Dec. 2: Israel to present US with intel on Hezbollah rearmament, as it seeks to expand Lebanon strikes

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid delivers a statement accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being unable to defend his Haredi conscription bill, on December 2, 2025.(Screenshot)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid releases a scathing video statement pillorying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for cancelling a scheduled primetime address on his government’s proposed bill to regulate ultra-Orthodox conscription, accusing the premier of hiding from the public because he knows there is no justification for his policy.

“Netanyahu canceled his statement this evening because he knows the truth. Bibi ran away because he knows that we know the details of the draft evasion law, and he has no way to defend it,” Lapid declares, arguing that “not even five percent” of Haredim will enlist under the bill.

According to Lapid, the controversial legislation “is full of loopholes that were intentionally inserted into it” and lacks enlistment quotas, sanctions and enforcement mechanisms and instead constitutes “yet another betrayal of our soldiers.”

“Control is not in the hands of the IDF, but in the hands of Deri and Goldknopf,” he asserts, naming the leaders of the Knesset’s two ultra-Orthodox parties, Aryeh Deri and Yitzhak Goldknopf. “When choosing between the soldiers and the draft dodgers, Netanyahu chose the draft dodgers and betrayed the soldiers.”

The “sole purpose” of the “full-on draft-dodging law” is to “renew the flow of money to the yeshivas,” allocating billions of shekels annually to evaders and “disgracing our soldiers,” Lapid continues.

“Netanyahu’s escape tonight is a clear message to all coalition members: you cannot defend this law, and this law will not pass. I promise we will stop it.”

8:59 pm

Would-be PM Bennett denounces Netanyahu’s Haredi draft law as deception, quotes Moses saying Torah students must fight during war

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett delivers a statement denouncing a coalition-backed bill that would broadly maintain the exemption of ultra-Orthodox men from military service, December 2, 2025. (Screenshot)

In a video message released to the public in response to a planned statement on ultra-Orthodox conscription by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, since postponed, former prime minister Naftali Bennett accuses the government of “advancing a law that will eliminate any chance of drafting Haredim.”

Following October 7, Israelis fought like lions, without any differentiation between left and right, religious or secular and now, following the end of the war, the IDF is facing a manpower shortage of 20,000 soldiers, he says.

“There are only two options: to draft our Haredi brothers so that they shoulder their share, or to impose on our reservists another 120 reserve days every year on a permanent basis, destroying their professional and family future,” Bennett says.

“Right now, there are about 100,000 young Haredi men obligated to enlist who can be trained within five months to the level required for the mission. It is possible, and the IDF is capable of it — but it needs government backing. Yet the government, instead of acting to draft the Haredim, is doing exactly the opposite! These days it is advancing a law that will eliminate any chance of drafting Haredim.”

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

According to Bennett, the bill currently being promoted by the coalition is “not a draft law” but rather a bluff, “full of formulations and tricks meant to mislead you, the public, into thinking the goal is to draft Haredim, but in practice every component of the law ensures they will not enlist.”

“For example, the law grants an immediate pardon to all draft evaders: a reward for evasion. It also states that a young Haredi who delays until age 26 will receive a lifetime exemption. Obviously everyone will do that,” he continues.

“The law is full of such deceptions. That is why the IDF opposes it. That is why former defense minister Yoav Gallant opposed it and was fired. That is why the chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuli Edelstein, opposed it and was removed. Every professional body that examined the law determined it is a bluff.”

The only reason why Netanyahu is promoting the controversial legislation is that “the Haredi parties are threatening to topple the coalition,” he argues, calling it “politics in its purest form.”

Pushing back on the Haredi claim that Torah study cannot be combined with military service, Bennett cites the Biblical passage in which Moses rebukes the tribes of Gad and Reuben by asking, “Shall your brothers go out to war while you sit here?”

“All the heroes of the Torah were warriors — Joshua bin Nun, Gideon, King David — all were great fighters! Myriads of soldiers from the religious Zionist community proved themselves in this war in all their glory, with a Gemara in hand in the heart of Khan Yunis! This is the true Judaism,” he continues, calling on “every citizen of Israel to stand together with the soldiers of the IDF against this anti-Zionist law.”

8:53 pm

Israel to present US envoy with intel on Hezbollah rearmament – report

By Stav Levaton

Hezbollah members raise the terror group's flags and chant slogans as they attend the funeral procession of Hezbollah's military chief of staff, Haytham Tabatabai, and two other Hezbollah members who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, November 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Channel 12 reports that Israel plans to present White House Deputy Special Envoy to the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, who landed in Israel earlier today, with intelligence it says proves Hezbollah is rebuilding and rearming in southern Lebanon, and that the Lebanese Armed Forces are either unable or unwilling to curb the group’s violations.

“Israel needs American legitimacy for any step it takes,” an Israeli official tells the network.

Alongside a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, the envoy will also sit down with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who is expected to outline Israel’s assessment of Hezbollah’s growing capabilities.

In comments published by Channel 12, Sa’ar warns that Hezbollah is “arming itself much faster than it is disarming,” and that responsibility for the situation “lies with the Lebanese government.” He also pointed to ongoing Iranian financial transfers to Hezbollah via Turkey, saying the flow of money must be cut off.

The envoy’s visit comes amid rising concern in Beirut. According to Channel 12, Lebanese officials fear that Israel may launch a major strike in the coming days or weeks, as a December deadline approaches for the so-called “Birthday Operation,” under which the Lebanese army was meant to clear Hezbollah’s weapons from the south – a step widely viewed as unlikely to be carried out.

Recent Lebanese media reports have claimed Israel is sending warnings to Beirut that military action may be imminent once the envoy’s visit concludes.

8:45 pm

Eisenkot slams PM for harming IDF, ‘choosing his personal and coalition survival over national security’

Then-MK Gadi Eisenkot holds a press conference after announcing his resignation from the Knesset and his departure from the National Unity party, in Tel Aviv, July 1, 2025. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

Former IDF chief of staff and “Yashar! With Eisenkot” chairman Gadi Eisenkot slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he delays a scheduled televised statement on his government’s proposed bill regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment this evening.

“Cancelling the declaration will not change the essence of the draft evasion law. This law harms the IDF’s readiness. Failing to meet the army’s need for 12,000 combat soldiers in the midst of a war is not a mistake — it’s negligence,” tweets Eisenkot, accusing the prime minister of “consciously choosing his personal and coalition survival over national security and over the lives of the soldiers.”

The bill constitutes “a betrayal and a spit in the face of those who serve and those who sacrificed their lives. It is a separation between one kind of blood and another. It is discrimination between blood and blood,” he continues.

“Netanyahu, if you truly believe this is a good law, let’s bring it to snap elections. You and the October 7 government of failure don’t have a shred of moral authority or legitimacy to legislate this disgrace.”

In a separate tweet ahead of Netanyahu’s planned address, Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz accuses Netanyahu of lying to the public about conscription and slams coalition lawmakers’ statements that he himself had advanced a conscription plan which would have taken 25 years to recruit Haredim.

8:30 pm

Israel real estate firm denies canceling NY event due to planned protest

By Luke Tress

A firm that provides information about buying real estate in Israel denies that it canceled an event today in New York due to a planned protest by anti-Zionist activists.

The activist group Pal-Awda on Friday announced a protest against the event. The advertisement was shared widely by anti-Zionist activist groups around the city.

The announcement raised alarms because Pal-Awda held a vitriolic protest outside a New York City synagogue last week. The group did not share a location for the protest.

Other protests at synagogues hosting Israel real estate events in the US have also drawn caustic protests in recent years. The synagogues do not organize the events, but rent out space to the event organizers.

Pal-Awda says in a statement that it “forced the cancellation of zionist land thieving CapitIL Real Estate’s planned illegal land sale in Manhattan.”

“We will continue to expose and, with our community’s support, challenge the zionist entity’s long tentacles,” the statement said.

A spokesperson for CapitIL says the event cancellation was unrelated to the protest, though.

