The Times of Israel liveblogged Sunday’s events as they happened.

FM Sa’ar tells visiting UK counterpart Israel is working to reach hostage deal, waiting to see if Hamas ‘interested’

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar (right) meets visiting UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy in Jerusalem on January 12, 2025. (Shlomi Amsalem/ Foreign Ministry)
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar (right) meets visiting UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy in Jerusalem on January 12, 2025. (Shlomi Amsalem/ Foreign Ministry)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar tells his visiting UK counterpart that Israel is working to reach a hostage deal and hopes Hamas is as well.

Following a meeting between the pair in Jerusalem, Sa’ar says in a statement that he told UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy that “Israel is intent on securing a hostage deal and is working to achieve it. Soon we will know if Hamas is interested in it.”

Sa’ar says they also discussed a wide range of issues, “including Syria, Lebanon and the Iranian threat,” and Lammy invited him for an official visit to the UK.

Earlier today, Lammy was in Saudi Arabia taking part in meetings with Arab and regional diplomats to discuss the future of Syria.

Foreign Ministry denies rumors of Israeli soldiers arrested in Mexico

Contrary to rumors on social media, no Israeli soldiers have been arrested in Mexico, the Foreign Ministry says.

The statement follows reports last week that the Foreign Ministry is aware of at least 12 cases in which complaints were filed abroad against Israel Defense Forces soldiers, accusing them of war crimes in Gaza.

The reports come amid a campaign by the Hind Rajab Foundation, a nonprofit based in Belgium, to identify Israeli soldiers who have published videos to social media in which they commit, claim to have committed, or appear to endorse committing potential war crimes, and to file complaints against the soldiers on that basis.

27-year-old woman lightly injured in West Bank rock-throwing attack; IDF scouring area for perpetrators

A car damaged by a rock thrown near the West Bank settlement of Ariel on January 12, 2025. An Israeli woman was lightly injured in the incident. (Magen David Adom)
A car damaged by a rock thrown near the West Bank settlement of Ariel on January 12, 2025. An Israeli woman was lightly injured in the incident. (Magen David Adom)

A 27-year-old woman was lightly injured by rocks allegedly thrown by Palestinian attackers at civilian cars in the West Bank this evening, the IDF says, while several vehicles were damaged.

The Magen David Ambulance service says the woman has been evacuated for medical treatment with minor facial injuries from glass fragments.

The incident took place next to the Palestinian village of Hares, near the settlement of Ariel.

Security forces are scouring the area for the perpetrators, according to the military.

Hundreds gather in NYC’s Central Park to mourn slain Hamas hostages Youssef and Hamza Ziyadne

People attend a rally calling for the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at Central Park in New York City, on January 12, 2025. (Arie Leib Abrams/ Flash90)
People attend a rally calling for the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at Central Park in New York City, on January 12, 2025. (Arie Leib Abrams/ Flash90)

Hundreds of people gather in New York City’s Central Park to mourn Youssef Ziyadne, 53, and his son Hamza Ziyadne, 22, who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and killed in captivity.

The IDF recovered the hostage’s remains from a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Tuesday night.

The demonstration, organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, also calls for the release of the remaining 94 Israeli hostages held by terrorists in Gaza.

Jordan Sheff, whose cousins Gali and Ziv Berman were seized from their home on Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, addresses the crowd: “We are now in critical days. Every moment matters. 98 hostages remain in Hamas’s hands. Their conditions are dire and every single one of them is in desperate need of urgent humanitarian relief. We know that the negotiations team has traveled to Doha. We call on them to do everything possible to sign a deal that will bring Gali, Ziv, and all 98 hostages home.”

Among the hostages Hamas is holding are two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

People attend a rally calling for the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at Central Park in New York City, on January 12, 2025. (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)

16-year-old boy shot, moderately wounded in northern city of Tamra; police open investigation

A 16-year-old boy was wounded in a shooting in the northern city of Tamra this evening, says a Magen David Adom spokesperson.

Hassan Aburumi, a senior paramedic with the emergency service, recounts heading to a grocery store close to his home and hearing gunfire from a nearby street, upon which he called additional responders.

“I found a 16-year-old boy lying on the ground, conscious and suffering from penetrating wounds to his body. I administered preliminary medical treatment at the scene,” says Aburumi.

Paramedics evacuated the boy, moderately injured, to Haifa’s Rambam Hospital where he remains in stable condition.

Police have opened an investigation into the incident.

Former Libyan FM insists August 2023 meet with Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen was OK’d by Tripoli

Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush speaks during a press conference with her Turkish counterpart at Turkey's foreign ministry in Ankara, February 13, 2023. (Adem Altan/AFP)
Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush speaks during a press conference with her Turkish counterpart at Turkey's foreign ministry in Ankara, February 13, 2023. (Adem Altan/AFP)

Former Libyan foreign minister Najla Mangoush insists that an August 2023 meeting she held with her Israeli counterpart at the time, Eli Cohen, had been greenlit by Tripoli.

Mangoush was fired and fled the country after Cohen announced that the two had met.

In her first comments since the debacle, Mangoush says that the conversation had taken place on the sidelines of a wider summit and that it was not an official meeting.

“It was a secret meeting,” she says on Al Jazeera’s Atheer podcast. “The meeting doesn’t mean normalization (with Israel).”

She says that Libya’s Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh had tasked her with holding the meeting.

Anti-government demonstrations erupted in Tripoli last week, following the broadcast of the podcast interview, with protesters accusing Dbeibeh of collaborating with Israel.

AG sides with High Court against PM on petition over acting civil service commissioner

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara takes the side of a High Court petition against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling the High Court of Justice that she opposes the prime minister’s pick for acting civil service commissioner, Roi Kahlon, whom Netanyahu appointed last week in defiance of the attorney general’s position.

The State Attorney’s Office, writing for the attorney general, says Kahlon is unqualified for the job, that there was therefore a legal impediment to appointing him, and that a petition calling for the appointment to be cancelled should be accepted.

In the state’s response to the petition, filed by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, the state lawyers note that Kahlon, who served for 15 years in the State Attorney’s Office, does not however have the necessary senior management experience required by the criteria for the civil service commissioner position.

Attorney Roi Kahlon (Shelly Padan)

“The appointment was made with a blatant lack of compatibility between Respondent 3’s [Kahlon’s] experience and the requirements of this elevated and sensitive position,” said Baharav-Miara, highlighting the extensive powers and influence that even an acting head of the civil service wields.

“On a substantive examination of the matter, his qualifications and experience are not suitable for the position, even as an acting commissioner,” she adds.

The High Court will hold hearings over the appointment tomorrow.

Vance: Allowing Israel to dismantle Hamas’s last battalions is what Trump means by ‘all hell’

US Vice President-elect JD Vance speaks to Fox News in an interview aired on January 12, 2025. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
US Vice President-elect JD Vance speaks to Fox News in an interview aired on January 12, 2025. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

US Vice President-elect JD Vance appears to reveal the practical implication of Donald Trump’s threat that “all hell will break loose” if the hostages are not released by January 20.

“It means enabling the Israelis to knock out the final couple of battalions of Hamas and their leadership. It means very aggressive sanctions and financial penalties on those who are supporting terrorist organizations in the Middle East. It means actually doing the job of American leadership,” Vance tells ‘FOX News Sunday.’

