Feb. 8: 3 times more Palestinians than Israelis were victims of West Bank terror in January — report

Norwegian diplomat who mediated Oslo Accords quits over Epstein ties

Norway's then-ambassador to the United Nations, Mona Juul, casts a vote during UN elections, June 17, 2020, at UN headquarters in New York. (Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo via AP)

OSLO, Norway — Norway’s foreign ministry says a prominent ambassador and key Oslo Accords mediator, Mona Juul, would step down due to a “serious failure of judgement” over ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, part of a growing scandal in the Nordic country and across Europe.

The ministry earlier this week suspended Juul from her position as ambassador to Jordan and Iraq pending an internal inquiry into links to Epstein found in a massive set of files released by the United States government.

“Juul’s contact with convicted sex offender Epstein has shown a serious failure of judgment. The case makes it difficult to rebuild the trust that the role requires,” Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide says in a statement.

Juul, 66, a former junior government minister, previously represented Norway as ambassador to Israel, Britain, and at the United Nations.

The foreign ministry said it had also initiated a review of its former grants to the International Peace Institute (IPI), a New York think tank headed by Juul’s husband Terje Roed-Larsen, until 2020.

Roed-Larsen, 78, who briefly served as a cabinet minister in 1996 under then-Prime Minister Thorbjoern Jagland, has several times apologized for his connection to Epstein.

“The National Audit Office has already investigated this several years ago, but Terje Roed-Larsen naturally has no objections to this being done again,” his lawyer, John Christian Elden, says in a statement.

IPI does not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Juul and Roed-Larsen rose to prominence as part of a small group of diplomats facilitating the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords, seen at the time as a breakthrough in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, although peace remained elusive.

Several other prominent Norwegians also had links to Epstein, including Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who on Friday apologized again in a statement issued by the palace, notably to the king and queen.

Police arrest four suspects hours after Kafr Qara shooting

Police announced that they arrested four suspects in a shooting earlier today in Kafr Qara, in which a man was killed and a woman was moderately injured.

The suspects have been interrogated and detained, according to the police statement, which adds that the police will request to extend their detention.

The shooting was the latest incident in a wave of violent crime that has shaken Arab society and sparked mass protests.

French-Israeli activists denounce ‘complicity in genocide’ case as political trial

Right-wing activists from the Tzav 9 movement block the road to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching the Gaza Strip, April 25, 2024. (Tzav 9)

Two French-Israeli activists facing legal summons in France for “complicity in genocide” denounce what they describe as a political trial.

The summonses were issued in July last year for lawyer Nili Kupfer-Naouri of the Israel is Forever group and Rachel Touitou of the Tsav 9 group over protests in 2024 and 2025 that aimed to block trucks carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The summonses call for the two to appear before an investigating magistrate but not for their detention.

Speaking at an event in Netanya, Kupfer-Naouri asserts that “this is not an individual case, this is a state matter… this is a political trial.”

Touitou tells AFP that she had “protested peacefully, my only ‘weapon’ was an Israeli flag,” adding she had been motivated by accusations of Hamas looting aid while hostages held by the terror group were “rotting.”

“International law cannot be hijacked and instrumentalized for political ends,” she added.

Kupfer-Naouri, who has filed a slander complaint in France against organizations involved in the case, says, “You cannot be accused of complicity in genocide when no court, either French or international, has ruled that there is a genocide in Gaza.”

Israel adamantly rejects allegations that its fight against Hamas in Gaza, sparked by the terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, amounts to genocide, saying that it takes measures to avoid civilian casualties and blaming Hamas for fighting from among noncombatants.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report. 

3 times more Palestinians than Israelis were victims of West Bank terror in January — report

Footage of a settler attack in the northern West Bank Palestinian village of Deif Sharaf on January 8, 2026. (Screen capture/X)

In January, three times more Palestinians were victims of terror attacks in the West Bank than Jews, according to figures from Israel’s security establishment reported by the Kan public broadcaster.

The report comes amid a spike in attacks by extremist settlers in the West Bank. The network did not specify the precise source of the figures.

Last month, according to the Kan report, 22 Palestinians were injured and required medical evacuation due to terror attacks, versus seven Jewish Israelis.

The report also said that last month, there were 11 instances of arson attacks by Jews targeting Palestinian buildings or vehicles. January saw two instances of Palestinians throwing Molotov cocktails at Jewish targets, the report said, along with 126 instances of Palestinian stone-throwing targeting Jews.

The data reflects the continuation of a months-long rise in attacks by extremist Jewish settlers against Palestinians and Israeli security forces in the West Bank. The number of such attacks rose by 27 percent in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to data recorded by the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security agency.

The number of severe incidents of “nationalistic crime” by settler extremists, classified by Israeli security bodies as terrorism, also rose by over 50%, according to the data.

The attacks, which occur on a near-daily basis, largely go unchecked. Prosecutions of Jewish extremists are rare, and convictions are even rarer. Critics have accused the government, described as the most hardline in Israel’s history, of shrugging off the attacks.

Hamas urges escalation, demands Muslim states cut ties with Israel over West Bank overhaul

Hamas gunmen guard an area where they are searching for the bodies of hostages with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza City on November 3, 2025. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Hamas urges Palestinians to “intensify the confrontation” in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and demands Arab and Muslim nations cut ties with Israel in response to the security cabinet’s decision to increase Israeli authority in the West Bank and remove barriers to Jewish land purchases there.

In a statement, the terror group calls the measures adopted today part of Israel’s “fascist settler-colonial approach.”

“We demand the Arab and Islamic states… bear their historical responsibility in confronting the occupation [Israel] and its plans aimed at imposing the annexation of the West Bank as a fait accompli,” Hamas says.

It also calls for those countries to “strengthen a unified Arab and Islamic position” and “take practical and serious steps, foremost among them cutting relations with the Zionist entity and expelling its ambassadors from capitals that have established relations with it.”

In addition, Hamas calls on “Palestinians and their rebellious youth throughout the West Bank and Jerusalem to intensify the confrontation with the occupation and its settlers by all available means, to thwart the projects of annexation, Judaization and forced displacement.”

Hamas regularly uses the word “settlers” to refer to Jews in both Israel and the West Bank.

Herzog lands in Australia for solidarity visit after Bondi attack, will meet PM, Jewish community

President Isaac Herzog speaks at a Bible studies event at his residence in Jerusalem on December 30, 2025. (Haim Zach/GPO)

President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog land in Australia to kick off an official visit at the invitation of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, following the December terror shooting at a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that killed 15 people.

Herzog’s office says in a statement that he will visit Jewish communities across Australia “to express solidarity and offer strength to the community in the aftermath of the attack.”

The president will also hold official meetings with senior Australian officials, including Albanese, Governor-General Sam Mostyn and others “from across the political spectrum.”

The visit has drawn widespread opposition and organized protests from local anti-Israel groups calling for Herzog’s arrest.

Socialist defeats far-right candidate in Portugal’s presidential runoff, exit polls show

Presidential candidate Antonio Jose Seguro, of the center-left Socialist Party, waves to the crowd during a campaign rally ahead of the February 8 presidential election in Lisbon, February 5, 2026. (AP/Ana Brigida)

Moderate Socialist Antonio Jose Seguro appears to be headed for a landslide victory in Portugal’s presidential runoff, with two exit polls putting him in the 67 percent to 73% range, well ahead of his far-right, anti-establishment rival Andre Ventura.

The exit polls conducted for television channels RTP, SIC and TVI/CNN place Ventura at 27%-33%, still a better result than the 22.8% his anti-immigration Chega party achieved in last year’s general election.

Last year, Chega became the second-largest parliamentary force, overtaking the Socialists and landing behind the center-right ruling alliance, which garnered 31.2%.

Despite his loss today, 43-year-old Ventura, a charismatic former TV sports commentator, can now boast increased support, reflecting the growing influence of the far right in Portugal and much of Europe.

The presidency is a largely ceremonial role in Portugal but wields some key powers, including, in some circumstances, to dissolve parliament, to call a snap parliamentary election, and to veto legislation.

Jewish astronaut Jessica Meir headed to International Space Station, with stuffed animal in tow

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir outside the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft after she lands with NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Friday, April 17, 2020.(NASA/GCTC/Andrey Shelepin)

When the next mission to the International Space Station blasts off from Florida next week, a special keepsake will be hitching a ride: a small stuffed rabbit.

American Jewish astronaut and mother, Jessica Meir, one of the four-member crew, reveals that she’ll take with her the cuddly toy that belongs to her three-year-old daughter.

It’s customary for astronauts going to the ISS, which orbits 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth, to take small personal items to keep close during their months-long stint in space.

“I do have a small stuffed rabbit that belongs to my three-year-old daughter, and she actually has two of these because one was given as a gift,” Meir, 48, tells an online news conference.

“So one will stay down here with her, and one will be there with us, having adventures all the time, so that we’ll keep sending those photos back and forth to my family,” she says.

US space agency NASA says SpaceX Crew-12 will lift off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida to the orbiting scientific laboratory early Wednesday.

Meir, a marine biologist and physiologist and daughter of an Iraqi-Israeli father and Swedish mother, served as a flight engineer on a 2019-2020 expedition to the space station and participated in the first all-female spacewalks.

Since then, she’s given birth to her daughter. She reflects on the challenges of being a parent and what is due to be an eight-month separation from her child.