The group canceled the event because it is focusing its resources on holding a larger event in the coming months, the spokesperson says.

The event had already been canceled when the activists announced the protest on Friday, he says.

It’s not clear how the activists found out about the event, which is not listed on CapitIL’s website.

Last night, protesters demonstrated against a CapitIL event at a restaurant in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Also yesterday, protesters gathered at John Jay College in New York City to demonstrate against a talk by IDF veteran Stav Cohen.

Activists shared videos of masked protesters berating police officers at the scene, scuffling with police and shouting “shame” at attendees leaving the event.

8:19 pm

Report: Trump pressed Netanyahu on Gaza, Syria during call, as PM sought more help on pardon request

By Stav Levaton

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked US President Donald Trump to continue assisting him in securing a pardon from President Isaac Herzog during a phone call between the two leaders yesterday, Channel 12 reports, citing two senior American officials.

According to the officials, Trump told Netanyahu he believes the pardon issue would “work out,” but stopped short of committing to further action. Another US official says Netanyahu was hoping for additional intervention, but that Trump feels he has already done what he can.

An Israeli official tells the network that it was Trump who first raised the issue of the pardon during the conversation. Both leaders agreed to revisit the matter in future calls or meetings.

Channel 12 reports that the call quickly shifted to sensitive policy disputes. On Gaza, Trump urged Netanyahu to be “a better partner” in advancing the next stages of the agreement. Netanyahu responded that he was “doing his best.”

Trump also pressed the prime minister on the standoff with Hamas operatives trapped in Rafah’s tunnels, questioning “why they were being killed rather than allowed to surrender,” according to the American officials. Netanyahu reportedly replied that the militants were “armed and dangerous,” and therefore being eliminated.

On Syria, the officials say Trump voiced clear opposition to continued Israeli operations there, telling Netanyahu to “take it easy” and avoid actions that could provoke the country’s new leadership.

Following the call, Netanyahu appeared to soften his public tone on Syria, hinting that an agreement could be achievable in the near future, and suggesting he may travel to the White House soon to discuss the issues directly with Trump.

The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on the report.

8:15 pm

AG to PM: Ben Gvir’s ‘repeated violations’ of police independence validate demands he be removed from office

By Jeremy Sharon

Left to right: National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir seen after a visit at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on August 3, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90); Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on April 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is repeatedly violating the principle of police independence by unlawfully intervening in police investigations and appointments, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, something which she says has provided a factual and legal foundation to petitions calling for his dismissal from office.

Writing to the prime minister, Baharav-Miara details a series of incidents in which the far-right minister has publicly spoken out about ongoing police investigations, intervened over police promotions on political grounds, and sought to determine operative police policies in violation of High Court rulings.

“These are substantive violations repeated time and again in numerous contexts, which turn the law establishing the principle of police independence… into a dead letter,” writes the attorney general.

She says that an attempt to come to a mutually agreed framework with Ben Gvir for ensuring police independence has failed, and that it is now impossible to defend police independence in the face of Ben Gvir’s “repeated, illegitimate interventions, which harm the rule of law and human rights.”

The attorney general adds that given this inability to halt the minister’s “political intervention in police work,” the claims of petitioners asking the court to order Ben Gvir’s dismissal from office have become “anchored in a legal and factual foundation.”

She says, therefore, that Netanyahu needs to address the issues she raises in her letter before she files a final response to the petitions on behalf of the state to the High Court.

Ben Gvir, in response, calls Baharav-Miara “a criminal,” accusing her of obstructing justice in the investigation into the Sde Teiman video leak affair, and of repeatedly trying to thwart the will of the government.

“I will not rest or be silent until her actions are investigated — Israel will not be a mafia state,” says Ben Gvir.

8:10 pm

Minutes before expected start time, Netanyahu delays televised statement

Minutes before it was scheduled to begin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will delay his televised statement this evening, says his office, citing schedule demands.

It is unclear when the statement will take place tonight, or if it will be delayed until another day.

The statement will be about the attempts to pass a law on Haredi enlistment to the IDF and deferment, says the PMO.

8:01 pm

Shas MKs visit Haredi draft dodgers in prison, vow their support for bill providing exemptions

Shas MKs Moshe Abutbul and Yonatan Mashriki visit Haredi draft dodgers held in military prison on December 2, 2025. (Courtesy Shas)

Shas MKs Moshe Abutbul and Yonatan Mashriki visit Haredi draft dodgers held in military prison and inform them that the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox faction is working “to immediately advance the law that will regulate the status of yeshiva students,” allowing them to return to their studies, a party spokesman says in a statement.

“We came to strengthen and we left strengthened. It is hard to believe that in the Jewish state, young men are being arrested for the crime of studying Torah,” the MKs said during the visit.

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

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

The bill is supported by Shas, while the United Torah Judaism party’s Degel HaTorah and Agudat Yisrael factions are split. Multiple 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.

7:56 pm

Hamas civil defense: 2 killed, including minor, and 15 injured in Gaza City

Two people, including a minor, were killed and 15 people wounded by Israeli artillery fire on the Sanafour Junction in Gaza City’s northeastern quarter of Tuffah, the Hamas-run Civil Defense Agency says, adding that five Gazans in total have been killed by Israel today.

Sanafour Junction lies where the Strip’s major Salah al-Din Road meets Tuffah’s Shaaf neighborhood, on the Hamas-controlled side of the Yellow Line, which denotes the IDF’s withdrawal in Gaza.

In a separate incident in Gaza City’s central Daraj neighborhood, multiple people, including women and children, were wounded by Israeli artillery fire on a school-turned-displaced people’s shelter, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency WAFA reports.

Daraj is also on the Hamas-controlled side of the Yellow Line.

7:53 pm

Herzog cancels meeting with Yair Golan over ‘violent and insulting’ remarks referencing his dad

Democrats leader Yair Golan leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on October 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

President Isaac Herzog has canceled a meeting with Democrats chair Yair Golan after the left-wing lawmaker exhorted Herzog not to protect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by granting his pardon request without an admission of guilt.

Yesterday, in a statement, Golan addressed the president directly, saying, “Are you loyal to the state and the law, or are you ‘keeping Netanyahu united?’”

Golan was referencing an infamous gaffe Herzog made during an impromptu live television debate with Netanyahu when they ran as rivals in the 2015 election. Herzog, meaning to say he would keep Jerusalem united if elected prime minister, accidentally vowed to “keep Netanyahu united,” to snickers from the premier and much media ridicule.

Golan added, “I know that your father, President Chaim Herzog, would have kicked Netanyahu out the door, without hesitation and without blinking.”

Channel 12 reports that the president has canceled the meeting in protest of the “violent and insulting discourse.”

But speaking to the network, Golan does not apologize for his remarks. He says a new meeting has not been scheduled.

“I respect the president, but given the worrying signs on the pardon issue… one must have a clear and staunch position,” he said. “We expect the president to defend the state of Israel’s laws, its institutions, its representatives and the judicial branch.”

He adds, “It’s come time to tell ourselves and everyone, Israel is at a fateful hour. We must fight for the future of Israel as a democratic and free country.”

“My sole intention to the president was to say this is an emergency and we all have the duty — the first citizen and every other citizen — to fight for Israel’s future,” he adds.

7:31 pm

Report: Netanyahu ‘rolling up his sleeves’ to pass Haredi conscription bill, convince holdouts

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset, Jerusalem, on November 10, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s televised speech this evening will focus on endorsing his coalition’s bill regulating Haredi conscription, Channel 12 reports, adding that the premier is “rolling up his sleeves” to shore up support.

The network reports that the extent of opposition to the bill within the coalition was not foreseen, which has led Haredi parties to feel that the bill may fail. If it does, it could pose a threat to the survival of Netanyahu’s government.

Netanyahu’s speech will seek to dispel the idea that the bill is doomed, and will indicate that he’s fully behind it, Channel 12 adds. He’s also working on reaching a compromise on the bill’s language that will satisfy both Haredi leaders and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who heads the far-right Religious Zionism party.

