to deprive the regime of the petroleum revenue it uses to fund its military and weapons programs,” John Hurley, the department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a release.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations does not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The US says it imposes sanctions on Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program and its support of militant proxies across the Middle East. Iran says its nuclear work is for civil purposes.

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.

Today’s action also targets Egyptian businessman Hatem Elsaid Farid Ibrahim Sakr, whose companies are associated with seven of the vessels cited, as well as multiple shipping companies.

The US this month took further action on a tanker carrying Venezuelan oil that had originally been sanctioned by Washington for transporting Iranian oil.

The US seized a tanker known as Skipper on December 10 off the coast of Venezuela that had been carrying crude from the South American country, a move that sharply escalated tensions between Washington and Caracas.

The administration of former President Joe Biden imposed sanctions on the tanker in 2022 for what it says was involvement in trading Iranian oil when the ship was called the Adisa.

US slaps sanctions on two more ICC judges over cases against Israel

An exterior view of the International Criminal Court, ICC on December 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that the Trump administration is sanctioning two more judges of the International Criminal Court for targeting Israel.

“Today, I am designating two International Criminal Court (ICC) judges, Gocha Lordkipanidze of Georgia and Erdenebalsuren Damdin of Mongolia, pursuant to Executive Order 14203,” Rubio says in a statement, referring to the order President Donald Trump signed in February sanctioning the ICC.

“These individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent,” he says.

The United States and Israel are not members of the ICC.

The US sanctions include freezing any US assets of those designated and barring them and their families from visiting the United States.

This is the third batch of sanctions against ICC officials after four were designated in June and four more were designated in August.

Egypt says Israel gas deal ‘commercial’, not ‘political’

Installations at the Zohr natural gas field off Egypt's coast. (YouTube screen shot)

The head of Egypt’s State Information Service confirms a $35 billion deal to import natural gas from Israel, saying the agreement has nothing to do with politics and serves a strategic interest for the country.

“The deal is a purely commercial transaction concluded on the basis of strictly economic and investment considerations, and entails no political dimensions or understandings of any kind,” SIS chief Diaa Rashwan says in a statement.

“The agreement serves a clear strategic interest for Egypt, namely strengthening its position as the sole regional hub for gas trading in the Eastern Mediterranean,” Rashwan adds.

Ultra-Orthodox civilians stone bus carrying IDF Kfir Brigade soldiers in Jerusalem

“Israeli civilians” attacked and threw stones at a bus carrying IDF trainees and commanders from the Kfir Brigade in Jerusalem, the military says, without identifying the attackers.

According to the IDF, the bus was forced to stop after civilians gathered around it, prompting commanders to disembark and secure the vehicle until police arrived. Officers dispersed the demonstrators and allowed the bus to continue on its way. No injuries are reported.

The military says it “strongly condemns any violence against its soldiers.”

Footage circulating online shows a crowd of ultra-Orthodox men surrounding the bus and engaging in verbal confrontations with soldiers.

Earlier today, Ynet reported that a riot broke out in Jerusalem, in which ultra-Orthodox demonstrators injured 10 police officers, threw stones and overturned a police vehicle.

המהומות בירושלים: אוטובוס עם חיילים מחטיבת כפיר נחסם ברחוב בר אילן ואבנים הושלכו לעברו (11)

המבזק החברתי: https://t.co/McIN1kgsgC
המבזק החברתי בטלגרם: https://t.co/d0wiNOaA3s pic.twitter.com/rEbQSxMp9F

— המבזק החברתי (@mivzakhevrati) December 18, 2025

6-year-old said killed after unexploded IDF ordinance goes off in central Gaza

A 6-year-old boy was killed and his brothers moderately wounded when unexploded IDF ordnance blew up in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza this afternoon, Hamas’s interior ministry says. The boy’s name is not given in the statement.

According to Hamas’s civil defense agency, the ordnance exploded inside a family home. The agency says there were two other incidents of leftover ordnance blowing up today. The statement does not mention any injuries as a result of those explosions.

