Dec. 22 — Feldstein: PM&#8217;s chief of staff told me he could &#8216;shut down&#8217; probe into Bild leak

The mega-prison known as the Detention Center Against Terrorism (CECOT) stands in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March 5, 2023. (AP/Salvador Melendez, File)

CBS News pulls a “60 Minutes” report on El Salvador’s CECOT prison just hours before its scheduled broadcast, saying it would air at a future time.

“The broadcast lineup for tonight’s edition of 60 Minutes has been updated,” the program posts on social media. “Our report ‘Inside CECOT’ will air in a future broadcast,” the program posts on X and other social media platforms three hours before it was slated to air.

A CBS News spokesperson says in an email that the segment “needed additional reporting.”

The New York Times, quoting from a copy of a note written by Sharyn Alfonsi, a correspondent who reported the segment, says CBS pulled the segment for “political” reasons.

“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,” Alfonsi writes in the note, a copy of which was obtained by the Times.

“It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”

She tells the newspaper: “I refer all questions to Bari Weiss.”

CECOT is a mega-prison in El Salvador where the US has sent hundreds of mostly Venezuelan migrants without trial. It has been condemned by human rights groups for its harsh conditions.

Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss raised several concerns with “60 Minutes” producers about Alfonsi’s segment and requested a substantial amount of new material to be added, NYT reports, citing sources.

She suggested adding an interview with White House official Stephen Miller or another senior Trump administration figure, the report says. Weiss further questioned the use of the term “migrants” to describe the Venezuelan men who were deported, noting they were in the US illegally, the report adds.

In her note, Alfonsi states that her team had sought comments from the White House, the State Department, and the Department of Homeland Security.

“If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient,” Alfonsi is quoted as saying.

CBS News and Alfonsi did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report outside normal business hours.

7:52 am

New South Wales goverment to introduce ‘toughest firearm reforms’ in Australia after Hanukkah attack

By AFP

Mourners look at flowers laid next to the beach in memory of victims of a terror shooting targeting a Jewish event days earlier, at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, on December 20, 2025. (DAVID GRAY / AFP)

The government of New South Wales — where the deadly Hanukkah terror attack took place at Sydney’s Bondi Beach — recalls its parliament for two days to introduce what it calls the “toughest firearm reforms in the country.”

“We can’t pretend that the world is the same as it was before that terrorist incident on Sunday,” New South Wales Premier Chris Minns tells reporters.

“I’d give anything to go back a week, a month, two years, to ensure that didn’t happen, but we need to make sure that we take steps so that it never happens again.”

The new rules will cap the number of guns an individual can own to four, or ten for exempted individuals like farmers.

There are more than 1.1 million firearms in the state, officials say.

The legislation will also ban the display of “terrorist symbols,” including the flag of the Islamic State terror group, which was draped on the attackers’ car.

Authorities will also be able to prohibit protests for up to three months following a terrorism incident.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

8:19 am

Authorities begin clearing flowers, candles from site of Bondi Hanukkah terror attack

A mourner places flowers after the cleanup of floral tributes outside the Bondi Pavilion following seven days of mourning following the Bondi Beach terror attack targeting a Hanukkah event in Sydney on December 22, 2025. (Saeed KHAN / AFP)

Authorities begin clearing flowers, candles, letters and other items placed by the public at the site of a terror attack targeting the Jewish community at Bondi Beach last week.

The tributes will be preserved for display at the Sydney Jewish Museum and the Australian Jewish Historical Society, authorities say.

Fifteen people were killed when two terrorists opened fire at a Hanukkah event.

Thirteen people remain in hospital, including four in critical but stable condition, health officials say.

8:49 am

Manchester police won’t say if Yom Kippur synagogue attacker’s phone was checked during earlier rape probe

Jihad al-Shamie, who carried out a deadly terrorist attack at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Manchester, UK, on Yom Kippur, October 2, 2025. (Image circulated on social media)

Police in Manchester have refused to say if they examined the cellphone of the Yom Kippur synagogue attacker, Jihad Al-Shamie, during an investigation of rape and sexual allegations by two women in the months prior to the terror attack, the Financial Times reports.

The report says there are growing questions as to whether the terror attack, in which two people were killed, could have been prevented.

The newspaper notes that one of Shamie’s associates was charged earlier this month with sharing terror materials in a WhatsApp group.

Two men died in the attack by Shamie, which came as worshipers gathered for Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

He launched the assault by driving his car at security staff and the external gates of the Manchester synagogue.

Wearing a fake suicide belt, he then stabbed Melvin Cravitz, 66, to death and tried to storm the site before police shot him dead.

Adrian Daulby, 53, died from a single gunshot wound to the chest fired by a police officer responding to the situation.

Agencies contributed to this report.

9:25 am

Vance claims antisemitism in US a ‘real backlash’ to American foreign policy

US Vice President JD Vance speaks during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025, December 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP/Jon Cherry)

US Vice President JD Vance claims that only a small percentage of Americans are antisemitic, and that their views are a “real backlash” to American foreign policy, with a need for debate over Israel.

“Because 99% of Republicans, and I think probably 97% of Democrats, do not hate Jewish people for being Jewish,” Vance says in an interview with Unherd. It is unclear which polling, if any, he is referring to.

“What is actually happening is that there is a real backlash to a consensus view in American foreign policy. I think we already had that conversation and not try to shut it down. Most Americans aren’t antisemitic. They’re never going to be antisemitic, and I think we should focus on the real debate,” he says.

“Now, I happen to believe that Israel is an important ally, that there are certain things that we’re certainly going to work together on,” he says.

“But we’re also going to have very substantive disagreements with Israel, and that’s OK. And we should be able to say, ‘We agree with Israel on that issue, and we disagree with Israel on this other issue,’” Vance says.

“Having that conversation is, I think, much less comfortable for a lot of people, because they want to focus on Nick Fuentes instead of on: why is Nick Fuentes gaining popularity or gaining notoriety?” says Vance, referring to the antisemitic podcaster.

Vance says that judging people “whether they’re Jewish or white or anything else” is “disgusting.”

“I think that Nick Fuentes, his influence within Donald Trump’s administration, and within a whole host of institutions on the Right, is vastly overstated — and frankly, it’s overstated by people who want to avoid having a foreign-policy conversation about America’s relationship with Israel,” he says.

Speaking at the Turning Point USA conference yesterday, Vance declined to condemn the antisemitism that is roiling the Republican Party and the conference itself, saying “we have far more important work to do than canceling each other.”

He has previously pushed back on prominent conservatives who have raised alarms about hostility toward Jews among young right-wing activists.

Agencies contributed to this report.

10:01 am

Russian general killed in car bomb in Moscow

This handout photo released by the Russian Investigative Committee on December 22, 2025, shows the site of a car bomb in southern Moscow. Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the training department within the General Staff, was killed in Moscow on December 22, 2025 after an explosive device placed under his car went off, investigators said in a statement. (Handout / RUSSIAN INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE / AFP)

A Russian general was killed in a car bomb in Moscow, Russia’s investigative committee says.

Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Russian General Staff’s army operational training directorate, was killed, the committee says.

The committee says that one possibility being investigated is that the bomb was planted by Ukrainian special services.

10:20 am

Small group of activists calls for Oct. 7 state commission probe outside PM’s office; 3 said detained

Police disperse activists protesting outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, calling for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the October 7, 2023, attack, December 22, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

A small group of activists tries to block the entrance to the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, calling for the creation of a state commission of inquiry into October 7 rather than the contentious politically appointed committee that is set to be confirmed by the Ministerial Committee of Legislation today before it goes to the Knesset to be voted on.

Hebrew-language media reports say three people were detained. There is no comment from police.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that the public would not trust a state commission because its members would be determined by the judiciary, which his government has sought to weaken through a series of controversial laws. As recently as 2022, Netanyahu had backed a state commission of inquiry into the conduct of the previous government.

