Feb. 12: Top Hamas official rejects PA’s new draft constitution as ‘tailored to the occupier’

Israel says it struck Hezbollah operative in southern Lebanon

The IDF says it carried out an airstrike targeting a Hezbollah operative in the southern Lebanese town of at-Tiri.

No further details are immediately given by the military.

PA says Gazan man arrested in December 2024 has died in Israeli prison

Israel Prisons Service officers prepare inmates for release as part of a hostage deal at Ketziot Prison in southern Israel, on February 26, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

A 59-year-old Gazan medic has died in the Ketziot Prion in southern Israel, the Palestinian Authority’s Commission of Detainees’ Affairs says. He is identified as Hatem Rayyan.

It’s unclear from the PA statement when he died. The Israel Prison Service does not immediately comment on the statement.

مكتب إعلام الأسرى: استشهاد الأسير حاتم اسماعيل عبد اللطيف ريان 59 عاما سكان غزة في سجون الاحتلال pic.twitter.com/6ClfNbGqNq

— إعلام الأسرى (@AsraMediia) February 12, 2026

The PA commission says Rayyan was detained along with his injured son, Moaz, from the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza on December 27, 2024. The son remains in prison, according to the commission.

Relatives who earlier today announced Rayyan’s death on social media said another one of his sons, Bashir, was one of the Hamas operatives killed by the IDF when they tried to infiltrate Kibbutz Nir Am via an underground tunnel from Gaza on July 21, 2014, during that year’s Gaza war. Four IDF soldiers were killed in the attempted infiltration.

After Trump comments, Herzog says ‘Israel is a sovereign state,’ no decision made yet on pardon

President Isaac Herzog attends a conference of the Ofek pre-military academies, held at the Jerusalem International Convention Center, on February 5, 2026. (Flash90)

After US President Donald Trump said President Isaac Herzog should be “ashamed of himself” for not pardoning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Herzog’s office says it has not made any decision yet on the matter.

“To clarify, the prime minister’s request is currently under review at the Justice Ministry for a legal opinion in accordance with the established procedures,” Herzog’s office says in a statement, noting that the president is currently on his way back from a trip to Australia.

“Only upon completion of that process, will President Herzog consider the request in accordance with the law, the best interests of the State of Israel, guided by his conscience, and without any influence from external or internal pressures of any kind,” his office adds.

Herzog “deeply appreciates President Trump for his significant contribution to the State of Israel and its security,” the statement adds.

“Israel is a sovereign state governed by the rule of law. Contrary to the impression created by President Trump’s remarks, President Herzog has not yet made any decision on this matter,” Herzog’s office points out.

Trump has waged a very public campaign to get Herzog to pardon Netanyahu, even calling on him to do so in his address to the Knesset in October, months before the prime minister had officially submitted his request.

Iranian state TV runs ‘hit list’ of seven Israeli officials, including Netanyahu

A 'hit list' of Israeli targets on Iranian state TV network Ofogh, February 12, 2026. (Screenshot)

An Iranian state-run TV channel broadcasts a hit list of seven Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, appearing to threaten their assassination.

The list aired by the Islamic Republic’s Ofogh network includes Netanyahu, Mossad director David Barnea, Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF chief Eyal Zamir, Air Force chief Tomer Bar, Military Intelligence Directorate head Shlomi Binder and Operations Directorate head Itzik Cohen.

The segment’s presenter also made a Hebrew-language threat on air, saying: “We will determine the time of your death, wait for the Ababil,” referring to the Iranian-made drone.

Tehran is currently in negotiations with Washington regarding its nuclear program to avert a potential conflict between the two powers. American and Iranian diplomats held indirect talks last week in Oman.

Earlier today, Netanyahu returned to Israel after a visit to Washington in which he met with US President Donald Trump. In a statement to reporters after landing, he said Trump believes the Iranians could be forced to accept “a good deal,” but stressed his own skepticism about the talks.

Trump: We have to make a deal with Iran or it will be ‘very traumatic’

US President Donald Trump speaks during an event at the White House, Feb. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP/Evan Vucci)

US President Donald Trump says, “We have to make a deal with Iran, otherwise it’s going to be very traumatic, very traumatic.”

“I don’t want that to happen, but we have to make a deal,” Trump tells reporters in the White House when asked whether his thinking on Iran has changed following his meeting yesterday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“They should have made a deal the first time. They got Midnight Hammer instead,” Trump reiterates, referring to the June 2025 US strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, which came in the middle of negotiations with Tehran.

“We had a very good meeting yesterday with Bibi Netanyahu, and he understands. But it’s ultimately up to me,” Trump says.

“If the deal isn’t a very fair deal and a very good deal with Iran, it’s going to be a very difficult time for them,” he adds.

A reporter appears to ask about a timeline for Iran to make a deal, and Trump responds, “I guess over the next month.”

“They should agree very quickly,” he adds.

Trump says Herzog should be ‘ashamed of himself’ for not pardoning Netanyahu

US President Donald Trump makes an announcement in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC on February 12, 2026. (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

US President Donald Trump says President Isaac Herzog should be ashamed of himself for not granting a pardon to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is standing trial for alleged fraud, bribery and breach of trust.

Asked by reporters at the White House whether Netanyahu is responsible for the security failures that allowed Hamas’s October 7 attack to unfold, Trump responds, “I guess everybody’s responsible,” before noting that it was a “sneak attack” that “nobody else would have seen coming.

He goes on to again hail Netanyahu as “a very good wartime prime minister,” touting their joint successes against Iran before turning his aim to Herzog.

“You have a president that refused to give him a pardon… [He] should be ashamed of himself,” Trump says.

“The primary power [Herzog has] got is… to give pardons, and he’s not. He said he’s given it five different times, but he doesn’t want to do it because, I guess he loses his power,” Trump says, without elaborating.

“I think the people of Israel should really shame him. He’s disgraceful for not giving it,” the US president adds.

While hosting Netanyahu in December, Trump claimed that he spoke with Herzog about the issue and that the Israeli president told him a pardon was “on its way.”

The claim was quickly denied by Herzog, who said the pair hadn’t even spoken recently and that no decision about a pardon had been made.

Herzog’s office said at the time that the Israeli president spoke several weeks earlier with “a representative on behalf of President Trump, who inquired about the US president’s letter,” referring to a November letter Trump sent to Herzog formally urging him to pardon Netanyahu.

During that conversation, “an explanation was provided regarding the stage of the process in which the request currently stands, and that any decision on the matter will be made in accordance with the established procedures,” Herzog’s office added.

Ehud Barak: I regret ever meeting Epstein, should have used ‘more thorough judgment’

Former prime minister Ehud Barak in an interview with Channel 12 news aired on February 12, 2026. (Screenshot/Channel 12)

Former prime minister Ehud Barak sits down with Channel 12 news for an extensive interview in which he is pressed on his ties with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in the period after Epstein’s initial sex crimes conviction and before the broader 2019 probe against him was opened.

Barak says that he is responsible for all of his own actions, “and there is definitely room to ask if I should have exercised more thorough judgment” and sought more information about Epstein’s behavior.

“I can certainly say that I regret the moment I met him in 2003,” he adds.

“I never, in all the 15 years that I knew [Epstein], never saw any unreasonable occurrence, or any unreasonable behavior,” Barak stresses.

“I did not know that manner of his crimes until 2019, and you probably didn’t know it either,” he also notes.

Asked about an image of him entering Epstein’s home in Manhattan with his face partially covered by a neck warmer in 2016, Barak notes that he was wrapped up against the cold and that on the same day, he was pictured leaving the same building with his face not covered, and self-evidently was not trying to hide anything.

BREAKING:

⚡EPSTEIN'S LIST:

???????? Ehud Barak, former Israeli Prime Minister, as he seemingly enters and leaves Jeffery Epstein's Manhattan mansion in 2016. pic.twitter.com/ilrpz4vAM1

— Megatron (@Megatron_ron) January 4, 2024

Asked about him and his wife staying many times in an apartment owned by Epstein between 2015 and 2019, Barak says it was useful when visiting New York because he could leave things there, and stressed the “right of every citizen” to stay at an apartment belonging to someone they know, insisting there was nothing illegal about it. He notes that he was not prime minister at the time.

The former prime minister is also asked about remarks in a recently unclassified 2014 recording of him with Epstein in which he said, “many young, beautiful girls would come, tall and slim” from Russia to Israel.

The former prime minister says they were an “unsuccessful choice of words, with associations to unreasonable stereotypes,” but then tells viewers to ask themselves if they don’t speak like that in private matters.

Barak is pressed by the interviewer about his alleged racist comments in the conversation related to Russian immigration to Israel in general.