The interior ministry says thousands of explosives are still left over in the Strip and urges Gazans who find unexploded ordnance and other suspicious objects to alert Hamas authorities.

According to a UN-led database, more than 53 people have been killed and hundreds injured by lethal remnants from the two-year Israel-Hamas war. An official with aid group Humanity & Inclusion estimated, following the Gaza ceasefire deal in October, that it would take between 20 and 30 years to clear Gaza’s surface of unexploded munitions.

The official said aid groups have not received full permission to start removing the munitions and importing necessary equipment. COGAT, the Defense Ministry agency overseeing Gaza aid, blocks items from entering Gaza that it considers have “dual use” — both civilian and military.

Reuters contributed to this report.

ICC ‘strongly rejects’ latest US sanctions against its judges

The International Criminal Court says it “strongly rejects” fresh sanctions imposed by the United States on two more of its judges over their investigation of Israel.

The sanctions were “a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution, the ICC said in a statement.

The sanctions “undermine the rule of law,” the court says.

“When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk,” it says.

It adds that it will “continue to carry out its mandate with independence and impartiality, in full accordance with the Rome Statute and in the interest of victims of international crimes.”

The court in November 2024 issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Huckabee held rare meet with PA official in Ramallah to discuss West Bank tensions, officials reveal to ToI

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Palestinian Authority Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh. (Collage/AP, AFP)

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee held a rare meeting with Palestinian Authority Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh in Ramallah on Wednesday to discuss ongoing tensions in the West Bank, a US official and a PA official reveal to The Times of Israel.

It was just the second known meeting between the pair since the start of US President Donald Trump’s administration and came amid another largely unchecked wave of settler violence and IDF counter-terror operations that have the territory on edge.

The US has privately been urging Israel to respond more aggressively to settler violence, but with limited success, the US official says.

Huckabee and Sheikh also discussed the continued Israeli withholding of Palestinian tax revenues, which have severely hampered Ramallah’s ability to operate because they make up the majority of its budget, the PA official says.

Earlier this year, Huckabee said he had been working to convince Israel to release the funds, but that the effort was derailed by PA-backed decisions from Western countries to recognize a Palestinian state. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has been withholding the monthly payments — which have accumulated to several billion dollars — in protest of Ramallah’s policies.

Sheikh also requested the assistance of Huckabee — an ordained Southern Baptist minister — in convincing Israel to grant entry permits for Palestinian Christians to visit Jerusalem on Christmas and ensure freedom of movement to reach Bethlehem amid the uptick in Israeli checkpoints across the West Bank.

The pair agreed to have their aides hold a follow-up meeting next month, the US official says.

A US Embassy in Jerusalem spokesperson subsequently tells The Times of Israel that “Ambassador Huckabee had a very cordial and productive meeting with the vice president that covered a myriad of issues. He will continue to have conversations with officials in Ramallah and believes that ongoing dialogue is vital to everyone. The ambassador feels there is much to be gained by continuing to develop the relationships there and to have frank conversations about the many challenges faced in the region.”

Sheikh’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

The US ambassador to Israel historically has not been in charge of maintaining ties to the PA — something that had been under the purview of the US Consulate in Jerusalem. But US President Donald Trump closed that de facto mission to the Palestinians in his first term. The PA refused to engage with Trump’s first ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, arguing that doing so would legitimize the apparent downgrade of US-PA ties to a file within Washington’s relations with Israel.

But Ramallah has compromised in its approach to dealing with the US during Trump’s second term, after they cut ties completely early on his first term.

We sang "O Little Town of Bethlehem" in church this morning & in afternoon @janethuckabee & I went to actual Bethlehem & visited the beautifully decorated Manger Square, Church of Nativity, & stunning Christmas tree. Cordial welcome by people there. Special time to go there! pic.twitter.com/PMUBDQG5f7

— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) December 14, 2025

Washington largely avoided engaging with the PA in the months following Trump’s return to office, addressing the Palestinian issue largely through the Gaza lens.

