Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Monday’s events as they unfolded.
US, British forces carry out new strikes in Yemen – officials
An RAF Typhoon aircraft taking off from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, for a mission to strike targets in Yemen, January, January 11, 2024. (Sgt Lee Goddard, UK Ministry of Defense via AP)
The United States and British forces carried out a fresh round of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, three US officials say, the latest move against the Iran-aligned group because of its targeting of Red Sea shipping.
IDF says it carried out further retaliatory strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon
IDF footage of an airstrike against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on January 22, 2024. (Screen capture/X)
The IDF says it carried out further strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, in response to attacks on northern Israel.
The sites hit by fighter jets in Blida and Aitaroun included observation posts and other infrastructure belonging to the terror group.
Earlier, the IDF says it hit another Hezbollah position in Majdal Selm.
מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו הערב תשתיות טרור ועמדות תצפית של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב הכפרים בליידא ועיתרון שבדרום לבנון.
בנוסף, צה"ל תקף מוקדם יותר היום (ב') מבנה צבאי של הארגון במרחב מג'דל סלם. pic.twitter.com/C8wFZxnubJ
— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי – Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) January 22, 2024
PM says Israel cannot commit to ending war if it plans to resume fighting after hostages released – report
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a meeting with relatives of hostages held in Gaza, at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on January 22, 2024. (Prime Minister's Office)
During his meeting with the hostages’ families earlier today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked why Israel couldn’t simply agree to end the war in order to secure the release of the remaining hostages and then restart the fighting once the abductees have been returned.
The premier responded by explaining that such a deal would require Israel to provide assurances to the American, Egyptian, and Qatari mediators that it would not be able to turn around and violate right after the hostages have been released, Channel 12 reports.
US denies Yemen’s Houthis’ claim of attack on US military cargo ship in Gulf of Aden
The US-owned ship Genco Picardy, which came under attack on January 17, 2024, from a bomb-carrying drone launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels in the Gulf of Aden, on January 18, 2024. (Indian Navy via AP, FIle)
The US military denies claims made by the Yemeni Houthi movement that it had attacked American cargo ship Ocean Jazz in the Gulf of Aden.
“The Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists’ report of an alleged successful attack on M/V Ocean Jazz is patently false,” the US Naval Forces Central Command says in a statement. “NAVCENT has maintained constant communications with M/V Ocean Jazz throughout its safe transit.”
The Houthi movement earlier in the day said its forces launched a missile attack on Ocean Jazz in the Gulf of Aden. It did not say when or precisely where the attack took place or whether any damage resulted from it.
“The Yemeni armed forces continue to retaliate to any American or British aggression against our country by targeting all sources of threat in the Red and Arab Sea,” Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea says in a statement.
US and British forces have launched strikes across Yemen, against Houthi forces, in recent weeks, in response to months of Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping that the Iran-backed fighters cast as a response to the war in Gaza.
The Houthis, who initially said they were only targeting vessels linked to Israel, said they would also attack US vessels after the strikes.
British maritime security firm Ambrey says the vessel named by the Houthi had been contracted by the US military.
Houthi attacks on ships in and around the Red Sea have slowed trade between Asia and Europe and alarmed world powers about the possibility of an escalation in the war in Gaza.
The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, say their attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians, after Hamas launched its October 7 terror onslaught in Israel.
Official: Visiting French defense chief told Israel Paris weighing steps to prevent Israel-Hezbollah war
French Minister for the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu (L) meets with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at the Israeli army headquarters in Tel Aviv, on January 22, 2024. (GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP)
French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu told Israel’s leadership during meetings on Monday that “concrete steps are under discussion… publicly, discreetly, and secretly” to prevent a war between Israel and Hezbollah, a French official tells The Times of Israel.
“With 700 French troops deployed in UNIFIL, France is actively involved on the ground and will keep engaging towards a diplomatic solution along Israel’s northern border,” says the official. “The basis of such a solution lies in the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1701, on both sides.”
In his meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz, and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, Lecornu “reiterated France’s top commitment towards the release of all hostages detained in Gaza.”
Three French citizens are still hostages in Gaza or missing.
Lecornu told Israel’s war leadership that France would continue offering humanitarian aid in Gaza, says the official, who adds that French President Emmanuel Macron has asked the Defense Ministry to consider deploying some medical ground support in Egypt to replace the hospital ship, Dixmude.
Israel reportedly offering two-month pause in fighting for staged release of hostages
Israelis whose family members are held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza set up tents during a protest outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's official residence in Jerusalem, calling for him to do more to secure the release of the hostages, January 21, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Israel has reportedly submitted a proposal through Qatari and Egyptian mediators that would see it agree to a pause in its fighting in Gaza for as long as two months, in exchange for a phased release of the remaining 136 hostages in Gaza.
The proposal does not heed the Hamas demand for Israel to end the war completely, but does appear to go further than Israel has gone in previous offers, according to the Axios news site, which cites two Israeli officials.
The offer is publicized as White House Middle East czar Brett McGurk is in the region for meetings with Egyptian and Qatari counterparts aimed at advancing a hostage deal, a US official told The Times of Israel.
Israel is now waiting for Hamas’s response to the new proposal and is cautiously optimistic about the chance for progress in the coming days, the Israeli officials tell Axios.
The Israeli proposal reported by Axios would see the remaining children, women, men over the age of 60 and critically ill hostages released during the first stage. Subsequent stages would see female soldiers and men under the age of 60 who are not soldiers, followed by make soldiers and the bodies of hostages.
The Israeli offer states that Israel and Hamas would agree in advance as to how many security prisoners would be released by Jerusalem in each stage before holding separate negotiations on the names of these convicts..
The offer would also include a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the main population centers in Gaza and the gradual return of Palestinians to the northern Strip, from which they were ordered to evacuate.
The offer stipulates that Israel will not agree to end the war completely, nor release all 6,000 Palestinian security prisoners, but Israeli officials tell Axios that they are willing to release a significant number.
If implemented, IDF operations in Gaza would be significantly smaller in scope after the pause concludes, Axios says.
The offer is relatively similar to ones that have reportedly been pressed since the seven-day truce ended nearly two months ago. Hamas has insisted that it will not agree to release any hostages unless the fighting in Gaza ceases completely — a non-starter for Israel, as it would leave those who orchestrated the October 7 massacre in power.
US official visits family of Palestinian-American teen killed in West Bank clash
Tawfic Abdel Jabbar. (Courtesy)
George Noll, who heads the US office of Palestinian Affairs in Jerusalem recently visited the family of Tawfic Abdel Jabbar to offer his condolences after the 17-year-old Palestinian-American was killed on Friday in the West Bank, White House National Security council spokesman John Kirby says during a press briefing.
Jabbar was shot in an incident in which an off-duty policeman, a soldier and a civilian opened fire in circumstances under investigation.
The US has expressed its “devastation” over Jabbar’s death and has demanded an investigation into the matter.
Netanyahu said to tell hostages’ families that Hamas hasn’t made offer, but Israel has
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a meeting with relatives of hostages held in Gaza, at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on January 22, 2024. (Prime Minister's Office)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told a group of the hostages’ families during a meeting today that reports of a Hamas proposal to release their loved ones are false and that the terror group has not put forward any such offer.
However, he reveals, Israel has placed an offer of its own on the table, though he declines to elaborate on it, in order not to harm the negotiations, Channel 12 reports.
According to Channel 13, the deal would be in three stages, with the remaining women and elderly hostages released first, followed by young men, and then soldiers along with the bodies of killed hostages.
The plan would reportedly see Israel release a group of Palestinian security prisoners in addition to extended pauses in the fighting at each stage. Moreover, Israel would agree to change the scope of its presence in Gaza.
Katz skirts EU talk of two-state solution with unrelated video presentation, irking participants
Energy Minister Israel Katz speaks at a conference in Tel Aviv, March 13, 2023. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Israel’s foreign minister sidestepped discussion of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at a meeting with European Union counterparts, opting to show them aspirational videos of future infrastructure projects.
The minister, Israel Katz, was in Brussels for discussions on the Middle East, focusing largely on the consequences of Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza.
EU ministers were keen to stress their calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, as part of a comprehensive long-term peace settlement. But the Israeli government has pushed back against such calls.
At the meeting, Katz showed the ministers videos of an envisioned artificial island off the coast of Gaza and a rail network linking the Middle East to India, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and other EU diplomats say.
Borrell makes clear he was not impressed with the move.
“The minister showed us a couple of videos which had little or nothing to do with the issues we were discussing,” Borrell tells reporters, adding that he thought Katz could have made better use of his time with his EU colleagues.