In the recordings, he suggested preferring Russian immigration, to “control the quality” of Israel’s demographics “effectively, much more than the founding fathers of Israel did,” which has been interpreted by critics as racist to North African and Middle Eastern migrants who arrived in Israel after the state’s founding.

Barak says the media created a “distorted” depiction of his comments, and that they were part of a broader discussion on the demographic challenge Israel faced with its growing Arab population.

“It’s a recording of you,” the reporter hits back.

“I raised the thought or idea, that by combining the easing of conversion processes on one hand, and the creation of the possibility of voluntary immigration to Israel, we can solve this challenge,” Barak says. “There is no racism there,” he says, adding, “I am describing a fact.”

As the interviewer stresses that he believes Barak’s comments were racist to Mizrahi Jewish migrants, Barak heatedly denies this and argues that at its founding, the country had to “rescue” all Jewish people, no matter what.

Now that Israel is a developed country, if it wants to encourage “voluntary migration,” it would be necessary to be selective and take “better quality” people, regardless of where they are from.

Israel drawn against Ireland in European soccer after Dublin campaigned to have Israeli team ousted

Israel fans cheer their team ahead of a Group I, World Cup qualifier soccer match between Israel and Italy at the Nagyerdei Stadium in Debrecen, Hungary, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Israel has been drawn with Ireland, along with Austria and Kosovo in the European Nations League soccer competition.

The draw that will see Israel play the Irish for the first time since 2005 comes after Dublin campaigned for Israel to be barred from European soccer over the war in Gaza.

In November, members of Irish soccer’s governing body voted overwhelmingly for its board to request that UEFA immediately suspend Israel from European competitions.

A resolution cited alleged violations by Israel’s Football Association of two provisions of UEFA statutes: its failure to implement and enforce an effective anti-racism policy and the playing by Israeli clubs in Palestinian territories without the consent of the Palestinian Football Association.

UEFA considered holding a vote last year on whether to suspend Israel from European competitions over the war in Gaza. That did not happen after a US-brokered ceasefire took effect on October 10.

However, even as the Irish voted, they acknowledged that should they be drawn against Israel, they would play the games, given that “UEFA regulations outline that if an association refuses to play a match then that fixture will be forfeited and further disciplinary measures may follow — including potential disqualification from the competition.”

Ireland’s government is one of the most outspoken critics of Israel’s campaign against the Hamas terror group in Gaza. The country recently pulled out of the Eurovision song contest over Israel’s participation.

Israel has also accused the Irish government of rampant antisemitism and shut the country’s embassy there.

Members of controversial government inquiry into police spying submit resignation

A controversial commission of inquiry meant to probe law enforcement’s alleged illicit use of spyware has disbanded after its members resigned, in a letter bemoaning opposition from law enforcement authorities that supposedly hampered their ability to probe the issue.

Addressing Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who formed the government commission in August 2023, members say they are resigning due to “extreme limitations imposed on our work that prevent us from reaching the truth and providing a reliable and exhaustive account to the public.”

From the moment the commission was established, “several parties acted in unison in order to thwart its actions,” the letter reads, as quoted by Ynet.

According to its members, the authorities under investigation refused to provide the commission with necessary information, denied access to key witnesses and avoided discussions with the commission’s members.

The commission has been subject to criticism from legal officials and anti-government groups, who argued the mandate granted to the commission by the government would have allowed it to interfere with open cases, specifically the ongoing criminal investigation into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara objected strongly at the time to the possibility that the commission could review police and State Attorney’s Office activities relating to the probe into Netanyahu, or any criminal cases currently before the courts.

In light of the attorney general’s opposition, the High Court of Justice in June issued a conditional injunction demanding that the government both explain why the commission’s establishment should not be annulled and coordinate with Baharav-Miara to curb its powers.

In their decision, the justices wrote that if the government did not act to ensure the commission didn’t interfere in ongoing investigations, the court would do so itself.

2 suspects arrested for murder this morning in Lod amid national crime wave

Police say they have arrested two suspects linked to this morning’s killing of Hussein Abu Raqiq, a 65-year-old cleaner from Lod.

Today at dawn, Abu Raqiq was shot to death while on his way to work. He was the latest victim in a spate of lethal shootings that took place from Wednesday night to Thursday morning.

According to law enforcement, police detectives and Border Police officers nabbed the suspected perpetrators and seized the Glock pistol they allegedly used to kill Abu Raqiq. He was killed as part of a dispute between two families in the city, police add.

Both of the detained suspects reside in Lod. Police plan to bring the pair to court tomorrow morning with a request to extend their remand.

Netanyahu says he won’t fly back to DC next week, skipping Board of Peace meeting

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to reporters before boarding Wing of Zion at Ben Gurion Airport on February 10, 2026. (Lazar Berman/Times of Israel)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says he will not fly back to the US next week as initially planned, which means he will not attend the Board of Peace’s inaugural meeting on February 19.

He was initially scheduled to land in Washington on February 18 and stay the weekend before speaking at an AIPAC conference on February 22.

But a day after invitations to the Board of Peace meeting went out last Friday, Netanyahu’s office announced that he would be moving up his trip to Washington to this week.

While the visit was framed as urgently needed to discuss the ongoing nuclear talks between the US and Iran, the timing led to speculation that Netanyahu was seeking to avoid attending the Board of Peace summit. The US initiative exposes him to criticism due to its internationalization of Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians and its granting of a foothold to rival countries Turkey and Qatar in Gaza.

That speculation is effectively reinforced by Netanyahu’s announcement that he won’t be flying back to Washington and will instead be addressing the AIPAC conference virtually.

Netanyahu’s decision may well upset Washington, which is hoping to have a strong turnout of world leaders at the first Board of Peace fundraising meeting.

Woman shot and wounded at a parking lot in Taybeh

A young woman is moderately wounded after being shot while leaving a parking lot in Taybeh, an Arab city in central Israel.

Security camera footage of what appears to be a targeted attempt on the woman’s life shows a man in a motorcycle helmet shooting at her through the driver’s seat window while she reverses her car.

After being shot, the woman quickly opens the car door furthest from the assailant and escapes into a nearby electronics shop. Inside the store, she is seen leaning on a counter, bleeding out while an employee takes out his phone.

Paramedics received a report about the incident at around 5:30 p.m, Magen David Adom says. She was taken to the hospital and is now being treated for her wounds.

https://twitter.com/arab48website/status/2021984332160930006?s=20

Police have not yet responded to a request for comment regarding the shooting.

The incident comes after five men were shot to death across the country overnight and this morning, the latest killings in a violent crime wave continuing unabated in Arab cities and towns.

Jamal Zahalka, who heads the High Follow-Up Committee, the leading umbrella organization among Israel’s Arab minority, says responsibility for the rampant killings lies with the government.

He claims that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir “have the authority and tools to bring about an effective policy to combat organized crime and burgeoning violence,” but choose not to.

“This is not a matter of inability, but rather indecision and a lack of commitment to implementing the necessary steps,” Zahalka says.

Returning to Israel, PM says Trump sees possible ‘good deal’ with Iran, but he’s skeptical

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to reporters on the tarmac of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland ahead of his return to Israel, February 12, 2026. (Lazar Berman/The Times of Israel)

Before boarding Wing of Zion to fly back to Israel after meeting US President Donald Trump yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the US president believes the Iranians could be forced to accept “a good deal.”

“I have just concluded a short but important visit to Washington, during which I spoke with our great friend, President Trump,” says Netanyahu on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. “We have a close, genuine, and open relationship.”

Netanyahu says that the talks focused on Iran but also covered other issues.

“The president believes the Iranians already understand who they are dealing with,” he says. “[Trump] thinks the conditions he is setting, combined with their understanding that they made a mistake last time by not reaching an agreement, could lead them to accept terms that would make it possible to achieve a good deal.”

The prime minister says that he himself does “not hide my general skepticism about the possibility of reaching any agreement with Iran.”

He says that he made it clear to the White House that any agreement “must include the components that are important to us, to Israel, and in my view also to the entire international community — not only the nuclear issue, but also ballistic missiles and Iran’s regional proxies.”

The “excellent conversation” also dealt with Gaza, says Netanyahu.

“This was another conversation with a great friend of Israel — a president like no other.”

2 settler activists cross into Lebanon to plant trees, are returned to Israel by IDF

A view of destroyed buildings along the border with Lebanon, seen from northern Israel, December 13, 2025. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

Two settler activists breached the border into Lebanon earlier today before being returned to Israel by the military.

According to the IDF, some 20 activists had gathered near the Israeli border community of Yir’on, with two crossing the barrier into Lebanon.

The activists say they entered Lebanon to plant trees and to “renew the Jewish settlement in Lebanon.”

The IDF says that the two civilians were apprehended by troops, brought back to Israel, and handed over to the police for further questioning.