But recent months have given way to a shift, as the US has sought the PA’s assistance in advancing its Gaza peace plan, even if it doesn’t want Ramallah involved initially at Israel’s insistence.

Washington sought the PA’s support last month in rallying Arab countries to back a UN Security Council resolution codifying Trump’s peace plan. Ramallah’s assistance led to the establishment of a new high-level communication channel between Sheikh and Trump’s top aide, Jared Kushner, The Times of Israel revealed last week.

3 Palestinians arrested after settlers attacked them in Jordan Valley, activists say

Israeli forces arrested three Palestinians after they were attacked by settlers near the Jordan Valley’s Khirbet al-Hadidiya, in the northeastern West Bank, according to Israeli activists who accompany Palestinian shepherds in the area.

The Palestinians — two men and a woman — took their livestock to graze this morning when settlers driving a small tractor chased away the flock and nearly ran over the woman, according to the Jordan Valley Activists.

The three were able to regather their crops and returned to Khirbet al-Hadidiya, where Israeli forces were waiting to arrest them after the settlers alleged that the woman hurled stones at them, the activists say.

Footage published by the activists shows the woman seated with her hands tied and her eyes blindfolded as soldiers in full gear stand over her. Police officers, who the activists say took the three Palestinians into custody, can also be seen in the footage speaking with settlers nearby.

????אל-חדידייה 09:30
בעת מרעה קרוב לכפר, הגיעו שני מתנחלים על טרקטורון, נכנסו בעדר והבריחו אותו. את אחת הנשים שהיתה במקום כמעט דרסו והפילו לארץ. הרועים יצאו לאסוף את העדר שהוברח ע"י המתנחלים מאזור ההר וכשחזרו לכפר חיכה להם הצבא. >>> pic.twitter.com/vuIt8Rpc5t

— Jordan Valley Activists نشطاء غور الأردن (@JVActivists) December 18, 2025

There were no reports of settlers being arrested in the area.

Police and the military do not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, the IDF launches a raid in Hussan, near Bethlehem, after arresting 11 people, including an 18-year-old, in a raid there early this morning, according to Palestinian media.

Two other Palestinians were arrested throughout the day in Jericho and near Nablus, according to WAFA, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency.

Separately, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society says a 15-year-old Palestinian boy was shot in the leg during an IDF raid of the Nablus-area Askar al-Jadeed refugee camp.

Security forces detain terror suspects, seize weapons in Jenin

Security forces continue a wide-scale counterterrorism operation in Jenin, arresting multiple terror suspects and seizing weapons, the IDF and police say.

According to a joint statement, undercover Border Police officers, acting under Shin Bet direction, arrested two Islamic Jihad operatives who had allegedly been involved in terror cells in the area.

Additional activity by the IDF’s Menashe Brigade, including troops from the Paratroopers Brigade’s reconnaissance unit and Border Police forces, led to the detention of several more suspects, along with interrogations and the seizure of weapons.

The operation in the northern West Bank city began overnight as part of ongoing efforts to thwart terrorist activity in the area, security forces say.

Famed Kennedy arts center to be renamed ‘Trump-Kennedy Center’

US President Donald Trump stands in the presidential box as he tours the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Monday, March 17, 2025. (Pool via AP)

The renowned John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is to be renamed the “Trump-Kennedy Center” after President Donald Trump, the White House announces.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says the center’s board — which Trump purged of Democrats earlier this year — voted for the change because of Republicans’ “unbelievable work” in overhauling the famed venue.

Netanyahu hails US for sanctioning more ICC judges involved in case against him

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomes the latest US sanctions against judges of the International Criminal Court involved in issuing arrest warrants against him over his prosecution of the war in Gaza.

“Israel appreciates the decisive leadership and strong action of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the determination of the United States under the leadership of President Donald Trump to confront the scourge of lawfare, which poses a serious threat to both our nations,” Netanyahu’s office tweets.

“Both sanctioned judges sided this week with the ICC’s biased prosecutor Karim Khan, who stands credibly accused of committing serious sexual crimes in his legally specious effort to criminalize the State of Israel in an effort to extricate himself from justice.”