“It does make it a lot difficult in preparing to leave and thinking about being away from her for that long, especially when she’s so young; it’s really a large chunk of her life,” Meir says.

“But I hope that one day, she will really realize that this absence was a meaningful one, because it was an adventure that she got to share in and that she’ll have memories about, and hopefully it will inspire her and other people around the world,” Meir adds.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report. 

Iranian authorities said to arrest reformist figures for ‘working in favor of the Zionist regime’

Women walk past a mural painted on the outer walls of the former US embassy in Tehran on February 1, 2026 (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iranian authorities arrest three reformist figures, including the head of Iran’s Reform Front coalition, Azar Mansouri, the local Fars news agency reports.

“Azar Mansouri, Ebrahim Asgharzadeh and Mohsen Aminzadeh were arrested by security and judicial institutions,” the agency says.

“The accusations against these individuals include targeting national unity, taking a stance against the constitution, coordination with enemy propaganda, promoting surrender, diverting political groups and creating secret subversive mechanisms,” it added.

The judiciary’s Mizan Online news agency also reports that several people were arrested, but does not identify them.

“After completing the investigation into the actions and activities of some important political elements supporting the Zionist regime and America, four members of this group were charged with crimes, and the active elements working in favor of the Zionist regime and America were arrested,” Mizan says.

Mansouri, 60, was an adviser to reformist former president Mohammad Khatami.

Following the protests that started in Iran in December, she posted on Instagram that “when all avenues to be heard are closed, protest takes to the streets,” adding that a “crackdown is the worst way to deal with protesters.”

Referring to the deaths of thousands of people during the protests, she later said, “We don’t have access to the media, but we say to the grieving families: You are not alone.”

She added that “no power, no justification, and no time can cleanse this great disaster.”

Mansouri was previously arrested after the protests that followed the 2009 Iranian presidential election, and was sentenced to three years in prison for disrupting public order and propaganda against the state, among other charges.

In 2022, she was charged again and subsequently sentenced to one year and two months in prison.

Since June 2023, she has been the leader of Iran’s Reform Front, an umbrella group of reformists who traditionally call for more social freedoms and the establishment of a civil society.

Ebrahim Asgharzadeh is a former member of parliament and Mohsen Aminzadeh is a former deputy at the foreign ministry.

Police looking for suspects in torching of Islamic holy books in West Bank mosque

Islamic holy books strewn on the floor of a West Bank mosque after settlers allegedly broke into the building and vandalized its interior on February 8, 2026. (Israel Police)

Police are searching for suspects who set fire to Islamic holy books in a West Bank mosque earlier this evening.

According to Palestinian outlets, several Israeli settlers broke into the house of worship on the outskirts of Maniya, a village south of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank, where they stole carpets and cut electrical wires.

Police say the mosque was abandoned, despite it reportedly still being furnished and hooked up to electricity. No injuries were reported in the break-in.

Officers from the Etzion police station, as well as Border Police forces, are now searching for suspects in the incident.

Fatah says its Gaza-based officials got ‘arbitrary’ summonses from Hamas internal security

A Hamas operative stands guard as Egyptian workers accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) use a digger as they search for the remains of hostages in the Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern of Gaza Strip on December 1, 2025. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Fatah, the dominant faction in the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, accuses Hamas of launching a “summonses campaign” against Fatah officials in northern Gaza.

It’s unclear what the summonses officially relate to, nor is it clear precisely at what time they were issued, or for when.

Hamas has ruled Gaza since violently ousting PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah forces in 2007.

In a statement carried on Fatah’s Awda TV channel, Fatah says party operative Ayman Halawa and Abdelaziz Al-Daour, a member of Fatah’s regional leadership in northern Gaza, have been summoned by Hamas “for an interview with the internal security apparatus at the governor’s palace.”

“These practices serve only to deepen the internal divide” among the Palestinian people, Fatah says, calling for “an immediate halt to these arbitrary procedures.”

PA VP calls on US to intervene over new measures deepening Israel’s West Bank control

Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Hussein al-Sheikh attends a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other foreign ministers, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Amman, Jordan, Nov. 4, 2023. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool photo via AP)

Palestinian Authority Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh calls on the US and the international community to intervene after Israel’s security cabinet passed a series of measures that deepened Israeli control of the West Bank.

The new policies change regulations at flashpoint sites and, supporters and critics say, advance de facto annexation of the territory.

“What is being circulated about impending Israeli decisions to deepen annexation and impose new realities in the West Bank, including in Area A, constitutes a nullification of all signed and binding agreements between the parties and represents a dangerous escalation and a blatant violation of international law,” Sheikh tweets.

Per the 1993 Oslo Accords, Area A of the West Bank is meant to be under PA civil and security control.

“These unilateral measures aim to undermine any political horizon, dismantle the two-state solution, and drag the region into further tension and instability,” he continues.

“We call on the US administration and the international community to intervene immediately to halt this occupation-driven aggression,” he says.

Ben Gvir waves off AG’s office demand that he allow promotion of officer who clashed with him

L: National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90); R: Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara (Oren Ben Hakoon/Pool)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir shrugs off a letter from the Attorney General’s Office demanding he stop blocking the promotion of Chief Supt. Ruti Hauslich, a high-ranking police detective, reportedly openly disagreed with him in meetings.

Gil Limon, the deputy to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, urged the far-right minister in a letter to stop behaving like a “super commissioner” of police by exerting control over promotions to punish dissenting officers.

“You are not supposed to serve as a ‘super commissioner’ and are not the commander of police officers. You aren’t authorized to ‘punish’ officers for their professional work just because it isn’t to your liking,” the letter reads, according to Ynet.

Ben Gvir responds in a cursory post to X: “I heard you, Gali. Your advice was not accepted. We are pressing on with full force.”

According to Haaretz, Hauslich has expressed positions opposing those of Ben Gvir in several discussions with the minister, especially when it came to how police should handle incitement offenses.

This is not the first time Ben Gvir has refused to sign off on the promotion of a police officer, seemingly due to his own considerations.

Since last year, he has been refusing to promote Supt. Rinat Saban, another officer in the police’s investigations and intelligence division, testified against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his graft trial.

Bennett calls Netanyahu the ‘Israeli Forrest Gump’ after PM deflects blame for Oct. 7

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett gives a video statement on December 23, 2025. (Screen capture/X)

Naftali Bennett mocks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lengthy document attempting to deflect blame for the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, calling the longtime premier “the Israeli Forrest Gump, a weak, pitiful, helpless nebech who just happened to stumble into events.”

“He is not a leader, but someone who is led. He is not a commander, but a subordinate,” he continues.

The video statement from Bennett, the former prime minister considered Netanyahu’s most credible challenger in this year’s elections, refers to the classic 1994 film whose title character is a bystander to, or unwitting influence on, a series of pivotal events in the postwar US. The word “nebech” is a Yiddish pejorative roughly translating to “wimp.”

Bennett’s statement comes in response to the premier’s publication last week of a 55-page document of answers he gave to State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman as part of the ombudsman’s investigation into the October 7 attack.

Netanyahu, who has served as prime minister since 2009, save for a period of 18 months from 2021-2022, has been criticized for seeking to portray himself as having sought far-reaching action against Hamas, while being thwarted by the objections of security chiefs and the lack of public backing for such a move.

“Netanyahu has criticism of the security establishment — so do I,” Bennett says, but notes that Netanyahu was “not a cabinet minister. He was the prime minister of Israel and the supreme commander of the State of Israel for 12.5 out of the 14 years preceding the greatest disaster in Israel’s history.”

He further criticizes and mocks the prime minister for suggesting that he was “incapable” of commanding his own army or intelligence organizations.

“What emerges from it is that Netanyahu did not lead, did not manage, and did not govern,” Bennett says, adding that while the prime minister sought to absolve himself, he has instead drafted “the most severe indictment imaginable against a prime minister in Israel.”

He adds, “In the 55 pages of this document, you see a weak man who allows the Hezbollah monster to grow before his eyes in the north and the Hamas monster to grow in the south to enormous dimensions, and he does nothing.”

Palestinian teen shot by IDF in November left to bleed out for almost 45 minutes — report

A Palestinian teenager who was shot by the Israeli army in the al-Faraa refugee camp in the northern West Bank two months ago was left to bleed out for nearly 45 minutes, according to testimonies cited by the Haaretz daily.

Jadallah Jadallah, 14, was shot by troops on the evening of November 16, 2025. The IDF said at the time that soldiers of the Paratroopers Brigade’s reconnaissance unit opened fire on a Palestinian “terrorist who attempted to harm troops” during a raid in the area.

Haaretz publishes footage showing soldiers standing around Jadallah after he was shot, where he can still be seen moving. The video also shows a soldier placing a stone next to Jadallah’s body.

The outlet cites witnesses as saying that he was shot, at the latest, at 4:45 p.m. that day, and was only attended to by military medics at 5:28 p.m. His body was taken away from the scene at 5:35 p.m. by the army, Haaretz reports.

Responding to Haaretz, the IDF says that the claim “that the force did not provide medical treatment is false.”

“A terrorist was identified throwing a concrete block at the force, posing an immediate threat. The force fired at the terrorist to neutralize the threat, as a result of which he was wounded. After verifying that the terrorist was not carrying an explosive device on his body, the force provided him with initial medical treatment,” the military says.