7:06 pm

UK government lawyers defend Palestine Action ban at court challenge

By AFP

Protesters attend a "Lift The Ban" demonstration in support of the proscribed group Palestine Action, calling for the recently imposed ban to be lifted, in Trafalgar Square, central London, on October 4, 2025. (Justin Tallis/AFP)

Lawyers for the UK government defend a contentious ban, under anti-terror laws, of activist group Palestine Action, as three days of hearings challenging the move conclude.

The government’s legal team argues the decision to criminalize the direct action organization, announced in July, was proportionate following an “escalation” in its activities.

The move makes being a member of the group or supporting it a serious criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

That has resulted in at least 2,300 arrests of demonstrators, according to protest organizers Defend Our Juries, and sparked concerns over free speech and civil liberties.

United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk, the Council of Europe rights watchdog and a number of NGOs have criticized the ban and the “excessive limits” on the right to protest.

Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori challenged the ban at the High Court in London, and hearings in front of a three-judge panel got underway last Wednesday.

Giving evidence on Tuesday, Stephen Kosmin, a lawyer representing the interior ministry, defended “the proportionality of the policy,” saying it was needed “in order to protect the public” and “maintain national security.”

The government outlawed the group days after activists, protesting the war in Gaza, broke into an air force base in southern England and caused an estimated £7 million ($9.3 million) of damage to two aircraft.

Ministers have been criticized for taking too broad a view of the definition of what constitutes “terrorism.”

But in written court submissions, the ministry argues that action “can constitute terrorism if it involves serious damage to property even if it does not involve violence against any person or endanger life”.

“Proscribed organisations are deprived of the oxygen of publicity as well as financial support,” the statements note.

Meanwhile, interior minister lawyer Natasha Barnes argues the ban “has not prevented people from protesting in favor of the Palestinian people or against Israel’s action in Gaza.”

Part of the discussions regarding Palestine Action’s activities took place behind closed doors, with the judges imposing some restrictions on journalists reporting on the case.

A decision will be handed down at an unspecified future date.

6:51 pm

Pope criticizes anti-Muslim ‘fears’ in Europe, US

By AFP and ToI Staff

Pope Leo XIV speaks to journalists aboard a flight to Rome at the end of his trip to Turkey and Lebanon, on December 2, 2025. (Alessandro DI MEO / POOL / AFP)

Pope Leo XIV says cooperation between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon should be an example for Europe and the United States, criticizing anti-migrant activists who stoke “fears” of Islam.

The 70-year-old pope speaks to reporters on the plane at the end of his visit to Turkey and Lebanon — his first trip outside of Italy since becoming head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics in May.

Leo says anti-Muslim sentiment is “oftentimes generated by people who are against immigration and trying to keep out people who may be from another country, another religion, another race.”

He says his visit to Lebanon is intended to show “that dialogue and friendship between Muslims and Christians is possible.”

Leo says stories he heard during the trip of Christians and Muslims helping each other were “lessons… that we should perhaps be a little less fearful.”

Lebanon was mired in a years-long civil war that pitted Christian and Muslim fighters against each other, and the country’s multiconfessional system frequently enters political paralysis.

The US-born pope spent two decades in Peru as a missionary within the Augustinian order.

He has been critical of growing nationalist sentiment in Europe and the United States and has called for an end to the “inhuman treatment” of migrants under US President Donald Trump.

He has also exhorted followers to reject an “exclusionary mindset” that he said had led to nationalism around the world.

Leo has said the Catholic Church “must open the borders between peoples and break down the barriers between class and race.”

6:25 pm

Putin says Russia is ‘ready’ if Europe seeks war, though he’s not planning for it

By AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives for an awards ceremony marking the National Unity Day at the Kremlin in Moscow on November 4, 2025 (Maxim Shipenkov/Pool/ AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia is “ready” for war if Europe seeks one, accusing the continent’s leaders of trying to sabotage a deal on the Ukraine conflict before he meets with US envoys.

The comments come as US envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are in Moscow for high-stakes talks on ending the nearly four-year war, which were preceded by days of intense diplomacy.

“We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready right now,” Putin tells reporters in Moscow.

“They have no peaceful agenda, they are on the side of war,” he adds, repeating his claim that European leaders are hindering US attempts to broker peace in Ukraine.

He adds that European changes to Trump’s latest plan to end the war are “aimed solely at one thing — to completely block the entire peace process and put forward demands that are absolutely unacceptable for Russia.”

Washington has presented a 28-point draft to end the conflict, later amended after criticism from Kyiv and Europe, which viewed it as heeding to many of Russia’s maximalist demands.

The plan to end the war is championed by Trump, but European countries fear it risks forcing Kyiv to cave in to Russian demands, notably on territory.

Fearing further Russian aggression, Europe has repeatedly said an unfair peace should not be imposed on Ukraine.

The Trump envoys are now seeking to finalize the plan with the approval of Moscow and Kyiv.

6:09 pm

Jewish philanthropists Michael and Susan Dell pledge $6.25 billion to 25 million US kids

By AP

Michael and Susan Dell pose for photographs November 26, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Billionaires Michael and Susan Dell pledge $6.25 billion to provide 25 million American children under 10 an incentive to claim the new investment accounts for children created as part of US President Donald Trump’s recent tax and spending legislation.

The historic gift has little precedent, with few single charitable commitments in the past 25 years exceeding $1 billion, much less multiple billions. The Dells believe it’s the largest single private commitment made to US children.

Its structure is also unusual. Essentially, it builds on the “Trump Accounts” program, where the US Department of the Treasury will deposit $1,000 into investment accounts set up by the Treasury for American children born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028. The Dells’ gift will use the “Trump Accounts” infrastructure to give $250 to each qualified child under 10.

“We believe that if every child can see a future worth saving for, this program will build something far greater than an account. It will build hope and opportunity and prosperity for generations to come,” says Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, whose estimated net worth is $148 billion, according to Forbes.

Though the “Trump Accounts” became law as part of the president’s signature legislation in July, the Dells say the accounts will not launch until July 4, 2026. Michael Dell says they wanted to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence.

“We want these kids to know that not only do their families care, but their communities care, their government, their country cares about them,” says Susan Dell. “And we’re all rooting for them to have a wonderful future, a bright future, and that that’s available to them.”

Under the new law, “Trump Accounts” are available to any American child under 18 with a US Social Security number and their families can fund the accounts, which must be invested in an index fund that tracks the overall stock market. When the children turn 18, they can withdraw the funds to put toward their education, to buy a home, or to start a business.

6:00 pm

IDF says three Palestinian terror operatives who approached troops are killed in airstrikes

Three Palestinian terror operatives who approached troops in the Gaza Strip today were killed in airstrikes, the military says.

In one incident in the Khan Younis area, the army says two operatives crossed the Yellow Line — demarcating the military’s position in the Strip — and were identified by troops of the Kfir Brigade.

The operatives approached the troops “in a way that posed an immediate threat,” the military says, adding that the soldiers directed a drone strike, which “eliminated the two terrorists.”

In a separate incident in northern Gaza, the IDF says reservists of the Carmeli Brigade detected an operative crossing the line and approaching the forces. The Israeli Air Force, with information provided by the ground troops, struck and “eliminated the terrorist,” the IDF adds.

5:53 pm

Likud MK bullish on Haredi conscription bill’s chances; two far-right MKs noncommital

Likud MK Avichai Boaron attends a meeting of the Knesset House Committee, June 30, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud MK Avihai Boaron dismisses the criticism some of his coalition colleagues have aimed at the bill regulating Haredi conscription, arguing that while “maybe some adjustments need to be made here or there… ultimately, the law itself is a good law.”

“I don’t think there’s opposition inside the coalition. There are a few MKs who are uncomfortable with certain clauses, but precisely for that reason, we brought the bill to the committee table. You know what needs refining, it’s known, and the work will be done, and we’ll move forward, God willing,” he tells The Times of Israel on the sidelines of a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee debate over the bill.