Diplomats say the videos were part of ideas presented by Katz in a previous role and surprised others in the room.
The EU ministers also met separately with their counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan, as well as with Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki, as they discussed both the current crisis in Gaza and the broader Middle East.
Sara Netanyahu said to rap envoy for praising spokesman she wanted canned for his pre-war opposition to gov’t
Sara Netanyahu in Jerusalem, May 18, 2023 (L) and official Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy. (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90 / Haim Zach/GPO)
Sara Netanyahu reportedly reprimanded Israel’s Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely for publishing a video with English-language government spokesman Eylon Levy, in which the ambassador praised him for his effort defending Israel on the international stage.
Yesterday, Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu was pressing for Levy’s dismissal because of his prewar opposition to the government and participation in demonstrations against her husband’s judicial overhaul agenda.
Earlier today, the network reported that Levy was to have been canned “within the next few weeks,” but that due to the public outcry caused by the story, it has been decided that that would not be a good idea right now.
Israel’s ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely arrives for Britain’s Defence Secretary Grant Shapps’ speech on defending the UK and its allies, at Lancaster House, in London, on January 15, 2024. (HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)
The latest report from Channel 12 reveals that Netanyahu has also directed her anger at the former Likud minister now serving as ambassador in London.
Netanyahu’s office denies the report, while Hotovely’s declines to respond.
לא רק אילון לוי סופג אש, גם מי שהעזה לעזור ולפרגן לו. הערב דיווחנו כי שרה נתניהו נזפה בשגרירת ישראל בלונדון, ציפי חוטובלי, על כך שסייעה לאילון בביקורו בלונדון והעלתה איתו ציוץ שבו פירגנה לו על עבודתו. בלשכת רה״מ מכחישים, חוטובלי לא הגיבה. אגב זה היה ביקור מוצלח ביותר מבחינת הסברה… pic.twitter.com/FztThnvYzK
— דפנה ליאל (@DaphnaLiel) January 22, 2024
‘The blood of the hostages is on your hands’: Protesters pour red-dyed water on street near PM’s home
Protesters pour 'bloodied' water onto Azza Street in Jerusalem on January 22, 2024. (Screen capture/X)
Protesters calling for the immediate release of the hostages have poured red-dyed water onto Azza Street in Jerusalem near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home and are marching through the street carrying a sign that reads, “The blood of the hostages is on your hands.”
"דם החטופים על הידיים שלכם". pic.twitter.com/kScDo9Nkax
— نير حسون Nir Hasson ניר חסון (@nirhasson) January 22, 2024
Biden, Sunak speak about Middle East, Ukraine
Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, left, and US President Joe Biden speak at the start of the meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) during the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, July 11, 2023. (Paul Ellis/ Pool Photo via AP, File)
US President Joe Biden spoke to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday about the Red Sea, Gaza, and Ukraine, White House spokesman John Kirby says.
“They talked about what’s going on in the Red Sea and the need for a continued international multilateral approach to disrupting and degrading Houthi capabilities,” Kirby tells reporters in Washington.
Biden and Sunak also spoke about the need to bring down the number of civilian casualties and to increase the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, as well as the urgent need for supplemental funding and support for Ukraine, Kirby says.
White House: Israel has right to defend itself, but hospitals should be protected as much as possible
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington on January 11, 2024. (Saul Loeb/ AFP)
Responding to questions regarding the IDF reportedly operating around a pair of hospitals in Khan Younis, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby reiterates the US position that it does not want to see hospitals turned into war zones. He stresses also, however, that Hamas uses such infrastructure to store weapons and that Israel has a right to thwart such efforts.
“We know that Hamas deliberately uses places like hospitals to store weapons, house their fighters, even to some degree, for command and control. So that places a special need on the Israeli Defense Forces, but also a special burden,” Kirby says during a briefing.
Kirby says Israel had a right to defend itself but adds: “We expect them to do so in accordance with international law and to protect innocent people in hospitals, medical staff and patients as well, as much as possible.”
Hundreds perform 108 sun salutations to mark days yoga practitioner, other hostages have been held in Gaza
Several hundred yoga practitioners do 108 sun salutations to mark 108 days of captivity for yoga teacher Carmel Gat and the other remaining hostages on January 22, 2023. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)
Several hundred people gather to mark 108 days of captivity for hostage and yoga practitioner Carmel Gat at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, with 108 sun salutations, a mindfulness practice in yoga.
“There have been 108 sunrises and sunsets, but the hostages haven’t seen the light of day,” says a cousin of Gat, who was abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7.
Gat, 39, an occupational therapist from Tel Aviv, was visiting her parents in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7 when Hamas terrorists attacked, killing her mother, Kinneret.
She was taken captive, and with the release of dozens of hostages, the family received word that Carmel was kept captive with some children and did yoga once a day with them.
“We know she teaches in captivity,” says her cousin.
Carmel Gat was taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 from her parents’ home in Kibbutz Be’eri (Courtesy)
The number 108 is significant in yoga practice, and equals the number nine, says Carmel Gat’s friend and yoga teacher Roni. It is considered a sacred number.
“I’m always introduced as Carmel’s teacher, but she’s now my teacher,” says Roni. “She is one of the strongest and most curious people I know. We know she teaches in captivity, and seeing all of you warms our heart and belief that our strength can bring about a better energy to bring them home.”
For the next hour and a half, some 200 yoga practitioners practice 108 sun salutations on the cement floor of the square, their yoga mats placed under gray mats printed with the words, Yoga with Carmel, Bringing Them Home Now!, in yellow, reaching their arms toward the sky, leaning down toward the ground into a downward dog position, and then up again.
“Seeing all these people warms the heart and brings about a better energy to bring them home,” says Carmel’s cousin.
IDF says it raided and destroyed Hamas training base in northern Gaza
A Hamas training site in Gaza City captured by Israeli forces, in an image released by the IDF on January 22, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says it has raided and destroyed a Hamas training base in the northern Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the IDF says the so-called al-Jabari outpost in the area of Gaza City’s Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods is “one of the largest centers for the training of terrorists.”
The training base featured a mock tunnel, an obstacle course, a swimming pool (used by Hamas to simulate an attack from sea), a mortar firing and gunfire simulator, along with offices of Hamas commanders, the IDF says.
The entire base, along with a nearby tunnel shaft that led to a two-kilometer-long underground passage, was destroyed by the 401st Armored Brigade and combat engineers.
Also in the Daraj and Tuffah area, the 401st Brigade uncovered and destroyed several rocket launchers used in recent attacks against Israel, as well as another site used to fire missiles at Israeli aircraft, the IDF says.
The Times of Israel visited one of the rocket launching sites yesterday.
Poll: Most Israelis would back US plan tying Palestinian state to freeing hostages, Saudi normalization
US President Joe Biden speaks at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, on January 5, 2024. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)
A slight majority of Israelis would back a US plan for ending the war that would see the release of all remaining hostages, Saudi Arabia agree to normalize relations with Israel, and Jerusalem agree to the eventual establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state, a new poll indicates.
In the survey conducted by the Midgam Institute on behalf of the dovish Geneva Initiative, 51.3 percent of respondents say they would back such an agreement, while 28.9% said they would oppose it, and 19.8% said they didn’t know.
Support was predictably higher among centrist and left-wing voters, with 73% of them backing such a deal, but 39% of right-wing voters also said they would support it.
The results fly in the face of arguments senior Israeli officials have been making since the war, insisting that the public is in no place to discuss a two-state solution following Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.
Netanyahu reportedly rejected a proposal presented earlier this month by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that would have seen Saudi Arabia take part in the reconstruction of Gaza after the war, along with four other Arab countries. It would also have entailed agreeing to normalize ties with Israel, though on the condition that Jerusalem agree to take irreversible steps creating a pathway to an eventual Palestinian state.
Respondents were also asked whether they would prefer IDF soldiers remain in Gaza three year from now. Fifty percent of participants say they would not want such a situation, while 32% said they would want the IDF to still remain in Gaza that far down the line.
Participants were also asked whether their attitude toward the United States has changed since October 7.
Thirty-eight percent say their attitude toward the US has not changed and remains positive; 26.3% say their attitude changed for the better; 17.1% say it changed for the worse; 7.2% claimed that their attitude has not changed and remains negative; 11.1% say they are unsure.
In total, roughly 65% of respondents expresses a positive attitude toward the US since October 7.
Five hundred Israelis participated in the survey that has a 4.4% margin of error.
