ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 533
The Times of Israel liveblogged Thursday’s events as they unfolded.
NEW YORK — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tours a Yad Vashem exhibit at UN Headquarters in New York ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Guterres visits the “Book of Names” installation alongside Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan and Yad Vashem chairman Dani Dayan.
The installation contains the names of all 4.8 million Holocaust victims who have been identified, and blank pages to symbolize the other 1.2 million deaths.
“It’s impossible to see this exhibition without feeling how painful it is for all of us to discover that humanity was able to commit such a heedless crime,” Guterres says. “At the same time it’s so important that so many people have worked so hard to make sure that this memory will be preserved forever and that we will never, never forget and never forgive the Holocaust,” he says.
Erdan speaks out against antisemitism and Holocaust denial at an event after the ceremony, calling social media “a cesspool of lies and hate,” and demanding action to combat Jew hatred.
“Hateful actions always begin with hateful words,” he says. “Platitudes are not enough. I demand action, the Jewish people demand action, we must not allow evil to prevail.”
Erdan also links antisemitism to Israeli counter-terror operations, including one that killed nine Palestinians earlier today in Jenin.
“There are those working to erase the memories and lessons that must be learned from our horrific atrocity. They question the right of the Jewish people and the Jewish state to protect ourselves,” he says. “Just today we witnessed another example, one of thousands of Israel defending itself against terrorists in Jenin preparing to carry out an attack against innocent Jews.”
“I expect the international community to stand behind the Jewish people in defending ourselves in the Jewish state, as this is one of the fundamental lessons from the Holocaust, the tragedy of the Jewish people. This is the embodiment of never again,” he says.
Shas chief Aryeh Deri — who was fired this week as a government minister following a High Court ruling — says his removal from office is not a threat to the current government.
Deri gave interviews with Channels 11, 12 and 13 which all air this evening, his first media appearances since he was fired.
Speaking to Channel 12, Deri says that Shas has no intention to leave the government, since the government has “an enormous goal” to preserve its Jewish identity and help its weakest citizens.
Deri says Shas Welfare Minister Ya’akov Margi’s threat to bring down the government over Deri’s firing was said “out of the pain in his heart.”
The Shas chief also says that there was “no logic in the world” to think that the High Court could use his tax offense plea deal to declare him unfit to serve as a minister.
Deri vows to return to become a minister once the Knesset legislates new laws to do so, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and coalition officials have vowed. “It will happen… if it takes two weeks or a month or two months,” he says.
Asked what would happen if the High Court strikes down such a law, Deri says: “I don’t know.”
US Ambassador Tom Nides reportedly met recently with a range of senior business officials in Israel, most of whom warned him that the planned government overhaul of the judicial system is likely to harm Israel’s economy.
Channel 12 news reports that the meeting — which was arranged a while ago — included the CEOs of El Al, Bank Hapoalim, Checkpoint, Mobileye and many other prominent CEOs.
According to the report, only 2 out of the 15 business figures expressed to Nides that they were not concerned about the economic impact of such a move.
The other officials reportedly told the US ambassador that the government’s plan could harm Israel’s credit rating and reduce international investments, or even do further damage.
BRUSSELS — In his meeting with NATO’s North Atlantic Council today, President Isaac Herzog delivers a presentation on the two Israeli citizens and bodies of two IDF soldiers — civilians Avera Mengistu and Hisham Al-Sayed, and soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin — held by Hamas in Gaza.
The presentation includes pictures of all four men, and the number of days they are being held. Herzog tells the story of each Israeli, including showing the footage of Ethiopian-Israeli civilian Avera Mengistu that Hamas released earlier this month.
He also explains how IDF officer Hadar Goldin was attacked and kidnapped after an internationally sanctioned ceasefire during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
“I brought the captives and missing up in every meeting,” says Herzog. “It attracted great interest.”
“I tied Hamas and Iran in the story as well,” says Herzog.