Boaron claims the bill will recruit tens of thousands of Haredim in a matter of years, significantly more than envisioned by previous opposition legislation, and will create a new reality on the ground in which Haredi soldiers will become accepted in the ultra-Orthodox community “because the rabbis approved this law and this framework, and the community will accept them.”

“Young Haredi people will live in the example of their older peers who are enlisting, and this will bring change,” he says. “Therefore, we need to be smarter and a bit less rigid,” and “we will bring exponential change in the recruitment of young Haredim who are not occupying the yeshiva benches.”

Asked about her party’s position on the bill, which has remained vague, committee member Limor Son Har-Melech of the far-right Otzma Yehudit is noncommittal, merely telling The Times of Israel that “we support Haredi recruitment, but we oppose a method that creates antagonism.” She declines to say whether she and her colleagues will vote in favor.

Likewise, the far-right Noam party’s sole MK, Avi Maoz, declines to definitively state how he will vote, telling The Times of Israel only that while he wants to see more Haredim in the military, he would only support a noncoercive bill that receives Haredi rabbinic approval.

5:47 pm

Critics of Haredi draft bill fail to amend introduction to stress value of IDF service

Likud MK Boaz Bismuth chairs a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, December 2, 2025. (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)

Critics of the government’s bill regulating ultra-Orthodox conscription fail to amend the the bill’s introduction, which lists its objectives, during a debate in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

The bill states that its goal is to “regulate the status of full-time yeshiva students while recognizing the importance of Torah study.” However, while it asserts that it aims to “reduce inequality in conscription for regular military service, including through the integration of members of the Haredi public into civil-security service,” it also states that full-time yeshiva students who do not engage in any other vocation can be granted annual deferments from enlistment.

It is up to lawmakers to decide which purposes listed have priority or if all will be given equal weight, states committee legal adviser Miri Frenkel Shor, who insists that she had not yet given her final opinion on the bill despite reports that she is against it.

Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth (Likud) ends the discussion without any changes to the text, despite appeals from opposition lawmakers.

Addressing the committee, Yesh Atid MK Moshe Tur-Paz insists that the bill’s language should be amended to emphasize the value of “military service and civilian service, all while recognizing the importance of Torah study” in order to “address the issue of inequality.”

5:29 pm

IDF personnel chief on Haredi draft: Military can ‘absorb everything needed,’ given notice

Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate's Planning and Personnel Management Division, addresses the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, May 8, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate’s Planning and Personnel Management Division, says that the army can handle an additional 5,760 Haredi soldiers this year and “given advance warning, it could absorb everything needed beyond that” going forward.

The coalition bill regulating Haredi conscription and exemptions, which is currently being debated in the committee, calls for recruitment goals of 8,160 conscripts in the first year; 6,840 in the second; 7,920 in the third; 8,500 in the fourth; and “no less than 50 percent of the annual enlistment cohort from graduates of Haredi educational institutions” in the fifth year.

This minimum threshold will also include those performing non-military security services, although this group will be capped at 10% of the total.

“First, I said in previous committees that I personally believe everyone can serve in the IDF because we have opened enough diverse tracks,” Tayeb tells lawmakers, adding that “these 10% do not contribute to what the IDF needs.”

5:20 pm

Houthis to release survivors of July Red Sea sinking, Philippine authorities say

By AFP and ToI Staff

A handout picture released by Yemen's Houthis on July 8, 2025, reportedly shows a view of damage to the Liberia-flagged bulk carrier Eternity C after it was attacked by the Iran-backed rebels at sea. (Ansar Allah Media Center / AFP)

Nine Filipino crew members of a cargo ship sunk by Yemen’s Houthis are set to be released by the Iran-backed terror group, Philippine authorities say.

The men were survivors of the Liberian-flagged Eternity C, one of two commercial vessels sunk within days of each other in the Red Sea in July.

The Houthis released a video of the attack on the ship at the time, saying they had “rescued” an unspecified number of the crew and taken them to a safe location.

The Philippines’ Foreign Ministry says it received word from Oman that the “nine Filipino seafarers of the ill-fated M/V Eternity C, held hostage by the Houthis in the Red Sea, will be released.”

The statement, which credits the efforts of the Omani government, says the men would first be transferred from Yemen’s Houthi-held capital of Sanaa to Oman before returning home.

A foreign affairs spokesman declines to provide a timeline for the release or say if it was bound by any conditions.

The July sinkings of the Eternity C and Magic Seas broke a months-long lull in Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping, which began after the start of the Gaza war with the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack.

The attacks, which the Houthis say target Israel-linked shipping in solidarity with the Palestinians, have prompted many firms to avoid a route that normally carries about 12 percent of global trade.

Filipino sailors make up as much as 30% of the world’s commercial shipping force. The nearly $7 billion they sent home in 2023 accounted for about a fifth of remittances sent to the archipelago nation.

5:14 pm

‘Findings’ transferred by Hamas being IDed; Red Cross: They are ‘small remains’ of body

By Emanuel Fabian and Lazar Berman

Security forces pay their respects as a convoy carrying the body of a hostage arrives at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv, November 25, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Illustration: Security forces pay their respects as a convoy carrying the body of a hostage arrives at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv, November 25, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Unspecified “findings” handed over to Israel by Hamas this afternoon have arrived at the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv, the Health Ministry says.

The ministry says the findings will undergo identification and an investigation into the cause and circumstances of death.

A senior Red Cross official tells The Times of Israel that the findings it handed over to the IDF included “small remains, pieces” of a body.

4:55 pm

High Court orders government to justify law upping political influence over judicial appointments

By Jeremy Sharon

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit and six other judges hear petitions against a law enabling the government to shutter foreign media outlets in Israel, such as Al Jazeera, July 13, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

In the latest showdown between the government and the judiciary, the High Court of Justice issues provisional orders requiring the government to justify a far-reaching law it passed in March that greatly increased the influence of politicians over judicial appointments.

The court also expands the panel of justices hearing the case to all 11 serving judges on the High Court bench, since the law in question was an amendment to one of Israel’s quasi-constitutional Basic Laws. It amends Basic Law: The Judiciary, and the panel was expanded due to the controversial nature of asserting judicial review over such statutes.

The court orders the government to respond to the petitions by February 1.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin denounces the High Court for asserting judicial review over the legislation, condemning the court as “a clique of judges” that he claims has controlled judicial appointments and which, he says, “dare[s] intervene in a Basic Law that put an end to this illegitimate practice.”

Levin said he is calling on the Knesset “to take a firm stand against this unacceptable move.”

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, one of the petitioners against the new law, says the court’s provisional orders “reflect the severity of the harm to the independence of the judiciary and the system of checks and balances in Israel’s democracy.” The group says the court orders are “another stage” in arresting the government’s “attempts to harm the rule of law and the judicial selection process at the foundation of our democracy since the founding of the state.”

The law, which will only go into effect after the next elections, gives political representatives from the coalition and the opposition, as well as representatives of the judiciary on the Judicial Selection Committee, veto power over lower court appointments, as opposed to the current system where no side has a veto.

And the law also removes any influence of the three judges on the committee over appointments to the Supreme Court, while granting the coalition and opposition vetoes.

The attorney general, three former Supreme Court presidents, and opposition parties argued that the changes would politicize the judicial appointments process and by extension the judiciary itself, as did the legal adviser to the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, which prepared the law.

4:44 pm

Former EU top diplomat Mogherini held in fraud probe

By AFP

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels, October 28, 2019. (Francisco Seco/AP)

The EU’s former foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is taken into custody after police staged raids probing a suspected fraud scheme involving the training of European diplomats.

Mogherini, who was high representative for foreign affairs from 2014 to 2019, now leads the College of Europe graduate school whose premises were searched along with the offices of the EEAS diplomatic service.