Katz, Borrell counter report claiming Israel proposed temporarily moving Gazans to artificial island off coast of Strip
National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Minister Israel Katz attends the Special Committee for Oversight of the Israeli Citizens' Fund at the Knesset in Jerusalem, July 4, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The Foreign Ministry flatly denies a Guardian report that Foreign Minister Israel Katz brought up the idea of temporarily housing Gazans on an artificial island in the Mediterranean during his presentation to his EU counterparts.
“He never said such a thing, and there is no such plan,” the Foreign Ministry tells The Times of Israel.
Katz did present to the ministers a plan to build a port for Gaza on an artificial island in order to check incoming goods, one he has pushed for years.
According to a spokesman, Katz mentioned that housing could be placed on the island as well, but did not mention anything having to do with relocating Palestinians there.
In a press conference, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was asked about the video, saying it was “very interesting” but off-topic, and that it dealt with a port and a rail corridor to the broader region.
Knesset okays May Golan as social equality minister, trashing short-lived ministry for advancement of women
Likud minister May Golan arrives for a coalition gathering ahead of Rosh Hashanah at a restaurant in Jerusalem, September 13, 2023. (Noam Revkin Fenton/FLASH90)
The Knesset approves the appointment of May Golan to the role of social equality minister, abolishing the short-lived Advancement of Women’s Status Ministry and transferring its powers to the Social Equality Ministry, which will now be known as the Ministry for Social Equality and Promotion of the Status of Women.
May’s appointment comes less than a month after Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli resigned from the Social Equality Ministry in an effort to limit government spending — but will have little effect on the size of the government, as the closure of the Advancement of Women’s Status Ministry will be offset by the transfer of the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women back to the Social Equality Ministry, where it was before being spun out as a ministry for Golan.
In a statement to The Times of Israel last week, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel criticized the move, stating that “we can see from these actions how much this ministry was unnecessary.”
The Advancement of Women’s Status Ministry was “only established for political needs and the public was asked to pay for the political needs of the coalition. The public didn’t need this ministry and again they are still trying to trick us and play political games,” the watchdog group stated.
Minister: Saudi peace possible within a year, but without Palestinian state and after ‘overwhelming victory’ in war
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen gives a press conference about a humanitarian aid corridor from the Cyprus to the war-torn Gaza Strip, in Larnaca, Cyprus on December 20, 2023. (Elisa AMOURET / AFP)
Amid tensions with the US over the possibility of a Palestinian state, Energy Minister Eli Cohen blasts the notion, saying that “no responsible leader would establish another Hamastan state in Judea and Samaria.”
“Some of the countries that call for the establishment of a Palestinian state said that Gaza would become Singapore, but instead of Singapore we got Hamastan,” the former foreign minister says in a speech at an energy conference. “I haven’t heard even one leader of those countries demand that the Palestinian Authority stop paying salaries to terrorists.”
(The US and other Western countries have repeatedly urged Ramallah to end the practice.)
Cohen also says that peace with Saudi Arabia is possible within the year, but “peace is only made with the strong. That is why it is important to continue the war until overwhelming victory.”
IDF blasts Army Radio into Gaza tunnels in bid to soothe hostages
Israeli soldiers show journalists an underground tunnel where the Israel Defense Forces said it had found evidence hostages were held by terrorists in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on January 10. 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
After conquering a Hamas tunnel in the northern Gaza Strip, a group of Israeli soldiers went down it with some unusual gear in hand – not explosives, robot probes or pistols for close combat, but rather old-style, dial-operated transistor radios.
Their mission was to descend until the devices could no longer receive AM transmissions from Israel. That point, they found, was at about 10 to 12 meters in depth, generally the upper “stories” of Palestinian terrorists’ subterranean network.
The January 4 experiment was ordered by their commander at the behest of Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, who had just expanded the country’s most popular broadcaster, Army Radio, from industry-standard FM into complementary AM channels.
AM’s greater range meant emergency updates would have a better chance of being heard by civilians in bomb shelters. Troops in Gaza would also benefit, as they were being allowed transistor radios to keep themselves informed while being asked to surrender their cellphones lest those be geolocated by Hamas.
The tunnel experiment dangled another possibility for a country tormented with worry for 132 people held hostage by Hamas-led gunmen in the enclave: reaching out to them with custom-composed, morale-raising Army Radio broadcasts.
“It suddenly occurred to me that maybe some of those hostages also had access to transistor radios,” Karhi tells Reuters. “If they had the means to hear their families’ voices it would have a huge value in terms of morale – and for their relatives, too.”
IDF announces deaths of three more soldiers killed fighting in Gaza, raising toll to 198
L-R: Cpt. Eyal Mevorach Twito, Maj. David Nati Alfasi, and Maj. Ilay Levy, officers in the Paratroopers Brigade, who were killed in the Gaza Strip on January 22, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF announces the deaths of three officers killed during fighting in the southern Gaza Strip today, bring the toll of slain troops in the ground offensive against Hamas to 198.
They are:
Maj. David Nati Alfasi, 27, a deputy battalion commander in the Paratroopers Brigade’s 202nd Battalion, from Beersheba.
Maj. Ilay Levy, 24, a company commander in the Paratroopers Brigade’s 202nd Battalion, from Tel Aviv.
Cpt. Eyal Mevorach Twito, 22, a platoon commander in the Paratroopers Brigade’s 202nd Battalion, from Beit Gamliel.
Another soldier of the 202nd Battalion was seriously wounded in the same battle in which the three officers were killed, the IDF says.
After furor, spokesman Eylon Levy won’t lose his job, has been cut back — TV report
Sara Netanyahu in Jerusalem, May 18, 2023 (L) and official Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy. (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90 / Haim Zach/GPO)
After a furor arose over Sara Netanyahu’s reported pressure to oust prominent English-language government spokesman Eylon Levy, he will not now lose his job, Channel 12 news reports.
The TV channel, which broke the news yesterday that Sara Netanyahu was pressing for Levy’s dismissal because of his prewar opposition to the government and participation in demonstrations against her husband’s judicial overhaul agenda, says that Levy was to have been canned “within the next few weeks,” but that due to the public outcry caused by the story it has been decided that this is not a good idea right now.
However, the TV report says Levy has had his media appearances cut back by those above him in the National Public Diplomacy directorate and that this will remain in force.
The directorate yesterday denied the report that Sara Netanyahu was pushing for the dismissal of Levy, who has emerged as one of the most resonant English-language spokesmen for Israel since October 7.
Levy had previously worked as an adviser to President Herzog. After leaving that job, he joined hundreds of thousands at protests against the overhaul, and also posted on social media in support of opposition leader Yair Lapid and against the hardline coalition.
US sanctions airline, Iraq militia leaders after Iran-backed attacks on troops
People attend the funeral of a high-ranking Iranian general, Seyed Razi Mousavi, in Najaf, Iraq, on Wednesday, December 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)
The United States announces sanctions on Iraqi low-cost airline Fly Baghdad, saying it provided assistance to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and proxies, while also targeting leaders of a pro-Iranian Iraq militia for sanctions.
The moves come as Iraq’s powerful pro-Iranian armed group Kataeb Hezbollah has “carried out a series of sharply escalating drone and missile attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria,” says the US Treasury Department in a statement.
Kataeb Hezbollah and other Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq “have consistently issued statements” supporting the Hamas terror group in Israel’s war against it, while declaring “their commitment to attacking US personnel,” the US Treasury says.
“Iran and its proxies have sought to abuse regional economies and use seemingly legitimate businesses as cover for funding and facilitating their attacks,” said Treasury Under Secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence Brian Nelson.
In unveiling sanctions on Fly Baghdad and CEO Basheer Abdulkadhim Alwan al-Shabbani, the Treasury Department says the airline supported the Quds Force “by delivering material and personnel throughout the region” including weapons.
It added that since Hamas’s devastating attack on Israel on October 7, Fly Baghdad “was involved in the transfer of hundreds of Iraqi fighters” in support of Iranian proxies’ attacks on Israel.
The latest sanctions target a senior Kataeb Hezbollah member and drone specialist, alongside a company allegedly used to launder money and the individual managing it.
Property of designated individuals in the United States are blocked and must be reported. Financial institutions and others are also restricted in their transactions with sanctioned entities.
Government selects BlueGen to run country’s first facility to treat contaminated groundwater
The government selects the BlueGen company to finance, build, operate and maintain the country’s first facility to treat contaminated groundwater.
The facility will be located at the Ramat Hasharon industrial area, in central Israel, and will treat some 5.5 million cubic meters (1.45 million gallons) of water annually, to a level of quality that will enable it to be channeled into the Yarkon River.
Groundwater contamination has lead to the closure of wells in Ramat Hasharon, northern Tel Aviv and Herzliya, and currently threatens additional wells.