“The IDF strongly condemns the incident and emphasizes that it is a grave event constituting a criminal offense that endangers civilians and IDF troops,” the army says.

There have been several occasions where Israeli civilians have crossed the border into Lebanon since the November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Support for Jewish settlement in Lebanon remains very small, and no politicians or major figures outside of fringe settler groups have called for their establishment.

High Court justice says Levin’s refusal to appoint judges is causing ‘murderers to be freed’

High Court justices listen to a petition on forcing the justice minister to convene the Judicial Selection Committee, at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, February 12, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

High Court Justice Alex Stein accuses Justice Minister Yariv Levin of stymying the justice system to such a degree that murderers are walking free due to a shortage of judges.

“The justice minister bears responsibility,” Stein says during a High Court hearing on Levin’s refusal to convene the Judicial Selection Committee, according to a Ynet transcript.

“There is rampant crime in the south. This is a court that handles murder cases and organized crime, and there are murder defendants who have been freed,” Stein says of the Beersheba District Court, which he says is short six judges, which has led to delays in criminal proceedings. “In my view, this is truly a crisis.”

Last week, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara accused Levin in a court filing on the case of assuming “out of thin air” the authority to veto judicial appointments.

The justice minister has failed to convene the nine-member committee since January 2025 and has sought to avoid doing so until after the general election scheduled for this October, when a March 2025 law takes effect, increasing political influence over judicial appointments.

Prosecutors inform Israel Prison Service chief of plans to indict him on ethics violations

Israel Prisons Chief Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi speaks to the Knesset National Security Committee on December 16, 2025. (Noam Moskovitz/Knesset Spokesperson)

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Aisman give Prison Service chief Kobi Yaakobi a three-week deadline to decide on a hearing date as they weigh whether to indict him for suspected ethical violations.

In July, the State Attorney’s Office announced it was considering filing charges, subject to a hearing, against Yaakobi on suspicion that he informed Avishai Muallem, formerly a senior police detective in the West Bank, of a covert probe involving him.

The prison chief is being granted a hearing to present evidence in his defense before prosecutors decide whether to formally charge him with breach of trust and obstructing an investigation. This hearing has not yet taken place.

Muallem, who has since been indicted, allegedly obstructed investigations into Jewish nationalist violence in a bid to curry favor with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Yaakobi, who served as Ben Gvir’s security secretary before moving to the Prison Service, is suspected of leaking the probe’s existence to Muallem over a wiretapped phone call.

The Prison Service chief’s attorney has been updated on the details of the hearing process, the Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) says in a statement. The DIPI, which operates under the State Attorney’s Office, investigates police and other internal security officials on suspicion of criminal offenses.

Top Hamas official rejects PA’s new draft constitution as ‘tailored to the occupier’

Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas politburo member, speaks in an interview with Qatari outlet Al-Araby on September 18, 2025. (Screenshot/YouTube)

Top Hamas official Basem Naim rejects the draft constitution that the Palestinian Authority published on Monday as it seeks to carry out reforms that would let it take the reins of Gaza under US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan.

Naim does not cite specific clauses in the constitution as grounds for his rejection, and instead says the document was written under unacceptable circumstances.

“This constitution must be rejected both in form and in content, because people under occupation don’t write constitutions tailored to the occupier,” Naim says in a statement carried by Palestinian media. “We won’t write rules to regulate life in prison.”

The constitution, Naim charges, “was written in closed rooms under French supervision, based on the disastrous and unpatriotic New York Declaration in July.”

The declaration, which was issued by a French- and Saudi-hosted international conference with the blessing of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, called for Hamas to disarm, condemned its October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel, urged reforms in the PA, and endorsed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The United Nations General Assembly in September passed a resolution endorsing the New York Declaration, but Abbas could not attend because the US had denied him a visa.

Abbas’s Fatah, the dominant faction in the PA, says in response that the draft constitution was written with “a purely Palestinian mind, hand and will,” and that Hamas “must apologize to our Palestinian people” for bringing about a state of “division and disaster.”

Fatah calls on Hamas to “help overcome the catastrophic repercussions of October 7” and to get in line with the international community by “recognizing the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole legitimate representative” of the Palestinian people.

ADL: Canada school shooter tweeted ‘I need to hate jews’ 2 days before attack

The shooter who on Tuesday killed eight people and wounded dozens more in one of Canada’s deadliest mass shootings allegedly tweeted antisemitic content two days before the attack.

“I need to hate jews because the zionists want me to hate jews. This benefits them, somehow,” Jesse Van Rootselaar, the alleged Tumbler Ridge school shooter, tweeted on Sunday, according to research by the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.

Authorities in British Columbia have identified Van Rootselaar, 18, as the shooter who killed six people at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and two family members at home before also dying, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

According to the ADL, Van Rootselar had a “troubling pattern of online radicalization” that included using WatchPeopleDie, a platform that glorifies violence and has been linked to several mass violence events.

The ADL also found what it believes to be Van Rootselar’s X account, which it says “regularly shared antisemitic and racist content and material glorifying previous mass killers, including the 2022 Buffalo supermarket shooter and the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooter.”

Germany demands resignation of UN rights rapporteur Albanese over anti-Israel comments

Screen capture from video of UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, during an Al-Jazeera forum, February 8, 2026. (X)

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul calls for the resignation of the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, over comments she made allegedly targeting Israel at a conference.

“I respect the UN system of independent rapporteurs. However, Ms Albanese has made numerous inappropriate remarks in the past. I condemn her recent statements about Israel. She is untenable in her position,” Wadephul writes on X.

Wadephul’s French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot made the same call yesterday for Albanese to resign, over the same comments.

Speaking via videoconference at a forum Saturday in Doha, Qatar, organized by the Al Jazeera network, Albanese referred to a “common enemy” that enabled the “genocide” in Gaza.

Albanese has a history of antisemitism and extremist rhetoric toward Israel, according to her critics. The US State Department sanctioned Albanese in July, accusing her of “political and economic warfare” against the US and Israel and “unabashed antisemitism.”

Haredi activists attacked IDF veterans, including amputee, in Bnei Brak, says group

A group of pro-enlistment activists say they were attacked by a group of ultra-Orthodox youth in Bnei Brak last night, who hit and punched them — including a wounded IDF amputee.

The group, Katef El Katef (Shoulder to Shoulder) says it went to the majority-Haredi city to hang up posters encouraging enlistment in the IDF.

Jonathan Shalev, the organization’s founder, says they were “attacked with severe violence by a mob,” including with “stun grenades and bricks.” He writes on X that he was wounded in his hand, and that another activist, who lost his leg while fighting in Gaza, was beaten up and needed treatment.

The IDF veteran in question, Yuval Shalit, tells Channel 12 news that his group wanted to “physically be there and talk to people face to face” in an effort to encourage them to serve in the military.

Shalit says when the group decided to pull back amid the violence, a number of Haredi activists followed them, trying to attack them and saying things like “it’s a shame you didn’t die in Gaza.”

אמלק – הותקפנו בחזיזים.

בפעם הראשונה שהגענו לבני ברק עם נכי צה״ל – הגיע בחור חרדי שאמר שזה מחזק אותו להתגייס לצבא, היום הוא בחשמונאים

בפעם השנייה הדבקנו באמצע הלילה כ500 פשקווילים שנשרפו עוד באותו לילה

אז חזרנו שוב עם 1,000 פשקווילים, בחיי לא כאלה שתוקפניים – אלא כאלה שעל סף… pic.twitter.com/Rc6AVKRqPx

— חנניה (@hananiabsh) February 11, 2026

Police appeal court decision to allow Braverman to leave the country amid probe

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, attends a hearing during the premier's graft trial at the Tel Aviv District Court on December 18, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Police appeal a court’s decision to allow Tzachi Braverman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff, to leave the country as investigators probe him on suspicion of obstructing justice.

Yesterday, Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court judge Menachem Mizrahi rejected police’s request to delay Braverman’s flight to the United Kingdom, where he is slated to take up the role of ambassador.

Braverman is being investigated on suspicion of trying to interfere in a probe into the leak of classified documents from the Prime Minister’s Office to German tabloid Bild. Given the nature of the suspicions against him, police are said to be worried that his departure from Israel will hinder the investigation.

In their appeal, police argue that the court “weighed considerations that are not within its field of expertise, like what is best for the State of Israel.”

“It is unclear on what basis the court determined that this [delaying Braverman’s appointment] would harm relations with Britain. It is not the court’s role to weigh considerations of this kind,” the appeal continues, according to Ynet.

Despite rejecting the police bid to keep Braverman in the country, Mizrahi approved their request to require him to show up for questioning in Israel within 12 hours of being summoned. Braverman is also forbidden from contacting other suspects in the case, including Omer Mansour, Eli Feldstein and Jonatan Urich.