The 52-year-old Italian is arrested in Brussels along with the training school’s deputy head, and Stefano Sannino, a senior EU official who was EEAS secretary general from 2021 to 2024, according to a source close to the matter.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) announces searches were staged at the College of Europe, in the Belgian city of Bruges, and at the Brussels premises of the European External Action Service — the EU’s diplomatic wing.

“Three suspects were detained” in connection with the raids, as “part of a probe into suspected fraud related to EU-funded training for junior diplomats,” says an EPPO statement.

Carried out by Belgian federal police at the EPPO’s request, the searches also targeted the houses of suspects, prosecutors say.

At issue, according to the EPPO, is a nine-month training program for junior diplomats across EU states, known as the European Union Diplomatic Academy.

The program was awarded by the EEAS to the College of Europe in Belgium in the period 2021-2022, and the probe focuses on whether the tender process was skewed to favor the school.

Mogherini is the head of both the College of Europe and of the EU Diplomatic Academy.

4:23 pm

Eurovision gathering on Thursday could see vote on Israel’s participation

By Reuters

Yuval Raphael representing Israel with the song "New Day Will Rise" parades with Israeli flag during the dress rehearsal for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 at the St. Jakobshalle arena in Basel on May 16, 2025. (Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

European Broadcasting Union members may vote on Thursday on whether Israel can compete in the Eurovision song contest next year, as some nations have threatened to withdraw if it is not excluded due to the Gaza war.

Members will convene to discuss new rules designed to prevent governments and third parties from disproportionately promoting songs to influence voters, after controversy this year over Israel’s second-place finish.

If members are not convinced the rules are adequate, there will be a vote on participation, the EBU says, without naming Israel specifically.

Public broadcasters from Slovenia, Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands have all threatened to boycott the event, scheduled for May in Austria, if Israel is allowed to take part. A boycott by some of the competition’s biggest European backers, including Spain, risks a major drop in audience numbers and potential sponsorship.

This year, critics accused Israel of unfairly boosting the second-place finish of its entrant Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas that triggered the conflict. Israel has not officially responded to these accusations but frequently argues it has faced a global smear campaign.

“We very much hope the package of measures will assure members that we have taken strong action to protect the neutrality and impartiality of the Song Contest,” the EBU says.

The Israeli foreign ministry does not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Luxembourg’s RTL broadcaster backs the proposed changes, while Norway’s NRK broadcaster describes the EBU’s signal of major change as “promising.”

If a vote against Israel were successful, Germany would probably withdraw and not broadcast the contest, a broadcasting industry source tells Reuters. German broadcaster ARD does not comment. Austrian host broadcaster ORF wants Israel to compete.

Sources within Israeli broadcaster Kan tell Reuters it believed discussions about excluding Israel were unjustified, asserting that KAN was in full compliance with EBU rules. It also noted Kan’s support for Israeli acts that have delivered what they described as memorable Eurovision performances.

4:17 pm

Iranian MPs decry lack of observance of female dress code, ‘abnormal behaviors’

By AFP

Women cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, November 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

More than half the members of Iran’s parliament have accused the judiciary of failing to properly enforce the law on mandatory headscarves, state media report, as some Iranian women now refuse to wear the hijab.

Under rules imposed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, all women in Iran are required to cover their hair completely and wear modest, loose-fitting clothing when in public.

But in major cities, particularly Tehran, many women are now going out without headscarves, sometimes sporting dyed hair along with jeans and sneakers.

“The judiciary cannot remain passive,” write 155 of Iran’s 290 lawmakers in a letter to judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei.

“The lack of will to promulgate a law approved by the parliament and the failure to implement the Islamic Penal Code have paved the ground for nudity, not observing hijab, and other abnormal behaviors,” the parliamentarians are quoted as saying by the body’s official news agency ICANA.

In Iran, the term “nudity” generally refers to clothing deemed inappropriate.

The administration of President Masoud Pezeshkian refused last year to promulgate a law passed by the parliament that would have drastically increased penalties for women who do not wear the hijab or wear it improperly.

Since coming to power in July 2024, Pezeshkian has maintained that women cannot be forced to wear the hijab.

The issue has been a flashpoint of contention in Iran since the mass protests that followed the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in 2022. The young woman had been arrested by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly flouting the strict Islamic dress code for women.

Some clergy members and conservative officials are vehemently opposed to what they consider to be widespread “nudity” and a surge of Western influence, perceived as a threat.

In recent months, authorities have closed several cafes and restaurants for failing to enforce the hijab rules or for serving alcohol, which is prohibited in Iran.

The office of the supreme leader came under fire last week from some ultraconservatives after it published in its newspaper a photo of an unveiled Iranian woman killed in the 12-day war in June against Israel.

In the picture, the young woman appears with a simple cap on her head with her hair visible.

4:09 pm

‘You cannot deceive the world’: Sa’ar and Irish envoy spar publicly at Foreign Ministry event

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar speaks at an event for honorary consuls-general, December 2, 2025. (Shlomi Amsalem/GPO)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Irish Ambassador Sonya McGuinness engage in a public argument at a Foreign Ministry event over the Dublin City Council’s now-shelved campaign to rename a city park named for Israel’s sixth president, Irish-born Chaim Herzog.

In a question to Sa’ar at an event for honorary consuls-general, McGuinness says that the fight against antisemitism must be “carefully managed and not used for political gain.”

“Don’t you think facts are important?” she asks, apparently taking issue with Sa’ar’s characterization of the fight over the park’s name.

“Tell me please, why it was published on Friday, this antisemitic proposed decision of the City Council of Dublin, and nothing happened until Saturday, when I attacked that, and the president of the State of Israel attacked it?” he responds, referring to Chaim Herzog’s son, President Isaac Herzog. “And only then your foreign minister and your prime minister woke up.”

“There is nothing in your system right now that can defend you from that virus of antisemitism,” he continues, “except external pressure and exposing the antisemitic nature of this government.”

“We will continue to expose you until you understand that you cannot deceive the world,” Sa’ar concludes.

“You are ill-informed, minister,” McGuinness shoots back.

Sa’ar’s office sends the clip out to Israeli journalists.

On Sunday, Dublin City Council members said they halted plans to rename the park, which had drawn criticism from the Irish and Israeli governments.

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin had argued in a statement on X that the proposal “should be withdrawn in its entirety.” McGuinness’s embassy shared that statement on social media.

“The proposal is a denial of our history and will without any doubt be seen as antisemitic,” Martin said, calling it “overtly divisive and wrong.”

3:49 pm

IDF receives ‘findings’ from Red Cross, PM’s office says, following Hamas handover; ID unclear

Members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) arrive at the site where Hamas operatives are searching for the remains of hostages in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, December 1, 2025. (AP/Jehad Alshrafi)

IDF troops in the Gaza Strip received unspecified “findings” from the Red Cross a short while ago, the Prime Minister’s Office says.

The findings had been collected by the Red Cross from Hamas.

The IDF inspected the findings and held a short ceremony led by a military rabbi. The findings are now being escorted by the police to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification.

It is unclear as of yet who the findings belong to, and Hamas has not officially announced today that it intends to return any hostages.

Two bodies of deceased hostages are held in the Gaza Strip, belonging to Master Sgt. Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.

3:26 pm

Trump Lebanon envoy meets Netanyahu amid rising tensions with Hezbollah

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has held a meeting with the White House Deputy Special Envoy to the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, the Prime Minister’s Office tells The Times of Israel.

Ortagus, who along with US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack is US President Donald Trump’s point person, is expected to fly to Beirut after her stop in Israel.

She has also met with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar. According to Sa’ar, he told her that “the one violating Lebanese sovereignty is Hezbollah. Hezbollah’s disarmament is crucial for Lebanon’s future and Israel’s security.”

Glad to meet in Jerusalem with Counselor to U.S. Mission to the UN and Special Representative for Lebanon Morgan Ortagus.
We had a good discussion on the situation in Lebanon. I said that the one violating Lebanese sovereignty is Hezbollah. Hezbollah's disarmament is crucial… pic.twitter.com/MiU9DLenBt

— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) December 2, 2025

Tensions in Lebanon have ratcheted up in recent weeks. The IDF has intensified its strikes against Hezbollah targets, which it accuses of violating the November 2024 ceasefire, including killing the group’s chief of staff in a rare strike in Beirut last week.