“In so acting, Judges Lordkipanidze and Damdin proved yet again that the ICC is not a court of law, but a political tool of international lawfare.”

“As long as the ICC refuses to abide by its own rules of complementarity or to accept that it has no jurisdiction over non-member states, it cannot be treated as an institution of law.”

“Rather, it must be viewed and treated for what it is: a hostile political body dedicated to destroying the nation-state system, first and foremost by unlawfully pursuing false prosecutions against the State of Israel and the United States of America,” Netanyahu’s office adds.

Draft summaries in Sde Teiman leak probe allege internal concealment – report

Police investigators have concluded that a senior officer concealed the fact that the leak of surveillance footage from the Sde Teiman military detention facility originated from within the law enforcement system itself, Channel 12 reports, citing summaries from the police investigation that have yet to be formally released.

According to the report, Deputy Military Advocate General Brig. Gen. Gal Asael – who oversaw the internal investigation into the leak – realized during the probe that the footage had been leaked from former military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, but allegedly concealed that finding.

Asael is also said to have hidden this information from investigators from the Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI), who were involved in the case and were unaware of the true source of the leak.

Channel 12 says that investigative materials, testimonies and phone records contained in the draft investigation summaries indicate DIPI investigators did not know that the leak originated from within the system. As a result, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara is not expected to be summoned to testify as part of the investigation.

The Channel 12 report adds that, despite police having completed their findings, it remains unclear how the case will proceed, as no supervising prosecutor or external authority has yet been appointed to oversee the probe. The conclusions are expected to be formally submitted in the coming days.

4 House Democrats introduce bill that would enact progressive vision for fighting antisemitism

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-NY, listens during a committee meeting at the Capitol in Washington, June 2, 2022. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Four progressive House Democrats have introduced a bill aimed at combating antisemitism in the wake of the attack on Jews celebrating Hanukkah in Sydney.

The Antisemitism Response and Prevention Act would demand a host of policy measures, including fully funding the federal Office of Civil Rights, while also repudiating the Trump administration’s tactics around antisemitism, which its progressive critics have said “weaponize” antisemitism in support of a repressive agenda.

“We all witnessed in horror the antisemitic attack that took place this week in Sydney, Australia. In the wake of this tragedy, I am proud to lead this comprehensive, progressive, and critically important piece of legislation to combat the rising antisemitism in this country,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Congress’s most senior Jewish member and one of the bill’s sponsors, said in a statement. “This bill shows that moderates and those aligned with the current Israeli government do not enjoy a monopoly over the fight against antisemitism and hate.”

In addition to Nadler, those sponsoring the bill introduced on Wednesday were Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Becca Balint of Vermont. Frost is the youngest member of Congress, while Balint is Jewish.

The bill borrows from the Biden administration’s plan to combat antisemitism. It would fully fund the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education, which handles federal antisemitism investigations in schools, and reopen some of its regional offices that were shuttered by the Trump administration.

The bill would also create a new position, titled the National Coordinator to Counter Antisemitism, whose duties would include navigating government-wide efforts to combat antisemitism.

Mamdani appointee made antisemitic comments online over decade ago, ADL says

An appointee of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani made antisemitic comments online more than a decade ago, the Anti-Defamation League says.

Yesterday, Mamdani named Catherine Almonte Da Costa as his administration’s director of appointments. Da Costa worked in the same office in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration.

The ADL says it unearthed antisemitic posts from Da Costa’s X account dating to 2011 and 2012.

Da Costa wrote, “Money hungry Jews smh.” The acronym stands for “shaking my head.”

She also wrote, “Promoted to upstairs office today! Working alongside these rich Jewish peeps,” and, “Far Rockaway train is the Jew train.”

The X account was taken down immediately after the ADL exposed the posts.

“We appreciate Da Costa has relationships with members of the Jewish community, but her posts require immediate explanation — not just from Ms. Da Costa, but also from the Mayor-Elect,” the ADL says.

Another Mamdani staffer apologized last month for old social media posts demonizing Israel.