Despite Netanyahu’s claims, opinion polls consistently show that a state commission of inquiry is backed by a majority of the public.

11:03 am

IDF: Hezbollah operative killed in strike was ‘restoring the terror group’s infrastructure

The IDF says one of its two drone strikes in southern Lebanon yesterday killed a Hezbollah operative.

The military had conducted two separate strikes in the southern Lebanon town of Yater, saying they targeted members of the terror group.

One of the strikes killed a Hezbollah operative involved in restoring the terror group’s infrastructure in the area, the army says, adding that his activities “constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”

The army publishes footage of the strike.

The second strike wounded one person, according to Lebanese authorities.

צפו בתיעוד מהחיסול: צה״ל חיסל מחבל מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה שפעל לשיקום תשתיות צבאיות בדרום לבנון

צה"ל תקף אתמול, שני מחבלים מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב יעטר שבדרום לבנון.

במסגרת התקיפות, צה״ל חיסל מחבל שעסק בניסיון שיקום תשתיות צבאיות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב ופעולותיו היוו… pic.twitter.com/qz3VI6UxFi

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) December 22, 2025

11:34 am

AG says ‘unlawful’ government move to shutter Army Radio fails to consider freedom of press

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara at a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, September 30, 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/ Flash90)

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara says a cabinet resolution to shutter Army Radio that is set to be passed today has a slew of substantive problems, including a failure to consider the impact on the freedom of the press, and states that the resolution is therefore unlawful and should not be approved.

Baharav-Miara says that the advisory committee on whose recommendations the cabinet resolution was drawn up was composed of individuals with clear political affiliations to the Likud party and did not include people with sufficient professional expertise to make a decision.

The attorney general adds that the committee used “non-pertinent” considerations in recommending closing Army Radio, including the “political diversity” of the content of Army Radio broadcasts, and did not properly consider “the possible injury to freedom of expression as a result of closing the station.”

Baharav-Miara also determined that the only legitimate way to close Army Radio at present was through legislation, since previous legal determinations by the Attorney General’s Office stated that Army Radio could only be closed by executive action if public broadcasting in Israel was “operative and stable.”

Given that Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi has advanced legislation that would give the government control over the budget of Israel’s other public broadcaster, Kan, and sell off its news division, the attorney general says that public broadcasting cannot be considered “operative and stable,” and is instead “weakened, threatened, and institutionally silenced, and its future shrouded in mist.”

Concludes Baharav Miara, “For all these reasons, the cabinet resolution in question is unlawful and must be disqualified.”

View of the IDF’s Army Radio headquarters in Jaffa, November 12, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

11:51 am

Lapid: Coalition ‘moving to abolish freedom of expression’ with Army Radio vote

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid at a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on December 15, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid slams Defense Minister Israel Katz’s efforts to shutter Army Radio ahead of a cabinet vote on the proposal, declaring that shuttering the broadcaster was “part of the government’s move to abolish freedom of expression in Israel in an election year.”

“They are unable to control reality, so they are trying to control consciousness. First Reshet Bet and Channel 11, now Army Radio; soon Channels 12 and 13 as well,” Lapid says, referencing coalition legislation to give the government significant control over broadcast media and shutter public broadcaster Kan.

“They will not stop. Everywhere there is truth that is inconvenient for the government, they act to eliminate it. The government doesn’t know how to deal with the cost of living, with the abandonment of security, or with ultra-Orthodox draft evasion — so it shuts down the media,” Lapid says.

12:42 pm

Lawmakers advance bill to establish politically appointed Oct. 7 probe in place of state inquiry

By Sam Sokol and Jeremy Sharon

An Israeli soldier walks by a house destroyed by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Be'eri, October 11, 2023. (AP/Baz Ratner)

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation votes to back Likud MK Ariel Kallner’s bill establishing a contentious “national state investigation committee” into the failures surrounding Hamas’s onslaught on October 7, 2023.

The plan is for the government-backed committee to conduct the investigation rather than an independent state commission of inquiry, which the government opposes but which polls show is backed by the majority of the public.

The bill is now slated to go to the Knesset plenum for a preliminary reading on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Netanyahu and his supporters have long rejected a state commission of inquiry, the country’s highest investigative authority, because its members would be selected by the judiciary, which his government does not trust and seeks to weaken through a judicial overhaul. As recently as three years ago, Netanyahu backed a state commission of inquiry into the conduct of the previous government.

Kallner’s proposal calls for a Knesset supermajority — 80 out of 120 MKs — to appoint a six-member committee and its chair. If there is no agreement after two weeks, both the opposition and coalition would be allowed to select three committee members each, who would be joined by four supervisory members representing bereaved families.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara yesterday excoriated the legislation, describing it as “tailor-made” for the “personal” needs of the government.

Baharav-Miara also said that a ministerial committee for deciding the mandate and scope of the proposed “state-national” commission, which is be led by Netanyahu and is set to begin deliberations today, is not operating under any real legal authority, since such committees only operate in conjunction with a state commission of inquiry established under existing law.

According to national broadcaster Kan, Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman today insisted that “the judicial system should be investigated first.”

Ze’ev Elkin of the New Hope party was the only minister to vote against the bill, with the Ynet news site reporting his opposition stemmed from the bill’s clause stipulating that if either the coalition or opposition does not cooperate in the process or cannot settle on a candidate, the Knesset speaker will choose instead — giving the coalition effective control in the event of an expected opposition boycott.

12:46 pm

Talks between Israel, Greece, Cyprus show trilateral ties ‘moving to new stage,’ official says

By Lazar Berman

The trilateral declaration this evening from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides will show that the relationship between the eastern Mediterranean allies is “moving to a new stage,” a diplomatic source tells The Times of Israel ahead of a meeting between the three leaders.

The wording of the declaration will be nailed down during the meetings this afternoon in Jerusalem, says the source.

The declaration will deal with “energy, security, and most of the economic sectors you can imagine, from tourism to agriculture,” says the official.

If there have been talks recently about creating a joint rapid-response force, says the official, “nothing is ready to be stated broadly and openly.”

12:54 pm

Lawmakers vote to make far-right MK Sukkot head of Knesset Education Committee

MK Zvi Sukkot at the Knesset on December 22, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Knesset House Committee votes 8-6 in favor of appointing far-right legislator Zvi Sukkot of the Religious Zionism party as chair of the Knesset Education Committee.

Sukkot, who was recently questioned by police over his participation — along with other coalition MKs — in a mob that rioted and broke into the IDF’s Sde Teiman military base, enters into verbal confrontations with opposition lawmakers during the debate over his appointment and subsequent vote.

Hadash-Ta’al MK Ahmad Tibi calls Sukkot a “neo-Nazi” while Sukkot accuses the Arab lawmaker, who is then removed from the chamber, of being a terror supporter. During the vote itself, Tibi and Yesh Atid MK Meirav Ben-Ari yell that Sukkot should be given other titles in addition to chairman, such as “Shin Bet interrogee,” a “base breaker-into” and a “mosque arsonist.”

Before becoming an MK, Sukkot was a prominent radical settler activist who was arrested at least three times for his actions during demonstrations outside the home of the head of IDF’s Central Command. He was arrested in 2010 by the police due to Shin Bet suspicions that he was involved in the arson of a mosque in the northern West Bank, close to where he lived in the Yitzhar settlement. He was not charged over the incident.

1:01 pm

Bereaved families: Government ‘will not bury the truth’ with politically appointed Oct. 7 probe

Activists calling for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into Hamas's October 7, 2023, massacre protest outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, December 22, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The October Council, made up of families whose loved ones were killed on October 7 and in the subsequent war, slams the government after the Ministerial Committee for Legislation backs Likud MK Ariel Kallner’s bill to establish a proposed “national state investigation committee” in place of a state commission of inquiry into the failures.

“They will not bury the truth,” the group says.