3:19 pm

New neighborhood for teachers inaugurated in Gaza border area, as part of rehabilitation push

By Sue Surkes

A new residential neighborhood for teachers is inaugurated at Moshav Ein Habesor in southern Israel.

The 20 new housing units, built in three months at a cost of NIS 20 million ($6 million), will be rented to teachers at subsidized prices to attract professionals who want to build a future in the Gaza border area.

According to the Tekuma Directorate — the state body charged with rehabilitating the region after Hamas’s bloody invasion on October 7, 2023 — the subsidies are part of a comprehensive package being offered by Eshkol Regional Council to make up for a shortage of teachers, reduce class sizes, and strengthen the education system.

The directorate and the Eshkol council funded the construction of the new homes.

In June, more than 50 teachers responded to a council recruitment campaign. Those eyeing long-term residence in the region will move into the new neighborhood.

3:13 pm

Israel approves its first-ever plan to prevent flooding

By Sue Surkes

Floods caused by heavy rains in northern Israel, September 25, 2025. (Social media: used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Planners approve Israel’s first national outline plan to prevent flooding.

Designed with the help of the Agriculture Ministry, the new plan aims to define and maintain Israel’s hydrological infrastructure.

It deals with sites for rainwater runoff and establishes a mechanism to protect the parts of river basins that absorb water naturally when rivers overflow.

“In the reality of the climate crisis, extreme weather events, and in particular floods, are becoming part of our daily lives. Despite Israel’s image as a dry country, heavy damage is caused to property and even [loss of] life from flooding events every year,” says an Agriculture Ministry statement.

It adds that challenges related to drainage and flooding are holding up the construction of hundreds of thousands of residential units.

David Assaf, deputy director of Environmental Resources Management at the Agriculture Ministry, says the new plan will “introduce these essential considerations into the planning system. This is a very significant step in terms of the government’s perception and a paradigm shift in the worlds of planning and runoff management.”

3:03 pm

After Trump warning, Netanyahu says he is open to deal with Syria, but holds firm on demands

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits IDF soldiers wounded during an operation a week before in Syria, December 2, 2025. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

Israel is open to reaching an agreement with Syria, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but will not compromise on its security.

“After October 7,” he says during a visit to IDF soldiers wounded last week during an operation in Syria , “we are determined to defend our communities on our borders, including on the northern border, and to prevent the entrenchment of terrorists and hostile activities against us; to protect our Druze allies; and to ensure that Israel is secure from ground and other attacks from areas near the border.”

“What we expect Syria to do is, of course, to establish a demilitarized buffer zone from Damascus to the [Israeli-held] buffer zone, and of course the approaches to Mount Hermon and the Hermon summit,” Netanyahu continues in a video statement.

“In a positive atmosphere and with understanding of these principles, it is also possible to reach an agreement with the Syrians — but we will stand by our principles in any case,” he concludes.

On Friday, Israeli forces reportedly killed 13 people in an operation in southern Syria, saying they targeted an Islamist group. Six Israeli soldiers were wounded in the gun battle.

Netanyahu’s message comes a day after US President Donald Trump warned Israel via social media against destabilizing Syria and its new leadership, shortly before holding a phone conversation with Netanyahu.

Trump said he was “very satisfied” with Syria’s current performance under former Islamist rebel President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who made a historic visit to the White House in November.

2:50 pm

Two East Jerusalemites sentenced to 12 years and 5 years for plan to blow up truck near Knesset

ISIS materials found at the house of an East Jerusalem resident suspected of planning a bombing attack in the capital, January 22, 2024 (Israel Police)

The Jerusalem District Court announces prison sentences for two East Jerusalemites accused of planning a terror bombing near the Knesset.

Mustafa Abd Al-Nabi is sentenced to 12 years behind bars, while Ahmad Natasha gets five years plus a suspended sentence, according to a statement from the State Prosecutor’s Office.

The statement says the pair planned to detonate a truck bomb filled with gas tanks near the Knesset, regularly watched Islamic State (ISIS) videos featuring religious sermons, beheadings and executions, and swore allegiance to the terror group.

One of them purchased relevant materials and tried to make an explosive device, while the other tried to supply him with the needed substances and tools, according to prosecutors. They also tried to recruit accomplices.

The two were arrested before they could carry out any attacks.

The defendants argued that they hadn’t planned to harm anyone and it was all “empty talk,” arguments that weren’t accepted by the judges.

They have been convicted of aggravated preparation to commit a terror attack, attempted use of weapons for terror purposes, conspiring to commit an act of terror, conspiring to use weapons as an act of terror, providing guidance or training for terror acts, and membership in a terror group.

2:28 pm

Hamas official says terror group handing over body of one of the 2 remaining hostages in Gaza

By Reuters, ToI Staff and Emanuel Fabian

The two slain hostages whose bodies were still held captive in Gaza as of November 24, 2025: Sudthisak Rinthalak (left) and Ran Gvili. (Collage by Times of Israel; Photos: Courtesy)

A Hamas official tells Reuters that the terror group is handing over the body of one of the two remaining hostages to the Red Cross.

The two hostages whose bodies remain held in Gaza are police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.

The Prime Minister’s Office earlier said the Red Cross was set to hand over to Israel unspecified “findings” from the Gaza Strip that will be taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for examination.

Notably, Israel avoided referring to these findings as a body.

In previous returns of hostages’ remains, Hamas always issued an official statement announcing the handover.

2:19 pm

IDF demolishes West Bank homes of 2 Palestinians accused of terror attacks

Smoke billows as Israeli forces demolish the house of Abed al-Karim Snober, accused of plotting bus bombings in central Israel, in the West Bank city of Nablus on December 2, 2025. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

The IDF says it demolished the homes of two Palestinian terrorists in the northern West Bank overnight and this morning.

In the town of Zawata near Nablus, the military says it razed the home of Abed al-Karim Snober, who is accused of being behind a botched bus bombing attack in central Israel in February.

In the attack on February 20, three empty buses exploded in quick succession in parking lots in the Tel Aviv suburbs of Bat Yam and Holon, and two more unexploded devices were discovered on additional buses in Holon. No casualties were caused.

Snober was detained in July.

As a matter of policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly terror attacks. The demolition of Snober’s home is unusual, as there were no casualties in the attack.

The IDF says that the decision to demolish the home “was made for deterrence reasons related to the exceptional nature of the attack, with the support of legal authorities.” A petition to the High Court against the demolition was rejected.

Meanwhile, in the village of Aqabah, the army says it demolished the home of Ayman Ghanem, a member of a Hamas cell that carried out a deadly shooting attack in the Jordan Valley in August 2024.

The attack on August 11 at the Mehola Junction on Route 90, the main north-south artery in the Jordan Valley, killed Yonatan Deutsch, 23, and wounded Anas Jaramana, 32.

Ghanem was arrested in December 2024.

כחלק ממבצע ״חמש אבנים״: כוחות צה"ל הרסו שני בתים של מחבלים שלקחו חלק בשני פיגועים ובהם פיגוע המטענים באוטובוסים בבת-ים ובחולון

במהלך הלילה והבוקר, כוחות צה״ל מחטיבות מנשה ושומרון פעלו להריסת בתיהם של שני מחבלים שלקחו חלק בשני פיגועים שונים, זאת כחלק ממבצע ״חמש אבנים״.

הלילה,… pic.twitter.com/p4myWoqP0X

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) December 2, 2025

2:03 pm

Haredi MK slams ‘unprofessional’ Finance Ministry claims that military draft bill won’t work

Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, United Torah Judaism MK Yaakov Asher slams a recent Finance Ministry report that argued that the government’s bill regulating ultra-Orthodox conscription will not lead to an increase in enlistment, and could instead reduce the number of Haredim who join the military.