The cleanup will allow for the construction of tens of thousands of new housing units and more than a million square meters (10.8 million square feet) for business and industry, according to a statement.
Audits show less antisemitism on X than other apps, Musk says
Tesla and SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk addresses the European Jewish Association's conference, in Krakow, Poland, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Social media company X’s platform has less antisemitic content than other platforms, according to audits it has commissioned, X owner Elon Musk claims at a conference to combat antisemitism.
“The outside audits that we have had done … show that there is the least amount of antisemitism on X, if you look at all the other social apps,” he tells the conference.
Britain ‘disappointed’ by Netanyahu’s stance on Palestinian statehood
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) meets with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Jerusalem on October 19, 2023 (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to a future sovereign Palestinian state is “disappointing,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office says, reiterating British support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden have disagreed over the future creation of an independent Palestinian state, with Netanyahu saying over the weekend he would not compromise on “full Israeli security control of all territory west of the Jordan River.”
Asked about Netanyahu’s comments, Sunak’s spokesman tells reporters: “It’s disappointing to hear this from the Israeli prime minister.”
“The UK’s position remains (that) a two-state solution, with a viable and sovereign Palestinian state living alongside a safe and secure Israel, is the best route to lasting peace,” the spokesman said.
Britain has backed Israel’s right to retaliate against Hamas after the terror group’s deadly Oct. 7 terror onslaught on southern Israel.
Sunak’s government has also called for Israel to respect humanitarian law and pauses in the fighting in the Gaza Strip to allow more aid into the besieged enclave. It wants a “sustainable ceasefire” based on the release of hostages by Hamas, in order to limit civilian casualties.
“Clearly, there will be a long road to recovery and lasting security in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel,” the spokesman says. “But we will continue our long term support for the two-state solution for as long as it takes.”
Britain, US unveil new sanctions against ‘Hamas financiers’
Screen capture from video of Britain's Foreign Secretary David Cameron as he gives evidence to a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, in London on January 9, 2024. (PRU / AFP)
Britain and the United States unveil new asset freezes and travel bans on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) figures, in their latest coordinated asset freezes and travel bans aimed at regional terrorists.
Five “key figures” and an entity said to be involved in the leadership and financial networks of Hamas and PIJ were targeted, the British government says.
The measures “will help to cut off the flow of funding that supports these terrorist groups, including from Iran”, it adds.
Western nations have imposed a growing number of sanctions on Hamas and its allies since the Palestinian terror group’s unprecedented October 7 onslaught on Israel.
“These sanctions send a clear message to Hamas — the UK and our partners are committed to ensuring there is no hiding place for those financing terrorist activities,” Foreign Secretary David Cameron says in a statement.
“To reach a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, Hamas can no longer be in power and able to threaten Israel. By disrupting the financial networks which sustain Hamas’ operation, including from Iran, these sanctions support that crucial aim.”
Britain and the United States announce multiple rounds of coordinated sanctions at the end of last year targeting Hamas and its Iranian backers.
London says its latest curbs will result in asset freezes, travel bans and arms embargoes, though it is unclear whether any of those targeted had assets in Britain or had travelled there in recent years.
Zuheir Shamlakh is among those sanctioned, with Britain claiming he had “an infamous reputation as Hamas’s ‘main money changer’ since 2019.”
He was “a key figure in the group’s shift towards cryptocurrencies,” and had “exploited” digital currencies and informal money transfer systems to move “large sums of money from Iran to Hamas” before October 7, London says.
Britain also sanctioned Ahmed Sharif Abdallah Odeh, allegedly a key operator in Hamas’s financial network, and Ismail Barhoum, a member of its political bureau in Gaza and its governing council.
Hassan Al-Wardian, said to be a senior leader of Hamas in the West Bank, and Jamil Yusuf Ahmad Aliyan, an alleged senior PIJ official in Gaza, were the remaining two people sanctioned, London adds.
Fierce battles unfolding as IDF launches new, large offensive in western Khan Younis
IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip in pictures cleared for publication on January 21, 2024. (IDF)
Fierce battles are taking place as the IDF launches a new, large offensive on the western Khan Younis area in the southern Gaza Strip.
Four brigades, led by the 98th Division, are involved in the offensive, which began yesterday with a series of airstrikes on Hamas sites in the area.
The IDF aims to dismantle Hamas’s military framework in the Khan Younis area with the new push.
Since this morning, around 50 Hamas operatives, including several commanders, have been killed by the ground troops of the Commando, Paratroopers, Givati and 7th brigades.
The soldiers have encircled the Khan Younis refugee camp, and are beginning to maneuver into it, where several Hamas sites are located.
The offensive is likely to last several more days, which will include the IDF raiding key Hamas strongholds, outposts, and infrastructure in the area.
The Khan Younis area, unlike most parts of northern Gaza, has many civilians sheltering. The IDF says it is aware of the sites where civilians are sheltering, along with hospitals, and will work to avoid harming them as it operates.
Refugee groups urge review of decision to deport non-Jewish Ethiopians to war-torn country
FILE — An unidentified armed militia fighter walks down a path as villagers flee with their belongings in the other direction, near the village of Chenna Teklehaymanot, in the Amhara region of northern Ethiopia, September 9, 2021. (AP Photo, File)
The Hotline for Refugees and Migrants and the HIAS refugee resettlement agency call on the interior and foreign ministers along with the attorney general to re-examine a decision by the Population and Immigration Authority to rescind temporary protection for non-Jewish Ethiopians who came to Israel because of a two-year war in their country.
Deportations are to begin from February 10.
The two organizations cite opinions from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a committee of experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council, the US government, international human rights organizations, and experts on the situation in Ethiopia, saying that the situation in Ethiopia is still unstable and dangerous and that repatriating those seeking shelter in Israel could put them in mortal danger.
They add that the reasons for the decision have not been made public.
A March 2022 position paper on the UNHCR website, which has not been updated, stands against the forcible return of Ethiopians to their country, saying, “The bar on forcible return serves as a minimum standard and needs to remain in place, until such time, as the security, rule of law, and human rights situation has significantly improved to permit the safe and dignified return of those determined not to be in need of international protection.”
Gallant: Israel won’t cease fire at Hezbollah until it can guarantee security for residents in north
French Minister for the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu (L) meets with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at the Israeli army headquarters in Tel Aviv, on January 22, 2024. (GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP)
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant tells his visiting French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu, “A war in the north will be challenging for Israel, but devastating for Hezbollah and Lebanon. Israel will not cease fire until it can guarantee the safe return of the [evacuated] northern communities to their homes following a change in the security situation along the border.”
According to an Israeli readout, the two met in Tel Aviv, with Gallant briefing Lecornu “on the IDF’s progress in achieving the goals of the war – namely the destruction of Hamas’s governing and military capabilities, and the return of hostages. Minister Gallant emphasized that the IDF will continue operating until these are achieved.”
“Gallant expressed his appreciation to Minister Lecornu for France’s commitment to changing the security situation in southern Lebanon and to distancing Hezbollah forces from the border,” says the Israeli readout.
“He also emphasized the important role of France in achieving the international objective of stabilizing the security situation on the northern border, as part of the wider diplomatic efforts led by the US administration.”
No-confidence motion against Netanyahu falls, winning just 18 votes
Israelis whose family members are held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza react during a plenum session at the assembly hall of the Knesset on January 22, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
A no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receives only 18 votes, failing by far to garner the necessary majority to pass in the 120-strong Knesset plenum.
The motion, brought by the Labor party, cited the government’s “failure” to secure the return of the 136 Israelis still believed to be held hostage in the Gaza Strip by Hamas.
Arguing in favor of the measure, Labor MK Efrat Rayten argues that “the basic duty of a state towards its citizens is to protect their lives and safety. There is and cannot be trust in a government that has failed so miserably” during and after Hamas’s October 7 attack.
Speaking on behalf of the government in the plenum, Likud Minister May Golan states that “the government as a responsible government does not cooperate with petty politics or any kind of politics during a war for the right to existence and security of the citizens of the country.”
The vote was boycotted by the coalition, the heads of which stated earlier today that they would “not take part in political shows during wartime.”
IDF says it carried out airstrikes against series of Hezbollah targets across southern Lebanon
IDF footage of an airstrike against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on January 22, 2023. (Screen capture/X)
The IDF says it carried out airstrikes against a series of Hezbollah targets in five areas of southern Lebanon today.
Sites hit by fighter jets in the Maroun al-Ras area included a military building where Hezbollah operatives were gathered, the IDF says.
It says secondary blasts could be seen following the strike, indicating the building was used to store weapons.