Ahead of this morning’s vote, members of the group protested near the Prime Minister’s Office.

“We will not let them evade responsibility for what they did here on October 7, and for the sacrifice of the hostages who should have returned alive. They are trying to evade responsibility. We will not let them evade responsibility. A state commission of inquiry will be established, and they will not succeed in evading it,” Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was kidnapped on October 7 and subsequently murdered by her Gazan captors in a Rafah tunnel, told reporters.

The Democrats chairman Yair Golan also slams the advancement of Kallner’s bill, which is slated to go to the Knesset for a preliminary reading on Wednesday, declaring that the “government of draft dodgers and looters spat in the faces of bereaved families again this morning.” Golan argues that this “pathetic attempt to engineer a political investigation is an admission of guilt.”

“Anyone who covers up the greatest disaster in the country’s history for the sake of political survival knows they are guilty, and will never be absolved,” Golan asserts.

1:52 pm

IDF says it targeted Hezbollah operatives in airstrike in Lebanese coastal city of Sidon

The IDF says it targeted several Hezbollah operatives in an airstrike in the coastal Lebanese city is Sidon a short while ago.

No further details are given.

1:54 pm

Palestinian reportedly killed on Israel-controlled side of Gaza ceasefire line; no comment from IDF

By Noam Lehmann

A Palestinian man was killed by Israel Defense Forces fire this morning in Gaza City’s northern Shejaiya neighborhood, according to Palestinian media.

The incident reportedly took place on the Israeli-controlled side of the Gaza ceasefire line. There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

Hamas’s health ministry says that three additional Palestinians were killed over the past 48 hours in Gaza by the IDF, in incidents apparently previously confirmed by the Israeli military or reported by Palestinian media.

The Hamas report does not identify the Palestinians or say where they were killed.

According to Palestinian media, two men were killed yesterday on the Hamas-controlled side of the ceasefire line in Gaza City’s northern Shejaiya neighborhood, and a woman was killed yesterday adjacent to the ceasefire border in Gaza City’s eastern Tuffah neighborhood.

The IDF said yesterday that it struck suspects who crossed the Yellow Line in northern Gaza in three separate incidents. In all three cases, the air force “struck the terrorists to remove the threat,” the military said.

The military did not specify if there were casualties as a result of those strikes.

1:56 pm

Iran claims its missile program is defensive and not up for debate

By AFP and ToI Staff

Iran insists that its missile program is defensive in nature and designed to dissuade attack, while adding the existence of its arsenal was not up for debate.

Israel says Iran’s ballistic missiles, along with its nuclear program, are the main threats it sought to neutralize during the 12-day war in June.

“Iran’s missile program was developed to defend Iran’s territory, not for negotiation,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei says at a weekly press conference.

“Therefore, Iran’s defense capabilities, designed to deter aggressors from any thought of attacking Iran, are not a matter that could be talked about.”

According to US broadcaster NBC, Israel is growing increasingly concerned that Iran is seeking to rebuild and expand its missile production following the war and may seek to strike it again to curtail those efforts.

During a planned visit to the US later this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is expected to present [President Donald] Trump with options for the US to join or assist in any new military operations,” NBC reported, citing an unnamed source with direct knowledge of the plans and former US officials briefed on them.

Additionally, Israel has warned the Trump administration that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may be using an ongoing military exercise focusing on missiles as cover to launch an attack on Israel, according to a report yesterday. However, the US intelligence community has not seen any signs that an Iranian strike could be imminent, an American source told the outlet.

Israel says the June strikes on military and nuclear sites were to prevent Iran from realizing its avowed plan to destroy Israel.

2:02 pm

Government unanimously votes to shut down Army Radio by March; legal challenges expected

By Stav Levaton

The entrance to Army Radio in Jaffa, on November 12, 2025 (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The cabinet unanimously approves Defense Minister Israel Katz’s proposal to shut down the IDF-run station Army Radio, with broadcasts set to end by March 1, 2026, according to the minister’s office.

Speaking at the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the existence of a military-run broadcaster was highly unusual, remarking that “a military station broadcasting under the authority of the army… exists in North Korea and maybe a few other countries, and we certainly do not want to be counted among them.”

Netanyahu says he was open to repeated proposals over the years to abolish or privatize the station, adding: “I believe in competition. So the time has come, and better sooner rather than later.”

Katz claims the decision was meant to address what he describes as a democratic “anomaly.”

“A situation in which a radio station intended for all citizens of the State of Israel is operated by the military is an anomaly that does not exist in democratic countries,” he tells ministers. He argues that Army Radio’s political and current affairs programming “creates a fundamental difficulty for the IDF, stemming from the IDF’s involuntary involvement in political discourse,” and says the station’s content “harms the Israel Defense Forces, its soldiers and its unity.”

Katz asserts that “after October 7, these difficulties became even more acute.”

Katz announced the pending closure of Army Radio in November, saying the decision followed repeated complaints from soldiers and civilians, including bereaved families, who argued that the station does not represent them and, at times, has harmed morale and the war effort.

Army Radio and press freedom groups are expected to file legal challenges against the legislation.

2:16 pm

Bennett: PM involved in cover-up of Qatargate, ‘the most serious act of treason in Israeli history,’ and must resign

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett arrives for a court hearing in his defamation lawsuit against journalist Boaz Golan at the Magistrate's Court in Rishon Lezion, December 2, 2025. (Jonathan Shaul/Flash90)

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of engaging in the cover-up of the Qatargate affair, “the most serious act of treason in Israeli history,” and should resign.

“Netanyahu’s office betrayed the State of Israel and IDF soldiers during wartime and acted on behalf of Qatar for financial gain, and Netanyahu himself is covering it up,” Bennett declares in a statement following new revelations in a report last night. “Whether Netanyahu knew or did not know that his office was working for the enemy in time of war, both possibilities require his immediate resignation.”

“Three of Netanyahu’s closest advisers were in effect paid agents of Qatar and Hamas at the height of the war, when our soldiers were fighting and being killed by Hamas bullets purchased with Qatari money,” Bennett says, adding that this “can certainly explain why the Israeli government failed in the ultimate goal it set for itself in the war: the destruction of Hamas.”

“Qatar’s declared goal is Hamas’s survival. Israel’s declared war goal is the destruction of Hamas. They chose sides. Instead of acting for Israel, they acted for Israel’s enemies,” Bennett continues, accusing Netanyahu’s office of working “tirelessly to malign Egypt, which is anti-Hamas, and whitewash Qatar, which is pro-Hamas.”

This harmed national security and even if the staffers are not guilty on a legal level, “from a security and ethical perspective” their behavior is “a betrayal of our soldiers,” he said.

Bennett pledges to establish a state commission of inquiry “that will also investigate aid to an enemy state in time of war” if he is elected to lead the next government.

Bennett’s statement is endorsed by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, who calls the Qatargate scandal “the most serious treason affair in the history of the state,” and The Democrats chairman Yair Golan, who writes on X that “Netanyahu’s office betrayed the country’s security in the Qatar affair, and Netanyahu must be fully investigated over it.”

In the so-called Qatargate affair, Netanyahu’s close aide Jonatan Urich and former spokesman Eli Feldstein are suspected of offenses tied to their alleged work for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm, including contact with a foreign agent and a series of corruption charges involving lobbyists and businessmen, while they were working for the prime minister.

WhatsApp messaged obtained by the Ynet news site in August revealed that former Netanyahu campaign adviser Yisrael Einhorn had crafted pro-Qatar messages and sent them via WhatsApp to Feldstein, who forwarded these messages to Urich, who then disseminated the messaging to journalists, in an effort to improve Doha’s image in Israel.

Last night, i24 News reported that further correspondence between the suspects showed that they had shared fabricated information attributed to “senior security officials” and “senior American officials” that played up Qatar’s role in negotiations with Hamas while attempting to sideline Egypt.