The Israel Defense Forces publishes aerial footage of Palestinians opening fire and hurling firebombs and explosives from rooftops at troops during the raid this morning in Jenin.
The footage is accompanied by an audio recording of soldiers gathering information about the armed group.
The IDF says the Air Force’s 100th Squadron and Military Intelligence’s Unit 9900 — which also operates drones — were involved in tracking the armed Palestinians during the raid.
Nine Palestinians were killed by troops during the raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank.
IDF publishes aerial footage taken by the 100 Squadron of Palestinians opening fire and hurling firebombs and explosives from rooftops during the raid this morning in Jenin. pic.twitter.com/bUsQpNMSm1
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 26, 2023
Majeda Obeid, 61, was among the nine people killed during an IDF raid in Jenin earlier today, her family says.
Obeid lived some meters from the house holding members of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad cell targeted by the Israeli forces. Most of those killed were members of the terrorist group.
Obeid’s daughter, Kefiyat Obeid, tells AFP that her mother was shot as she peered out her window at the clashes.
“After she finished her prayers, she stopped for a moment to look and, as she stood up, she was hit in the neck by a bullet and she fell against the wall and then to the floor,” the 26-year-old tells AFP, as bloodstains soaked into the rug of their home.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to discuss the controversial plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government to overhaul the Israeli judiciary during his visit to Jerusalem next week.
“The secretary is going to have an opportunity to hear from a wide swath of Israelis, both inside and outside of government,” US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf says in a phone briefing with reporters previewing Blinken’s travels to Cairo, Jerusalem and Ramallah from Sunday to Tuesday.
“It’s clear that this issue of the judicial legislation packages is one that sparked intense debate within Israeli society… so [Blinken is] going to be interested to hear people’s views on this… both in and outside of government,” Leaf says.
The Biden administration opposes the Palestinian Authority’s decision to sever security ties with Israel following this morning’s deadly IDF raid in Jenin.
“We don’t think this is the right step to take at this moment,” US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf tells reporters in a phone briefing. “Far from stepping back on security coordination, we believe it’s quite important that the parties retain, and if anything, deepen security coordination.”
PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s office announced the severing of security coordination — which the Israeli defense establishment has long credited for combating terror and maintaining stability in the West Bank — hours after the raid in Jenin in which nine people were killed, including at least one civilian. The Israeli military said the operation was necessary to quash out a credible terror threat.
Leaf says she and several of her colleagues have been “working the phones” since early this morning, speaking to Israeli and Palestinian officials in an effort to restore calm.
The senior Biden official expresses concern over the civilians killed in the IDF raid but says Israeli officials told her the forces were operating amid a “ticking time bomb of a terrorist threat.”
Police publish footage of the raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank this morning.
The headcam footage shows officers of the Yamam police counter-terrorism unit launching missiles and explosives at an apartment where a cell of Palestinian Islamic Jihad members were hiding.
Nine Palestinians — including several members of the PIJ cell, other gunmen, and at least one uninvolved civilian — were killed, and another 20 were wounded in the clashes that ensued.
Border Police chief Amir Cohen hails the Yamam officers for acting with “courage, composure, and professionalism while under heavy fire and risking your lives.”
Police publish footage of Yamam officers operating in Jenin this morning. Video shows gun battle and forces launching missiles and explosives at at the apartment where the PIJ members were hiding. pic.twitter.com/O7ThXt5jli
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 26, 2023
Standing alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, President Isaac Herzog says the Iranian threat is “now at Europe’s doorstep.”
“The radical Iranian regime is executing innocent citizens at home, launching attacks and undermining stability across the Middle East, spreading arms, death and terror in Europe, in Ukraine especially, and around the world, and continuing its belligerent pursuit of nuclear weapons on its quest for regional and world domination,” says Herzog.