The IDF says that the “claim that the force placed stones near the terrorist’s head is not known” and is under further review.

In meeting days before Oct. 7, PM reportedly prioritized maintaining quiet with Hamas

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) speaks to Mossad chief David Barnea at Mossad headquarters during a New Year toast on September 14, 2023. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Less than a week before the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed his top advisers and security chiefs to maintain the status quo with Hamas in which the terror group received economic incentives to maintain quiet, Channel 12 reports.

The reports come days after Netanyahu released a 55-page document with selected quotations from cabinet meetings in the years leading up to October 7 that paint a picture in which the premier ostensibly pushed for aggressive policies against Hamas, whereas current political rivals and security chiefs urged long-term deals with Hamas and blocked the assassinations of Hamas leaders.

But Netanyahu omitted the October 1, 2023, meeting from his answers to the state comptroller’s inquiry into October 7 that he released on Thursday night.

“The prime minister expressed great appreciation to all the security services on their activities to maintain the quiet on all fronts,” reads the leaked summary of that meeting, “with an emphasis on the holidays, and stresses that we must act with moderation in order to cool down the fronts and avoid escalation…”

In the meeting, according to the network, Netanyahu also conditioned any assassinations of Hamas leaders on conflict breaking out, and even then instructed the defense establishment to focus on the West Bank leadership.

Netanyahu defined Israel’s goals at the time as making progress on normalization with Saudi Arabia and avoiding any escalation with adversaries.

Netanyahu, then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Mossad Chief David Barnea, Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer attended the October 1, 2023, meeting.

Senior defense officials tell Channel 12 that Netanyahu’s release of selected quotations takes them out of context and does “irreparable damage” to ties between the political and security echelons.

Lebanon says 5 dead, including child, in building collapse in northern city

Rescue workers and residents search for survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, February 8, 2026. (AP)

The toll in a building collapse in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli has risen to five dead, state media reports, as rescuers search for survivors in the second such incident in weeks.

The state-run National News Agency reports “the collapse of an old building” in Tripoli’s Bab al-Tabbaneh neighbourhood, the poorest in the impoverished city, adding that security personnel evacuated adjacent buildings fearing further collapses.

“Eight people have been rescued so far, while five victims have been recovered, including a child and an elderly woman,” it said.

Civil defense chief Imad Khreish tells local media that the building consisted of two blocks, each containing six apartments.

Local media showed images of residents and rescue workers trying to remove debris with basic equipment and their bare hands.

It comes after another deadly building collapse in Tripoli late last month.

President Joseph Aoun has requested all emergency services mobilize “to assist in the rescue operations and provide shelter for the building’s residents and those of neighboring buildings that were evacuated” as a precaution, a statement from his office says.

Lebanon is dotted with derelict buildings, and many inhabited structures are in an advanced state of disrepair.

Many buildings were built illegally, especially during the 1975-1990 civil war, while some owners have added new floors to existing apartment blocks with no permits.

In 2024, rights group Amnesty International said “thousands of people” were still living in unsafe buildings in Tripoli more than a year after the structures were weakened by a major earthquake centered on Turkey and neighboring Syria.

IDF and police say they foiled attempt to smuggle 12 guns from Jordan using drone

Weapons captured by IDF troops and police during an attempted smuggling on the Jordan border, February 8, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)

The military and police say they foiled an attempt to smuggle 12 handguns into Israel from Jordan overnight Saturday-Sunday using a drone.

The drone was identified crossing the border by the Israeli Air Force’s air traffic control array. Troops of the 96th “Gilad” Regional Division and Israel Police officers were then dispatched to the scene, a joint statement says.

After scans, the drone was located and found to be ferrying 12 pistols. The guns were taken by the police for further processing.

Over the past two years, there have been frequent attempts to bring weapons and drugs over the Jordanian and Egyptian borders using drones.

Man shot and killed outside home in Kafr Qara in crime wave’s latest bloodshed

A man has been shot and killed outside his home in Kafr Qara, as daily shootings continue to rock Arab society.

Police say the assailants shot at a man and a woman in the city this evening.

The woman was taken to the hospital in moderate condition, while the man, around 25 years old, was declared dead at the scene.

Officers who arrived at the scene have set up roadblocks in the area and are currently searching for the perpetrators. No arrests have yet been reported.

مصرع شاب بعد تعرضه لاطلاق النار في كفر قرع pic.twitter.com/Ii1sjoxcU5

— jaljulia (@jaljulia1) February 8, 2026

PA’s Abbas slams Israel’s ‘dangerous’ West Bank reforms, declares them ‘null and void’

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas attends a meeting with Russian President at the Kremlin in Moscow on January 22, 2026. (Ramil Sitdikov / AFP)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemns a series of policy changes adopted by Israel’s security cabinet earlier today to overhaul land registration and property acquisition in the West Bank, deepening Israel’s control over the territory, including sensitive sites.

Abbas’s office calls the decisions dangerous, and says it considers them part of a war by the Israeli government against Palestinians, in a report published by the PA’s WAFA news outlet.

The report says Abbas considers the decisions “null and void, granting no legitimacy and [carrying] no legal consequences.”

The PA also calls on the US as well as the UN Security Council to intervene and stop the actions, according to the report.

Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced earlier today that the cabinet approved moves to publicize land registries in the West Bank, which are currently classified.

The decisions also give Israeli agencies authority over maintenance and construction at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, a flashpoint holy site sacred in Judaism and Islam, and Rachel’s Tomb near Bethlehem.

WAFA says Abbas’s office “warned of the dangers of any infringement upon Islamic and Christian holy sites, emphasizing that any violation of the Ibrahimi Mosque and the transfer of authority over it are unacceptable,” using a Muslim term for the Hebron compound.

The Hebron site is traditionally believed to be the burial place of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca and Leah.

The ministers also said the cabinet voted to overturn a Jordanian law — passed when that country controlled the West Bank from 1948-1967 — that limited land purchases in the West Bank to Muslims.

Additionally, the ministers announced decisions to expand Israeli oversight over infrastructural, environmental, and archaeological affairs in Areas A and B, which — under the terms of the 1990s Oslo Accords — fall under the PA’s civil authority.

‘Raining missiles’: New billboard in Tehran threatens map of Tel Aviv with rocket fire

A new billboard overlooking Tehran’s Palestine Square threatens Tel Aviv with missile fire, showing a map of the city’s metro area below the Hebrew words, “Under raining missiles, it’s a small area!”

A caption below that in English reads, “You start… We finish it!”

The picture shows a map of the Tel Aviv metro area, known in Hebrew as Gush Dan, stretching roughly from Ra’anana in the north to Holon and Ben Gurion Airport in the south, and pocked with red target marks. A legend on the map shows the city names of Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak and Herzliya. It then says, “For the first day!”

In the billboard, that map appears atop a table with a red button bearing the word “FIRE” in English, along with a walkie-talkie, and models of a plane and missiles.

⚡️#BREAKING Message from Tehran: New threatening sign in Hebrew unveiled in Palestine Square pic.twitter.com/8SiXZ8aM2T

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) February 8, 2026

Iran has posted images threatening Israel at the square in the past, including a clock purportedly counting down toward Israel’s destruction.

The new billboard comes as the US and Iran conduct negotiations against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s threats to attack the country over its bloody crackdown on protesters last month. Iran has threatened to strike Israel and US targets in response to any attack, including threatening Tel Aviv.

During the Israel-Iran war last June, Iran fired missiles at Tel Aviv.

Around 180 Gazans said to have left via Rafah Crossing since reopening

Ambulances wait in line at the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with the Palestinian Gaza Strip, in northeastern Egypt, on February 2, 2026. (AFP)

Around 180 Palestinians have left the Gaza Strip since the limited reopening of the Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt a week ago, according to Hamas officials in the territory and other sources.

The Rafah Crossing, the only gateway for Gazans to the outside world that does not pass through Israel, reopened for the movement of people on February 2, nearly two years after Israeli forces seized control of it during the war with Hamas that was sparked by the terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.

Between Monday and Thursday, 135 people crossed into Egypt from Gaza through the crossing, mostly patients and their companions, according to Ismail al-Thawabteh, head of the Hamas-run media office in the territory.

The statistics show “a severe restriction on travel,” Thawabteh says.

He says the crossing was also closed on Friday and Saturday.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society confirms that 135 Gazans had left through the crossing between February 2 and 5.

On Sunday, another 44 people left the Gaza Strip through the crossing to Egypt, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital, tells AFP.

They included 19 patients, while the rest were their companions, he adds.

A source at the border on the Egyptian side also confirms the figure for travelers passing through the gateway on Sunday.

Travel through the crossing is also taking place in the opposite direction, with dozens returning to Gaza during the same period.

Thawabteh tells AFP that 88 people entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt since the crossing reopened, often meeting their families in tearful reunions.

Israel allowed the reopening of the Rafah Crossing on Monday, reportedly following US pressure, but has so far restricted passage to patients and their accompanying relatives.

The reopening of Rafah forms a key element of US President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza, where humanitarian conditions remain dire.

For thousands of sick and wounded Palestinians, the crossing’s reopening offers a rare chance to seek medical treatment in Egypt or elsewhere.

Abu Salmiya said last week that around 20,000 patients in Gaza urgently require treatment, including 4,500 children.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report. 