The network also reported that the staffers worked together with a reporter from the pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 to “refine” the text of his story based on their messaging.

2:22 pm

Katz orders immediate steps to wind down Army Radio after cabinet approval of closure

By Stav Levaton

Defense Minister Israel Katz attends a ceremony at Jerusalem City Hall, December 15, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Following the cabinet’s unanimous vote to shut down Army Radio, Defense Minister Israel Katz orders the IDF to begin immediate steps toward winding down the station’s operations, including halting all recruitment and reassigning soldiers currently serving there.

According to Katz’s office, the defense minister has contacted IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir to instruct the military to immediately stop all selection processes for Army Radio and to cease assigning soldiers to the unit, both in mandatory service and in the reserves. Katz also orders preparations to begin for ending the service of soldiers currently stationed at the broadcaster and for their gradual reassignment to other IDF units, with priority given to combat and combat-support roles.

Katz further directs the Defense Ministry’s director general, Maj. Gen. Amir Baram, to assist civilian IDF employees working at the station and to terminate their employment under arrangements that are “as appropriate as possible” and in accordance with the law. In parallel, the defense minister orders the cancellation of all of the station’s contracts, including agreements with civilian journalists, as well as steps to end the station’s use of its facilities.

The Defense Ministry says all measures are to be completed by February 15, 2026, in order to finalize the closure of Army Radio and end its broadcasts by March 1, 2026, in line with the government decision approved today.

2:24 pm

Coalition defeats motion to establish state commission of inquiry into October 7

A Hamas terrorist in a body bag is seen in Kibbutz Be'eri, Oct. 11, 2023. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Coalition members on the Knesset State Control Committee vote 5-4 to defeat an opposition motion to establish a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding Hamas’s onslaught on October 7, 2023.

“We will raise the issue again, and we will not let up,” says chairman MK Alon Schuster of the Blue and White party.

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. However, they can also be created by a vote in the Knesset State Control Committee.

The State Control Committee voted down a similar motion in October.

Earlier, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation voted to back Likud MK Ariel Kallner’s bill establishing a contentious “national state investigation committee” whose members would be chosen by politicians.

2:39 pm

Union of Journalists to petition High Court over government decision to close Army Radio

By Stav Levaton

A soldier serving at Army Radio holds a microphone in Jerusalem, December 22, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Union of Journalists in Israel says it will petition the High Court of Justice against the government’s decision to shut down Army Radio, arguing the move constitutes a severe violation of freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

In a statement following the cabinet’s unanimous approval of Defense Minister Israel Katz’s proposal to close the IDF-run station by March 2026, the organization says the decision is “unreasonable and disproportionate” and undermines the foundations of democracy and the rule of law.

The union also argues that the cabinet lacks the authority to intervene in matters regarding the station, saying responsibility for Army Radio rests with the Knesset, as part of Israel’s public broadcasting framework.

According to the Union of Journalists, Army Radio’s news programming is “an integral part of public broadcasting,” as established under the Public Broadcasting Law and Supreme Court rulings, and therefore cannot be terminated by a government decision alone.

2:44 pm

Several settler activists breach border into Syria, are returned to Israel by IDF

Illustrative: View of Mount Hermon in Syria, as seen from the northern Golan Heights near the Syrian border, on December 13, 2025. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)

Several settler activists breached the border into Syria in the central Golan Heights a short while, before being located and returned to Israel by IDF troops, the military says.

The IDF says the suspects will be handed over to the police for questioning.

“The IDF strongly condemns the incident and emphasizes that this is a grave incident, constituting a criminal offense that endangers civilians and IDF troops,” the military adds.

Members of the same group of activists, calling themselves the “Bashan Pioneers” — after the biblical name for the Golan Heights and southern Syria region — have crossed into Syria several times in recent months. Yesterday, several activists were stopped by the army before managing to breach the border.

The group says it seeks to build Jewish settlements inside the IDF-held buffer zone in southern Syria.

2:46 pm

Israeli authorities demolish East Jerusalem building home to 90 people, amid years-long legal battle

By Charlie Summers

Excavators demolish a building constructed without a permit in the Wadi Qaddum area near the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem on December 22, 2025. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

Municipal authorities are demolishing a four-floor apartment building in Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, following a years-long legal battle over the property.

The building — which is home to some 90 people in 13 apartment units — is the largest residential structure to be demolished in the city this year, according to the Ir Amim organization, which advocates for Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

Authorities didn’t give residents prior notice before arriving to destroy the building at 4 a.m. this morning, residents tell The Times of Israel. A brawl broke out between residents and municipal personnel who came to assist in the evictions.

Jerusalem District police, who accompanied municipal authorities to maintain public order during the demolition, shut down the altercation and arrested two people. One police officer was injured when a rock was thrown at her, a police spokesperson tells The Times of Israel.

Footage from the scene shows a crowd of men in neon-green work vests, apparently workers for the municipality, encircling and clashing with a resident.

“The municipality brought them to help throw all the clothes out onto the street,” says Muayed Burkan, one of the building’s residents who was evicted today.

תראו את הטרלול הכהניסטי הבא: הבוקר החלה הריסת בתי הפלסטינים הגדולה ביותר עד כה בירושלים המזרחית, בשכונת סילוואן. אבל הפשע של הרס בתי עשרות המשפחות לא הספיק להם לבדו, אז הם גם שלחו עשרות נערים כהניסטים-מתנחלים ביחד עם כוחות ההריסה של הממשלה. הנה התוצאה לפניכם: pic.twitter.com/YosgBWNoZr

— Alon-Lee Green – ألون-لي جرين – אלון-לי גרין ???? (@AlonLeeGreen) December 22, 2025

In a statement, the municipality says the demolition of the building was based on a 2014 court order, and “the land on which the structure stood is zoned for leisure and sports uses and construction, and not for residential purposes.”

Watching the demolition from a nearby rooftop, 25-year-old Burkan tells The Times of Israel that he wasn’t given a chance to take furniture and other heavier belongings from his apartment, and they are all now being destroyed inside his former home.

The apartment complex was constructed in 2011 without a building permit, on open land in Silwan’s Wadi Qaddum area that had been zoned for non-residential use. Muayed says that he and his family were not aware that the building was unlawfully constructed at the time.

Residents had been trying since 2014 to retroactively legalize the building. Together with neighboring landowners, the residents’ lawyer Juma’a Khalaila submitted an 11-dunam (2.7-acre) planning proposal to the municipality in 2022, which aimed to regulate the apartment complex.

The municipality’s legal adviser Moran Revivo was slated to meet with Khalaila at 10 a.m. this morning to discuss possible steps toward regulating the structure, but the demolition began hours before the meeting’s scheduled start time.

According to Ir Amim, the proposal for regulating the building was coordinated with the municipal planning department and had been under discussion at the time of the demolition.

AFP contributed to this report.

2:48 pm

Liberman: Any potential state commission of inquiry should also probe Qatargate

Yisrael Beytenu party chief Avigdor Liberman holds a faction meeting in the Knesset in Jerusalem on November 24, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman says that any state commission of inquiry established by the next government must also probe the so-called Qatargate scandal, in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close aides are suspected of multiple offenses tied to their alleged work for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm while they were working for the prime minister.

He also criticizes the government for advancing legislation establishing a contentious politically appointed “national state investigation committee” into the failures surrounding Hamas’s onslaught on October 7, 2023.

Liberman also slams the cabinet’s decision to shut down Army Radio, dismissing it as a politically motivated move related to the upcoming Likud primaries.

2:48 pm

3 killed in IDF strike said to target Hezbollah operatives near Lebanon’s Sidon

Three people were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a vehicle near the coastal Lebanese city of Sidon, Lebanon’s official news agency reports.

The IDF said that it had targeted several Hezbollah operatives in the area.