Herzog says Israel expects the international community and NATO to take action to stop Iran: “With Iran tightening its hold on European soil, the illusion of distance can no longer hold. NATO must take the strongest possible stance against the Iranian regime, including through economic, legal, and political sanctions, and credible military deterrence.”
Turning to the fighting in Jenin, Herzog says that “a terrorist squad on its way to a terror attack in Israel was blocked and eradicated by Israeli military forces,” adding that the cell was affiliated with both Hamas and Islamic Jihad. “We will continue to act and prevent terror wherever it may be, with no compromises, ifs, or buts,” Herzog pledges.
The president does not mention Russia by name, but does lament “a terrible war continues to cause needless human suffering and compromise the well-being and welfare of millions.”
“Israel has been a partner in the aid efforts, and our hearts continue to go out to the people of Ukraine, as they defend their homes and their country,” says Herzog.
Stoltenberg also condemns Iran, pointing out the fact that Tehran “is delivering support to Russia, including drones that are used to attack civilian infrastructure, homes and hospitals in Ukraine.”
“In return, Russia is stepping up its support of Iran,” says Stoltenberg. “As we see growing cooperation among authoritarian states, it is more important than ever to stand up for freedom and democracy,” concludes the secretary-general.
The Palestinian Authority announces it will halt security coordination with Israel in response to a deadly IDF raid in Jenin this morning.
Deputy PA Prime Minister Nabil Abu Rudeineh proclaims that “security coordination with the occupation government no longer exists as of now.”
Halting such coordination is a move that the Palestinians have tried in the past with little success.
Israel and the PA maintain security ties in a shared effort to contain Islamic terrorists. Palestinian moves to suspend this coordination have been short-lived, in part because of the benefits it enjoys from the relationship and also due to US and Israeli pressure to maintain it.
A Palestinian official said the PA also plans to file complaints with the UN Security Council, International Criminal Court and other international bodies.
The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry says the man critically wounded in clashes earlier with Israeli troops in the town of a-Ram, north of Jerusalem, has died of his wounds.
The man is named as 22-year-old Yousef Yahya Muheisen.
There is no immediate comment from the military or police on the incident.
The clashes come after nine Palestinians were killed during a raid in the northern West Bank city of Jenin this morning.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel does not seek an escalation, after this morning’s deadly raid in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
After holding an assessment with top defense officials, Netanyahu says he praises the Israeli security forces involved in the operation targeting a Palestinian Islamic Jihad cell allegedly planning imminent terror attacks.
Nine Palestinians were killed in the raid, and terror groups in the Gaza Strip have threatened a response.
“Netanyahu made it clear that Israel is not looking to escalate, but instructed the security forces to prepare for any scenario in the various arenas to ensure the safety of Israeli citizens,” his office says in a statement.
In a message to government ministers, the Prime Minister’s Office says that there are “no cities of refuge for terrorists.”
“Everywhere the Palestinian Authority doesn’t fulfill its authority, we’ll be forced to enter and foil terror attacks,” the message continues. The PMO also stresses that IDF forces were fired on first, and made every effort to avoid hitting innocent civilians.
The US Central Command announces that it has wrapped up a major joint drill with the Israeli military this week, dubbed Juniper Oak 2023.
Some 6,400 US troops alongside more than 1,500 Israeli troops, and over 140 aircraft, 12 naval vessels, and artillery systems participated in the exercise, making it the largest-ever joint drill between the nations.
CENTCOM says the drills “enhanced interoperability and the ability of CENTCOM forces to rapidly move combat power into the region.”
“Today the partnership between CENTCOM and the IDF is stronger and continues to grow,” says General Michael Kurilla, the commander of CENTCOM. “Our partnership is a key pillar of our commitment to expanding regional security cooperation,” he adds.
The drill was widely seen as a message to Iran, however, American officials said the live-fire drills did not include mockups of Iranian targets or of any other adversary.
The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry says one person has been critically wounded in clashes with Israeli troops in the town of a-Ram, north of Jerusalem.