The IDF indeed states that it has yet to dismantle the final two of Hamas’s 24 battalions in Gaza, but that is because they are believed to be holding many of the remaining 98 hostages in central Gaza. Accordingly, the IDF has avoided operating there en masse, so as not to risk the lives of the hostages, given that a number of them have been accidentally killed in IDF operations or were executed by their Hamas captors when they feared Israeli troops were approaching.

Vance does not elaborate on the financial sanctions that the incoming Trump administration has planned against Hamas, but the Biden administration has already levied a host of sanctions against the terror group and has issued arrest warrants for several of its leaders.

The incoming vice president asserts Trump’s threat of “all hell to pay” in the Mideast if the hostages are not released is what sparked recent progress in the ongoing hostage talks.

“We’re hopeful there’s going to be a deal that struck toward the very end of Biden’s administration — maybe the last day or two,” Vance says. “But regardless of when that deal is struck, it will be because people are terrified that there are going to be consequences for Hamas.”

Herzog calls for respectful dialogue on new Levin-Sa’ar judicial overhaul plan

Former IDF general Dedy Simhi (left), President Isaac Herzog (center) and former minister Izhar Shay meet in the President's Residence in Jerusalem on January 12, 2025. (Amos Ben Gershom/ GPO)
Former IDF general Dedy Simhi (left), President Isaac Herzog (center) and former minister Izhar Shay meet in the President's Residence in Jerusalem on January 12, 2025. (Amos Ben Gershom/ GPO)

In his first public comments on the new judicial overhaul framework put forth by Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar last week, President Isaac Herzog says that dialogue is needed to reach a consensus agreement and avoid further divisions.

“I believe that the proposal deserves a thorough and respectful discussion, which will include listening and certainly constructive criticism,” Herzog says in a statement, reiterating his call to “urgently enter into comprehensive discourse, dialogue and original and creative thinking,” in order to “stop the terrible rift in our people.”

Herzog made the comments after meeting with former minister Izhar Shay and former IDF general Dedy Simhi — whose sons Yaron Shay and Guy Simhi were both killed on October 7 — who worked on the compromise deal alongside Levin and Sa’ar.

The president says he has carefully read the new outline as well as arguments on either side and believes Israel “must find the golden path that will lead us out of this crisis… the Supreme Court is a critical institution in the State of Israel and in our democratic fabric. Preserving it and its independence is a requirement imposed on all of us.”

During the height of the judicial overhaul disagreements in early 2023, Herzog hosted a series of discussions at his residence between coalition and opposition figures aiming to reach a compromise and even put forth his own outline deal, which got little traction.

Report: High-level Israeli delegation at Doha says conditions to close hostage-ceasefire deal ‘optimal’

Ronen Bar (left), head of the Shin Bet security services, speaks with Mossad chief David Barnea during the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, Jerusalem, May 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Ronen Bar (left), head of the Shin Bet security services, speaks with Mossad chief David Barnea during the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, Jerusalem, May 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Channel 12 news cites senior Israeli officials as saying that talks in Doha to secure a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas over the next two days will be critical in understanding whether an agreement is possible.

The television channel quotes the high-level Israeli delegation currently in Qatar as saying, “It’s possible to reach a final agreement. The conditions for closing are optimal.”

Hamas sources claimed yesterday that a deal had been reached and was awaiting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s final approval.

Mossad chief David Barnea, who traveled to Doha to join the talks last night, is in regular contact with the prime minister over progress in the negotiations.

Shin Bet director Ron Bar, IDF hostage point man Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, and Netanyahu’s political adviser Ophir Falk also flew to Doha with Barnea last night.

Netanyahu slams AG, insists Kahlon is qualified as acting civil service commissioner

Responding to a High Court petition against the appointment of Roi Kahlon as acting civil service commissioner, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells the court that Kahlon is eminently qualified for the role.

The petition against his appointment “was put forth with no legal basis and no factual basis and was based solely on journalistic headlines,” reads the official response to the court submitted by the Prime Minister’s Office. “There is no defect on any level” to appoint him to the job; rather, “there are serious defects in the work of the attorney general” and therefore “the petition should be dismissed completely.”

Last week, Netanyahu tapped Kahlon for the job despite the opposition of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who said the candidate did not meet the criteria for the position and had claimed in his resumé to have far greater management experience than he actually had.

Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs says in a statement that Kahlon is a “worthy candidate who meets all the requirements of the job and there is no basis whatsoever for this petition and for the standing of the attorney general.” Fuchs says Netanyahu received warm recommendations for Kahlon and that there is “no gap between” his management experience and his resume, “and any other claim on the issue misleads the court and the public.”

The petition to the High Court was filed by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, and a hearing in the case is expected tomorrow.

MKs host confab in Eilat against increased oil imports

Illustrative: A view of the resort city of Eilat and its hotel strip. (Oleg Zaslavsky/Shutterstock.com)
Illustrative: A view of the resort city of Eilat and its hotel strip. (Oleg Zaslavsky/Shutterstock.com)

Members of the Knesset’s Environment Caucus host a conference in Eilat in southern Israel to protest the government’s decision last month to allow more oil to be brought into the port of the Red Sea city, the economy of which depends on its world-renowned coral reefs.

“What will remain of Eilat’s tourism if the coral reefs are destroyed,” asks the city’s mayor Eli Lankri, adding that the question of an oil spill is “not if, but when.”

MKs, academics, heads of local authorities, NGOs, and more decry what they call an irresponsible decision that threatens all those living close to the state-owned Europe Asia Pipeline Company’s terrestrial pipeline infrastructure.

Meirav Abadi of the environmental advocacy organization, Adam Teva V’Din, says the move will only bring the EAPC $23 million annually, of which half will go to state coffers. She charges that the government’s decision is illegal and points out that the oil that the EAPC wants to move through its pipelines between the ports of Eilat and Ashkelon will not even serve the Israeli economy.

Civil society has been fighting for nearly five years to stop more oil from being brought into Eilat, and at this evening’s conference, at the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences, those present vow to continue the battle.

In 2021, then-environmental protection minister Tamar Zandberg limited oil imports by the EAPC to two million tons annually, dubbing the move a “zero additional risk” policy.

This disrupted an EAPC deal signed in 2020 with Red-Med, a consortium of Israeli and UAE businesspeople. That deal would have seen Gulf oil brought to the EAPC’s Eilat terminal and channeled overground, via EAPC pipelines, to Ashkelon on the Mediterranean. From there, the oil would be reloaded onto tankers bound for Europe.

Since Zandberg’s decision, the EAPC has constantly tried to get the cap removed.

Since the start of the war against Hamas, which has seen Houthi rebels in Yemen firing missiles at Eilat, the EAPC’s port in the city has barely functioned.

Biden ‘stressed the immediate need’ for hostage-ceasefire deal in call with Netanyahu — White House

US President Joe Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, January 10, 2025. (AP Photo/ Ben Curtis)
US President Joe Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, January 10, 2025. (AP Photo/ Ben Curtis)

US President Joe Biden “stressed the immediate need” for a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas during his call earlier today with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House says.

During the call, the two leaders discussed the ongoing hostage talks, which the White House says are based on the Israeli proposal from May of last year, which envisioned a phased release of the hostages.

The ceasefire that US, Qatari, and Egyptian mediators are trying to advance is indeed still within the three-staged framework, but Israel in this round of talks has been much more open about the second and third phases not coming immediately after the first one, Arab diplomats familiar with the talks have told The Times of Israel

Hamas is demanding assurances from the mediators that there will be some connection between the first and subsequent phases, as it seeks a permanent ceasefire. This issue remains a point of significant contention in the talks, the diplomats said

Biden during the call “discussed the fundamentally changed regional circumstances following the ceasefire deal in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and the weakening of Iran’s power in the region,” the US readout notes.