Many of Mizrahi’s rulings in the cases relating to scandals in the Prime Minister’s Office have been overturned by a higher court.

Israeli Navy wraps up major maritime drill on improving defense of territorial waters, gas rigs

Israeli Navy sailors and a Sa'ar 4.5-class missile boat are seen during a naval drill in early February 2026, in a handout photo published by the military on February 12, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Israeli Navy says it conducted a large-scale military drill this week, involving its fleets of warships, submarines, special forces and border security.

The maritime drill, which lasted several days, was aimed at improving the Navy’s readiness for defending Israel’s territorial waters and “strategic assets” at sea, the IDF says, meaning Israel’s offshore gas and oil rigs.

Hundreds of sailors, including Shayetet 13 naval commandos, participated in the drill aboard the Navy’s missile boats, corvettes, submarines and patrol boats. The Israeli Air Force, C4I and Cyber Defense Directorate, and other branches of the IDF were also involved in the exercise.

The IDF says the troops practiced various scenarios, including seaborne infiltrations, encounters with enemy forces, aerial threats, multifront combat, fighting in open sea and near the coast, and the defense of strategic assets, including gas rigs, ports and other infrastructure.

Israeli Navy sailors and vessels are seen during a naval drill in early February 2026, in a video published by the military on February 12, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)

Shekel hits a 30-year high against the dollar

Illustrative: A man counts stacks of Israeli shekel and US dollar banknotes at an informal money exchange stall in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on July 2, 2024. (Bashar TALEB / AFP)

Israel’s shekel gains, hitting a 30-year high against the dollar as the local currency’s strength continues to be driven by expectations for an improving geopolitical environment and a fast postwar economic recovery, alongside a weak dollar globally.

The Bank of Israel’s shekel representative rate closed at NIS 3.0680 to the dollar, the highest rate since 1995. So far this year, the currency has appreciated by about 4% against the dollar and by 15% over the past year.

“The fast strengthening of the shekel stems from both an ongoing weakening of the dollar against many world currencies and increases in the local stock exchange, which continue to attract funds from both foreign and local investors,” Mizrahi Tefahot Bank chief markets economist Ronen Menahem tells The Times of Israel.

“The fairly good performance of the economy and the capital market, despite two years of war, is a testament to resilience, which in turn has led to an inflow of investments and foreign capital, especially in the local tech industry, which in turn strengthens the local currency.”

Menahem adds that “from the perspective of consumers, their situation has improved because products they buy and import from abroad are becoming cheaper, especially online purchases.”

Health Ministry to probe death of 4-week-old who consumed recalled baby formula

The entrance to Samson Assuta Ashdod University Hospital, in Ashdod, January 26, 2022. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

The Health Ministry is investigating the death of a four-week-old baby who died after apparently drinking recalled baby formula.

The baby was reported to have died from respiratory failure at Assuta Ashdod Hospital last Friday.

However, preliminary investigations revealed that the baby had consumed Nutrilon formula from batches that were recently subject to a nationwide recall.

According to a hospital spokesperson, the infant was rushed to the pediatric emergency department of the hospital in severe respiratory distress.

A senior medical team specializing in pediatric intensive care “fought for his life, following all accepted professional standards and performing prolonged resuscitation efforts,” the hospital says.

His body was transferred to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine (Abu Kabir) to determine the cause of death.

The ministry says the institute and treating physicians currently rule out a clinical link between the formula consumption and the infant’s death, but it has mandated additional testing.

An external committee, composed of experts across relevant medical fields, will examine both the clinical factors of the mortality and the breakdown in communication that delayed the ministry’s notification.

The ministry has pledged “full transparency as the investigation proceeds toward its final conclusions.”

Hamas claims Abdullah Barghouti assaulted by Israeli jailer; no comment from prison service

Abdullah Barghouti is taken to Jerusalem Magistrate's Court to testify as part of a US civil lawsuit against the Palestinian leadership, on June 20, 2012. (Noam Moskowitz/Flash90)

Hamas accuses Israel of the “direct assault and deliberate beating” of Abdullah Barghouti, a Hamas commander serving life in Israeli jail since 2003 for his role in terror attacks that killed dozens of Israelis during the Second Intifada.

The Hamas-affiliated Asra prisoner affairs agency says a jailer at Israel’s Gilboa Prison slammed Barghouti’s head against an iron door as Barghouti was on his way to a prison visit, leading him to bleed from near his left eye.

The agency also says Barghouti’s body weight dropped from 110 to 60 kilograms (243 to 132 pounds) as a result of Israel’s “starvation policy.”

The agency’s statement does not specify when Barghouti was injured, nor when his body weight started dropping.

The Israel Prison Service does not respond to a request for comment. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the IPS, has publicly touted the reduction of Palestinian prisoners’ rations during his tenure.

In a statement to Al Jazeera, Barghouti’s family says it learned from his lawyer that he is subject to “continuous assaults” in prison: “We fear for his life.”

Meanwhile, top Hamas official Abdul Rahman Shadid claims in a statement that “what happened to the commander Barghouti is an example of what thousands of prisoners are subject to” in Israeli jails, and calls for an “escalation of popular, media and legal action” against the treatment of Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

At son’s funeral, former mayor of Rahat says Arab citizens can’t wait for state to solve crime wave

Rahat Mayor Atta Abu Mdeighem speaks at a conference at Reichman University in Herzliya on January 5, 2022. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

After his son was shot dead this morning, the former mayor of Rahat says Arab society must act against violent crime without waiting for the government to stem the crisis.

At around 2 a.m, Atta Abu Mdeighem’s son Mukhtar was shot to death while driving in the city. According to the bereaved father, his son’s business was targeted in a shooting four months ago but the perpetrators were never caught.

Speaking at the 22-year-old’s funeral, Abu Mdeighem laments that five Arab citizens had been killed in shootings across the country within the previous 12 hours. “I don’t know what this number will be by the end of the day,” he says.

Eulogizing his slain son, the mourning father says the young man “was dear, he ran a kiosk, he had plans. He wanted to continue studying and get married. But the boy is gone.”

Abu Mdeighem urges the state to “wake up” but adds, “We, in Arab society must also deal with crime. We need to solve it ourselves and not wait around for the government to do it all.”

He confesses his lack of faith in law enforcement, comparing police’s failure to solve most murders in Arab society to security agencies’ success in catching hostile actors abroad.

“The government will act when it wants to, because if they want someone from Iran, they go and catch him like a mouse, dragging him by the tail. But criminals here? They need to expand, they need resources,” he says with scorn, seeming to insinuate that police are not doing all they can to deter crime in the Arab sector.

“The state and this government want Arabs to continue murdering. I have no faith in this government. I have no faith in the prime minister and have no faith in this awful police minister,” he says, referring to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

IDF tells Iranians, in Persian, to consider getting in touch with the Mossad

The IDF issues a public message in Persian calling on Iranians to consider contacting Israel’s Mossad spy agency.

The statement, shared on the IDF’s official Persian-language X account, includes the username of a Telegram account belonging to the Mossad, where individuals can confidentially share information.

“We ask the patriotic people of Iran to please follow only our official channels of communication and to be in contact with us for any cooperation,” the military says, adding that “the pages and links listed in this post are the only official and verified accounts.”

It is not the first time that the IDF has called on Iranians to engage with the Mossad, in a possible appeal to would-be defectors or informants.

The IDF has maintained a Persian-language social media presence for years, mostly aimed at countering Iranian regime narratives.

از مردم میهن‌پرست ایرانی درخواست می‌نماییم لطفاً تنها راه‌های تماس رسمی ما را دنبال کرده و برای هرگونه همکاری با ما در ارتباط باشید.

صفحات و لینک‌های درج‌شده در این پست (لینک در بیو)، تنها حساب‌های رسمی و معتبر می‌باشند. pic.twitter.com/LhRuO8hX7v

— ارتش دفاعی اسرائیل | IDF Farsi (@IDFFarsi) February 12, 2026

Diplomats say Egypt, EU won’t train Hamas-linked officers for Gaza police force

Illustrative: Palestinian mounted police in Bethlehem, in the West Bank on December 24, 2025. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

Neither Egypt nor the European Union will train police officers in Gaza who are affiliated with Hamas, an Egyptian and a European diplomat tell The Times of Israel, following reports that Hamas is seeking roles for its 10,000 police officers in the postwar Strip.

Both Egypt and the EU have been preparing to expand training of Palestinian police for deployment in Gaza under US President Donald Trump’s plan for the territory, which authorizes the deployment of a temporary International Stabilization Force that would support and work alongside a “newly trained and vetted Palestinian police force.”

In December, officials told The Times of Israel that the new force would be free of Hamas-affiliated personnel, despite reports at the time indicating that Hamas members could continue to police Gaza as part of the newly installed body.