There is no immediate comment from the military or police on the incident.
The clashes come after nine Palestinians were killed during a raid in the northern West Bank city of Jenin this morning.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, meeting with the EU envoy to Israel, calls on the European Union to label the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization.
According to a statement from Cohen’s office, he met with EU Ambassador to Israel Dimiter Tzantchev in Jerusalem and “emphasized that only a sweeping move” against Tehran would “send a clear message to the terrorist regime in Iran.”
Earlier this week, the EU decided not to move forward with a plan to add the Guard Corps to the EU’s terror group blacklist.
Six Palestinians are wounded by Israeli troops’ gunfire during clashes near Ramallah and Qalqilya, health officials say.
The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry says that during clashes near the city of al-Bireh, close to Ramallah, one person was shot in the chest and seriously hurt, while three others suffered more minor injuries.
The four were taken to Ramallah Medical Complex, the ministry says.
In separate clashes near Qalqilya, another two Palestinians were shot and moderately hurt, the ministry says.
There is no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces on the clashes, which come after a deadly raid in the northern West Bank city of Jenin this morning.
A group of student protesters is blocking a major Tel Aviv thoroughfare as they call for an end to the government’s plan to radically overhaul the judicial system.
The protesters wave Israeli flags and hold signs calling on the public to turn out to a major planned protest in Tel Aviv on Saturday night to “end the dictatorship.”
כ-100 מפגינים חוסמים את כביש נמיר לכיוון דרום במחאה על הרפורמה המשפטית. המשטרה מאפשרת את החסימה@yonatanraveh11 pic.twitter.com/LILqld8fJk
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) January 26, 2023
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will urge Israeli authorities to maintain the status quo on the Temple Mount during his visit to the region on Monday and Tuesday, following a brief trip to Egypt.
According to a statement from State Department spokesman Ned Price, Blinken will “underscore the urgent need for the parties to take steps to deescalate tensions.”
The US secretary of state will also “discuss the importance of upholding the historic status quo at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount in Jerusalem, in words and in actions,” says Price.
Price says Blinken is set to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, and other senior officials, as well as with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, during his visit next week.
An Israeli military court sentences a Palestinian man to life in prison for his role in the killing of an Israeli teenager in 2019.
Mahmoud Atouna was also ordered to pay NIS 500,000 ($145,000) to the family of Dvir Sorek.
Sorek, 18, was stabbed to death near the West Bank settlement of Migdal Oz in August 2019. He was a yeshiva student enrolled in a program known as hesder that combines Torah study with military service. He was not in the military at the time of his murder.
Atouna is accused of being part of a five-man Hamas cell that grabbed Sorek as he got off a bus and killed him, leaving his body at the side of the road.
In November, the court accepted the prosecution’s position that Atouna was guilty of the attack, although he was not present at the time of the stabbing.
He was convicted at the time of intentionally causing the death of Sorek. The charge is equivalent to murder in the West Bank military court.
While not present at the scene during the stabbing, Atouna was accused by the IDF of having a “central role in the decision to carry out the attack” and recruiting one of the perpetrators.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding a security assessment by phone following the IDF raid on Jenin earlier today, his office says.
The call includes Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Foreign Ministry Eli Cohen, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, IDF chief Herzi Halevi, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai and other security officials.
Both Egypt and Turkey lob criticism at Israel after a deadly IDF raid in Jenin that killed nine Palestinians, most of whom are believed to be members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.
Cairo’s Foreign Ministry condemns the raid and demands “an immediate halt” to such activity, and calls on the UN and other international bodies to work to “put an end to the repeated assaults against the Palestinian people.”
Ankara, meanwhile, expresses “sadness” over the loss of life in Jenin and says it is “deeply concerned” by increased tensions in the West Bank, calling on Israel to “prevent an escalation” in the region.
Israel Defense Forces chief Herzi Halevi has instructed the army to “increase preparedness and continue counter[terrorism] activities as needed,” the military says, following an assessment he held with top military officials following this morning’s deadly raid in the West Bank city of Jenin.
