July 30: Israel kills top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in reprisal for deadly Majdal Shams attack

UN official ‘deeply concerned’ by Israeli strike on terror commander in Beirut

UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine says she is “deeply concerned” by an Israeli airstrike south of Beirut targeting Hezbollah terror commander Fuad Shukr, which she says “resulted in multiple civilian casualties.”

In a statement released by her office, Hennis-Plasschaert “underscores once again that there is no such thing as a military solution and calls on both Israel and Lebanon to avail of all diplomatic avenues to pursue a return to the cessation of hostilities and to recommit to the implementation of resolution 1701 (2006).” The statement adds that the special coordinator is in close contact with interlocutors and urges for calm.

IDF says senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was killed in Beirut airstrike

A US State Department wanted poster for Hezbollah's Fuad Shukr (State Department)

The Israel Defense Forces confirms that top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut earlier this evening.

In a statement, the IDF says that Shukr, also known as Hajj Mohsin, is Hezbollah’s most senior military commander.

Shukr sat on the Jihad Council, Hezbollah’s top military body, and was considered to be the head of its strategic division.

The IDF says he was also a senior military advisor to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, describing him as his “right-hand man.”

Since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, Shukr has been managing Hezbollah’s attacks against Israel, including the deadly strike in Majdal Shams over the weekend that killed 12 children, according to the military.

The IDF says he was “responsible for the majority of Hezbollah’s most advanced weaponry, including precise-guided missiles, cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, long-range rockets, and UAVs” and for the terror group’s “force build-up, planning, and execution of terror attacks against the State of Israel.”

He joined Hezbollah in 1985 and has held several senior positions. The IDF says that in the 1990s he advanced numerous attacks against the IDF and allied South Lebanon Army, and in 2000, was involved in the abduction of three Israeli soldiers in an attack in the Mount Dov area.

3 said killed after blasts hit base in Iraq used by Iran-backed militiamen

BAGHDAD — Three people were killed and others wounded in explosions at a base belonging to former paramilitaries in Babylon province south of Baghdad, a security source and a Hashed al-Shaabi official say.

“Three members of Hashed were killed and four others are critically wounded,” says the official from the alliance of pro-Iranian former paramilitary groups now integrated into the regular army. He adds that the blasts were caused by an “airstrike — four or five missiles hit the base.” The security source confirms the initial toll of people killed.

Israeli men’s soccer team out of Olympics after losing to Japan

The Israeli team poses prior to the Group D soccer match between Israel and Japan, at the La Beaujoire stadium, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 30, 2024, in Nantes, France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)

The Israeli soccer team ends its Olympic bid at the Paris Games, losing 0-1 to Japan and failing to advance to the knockout stage of the competition.

In its earlier matches, Israel tied Mali 1-1 and lost 2-4 to Paraguay, meaning it had to win tonight’s game to stay in the tournament.

Harris stresses support for Israel to defend itself against Hezbollah, hopes for diplomatic solution

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris boards Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on July 30, 2024. (Erin Schaff/Pool/AFP)

US Vice President Kamala Harris stresses her unequivocal support for Israel to defend itself against the Hezbollah terror group, but says to reporters that the US is still working to broker a diplomatic solution to the northern border tensions.

Citing security source, Lebanese TV reports Hezbollah commander was killed in strike

Lebanon’s MTV news network and UAE-based Sky News Arabia quote a Lebanese security source saying that senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was killed in the Israeli strike in Beirut.

Israeli swimming team finishes last in Olympic final for men’s freestyle relay

Israel's men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay team wave as they walk onto the pool deck at the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 30, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

The Israeli team in the men’s 4×200m swimming freestyle relay — made up of Bar Soloveychik, Tomer Frankel, Gal Cohen Groumi and Denis Loktev — finishes 9th and last in the final at the 2024 Paris Olympics with a time of 7:10.22.

In the qualifier for the event, the team set a new Israeli record with a time of 7:08.43, advancing to Israel’s first final of the Paris Games and its first ever Olympic final in this event.

Frankel swam tonight in place of Eitan Ben Shitrit, who competed in the event this morning and helped Israeli qualify for the final.

The UK takes gold, the US silver and Australia bronze in the relay.

Senior Israeli official: ‘No further military activity should be expected at this moment’

A senior Israeli official tells Bloomberg that “no further military activity should be expected at this moment” after the IDF strike in Beirut.