Netanyahu thanked Biden for his “lifelong support of Israel and for the extraordinary support from the United States for Israel’s security and national defense,” the US readout adds. The readout from Netanyahu’s office noted that the prime minister also thanked US President-elect Donald Trump for his own efforts in advancing the “sacred mission” of releasing the hostages.

On call with Biden, Netanyahu thanked US president, Trump for their efforts to free hostages — PM’s office

During their call moments ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu updated US President Joe Biden on the mandate he had given to Israel’s negotiating team that he dispatched to Doha last night, the premier’s office says.

Netanyahu also expressed his appreciation to Biden and to US President-elect Donald Trump for their efforts to secure the release of the hostages, the Israeli readout says.

Reports: Minister May Golan evades police summons over alleged role in 2020 hit and run

Minister for Social Equality and Minister for Women's Empowerment May Golan attends a Status of Women and Gender Equality Committee meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem on May 26, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Minister for Social Equality and Minister for Women's Empowerment May Golan attends a Status of Women and Gender Equality Committee meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem on May 26, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Social Equality Minister May Golan is evading a police summons for questioning over her alleged role in hitting and injuring a motorcyclist with her car in 2020, Hebrew news sites report.

Police suspect that Golan ran a red light and collided with the motorcyclist as a result, leaving him slightly injured. The case was closed on account of Golan’s parliamentary immunity, but was reopened last year following an appeal by the motorcyclist.

This is not the first time Golan has avoided questioning by the police regarding the incident. In June last year, she decried the investigation as “political persecution” and a “cynical use of police resources.”

A week ago, police summoned Golan again for questioning, but she once again postponed, citing “various scheduling constraints.”

Early last week, Channel 12 aired an expose into Golan’s conduct, claiming she repeatedly misused funds intended for her non-profit and mistreated employees in her office. Her office denies these allegations.

Biden, Netanyahu wrap up a phone call on which they discussed ongoing hostage talks, source tells TOI

US President Joe Biden is greeted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) after arriving at Ben Gurion International Airport, on October 18, 2023, in Tel Aviv. (AP/Evan Vucci)
US President Joe Biden is greeted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) after arriving at Ben Gurion International Airport, on October 18, 2023, in Tel Aviv. (AP/Evan Vucci)

US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have just wrapped up a phone call during which they discussed the ongoing hostage talks, a source familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel.

Neither side has issued a readout yet, but such statements do not typically reveal substantive information regarding what was actually discussed on the call anyway.

Recently released IDF soldier killed in motorcycle accident in Thailand

An IDF soldier who had recently finished a lengthy stint fighting in the Gaza Strip was killed in a motorcycle accident over the weekend while on vacation in Thailand with his family, Hebrew media reports.

The soldier, identified by media reports as Rotem Yaish, served as a commander in the Givati Brigade’s Shaked Batallion and had recently finished a period of reserve duty in Gaza. Prior to that, he had carried out much of his mandatory service battling Hamas in Gaza, as well.

He was killed in a motorcycle accident on Friday on the Thai island of Koh Samui, and his body will be repatriated to Israel later this week.

In a post on Facebook, his uncle Dror Yaish writes that for the past year and a half, his family feared hearing that he had been killed in Gaza.

“You left Gaza like a lion,” Dror writes. “Just last week, you went on a dream vacation, the whole family, in Thailand. What pictures you sent, we were so happy to see you enjoying yourselves together.

“And then on Friday, an hour before the Sabbath, the phone wouldn’t stop ringing and I received the news — Rotem has died. We are in shock and in pain — we can’t digest this news.”

75-year-old woman critically wounded in Hezbollah rocket attack in November succumbs to her wounds

Tamar Edri, 75, died on January 12, 2025, after she was critically injured in a Hezbollah rocket attack in Nahariya on November 25, 2024. (Courtesy)
Tamar Edri, 75, died on January 12, 2025, after she was critically injured in a Hezbollah rocket attack in Nahariya on November 25, 2024. (Courtesy)

A 75-year-old woman who was critically injured in a Hezbollah rocket barrage on Nahariya in November has succumbed to her wounds, the northern city’s municipality announces.

Tamar Edri was wounded on November 25 when a rocket hit her home on Nahariya’s Jabotinsky Street, according to the municipality statement and Hebrew media reports, the day before a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect.

“We prayed so much and hoped for a different ending, but unfortunately tonight we say goodbye to Tamar with great pain,”  the statement adds.

Edri leaves behind her husband, four children, and nine grandchildren.

Former Labor MK registers new party called ‘Zeal for Equality in Service’

Einat Wilf addresses the Knesset, October 15, 2012. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
Einat Wilf addresses the Knesset, October 15, 2012. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Former Labor MK Einat Wilf has registered a new party under the name “Zeal for Equality in Service.”

The list of founders submitted by Wilf to the party registry late last month includes American Israeli writer and editor David Hazony and American Israeli solar energy entrepreneur Yosef Abramowitz.

The party’s name hints at political activity on the hot-button issue of equality in military service, while one of its stated goals is to promote the “separation of religious services from the state.”

The dispute over the ultra-Orthodox community serving in the IDF is one of the most contentious in Israel, with decades of governmental and judicial attempts to settle the issue never achieving a stable resolution. The Haredi religious and political leadership fiercely resists any effort to draft their community’s young men.

In a landmark decision in June, the High Court ruled unanimously that the government must draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students into the military since there was no longer any legal framework to continue the decades-long practice of granting them blanket exemptions from army service.

Since then, the government has been trying to agree on legislation to regulate Haredi enlistment in a manner that would satisfy both the ultra-Orthodox parties and the court.

‘Reward for terrorism’: Far-right minister comes out against hostage deal, but admits she hasn’t seen it

Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock attends a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on March 18, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock attends a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on March 18, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock, of the Religious Zionism party, has come out against a potential deal for the release of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, calling it “a reward for terrorism and a victory for Hamas,” before admitting shortly after that she has not been privy to the details of the slowly emerging agreement.

In an interview with the Haredi radio station Kol Berama earlier today, Strock asserted that the deal, should it transpire, would lead to the hard-won victories of the war against Hamas in Gaza “going down the drain.”

“Many Israeli soldiers will pay with their lives for withdrawing from Gaza,” she said, “and hundreds of murderous terrorists will pour in like a barrel of gasoline and ignite terror in Judea and Samaria and across the entire world.”

In a now-familiar threat issued by the Religious Zionism party whenever hostage talks, on the release of the 98 hostages — living and dead — held by Hamas and other Gaza terror groups, appear to be ramping up, Strock warns Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against crossing any “red lines,” and says she “hopes he will not challenge them.”

Despite her insistence that the deal would only cause more harm, Strock reveals hours later that she does not actually know what such a deal would entail.

Doubling down on her stance in a column for Israel National News, Strock writes that while she “very much wants to see the hostages released” she believes that “the price of the deal must be discussed.”

“I don’t yet know the details of the deal that is being formulated, and I would be very happy if it were one that I could support,” she writes. “If only!”

At the same time as she warns against it, Strock does not appear to be overly concerned that any deal will truly materialize, as she says that US President-elect Donald Trump will put a stop to the process when he enters the White House on January 20.

Trump won’t want to be associated with “a victory for the axis of evil over the free world, and won’t support a deal that gives out prizes for murderous terrorism,” she asserts to Kol Berama.