Mamdani’s transition team also includes a Women’s March Leader, Tamika Mallory, who allegedly engaged in antisemitism.

Trump: Netanyahu meeting isn’t formally set, but PM will probably come see me in Florida

US President Donald Trump displays an executive order reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

US President Donald Trump says that the White House hasn’t “formally set up” a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but that the premier would like to see him and it will probably happen in Florida next week.

“We haven’t set it up formally, but he would like to see me,” Trump says when asked whether he’ll be meeting with Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach later this month. “He’ll probably come to see me in Florida.”

While Netanyahu’s office has told reporters for over a week that the meeting is happening on December 29, the White House has yet to announce it.

Trump is also asked by reporters in the Oval Office whether Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi will join him in Florida as well.

“I’d love to have him. El-Sissi is a friend of mine,” Trump responds.

The US is reportedly interested in hosting a trilateral meeting with Trump, Sissi and Netanyahu and feels it was able to move toward that goal after it coaxed Israel into signing a lucrative gas deal with Egypt after Netanyahu had been holding off doing so for months, a US official told The Times of Israel.

But Egypt is far less enthusiastic about the idea amid continued opposition to Israel’s conduct in Gaza and an aversion to granting Netanyahu a political boost in an election year, the US official said.

Belgian minister reverses decision to withdraw police from Antwerp Jewish district

Belgium’s Interior Minister Bernard Quintin has reversed a decision to withdraw police security forces in Antwerp’s Jewish district in January.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that the Belgian government planned to move the 16 federal police officers that had been deployed in the district to Brussels and transfer responsibility for the neighborhood’s security to local police.

However, in the face of pressure from the country’s Jewish leaders, including ultra-Orthodox MP Michael Freilich, Quintin said this evening he would repeal the decision.

The reversal “sends an important message: the safety of Jewish life is a core responsibility of the state and cannot be subject to uncertainty or gradual erosion,” the European Jewish Association says in a statement.

The European Jewish Association (EJA) welcomes the decision by Belgium’s Minister of the Interior to maintain the deployment of federal police units in Antwerp’s Jewish quarter, reversing an earlier plan that had caused deep concern within the Jewish community and beyond.

This… pic.twitter.com/SXyGZpnLX1

— EJA – EIPA (@EJAssociation) December 18, 2025

Michigan State Chabad hit with stone, swastika graffiti in separate incidents

The Chabad Jewish Center at Michigan State University is targeted twice in separate incidents this week.

The Chabad said on social media yesterday that, early Tuesday morning, an assailant threw a stone at the center’s window.

No one was in the building and reinforced glass stopped the stone, the center said.

Police said today a vandal painted a swastika on the center, according to the Lansing State Journal.

Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime, the report says.

Michigan State University Chabad has been vandalized two evenings in a row.

On Tuesday night, a male was seen on video throwing large rocks at the windows and doors, causing damage.

He then returned last night to spray swastikas and “He’s back”. pic.twitter.com/45fFbjgLqe

— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) December 18, 2025

The mass shooting in Sydney, Australia this week targeted a Chabad event, and members of the community have been attacked in two incidents in New York City this week.

CENTCOM deputy promoted to fill post tasked with boosting Israel-PA security ties

Marine Major General Sean Salene attends a Ministerial of the Force Contributing Members of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

The Pentagon announces that US President Donald Trump has approved the promotion of Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Sean M. Salene to the rank of lieutenant general in order to head the Office of the US Security Coordinator in Jerusalem.

In his new role, Saline will be responsible for boosting security ties between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The position has been filled since 2021 by Lt. Gen. Mike Fenzel. Fenzel is stepping down later this month.

Saline currently serves as deputy commander of US Central Command.

While there had been a push in recent years to downgrade the required rank of the US Security Coordinator position as a cost-cutting measure, a bipartisan group of lawmakers managed to reverse the plan. However, the Trump administration has moved the office into the US Embassy in Jerusalem, which requires the security coordinator to report directly to the US ambassador, limiting the office’s independence.