Israel regards all elements of Hamas, including its police, as components of the terrorist organization.

Now, the Egyptian and European diplomats reiterate that Cairo and Brussels will play no role in training any personnel tied to Hamas. The European diplomat notes that any officers trained by the EU would be vetted by Israel for any affiliation with the terror group.

Discussions are still ongoing about amending the current mandate of EUPOL COPPS — the EU’s existing police support mission in the West Bank — to include the training of officers for deployment in Gaza, the European diplomat says.

That envoy adds that no deployment date for the police force could be given, as neither vetting nor training has begun, and details remain unclear surrounding the ISF’s role and deployment.

“This all is linked to the ISF,” the European diplomat says, adding that the form and composition of the international force remains undetermined, though Indonesia recently said it would be contributing troops.

“Now we’re waiting for the ISF to start taking shape. And that’s a bit out of our hands. It’s in the hands of the US, which is the lead on this,” they said.

Syria says it has taken over al-Tanf base vacated by US troops in agreement

Members of the Maghawir al-Thawra Syrian opposition group receive firearms training from US Army Special Forces soldiers at the al-Tanf military outpost in southern Syria in 2018. (AP/Lolita Baldor)

Syria’s Defense Ministry says Syrian army units have taken control of the al-Tanf military base vacated by US troops, following coordination between Syrian and US authorities.

Reuters, quoting two sources briefed on the matter, reported yesterday that US forces had evacuated the al-Tanf base in far northeastern Syria and were heading to Jordan.

The al-Tanf complex is strategically located at the tri-border confluence of Syria, Jordan and Iraq. It was established during Syria’s civil war in 2014 as a key hub for operations by the global coalition against Islamic State jihadist militants.

Syria joined the coalition last November when President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited the White House for talks with US President Donald Trump. Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda commander, had led Islamist rebels who overthrew longtime Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

The US pullout from al-Tanf follows a Washington-brokered deal to integrate the Syrian Democratic Forces — a Kurdish-led group backed by the US for a decade in the fight against ISIS — into central Syrian institutions.

The United States hailed the January 30 agreement as a milestone toward unity and reconciliation in Syria after the war that fractured the country into rebel fiefdoms.

The United States had about 1,500 troops in Syria, according to a Pentagon announcement in July 2025.

German court rejects Palestinian’s bid to prevent weapons exports to Israel

German soldiers play in a military brass band in front of the Arrow 3 shield system during an event of the German Air Force to declare the Initial Operating Capability for the Arrow Weapon System for Germany at the Annaburger Heide Air Base in Schoenewalde/Holzdorf, eastern Germany, December 3, 2025 (Ralf Hirschberger/AFP)

Germany’s highest court throws out a case brought by a Palestinian civilian from Gaza seeking to sue the German government over its weapons exports to Israel.

The complainant, supported by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), had been seeking to challenge export licenses for German parts used in Israeli tanks deployed in Gaza.

After his case was rejected by lower courts in 2024 and 2025, he had appealed to the Federal Constitutional Court.

But the court in Karlsruhe dismisses the case, stating that “the complainant has not sufficiently substantiated that the specialized courts misjudged or arbitrarily denied a possible duty to protect him.”

While Germany is obliged to protect human rights and respect international humanitarian law, this does not mean the state is necessarily obliged to take specific action on behalf of individuals, the court says.

“It is fundamentally the responsibility of the state authorities themselves to decide how they fulfill their general duty of protection,” it adds.

The ECCHR calls the decision “a setback for civilian access to justice.”

“The court acknowledges the duty to protect but only in the abstract and refuses to ensure its practical enforcement,” says Alexander Schwarz, co-director of the organization’s International Crimes and Legal Accountability program.

“For people whose lives are endangered by the consequences of German arms exports, access to justice remains effectively closed,” he says.

The complainant was one of five Palestinians who initially brought their case against the German government in 2024.

Leading Haredi rabbi said to snub PM after nixing draft bill, raising chance of elections

Rabbis Dov Lando (left) and Moshe Hillel Hirsch (center) attend an anti-enlistment conference organized by the Vaad HaYeshivot (Yeshiva Committee), July 31, 2025. (Shuki Lehrer)

Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, an influential spiritual leader of the “Lithuanian” stream of ultra-Orthodox Jews, is refusing to speak to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about efforts to pass the coalition’s Haredi draft exemption bill, Channel 12 reports.

The reported snub of a phone call from the prime minister comes after the network reported that Hirsch has withdrawn his support for the controversial bill, which would preserve sweeping exemptions from military service for yeshiva students while purportedly increasing enlistment numbers among graduates of Haredi educational institutions.

“This is not the law we were promised,” Hirsch said, according to a Channel 12 report last night. “We will have to vote against this law.”

Netanyahu’s call was meant as an attempt to clarify Hirsch’s statement, Channel 12 reports.

Also yesterday, Rabbi Dov Lando, the spiritual leader of Degel HaTorah, one of the two factions of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, vowed that no yeshiva student would be drafted into the army, “whether the authorities agree to it or not.”

A withdrawal of Haredi support for the bill would likely mean that it cannot pass, which in turn would almost certainly collapse Netanyahu’s coalition and lead to early elections. As of now, elections must take place by late October.

The bill has also drawn vocal criticism from the opposition and some coalition MKs who say it unfairly privileges Haredim and does not answer the IDF’s dire need for soldiers.

IDF: No ‘operational harm’ from alleged Polymarket bets made using classified info

After a reservist and a civilian were indicted for using classified information to place bets regarding military operations on the Polymarket prediction market, the IDF says it views the case “gravely,” but stresses that “no operational harm was caused.”

“The IDF views any act that endangers the security of the state gravely, and in particular the use of highly classified information for the purpose of personal gain,” the military says in a statement.

“This constitutes a severe ethical failure and a clear crossing of a red line, which are not in line with IDF values and what is expected of its servicemembers. Criminal and disciplinary proceedings will be taken against any individual found to have been involved in actions of this kind,” the statement continues.

The IDF says that “according to the findings of the investigation, no operational harm was caused in the current incident.”

“The IDF will not tolerate conduct of this kind. Following the incident, steps were taken, and procedures will be sharpened across all IDF units, with the aim of preventing the recurrence of similar cases,” the military adds.

Israeli skeleton racer Jared Firestone finishes near bottom of pack in first 2 Olympic heats

Israel's Jared Firestone competes in the skeleton men's heat 1 at Cortina Sliding Center during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo on February 12, 2026. (Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)

Israel’s Jared Firestone finishes his first heat in the men’s skeleton in 23rd and the second heat in 22nd out of 24 athletes at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

The third and fourth heats, which will decide the medal rankings, will be held tomorrow night. Only the top 20 athletes compete in the fourth heat.

“I had a really great time today — officially an Olympian,” Firestone tells fans in a video message. “Looking forward to tomorrow and throwing down two really good runs, make everyone proud. Am Yisrael Chai.”

Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified by the International Olympic Committee after he refused to back down from his plan to wear a helmet bearing the faces of athletes killed in his country’s war with Russia, leaving only 24 competitors in the men’s skeleton race.

Most families of foreign fighters said to have left ISIS-linked camp in Syria

Children and women, relatives of suspected Islamic State jihadists, are seen inside Al-Hol camp in the desert region of Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on January 21, 2026. (OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

Most foreign families have left northeast Syria’s Al-Hol camp, which holds relatives of fighters for the Islamic State jihadist group, since the departure of Kurdish forces who previously guarded it, humanitarian sources tell AFP.

Located in a desert region of Hasakeh province, Al-Hol is Syria’s largest camp for suspected ISIS relatives and was home to some 24,000 people, mostly women and children, including some 15,000 Syrians, several thousand Iraqis and more than 6,000 other foreigners from around 40 nationalities.

Last month, the Syrian government took over the camp from the Kurdish administration that had long handled it, as the Kurds ceded territory and Damascus extended its control across formerly Kurdish-held areas of Syria’s north and east.

A source from a humanitarian organization, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that “since last Saturday… there are no more than 20 families in the foreigners’ annex.”

Women and children, including many from Russia, the Caucasus and the Central Asian republics had lived in the high-security section of the camp separate from Syrians and Iraqis.

A second source from another humanitarian organization, also requesting anonymity, said the foreigners’ annex was basically empty, with some foreign women moved to the main camp.

A source from Syria’s foreign ministry told AFP that authorities were carrying out a census of the camp, without confirming if anyone escaped, adding that if they had, it was the fault of “the [Kurdish] SDF which withdrew from the site” without properly handing it over. The Kurdish force said on January 20 that it had been forced to withdraw from Al-Hol.