PM to fly to Budapest next month for conservative conference

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands after a press statement at the Carmelite Monastery in the Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary, April 3, 2025. (AP/Denes Erdos)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to fly to Hungary next month to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Budapest, the Prime Minister’s Office tells The Times of Israel.

Prominent conservative leaders and activists are expected to attend the confab, which begins on March 21.

Netanyahu is a close ally of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who received him with great fanfare last April.

Lebanon surprised after Kuwait includes hospitals on ‘terror’ list

Part of the new fence that runs along the border with Lebanon, with Bint Jbeil, a Hezbollah stronghold, on the hill, on November 26, 2025. (Diana Bletter/ Times of Israel)

Lebanon’s health ministry expresses surprise and says it will seek clarification after Kuwait includes several private hospitals in the Mediterranean country on its “terror” list.

Kuwait’s foreign ministry issues a circular indicating that it had listed the eight hospitals as part of regulations related to “combating terrorism.”

The facilities are located in and serve residents of south and east Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs — all strongholds of the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah, which Kuwait’s circular does not mention.

Lebanon’s health ministry says it received the Kuwaiti statement “with great surprise,” adding it has not been provided with “any information or notification from any Kuwaiti entity about this matter.”

“The hospitals mentioned in the statement are registered with the syndicate of private hospitals in Lebanon and carry out their role in providing treatment and health services to all Lebanese without exception,” the health ministry statement says.

It calls the facilities “an essential part of the Lebanese health system,” and says it will contact the relevant authorities to request clarification and to “present the correct facts” and “protect Lebanon’s health system.”

The eight hospitals include two in Beirut’s southern suburbs, an area Israel heavily bombarded during its yearlong conflict with Hezbollah that largely ended with a November 2024 ceasefire.

They also include the Salah Ghandour hospital in south Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil, which is run by the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee.

The hospital’s grounds and its surroundings were struck in 2024 during the hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Earlier this month, the ministry condemned what it called threats against south Lebanon hospitals after reports that the IDF had dropped leaflets warning residents that Hezbollah operatives were using a hospital in Bint Jbeil.

Security cabinet okays ‘dramatic’ West Bank policy overhaul, deepening Israeli control

Israeli bulldozers break ground for the construction of settlements in the Sarouj area, located between the towns of Silat al-Harithiya and Yamoun, west of Jenin in the West Bank, on December 22, 2025. (Zain Jaafar/AFP)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz announce that the security cabinet has approved a series of decisions to “dramatically” change policy in the West Bank, deepening Israeli control over the territory, including at sensitive sites such as Hebron, and paving the way for further settlement expansion.

The decisions “are intended to remove decades-old barriers, repeal discriminatory Jordanian legislation, and enable accelerated development of settlement on the ground,” according to a joint statement from the ministers.

The plan transfers authority over building permits for the Jewish settlement in the largely Palestinian city of Hebron from the Palestinian Authority’s Hebron municipality to Israel. The changes also affect the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a site holy to Judaism and Islam that has been a flashpoint of conflict.

Until now, in accordance with a 1997 agreement, any construction changes in the city’s Jewish community had to pass through both the municipality and Israeli authorities. Now, such changes will require only Israeli authorization.

“We are committed to removing barriers, creating legal and civil certainty, and allowing settlers to live, build and develop on equal footing with every citizen of Israel,” Katz says in the statement.

Smotrich says the move is “normalizing life in the West Bank” and promises to “continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state.”

The approved plan also ordered the publication of land registries in the West Bank, the statement says, meaning that potential buyers will be able to identify landowners and approach them for purchasing. Until now, land registration in the West Bank had been classified.

It also repealed a legal provision that prevents non-Muslims from buying real estate in the area — a law left over from the period when Jordan controlled the territory — easing property purchases in the West Bank.

The decision also affects the site of Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem by establishing “a dedicated municipal authority” responsible for cleaning and routine maintenance of the holy site.

It was also decided to expand oversight and enforcement activities into Areas A and B, which are both meant to be under Palestinian Authority civil control, with regard to water violations, damage to archaeological sites and environmental hazards that pollute the territory, the statement says.

The measures were not brought for approval by the full government but rather to the cabinet, whose members have broadly called for applying Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank.

The Yesha Council, an umbrella council for the settlements, praises the decisions, saying they are “entrenching Israeli sovereignty on the ground, de facto.”

Detention extended for man who allegedly assaulted anti-government protesters in Beersheba

A judge has ordered a man to three more days of detention after he allegedly assaulted anti-government protesters last night in Beersheba. He will remain in custody until Tuesday.

During a demonstration calling for a state commission of inquiry into government failures surrounding the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught, 34-year-old Avichai Buskila arrived with two others at the protest site in a car. A poster in the rearview window read, “Leftist traitors.”

Buskila allegedly threw objects at the protesters and doused them in a flammable substance, which demonstrators at the scene claimed was gasoline. During the hearing, police say the substance was oil, Ynet reports.

He was detained alongside a man in his 50s last night, who had also been in the car. Both were interrogated by officers; however, the older man was freed subject to limitations, police tell The Times of Israel, since Buskila was the only one suspected of assaulting demonstrators.

Buskila’s lawyer requested that he be freed to house arrest, Ynet reports. The Beersheba Magistrate’s Court decides instead to extend his detention based on his criminal record of violent offenses and seeming intention to spark a confrontation with the protesters.

FBI concluded Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t running a sex trafficking ring for powerful men, files show

This photo provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, March 28, 2017. (New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP)

While FBI investigators collected ample proof that Epstein sexually abused underage girls, they found scant evidence the well-connected financier led a sex trafficking ring serving powerful men, an Associated Press review of internal Justice Department records shows.

Videos and photos seized from Epstein’s homes in New York, Florida and the Virgin Islands didn’t depict victims being abused or implicate anyone else in his crimes, a prosecutor wrote in one 2025 memo.

An examination of Epstein’s financial records, including payments he made to entities linked to influential figures in academia, finance and global diplomacy, found no connection to criminal activity, said another internal memo in 2019.

While one Epstein victim made highly public claims that he “lent her” to his rich friends, agents couldn’t confirm that and found no other victims telling a similar story, the records said.

Summarizing the investigation in an email last July, agents said “four or five” Epstein accusers claimed other men or women had sexually abused them. But, the agents said, there “was not enough evidence to federally charge these individuals, so the cases were referred to local law enforcement.”

The AP and other media organizations are still reviewing millions of pages of documents, many of them previously confidential, that the Justice Department released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and it is possible that those records contain evidence overlooked by investigators.

The Epstein investigation began in 2005, when the parents of a 14-year-old girl reported she had been molested at the millionaire’s home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Police would identify at least 35 girls with similar stories: Epstein was paying high school-age students $200 or $300 to give him sexualized massages.

After the FBI joined the probe, federal prosecutors drafted indictments to charge Epstein and some personal assistants who had arranged the girls’ visits and payments. But instead, then-Miami US attorney Alexander Acosta struck a deal letting Epstein plead guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl. Sentenced to 18 months in jail, Epstein was free by mid-2009.

In 2018, a series of Miami Herald stories about the plea deal prompted New York federal prosecutors to take a fresh look at the accusations.

Epstein was arrested in July 2019. One month later, he killed himself in his jail cell.

Iran sentences Nobel peace laureate Mohammadi to six years in prison, lawyer says

This photo taken in 2021 shows Narges Mohammadi in Tehran, Iran. (Reihane Taravati via AP)

An Iranian court sentenced Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi to a six-year prison term, her lawyer tells AFP.

“She has been sentenced to six years in prison for gathering and collusion to commit crimes,” lawyer Mostafa Nili said, adding that she had also received a two-year ban on leaving the country.

Mohammadi also received a one-and-a-half-year prison sentence for propaganda activities and is sentenced to be exiled for two years to the city of Khosf in the eastern province of South Khorasan, the lawyer stated.

She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 in recognition of her activism. Over the past quarter-century, Mohammadi, 53, has been repeatedly tried and jailed for her vocal campaigning against Iran’s use of capital punishment and the mandatory dress code for women.

She has spent much of the past decade behind bars and has not seen her twin children, who live in Paris, since 2015.

Arab leaders call on PM to fire Ben Gvir, ‘put an end’ to crime wave, are denied entry to PM’s office

High Follow-Up Committee chairman Jamal Zahalka and Sakhnin Mayor Mazen Ghanaim deliver a statement to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside his office in Jerusalem on February 8, 2026. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

The heads of two Arab-Israeli umbrella groups deliver a message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside his Jerusalem office, demanding he act decisively against organized crime and fire National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Holding a formal letter addressed to the premier, Jamal Zahalka, a former Balad lawmaker who now heads the influential Arab High Follow-Up Committee, says that the police’s inability to solve murder cases has led to a “complete absence of deterrence [against homicide]” and “deepens the sense of neglect” among Arab citizens.

He stands next to Mazen Ghanaim, the mayor of the northern city of Sakhnin, who cosigned the letter. The pair led a Jerusalem-bound convoy of around 200 cars from Arab locales across the country to protest the spread of violent crime in Arab soicety.

Large police forces are deployed outside the Prime Minister’s Office as Zahalka gives his statement. Officers have barricaded the road with crowd control barriers and brought a water cannon, which is parked near the sidewalk.

“Today, we had a day of disruption on the roads. This expresses our situation: Our lives are disrupted completely,” Zahalka says. “Arab citizens are suffering from a total lack of security — shootings, murders every day… We want to put an end to this situation.”