3:09 pm

Iranian media reports missile drills in a number of cities

By Reuters and ToI Staff

An Iranian man and a child visit an exhibition showcasing missile and drone achievements in Tehran on November 12, 2025. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iranian state media reported missile drills in different Iranian cities, citing unnamed sources and witnesses.

The Telegram channel of Iran’s public broadcaster and semi-official Nournews publish videos of what appear to be missile launches, without specifying the whereabouts.

However, the outlets says launches took place in the cites of Tehran, Isfahan and Mashhad.

Reuters cannot independently verify the authenticity of the videos.

Israel has warned the Trump administration that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may be using an ongoing military exercise focusing on missiles as cover to launch an attack on Israel, according to a report yesterday. However, the US intelligence community has not seen any signs that an Iranian strike could be imminent, an American source told the outlet.

3:22 pm

Gantz: Government’s planned Oct. 7 probe doesn’t serve the country’s needs

Blue and White chair MK Benny Gantz takes aim at the government’s proposed alternative probe into October 7, saying it serves narrow interests rather than those of the nation as a whole

“Is there anything more anti-national than the ‘national’ inquiry committee [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu wants to establish? A committee whose members will be chosen by the parties that were in the government and cabinet on the eve of the failure?” Gantz asks during a press conference ahead of his party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, and after the Ministerial Committee for Legislation voted to back a Likud bill establishing a contentious “national state investigation committee” into the failures surrounding Hamas’s onslaught.

“Coalition members say the problem is that the judicial system needs to be investigated. What are you talking about? Did [High Court Chief Justice] Isaac Amit forbid the IDF from positioning soldiers at the border on 7.10? Did [former court president] Aharon Barak say to bring suitcases of money from Qatar? Did [former attorney general Avichai] Mandelblit know about [Hamas’s plan to invade southern Israel] and not inform the political echelon?”

“It must be said clearly: the judicial system bears no responsibility for the October failure,” Gantz declares. “What we see here is a strategy of delay and evasion” so that those in the government can escape responsibility.

Asked about his recent statement seemingly indicating that he does not consider himself part of the anti-Netanyahu “change bloc,” Gantz tells reporters that he wants Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu replaced.

Gantz recalls how he both served in Naftali Bennett’s government which temporarily replaced Netanyahu and in Netanyahu’s next government, which he temporarily joined after October 7.

“But we serve all of Israel” and “we will lead in the formation of a government of 70+ Zionist Knesset members who will isolate the extremists and serve the State of Israel,” he says.

3:25 pm

Lapid: Coalition’s Oct. 7 probe designed to destroy evidence, mislead the public

Opposition Leader MK Yair Lapid leads a faction meeting at the Knesset on December 22, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says the politically appointed commission of inquiry into October 7 being promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition will “bury the truth” and hoodwink the Israeli public.

“Those directly responsible for the disaster will appoint a cover-up commission whose sole purpose is to clear them of guilt. It will not help them. They are guilty,” Lapid declares.

“This committee is not meant to investigate the truth; it is meant to bury the truth. Politicians will control it, and its goal is to contaminate the testimonies, destroy evidence, mislead and confuse the public,” he continues, calling the commission “a death certificate for the truth.”

“Now they are trying to erase reality, engineer it, deceive us all. With this proposal, the government has control over the hearings, the invitation of witnesses, the setting of the agenda. They will interrogate the late Yitzhak Rabin long before they interrogate Netanyahu.”

3:29 pm

High Court petition: Closure of Army Radio part of effort ‘to harm media outlets considered critical of government’

A soldier serving at Army Radio holds a microphone in Jerusalem, December 22, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel files a petition to the High Court of Justice against the government’s approval of a resolution shutting Army Radio, a public broadcaster.

The liberal government watchdog group argues that the decision was made on the basis of “ulterior motives” and based on an erroneous factual basis, and in a manner likely to harm freedom of expression and the press, and therefore the public interest more broadly.

The organization also argues that since Army Radio’s operations are anchored in law, it requires legislation, not a cabinet resolution, to shutter the station.

Movement for Quality Government also claims that the decision to close Army Radio was made “to harm media outlets seen as critical of the government” and to “economically benefit the owners of media outlets close to the government.”

The petition includes a request for an interim order freezing implementation of the cabinet resolution until the High Court rules on the issue.

“Closing Army Radio will cause real and disproportionate harm to freedom of expression and the free press, and will cause significant damage to the media market in Israel,” says Uri Hess, an attorney with Movement for Quality Government.

“Such a decision requires the approval of the Knesset, and cannot be made solely on the government’s advice.”

3:47 pm

Golan: Netanyahu fumbled military successes in Iran, Gaza with lack of political followup

The Democrats party leader Yair Golan leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, December 22, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to capitalize on Israel’s military victories in Iran and Gaza in order to implement political solutions, endangering national security, The Democrats party chairman Yair Golan charges.

“Every citizen of Israel should ask themself one simple question,” Golan tells reporters ahead of his left-wing party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset. “How is it possible that last June, at the end of the war with Iran, Benjamin Netanyahu solemnly declared that ‘Israel had eliminated Iran’s nuclear threat and severely damaged its missile array’; and that this was a ‘historic victory’ — and today, less than six months later, he is running to the president of the United States to beg for permission to attack Iran again?”

According to NBC News, Netanyahu will present plans for a possible fresh attack on Iran to Trump during his upcoming visit to Washington. According to the report, Israel is growing increasingly concerned that Iran is rebuilding and even expanding its ballistic missile production in the wake of the nations’ 12-day war in June.

“The answer is simple and serious: the IDF won the war. Netanyahu caused Israel to lose,” says Golan, arguing that there was no diplomatic follow-up to the war, such as the implementation of a new, stricter nuclear agreement and the establishment of “a regional and international coalition, which reduces the enemy’s freedom of action and maintains Israel’s security superiority in the long term.”

Similarly, Golan says, Netanyahu, both in Iran and Gaza, used military force “without a clear political goal, without binding arrangements, and without an exit strategy.”

“Netanyahu did not care about a governing alternative to Hamas, did not lead a political initiative, and thus allowed the despicable terrorist organization to recover and flourish and continue to control the population of Gaza,” he adds, calling Netanyahu “a danger to Israel’s security.”

4:09 pm

Visiting Gaza, region’s top Catholic official says there’s no hunger anymore, urges pressure on Hamas

By Lazar Berman

Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa (center) and Patriarchal Vicar for Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Bishop William Shomali (left) speak to reporters at the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem, December 22, 2025. (Lazar Berman/The Times of Israel)

There is no hunger currently in Gaza, says the top Catholic official in the region, adding that pressure should be applied on Hamas to agree to US President Donald Trump’s 20-point vision for the future of the Strip.

“The food is there, at least,” says Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa after visiting the only Catholic church in Gaza over the weekend. “We have to say that there’s not anymore famine or hunger. Things are entering. Not everything, but it’s a totally different situation compared to six months ago.”

Bishop William Shomali, patriarchal vicar for Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, concurs with Pizzaballa’s assessment in their press conference at the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem: “There is in the market something to eat, even fruits, even vegetables, but it is to be paid by money or by PayPal. Not everyone has cash. So the problem remains. There’s fruit, but many people, like in the West Bank, they can find everything, but they need money to buy it finally.”

“There’s poverty, extreme poverty, especially that many people, most of them, don’t work, so they don’t have revenue,” Shomali continues. “They don’t receive anything. And they live from the help given by the UN agencies. Also, I am proud to say that Catholic associations are very active.”

There is a lack of antibiotics in the Strip as well, says Shomali. “Antibiotics became like a hard currency,” he laments.

Gazans he met with want “to return to life,” says Pizzaballa. “We want to talk about the future. Our community, they wanted to celebrate Christmas joyfully.”

Pizzaballa says that he hopes that Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza “will be completed.”

“We know that it’s not that simple as people think, but it is the only roadmap we have, so we have to continue this,” the patriarch continues.