The IDF also publishes footage from the raid, which it said targeted a Palestinian Islamic Jihad cell planning an imminent attack.
IDF publishes footage of the raid in Jenin this morning. pic.twitter.com/0lbUF7f6Zo
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 26, 2023
Islamic Jihad spokesman Tariq Salmi vows that “the resistance is everywhere and ready and willing for the next confrontation,” after nine Palestinians, including several terrorists linked to the group, were killed during an IDF raid in Jenin earlier today.
The IDF said it thwarted a major imminent attack being planned by the group.
Saleh al-Arouri, deputy leader of Hamas, vows that Israel “will pay the price for the Jenin massacre.”
“Our resistance will not break, and our response will come soon.”
Russian leader Vladimir Putin will meet with the country’s top Jewish leaders in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, local media reports.
According to the TASS news outlet, Putin will meet with Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar and Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia president Alexander Boroda later today.
This meeting comes after a top Russian official, assistant secretary of the Russian Security Council Aleksey Pavlov, refers to the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic sect, which Lazar is a part of, as a supremacist cult, prompting fierce criticism from the country’s Jewish leaders.
Earlier this month, Putin fired Pavlov from his position, without specifying why, but local media tied his dismissal to the remarks.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who is currently abroad, will hold an assessment shortly with top military and security officials following this morning’s deadly army raid in Jenin, his office says.
Gallant has been receiving updates regarding the raid, which the Israel Defense Forces said was against a Palestinian Islamic Jihad cell planning imminent attacks.
The officials to participate in the upcoming meeting include military chief Herzi Halevi, Shin Bet security agency head Ronen Bar, Military Intelligence chief Aharon Haliva, Operations Directorate chief Oded Basiuk, and the military’s liaison to the Palestinians Ghassan Alian.
Gallant is reportedly in the United States for a short personal trip.
The High Court of Justice rejects a petition filed by a democracy watchdog that called on it to declare Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unfit to hold office.
The justices unsurprisingly decline to consider the petition, on the grounds that “other procedures have not been exhausted” on the issue.
The Israeli Democracy Guard had sought to have the High Court disqualify Netanyahu from holding office due to his ongoing criminal trial, his conflict of interest and his actions to promote a “regime coup d’etat.”
The Ukrainian army says it has shot down 47 out of 55 missiles launched by Russia in a massive new wave of attacks.
The head of Ukraine’s army, Valery Zaluzhny, says Russia launched 55 air and sea-based missiles.
“Ukraine’s armed forces destroyed 47 cruise missiles, 20 of them in the area of the capital,” he adds on Telegram.
The United Nations envoy to the Middle East says he is “deeply alarmed and saddened” by the deaths of nine Palestinians during an Israeli army raid in the West Bank city of Jenin this morning.
“I am deeply alarmed and saddened by the continuing cycle of violence in the occupied West Bank. The deaths today of nine Palestinians, including militants and one woman, during an Israeli arrest operation in Jenin is another stark example,” says UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland in a statement.
“Since the beginning of this year, we are continuing to witness high levels of violence and other negative trends that characterized 2022. It is crucial to reduce tensions immediately and prevent more loss of life,” he says.
“I urge, and remain actively engaged with, Israeli and Palestinian authorities to de-escalate tensions, restore calm, and avoid further conflict,” Wennesland adds.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announces three days of mourning over the deaths of nine Palestinians during clashes with IDF troops in Jenin this morning.
In a statement carried by Palestinian media, Abbas orders that flags be set at half-staff to mourn “the souls of the martyrs in the occupation massacre in the Jenin refugee camp.”
The military said it shot and killed wanted members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad planning an imminent attack, as well as other gunmen who clashed with troops in the camp.
The Israel Defense Forces is probing the death of an elderly woman who was also reported killed amid the clashes.