The office of the USSC in Jerusalem was established in 2005 as part of the Bush administration’s Roadmap for Peace. The international team includes representatives from the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, Poland and Bulgaria, but it is headed by the US, whose representative is also the highest-ranked in the group.

Since its inception, the USSC has focused on reforming and strengthening the PA security forces and bolstering that force’s coordination with Israel, which the IDF has long touted as critical for stability in the region.

Supporters of maintaining the three-star rank say it also has allowed the USSC to gain access to high-level officials in Washington, Jerusalem and Ramallah who would not take the post as seriously if it were filled by a colonel.

The USSC has proven particularly essential during times of crisis in Israeli-Palestinian ties. When the PA announced the severing of its security coordination with Israel, amid 2017 tensions surrounding the Temple Mount, the USSC was left as the only channel through which the sides were able to communicate in order to prevent further deterioration of relations. The USSC also facilitates the transfer of much-needed weaponry to the PA security forces, serving as an assuring presence for skeptical onlookers in Israel, whose tacit approval is needed for such handovers to go through.

Levin alleges state attorneys violating High Court ruling on Sde Teiman probe

Justice Minister Yariv Levin alleges that senior officials in the Attorney General’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office have continued to involve themselves in the criminal investigation into the Sde Teiman video leak, despite the position of the High Court of Justice that they must refrain from so doing.

Levin was responding to a submission of the State Attorney’s Office to the High Court opposing Levin’s request that the court allow State Ombudsman for Judges Asher Kula to supervise the Sde Teiman video leak investigation. The submission also cited the police as saying that the investigation is nearly finished

The justice minister alleges that officials from the Attorney General’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office “are ignoring this court’s ruling and are in direct contact with the investigating officials and receiving reports from them about the progress of the investigation.”

Levin makes this claim on the basis that the State Attorney’s Office submission was authored by the agency’s deputy director for High Court petitions on behalf of State Attorney Amit Aisman, whom Levin said was prohibited from involvement in the case.

Levin also points out that the submission cited a statement by the police telling the State Attorney’s Office the investigation was almost complete, noting that the head of the police’s Department for Investigations and Intelligence, Boaz Balat, had signed off on the statement.

It appears, however, that Balat transmitted his statement to the legal adviser to the police, not directly to the State Attorney’s Office.

“Practically speaking, the investigation has been softened, covered up, and obstructed, and the heads of the State Attorney’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office are already rushing to announce its coming completion without it having been exhausted, and without basic investigative actions having been done to reveal the truth and exhaust the investigation,” alleges Levin.

This situation, the justice minister insists, required the immediate appointment of Kula. He claims any other outcome would mean “the loss of public trust in the law enforcement system.”

Trump slated to sign $1 trillion annual defense bill

US President Donald Trump plans to sign into law later today a nearly $1 trillion annual defense policy bill, despite its provisions providing new aid to Ukraine and reining in his ability to dial down US involvement in the defense of Europe.

The fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, authorizes a record $901 billion in annual military spending, $8 billion more than Trump requested.

The sweeping legislation determines everything from how many ships, aircraft and missile systems are bought, to a pay raise for the troops, to how to address geopolitical threats. The measure Trump plans to sign at 6 p.m. ET is a compromise, combining separate measures already passed in the House of Representatives and Senate before it was passed this month.

In a break with Trump, whose Republicans hold majorities in both the House and Senate, the NDAA includes several provisions to boost security in Europe.

Trump has been cool to bolstering European security, feeling the allies should pay their own way. His recently published National Security Strategy is seen as friendly to Russia and a reassessment of the U.S. relationship with the continent.

The fiscal 2026 NDAA provides $800 million for Ukraine – $400 million in each of the next two years – as part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays US companies for weapons for Ukraine’s military.

It comes as Trump’s team is locked in negotiations with Ukraine and Russia in a bid to bring about a halt to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The defense law also authorizes the Baltic Security Initiative and provides $175 million to support Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia’s defense. And it limits the Department of Defense’s ability to drop the number of U.S. forces in Europe to fewer than 76,000 and bars the U.S. European Commander from giving up the title of NATO Supreme Commander.