“I think the other countries and those who are in relations with Hamas should work a lot in order to convince them about this,” says Pizzaballa. “We are convinced that Gaza needs to turn the page and to have a completely different future.”

He also decries the use of violence in Gaza: “It’s not up to us to enter in the political questions, direct political questions, but the use of violence, we saw the result. It broke, and we are against all of this.”

4:10 pm

Turkish FM: Ankara expects phase two of Trump’s Gaza plan to start in early 2026

Turkey expects the second phase of a Gaza ceasefire deal to begin early in 2026, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan says, following talks with US, Qatari and Egyptian officials in Miami over the weekend.

Speaking at a press conference in Damascus, Fidan says the discussions focused on obstacles to advancing the deal to its next phase, adding that the priority is for Gaza’s governance to be taken over by a Palestinian-led group.

4:19 pm

Italy says it wants its military to stay in Lebanon even after UNIFIL’s mandate ends

By AFP and ToI Staff

Italy says it intends to keep a military presence in Lebanon even after the UN peacekeeping force it belongs to leaves as planned on December 31, 2026.

“Even after UNIFIL, Italy will continue to do its part, supporting with conviction the international presence and supporting the capacity development of the Lebanese armed forces,” Defense Minister Guido Crosetto says during a visit to Lebanon, according to a statement.

Asked by AFP if this means Italy wants to maintain a military presence in the country, a ministry spokesman confirms that this is the case.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has acted as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon since 1978, remaining after Israel ended an occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000.

Lebanon had wanted UNIFIL to stay. But the UN Security Council voted in August to allow only one final extension for UNIFIL after pressure from Israel and its US ally to end the mandate.

UNIFIL is currently led by Italian Major General Diodato Abagnara and numbers 9,923 troops from 49 countries, according to the force’s website.

Italy is the second-biggest contributing country with 1,099 soldiers deployed, after Indonesia, which has 1,232 soldiers.

Israel has hailed the termination of UNIFIL and urged the Beirut government to exert its authority after an Israeli military campaign that devastated Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah. Jerusalem has charged that UNIFIL has completely failed to prevent Hezbollah from building up a major military presence along the border with Israel, with the terror group close to ordering a large-scale invasion after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.

4:27 pm

Huckabee says Iran ‘didn’t get the full message’ of US bombing of Fordo, amid reports of rebuilding efforts

By Nava Freiberg

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee is seen during an interview in Jerusalem, August 20, 2025. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee warns that Tehran “didn’t get the full message” following Washington’s B-2 bomber attack on the Fordo nuclear facility during the Israel-Iran war in June, as Iran appears to be attempting to rebuild the site.

“I don’t know that [Iran] ever took [US President Donald Trump] seriously until the night that the B-2 bombers went to Fordo,” Huckabee says, in an interview at an Institute for National Security Studies conference.

Answering a question about Tehran’s reported efforts to rebuild the site, Huckabee tells the interviewer: “I hope they got the message, but apparently they didn’t get the full message because, as you mentioned, they appear to be trying to reconstitute and find a new way to dig the hole deeper and secure it more.”

Asked whether the US would greenlight another Israeli offensive against Iran if Israel determined that such a move was necessary, Huckabee responds: “All I can do is point to you what [Trump] has said repeatedly, and he consistently has said Iran is never going to enrich uranium, and they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.”

He adds that Iran renewing its ballistic missile and nuclear capabilities threatens not just Israel and the US, but also “presents a real threat to all of Europe.”

“And if the Europeans don’t understand this, then they’re even dumber than I sometimes think they are,” he adds, while noting that Europe has put snapback sanctions back into force against Iran and encouraging “more of those kinds of things.”

5:38 pm

Smotrich: PM must insist to Trump that Israel be able to destroy Hamas; PA must also be eradicated

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the Religious Zionism party chair, attends a faction meeting in the Knesset in Jerusalem on December 8, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

When he meets with US President Donald Trump in Florida later this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must insist that Israel be allowed to finish the job in Gaza and destroy the Hamas terrorist organization, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich tells reporters ahead of his hard-right Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.

“At this meeting, the prime minister must ensure that, as we promised, we do not stop just short of realizing the primary objective of the war that we defined — the destruction of Hamas. We promised absolute victory, and we are not there yet,” Smotrich tells reporters, laying out a series of non-negotiable requirements that he says Netanyahu should push for during his visit to Mar-a-Lago.

According to NBC News, during his visit, Netanyahu will present Trump with plans for a possible fresh attack on Iran.

Smotrich argues that there can be no reconstruction without full demilitarization in Gaza, and that “Hamas cannot exist in Gaza at the end of this war.” He further rules out any postwar role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza and says that no multinational force should be allowed into the areas of Gaza currently held by Israeli forces.

Israel will “under no circumstances” pay for the reconstruction of Gaza, he says, and “there must be a clear and short deadline for attempts to dismantle Hamas the easy way, after which the State of Israel will have a free hand to do so in its own way.”

Turning to the West Bank, Smotrich insists that Netanyahu “must finally also put Judea and Samaria on the table,” asserting that “the PA is a terrorist entity that must be eradicated” and in order to ensure that the West Bank does not become the next Gaza, Israel must apply sovereignty there.

“If, God forbid, we do not act now on each of these fronts, we will, God forbid, be responsible for the next October 7. I bear responsibility, by virtue of being a member of the government, for October 7, and I have no intention of taking responsibility for the next October 7,” Smotrich says, referring to Hamas’s 2023 onslaught that started the Gaza war.

The far-right minister’s comments come on the heels of remarks he made during an interview with Channel 12 on Saturday night, when he appeared to say that Israel will destroy Hamas before the next election.

5:39 pm

Haredi anti-draft protesters block Route 4 in central Israel in both directions

Route 4 in central Israel has been blocked in both directions as extremist ultra-Orthodox protesters decry the arrest of a Haredi draft-dodger, police say.

Cops are directing traffic to alternate routes in the affected area, between Aluf Sade Interchange and Em Hamoshavot Interchange.

Hardline Haredim who oppose any conscription of community members to the IDF for fear they will be secularized have been holding regular protests that frequently include blocking Route 4 during the evening rush hour.

6:00 pm

Court bars Histadrut chief from heading the labor union for 90 days amid major corruption probe

By Charlie Summers

Histadrut labor federation chief Arnon Bar-David visiting Kiryat Shmona, June 27, 2024. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

Histadrut chairman Arnon Bar-David has been barred from heading the labor federation until March 2026, Hebrew outlets report.

The decision handed down by the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court comes as police probe Bar-David on corruption and bribery suspicions, as part of a far-reaching investigation into union officials.

Bar-David, who has been under house arrest since November 13, is suspected of taking payments from his insurance agent, Ezra Gabay, who allegedly has been operating a massive bribery network within the Histadrut and its subsidiaries.

Police believe Gabay exploited his close connections to Bar-David to fix jobs for his associates within the Histadrut, on the condition that the recipients secure insurance contracts with his agency.

Police have reportedly sought to distance Bar-David from the organization’s offices amid concern he may try to interfere in witness testimonies.

Bar-David plans to appeal the 90-day ban, his lawyer tells Ynet. In the meantime, he will be replaced by acting Histadrut chairman Roi Yaakov, the outlet reports.

Police also arrested Yaakov after going public with the probe in November, but he has since been released.

The investigation has been ongoing for over two years, but was revealed at the start of last month, as police carried out a series of raids that saw dozens arrested.

Investigators have narrowed down the number of suspects in the probe to 71 people and collected around 370 testimonies so far in the investigation, according to Ynet.

6:14 pm

Netanyahu reportedly says Oct. 7 inquiry must probe Oslo Accords, Gaza Disengagement, judicial overhaul opponents

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset, December 8, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly said today that the planned government-backed commission of inquiry into the failings surrounding the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, must include an examination of the 1993 Oslo Accords, the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza, and the 2023 protest movement against the government’s judicial overhaul agenda.