“We say to Netanyahu, all of this is happening on your watch and it is in your power to change the situation. The State of Israel is obligated… to protect all of its citizens without distinction and to act with determination against organized crime,” he continues.

Zahalka and Ghanaim move past the barriers, and are followed by a gaggle of journalists as they request from police to be allowed to enter the Prime Minister’s Office and present Netanyahu with their letter. They are denied entry.

Runaway horses spotted on Tel Aviv highway, returned to owners unharmed

Two runaway horses were spotted on Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway yesterday, Channel 12 reports.

The galloping steeds were seen running in the left lane of the usually busy artery in the afternoon. Footage circulating on social media shows drivers slowing down to have a look.

The horses apparently got away from their owners but were caught by traffic cops on the road and returned unharmed, the network reports.

שני סוסים יצאו בשבת בצהריים לדהירה בנתיבי איילון. pic.twitter.com/YNc3k828w6

— זירת החדשות (@ZiratNews) February 8, 2026

‘Enemies of Italy’: Meloni slams anti-Olympics protesters after violence

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks during a press conference with Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo on January 16, 2026. (Toru HANAI / POOL / AFP)

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemns anti-Olympics protesters as “enemies of Italy” following violence on the fringes of a demonstration in Milan last night and sabotage attacks on the national rail network.

The International Olympic Committee also joins in the criticism, saying violence has no place at the Games.

The incidents happened on the first full day of competition in the Winter Games that Milan, Italy’s financial capital, is hosting with the Alpine town of Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Meloni praises the thousands of Italians who were working to make the Games run smoothly and to present a positive face of Italy.

“Then there are those who are enemies of Italy and Italians, demonstrating ‘against the Olympics’ and ensuring that these images are broadcast on television screens around the world. After others cut the railway cables to prevent trains from departing,” she writes on Instagram.

The Italian Transport Ministry says an investigation into suspected terrorism had been launched after the railway sabotage near the city of Bologna yesterday and that those responsible will face a multimillion euro damages claim.

A group of around 100 protesters threw firecrackers, smoke bombs and bottles at police after breaking away from the main body of a demonstration in Milan.

An estimated 10,000 people had taken to the city’s streets in a protest over housing costs and environmental concerns linked to the Games.

“Peaceful protest is entirely legitimate… We draw a line at violence. That has no place at the Olympic Games,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams tells a press conference.

Police report three separate incidents at different locations on the rail network yesterday, which caused delays of up to two and a half hours for high-speed, intercity and regional services.

“Decisive action will be taken to put an end to such unacceptable acts,” the Transport Ministry says.

No one has claimed responsibility for the damage, which echoed the opening day of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, when saboteurs struck France’s high-speed TGV train network, causing travel chaos.

UK PM’s top aide quits in scandal over Mandelson’s links to Epstein

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer at 10 Downing Street, London, January 16, 2026. (Henry Nicholls/Pool Photo via AP)

Embattled British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff resigns over the appointment of Peter Mandelson last year as ambassador to the United States, despite Mandelson’s links to US convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“After careful reflection, I have decided to resign from the government. The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself,” Morgan McSweeney says in a statement.

“I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice,” he adds.

Budget logjam said to clear after reported progress in talks on Haredi draft exemption bill

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee legal adviser Miri Frenkel Shor attends a committee meeting, December 9, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s legal adviser and representatives of Haredi parties have begun closing the gaps between their positions on the coalition’s bill regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment and exemptions, following several hours of negotiations.

According to ultra-Orthodox media, the progress on the controversial bill, which is not specified, is likely enough to prevent Shas and Degel HaTorah from blocking the advance of a critical budget-related bill in the Knesset tomorrow.

The media outlets report that the talks between legal adviser Miri Frenkel Shor and the Haredi leaders have advanced enough that the coalition estimates that the two factions will support a crucial step in advancing the state budget. Namely, they now plan to vote in favor of splitting the annual Arrangements Law from a package of economic reforms being pushed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as part of the budget.

Last week, Shas blocked such a vote in order to protest the snail’s pace of the coalition’s draft exemption bill. The bill, if passed, will preserve sweeping exemptions from conscription for yeshiva students.

Further delays in the vote could complicate the timeline for approving the budget, which must pass by the end of March in order to prevent the dissolution of the Knesset. Failure to pass the budget would trigger early elections in June. Elections are currently slated to be held by late October.

Ultra-Orthodox representatives are pushing back hard against changes demanded by Frenkel Shor, who has criticized the bill and called for the addition of several amendments that are opposed by the Haredim.

According to Shalom Stein, a reporter for the Emess news site, the meeting between Frenkel Shor and the Haredi lawmakers was attended by former Shas MK Ariel Attias and current Shas lawmaker Yinon Azoulay, along with Degel HaTorah’s Uri Maklev.

IDF says it suspended soldiers filmed beating detained Palestinian in West Bank

The IDF says it has suspended soldiers who were filmed beating a detained Palestinian man in the West Bank last week.

Footage published by Palestinian media on Friday showed two IDF soldiers hitting and kicking the detained man, identified as Muhand al-Tamimi, near the village of Nabi Saleh, close to Ramallah. Tamimi appears to be handcuffed in the video.

“The incident is under investigation. Until the investigation is concluded, the soldiers [seen in the video] have been suspended from their duties,” the IDF says in response to a query by The Times of Israel.

“The IDF strongly condemns and views manifestations of violence gravely,” the military adds.

بوحشية.. جنود الاحتلال يعتدون على الشاب مهند التميمي خلال اعتقاله، من محيط قرية النبي صالح، شمال غرب رام الله. pic.twitter.com/8u25BErGTq

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) February 6, 2026

After uproar, UK prosecutors to seek retrial for Elbit attackers acquitted by jury

Bodycam footage from August 6, 2024, shows an officer aiming a taser gun at an intruder at Elbit UK's site in Bristol, England, after the intruder struck a police officer with a sledgehammer. (Screen capture: Channel 4)

After six British pro-Palestinian activists were acquitted last week of aggravated burglary over a 2024 raid on Israeli defense firm Elbit’s factory, causing a public outcry, the British Crown Prosecution Service said yesterday it will seek a retrial in the case.

The verdict last week cleared members of the now-banned group Palestine Action of aggravated burglary after they attacked the company’s UK facility in Bristol, causing about 1 million pounds’ ($1.4 million) worth of damage and striking a police officer on duty with a sledgehammer.

The defendants said they were simply motivated to destroy weapons to stop what they described as Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza, and disavowed violence against people.

All six suspects were acquitted of aggravated burglary by the jury after more than 36 hours of deliberation. The jury failed to reach verdicts on several other counts.

The announcement by the UK prosecutors followed widespread outrage about the verdict, which was decried by some as blatantly antisemitic. In an op-ed published in The Telegraph, a British daily, former Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard charged that the acquittals “are telling British Jews they have no future here,” and said the decision may be “the single most significant case in the history of Anglo-Jewry since 1945.”

CPS did not clarify which of the acquittals will be retried.

“Prosecutors are now considering the precise basis on which that retrial would proceed, including the form of the indictment, in accordance with CPS legal guidance,” a CPS spokesperson said.

A CPS spokesperson said: “Prosecutors are now considering the precise basis on which that retrial would proceed, including the form of the indictment, in accordance with CPS legal guidance." pic.twitter.com/oauNsFTMct

— Crown Prosecution Service (@CPSUK) February 7, 2026

IAF scrambles to escort Wizz Air flight to Ben Gurion amid suspected ‘security incident’; concerns prove unfounded

FILE: A Wizz Air flight takes off from Ben Gurion International Airport, July 22, 2019. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)

A Wizz Air flight arriving at Ben Gurion Airport from London was escorted by Israeli fighter jets following a suspected “security incident,” according to Israeli authorities.

The Israeli Air Force scrambled fighter jets to escort the plane, flight number W95301 from Luton to Tel Aviv, following a distress call, a military source tells The Times of Israel.

The suspicion came after one of the passengers purportedly received a “threatening message” on their phone, according to a security source.

An Israel Airports Authority spokesperson tells The Times of Israel that “due to suspicious conduct on the aircraft, security forces acted in accordance with the procedures for such a case,” and that the “incident has concluded.”

“The aircraft landed, and it was found that there was no real incident,” the spokesperson says.

Saudi source: We want peace, our Israel criticism isn’t antisemitic, Netanyahu doesn’t want normalization

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman speaks at the Saudi-US Investment Forum at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Recent harsh criticism of Israel in Saudi media is not antisemitic, a source in the Saudi royal family tells the Kan public broadcaster.

“It is not antisemitism, but is opposition to moves by the Israeli government,” says the Saudi source, who is not named.

“There is no hostility toward religion or to a country here,” continues the source, “but to its policies.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the source says, “is the one who is not interested in normalization. We want peace, on the condition that Israel agrees to creating a Palestinian state that meets the minimum criteria.”

Saudi clerics have in fact launched into antisemitic sermons, as headlines in the kingdom attacked “the Zionist entity” and what they call its ostensible Emirati enablers.

The Anti-Defamation League released a statement saying that it is “alarmed by the increasing frequency and volume of prominent Saudi voices — analysts, journalists and preachers — using openly antisemitic dog whistles and aggressively pushing anti-Abraham Accords rhetoric, often while peddling conspiracy theories about ‘Zionist plots.'”