Anonymous Israeli officials were cited earlier saying that Israel is not looking to spark a war against Hezbollah.

Hezbollah expected to soon release statement on Beirut strike

Hezbollah will shortly issue an official statement regarding the Israeli attack on Beirut in which one of its high-ranking officers was targeted, Sky News Arabia reports, quoting Lebanese media sources.

Netanyahu holds assessment with aides and top security officials

A handout photo shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holding a situational assessment at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv on July 30, 2024. (Haim Zach/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a situational assessment at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, according to his office.

He is joined by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Military Secretary Roman Gofman, PMO Chief of Staff Tzachi Braverman and Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs.

Senior security officials join by phone, including IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, IDF Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, IDF Operations chief Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk, Strategy and Third-Circle Directorate commander Maj. Gen. Eliezer Toledano, and the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Research Division Brig. Gen. Ofir Mizrahi Rosen.

Lebanese public health ministry says 1 killed, 68 hurt in Israeli strike on Beirut building

The Israeli strike on a Beirut apartment building killed one person and wounded 68 others, including five who are in critical condition, Lebanon’s public health ministry says.

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV says 17 wounded were taken to the private Bahman Hospital, while 14 were taken to Hezbollah’s Rasoul Aazam hospital.

“The Israeli enemy has committed a great stupid act in size, timing and circumstances by targeting an entirely civilian area,” Hezbollah official Ali Ammar tells Al-Manar TV. “The Israeli enemy will pay a price for this sooner or later.”

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemns the Israeli attack.

“We consider it a chapter in a series of aggressive operations,” he says in a statement.

“It’s a blatant violation of international law,” he adds. “The international community must assume its responsibility and exert strong pressure to force Israel to stop its aggressions and apply international resolutions.”

Mikati also says that Lebanon reserves the right to take “any measure that will help to dissuade the Israeli aggression,” and that he has called an emergency cabinet meeting tomorrow.

IDF names next head of Gaza Division after clearing him of wrongdoing in Kibbutz Be’eri battle

Commander of the 99th Division, Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram in southern Israel on October 11, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram will be the next commander of the Gaza Division, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi has decided.

Hiram, the current commander of the 99th Division, was tapped to serve as the next Gaza Division head before the war.

The move was put on hold amid the fighting in Gaza, and Hiram’s involvement in the battle at Kibbutz Be’eri amid the October 7 onslaught.

An IDF tactical investigation into the battle at Be’eri has since cleared Hiram of any wrongdoing.

Hiram will finish his role as the 99th Division head in the coming days, and he will become head of the Gaza Division at a later date, which is to be determined, the IDF says.

He will replace Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld, who announced his resignation last month over his role in the failures that led to the Hamas terror group’s October 7 onslaught.

Hamas, Houthis, Iran and Russia condemn Israel over strike on Hezbollah commander

Hamas strongly condemns the attack on Lebanon’s southern Beirut suburb, with a statement saying the Palestinian terror group considers it a “dangerous escalation.”

Yemen’s Houthis similarly denounce the strike as a “blatant violation” of Lebanese sovereignty, while Iran — which is Hezbollah’s chief sponsor — calls it “vicious.”

“The vicious and criminal action of the Zionist criminal gang in the suburbs of Beirut certainly cannot stop … Lebanon’s proud resistance from continuing the honorable path of supporting the oppressed Palestinians and standing against the aggression of the Israeli apartheid regime,” says foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani in a statement.

Russia also denounces the strike, accusing Israel of violating international law.

“This is a gross violation of international law,” Russia’s foreign ministry tells state news agencies.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Nearly 150 sick and injured Gazans travel to UAE via Israel for treatment

This handout photo released by the military on July 30, 2024, shows sick and injured Palestinians leaving the Gaza Strip to be treated in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Israel Defense Forces)

A total of 148 sick and injured civilians Palestinian civilians have been evacuated from the Gaza Strip and transferred to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Israel’s Coordination of Civilian Affairs in the Territories unit says.

The development comes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly canceled the evacuation which had been scheduled for Monday, following the Hezbollah attack on Majdal Shams that killed 12 children.

COGAT says in a press statement that the humanitarian operation was carried out “under the directive of Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, who tasked the defense establishment and relevant authorities with its execution.”

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 35 of the evacuees are children, part of the biggest single evacuation amid the current war between Israel and Hamas.