The IDF says it also hit three observation posts and another military building in Marwahin, Chihine, Taybeh, and Tayr Harfa.
מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו במרחב מארון א-ראס מוקדם יותר היום מבנה צבאי בו שהו מחבלים מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה. לאחר תקיפת המבנה ניתן לראות פיצוצי משנה רבים המעידים על המצאות אמצעי לחימה במקום>> pic.twitter.com/6McjVeJbPJ
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) January 22, 2024
Iran ‘directly involved’ in Yemen Houthi rebel ship attacks — US Navy’s Mideast chief
US Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, who heads the Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, speaks at an event at the International Defense Exhibition and Conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell, File)
Iran is “very directly involved” in ship attacks that Yemen’s Houthi rebels have carried out during Israel’s war against Hamas, the US Navy’s top Mideast commander tells The Associated Press.
Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of the Navy’s 5th Fleet, stops short of saying Tehran directed individual attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
However, Cooper acknowledges that attacks associated with Iran have expanded from previously threatening just the Persian Gulf and its Strait of Hormuz into waters across the wider Middle East.
“Clearly, the Houthi actions, probably in terms of their attacks on merchant shipping, are the most significant that we’ve seen in two generations,” he tells the AP in a telephone interview. “The facts simply are that they’re attacking the international community; thus, the international response I think you’ve seen.”
In his interview with the AP, the Navy commander acknowledges the threat from Iran’s proxies and that its distribution of weapons extended from the Red Sea out to the far reaches of the Indian Ocean. The US has blamed Iran for recent drone attacks on shipping, and a U.S.-owned cargo vessel came under attack from the Houthis in the Gulf of Aden last week.
“What I’ll say is Iran is clearly funding, they’re resourcing, they are supplying and they’re providing training,” Cooper says. “They’re obviously very directly involved. There’s no secret there.”
As DeSantis exits race, Trump takes aim at Haley as ‘candidate of globalists’
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally on January 5, 2024, in Sioux Center, Iowa. (Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP)
Ron DeSantis’s decision to end his presidential campaign leaves Nikki Haley as the only serious Republican challenger to Donald Trump, potentially consolidating her support among Jewish voters and donors in the party who seek an alternative to the former president.
Trump responded to DeSantis’s exit by ramping up his attacks on Haley, the former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the United Nations who has close ties to the pro-Israel establishment and has been a favorite among Jewish and pro-Israel donors who want to avoid a second Trump-Biden matchup in November.
“Nikki Haley is the candidate of the globalists and Democrats who will do everything to stop the America First movement,” Trump’s campaign says in a statement, using a term that has been used as an antisemitic dog whistle and echoes anti-Jewish conspiracy theories.
DeSantis announced his exit yesterday after he came in a distant second last week in Iowa, the first nominating contest in the Republican primaries. The announcement capped a campaign in which the Florida governor was initially seen as the most serious threat to Trump but saw his support steadily decline as the primaries neared.
He has long staked out positions popular among pro-Israel conservatives and repeatedly traveled to Israel to demonstrate his support. He has also declared a “war on woke” and has aggressively taken on culture-war positions — including about abortion, LGBTQ rights and book bans — that have traditionally not resonated as much with Jewish voters. At one point, his campaign fired an aide who made a video promoting him that featured a Nazi symbol.
DeSantis has thrown his support behind Trump.
For those who want to see a more traditional politician return the White House to the Republicans, Haley has been an attractive option. She has garnered more support than any other candidate from the leadership of the Republican Jewish Coalition, according to a Haaretz report last summer, and multiple prominent Jewish Republicans have organized fundraisers on her behalf.
Whether those fundraisers take place will likely depend on the outcome in the New Hampshire primary tomorrow. Trump currently has a double-digit lead in polls. After his decisive win in Iowa, he said during his victory speech that he would end the current conflict in Israel “very fast” if he becomes president, without elaborating on how he would do so.
Hamas says IDF storming one Khan Younis hospital, surrounding another; no comment from IDF
Troops of the Kfir Brigade operate in southern Gaza's Khan Younis in a handout image published January 7, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Israeli forces advance into western Khan Younis, storming one hospital and placing another under siege and cutting the wounded off from trauma care, Palestinian officials say.
Troops advanced for the first time into the al-Mawasi district near the Mediterranean Coast, west of Khan Younis, the main city in southern Gaza. There, they stormed the Al-Khair hospital and were arresting medical staff, Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al Qidra tells Reuters.
There was no immediate word from Israel on the situation at the hospital. The military spokesperson’s office had no comment. Israel says its operations in Gaza are targeting Hamas, the terror group that rules the Strip, and not civilians, although Hamas is known for hiding its attack infrastructure in hospitals and other civilian locations.
The Palestinian Red Crescent says tanks had also surrounded another Khan Younis hospital, al-Amal, headquarters of the rescue agency, which had lost contact with its staff there.
Qidra says at least 50 people were killed overnight in Khan Younis, while the sieges of medical facilities meant dozens of dead and wounded were beyond the reach of rescuers. Death tolls from Qidra’s health ministry don’t differentiate between civilians and combatants and include in their figures those killed by errant Palestinian rocket fire.
“Hamas embeds its operation within and under hospitals and other medical facilities,” says Elad Goren of COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry branch that coordinates with the Palestinians. “A particular effort led by a dedicated team has been put on making sure that civilians have access to medical care.”
Woman arrested for impersonating doctor during sting Botox operation
Illustration of syringe, 2009. (Chen Leopold / Flash 90.)
A woman from Bat Yam was arrested today for impersonating a doctor and providing medical treatment using materials that are suspected to have been smuggled from abroad, the Health Ministry says.
The arrest comes following cooperation among the Israel Police, the Tax Authority and the Health Ministry. The suspect was arrested as she was about to inject Botox into undercover police officers and Health Ministry employees posing as patients.
During the arrest, a large supply of substances suspected of being fraudulent and forbidden for import to Israel was found. In addition, NIS 36,000 ($9,500) in cash allegedly used by the suspect in her activities was uncovered, the Health Ministry says.
The Health Ministry says that medical treatments carried out by individuals without credentials from the Israeli government are dangerous, especially if they involve injections of questionable materials into the body. The injection of drugs and cosmetic fillers is permitted only by those with Israeli medical licenses.
Government has choice of continuing war or returning hostages, Labor chief says
Labor party leader MK Merav Michaeli leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on December 4, 2023. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)
The government can either continue fighting in Gaza or it can bring the hostages home, outgoing Labor chairwoman Merav Michaeli declares, reiterating her plan to to call for a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Since October 7, we have refrained from taking this step, but for 108 days we have seen that this government is busy with everything… but the hostages,” Michaeli says at Labor’s weekly faction meeting.
“The Labor faction will call a motion of no confidence today against a delinquent government that has been neglecting its sons and daughters, held prisoner by Hamas for 108 days,” she says.
“In order to bring our hostages home we must also be prepared to stop fighting. You can’t keep muttering ‘bringing the hostages home is above all else.’ You can’t keep on lying that ‘only total victory will ensure the elimination of Hamas and the return of all our hostages.’ It will take a very long time to bring down Hamas, time that we do not have. And time that they don’t have. And we don’t have time to keep putting them in clear and immediate danger, day after day after day.”
In a joint statement earlier today, the heads of the coalition parties declared that they would “not take part in political shows during wartime,” including the debate and vote on Labor’s motion.
“They’re s-c-a-r-e-d,” Michaeli tweets in response.
Lapid urges Netanyahu to negotiate date for new elections
Opposition leader Yair Lapid leads a meeting of his Yesh Atid faction at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on January 22, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Opposition leader Yair Lapid during his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sit down and negotiate a date for new elections.
Despite threatening to promote a motion of no-confidence in the prime minister should the cabinet pass a budget that does not slash coalition funds, “we will wait another week,” Lapid says, citing the government’s delay in submitting the budget to the Knesset.
In the meantime, “I have a proposal for Benjamin Netanyahu: let’s sit down, you and I, the prime minister and the leader of the opposition, and set a date,” he says, arguing that elections are inevitable.
“It will take another month, two more months. In the end it will come. There are enough people in your coalition who can’t take it anymore,” he argues, calling the current government “dangerous to the people of Israel.”
“After the greatest disaster in the country’s history, we need a government that will regain the trust of the public, the trust of the security system, that will have a plan for the day after,” Lapid adds, asserting that he is “willing to discuss any reasonable offer.”