Russia blocks WhatsApp texting platform in favor of state-backed alternative

An illustration photograph shows the WhatsApp messaging app in the App Store displayed on a phone screen, in a residential property in Guildford, south of London. (Justin TALLIS / AFP)

Russia has attempted to fully block WhatsApp in the country, the company says, the latest move in an ongoing government effort to tighten control over the internet.

The Kremlin confirms that Russia has blocked the messaging service, owned by tech giant Meta, and suggests that people use MAX, a new state-backed platform, instead.

A WhatsApp spokesperson said late yesterday that the Russian authorities’ action was intended to “drive users to a state-owned surveillance app,” a reference to MAX, which is seen by critics as a surveillance tool.

“Trying to isolate over 100 million people from private and secure communication is a backwards step and can only lead to less safety for people in Russia,” the WhatsApp spokesperson said. “We continue to do everything we can to keep people connected.”

Russia’s government has already blocked major social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, the latter two also owned by Meta, and ramped up other online restrictions since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says Meta should comply with Russian law to see it unblocked, according to the state Tass news agency.

Authorities had previously restricted access to WhatsApp before moving to finally ban it yesterday.

Authorities have actively promoted MAX. The platform, touted by developers and officials as a one-stop shop for messaging, online government services, making payments and more, openly declares it will share user data with authorities upon request. Experts also say it doesn’t use end-to-end encryption.

German parliament says its speaker visited Gaza today

The speaker of Germany’s lower house of parliament briefly visited the Israeli-controlled part of the Gaza Strip today, the body tells AFP.

The Bundestag’s Julia Kloeckner spent “about an hour in the part of Gaza controlled by Israeli army forces,” parliament says in response to an AFP query, becoming the first German official to visit Gaza since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war in the territory.

The reported visit comes after Kloeckner was honored by the Knesset yesterday.

The @KnessetIL honours President of the Bundestag Julia Klöckner. Good to see our democratic parliaments at work, as @JuliaKloeckner starts her official visit to #Israel. pic.twitter.com/n8Q2alp07K

— Steffen Seibert (@GerAmbTLV) February 11, 2026

Off-duty soldier charged with murder of Druze man on Route 6 is named as Shalev Moshe Hajaj

The soldier who was charged last week with murder for the January 8 killing of a Druze man is named as Shalev Moshe Hajaj, 21.

He stands accused of killing Sharif Hadid, who was in his twenties, following an alleged road rage incident on a highway in northern Israel.

In an indictment published last week, prosecutors said the soldier now identified as Hajaj, who was off-duty at the time of the shooting, loaded his military assault rifle, then used it to beat Hadid, of Daliyat al-Karmel, in the face and smash the back windshield of the car Hadid was traveling in.

Hajaj then allegedly shot Hadid when the victim approached with a sharp object, and kept shooting after Hadid retreated.

Hebrew media outlets have previously reported that Hajaj claimed to interrogators that he shot Hadid because he felt threatened, after the victim and his brother advanced toward him “in a threatening manner.”

Ukrainian skeleton racer disqualified from Olympics over ‘helmet of remembrance’

Ukraine's Vladyslav Heraskevych takes part in the skeleton men's training session at Cortina Sliding Center during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo on February 11, 2026. (Tiziana FABI / AFP)

Ukraine’s skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych is disqualified from the Milano Cortina Winter Games over the use of a helmet depicting Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia, the International Olympic Committee says.

He was informed of his disqualification after a meeting with IOC President Kirsty Coventry early in the morning at the sliding venue, shortly before the start of his competition.

His team says they will appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Coventry tells reporters she had wanted to meet the athlete face to face in a last-ditch effort to break the impasse.

“I was not meant to be here but I thought it was really important to come here and talk to him face to face,” Coventry tells reporters. “No one, especially me, is disagreeing with the messaging, it’s a powerful message, it’s a message of remembrance, of memory.”

“The challenge was to find a solution for the field of play. Sadly we’ve not been able to find that solution,” she adds, choking up. “I really wanted to see him race, It’s been an emotional morning.”

“It’s literally about the rules and the regulations and that in this case… we have to be able to keep a safe environment for everyone and sadly, that just means no messaging is allowed,” she says.

The IOC had offered him the opportunity to display his “helmet of remembrance” depicting 24 images of dead compatriots before the start and after the end of Thursday’s race at the Games, while also allowing him to wear a black armband while competing.

Ukraine’s Olympic Committee, which supported Heraskevych in the case, says it is not planning to boycott the Games over the disqualification.

Ukraine’s foreign minister condemned the decision.

“The IOC has banned not the Ukrainian athlete, but its own reputation. Future generations will recall this as a moment of shame,” Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga writes in a post on social media.

Iran fires local TV boss after reporter appears to call for Khamenei’s death

People stand on a banner of the US flag as they attend an annual rally marking the 1979 Islamic Revolution at Azadi (Freedom) Street, in Tehran, Iran, February 11, 2026. (AP/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian authorities dismiss a provincial television director after a reporter appeared to call for the death of the country’s supreme leader.

The incident happened during yesterday’s live broadcast of the 47th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province.

During the live feed, reporter Musab Rasoulizad was describing the turnout at the rallies, and repeating chants heard in the crowd, such as “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for God is great.

He then said “Marg bar Khamenei” (Death to Khamenei), rather than one of the chants typically heard at such government-organized rallies, which include “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”

“The broadcast director of Hamoun provincial TV channel has been dismissed following an error that occurred on the provincial network,” state television said yesterday. “The transmission operator and broadcast supervisor were suspended. Other staff found at fault were also referred to the disciplinary committee.”

It added that the decision was made in order to “maintain professional discipline and safeguard the media’s reputation.”

In a later video, Rasoulizad appeared to apologize for what he called a “slip of the tongue and a blunder which was broadcast and became a pretext for anti-revolutionaries.”

Yesterday’s rallies took place weeks after mass anti-government protests in Iran, which erupted in late December against the rising cost of living, peaked last month.

Tehran has acknowledged that more than 3,000 people died during the unrest, including members of the security forces and innocent bystanders, and attributed the violence to “terrorist acts.”

International organizations have put the toll far higher.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says 7,002 people, including 6,506 protesters, were killed during protests. Some estimates say the true death toll is in the tens of thousands.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report. 

IDF reservist and civilian indicted for using classified info to place bets on Polymarket

The Polymarket prediction market website is seen on a computer screen, January 11, 2026, in New York. (AP/Wyatte Grantham-Philips)

An IDF reservist and a civilian have been indicted for using classified information to place bets regarding military operations on the popular Polymarket prediction market, authorities announce.

The investigation, conducted jointly by the Defense Ministry, Shin Bet, and Israel Police, led to the arrest of several suspects — including reservists — who allegedly placed bets on Polymarket “based on classified information to which the reservists were exposed by virtue of their military roles,” a joint statement says.

Indictments have been filed against one reservist and one civilian for “severe security offenses,” as well as bribery and obstruction of justice, authorities say.

Further details surrounding the case remain barred from publication under a court-issued gag order.

“The defense establishment emphasizes that placing such bets, based on secret and classified information, poses a real security risk to IDF operations and to the security of the state,” the joint statement says, adding that authorities view “the acts attributed to the defendants with utmost severity and will act decisively to thwart and bring to justice anyone involved in the unlawful use of classified information.”

Last month, the Kan public broadcaster revealed that the Shin Bet was examining a suspicion that someone within the defense establishment was using classified information in order to place bets on Polymarket.

A user who went by the name ricosuave666 placed several bets in June 2025 with striking accuracy regarding Israeli military operations in Iran, wagering tens of thousands of dollars and making a profit of around $150,000.

Polymarket is one of the largest prediction markets in the world. The commercial use of prediction markets has skyrocketed in recent years, opening the door for people to wager their money on the likelihood of a growing list of future events.

But despite some eye-catching windfalls, traders still lose money every day. There have been accusations of manipulations and insider trading by users of the platform.

Police chief: Arab crime wave is ‘state of national emergency,’ cops’ ‘hands are tied’

Police chief Danny Levy speaks during a ceremony at the National Police Academy in Beit Shemesh, September 15, 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

Police chief Danny Levy says Israel is in a “state of national emergency” after five Arab citizens were killed in the span of 12 hours overnight and this morning, but insists that police are doing all they can to rein in violent crime.

In a situational assessment with senior officers this morning, the police commissioner insists the issue cannot be solved by police alone but requires action from government ministries, local officials, civil society organizations and even the army.

He claims officers are technologically under-equipped to combat the crime wave sweeping Arab society. Law enforcement cannot do its job when “our hands are tied, our ears are muffled, and our eyes are blindfolded,” he says.

Levy further finds fault with the court system and State Attorney’s Office. The courts, he says, must be harsher in their sentencing and allow police to use administrative measures against suspects, such as allowing police to restrict certain suspects’ freedom of movement and expression on the basis of confidential evidence, while state prosecutors should strive to expedite the process of filing indictments.