Trump’s special envoy to the region Steve Witkoff told Netanyahu yesterday, however, that Trump expects a deal to be in place by his inauguration, and was said to stress that both sides must show flexibility to get an agreement across the finish line.

Hostage deal terms will get worse after Trump takes office, incoming US national security adviser warns Hamas

US Representative Mike Waltz, US President-elect Donald Trump's national security adviser pick, speaks in a podcast interview with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, December 22, 2024. (Screenshot: YouTube; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
US Representative Mike Waltz, US President-elect Donald Trump's national security adviser pick, speaks in a podcast interview with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, December 22, 2024. (Screenshot: YouTube; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz warns Hamas that the terms for a hostage deal will get worse if it waits until US President-elect Donald Trump enters office.

“Let’s allow our hostages to be set free. I want to see them walking across the tarmac, or at a minimum, some type of agreement before inauguration because President Trump is serious,” Waltz tells ABC’s “This Week.”

“Any deal will only get worse for Hamas, and there will be all hell to pay in the Middle East if we continue to have this kind of hostage diplomacy,” Waltz adds.

Bologna synagogue defaced with ‘Free Gaza’ graffiti; Israel’s envoy to Italy decries ‘serious antisemitic attack’

Vandals daubed graffiti on a synagogue in the Italian city of Bologna over the weekend, amid a series of violent incidents at a rally held in the memory of an Italian-Egyptian man who was killed in a police chase in November.

According to the Euronews website, the man was killed while he was riding on the back of his friend’s moped during an 8-kilometer (5-mile) chase with a police car.

Photos posted to social media show the words “JUSTICE FREE GAZA” spray-painted in red at the synagogue.

Israel’s ambassador to Italy Jonathan Peled decries the “serious antisemitic attack” in a post on X.

The Israeli embassy in Italy also comments on the incident in a statement on X: “The antisemitic attack on the local synagogue is a serious act of hatred that must be condemned with absolute firmness. Let us stand united against all forms of intolerance.”

AG again speaks out against ‘Feldstein Law,’ which would give immunity for passing classified info to PM

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara listens as she attends a cabinet meeting at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem on  June 5, 2024. (Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool Photo via AP)
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara listens as she attends a cabinet meeting at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem on June 5, 2024. (Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool Photo via AP)

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara again speaks out against the so-called Feldstein Law, which would make it impossible for soldiers and other members of the defense establishment to be prosecuted for giving classified intelligence, without authorization, to the prime minister or defense minister, after it was approved earlier today by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation.

Her stance was laid out in an opinion published by Deputy Attorney General Sharon Afek on her behalf, the Walla news site reports.

Afek writes that Baharav-Miara believes that the proposed law would “deeply and fundamentally undermine the independence of the law enforcement system, judicial discretion, and the ability to ascertain the truth and protect the rule of law, as it will open the door to improper political interference in investigative and legal proceedings.”

The Feldstein Law was drawn up in response to charges against Eli Feldstein, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and IDF reservist Ari Rosenfeld, relating to their alleged involvement in the leak of stolen classified intelligence information ostensibly detailing Hamas’s priorities and tactics in hostage negotiations to the foreign press.

The published opinion also notes the attorney general’s concern that the legislation is being pushed through for Netanyahu’s benefit.

“There is concern that we are dealing with personal legislation aimed at improper political intervention into a pending criminal process involving the Prime Minister’s associates,” Afek writes, arguing that the legislation seeks to influence the ongoing legal process.

Proponents of the legislation have argued that it is necessary because “even during the war, critical documents regarding the enemy’s intentions did not reach the desks of decision-makers in the political leadership.”

The military and defense establishment have denied accusations that senior politicians have been kept out of the loop, and have opposed the bill.

Baharav-Miara has previously spoken out against the law in a similar manner, and has warned that it could constitute “improper political interference.”

Jordan to build massive desalination plant with French group, after pullout from Red Sea-Dead Sea project

This picture taken from Jordan shows a partial view of the Dead Sea on April 20, 2021. (Khalil Mazraawi/AFP)
This picture taken from Jordan shows a partial view of the Dead Sea on April 20, 2021. (Khalil Mazraawi/AFP)

Jordan, one of the world’s driest countries, has signed an agreement with French-led investors to build one of the world’s largest desalination plants.

Jordan’s official Petra news agency calls it the country’s biggest-ever infrastructure project, which Prime Minister Jafar Hassan has told Parliament is valued at more than $5 billion.

French infrastructure specialist Meridiam led the project in partnership with SUEZ, Orascom Construction and VINCI Construction Grands Projets.

On its website, Meridiam says the project will supply more than 300 million cubic meters of drinking water to Amman and Aqaba, serving more than three million people.

The project will take about four years to complete, the prime minister said last month.

It follows Jordan’s withdrawal in 2021 from a 2013 agreement signed by Jerusalem, Amman, and Ramallah that would have linked the Dead Sea and Red Sea by pipes in Jordan.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Former PA minister: 1st stage of hostage deal would free 25 Israelis in exchange for 1,248 Palestinian prisoners

An undated photo of Qadura Fares, with a picture of jailed Fatah Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti in the background. (Flash90)
An undated photo of Qadura Fares, with a picture of jailed Fatah Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti in the background. (Flash90)

The first stage of a potential hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas will entail the release of 25 Israeli hostages in exchange for 48 Palestinian security prisoners who were freed in the Shalit deal in 2011 and incarcerated again since, along with 200 prisoners serving life sentences, and another 1,000 detainees including women, children and wounded prisoners, according to a Palestinian prisoner advocacy group.

In a rare interview with Ramallah’s Maan news agency, Prisoners Club director Qadura Fares adds that all of the Palestinian prisoners would be allowed to return to their homes in East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank, except those serving life sentences, who would most likely be deported to either Qatar, Egypt or Turkey.

The former PA minister notes that this exception is necessary for the protection of the Palestinian prisoners against Israeli assassination attempts.

The Prisoners Club is a Palestinian organization that advocates on behalf of Palestinians in Israeli jails. While the organization used to be financially supported by the Palestinian Authority, Ramallah has reportedly ceased funding the body for at least five years.

Fares is also quoted by Maan as saying that Israel has been pushing for nine more hostages to be released in the first phase, including wounded IDF soldiers, in exchange for a yet-to-be-negotiated number of Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences.

The comments come amid reports of progress in ongoing talks in Doha to seal a hostage-ceasefire deal before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office next week.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a high-level Israeli delegation to Qatar last night to join the talks.

Biden to discuss ongoing hostage talks with Netanyahu ‘in the near term’ — US national security adviser

US President Joe Biden, right, meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, July 25, 2024. (AP/Susan Walsh)
US President Joe Biden, right, meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, July 25, 2024. (AP/Susan Walsh)

US President Joe Biden is slated to hold a call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “in the near term” to discuss the ongoing hostage negotiations, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan tells CNN.

“We are very very close (to a Gaza deal) and yet far because we are not there. It is possible to get it done before January 20, but I can’t be sure,” Sullivan says, largely echoing the optimism coupled with hedging that Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed in comments last week regarding the state of the talks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday dispatched his most senior-level negotiators to Doha, in a sign that talks there were nearing a climax. However, a senior Arab diplomat familiar with the talks tells The Times of Israel that significant obstacles remain.