Liberman says not the time for elections as war drags on, but PM should quit
Yisrael Beytenu party chairman MK Avigdor Liberman leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on January 22, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Avigdor Liberman dismisses the Labor party’s planned motion of no confidence in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declaring during his Yisrael Beytenu party’s weekly faction meeting that the country “needs unity” and that elections are divisive.
“This is not the time for Jewish wars,” he says, adding that it is “impractical” to hold elections during wartime.
There are still two hundred thousand reservists in uniform, he argues, asking “do we set up a ballot box in Khan Younis?”
If the right wants to stay in power the only way is to ditch the prime minister, “otherwise it doesn’t matter when elections are held — the right will enter the opposition,” he says, adding that if Netanyahu “had an ounce of conscience and was able to take responsibility, he would resign.”
“Any reasonable person would resign on their own after the October 7 failure.”
IDF says that 12,000 medical aid trucks entered Gaza since start of war
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid enter the Gaza Strip at the Kerem Shalom crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, December 21, 2023. (Mohammed ABED / AFP)
The IDF says that since the beginning of the war against Hamas, 12,000 trucks with 1,052 tons of medical equipment have entered the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the IDF says it has facilitated the delivery of hundreds of thousands of polio, tuberculosis, rotavirus, and MMR vaccines, among other aid.
It also details the number of patients treated in the various field Gaza hospitals — run by foreign nations and international aid groups — where medical aid has reached, as well as at two floating hospitals aboard a French ship and an Italian ship.
The IDF says it has also coordinated with Egypt the evacuation of hundreds of wounded Palestinians from Gaza, who were taken to the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Egypt for treatment.
“In coordination with the international community, the IDF continues to facilitate humanitarian and medical assistance efforts for Gazan civilians,” the military says.
Charges say ISIS-linked terrorists planned to carry out attack near Knesset
Bottles of chemicals found in the homes of two East Jerusalem men suspected of planning ISIS-inspired attacks in a photo released on January 22, 2024. (Israel Police)
A charge sheet filed claims that two East Jerusalem residents arrested for trying to carry out an ISIS-inspired attack had plans to try to detonate a truck near the Knesset.
“Among the targets and plans considered, the accused wanted to carry out a terror attack by detonating a truck filled with gas canisters near the Knesset, in an attempt to kill as many Jews as possible and create mass damage,” the sheet says.
It does not appear that they proceeded with this plan.
Police said that the suspects, aged 19 and 20, were arrested on December 26 in their homes in Ras al-Amud in East Jerusalem. During a search, security forces found chemicals that were believed to be intended for use in making explosive devices, along with a notebook with instructions on preparing explosives and ISIS materials.
Netanyahu tells hostages families there is no concrete Hamas proposal for a release deal
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with family members of hostages held by Hamas in Jerusalem on January 22, 2024. (PMO Spokesperson)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells families of hostages held in Gaza that Hamas has not offered a concrete proposal for a release deal.
“Despite what people are saying, there is no real Hamas proposal,” he says, “it’s not true.”
Netanyahu adds that Israel has offered its own “initiative” but doesn’t go into details.
Netanyahu tells visiting French defense minister Israel still waiting for proof medicines reached hostages
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, meets with French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu in Jerusalem on January 22, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
Israel is still waiting for proof that medicine purchased by France for hostages in Gaza actually reached them, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells visiting French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu in Jerusalem.
He also thanks France for buying the medication.
The two also discuss tensions in Lebanon and the need to push Hezbollah back from the border in accordance with UNSC Resolution 1701.
Netanyahu says Israel can achieve that goal diplomatically or through other means, a euphemism for a military campaign.
They are joined by National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, Military Secretary Avi Gil, Diplomatic Adviser Ophir Falk, Spokesman Mark Regev, and French Ambassador Frederic Journes.
IDF condemns reservist protest against ‘soft’ approach in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces condemns a protest by a group of reservists who put a sign on their armored vehicles as they were released from Gaza, appearing to call on the government to take a harsher approach to the war.
The reservists were pictured as they drove to hand over their equipment with signs saying “We too were released without resolution,” an apparent reference to the fact that the military has downgraded the intensity of the war before defeating the Hamas terror group.
“In recent hours pictures have emerged of reserve soldiers protesting during active duty and making use of IDF vehicles to do so.”
These acts are in violation of commands and have no place in the IDF, the military said, adding that it was investigating the act.
Hebrew media reported that a group of right-wing activists, who also conducted a recent campaign saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “was good for the Arabs” were behind the posters.
אחרי 3 חודשי לחימה בעזה: כך יצאה יחידת מילואים להזדכות בבסיס צאלים על הציוד שלהם pic.twitter.com/RfDHFv4MMG
— הוד בראל Hod Barel (@hod_barel) January 22, 2024
Police arrest two men for ISIS-linked terror attack plot in Jerusalem
An Islamic flag found by police during the arrest of two East Jerusalem men on suspicion of planning a terror attack, published on January 22, 2024 (Police spokesperson)
Police arrest two East Jerusalem residents accused of supporting the Islamic State terror group and allegedly planning to carry out bombing attacks in the capital.
This is the second such arrest this month.
The pair purchased chemical materials to make explosive devices to be used against civilians and security forces in Jerusalem, the Israel Police and the Shin Bet security service say in a joint statement on Monday.
Police said the suspects, aged 19 and 20, were arrested on December 26 in their homes in Ras al-Amud in East Jerusalem.
Shipping giant Maersk diverting container service away from the Red Sea
Containers of Danish shipping and logistics company Maersk are seen in Copenhagen, Denmark, on September 14, 2023. (Sergei Gapon/AFP)
Danish shipping group Maersk is diverting its ME2 container service away from the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, rerouting the vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, the company says in an advisory to clients.
The ME2 service links Italy and the western Mediterranean Sea to the east coast of India and the United Arab Emirates.
The move comes amid continued attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis on shipping in the region.
Ahead of EU meeting, FM Katz says priority is getting hostages back
Foreign Minister Israel Katz holds up a paper photo of hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7 Hamas cross-border attack in Israel, as he arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, January 22, 2024. (Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Before his meeting with his European Union counterparts, Foreign Minister Israel Katz tells gathered reporters he is in Brussels to discuss two issues — “to bring back our hostages,” and to achieve support for Israel “dismantling the Hamas terrorist organization.”
Katz holds up photos of one-year-old Kfir Bibas, and of Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Daniela Gilboa and Agam Berger, four young women whose bloodied faces Hamas photographed shortly after kidnapping them on October 7.
“It’s urgency, it’s very important to do it very soon and to bring them back,” he says.
Katz ignores shouted questions about the possibility of a two-state solution.
Report: PA agrees to transfer of funds from Israel through Norway, without Gaza sum
The Palestinian Authority reportedly agrees to receive the tax money collected by Israel on its behalf, minus the sum earmarked for Gaza.
A Palestinian source tells Sky News Arabia that Ramallah has walked back its previous decision to reject a partial transfer of the funds collected on its behalf by Israel since November, when the government decided to deduct the amount that the PA has earmarked for Gaza to pay for services and salaries in the coastal enclave.
According to the agreement, made under heavy American pressure, Ramallah will receive the funds from Israel through a trust fund managed by Norway. Oslo will be barred from transferring the funds to the PA or to any other party without the express permission of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
The Palestinian source adds that the PA will still disburse payments to pensioners and needy families in Gaza that appear in the lists of its Ministry of Social Development, using funds earmarked for the West Bank.
‘You will not sit here while our children die’: Hostages’ families disrupt Knesset committee
Demonstrators burst into a meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee to call for government action to free relatives held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, January 22, 2024. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)
Relatives of Israelis being held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip burst into the Knesset Finance Committee to demand that the government do more to secure their family members’ release.
“You will not sit here while our children die,” some screamed. “What about ransoming captives?”
“You dismantled a government over hametz but for [the hostages] you don’t dismantle it,” other protesters scream at lawmakers, referring to how a fight over permitting leavened bread in hospitals over Passover was the immediate catalyst for a member of the previous government’s razor-thin coalition to defect, kicking off a three-month tumble toward its collapse.
Responding to the protesters, committee chairman Moshe Gafni of United Torah Judaism says that while “leaving the coalition won’t help” he “understood” the protesters’ pain.
משפחות החטופים פרצו לדיון ועדת הכספים ופוצצו אותו. משמר הכנסת מתחננים שייצאו ולא מעזים לפנות בכוח pic.twitter.com/RY3nZUL4zP
— שחר גליק Shahar Glick (@glick_sh) January 22, 2024
Iran foreign minister to visit Pakistan in bid to mend ties after missile exchange
Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian gestures during a discussion at the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024.(AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Pakistan says the Iranian foreign minister will visit the country next week, signaling efforts to rebuild ties after the neighbors exchanged missile and drone strikes last week at what they said were militant targets.