Nephew of Shas chair Deri appointed Beersheba’s chief rabbi

Rabbi Avraham Deri, nephew of Shas chairman Aryeh Deri, is elected as the chief rabbi of Beersheba on February 8, 2026. (Courtesy Religious Services Ministry)

Rabbi Avraham Deri, the nephew of Sephardi Haredi party Shas chairman Aryeh Deri, is appointed chief rabbi of the southern city of Beersheba.

His father, Rabbi Yehuda Deri, held the position for over 25 years until he died in July 2024.

“This is a day of great joy for me with the election of the dear, distinguished Rabbi Avraham Deri, as chief rabbi of the city of Beersheba, as the successor to his father — my beloved brother — the distinguished Rabbi Yehuda Deri, of blessed memory, who brought about a profound spiritual transformation in the city through selfless devotion,” Aryeh Deri says in a statement.

The selection of a city’s rabbi is carried out by a committee comprising representatives of the city council, appointees of the Religious Services Ministry, and the head of the local religious council.

According to a ministry spokesperson, the younger Deri received 26 votes, beating Rabbi Yoram Cohen by one vote. According to reports in the Haredi press, Cohen was supported by the city’s mayor Ruvik Danilovich. A third candidate, Rabbi Gad Revach, supported by the Ashkenazi United Torah Judaism’s Lithuanian faction Degel HaTorah, received two votes.

Eyebrows had been raised when former Sephardic chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef declared Avraham Deri to be his father’s successor during the latter’s funeral.

Municipal rabbis are meant to serve as the direct religious authority for the Jewish residents of their city or town, signing off on things like marriage licenses and kosher certificates for local restaurants.

Last week, Shas and Degel HaTorah were in a spat over the election of the Savyon chief rabbi in central Israel, after neither group managed to get their candidate elected, paving the way for the appointment of national-religious Rabbi Uri Sadan, a member of the moderate Orthodox organization Tzohar.

Iran was notified ahead of Witkoff, Kushner visit to USS Abraham Lincoln – report

(FILE) A US Navy officer walks past fighter jets sitting on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, during a media tour in Port Klang, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, on November 26, 2024. (Fazry Ismail/Pool/AFP)

Iran and Oman were told in advance that US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner would visit the USS Abraham Lincoln yesterday, CNN reports.

According to Channel 12, Tehran was notified before the visit so that the Iranians would not be angered if caught unawares.

Witkoff and Kushner, who led the US delegation’s talks with Iran in Oman on Friday, visited the aircraft carrier at the invitation of US Central Command chief, Adm. Brad Cooper, in an apparent signal of the persistent threat of US military action against Iran.

Today, Adm. Brad Cooper, Commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, Jared Kushner, and I met with the brave sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, her strike group, and Carrier Air Wing 9 who are keeping us safe and upholding President Trump’s message of peace… pic.twitter.com/7Kc4XZuBY6

— Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (@SEPeaceMissions) February 7, 2026

Committee negotiations on Haredi draft exemption bill have stalled, source says

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth (center) and committee legal adviser Miri Frenkel Shor (right) during a discussion of the government's proposed law to regulate ultra-Orthodox conscription and exemptions, December 28, 2025. (Noam Moskowitz/Office of the Knesset Spokesperson)

Behind-the-scenes negotiations between the ultra-Orthodox factions and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Likud MK Boaz Bismuth and legal adviser Miri Frenkel Shor have stalled and “have nowhere to go,” threatening the timely passage of the 2026 state budget, a source in the United Torah Judaism party’s Agudat Yisrael faction tells The Times of Israel.

“There’s no advancement,” the source states, while another party source states that Frenkel Shor is currently meeting with Shas negotiator Ariel Attias.

The United Torah Judaism source does not respond when asked what issues are still unresolved.

The parties are involved in intense discussions after the ultra-Orthodox Shas party last week blocked a vote splitting the annual Arrangements Law from a package of economic reforms being pushed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as part of the state budget in order to protest the lack of speed at which the coalition’s bill exempting yeshiva students from conscription is advancing.

Further delays could complicate the timeline for approving the budget, which must pass three readings by the end of March in order to prevent the dissolution of the Knesset, triggering early elections three months later. Elections are currently slated to be held by late October.

Ultra-Orthodox representatives are pushing back hard against changes demanded by committee legal adviser Shor, who has expressed significant criticism of the bill and called for the addition of several amendments to the legislation that are opposed by the Haredim.

She has previously warned that the bill violates the principle of equality and fails to meet security needs. She has also called to reexamine a clause ending sanctions at age 26 and argued that by effectively resetting the status of yeshiva students who ignored call-up orders over the past year, the legislation would grant legal immunity to Haredim but not to non-Haredi evaders.

According to the Haredi press, one of the key sticking points is Frenkel Shor’s opposition to a clause in the bill allowing an advisory committee to lower recruitment targets should its members feel that insufficient Haredi-oriented tracks have been established in the IDF. Haredi lawmakers have also objected to Frenkel Shor’s call to pass the law “as a temporary provision for a maximum period of five years.”

Lawmakers voted in favor of the budget and the Arrangements Law in their first readings late last month, following a a two-day delay caused by last-minute Haredi demands related to the exemption bill. The bills were supported by Shas and UTJ’s Degel HaTorah faction while the Agudat Yisrael faction opposed.

Lawmakers are scheduled to hold the next vote tomorrow but according to Yesh Atid MK Moshe Tur-Paz, an opposition representative on the committee, “there’s enormous pressure” on Frenkel Shor, “at least to say that the law is not ‘unconstitutional,’ meaning it may stand the test of the High Court. There are negotiations on various sections.”

IDF says it killed terror operative who crossed ceasefire line, threatened troops

A Palestinian terror operative who crossed the Gaza ceasefire line in the Strip’s north was killed in an airstrike today, the military says.

According to the IDF, several operatives crossed the Yellow Line and approached troops of the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade, “in a manner that posed an immediate threat.”

The Israeli Air Force then struck the operatives “and eliminated one of them in order to remove the threat,” the army says. The IDF does not detail what happened to the other operatives.

Since the start of the ceasefire in October, the IDF has said, it has killed dozens of terror operatives and other “suspects” who have crossed the Yellow Line — demarcating the military’s withdrawal in the Strip — and approached troops. Such incidents have taken place on a near-daily basis.

The body of the person killed was taken to Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, according to Palestinian media. He is identified as Salem al-Souss, 33.

The hospital also reportedly received a person who was critically wounded in the strike. First responders were working to retrieve other people thought to have been injured, according to the reports, which said the strike took place on the Hamas-controlled side of the ceasefire line in the area of northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya.

Police impeding progress of convoy protesting deadly violence in Arab society, organizers say

Former Hadash MK Yousef Jabarin argues with Border Police officers during protest convoy headed to Jerusalem in protest of violent crime in Arab society on February 8, 2026. (Screenshot/Hadash Party)

Organizers of a Jerusalem-bound convoy protesting the government’s perceived neglect of violent crime in Arab society say police are trying to prevent participants from driving on their route.

“The police are trying to disperse the cars and are themselves creating horrible traffic — the goal is to impede the Arab public’s protest,” says organizer Amjad Shbita.

Hundreds of cars are expected to reach the Prime Minister’s Office at around 3 p.m. today.

Footage shared by organizers shows several Border Police officers in neon work-vests after they appear to have pulled over several cars to the side of the highway.

“We are protesting, not impeding,” says Yousef Jabarin, a former Hadash MK in the convoy, to officers on the road. He adds that the reason they are demonstrating at all is because police “aren’t doing their job.”

In another clip, a Border Police officer is seen demanding one of the convoy participants disclose his ID number, and when asked to provide a reason, says it is because he is disrupting traffic.

He then tells the demonstrator to get in his car and drive away.

Police have not responded to a request for comment.

Border Police officer asks participant in Jerusalem-bound protest convoy against surging crime in Arab society for his ID, says he is obstructing traffic

Organizers say police are trying to prevent them from continuing on their route to the Prime Minister's Office pic.twitter.com/azRCwt3kg1

— charlie summers (@cbsu03) February 8, 2026

So far this year, Arab society has seen 38 deaths in violent circumstances, 11 of them since the start of February.

The sharp uptick in Arab society’s already soaring homicide rate has spurred the community to hold near-daily protests in recent weeks, including a recent massive rally in Tel Aviv a week ago, demanding police take action to rein in the violence.

PFLP terror group says operative, family members killed in Israeli strike last month

Smoke and fire rises after an Israeli airstrike in the west of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip on January 31, 2026 (Bashar Taleb / AFP)

The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, says one of the terror group’s operatives was killed with members of his family near Khan Younis in an Israeli strike on January 31.

He is identified as Hazem Rabhi Abu Hadaid and described as “one of the heroes of the ‘commandos’ unit.”

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights, a Gaza City-based anti-Israel organization, said Abu Hadaid, 39, was killed in a displaced peoples’ tent along with his father Rabhi, 69, brother Muhammad, 36, sister Hejar, 27, son Jibril, 8, daughter Sham, 7, and Muhammad’s daughter Lia, 5. The Hadaid clan also announced on social media over the past week that another woman and child from the family had succumbed to their wounds.