Israeli injured in New Orleans terror attack suffered severe head injuries, remains in serious condition

An Islamic State flag lies on the ground rolled up behind the pickup truck that Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
An Islamic State flag lies on the ground rolled up behind the pickup truck that Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

One of the Israelis injured in the New Year’s Eve terror attack in New Orleans earlier this month is still hospitalized in serious condition, Ynet reports, due to severe head injuries sustained in the attack.

Adi Levin, 23, was in New Orleans with his friend, an IDF reservist identified only as Y, when Shamsud-Din Jabbar rammed a pickup truck into a crowd celebrating the New Year in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Fourteen people were killed and some 30 were injured, Levin and Y. among them.

Speaking to Ynet, Adi’s father Hagai says that although his son’s condition fluctuates, he is “optimistic” about his ability to recover.

“His life will change,” he says. “He’ll have metal rods in his arms and legs from now on, and an open head wound and he’s missing part of his skull. There are other injuries we’ll only be able to fully understand in a month, when we begin the process of rehabilitating his head.”

He says that once Adi is stable enough, they’ll return to Israel to continue the recovery process, although it will mean leaving their home in the Golan Heights and moving to Tel Aviv so that they can be close to the hospital.

Hagai tells Ynet that the truck hit Adi “head-on” as it careened down the road, and “crushed his legs and his head, and dragged him down the road.”

Y., Adi’s travel companion, is still hospitalized as well, but is able to communicate with his family and is looking forward to returning to Israel, Ynet reports.

IDF: Rocket sirens near Gaza border a short while ago were false alarms

Rocket sirens that sounded a short while ago near the Gaza border were false alarms, the IDF says.

Defense minister: Israel ‘won’t let the West Bank become Gaza or southern Lebanon’

Defense Minister Israel Katz receives a security briefing in the West Bank, January 12, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Minsitry)
Defense Minister Israel Katz receives a security briefing in the West Bank, January 12, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Minsitry)

Israel “will not let the West Bank become Gaza or southern Lebanon,” Defense Minister Israel Katz vows during an assessment of military and security operations in the area from senior officers.

“Anyone who engages in terror like in Gaza will be treated like in Gaza; we will work to cut off the arms of the Iranian octopus in the refugee camps in Judea and Samaria and to maintain the security of the communities and residents,” the defense minister adds, according to a statement from his office.

Katz was updated on the IDF’s extensive operation over the weekend in Qabatiya, near Jenin, Border Police operations in West Bank refugee camps, and the recent operation that culminated in the arrest of a terrorist cell last night that was en route to carry out a shooting attack.

Since October 7, troops have arrested some 6,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,350 affiliated with Hamas.

According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 835 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.

During the same period, 46 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another six members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.

Two Palestinian gunmen arrested last night en route to carry out shooting attack — security forces

Weapons found on two Palestinian gunmen who were allegedly heading to carry out a shooting in the West Bank, January 11, 2025. (Israel Police)
Weapons found on two Palestinian gunmen who were allegedly heading to carry out a shooting in the West Bank, January 11, 2025. (Israel Police)

Two Palestinian gunmen who were en route to carrying out an imminent shooting attack were detained by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Nablus last night, defense authorities say.

Members of the police’s Yamam counterterrorism unit and the Shin Bet security agency stopped the gunmen while they were driving to carry out the attack.

Police, IDF, and Shin Bet in a joint statement say that the gunmen were detained with two loaded M16 assault rifles, vests, face masks, and ammunition.

Weapons found on two Palestinian gunmen who were allegedly heading to carry out a shooting in the West Bank, January 11, 2025. (Israel Police)

The pair are identified by the Shin Bet as Ahmed Zakarna, 21, and Tariq Abu Ziyad, 25, residents of Qabatiya and members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.

In their initial interrogation by the Shin Bet, the pair said they set out from Jenin and were en route to carry out a shooting, the statement says.

Jerusalem woman arrested on suspicion of stabbing, moderately wounding her partner during altercation

A police officer holds a knife used by woman to stab her partner during a domestic altercation in Jerusalem, January 12, 2025. (Israel Police Spokesperson's Unit)
A police officer holds a knife used by woman to stab her partner during a domestic altercation in Jerusalem, January 12, 2025. (Israel Police Spokesperson's Unit)

Jerusalem police arrested a woman on suspicion of stabbing her partner earlier today, according to spokespeople.

Police say that the suspect stabbed her partner during an altercation, injuring him moderately. She then tried to flee but was stopped by Magen David Adom responders and bystanders.

Officers from the Moriah police station who arrived on the scene took her into custody for questioning. They are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Thieves steal ATM from mall in central Israel; footage shows smashed windows, extensive damage

A mall in the central city of Yehud sustained extensive damage over the weekend when thieves stole an ATM that was apparently packed with cash, as seen in videos shared by Hebrew news outlets and on social media.

Shattered windows and damage to escalators and nearby shops can be seen in the footage.

A police spokesman for the Dan subdistrict tells The Times of Israel that an investigation is underway and police officers have yet to apprehend the suspects.

“They came at dawn — we received a report from a neighbor who lives adjacent [to the mall], he heard a noise. Police came and chased after them, after the suspects’ jeep, but they managed to enter an agricultural field near Moshav Hemed,” he says, adding that the thieves then disappeared.

The ATM was left in a damaged state adjacent to the mall, the spokesperson adds.

The thieves did not succeed in stealing the cash from inside.

 

Cops seize phones from relatives of PM’s former aide amid probe of Sara Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara with aide Hani Bleiweiss (left). (Channel 12 'Uvda' screenshot; used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara with aide Hani Bleiweiss (left). (Channel 12 'Uvda' screenshot; used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)

Police investigators in the Lahav 433 unit confiscated phones belonging to the offspring of Hanni Bleiweiss, a late aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid a probe into allegations against the premier’s wife, Hebrew-language news sites report.

Following a Channel 12 investigative report aired last month, the police are examining allegations that Sara Netanyahu sought to intimidate a witness in her husband’s criminal trial and have protesters harass justice officials hostile to her family.

The TV report’s findings rely heavily on phone correspondence between Bleiweiss and the prime minister’s wife. Bleiweiss died of cancer in March 2023.

After obtaining a warrant, the police seized the phones in her children’s possession on the hunch that one of them may belong to the late aide, but law enforcement now surmises that none of the devices contain the evidence substantiating the expose’s allegations.

Police suspect that the family’s attorney Yaron Forer is in possession of the phone, Ynet reports. Forer declines to confirm or deny the police’s seizure of the other phones.

“Since the investigation is in progress and due to concerns about obstruction, I cannot confirm or deny anything,” he tells Channel 12.

Several Hebrew media outlets reported last week that Bleiweiss’s three children were questioned over suspected obstruction of justice after they refused to hand over her cellphone to police, claiming that they did not know its whereabouts.

As per the Channel 12 segment, Sara Netanyahu allegedly instructed Bleiweiss to send activists from her husband’s Likud party to hurl obscenities at their neighbors, the parents of a fallen military pilot, who were active in demonstrations against the premier.

She also is accused of ordering Bleiweiss to have Likud activists publish verbal attacks against Hadas Klein, a key witness in one of the criminal cases against the prime minister, and to demonstrate outside her house.

Rabbi who used fake identity to meet women and have sexual relations is convicted of fraud – report

Rabbi Yosef Paryzer, who is accused of using the alias "Jack Segal" to engage in rape by deception. (Israel Police)
Rabbi Yosef Paryzer, who is accused of using the alias "Jack Segal" to engage in rape by deception. (Israel Police)

A man who used a fake identity to meet women on dating sites and have sexual relations with them under false pretenses is convicted at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

Rabbi Yosef Paryzer, an American citizen who is married with children, pleads guilty on 12 counts of defrauding women, the outlet reports.