Ambassadors of both countries have also been asked to return to their posts by Jan. 26, the Pakistan foreign ministry says in a statement.
Hamas says 190 killed in Gaza in past 24 hours, pushing death toll to 25,295
This photograph taken on January 22, 2024 from Rafah, shows smoke billowing after an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip (Photo by AFP)
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says 190 people have been killed in the Strip over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 25,295.
These figures cannot be independently verified, and are believed to include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, including as a consequence of terror groups’ own rocket misfires. The IDF says it has killed over 9,000 operatives in Gaza, in addition to some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
IDF says Kfir Brigade replaced in Gaza for R&R and training
Troops of the Kfir Brigade operate in the Gaza Strip, in an undated photo published by the IDF on January 22, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The Kfir Brigade last night was withdrawn from the Gaza Strip for a short R&R and training period, and has been replaced with other forces in the Khan Younis area, the military says.
The IDF says that after its break, the Kfir Brigade will continue operational activity in accordance with the army’s latest assessments.
In Khan Younis, the IDF says Kfir soldiers operated in the Bani Suheila area, locating many weapons used by Hamas, including firearms, explosive devices, grenades, and rockets, as well as killing dozens of terror operatives.
Before fighting in Khan Younis, Kfir operated in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, in what was the brigade’s first-ever ground maneuver.
Pro-Palestinian protester disrupts Australian Open tennis match
A woman throws "free Palestine" leaflets onto Margaret Court Arena during the fourth round match between Alexander Zverev of Germany and Cameron Norrie of Britain at the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
A protester threw papers onto an Australian Open court and briefly delayed the fourth-round match between Olympic champion Alexander Zverev and Cameron Norrie of Britain.
A person wearing a blue shirt and cap and face mask threw pamphlets from the stands onto the court behind the baseline during the sixth game of the third set on Margaret Court Arena.
Printed in black on the white pages was the message “Free Palestine” and “While you’re watching tennis bombs are dropping on Gaza.”
Ball kids gathered up the papers and the match continued after a short delay. Security escorted the protester away.
Tennis Australia says it is awaiting more information before commenting.
Police scuffle with anti-government protesters who block entrance to Knesset
Police dragging an anti-government protester who was blocking the Knesset entrance on January 22, 2024. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)
Anti-government protesters block the entrance to the Knesset.
Police then drag demonstrators by their hands and legs from the center of the road in order to disperse the crowd.
The protesters, most of them elderly, are calling the police “criminals” who have “destroyed the country” as they are forced back behind the barricades.
Hundreds at funerals for Iran guards officers killed in alleged Israeli strike
Mourners carry the casket of Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) member, Hossein Mohammadi, killed in Damascus in a strike blamed on Israel on January 20, in the Iranian capital Tehran on January 22, 2023.(Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Hundreds of mourners gather in Tehran for the funerals of Revolutionary Guards killed in Syria, in what Iran called an Israeli strike.
The strike in Damascus on Saturday killed five members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the military force said. Iranian media later reported the victims included the group’s intelligence chief for Syria, and his deputy.
Mourners carried aloft coffins bearing some of the victims, draped in colors of the Iranian flag, before a stage bearing pictures of IRGC General Qassem Soleimani who was killed three years ago by the United States.
A funeral dirge sounded.
State media reported that funeral processions were planned for three of the five IRGC members killed.
Israel running out of anti-viral drugs as COVID spikes
Pfizer's antiviral COVID-19 pill, Paxlovid (Courtesy)
Israel is running out of Paxlovid and Molnupiravir, the anti-viral drugs used to treat people with severe cases of COVID-19, the Health Ministry says.
The medications are also given to patients aged 65 and up and those with preexisting medical conditions that put them at high risk when they first start showing signs of the disease.
The ministry notified the country’s four health maintenance organizations that the supply of the anti-viral drugs will last for only two to three more weeks and that it is working to access more.
According to the latest numbers released by the Health Ministry, there are 1,056 active documented cases of COVID, with 305 of them in hospitals. There are 31 people in critical or serious condition, with 11 of them on ventilators. Nearly 12 percent of tests done in the medical system yesterday came back positive.
New footage shows kidnapping of slain hostage Yotam Haim
Slain hostage Yotam Haim seen in security camera footage taken on October 7 as he is kidnapped by Hamas terrorists (Screencapture/Channel 13 used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
New footage broadcast by Channel 13 shows the moments in which slain hostage Yotam Haim was kidnapped on the morning of October 7 from his home in Kfar Aza.
In the pictures, Haim can be seen shirtless being pulled by four terrorists through the fields of the kibbutz before being forced into a black vehicle.
After viewing the footage, taken from security cameras, Haim’s mother Iris said it gave her some solace to see that he was taken with his “head held high.”
“He was very strong,” she says.
Yotam Haim and fellow Israeli hostages Alon Shamriz and Samar Talalka were shot dead by IDF troops who mistakenly identified them as a threat, on December 15, in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City, when they emerged from a building shirtless and waving a white flag.
תיעוד בלעדי: רגע החטיפה של יותם חיים ז"ל מכפר עזה | אימו איריס חיים: "הוא נחטף כשהוא זקוף, זה עודד אותי. הוא חזק מאוד, גבר גבר"
צפו בכתבה המלאה – https://t.co/UsqFhKtOf9@bokeralmog pic.twitter.com/xKnUrr1aKu
— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) January 21, 2024
Germany backs 2-state solution, calls for urgent humanitarian pause to Gaza fighting
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (left) meets with Foreign Minister Israel Katz in Jerusalem on January 7, 2024. (Rafi Ben Hakoun/Foreign Ministry)
A two-state solution to allow for peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians is the “only solution” to the current conflict, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says before heading into an EU foreign ministers’ meeting.
“All those who say they don’t want to hear about such a solution have not brought any alternative,” she adds, while also calling for an urgent “humanitarian pause” to the war raging in the Gaza Strip.
Iran says blast report in industrial town caused by jet breaking the sound barrier
The cause of a large blast in Iran’s Semnan province was determined to be a fighter jet breaking the sound barrier, state media reports.
Iranian state media had earlier said a large explosion was heard at the Garmsar industrial town, the fourth such incident in the province of Semnan in a week, according to semi-official Mehr news agency.
“Upon investigating, officials announced that no explosion or smoke was observed from the Garmsar industrial area,” state media says.
“It is now known that the cause of the blast was a fighter jet breaking the sound barrier in the area,” state media adds, without specifying whether the jet was Iranian.
Dozens protest outside Knesset, call for elections
Protesters gather outside the Knesset in opposition to the government on January 22, 2024. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)
Dozens of protesters gather outside the Knesset calling for new elections.
Mor Shamgar, who is leading the crowd in fiery chanting against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government, says she voted Likud until Netanyahu rose to power within the party.
“I left in 1999 when I realized who Netanyahu is… He is only concerned for himself,” she says.
“If Yair Netanyahu were to go help clean up in Be’eri, or if Avner Netanyahu went to Kfar Aza to help pick fruits and vegetables, then I would know that our prime minister is true to his word,” she says referring to Netanyahu’s two sons. “Until then he’s not worthy.”
The protesters are calling the coalition parties in power “traitors who have given up on the hostages.”
Outgoing Labor party chairwoman Merav Michaeli came out to demonstrate along with the anti-Netanyahu protesters in order to “move this government.”
“The return of the hostages is not a question, it is the number one obligation of this government. The hostages were abandoned and kidnapped on its watch, and so it has to do everything to return them,” she says.
France hopeful EU will impose sanctions on extremist settlers
France’s foreign minister says he is hopeful the European Union would impose sanctions on Israeli settlers who commit acts of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from its allies to rein in settler violence, which has soared since the Hamas terror group’s October 7 massacre.
Both the United Kingdom and the United States have recently banned extremist Jewish settlers implicated in a rash of recent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
Saudi FM says country won’t recognize Israel without a path to a Palestinian state
Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud attends a session during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, January 16, 2024. (Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister says the kingdom will not normalize relations with Israel or contribute to Gaza’s reconstruction without a credible pathway to a Palestinian state.
Prince Faisal bin Farhan’s remarks in an interview with CNN were some of the most direct yet from Saudi officials.
In the interview with “CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS,” the host asks: “Are you saying unequivocally that if there is not a credible and irreversible path to a Palestinian state, there will not be normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel?”
“That’s the only way we’re going to get a benefit,” Prince Faisal replies. “So, yes.”