🚨كتائب الشهيد أبو علي مصطفى: ننعى الرفيق المقاتل الشهيد البطل "حازم ربحي حماد أبو حدايد / أبو النمر" أحد أبطال وحدة "المغاوير"

الذي ارتقى شهيداً على طريق القدس وفلسطين في استهداف صهيوني غادر له ولمجموعة من أفراد عائلته بمواصي خانيونس بتاريخ 31/1/2026 pic.twitter.com/8EP3VvyXww

— فلسطين أون لايـن (@F24online) February 8, 2026

The wave of strikes that day killed at least 32 people, according to Hamas’s civil defense agency.

The IDF said at the time that it targeted four Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders, as well as a weapons depot, an arms manufacturing site and two rocket-launching positions, after eight gunmen, including a Hamas commander, emerged from a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah a day earlier in what the military said was a breach of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

The military’s statement did not mention the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, which has fought alongside Hamas in Gaza and indicated that it held the body of Tal Haimi, who was killed defending Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak during the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza.

Reports: Channel 13 owner accepts bid for controlling share pushed by PM’s circle, rejects larger rival offer

A reporter from Channel 13. February 22, 2025 (Yossi Aloni/FLASH90)

Billionaire Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries has reportedly accepted an offer made by businessman Patrick Drahi, who is widely considered to be a supporter of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to buy Channel 13, despite a larger rival offer.

The deal would would still need to be approved by regulatory agencies and competition authorities.

“We are delighted to bring new investors into our shareholder structure and to collaborate with the Drahi family in advancing the vision of Channel 13 and its long-term positioning,” the notification to Access Industries shareholders states, according to the Globes financial daily.

Globes notes that the funding appears to be coming from the family, rather than Drahi’s telecommunications giant Altice, which has had some financial difficulties.

According to Walla, sources close to Netanyahu told Blavatnik that the offer from Drahi, who owns the HOT cable channel and i24NEWS, would be approved faster than a larger offer by a rival group.

The Marker says a message was conveyed to Blavatnik that the bid from Drahi would be approved by the government “in five minutes.”

Reports say Drahi would immediately pay $25 million in return for 15-25 percent of the shares in Channel 13, eventually rising to 75% for a total of $40-50 million.

That offer is in contrast to the one put forward by a group led by Wiz founders Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Ami Luttwak and Roy Reznik, whose bid was much higher — pledging around $100 million in investments into the channel in two stages over a three year period for 74% of shares, reports say.

The Marker says the high-tech group stated it aimed to invest in the channel in a bid to strengthen the news company and preserve independent journalism.

According to Walla, Blavatnik and the group of tech leaders had hit an obstacle over who would immediately invest money into the channel until there was regulatory approval, with Blavatnik reportedly told by those close to the premier that it could take months until it was granted.

The Marker reports that Drahi would not be able to formally take control of Channel 13 because he owns HOT and i24NEWS, and instead the channel’s CEO will hold the shares.

The financial outlet says that while Drahi would be holding a minority stake, he would be the only new investor, which would make him the de facto controlling shareholder.

According to Walla, if the sale to Drahi were to be finalized and the outlets were to merge (although it remains unclear if that would happen), a mass wave of layoffs could be expected at both Channel 13 and i24NEWS.

Channel 13 has been fighting for survival for a number of years, with past claims that journalists were fired for voicing criticism of Netanyahu and the government. Rappaport and his company have also criticized the government, particularly over the contentious judicial overhaul.

Man seriously wounded in Tiberias stabbing; police say motive criminal rather than terror

A man is in serious condition after being stabbed several times in the northern city of Tiberias, police say.

The man, around 30 years old, was taken to the hospital while fading in and out of consciousness, Magen David Adom paramedics say.

Police are still investigating the circumstances of the stabbing but say the incident is criminal, rather than terror-related.

No arrests have been reported.

El Al to be fined for ‘excessive and unfair prices’ at start of war

An El Al plane arrives from France at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, August 1, 2024. (Tomer Neuberg / Flash90)

The Israel Competition Authority notifies El Al that it found that the carrier exploited its monopolistic power by charging “excessive and unfair” pricing of fares for its flights during the first months of the war, and is set to be fined.

The Israel Competition Authority intends to impose the maximum sanction stipulated by law in the amount of NIS 121 million ($39 million), the regulator says in a statement.

A final decision on the financial sanction is subject to a hearing, with the airline expected to challenge the decision.

Any fine collected would go into state coffers.

Following an investigation, the regulator found that El Al had a monopoly on flights to and from Israel from the outbreak of war with Hamas on October 7, 2023, until the end of May 2024, and that it charged “excessive and unfair prices” for its flights during this period.

Netanyahu holds weekly cabinet meeting ahead of DC trip

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes part in a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on February 5, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The weekly cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is underway in Jerusalem. The meeting began shortly before noon.

The meeting comes ahead of Netanyahu’s trip to the US to discuss Iran with US President Donald Trump, which was moved forward by a week amid US-Iran nuclear talks.

Prominent Iranian activist arrested over statement critical of regime – report

Prominent Iranian activist Ghorban Behzadian-Nejad was arrested for his contribution to a statement critical of Iran’s authorities, written in the wake of their deadly crackdown on protests, the reformist daily Shargh reports.

Several public figures who supported and signed the statement have been arrested in recent days, including filmmaker Mehdi Mahmoudian, co-writer of the film “It Was Just an Accident,” which won the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes festival.

“We call for holding a free, transparent referendum… with the aim of establishing a national and inclusive government and enabling a democratic transition,” read the text by Mir Hossein Mousavi, a leading figure of the Iranian opposition and former prime minister, under house arrest since 2011.

Senior Hamas leader reaffirms terror group won’t disarm or accept foreign intervention in Gaza

Senior Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is interviewed by Al Jazeera on December 10, 2025. (Screenshot/X)

A senior Hamas leader says the terror group will not surrender its weapons nor accept foreign intervention in Gaza, pushing back against US and Israeli demands.

“Criminalizing the resistance, its weapons, and those who carried it out is something we should not accept,” Khaled Mashaal says at a conference in Doha.

“As long as there is occupation, there is resistance. Resistance is a right of peoples under occupation… something nations take pride in,” says Mashaal.

Mashaal urges the Board of Peace to adopt what he calls a “balanced approach” that would allow for Gaza’s reconstruction and the flow of aid to its roughly 2.2 million residents, while warning that Hamas will “not accept foreign rule” over Palestinian territory.

“We adhere to our national principles and reject the logic of guardianship, external intervention, or the return of a mandate in any form,” Mashaal says.

“Palestinians are to govern Palestinians. Gaza belongs to the people of Gaza and to Palestine. We will not accept foreign rule,” he adds.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump have insisted that the terror group give up its weapons in the near future as part of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire. Trump has repeatedly asserted that Hamas “promised” to lay down its arms, and has threatened the group over the issue.

At least publicly, however, Hamas has never agreed to lay down its arms.

Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza explicitly says that Hamas must give up its weapons, but the Hamas statement endorsing the plan contained significant conditions and did not directly mention disarmament.

Report: Substack generating revenue from far-right, antisemitic newsletters

This illustration photo shows the Substack logo on a laptop screen in Los Angeles, April 23, 2021 (Chris DELMAS / AFP)

Publishing platform Substack is making money from newsletters that promote far-right ideologies and antisemitism, The Guardian reports.

The report says that one of the newsletters — NatSocToday — with 2,800 subscribers, features a swastika as its profile picture and is thought to have been created by a US far-right activist.

The profile charges $80 per year for a subscription, but many of the posts are available for free, The Guardian says.

Substack takes around 10 percent of revenue generated by profiles.

The Guardian says that a recent post by NatSocToday suggested Jews were responsible for World War II and praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler as “one of the greatest men of all time.”

The report says that within two hours of subscribing to NatSocToday, Substack’s algorithm suggested 21 other profiles with similar content.

The report says that many other newsletters produce posts with antisemitic content and Holocaust denial.

Substack was approached for comment by the newspaper but did not respond.

Iran says won’t stop uranium enrichment, is not scared by US military deployment in region

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks during the Al Jazeera Forum in Doha on February 7, 2026. (Karim JAAFAR / AFP)

Iran will never surrender the right to enrich uranium, even if war “is imposed on us,” its foreign minister says, defying pressure from Washington.

“Iran has paid a very heavy price for its peaceful nuclear program and for uranium enrichment,” Abbas Araghchi tells a forum in Tehran.

“Why do we insist so much on enrichment and refuse to give it up even if a war is imposed on us? Because no one has the right to dictate our behavior,” he says, two days after he met US envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman.

Abbas also says that his country is not intimidated by the US naval deployment in the Gulf.

“Their military deployment in the region does not scare us,” he says.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to compel Iran to reach a deal on the nuclear program, after starting a build-up of troops in the region over Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests that killed thousands and saw tens of thousands of others detained in the Islamic Republic.

Before the war with Israel and the US last year, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60 percent purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. The UN nuclear watchdog — International Atomic Energy Agency — has said Iran is the only country in the world to enrich to that level that wasn’t armed with the bomb.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that the talks between his country and Iran needed to address Tehran’s nuclear program, its ballistic missiles, support for proxy terror groups around the region, and “treatment of their own people.”