He enters the plea on the same day that the women were set to begin testifying, Kan says. An agreement has yet to be reached on his sentencing.

Paryzner used the alias “Jack Segal” on dating sites and gave false details about his life to the victims, with whom he engaged in concurrent months-long relationships.

PM to meet with Smotrich to gauge support for a potential hostage deal — report

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attend a vote on the state budget at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, March 13, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attend a vote on the state budget at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, March 13, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet with far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich later today amid a growing push for a potential ceasefire-hostage deal, the Walla news site reports.

A political source tells the outlet that Netanyahu is trying to assess if Smotrich would resign from the government if there were to be a deal that would see hundreds of terror convicts freed from Israeli prisons in exchange for hostages.

The report says the premier believes there’s a high probability far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir will resign from the government if there is a hostage deal, so Netanyahu is hoping to convince Smotrich to, at most, vote against an agreement without quitting the coalition.

Smotrich, a settlement advocate who is also a minister in the Defense Ministry, last week denounced the ongoing negotiations to reach a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas, arguing Israel would be in a stronger position in talks once US President-elect Donald Trump is back in the White House, in just over a week.

Netanyahu’s office announced yesterday evening that he had decided to send a high-level delegation to Qatar to join efforts to seal a deal with the Hamas terror group.

It is believed that 94 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

Trump calls California leaders ‘incompetent’ over response to deadly wildfires

A firefighter battles the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon, Jan. 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A firefighter battles the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon, Jan. 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

US President-elect Donald Trump accuses California officials of incompetence over their handling of deadly wildfires raging around Los Angeles.

“The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols (politicians) have no idea how to put them out,” Trump says on his Truth Social platform.

“This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?” he writes.

The speed and intensity of the blazes ravaging Los Angeles have tested its firefighting infrastructure and given rise to questions and criticism about the state’s preparedness.

Hydrants ran dry in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood as it was ravaged by one of the region’s five separate fires, while water shortages additionally hampered efforts elsewhere.

With just over a week before he returns to the White House, Trump has launched a series of evidence-free broadsides accusing California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom of failings in response to the blazes. Newsom has meanwhile invited Trump to visit Los Angeles and survey the devastation with him.

The fires have so far killed at least 16 people, displaced 150,000 more, and destroyed more than 12,000 structures, according to state officials.

“Thousands of magnificent houses are gone, and many more will soon be lost. There is death all over the place,” Trump says in his post.

Despite firefighters’ efforts, including precision sorties from aerial crews, the Palisades Fire has continued to push east toward the priceless collections of the Getty Center art museum and north to the densely populated San Fernando Valley.

Cabinet approves appointment of new ambassadors to Bahrain, Azerbaijan

The cabinet approves the appointment of Foreign Ministry diplomat Shmuel Revel as Israel’s next ambassador to Bahrain.

Revel will be only the second ever Israeli ambassador in the Gulf nation, replacing Eitan Na’eh, who became the inaugural envoy when he took up the post in late 2021.

While Bahrain’s parliament announced in November 2023, following the start of the Gaza war, that it was recalling its envoy, sources in both foreign ministries stressed that ties remained stable and that Na’eh was remaining in his position.

Revel previously served as ambassador to Cyprus and as a trade officer in Qatar, and is currently the Foreign Ministry’s special envoy on energy. His appointment will have to be approved by Manama before he can take office.

The cabinet also unanimously approves a range of other ambassadors and consuls general, including Ronen Kraus as the next ambassador to Azerbaijan, Eliaz Luf as the next consul in Montreal, Elad Strohmayer as the next consul in Chicago and Eitan Weiss as the next consul in Atlanta.

Ryanair restarts ticket sales for Tel Aviv from end of March

Passengers alight from a Ryanair flight at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, April 11, 2018. (Moshe Shai/FLASH90)
Passengers alight from a Ryanair flight at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, April 11, 2018. (Moshe Shai/FLASH90)

Ryanair begins selling tickets for flights to and from Tel Aviv for a number of destinations, as the budget airline signals its intention to renew the route from the end of March.

The airline, like most others, canceled flights to Israel amid the multifront war that began when the Hamas terror group attacked the Jewish state on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostages.

Since the outbreak of the war, foreign airlines have repeatedly canceled and resumed their flights to and from Israel.

Amid the drop in flights, Israel closed Terminal 1, angering low-cost carriers by forcing them to use the full-cost Terminal 3.

Asked last week whether he expects Ben Gurion Airport’s Terminal 1 to reopen, chief executive Eddie Wilson of subsidiary Ryanair DAC said, “We would hope that they would take the sensible decision to open that.”

In recent months, US airlines and a majority of European carriers completely stopped flying to Israel.

That has left Israel’s national El Al as the only airline flying from Tel Aviv on direct routes to North America. The lack of competition has driven up airfares by 100 percent, and in some periods by much more.

Amid the high prices, Israeli lawmakers agreed earlier this month to make legal changes to canceled flight compensation rights for air passengers to help ease the financial costs of disruptions during the war period and help bring back foreign airlines to the country.

IDF says rocket siren in northern border town was false alarm

The Israel Defense Forces says the rocket siren a short time ago in Kibbutz Yir’on near the northern border with Lebanon was a false alarm.

Food giant Tnuva to distribute huge dividend after record revenues amid price hikes – report

File: Tnuva milk products at the Shufersal Deal Katzrin branch, in the Golan Heights, on May 2, 2023. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)
File: Tnuva milk products at the Shufersal Deal Katzrin branch, in the Golan Heights, on May 2, 2023. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)

Israeli food maker giant Tnuva is said set to distribute a huge dividend of NIS 500 million ($136 million) after generating record revenues bolstered by a number of price hikes in 2024, financial daily Calcalist says in a report.

The dividend will be distributed based on 2024 earnings. Tnuva’s revenues in 2024 reached a peak of NIS 9 billion, and its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) is close to NIS 1 billion, according to estimates cited by Calcalist.

Tnuva declines to comment on the report when contacted by The Times of Israel.

Tnuva is controlled by Chinese food multinational Bright Food, which bought a 77 percent stake in 2014. Kibbutzim organizations hold the remaining 23% stake.

Yesh Atid says Roll ‘stealing votes’ by forming new party instead of stepping down from Knesset

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid (R) and MK Idan Roll, at a press conference in Tel Aviv on February 7, 2019. (Flash90)
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid (R) and MK Idan Roll, at a press conference in Tel Aviv on February 7, 2019. (Flash90)

After MK Idan Roll announced he was leaving Yesh Atid, the party says the lawmaker is “stealing votes” by forming a new party instead of resigning from the Knesset.

“After being removed from the leadership of the [LGBTQ] Yesh Atid caucus and receiving notice that he was about to be removed from the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee because he wasn’t functioning, Idan Roll decided to take a seat that does not belong to him and stand alongside Silman, Chikli, Sa’ar, and the other people who stole the electorate’s votes instead of doing the honorable thing and resigning from the Knesset,” the party says in a statement.

Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman and Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli both left the Yamina party to now serve in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has been accused of breaking promises to voters when he joined the government last year. He is widely expected to be preparing to rejoin Likud.