Earlier in the interview, when asked if oil-rich Saudi Arabia would finance reconstruction in Gaza, Prince Faisal gave a similar answer.
“As long as we’re able to find a pathway to a solution, a resolution, a pathway that means that we’re not going to be here again in a year or two, then we can talk about anything,” he says. “But if we are just resetting to the status quo before Oct. 7, in a way that sets us up for another round of this, as we have seen in the past, we’re not interested in that conversation.”
Troops kill several Hamas gunmen in Gaza clashes, airstrikes
IDF troops seen operating in the Gaza Strip in an image cleared for publication on January 22, 2024. (IDF)
Reservists of the Yiftah Brigade killed a cell of Hamas operatives who approached them in the central Gaza Strip overnight, the IDF says.
A short while later, the IDF says, the troops spotted additional operatives attempting to ambush them in the area. The soldiers called in an airstrike, killing the gunmen.
Meanwhile, in northern Gaza, the IDF says reservists of the 5th Brigade spotted a group of Hamas gunmen and opened fire, killing one, and directed an aircraft to kill the others and a fighter jet to strike the building the gunmen operated from.
Reservists of the Yiftah Brigade killed a cell of Hamas operatives who approached them in the central Gaza Strip overnight, the IDF says.
A short while later, the IDF says the troops spotted additional operatives attempting to ambush them in the area. The soldiers called in an… pic.twitter.com/qDtcxfvdyP
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 22, 2024
Borrell: Gaza humanitarian situation could not be worse, I want a 2-state solution
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is waging war against the Hamas terror group, “could not be worse,” European Union chief diplomat Josep Borrell says.
“From now on I will not talk about the peace process, but I want a two-state-solution process,” Borell tells journalists ahead of a EU foreign ministers’ meeting.
14 arrested for selling entry permits to Israel for Palestinian laborers
In this September 6, 2020 photo, Palestinian laborers cross illegally into Israel from the West Bank through an opening in a fence, south of the West Bank town of Hebron. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File)
Police say they have arrested 14 people on suspicion of illegally selling work permits to Palestinians that allowed them entry into Israel.
Among those held are several IDF and police officers.
The suspects are to appear before the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court, where police will request that their remands be extended.
They are suspected of fraud, bribery, bribing a public servant, money laundering and extortion by threats.
Large explosion heard in Iran industrial town
A large explosion is heard at the Garmsar industrial town in Iran’s Semnan province, state media report.
The cause of the blast has not yet been determined. Firefighters are being dispatched to the scene.
EU foreign ministers to meet Israeli, Palestinian counterparts
EU foreign ministers will hold separate talks later today with their Israeli and Palestinian counterparts on the prospects for lasting peace after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a future Palestinian state.
The 27 EU ministers will first meet with Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz, before sitting down separately with the Palestinian Authority’s top diplomat Riyad al-Maliki.
Katz and Maliki are not expected to meet each other.
Katz and Maliki will also separately address the European Union Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels today, which will also be attended by his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and the Arab League Secretary-General.
The meeting is largely devoted to the Middle East but also taking stock of the war in Ukraine.
In addition, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will present a ten-point plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
The EU has struggled for a united stance on the conflict in Gaza as staunch backers of Israel such as Germany have rejected demands for an immediate ceasefire made from the likes of Spain and Ireland.
EU officials have sketched out broad conditions for “the day after” the current war ends in Gaza, calling for a cessation to hostilities, the return of the Israeli hostages, an end to Hamas’s rule and a role for the Palestinian Authority in running Gaza.
At the heart of the plan is a call for a “preparatory peace conference” to be organized by the EU, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the League of Arab States, with the United States and United Nations also invited to be conveners of the gathering.
The conference would go ahead even if Israelis or Palestinians declined to take part. But both parties would be consulted at every step of the talks as delegates seek to draw up a peace plan, the document suggests.
The internal document, seen by multiple news organizations including Reuters, makes clear one key goal of a peace plan should be the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, “living side by side with Israel in peace and security”.
In a letter to member states, Borrell wrote that his roadmap will “elaborate, with practical proposals, on the agreed principle that only a political, sustainable, long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will bring peace to the two peoples and stability to the region.”
According to Euronews, Borrell’s plan calls for full normalization between Israel and Arab states and would create an “initial framework” for Israeli-Palestinian peace within one year. There would be “robust security assurances” for both states, and the agreement would be “conditional upon full mutual diplomatic recognition and integration of both Israel and Palestinian in the region.”
Given the division, the 27 EU member states are unlikely to support Borrell’s roadmap.
A high-ranking EU official said there were no expectations of any breakthroughs from the “complex ballet” of diplomacy on Monday.
“The idea is to have a full discussion with all the participants, the Israelis, Palestinians, the Arabs, to exchange points of view and to try to understand better where everybody is,” the official said.
IDF says 3 missiles fired from Lebanon land in open areas in northern Israel
The Israel Defense Forces say three missiles fired from south Lebanon tonight landed in open, uninhabited areas near the moshav of Shomera, a community of a few hundreds people near in the Galilee region in northern Israel.
The missile launches had triggered the community’s sirens but authorities initially believed it was a false alarm.
Residents reported hearing explosions and sounds of impact near the community and authorities determined that three missiles landed in the area.
There are no reports of injury or damage.
2 US Navy SEALs reported missing after boarding Iranian vessel declared ‘deceased’
Two US Navy SEALs who went missing in the Gulf of Aden earlier this month have not been located and their status has been changed to deceased, military officials say.
The SEALs were reported missing after boarding an Iranian vessel in a Jan. 11 operation near the coast of Somali, the US Central Command says on X.
“We mourn the loss of our two Naval Special Warfare warriors, and we will forever honor their sacrifice and example. Our prayers are with the SEALs’ families, friends, the US Navy, and the entire Special Operations community during this time,” CENTCOM Commander General Michael Erik Kurilla said in a statement.
The US has carried out a string of strikes against Houthi targets in response to Iran-backed Houthi attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea that have disrupted global trade and raised fears of supply bottlenecks.
US Central Command forces on Saturday struck a Houthi anti-ship missile that was aimed into the Gulf of Aden and prepared to launch, the US military said.
Israel blasts Russia over Holocaust distortion, criticism of Germany for defense of Israel at ICJ
Israel hits back at Russia over the foreign ministry spokesperson’s comments earlier today appearing to downplay the Holocaust’s impact on the Jewish people, characterizing it as a mass extermination of “various ethnic and social groups,” and slamming Germany for intervening on behalf of Israel as a third party in the International Court of Justice’s “genocide” case.
“Israel thanks Germany for its unequivocal support and its stand against South Africa’s baseless claim,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry says in a statement cited by Hebrew media.
The ministry says the Russian spokesperson’s comments were a “distortion of the Holocaust” and “harmful to victims and survivors.”
At a media conference earlier, the Kremlin’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized what she labeled as Berlin’s “unfettered support” for the Jewish state, and accused it of systematically ignoring the plight of non-Jewish European minorities, particularly Slavic peoples in the then-Soviet Union, who were massacred during the Holocaust.
“It seems that Germany has once again forgotten that under UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/60/7 and several other international instruments, the Holocaust is defined as the persecution and mass extermination of people representing various ethnic and social groups by the Nazis. There is also the OSCE’s Berlin Declaration setting forth the need to promote the importance of respecting all ethnic and religious groups without any distinction,” she said.
The UN resolution, passed in 2005 to establish International Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27, stressed the impact of the Jews during the genocide, noting that it “resulted in the murder of one-third of the Jewish people, along with countless members of other minorities.”
“Berlin persists in its refusal to recognize Nazi crimes against our people as genocide,” Zakharova said, citing Berlin’s refusal to pay reparations to non-Jewish victims of the nearly two-and-a-half-year Siege of Leningrad during World War II.
“Russian investigative bodies and courts have compiled a wide body of evidence exposing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide by the Third Reich troops across various regions of our country,” she said.
“Germany has surpassed other countries in the European Union in zealously defending the [Kyiv] regime which has made the glorification of Nazi accomplices a key domestic and foreign policy tenet,” she stated, referencing Berlin’s support of Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion since 2022.
Russian leaders have repeatedly tried to justify their invasion of Ukraine as a struggle against neo-Nazism, though it has not presented evidence to back this up and despite the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, being Jewish.
“All this leads to the conclusion that in the context of the ongoing proceedings at the International Court of Justice, Berlin decided to single out the Holocaust issue by setting it apart from all other aspects of its guilty historical acts against humanity. Moreover, it refuses to view it in a holistic manner. Instead, Berlin adjusts its perspective as it deems fit to suit its momentary considerations,” Zakharova claimed.
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