Russia says man suspected of shooting top general has been detained in Dubai, extradited

In this image made from video and provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, on June 23, 2023, Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev speaks to servicemen in an undisclosed location (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) says that the man suspected of shooting top Russian military intelligence officer Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alexeyev in Moscow has been detained in Dubai and extradited to Russia.

Alekseyev was hospitalized after being shot several times by an unidentified assailant at an apartment building in northwestern Moscow, Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said Friday.

The 64-year-old served as the first deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence agency, known as the GRU, since 2011.

He was decorated with the Hero of Russia medal for his role in Moscow’s military campaign in Syria and in June 2023 was shown on state TV speaking to mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin when his Wagner Group seized the military headquarters in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don during his short-lived mutiny.

Herzog pays tribute to Matti Caspi: ‘One of the greatest of our generation’

Singer-songwriter Matti Caspi in campaign to raise funds for additional cancer treatment (Courtesy Lehosheet Yad)

President Isaac Herzog pays tribute to singer and songwriter Matti Caspi, who died aged 76, as “one of the greatest Israeli creators of our generation.”

“Just like in one of his unforgettable songs – ‘Someone is taking care of me up there’ – too soon we have parted from Matti Caspi, one of the greatest Israeli composers of our generation, who has gone to take care of us from above,” Herzog writes.

“And we are left with his masterful works, with the melodies that showed kindness to wonderful texts and granted them eternal life, with the compositions that shaped Israeli music for decades, with the arrangements in which his unique fingerprint was so clearly felt,” Herzog says.

“Matti Caspi is no longer with us, but his contribution to Israeli music and to our lives is so present and will continue to accompany our cultural world for generations to come,” he says.

Matti Caspi, beloved singer and composer, dies aged 76

Israeli musician Matti Caspi performs in Gush Etzion on December 10, 2015. (Gershon Elinson/Flash 90)

Matti Caspi, a composer, singer, and lyricist who produced some 1,000 songs, including many of Israel’s most beloved tunes, dies aged 76.

He had suffered from cancer.

Caspi released some 1,000 songs and dozens of albums during his decades of work, often serving as both musician and producer for other singers and albums, with a unique ability to compose harmonies and lyrics that were eminently singable for his audiences.

He was deeply connected to his local audience — when he developed metastases from the cancer in May, he informed his followers on social media, letting fans know he was canceling his upcoming performances to focus on his health.

He launched a $1.5 million crowdfunding and media campaign to raise money for experimental treatments that were not included under the national healthcare system.

“I’ll fight in every way possible, I’ll be stubborn to the end,” said Caspi in July 2025, when his illness didn’t allow him to play the piano or guitar.

Report: US whistleblower complaint involves call discussing Iran and someone close to Trump

US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House, Oct. 23, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

A top-secret whistleblower complaint last year that the US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard allegedly sought to block, was reportedly about a conversation involving Iran.

The New York Times reports that the complaint involved the interception of a call between two foreign nationals in which they discussed individual close to US President Donald Trump in a conversation that also involved Iran.

The newspaper says the nationality of the two is unclear.

The report notes that the call was in May last year, around the time the US was planning its strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

A top-secret complaint filed with the intelligence community’s inspector general last May by an anonymous government official alleged that the US spy chief’s office sought to prevent the routine dissemination of certain classified intelligence for political reasons.

Gabbard disputes claims by lawmakers that she sought to block Congress from accessing the complaint, saying she took “immediate action” once notified of the need to provide security guidance for its release.

A November letter from Andrew Bakaj, the whistleblower’s lawyer, to Gabbard’s office, which was also shared with the House of Representatives and Senate intelligence committees, alleged that Gabbard had hindered the dissemination of the complaint to lawmakers by failing to provide necessary security guidance on how to handle it.

Protest convoys from across the country to head for Jerusalem in call for action on deadly crime in Arab society

Thousands attend a protest about organized crime in the Arab community, in Tel Aviv. January 31, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)

Protest convoys calling for action on the deadly crime in Arab society will leave from the north, center and Negev desert and head to Jerusalem today.

The growing protests on the issue come amid a crime wave that has brought murder to Arab communities at unprecedented levels, with 252 killed last year, a nearly 300% rise from 2017. According to the Abraham Accords watchdog, 38 members of the Arab community have been killed in the violence so far this year.

The protesters are expected to gather outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.

“We want to raise a loud cry about the severe distress of Arab society,” former Knesset member Jamal Zahalka, who heads the High Follow-Up Committee for the Arab Citizens of Israel, tells the Walla news site. “People are murdered and injured every day. Our entire society lives in fear of the criminal organizations, which, because of the deprivation, have become a state within a state.”

Protest leaders are also planning a three-day shut-down of economic activity in Arab communities in Israel, but a date has not yet been set for it, Haaretz reports.

Man arrested after Netanyahu backers hurl oily substance at anti-government protesters, injuring 85-year-old

Police say they detained a Beersheba resident in his 50s last night on suspicion of assaulting anti-government protesters who were calling for a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding Hamas’s onslaught of October 7, 2023.

Footage posted to social media and accounts to Hebrew media show that multiple people arrived at a protest site in a car on which “Leftist traitors” in written in big writing, and poured a substance in their direction. Demonstrators have said it was gasoline, while police say it was oil.

Retired Ben-Gurion University Associate Professor Haim Marantz, 85, tells Hebrew media that he was lightly hurt in his eye in the incident and taken to Soroka hospital after being hit by the substance. He says the man arrived and yelled “Only Bibi” — referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

תעוד נוסף בו תומך נתניהו תקף מפגינים בבאר שבע pic.twitter.com/jmdZe2eo6u

— אלימות ישראל (@Alimut_Israel) February 7, 2026

After mass layoffs, Washington Post publisher Will Lewis announces departure

Washington Post publisher and CEO Will Lewis is leaving the US newspaper, it has announced after carrying out widespread layoffs this week.

“During my tenure, difficult decisions have been taken in order to ensure the sustainable future of The Post so it can for many years ahead publish high-quality nonpartisan news to millions of customers each day,” Lewis writes in a message to staff that is shared online by the newspaper’s White House bureau chief, Matt Viser.

Jeff D’Onofrio, chief financial officer of the newspaper owned by Jeff Bezos, will serve as acting publisher and CEO, the Post says.

Lewis, a former Dow Jones chief executive and publisher of the Wall Street Journal, was appointed to the role at the Washington Post in 2023. He took over from Fred Ryan, who had served as publisher and CEO for nearly a decade.

Cop injured, 3 rioters arrested as hundreds decry Haredi draft dodger’s arrest outside Ofakim police

Ultra-Orthodox protesters block the entrance to Ofakim to decry the arrest of a Haredi draft dodger, February 7, 2026. (Screenshot: X; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox men rallied earlier this evening outside the police station in Ofakim and blocked the entrance to the southern city to protest the arrest of a Haredi draft dodger, police say.

The man, who reportedly spent Shabbat at the home of his in-laws in the nearby Moshav Tifrah after he got married two months ago, was arrested after being stopped by traffic police, with the cops determining that he has received a call-up order and ignored it. He has been handed to military police and is expected to come before a judge Sunday.

Police say they arrested three of the protesters who encircled the police station to demand the draft dodger’s arrest. They say a policeman was lightly injured after a stone was thrown at him.

However, the Ynet news site reports that the detainees — not including the draft evader — were released in exchange for the demonstrators dispersing.

Israeli bobsled pilot says team apartment was robbed ahead of Milan Cortina Winter Olympics

Israel's bobsled team practices at Lake Placid, New York, in December 2021. (Ken Childs)

An Israeli bobsled pilot says the apartment that he and some fellow Olympians have been using while finishing their training for the Milan Cortina Winter Games was robbed today, with passports and “thousands of dollars” worth of other items among what was taken.

Some members of the team still have not arrived in Italy for the Olympics yet and aren’t expected to leave their training base — the location of which the team did not disclose — until this coming week.

AJ Edelman, a former Olympic skeleton athlete who is now the driver for the Israeli bobsled team, says in a series of social media posts that the squad continued training even after police opened an investigation.

Edelman says how the team handled the day “is just such a fine example of how we push forward in difficult circumstances,” he writes on X. “Such a gross violation — suitcases, shoes, equipment, passports stolen, and the boys headed right back to training today. I really believe this team exemplifies the Israeli Spirit.”

The Israeli Olympic Committee does not have any immediate comment

Israel is competing in bobsled at the Olympics for the first time, qualifying for the games after Britain decided not to take one of its two allocated spots for Milan Cortina. Israel was next in line and accepted the offer to compete when the last Olympic slots opened.

When reached by the AP, Edelman says he is in Italy, not at the site of the robbery. He says team coach Itamar Shprinz, an Israeli cross-fit athlete, was there, but it is not clear whether Shprinz actually witnessed the robbery or was nearby when it occurred.

IDF says two Palestinian terrorists killed after crossing Gaza ceasefire line

Two Palestinian terror operatives who crossed the Gaza ceasefire line in separate incidents earlier today were killed by troops, the military says.

According to the IDF, in southern Gaza, one operative crossed the Yellow Line and approached troops of the 7th Armored Brigade. And separately in the Strip’s north, one operative crossed the Yellow Line and approached reservists of the Alexandroni Brigade.

In both cases, the army says the operatives approached the soldiers “in a manner that posed an immediate threat.”

“Immediately after the identification, the forces eliminated the terrorists in order to remove the threat,” the IDF adds.