Iran’s military expands drills to Fordo, Khondab nuclear sites

A satellite image from September 15, 2017, of the Fordo nuclear facility in Iran. (Google Earth)
A satellite image from September 15, 2017, of the Fordo nuclear facility in Iran. (Google Earth)

Iran has expanded military drills to cover two additional nuclear facilities in the west and center of the country, state media reports.

The drills — dubbed Eqtedar, or “might” in Farsi — began last week and are set to continue until mid-March. They involve the army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the ideological branch of Iran’s military.

On Tuesday, the IRGC announced the drills were initially focused on the Natanz nuclear enrichment plant in central Iran.

“The exercises are currently being held at the Fordo and Khondab nuclear facilities,” in central and western Iran respectively, state TV reports today.

They involve missile and radar units, electronic warfare units, electronic intelligence and reconnaissance command carrying out “offensive and defensive missions,” it says.

The military activities are taking place with Iran’s nuclear program under close watch ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Last week it was reported Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer left a November meeting with Trump believing that Trump would support an Israeli military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities or direct a US strike on those sites himself.

In his first term, Trump pulled the United States out of a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, and he also ordered the killing of a IRGC general in a drone strike in Iraq.

Iran is set to hold nuclear talks with France, Britain and Germany tomorrow in Switzerland.

Iran maintains that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes and denies any intention to develop atomic weapons.

Iran has in recent years increased its manufacturing of enriched uranium, and it is the only non-nuclear weapons state to possess uranium enriched to 60 percent, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog says.

That level is well on the way to the 90 percent required for an atomic bomb.

Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai: ‘Israel decimated the entire education system’ in Gaza

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai (C) attends an international summit on 'Girls Education in Muslim Communities', in Islamabad on January 11, 2025 (AFP)
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai (C) attends an international summit on 'Girls Education in Muslim Communities', in Islamabad on January 11, 2025 (AFP)

Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai tells a summit on girls’ education in Muslim nations that “Israel has decimated the entire education system” in Gaza.

Yousafzai makes the comment at a conference in Pakistan.

The war in Gaza was sparked by the October 7, 2023, assault in which Hamas-led terrorists stormed the border with Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

Israel has long stressed that the Hamas terror group uses civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including schools, homes, hospitals and mosques.

Yousafzai additionally urges Muslim leaders not to “legitimize” the Afghan Taliban government and to “show true leadership” by opposing its curbs on women and girls’ education.

“Do not legitimize them,” she says. “As Muslim leaders, now is the time to raise your voices, use your power. You can show true leadership.”

Yesh Atid MK says he’s leaving to form new party: Israel shouldn’t miss ‘historic opportunity for change’ after Oct. 7

Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll attends a ceremony at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on December 1, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll attends a ceremony at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on December 1, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

MK Idan Roll informs Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid that he is leaving the party and will set up his own faction in the Knesset.

In a statement, Roll says October 7 needs to serve as a wake-up call.

“The large and courageous public that rose up on October 7 to fight for the country and restore it must also take its place in the national leadership,” he writes on X. “But for this to happen, we must open the closed club of the Knesset and ensure that the State of Israel does not miss a historic opportunity for change.”

Roll, who previously served as Lapid’s deputy in the Foreign Ministry, thanks the Yesh Atid leader and says he will continue to serve in the Knesset as part of a “constructive opposition.”

IDF: Sirens warning of drone attack on Gaza border towns was false alert

The Israel Defense Forces says the sirens warning of a suspected drone attack on a number of communities close to the Gaza border was in fact a false alert.

2 men found dead in Nahariya apartment

Two men were found dead in an apartment in the northern town of Nahariya, medics say.

The two had penetrating wounds and were aged around 30, the Magen David Adom emergency service says in a statement.

Israel Police say they are investigating the deaths.

Sirens in Gaza border communities warn of suspected drone attack

Sirens in a number of Gaza border communities warn of a suspected drone attack.

The Israel Defense Forces says it is looking into the incident.

Following rocket fire, IDF warns civilians in part of central Gaza’s Nuseirat to evacuate ahead of strikes

The Israel Defense Forces issues an evacuation warning for Palestinian civilians in part of central Gaza’s Nuseirat following rocket fire.

“Terror organizations are once again firing rockets from this area that has received warnings several times in the past,” Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman says on X, attaching a map of the areas to be evacuated.

Civilians are urged to move to an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone before the IDF launches strikes on the area.

Trump’s Ukraine envoy: World must return to policy of ‘maximum pressure’ on Iran

Keith Kellogg, AFPI Co-Chair of the Center for American Security, speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee full committee hearing on the conflict in Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Keith Kellogg, AFPI Co-Chair of the Center for American Security, speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee full committee hearing on the conflict in Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

The world must return to a policy of “maximum pressure” against Iran to turn it into a more democratic country, US President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg tells an Iranian opposition event in Paris.

Trump has vowed to return to the policy he pursued in his previous term that sought to wreck Iran’s economy to force the country to negotiate a deal on its nuclear program, ballistic missile program and regional activities.

“These pressures are not just kinetic, just not military force, but they must be economic and diplomatic as well,” Retired Lieutenant-General Kellogg, who is set to serve as Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, tells the audience at Paris-based Iranian opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

He says there is an opportunity “to change Iran for the better” but that this opportunity would not last forever.

“We must exploit the weakness we now see. The hope is there, so must too be the action.”

Iran’s foreign ministry says, “The hosting of a terrorist group by France is a clear example of support for terrorism and a violation of the French government’s international legal obligation to combat terrorism.”

Kellogg has previously spoken at NCRI events, most recently in November, but his presence in Paris, even if in a personal capacity, suggests the group has the ear of the new US administration.

Incoming US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also spoken at NCRI events in the past. The group has repeatedly called for the fall of the existing Iranian authorities, although it is unclear how much support it has within Iran.

The NCRI, the political arm of the People’s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), has held frequent rallies in the France, often attended by high profile former US, European and Arab officials critical of the Islamic Republic.

Impeached South Korean president won’t attend trial hearing due to safety — lawyer

South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol will not attend the first formal hearing of the trial to determine if he is removed from office or reinstated because of concerns about his safety, Yonhap News reports, citing his lawyer.

The Constitutional Court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials is planning a new attempt to take Yoon into custody over a separate case relating to his failed attempt to impose martial law in early December.

An arrest effort on January 3 failed after an hourslong standoff with security personnel at Yoon’s fortified compound in central Seoul.

“The officials in the Corruption Investigation Office and the police are trying to execute illegal and invalid arrest warrants through illegal methods, raising concerns about personal safety and mishaps,” lawyer Yoon Kab-keun is quoted as saying. “In order for the president to appear for the trial, the issue of personal safety and security must be resolved.”

The president’s move to impose martial law plunged South Korea into its biggest political crisis in decades and hit growth expectations for Asia’s fourth largest economy.

Death toll in Los Angeles fires raised to 16 as wind whips flames up again

The Palisades Fire burns above a home in Mandeville Canyon, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP/Eric Thayer)
The Palisades Fire burns above a home in Mandeville Canyon, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP/Eric Thayer)

The number of people confirmed dead in fires that raced through Los Angeles rose to 16 on Saturday, authorities say.

The County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner publishes a list of fatalities without giving details of any identities. Five of the dead were found in the Palisades Fire zone, and 11 in the Eaton Fire zone, the document says.

Despite heroic efforts, including precision sorties from aerial crews, the Palisades Fire continued to grow Saturday, pushing east towards the priceless collections of the Getty Center art museum and north to the densely populated San Fernando Valley.

“We’re a nervous wreck,” Sarah Cohen tells the Los Angeles Times of the threat to her Tarzana home.