Asher, who represents the Haredi party’s Degel HaTorah faction, says that while some of the report’s arguments are based on the treasury’s area of expertise — the economy — “the conclusions it draws about the social and security aspects are not exactly professional.”

“When the treasury determines that sanctions will not encourage Haredi youth to enlist, or that the law will not solve the manpower situation in the IDF, it is basically making a psychosocial forecast outside its area of expertise. Assessments of community behavior, social pressure, or personal choices of young people are not budget formulas that can be calculated, and therefore have lower reliability,” he says, slamming opposition lawmakers for taking the ministry’s analysis at face value.

1:58 pm

Anti-government activist detained for threats against Netanyahu announces hunger strike

Activist Yolanda Yavor is seen during a September 2025 court appearance (Video screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Anti-government activist Yolanda Yavor, a Tel Aviv University lecturer from Or Akiva who was arrested on Friday for social media posts allegedly inciting violence against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others, has announced a hunger strike, Hebrew media reports.

A lawyer for Yavor, who is detained at the Kishon detention center in northern Israel, slams the investigation as politically motivated, arguing that Yavor isn’t dangerous and that her detention is putting her life in danger.

Yavor was arrested for calling for a “rebellion” against Netanyahu on Facebook, writing that “the only choice is… to fight the traitor, the mouthpieces, the damned collaborators and his bargain-bin Freikorps militias with all the strength and all means — or not to be.

She hashtagged “Dictators are not overthrown at the ballot box,” “Netanyahu is a traitor,” and “We’re coming for you.”

1:30 pm

PM’s Office confirms Red Cross set to hand over ‘findings’ that will be sent to forensic center

The Prime Minister’s Office confirms that the Red Cross is set to hand over to Israel unspecified “findings” from the Gaza Strip.

The findings will be taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for examination, the PMO says, adding that officials are in continuous contact with the families of the two hostages whose bodies remain held in Gaza, police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.

There have been several recent cases of “findings” thought to be related to hostages being handed over to Israel, and later confirmed not to belong to any captives.

1:25 pm

Gazan wedding photographer-turned-documenter of Gaza destruction said killed by IDF in Khan Younis

A Gazan photojournalist was killed today by an Israeli drone strike in the center of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, on the Hamas-controlled side of the ceasefire line, the city’s Nasser Hospital says.

Arabic media identifies him as Mahmoud Wadi, a drone photographer.

Wadi’s Instagram profile describes him as the owner of Khan Younis-based drone photography company Alquds Studio.

On his personal Instagram account, Wadi posted six before-and-after drone videos — with the “before” segments apparently AI-generated — starting earlier this month. A single earlier post was dated 2019.

The studio’s Facebook account, which has over 50,000 followers, indicates it focuses on wedding photography. One wedding-themed post was published on October 6, 2023 — a day before the Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza.

The account’s next post, published December 19, 2024, also documents a wedding taking place “despite all the difficult conditions and the war.”

On April 7 this year, the studio announced “with tearful eyes and hearts heavy with pain” that the business had been destroyed by Israel.

The studio appeared to still manage to photograph weddings in May and September, according to its social media accounts.

On May 25, the studio posted a video of children begging for food. “Today, we fix our lenses on Gaza to document an entirely different story,” said the studio, explaining its pivot from wedding videos.

The Times of Israel has been unable to find Wadi’s or Alquds Studio’s work featured in major news outlets.

The IDF does not immediately respond to a request for comment.

1:11 pm

Coalition MKs opposed to Haredi draft bill said to get threatening calls from PM’s circle

Some coalition lawmakers who have expressed public opposition to the government’s proposed bill regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment have been contacted by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s circle who have hinted at potential consequences should they continue to speak out against the legislation, the Walla news site reports.

Multiple coalition MKs, including from within Netanyahu’s Likud party, have come out against the bill, casting doubt on its passage.

Speaking with The Times of Israel last week, Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, who was recently deposed as chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee tasked with shaping the bill, warned that Netanyahu’s coalition is set to exert significant pressure on coalition lawmakers who are “strongly opposed” to the controversial legislation.

Asked if he or any of his colleagues had been threatened in such a way, Likud MK Dan Illouz, a vocal critic of the legislation, tells The Times of Israel that “I haven’t seen anything like that.”

“I haven’t been approached, and I haven’t heard of other people being approached. I imagine that there will be, you call it pressure or threats or things like that,” Illouz said.

“I think it’s healthy in politics for people to try to convince each other. And so if people have different views, they’ll try to convince each other. And yes, when the prime minister is the one trying to convince you, there is a certain amount of, I don’t know if I want to call it pressure, but his stature gives a certain amount of weight to his positions. And so, yes, you need to have a very strong shoulder in order to be able to keep your positions if you’re not convinced.”

Another MK also tells The Times of Israel that they have not come under any pressure, although a source with direct knowledge of the matter confirms that some opponents of the bill have been subjected to threatening calls.

1:05 pm

Israel preparing to receive ‘findings’ today, potentially belonging to hostage

Israel is readying to receive “findings,” potentially belonging to a hostage, from Hamas via the Red Cross this afternoon, a defense official says.

It is unclear who the “findings” belong to, and Hamas has not announced today that it intends to return any hostages.

Currently, the bodies of two hostages remain held in Gaza: police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.

12:52 pm

Qatar says it hopes to push Hamas, Israel to next phase of ceasefire ‘very soon’

By AFP

Gaza talks mediator Qatar says it hopes Israel and Hamas can be brought to a new phase of negotiations for a peace deal in Gaza following their agreement on a ceasefire in October.

“We think that we should be pushing the parties to stage two very, very soon,” Qatar foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari says, adding that the talks will include issues such as Hamas fighters still in tunnels in Israeli-controlled areas of the Gaza Strip.

12:43 pm

Ra’am MK says Arab party will oppose Haredi draft bill, won’t give government a ‘lifeline’

Ra’am MK Walid Taha tells Radio Al-Shams that his Islamist party will not support the government’s proposed bill to regulate ultra-Orthodox enlistment, stating that “there will be no scenario in which Ra’am will support, be absent, abstain, or act in any way that could be interpreted as a lifeline for the government,” the Haaretz daily reports.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party over the weekend denied that it had initiated contacts with Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am party in order to convince the Islamist party to vote in favor of its controversial legislation.

“The report on Channel 12 claiming that there were contacts or ‘feelers’ between Likud or anyone on our behalf and the Ra’am party regarding the conscription law is completely fake,” said Likud spokesman Guy Levy.

The chairman of another Arab party, Ayman Odeh of Hadash-Ta’al, has stated that his party’s position was “clear: We want to create complications for the government; we want to shorten its days. Anything that helps bring down the government — Hadash–Ta’al will support.”

11:51 am

Pope prays at site of Beirut port blast, calls for ‘justice and fraternity’ in Lebanon during mass

By AP

Pope Leo XIV holds a moment of prayer at the site of the 2020 Beirut port explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, December 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Pope Leo XIV prays at the site of a deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion that has become a symbol of Lebanon’s dysfunction, impunity and scars, on the final day of his visit to the country.

Relatives of some of the 218 people killed by the blast hold up photos of their loved ones as Leo arrives. They stand silently by the shell of the last standing grain silo destroyed by the blast and the piles of burned cars torched in its wake.

Leo stands in silent prayer among the wreckage.

The August 4, 2020, explosion tore through Beirut and did billions of dollars in damage after hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate detonated in a warehouse. Five years on, the families are still seeking justice. No official has been convicted in a judicial investigation that has been repeatedly obstructed.

The pope then holds Mass along the Beirut waterfront, calling for Lebanon to be a “home of justice and fraternity” and a “prophetic sign of peace” in the region.

In his homily, Leo acknowledges the many crises that have scarred Lebanon, citing the port blast, economic crises and “the violence and conflicts that have reawakened ancient fears.”