He also calls on local politicians and religious figures in Arab society to unequivocally denounce the violence, stressing that many of the victims are innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire of disputes between gangs and warring families.

“To win this fight, we need a united front, a synchronized national effort from everyone,” Levy says.

Culture minister says calling Oct. 7 a ‘massacre’ smacks of ‘victim mentality,’ drawing protest

Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar attends a plenum session at the assembly hall of the Knesset, in Jerusalem, November 26, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar defends the government’s request to remove the word “massacre” from the title of a bill establishing a commemoration of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, saying that using the word reflects a “victim mentality.”

The decision to strike the word “massacre” from the name of the bill memorializing the worst attack in Israel’s history has drawn outcry from relatives of those murdered in the onslaught, who have accused the government of seeking to rewrite history.

Yesterday, a Knesset committee approved the request and advanced the bill, which now bears a title referring to the “events” of the day.

Zohar, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party, defends the decision in an interview with the Kan public broadcaster.

“The State of Israel is a strong state,” he says. “The days when it was possible to massacre the State of Israel are no longer. One can kill in the State of Israel, unfortunately; one can hurt Israeli citizens, one can murder Israeli citizens, very unfortunately, and, God willing, we’ll do everything to prevent such things from happening. But it is no longer possible to massacre the nation of Israel.”

When the interviewer asks whether it might not be better to “see things as they are,” Zohar responds, “I’m not so into the victim mentality.”

Hila Abir, whose sister Lotan Abir was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival on October 7, and who spoke out against the change at the committee meeting yesterday, tells Channel 12 that Zohar’s words make him akin to a Holocaust denier.

“Nothing surprises me anymore, not even the words of Minister Zohar this morning,” she says. “What’s the difference between him and Holocaust deniers? There was a massacre. We can’t evade that.”

Hermes chief says Jeffrey Epstein visited workshop with Woody Allen

This undated photo from the personal collection of Jeffrey Epstein provided by the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on December 12, 2025, shows US actor and director Woody Allen (R) and Epstein talking with another woman whose face has been redacted. (HANDOUT / House Oversight Democrats / AFP)

Axel Dumas, chief executive of the French luxury house Hermes, says he met Jeffrey Epstein in 2013 when the convicted sex offender invited himself to a workshop visit with filmmaker and actor Woody Allen and other guests.

“He was not on the guest list and joined a group of guests invited by Woody Allen and his wife, without prior warning,” Dumas says as the company presents its full-year financial results.

A photo in the mass of Epstein investigation files released by the US Justice Department last month shows the three men at an Hermes workshop outside Paris.

“Someone took the opportunity to take an impromptu picture, which he evidently kept preciously,” Dumas says. “And indeed, he had a bad reputation.”

“Afterwards, he tried to meet with me three times, which I always declined,” he adds.

China says it opposes ‘all attempts to annex’ Palestinian territory

China says it opposes “all attempts to annex” Palestinian territories, days after Israel’s security cabinet approved measures to tighten Israeli control over the West Bank.

“China has always opposed the construction of new settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory and opposed all attempts to annex or encroach upon Palestinian territory,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian tells a news conference.

Death toll in Arab crime wave rises to 5 in past 12 hours; 3 arrested for one of the killings

Two men were shot to death early this morning, bringing the number of people killed in Arab localities over the past 12 hours to five amid an ongoing wave of violent crime.

Farid Abu Mubarak, 20, was shot on the main thoroughfare of Segev Shalom, a Bedouin town in southern Israel. In footage of the lethal shooting, a man is seen crouching behind a black car as rapid gunfire is heard. A silver hatchback is seen speeding away soon after.

Earlier, 60-year-old Hussein Salah Abu-Raqiq was shot to death in Lod. Paramedics found him with several bullet wounds, and declared him dead at the scene.

Before sunrise, three others were shot to death — a Druze sheikh in the northern village of Yarka, the 22-year-old son of Rahat’s former mayor, and Mohammad Qasem in Fureidis.

Police say they have arrested three suspects in the overnight killing of Mukhtar Abu Mdeighim, the son of Atta Abu Mdeighim, Rahat’s former mayor. The three suspects will be brought later today to the Beersheba Magistrate’s Court.

توثيق خطير للانفلات الامني في البلدات العربية❗️في الفيديو المرفق يوثق جريمة القتل التي وقعت قبل قليل في شقيب السلام:"حرب شوارع". pic.twitter.com/JghsWIU23E

— |فرات نصار|פוראת נסאר|FURAT NASSAR (@nassar_furat) February 12, 2026

Qasem’s killing was also caught on video. A masked man is seen shooting the victim point blank outside a corner store and riding away on his scooter.

This year, which began 42 days ago, has now seen 46 Arab citizens killed violently. Last year was the worst on record for violent crime targeting Arab citizens, with 252 homicide victims recorded in 2025. But 2026 stands to be even deadlier if killings continue at their current pace.

EU leaders meet to counter pressure from Russia, China and Trump

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during the European Industry Summit in Antwerp, Belgium, February 11, 2026. (AP/Virginia Mayo)

Leaders from across the European Union are meeting in a Belgian castle as the 27-nation bloc faces antagonism from US President Donald Trump, strong-arm economic tactics from China and hybrid threats from Russia — challenges that have prompted a rethink of Europe’s approach to diplomacy and trade.

“We all know we must change course, and we all know the direction,” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever told a meeting with some European leaders yesterday. “Yet it sometimes feels like we’re standing on the bridge of the ship staring at the horizon without being able to touch the helm.”

But there are competing visions of how the EU must change. Today’s meeting is to shape proposals for another summit in late March.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni lead a wing of the bloc calling for deregulation, rebooting Europe’s relationship with Washington and forging trade deals like the recent one struck with the Mercosur nations of South America.

“We must deregulate every sector,” Merz said yesterday. But they are at odds with France.

One key issue is how much of the EU’s defense spending should be restricted to buying from EU arms companies. French President Emmanuel Macron argues that EU companies should get priority, while Merz and Meloni say purchases should be from both foreign and European firms.

Herzog, closing Australia visit, tells demonstrators: ‘Go protest in front of the Iranian embassy’

President Isaac Herzog addresses a Jewish event in Melbourne, Australia, February 12, 2026. (Maayan Toaf / GPO)

President Isaac Herzog, speaking at a Jewish event in Melbourne to close out his trip to Australia, praises the local Jewish community’s resilience but laments that his visit has had to take place under heavy police guard.

Major protests by pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demonstrators have trailed Herzog during his four-day trip, and police have arrested dozens.

The visit is a solidarity trip in the wake of the terror shooting targeting a Hanukkah event on Sydney’s Bondi Beach in December, in which gunmen killed 15.

“To me, it’s obscure and odd that we need to have so many incredible police officers protecting us for the inherent right of us to gather here as proud Jews, to host the president of the only Jewish state on Earth without any harassment and disturbance,” Herzog says, according to remarks distributed by his office.

Herzog suggests that the protesters should instead oppose Iran’s brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters last month.

“And I say to all those protesters outside, go protest in front of the Iranian embassy or whichever embassy they have,” he says. “For heaven’s sake, they killed and butchered around 50,000, tens of thousands of their own people, operating a whole machine of an empire of evil against us.”

Rights groups have documented thousands of deaths in the protest crackdown and estimate that the true toll is in the tens of thousands. Herzog does not cite a source for his estimate of some 50,000.

Herzog encourages Australian Jews to “to keep your Jewish hearts on your sleeves and wear your Zionism with pride. Do not be afraid to show who you are.”

He says that, in discussions with Australian leaders, he “found serious partners who are willing to hold serious conversations and address the vile rhetoric, the misinformation, and the shameful antisemitism head-on.”

NYC comptroller: End of Israeli restaurant’s dining service is result of ‘blatant bigotry’

Beejhy Barhany opened Tsion Cafe in 2014 with her husband. (Josefin Dolsten/JTA)

New York City Comptroller Mark Levine condemns the “blatant bigotry” that led Tsion Cafe, an Ethiopian-Israeli restaurant in Harlem, to stop offering regular dining service.

The restaurant’s owner, Beejhy Barhany, recently told the New York Jewish Week that “so much animosity” following the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel has led her to change the restaurant’s model and to only accept group bookings made in advance.

She told the outlet that hostility increased after the restaurant became kosher in 2024.

“I was proud to be Jewish. I wanted to illuminate that,” she told the outlet. “But from the moment we pivoted to be kosher, it became worse and worse.”

Harlem’s Tsiyon Cafe is one of my favorite restaurants in NYC. Owned by talented chef Beejhy Berhan, an immigrant from Ethiopia who is proudly Jewish.