Netanyahu made his comments during the meeting of a ministerial committee he is heading that will determine the mandate of the government’s inquiry, which is being advanced instead of a widely demanded independent state commission of inquiry.

According to a report by Channel 12, Netanyahu told the ministerial committee that the investigation into the events of October 7 must go back decades, “from Oslo, through to the [Gaza] Disengagement, and up to [reserve duty] refusal.” The latter part refers to the declaration of some opponents of the government’s judicial overhaul agenda that they were discontinuing their service in the IDF reserves.

Netanyahu says he wants an “balanced” commission of inquiry — meaning, with half of its members selected by the coalition and half by the opposition — to conduct the investigation, adding that “I am prepared to be the first person to be investigated,” according to Ynet.

Netanyahu, who ruled Israel for roughly 14 of the 15 years preceding the Hamas onslaught, has adamantly refused to take responsibility, instead attempting to cast the blame on his predecessors, his political opponents, the security establishment and the judiciary.

Netanyahu, as finance minister in Ariel Sharon’s government, voted several times in favor of key steps advancing the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza in 2004 and 2005, although he ultimately resigned in August 2005 in protest against the plan, just a week before its implementation.

Although Netanyahu opposed the Oslo Accords before they were signed with the PLO, he never acted to reverse them after he took office as prime minister in 1996 and again in 2009, and he signed and partially implemented additional components of the Oslo process, including the Hebron Protocol and the Wye River Memorandum.

Earlier today, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation voted to back a contentious bill to create the new form of commission of inquiry whose members would be picked by the Knesset, instead of by the Supreme Court president as mandated under the current law for state commissions of inquiry.

Ze’ev Elkin was the only minister to oppose the bill, expressing concern over a clause in the bill stipulating that the Knesset speaker will choose the remaining members of the commission if the opposition boycotts the process, as its members have vowed to do, which would mean that the ruling coalition would appoint all members of the commission.

6:47 pm

Brazil’s presidential hopeful Flavio Bolsonaro says he may visit Israel next month

Brailian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, left, looks on as his father, then-President Jair Bolsonaro, launches a new political party, Alliance for Brazil, in Brasilia, Brazil, November 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)

Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro who is now running for president himself, tells Reuters he might visit Israel next month as part of a planned trip abroad.

Stops also may include the United States, Argentina, Chile, Europe and other destinations in the Middle East.

In his first interview with international media since declaring his presidential ambitions this month, the senator says he plans a presidential campaign next year to moderate the family legacy while delivering smaller government, tax cuts and privatizations.

Elected to Brazil’s Senate in 2018 on the conservative wave that brought his father to the presidency, he vows to take up the mantle of the elder Bolsonaro’s market-friendly reforms while distancing himself from right-wing culture wars.

“I consider myself, truly, a more centered Bolsonaro,” he says in a Friday afternoon interview from his Brasilia office, decorated with miniatures of his father and US President Donald Trump. “I’ve always had this profile: being more moderate, more measured.”

6:53 pm

Hamas officially mum as its allies slam PA over apparent suspension of prisoner payments

By Noam Lehmann

Palestinians protest against the Palestinian Authority's prisoner payments reform outside the Prime Minister's Office in Ramallah on December 14, 2025. (Screen capture/ YouTube)

Hamas allies cry foul over a statement last week by the Palestinian Authority’s new welfare agency that said Ramallah would pay stipends to prisoners in Israeli jails based on economic need rather than time served.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group says the PA’s move to end special payments to the families of Palestinians killed, wounded or detained by Israel — including while or after committing attacks — is tantamount to “stabbing our nation’s history of struggle in the back.”

“The decision seeks to turn this well-established right into a social ‘handout’ dependent on social research and devoid of any national consideration,” PIJ says.

Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), another Hamas ally, says the PA move is a “national and moral crime” that “aligns with the policy of the Zionist enemy.”

Another press release published by PRC and attributed broadly to “factions of the Palestinian resistance” says the PA move is a “dangerous policy that deepens the division” among the Palestinian people and “reflects a blatant submission to foreign diktats.”

The statement does not appear on Hamas’s own social media. Both PRC and Hamas have previously published disparate press releases attributed to “factions of the Palestinian resistance.”

The statements follow a Thursday press release by the Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Institution, also known as Tamkeen, that denied Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s accusation that the PA had failed to end what Israel and others call “pay-to-slay” laws that incentivize terror attacks.

Responding to Sa’ar, Tamkeen said it was the only body in the PA empowered to determine financial entitlements, and that it complies with Abbas’s February decree to end the laws.

The Tamkeen statement quickly drew fire both within Abbas’s own Fatah faction and from the head of the PA’s prisoner affairs office, which had hitherto handled the payments.

The statement came as PA President Mahmoud Abbas seeks to demonstrate the PA’s competence to assume the reins of postwar Gaza under US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan, which requires the PA to undergo unspecified reforms.

In an apparent sign that Abbas’s decree from earlier this year to end the payments is being implemented, Palestinians in the West Bank have taken to the streets to demand the stipends be restored.

7:12 pm

Netanyahu defends politically appointed Oct. 7 inquiry: ‘How can anyone oppose this?’

By Lazar Berman

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in a video message from his office, December 22, 2025. (Screenshot/GPO)

In a video statement defending his government’s push to create a politically appointed commission of inquiry into the failings surrounding the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, rather than a widely demanded independent commission, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argues that an event on such a scale necessitates a “special commission.”

“This will be an equal commission of inquiry,” he says, adding that neither the government nor the opposition — each of which is slated to pick half of the panel’s members — “will have any advantage in appointing the members of the commission.”

However, the bill as advanced stipulates that if the opposition refuses to cooperate by selecting its half of the commission’s members, the Knesset speaker will appoint the remaining members, giving the coalition complete control of the inquiry.

“The government could have established a governmental review committee, whose entire composition would be determined solely by the government,” Netanyahu maintains. “But I believed that such a committee would earn the trust of only part of the public.”

“Likewise, a commission of inquiry whose composition would be determined exclusively by Justice Isaac Amit, as proposed by the opposition, would gain the trust of only a small segment of the public that believes in it,” Netanyahu continues, avoiding calling the Supreme Court president by his title.

In fact, successive polls have found that most of the public favors a state commission of inquiry — either appointed exclusively by Amit, or jointly with his deputy Noam Sohlberg, both options that Netanyahu has ruled out.

Earlier today, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation voted to back the contentious bill to create the new form of commission of inquiry, whose members would be picked by the Knesset instead of by the Supreme Court president as mandated under the current law for state commissions of inquiry.

Netanyahu repeats an oft-used line of argument that the US established a special commission after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks: “No one then complained about political bias, and I must say that its conclusions received broad legitimacy precisely for this reason. That is exactly what we are doing.”

“If the goal is truly to reach the truth,” he continues, “if there is truly no desire to allow a cover-up, how can anyone oppose this?”

“I say to the opposition: Go ahead — bring whatever experts you want, ask whatever questions you want, investigate whomever you want — including me,” he says.

“All issues will be examined, without exception,” he pledges. “The political, the security, the intelligence, the legal — everything.”

Netanyahu says that he brought together a team of ministers to present various options for the mandate of the investigation, which will be determined solely by the government.

7:16 pm

3 settlers lightly hurt from stones, 2 Palestinians badly hurt from retaliatory gunfire – police

By Charlie Summers

Medics at the scene of a clash between settlers and Palestinians near the West Bank settlement of Almon, December 22, 2025. (Magen David Adom)

Three Israelis have been lightly injured and two Palestinian men have been seriously injured from gunfire in a clash between settlers and Palestinians in the central West Bank.

Palestinians threw stones at a group of settlers, one of whom opened fire with an army-grade weapon in response, near Almon, a West Bank settlement northeast of Jerusalem, police say.

Three Israelis were lightly injured from the stone-throwing, police say. They are being taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.