He says it is natural to feel “paralyzed by powerlessness in the face of evil and oppressed by so many difficult situations.”

But the pope urges Lebanon’s people to not be resigned and to find ways to remain hopeful and grateful, insisting that justice is part of the equation.

“Let us cast off the armor of our ethnic and political divisions, open our religious confessions to mutual encounter and reawaken in our hearts the dream of a united Lebanon,” he says. “A Lebanon where peace and justice reign, where all recognize each other as brothers and sisters.”

“Lebanon, stand up,” he says. “Be a home of justice and fraternity! Be a prophetic sign of peace for the whole of the Levant!”

11:26 am

Footage shows West Bank stabbing attack; IDF imposes siege on nearby Palestinian towns

Footage shows this morning’s stabbing attack near the West Bank settlement of Ateret, and the subsequent shooting death of the attacker, identified as Mohammed Asmar, 18, from the nearby Palestinian village of Beit Rima.

בזמן הבידוק, המחבל שולף סכין ודוקר את החיילים: תיעוד הפיגוע בבנימין@ItayBlumental pic.twitter.com/aoKNLDN3ux

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) December 2, 2025

The IDF says in a fresh statement that security cameras spotted a suspect arriving from Beit Rima toward Ateret.

Fighters from the Paratroopers Brigade’s 101st Battalion were dispatched to the scene and detained him for a security inspection, during which he stabbed two soldiers and was subsequently shot dead, the military says.

It adds that the military has imposed a siege on nearby Palestinian towns and put up roadblocks.

11:25 am

Deputy FM becomes first coalition member to oppose pardon for Netanyahu, says it’s a distraction

Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel at a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, December 1, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel becomes the first government and coalition member to publicly oppose the notion of a presidential pardon for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at this time.

“Is it right to give a pardon in the situation we are in? I don’t think so,” Haskel tells Jerusalem Radio, adding that this is a “media trick aimed at trying to divert attention from the important things.”

She then clarifies that the latter part means the controversial legislation to regulate ultra-Orthodox enlistment to the IDF and formalize widespread draft exemptions — which is opposed by some 10 coalition and cabinet members, including Haskel. In today’s interview, she says the bill “could endanger Israel’s security.”

“I also don’t think Netanyahu wants the pardon,” she adds, noting that the media and opposition, “like sheep, are putting this issue in the headlines instead of talking about the thing that is going to determine the state’s future, which is the enlistment law.”

10:49 am

Slain assailant in West Bank stabbing identified as Mohammed Asmar, 18

The assailant shot dead this morning while stabbing IDF troops near Ramallah is identified by the Palestinian Authority health ministry as Mohammed Asmar, 18, from the nearby village of Beit Rima.

Asmar lightly wounded two soldiers who had questioned him near the West Bank settlement of Ateret, north of Ramallah, according to the IDF.

Palestinian media reports that the IDF seized Asmar’s body, in accordance with the military’s standard practice in such cases.

🟨صورة | الشاب محمد رسلان أسمر 18 عام والذي نفذ عمـ ـلية الطعـ ـن قرب مسـ ـتوطنة "عطيرت" شمال رام الله وهو من بلدة بيت ريما وارتقى بعد إطلاق النار عليه من جنود الاحـ ـتلال. pic.twitter.com/muOffGYHoR

— شبكة يافا الإخبارية (@yaffa_ps) December 2, 2025

10:16 am

One said killed by IDF in central Gaza

A Palestinian was killed by IDF gunfire in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, according to the Al-Awda Hospital in the nearby camp of Nuseirat.

Bureij lies mostly on the Hamas-controlled side of the Gaza ceasefire line.

10:06 am

Italian Jewish groups condemn vandalism of memorial plaque for Jewish terror victim

By Zev Stub

Italian Jewish organizations have issued condemnations after a plaque at a synagogue in Rome honoring a Jewish victim of terrorism was vandalized.

A plaque dedicated to Stefano Gaj Tachè at the Monteverde synagogue was found vandalized over the weekend with anti-Israel slogans in black paint. The vandals also sprayed “Free Palestine” and “Monteverde is anti-Zionist and anti-fascist” — referring to the neighborhood’s name — on the synagogue’s walls.

The two-year-old boy was the victim of a terror attack by armed Palestinian terrorists at the entrance to the Great Synagogue of Rome on October 9, 1982.

That attack, carried out by members of the Abu Nidal terrorist organization, killed the child and wounded 34 worshipers as they left Shabbat morning prayers. The five attackers threw grenades and fired submachine guns before fleeing the scene. None of them has ever served jail time.

The Union of Young Italian Jews says the graffiti is “an insult to the Jewish community and at the same time a direct attack on Italy and the values on which our democracy is founded.”

“Those who commit such acts are not engaging in politics, nor expressing dissent,” the organization says in a statement on X. “They are fueling antisemitism: the same hatred that has already wounded Italy in the past and that is resurfacing with disturbing ease.”

L’Unione Giovani Ebrei d’Italia condanna con fermezza il vergognoso atto vandalico contro la Sinagoga di Monteverde. Le scritte comparse sui muri e l’imbrattamento della targa dedicata a Stefano Gaj Tachè sono un insulto alla comunità ebraica e allo stesso tempo un attacco… pic.twitter.com/P9giNRLEw0

— UGEI – Unione Giovani Ebrei d'Italia (@ugei_it) December 1, 2025

The Jewish Community of Rome also sharply condemns the attack, noting that Italian President Sergio Mattarella called to express solidarity with the community following the attack.

9:52 am

No chance PM will admit to wrongdoing in exchange for pardon, cabinet secretary says

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not admit to any wrongdoing or give anything in return for a potential presidential pardon over the corruption charges against him, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs tells the ultra-Orthodox radio station Kol Berama.

“There is a higher chance of the sun not rising in the morning than the prime minister confessing to crimes he didn’t commit as part of the pardon request,” Fuchs says, days after Netanyahu sent a letter to President Isaac Herzog asking for the trial against him to be canceled.

After some interpreted the language of the premier’s letter as indicating he may halt the judicial overhaul legislation if the trial is stopped, Fuchs says “there is no deal or intention for Netanyahu to get a pardon in return for stopping the judicial reform.”

9:40 am

Israeli drone reportedly strikes home in south Lebanon

An Israeli drone has dropped explosives on a home in the southern Lebanese town of Aitaroun, Lebanon’s state-owned National News Agency reports.

The report says the drone took off from an Israeli-controlled outpost in Jabal al-Bat, about a kilometer from the border with Israel.

The report does not indicate if anyone was wounded in the attack.

The IDF does not immediately comment.

9:33 am

Israeli man says group assaulted him in Nepal after hearing him speak Hebrew

An Israeli man says he was attacked last night in Nepal’s capital after he recorded a voice message in Hebrew.

Almog Armoza, 25, tells Ynet that a group of locals assaulted him in an alley near his hostel in Kathmandu, hitting him on the head with a metal object and causing him to bleed profusely.

The attack (graphic content) occurred in an alley used frequently by tourists, he says.

“I was recording a message to a friend in Hebrew, which they heard, and when I was done I got a huge blow to the head from a metal rod. They came at me from behind,” he says, adding that he turned around and saw three to five people.

They continued to try to hit him while one grabbed him by the coat. Armoza says he managed to kick the latter person, break free and run toward his hostel, where the assailants stopped pursuing him due to the security there and fled.

After losing “maybe a liter of blood,” he called the police and was taken to a hospital, when he was stitched up and underwent an MRI.

Armoza says he believes the motive for the attack was his nationality, since the assailants didn’t attempt to rob him even though his phone was in his hand.

He says is confident that they had tried to kill him.

“They didn’t look for a wallet, only to deal murderous blows to the head. Had I not escaped, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t be alive today. I escaped by a miracle. Had the first blow knocked me out, it could have ended differently,” he says.

Due to the attack, Armoza missed his return flight to Israel.

9:21 am

Suspected car-ramming assailant killed by IDF overnight identified as 17-year-old