Now they are closing their doors. Why? Because of a constant stream of animosity, that got even worse when they went kosher two… https://t.co/euFQAP7lKk

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) February 11, 2026

Levine, New York City’s highest-ranking elected official, shares the report, lamenting the decision that resulted from “blatant bigotry.”

“Harlem’s Tsiyon Cafe [sic] is one of my favorite restaurants in NYC. Owned by talented chef Beejhy Berhan, an immigrant from Ethiopia who is proudly Jewish,” he writes.

“Now they are closing their doors,” he continues. “Why? Because of a constant stream of animosity, that got even worse when they went kosher two years ago.”

“I am deeply disturbed by this and you should be too,” he writes.

Indonesian president to attend Board of Peace meeting in US next week

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto speaks during a signing ceremony on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, on September 24, 2025. (Dave Chan / AFP)

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto will attend the first leaders’ meeting of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in the United States on February 19, the country’s foreign ministry says.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vahd Nabyl Achmad Mulachela says Prabowo will use the Board of Peace to fight for the protection of Palestinians, promote the recovery of Gaza, and push for a sustainable peace based on the two-state solution, which would see a Palestinian state established alongside Israel.

Earlier this week, Indonesia’s military chief said the country is preparing for the potential deployment of 5,000 to 8,000 troops to Gaza under Trump’s peace plan.

Prabowo is also expected to sign a tariff deal with the US during his trip, the government has said.

Turkey’s FM praises US-Iran nuclear talks, urges against discussing missile program

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a session on the opening day of the Doha Forum, an annual diplomatic conference, in Doha, December 6, 2025. (Mahmud Hams/AFP)

The US and Iran appear ready to compromise to secure a nuclear deal, but broadening talks to cover Tehran’s ballistic missile program risk “nothing but another war,” Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan tells the Financial Times in a interview.

“It is positive that the Americans appear willing to tolerate Iranian enrichment within clearly set boundaries,” Fidan tells FT.

The US and Israel have said the US-Iran negotiations should cover Tehran’s ballistic missile program as well as its nuclear program. Iran has ruled out linking the two issues in talks.

‘Death to Herzog’ graffiti found at Melbourne University as protests continue

Protesters stand in front of police officers as they cordon off an intersection during the visit of President Isaac Herzog in Melbourne on February 12, 2026. (MARTIN KEEP / AFP)

Graffiti calling for the death of President Isaac Herzog is found on a Melbourne University campus as the Australian city sees major protests on the final day of Herzog’s visit to the country.

The graffiti on the side of a building reads “Death to Herzog + Israel + Oz,” the latter a nickname for Australia, and includes an inverted triangle, which is a Hamas symbol. The graffiti, which has since been removed, has been referred to police.

“Racism, hatred and violence have no place in our society or our nation,” a spokesperson for the university says, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “We became aware of the offensive graffiti on the edge of our Parkville campus this morning and immediately sent cleaners who swiftly removed it.”

The Australasian Union of Jewish students says it is “deeply disturbed” by the graffiti.

“Calls for violence against any individual or nation are not ‘legitimate criticism’ of government policy,” the group says. “They cross a clear moral and legal line and have no place on a university campus.”

The statement adds, “We urge the University of Melbourne to investigate this incident thoroughly and to identify those responsible. At a time when Jewish students already feel unsafe on campus, incidents like this only contribute to a hostile and intimidating environment.”

Herzog is visiting Australia this week following an invitation from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the aftermath of the December 14 terror shooting at a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that killed 15.

The visit has attracted the ire of some people in Australia, who accuse Herzog of being complicit in civilian deaths in Gaza.

Two killed in separate overnight shootings, with one victim said to be son of former Rahat mayor

Two men were shot dead in separate shootings overnight, the latest in a series of surging homicides in Israel’s Arab communities.

One of the men, 42, was fatally shot in the northern Druze village of Yarka, while the other was killed in the southern Bedouin city of Rahat. The latter victim is identified by the Ynet news site as Mukhtar Ata Abu Madighem, 22, the son of former Rahat mayor Ata Abu Madighem.

Herzog: Antisemitism in Australia is ‘frightening’ but most people respect Jews, want dialogue with Israel

President Isaac Herzog attends a ceremony at the Chabad of Bondi in Sydney, February 10, 2026. (Bianca De Marchi/Pool Photo via AP)

President Isaac Herzog says antisemitism in Australia is “frightening” but most people want good relations, on the final day of a visit expected to spark protests in the city of Melbourne.

Herzog’s tightly policed four day visit to Australia this week was meant to offer consolation to the country’s Jewish community following December’s mass shooting on Bondi Beach in which terrorists killed 15 people.

But it has sparked anti-Israel demonstrations in major cities including in Sydney, where police used pepper spray on protesters and members of the media, including an AFP photographer, during scuffles in the city’s central business district.

Ahead of a visit Thursday to Melbourne, Herzog tells Channel Seven’s Sunrise a “wave” of anti-Jewish hatred in Australia had culminated in the December 14 Bondi killings.

“It is frightening and worrying,” he says.

“But there’s also a silent majority of Australians who seek peace, who respect the Jewish community and of course, want a dialogue with Israel.”

The head of state says he had brought a “message of goodwill to the people of Australia.”

“I hope there will be a change. I hope things will relax,” he says.

Protesters are expected to turn out in force later on Thursday against Herzog’s visit around 5 p.m. local time.

Many Jewish Australians have welcomed Herzog’s trip.

US-based activists raise death toll in Iran protest crackdown to over 7,000

In this photo released on February 9, 2026, by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses the nation in a televised speech. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

The death toll from a crackdown over Iran’s nationwide protests has reached at least 7,002 people killed with many more still feared dead, activists say.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which offers the latest figures, has been accurate in previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths.

Iran’s government offered its only death toll on January 21, saying 3,117 people were killed. Iran’s theocracy in the past has undercounted or not reported fatalities from past unrest.

The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll, given authorities have disrupted internet access and international calls in Iran.

Suspect charged with stabbing Jewish man in New York is released on bail

The suspect charged with an antisemitic stabbing in New York City in December is arraigned and released on bail.

Armani Charles was arrested for allegedly making antisemitic remarks and stabbing a Jewish man in the chest in Brooklyn, near the Chabad movement’s world headquarters.

The victim was treated at a hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening.

A portion of the incident was captured on video.

The victim later said Charles had told him, “I’m going to kill Jewish people,” and, “We wouldn’t be in this mess if the Holocaust had happened.”

In his first court appearance, Charles is arraigned, pleads not guilty, and is released, posting at least $50,000 in bail, court filings show.

The 14 charges include assault with intent to cause serious injury, menacing, criminal possession of a weapon and aggravated harassment based on race or religion. Six of the charges are hate crimes.

Charles is set to appear in court next in April.

Settlers filmed attacking activists trying to protect Bedouin hamlet in West Bank

Settlers from the Giborei David outpost are filmed attacking a nearby Bedouin hamlet in the northern West Bank early Thursday morning.

The suspects target several homes, including a caravan where a group of left-wing activists are staying in order to try and protect Palestinian residents from what have been repeated, unchecked settler attacks.

Footage shows the settlers shattering windows of the caravan, and the activists tell Haaretz that the suspects also sprayed mace inside after doing so.

Haaretz says there has been a sharp rise in such attacks on vulnerable Bedouin hamlets throughout the West Bank in recent weeks.

The phenomenon has led to an increase of deployments of Israeli and foreign solidarity activists to try and protect the villages, albeit with limited success.

מתנחלים ממאחז חוות גיבורי דוד תקפו את מתחם המגורים בקהילה מזרחית לדומא לפני שעה קלה, שברו חלונות וריססו גז פלפל לתוך המבנה בו פעילי נוכחות מגנה.

חוות גיבורי דוד הנה חווה, ולא ׳מאחז סורר׳, משמע, מקבלת אבטחה במימון משלם המיסים.
קשה לעקוב אחרי כמות הפלישות של נערי המאחז/חווה הזו… pic.twitter.com/cfK7KuMaMR

— Matan Golan (@MatanGolanPhoto) February 11, 2026

Top Haredi rabbi: ‘Whether authorities agree or not, no yeshiva student will go to IDF’

Rabbi Dov Lando in Bnei Brak, April 5, 2024. (Shlomi Cohen/ Flash90/ File)

The spiritual leader of Degel HaTorah, one of the two factions of the Haredi United Torah Judaism party, says in a statement: “Whether the authorities agree to it or not, not a single yeshiva student, not even one, will go to the army.”

Rabbi Dov Lando issues the statement as the government continues its efforts to pass a law that would exempt most, but not all, Haredim from service.

“The place of Torah scholars is solely within the walls of the yeshivas and kollels,” Lando says. “Let everyone know, whether they understand this or not: This is the fact; it has been so, and it will remain so.”