“Every time they drop water, it gets better. But then it gets worse again.”

A person walks down a street in the aftermath of the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, on Saturday, January 11, 2025. (AP/John Locher)

Authorities said the Palisades Fire had burned over 23,600 acres and was 11 percent contained, while the Eaton Fire, which burned over 14,000 acres, was 15% under control.

But a brief lull in the wind has rapidly given way to gusts that forecasters warn will feed the blazes for days to come.

“Critical fire-weather conditions will unfortunately ramp up again today for southern California and last through at least early next week,” the National Weather Service says.

“This may lead to the spread of ongoing fires as well as the development of new ones.”

Antisemitism building up, needs to stop, Sydney official says after synagogue attack

David Ossip, president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, says he welcomes extra resources promised by the government to probe recent incidents of antisemitism, indicating that security will be stepped up.

“The New South Wales government has also provided us with additional funding to enhance Jewish communal security,” Ossip says in a statement.

Reacting to a graffiti attack on a synagogue in the Sydney suburb of Newton on Saturday, Inner West mayor Darcy Byrne posts a video in which he says the building was also the subject of an attempted firebombing, expressing solidarity with the Jewish community “at such a difficult time.”

“This antisemitism has been building up for some time now, there’s been increasing reports across the last year and it needs to stop,” he adds.

Police had earlier said they were investigating a suspected arson attempt at the synagogue at the same time as the antisemitic vandalism.

“We as a community need to stand strongly to say we oppose antisemitism and stand in solidarity with the Jewish community at this time,” he adds.

The Inner West includes neighborhoods just to the west of central Sydney, including Marrickville, where another suspected incident of antisemitic vandalism occurred over the weekend.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Sydney police say synagogue vandals tried to set fire as counterterror cops take over probe

An image released by New South Wales Police showing suspects in an attack on a Sydney, Australia, synagogue on January 11, 2025. (NSW Police)
An image released by New South Wales Police showing suspects in an attack on a Sydney, Australia, synagogue on January 11, 2025. (NSW Police)

Police in Australia’s New South Wales say vandals who spray painted antisemitic graffiti on a Sydney synagogue also attempted to set the house of worship on fire.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns says the attack marks an escalation in antisemitic crime in the state, coming amid an outbreak of attacks on Jewish homes and synagogues in recent weeks, including several attacks over the weekend.

“This is an escalation in antisemitic crime in New South Wales. Police and the government remain very concerned that an accelerant may have been used,” Minns tells a televised media conference alongside state police commissioner Karen Webb.

“In the last 24 hours, these matters have now been taken over by counter-terrorism command,” Webb says.

According to Webb, a clear liquid was used to ignite a fire at the synagogue, though it extinguished itself after three minutes.

Aside from the incident on the synagogue in Newton, a house in Sydney’s east, a hub of the city’s Jewish community, was also daubed with antisemitic graffiti, police said on Saturday, adding they were also probing offensive comments on a street poster in the suburb of Marrickville.

Swastikas daubed on a synagogue in Newtown on January 11, 2025 in Sydney, Australia (Screen grab via ABC News)

Police ask for the public’s help in identifying two suspects in the graffiti and arson attacks, releasing blurry stills from CCTV footage of men in hoodies on a scooter and a bike.

On Friday, a special police task force was set up to investigate an attack on the Southern Sydney Synagogue in the suburb of Allawah in the early hours of Friday morning.

Settler leaders say they will attend Trump inauguration after receiving invite

Gush Eztion Regional Council head Shlomo Ne'eman (center) speaks during a press conference with Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan (right) and Binyamin Regional Council head Yisrael Gantz, outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, August 22, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Gush Eztion Regional Council head Shlomo Ne'eman (center) speaks during a press conference with Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan (right) and Binyamin Regional Council head Yisrael Gantz, outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, August 22, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Yesha settlement council says it will send an official delegation to the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump in Washington next week after receiving an invitation, as it seeks to hit the ground running with the potentially settlement-friendly leader.

The umbrella group representing Israel’s more than 120 West Bank settlements makes the announcement on Facebook, where it also asks supporters to sign a Hebrew-language letter it says it intends to deliver to the administration thanking Trump for “redeeming” Jerusalem and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address on the West Front of the US Capitol on January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP)

According to Israel National News, the delegation will include Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Gantz, who heads Yesha; Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, and Yesha foreign affairs chief Eliana Passentin, a native Californian, among others.

“The invitation we received from the government is an expression of the values Israel and the settlement movement share with the US as a light of Biblical values,” Gantz says in a statement carried by the outlet, which has close ties to the settler movement

Yesha has long administered its own foreign policy wing independent of the Israeli government, though they often work in concert. The group has close ties with likely incoming US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (R) lays bricks at a housing complex in the West Bank settlement of Efrat on August 1, 2018. (Jacob Magid/Times of Israel)

In 2017, the group sent a lower-level delegation to Trump’s first inauguration, led by former Efrat mayor Oded Revivi, who was the group’s foreign envoy. At the time, he told the Associated Press that the group had been invited by a member of Trump’s “first circle” of advisers, but refused to name the person.

Agencies contributed to this report.

Special prosecutor who tried to put Trump on trial resigns from Justice Department

Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to reporters Friday, June 9, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to reporters Friday, June 9, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Special counsel Jack Smith has resigned from the US Justice Department after submitting his investigative report on President-elect Donald Trump, an expected move that comes amid legal wrangling over how much of that document can be made public in the days ahead.

The department discloses Smith’s departure in a court filing, saying he had resigned one day earlier. The resignation, 10 days before Trump is inaugurated, follows the conclusion of two unsuccessful criminal prosecutions against Trump that were withdrawn following Trump’s White House win in November.

Smith’s departure is another marker of the collapse of the criminal cases against Trump, which could end without any legal consequences for the incoming president and sparked a backlash that helped fuel his political comeback.

Trump, who has frequently called Smith “deranged,” had said he would fire him immediately upon taking office on Jan. 20, and has suggested that he may pursue retribution against Smith and others who investigated him once he returns to office.

At issue now is the fate of a two-volume report that Smith and his team had prepared about their twin investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of his 2020 election and his hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

The Justice Department had been expected to make the document public in the final days of the Biden administration, but the Trump-appointed judge who presided over the classified documents case granted a defense request to at least temporarily halt its release. Two of Trump’s co-defendants in that case, Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira, had argued that the release of the report would be unfairly prejudicial, an argument that the Trump legal team joined in.

Palestinians report settler attack on herders near Bethlehem

A Palestinian official says dozens of settlers attacked a Palestinian community near Bethlehem, burning tents and attacking sheepherders, the third apparent attack in hours.

Ahmed Ghazal, the local Fatah party chief for the village of Kisan, tells the official Palestinian news agency Wafa that some 30 settlers were involved in the attack.

There are no details on whether the injured required hospitalization.

There is no comment from either the Israel Defense Forces or Israel Police.

Earlier, Palestinians reported settler attacks on the town of Yatma, south of Nablus, and Turmmus Ayya, near Ramallah, in what appear to be a rash of revenge actions following a deadly terror attack on Israeli motorists passing through a Palestinian town last week.

IDF says drone strike targeted 3 suspects in Lebanon near the border

Earlier this evening, the IDF says it carried out a drone strike against three suspects who were spotted on the Lebanese side of Mount Dov, close to the Israeli border.

The three were apparently killed in the strike.

It is unclear if the suspects were armed, or what their intentions were.

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