Magen David Adom paramedics have taken the Palestinians, both in serious condition, to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus. Another Palestinian was lightly wounded by the gunfire and has been evacuated from the area by Red Crescent paramedics.

Police are currently operating at the scene and have launched an investigation into the circumstances of the incident.

7:23 pm

IDF chief: Army has completed its Oct. 7 probes, will now implement its conclusions

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (left) meets with the IDF's General Staff Forum, December 22, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

During a learning session with the military’s top brass, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says the army has completed its investigations into the failures surrounding the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, and is now moving forward with implementing their lessons.

“The IDF has completed the investigations of the events of October 7. The purpose of today is to formulate an IDF plan for the future and to move forward,” he says in remarks provided by the IDF.

The session comes as part of the IDF’s efforts to build its work plan for the coming years, based on the lessons learned from the investigations into the IDF’s failures during and ahead of Hamas’s terror onslaught, the military says.

“The lessons of October 7 are the foundation for the IDF’s change in the coming years; they will accompany us going forward, and it is our duty to continue to embed them in the IDF’s new strategic concept,” Zamir says.

“Our goal is for the lessons of the war to be fully implemented. I trust this forum to lead the IDF toward renewal and growth,” he adds.

7:50 pm

Netanyahu holds trilateral meeting with Greek, Cypriot counterparts

By Nava Freiberg

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, (center) meets with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis (right) and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in Jerusalem, December 22, 2025. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with his Greek and Cypriot counterparts in Jerusalem, wrapping up a trilateral summit between the leaders, according to the Prime Minister’s Office. The leaders are expected to deliver a declaration to the press after the meeting.

Ahead of the trilateral meeting, Netanyahu met separately with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, first privately and then in expanded meetings with officials from both sides, the PMO adds.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar held diplomatic meetings with Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis and Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos before the meetings chaired by Netanyahu, Sa’ar’s office says in a statement, adding that the ministers will also hold a trilateral meeting this evening.

President Isaac Herzog met today with Christodoulides at the President’s Residence, writing on X that they “discussed how to deepen our cooperation, including through the trilateral alliance between Israel, Cyprus, and Greece, and the importance of the Israel-Egypt gas export deal” that Netanyahu announced last week.

Herzog and Mitsotakis visited the house of Greek citizen Jonas Chrosis, a 26-year-old architecture student who was murdered by terrorists in an attack in Jaffa late last year, along with six other victims. Hamas later claimed responsibility for the murders.

“Ionas’s assassination was a tragic event which reminds us of the necessity to fight terrorism in all its forms,” Mitsotakis says in a statement from Herzog’s office.

Earlier today, a diplomatic official told The Times of Israel that the trilateral declaration expected this evening will show that the relationship between the eastern Mediterranean allies is “moving to a new stage,” and will deal with “energy, security, and most of the economic sectors you can imagine, from tourism to agriculture.”

The official added that no announcement was expected on the creation of a joint rapid-response military force in the eastern Mediterranean, following reports that the countries were exploring such a move, given growing concern in Athens over Turkey’s expanding military posture.

9:08 pm

At least 20% of Mamdani appointees tied to anti-Zionist groups, ADL says

By Luke Tress

New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani gives brief remarks during a Veteran's Day event at Volunteers of America - Commonwealth Veterans' Residence on November 11, 2025, in the Soundview neighborhood of the Bronx borough in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/ Getty Images/ AFP)

At least 20 percent of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s administrative appointees are connected to anti-Zionist US activist groups, such as Students for Justice in Palestine, the Anti-Defamation League says in a report.

The ADL releases the report after surveying Mamdani’s more than 400 appointees.

Some of the appointees are connected to other anti-Zionist groups, such as Jewish Voice for Peace and Within Our Lifetime, a leading, hardline activist group in New York City.

Two of the appointees posted support for Palestinian “resistance” against Israel, including one who wrote that resistance was “justified” a day after the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion and onslaught, the report says.

At least four of the appointees have ties to Louis Farrakhan, the antisemitic head of Nation of Islam, such as posting support for Farrakhan online.

The report says at least a dozen of the appointees backed anti-Israel protest encampments on college campuses and at least five attended the protests.

One appointee to the Committee on Youth and Education joined a CUNY encampment and posted photos of herself standing in front of a banner with an inverted red triangle, a Hamas symbol, and the phrase “Long live the resistance.”

At least 20% of the appointees have posted anti-Zionist or anti-Israel statements online, such as a Committee on Legal Affairs nominee who wrote that “Zionism is racism” and a Committee on Criminal Legal System appointee who was involved with a statement that called Zionism a “genocidal ideology.”

One appointee shared a statement that said Zionists are worse than Nazis and that “Zionists are never Jews,” the report says.

The ADL also notes that many of the appointees did not raise any red flags and that at least 25 members of the transition team have a past relationship with the ADL or a history of support for the Jewish community.

The ADL has launched a “Mamdani Monitor” program to track the mayor-elect, leading to pushback from progressives and criticism from Mamdani.

Asked about the report during a press conference, Mamdani says, “I have always spoken out against antisemitism and hatred in any form and have made it clear that the commitment that I have made to protect New Yorkers, to protect Jewish New Yorkers, is one that I will uphold.”

“We must distinguish between antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli government and the ADL’s report oftentimes ignores this distinction, and in doing so, it draws attention away from the very real crisis of antisemitism,” he says.

9:12 pm

Syria says it foiled smuggling of anti-aircraft missiles, reportedly meant for Hezbollah

By Noam Lehmann

Syria’s interior ministry says it has seized SAM-7 anti-aircraft missiles that were being smuggled out of the country.

The weapons were located in a house in the town of al-Bukamal, close to the Iraqi border in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor region, the ministry says. It does not specify the date of the operation, the source of the weapons, where they were headed, or how many there were.

وردت معلومات دقيقة إلى مديرية الأمن في البوكمال تفيد بإخفاء صواريخ مضادة للطيران داخل أحد المنازل، تمهيدًا لتهريبها خارج البلاد.

وبناءً على هذه المعلومات، نُفذت عملية مداهمة محكمة أسفرت عن ضبط صواريخ من نوع "سام-7". pic.twitter.com/7L1hgKcIhn

— وزارة الداخلية السورية (@syrianmoi) December 22, 2025

Sources close to the ministry are cited by UK-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat as saying the missiles were being smuggled to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The sources do not identify the origin of the weapons, but say Iran used to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah through al-Bukamal during the 14-year Syrian civil war that ended when rebels toppled Syria’s longtime Iran-backed President Bashar al-Assad a year ago.

Local sources quoted by Asharq al-Awsat say the area still has “sleeper cells belonging to Iran and Hezbollah that are trying to smuggle these weapons.” The new Syrian regime has succeeded in arresting some of the smugglers, the sources say.

Pro-Iranian Iraqi militias seized al-Bukamal during the Syrian civil war and dug a large network of smuggling tunnels that passed near an Iranian base called Imam Ali, mere kilometers from the border with Iraq, Asharq al-Awsat says.

Citing footage published two days ago, the newspaper says the tunnels were large enough for a vehicle to pass through and appear to have been a major smuggling route.

#د24:
فيديو يُظهر شبكة أنفاق ضخمة أنشأتها الميليشـ.ـيات الإيـ.ـرانية على الحدود السورية – العراقية، بالقرب من قاعدة "الإمام علي" المحيطة بمدينة #البوكمال في ريف #ديرالزور، قبل سقوط نظام الأسد.#أخبار_ديرالزور #ديرالزور_24 pic.twitter.com/DkYxhRCqza

— ديرالزور24 (@DeirEzzor24) December 20, 2025

The local sources quoted by Asharq al-Awsat say the new Syrian regime has uncovered and destroyed some of the tunnels, but not all.

11:27 pm

Feldstein says Netanyahu’s chief of staff warned him of probe into PMO, said he could ‘shut it down’