The White House said in a statement that Trump backed the bill because it codifies into law aspects of many of his executive orders, including funding the Golden Dome missile defense system and eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the Pentagon.

Members of Congress have passed the NDAA every year for 65 straight years, though that streak almost ended during Trump’s first term.

Trump vetoed the NDAA in December 2020 because he objected to its call to rename military bases and other facilities named for Confederate figures and disagreed with its approach to legal protections for tech companies, among other issues.

However, Congress overrode his veto in January 2021, just before he left office, the only veto override of Trump’s first term.

Police say they arrested 8 Haredi extremists who attacked cops during Ashkelon protest

Officers arrested eight Haredi protesters who attacked law enforcement during protests at the entrance to Ashkelon this evening, police say, just hours after major clashes broke out between police and ultra-Orthodox demonstrators in Jerusalem.

The arrests came as dozens of young Haredi men tried to reach the Ashkelon residence of an officer in the Military Police, the enforcement body responsible for detaining draft evaders.

They took buses to the coastal city to try and stage a protest in front of the officer’s home, but were blocked by law enforcement at the northern entrance.

After being stopped, the men disembarked from the bus and blocked traffic on Route 4, according to police.

Police say they have arrested eight rioters who “violently assaulted police officers and disrupted public order.”

The Jerusalem Faction, a hardline Haredi group behind the would-be protest, said that Ashkelon was “besieged together with him [the Military Police officer]” since police would not allow demonstrators in front of the residence.

“No one goes out, and no one comes in, as part of a mass protest against the horrible crime of persecuting Torah scholars in the Land of Israel,” the group says in a statement, as quoted by Ynet.

However, the protests have since been dispersed, with Route 4 once again open to traffic, police update.

UN elects former Iraqi President to lead UN refugee agency

The United Nations General Assembly has elected Barham Salih, a former Iraqi president who fled persecution under Saddam Hussein, as the next UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Salih was elected without a vote by the 193-member assembly after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres nominated him to succeed Italy’s Filippo Grandi, who has led the agency since 2016.

Salih will begin a five-year term on January 1, 2026.

Lebanese army agrees to document Hezbollah disarmament — French ministry

This photograph taken during a press tour organized by the Lebanese army shows Lebanese soldiers standing atop a military vehicle in Alma Al-Shaab, near the border with Israel in southern Lebanon, on November 28, 2025. (Anwar AMRO / AFP)

The head of Lebanon’s army agreed to document its progress in disarming Hezbollah during talks Thursday with international envoys in Paris, the French foreign ministry says, as Beirut seeks to forestall expanded Israeli attacks.

Israel and Hezbollah clashed for more than a year after the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, and a November 2024 ceasefire was meant to put an end to the hostilities, but Israel has kept up its strikes, accusing the group of rearming.

Fearing further escalation and facing diplomatic pressure from Washington, Lebanon approved a plan for its army to disarm Hezbollah south of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border with Israel, by the end of the year.

But Israel has questioned the effectiveness of the Lebanese military, and Hezbollah itself has repeatedly rejected calls to surrender its arms.

Thursday’s meetings showed “progress in implementing the plan to restore the Lebanese state’s monopoly on weapons,” French foreign ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux says at a briefing.

Lebanese army chief Rodolphe Haykal outlined the “specific needs of the Lebanese Armed Forces” to continue this work, Confavreux adds.

He says the officials agreed on the need to “seriously document these advances”, adding they were “working on this within the framework of the ceasefire monitoring mechanism”.

Sources familiar with the talks say they were chaired by French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian and attended by US and Saudi envoys Morgan Ortagus and Yazid bin Farhan, respectively.

“There is indeed this December 31 deadline. Our job is to support Lebanese efforts to meet it,” Confavreux says. “And if it needs to be extended, partners will discuss it.”

For now, actions on the ground, such as dismantling weapons caches and tunnel networks, must be documented, he says.