The patients include those suffering from cancer, blood diseases, congenital conditions, neurological conditions, cardiac and liver and renal disease, as well as injuries sustained during the war, the WHO says.

COGAT says that the evacuees were transferred via the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Gaza and Israel to Ramon International Airport in southern Israel and from there to the UAE. It adds that the operation was “carried out under the leadership of the UAE, in cooperation with Israeli authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO).”

The patients were accompanied by family members and caregivers, the WHO says.

All those who left Gaza underwent security assessments and evaluations “in accordance with the needs of Israel’s defense establishment” COGAT says.

“This unprecedented operation is the direct outcome of the humanitarian policy of the State of Israel since the start of this war,” adds COGAT, and states that Israel “distinguishes between the civilian population of Gaza and the Hamas terrorist organization.”

The WHO thanks the UAE and says it hopes that “this paves the way for the establishment of evacuation corridors via all possible routes,” adding “Thousands of sick people are suffering needlessly. Above all, and as always, we call for a ceasefire.”

On Sunday, the High Court of Justice ordered the government to inform it of the steps it has taken to create a permanent mechanism to routinely enable such medical evacuations, following a petition filed by the Physicians for Human Rights Israel organization.

Reservist held over alleged sexual abuse of Palestinian detainee released from custody

One of the nine reserve soldiers held over the alleged sexual abuse of a Palestinian detainee has been released from custody.

There is an ongoing hearing at the Beit Lid base to extend the remand of the soldiers who were arrested yesterday at the Sde Teiman detention facility over the incident.

Amid the discussion, military prosecutors announced that they would not seek to extend the arrest of one of the nine suspects, following new information in the investigation.

According to the IDF, he is not one of the main suspects in the incident of serious abuse of a Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman.

The reservists have been suspected of aggravated sodomy (a charge equivalent to rape), causing bodily harm under aggravated circumstances, abuse under aggravated circumstances and conduct unbecoming of a soldier.

Israeli men’s soccer team squares off with Japan in must-win Olympic match

The Israeli team poses prior to the Group D soccer match between Israel and Japan, at the La Beaujoire stadium, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 30, 2024, in Nantes, France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)

Israel kicks off its soccer game against Japan at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which it must win if it wants a shot at staying alive in the tournament and advancing to the quarterfinal.

Israel tied its first match against Mali and lost its second match to Paraguay. If it loses or ties tonight, its Olympic run is over.

Speaking to foreign media ahead of the match, head coach Guy Luzon admits that it will be an uphill battle for the Israeli team: “We don’t have any choice, we have to win… we have to be tough without the ball and smart with the ball.”

Luzon notes that “Japan is one of the best teams in the tournament, they didn’t concede a goal until now and we know it will not be an easy game.”

Netanyahu arrives at military HQ for assessment after Israeli strike in Beirut

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in the IDF Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv ahead of a situation assessment, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.

Netanyahu’s staff released a photo of him in his Jerusalem office shortly after the Beirut strike was carried out.

Handover ceremony for new Military Intelligence chief delayed after strike in Beirut

Following the IDF strike in Beirut, a handover ceremony for the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate has been postponed.

Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder was to replace Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, who is quitting the IDF over his involvement in the failures that led to Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.

In reversal, reports now say Fuad Shukr was killed in Israel strike

Saudi-owned news outlets quote sources saying that Fuad Shukr was killed, contradicting previous reports that he survived an Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut.

Shukr’s body is now being held at a hospital in Beirut, which is surrounded by a security cordon, according to Al Hadath.

Lebanese FM says he’ll complain to UN about IDF strike, urges ‘proportionate’ Hezbollah response

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib in Beirut, Lebanon, December 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib tells Reuters he hopes Hezbollah’s response to Israel’s airstrike in Beirut will be ‘proportionate’ in order to avoid an escalation.

He further says Lebanon will file a complaint with the United Nations Security Council.

Trump claims Harris ‘doesn’t like Jews,’ seems to agree with calling her husband ‘a crappy Jew’

US Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and second gentleman Doug Emhoff address staff at her campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Del., Monday, July 22, 2024. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

NEW YORK — Former US president Donald Trump in an interview claims Vice President Kamala Harris, who is married to a Jewish man, “doesn’t like Jewish people” and seems to agree with a radio host who calls second gentleman Doug Emhoff “a crappy Jew.”

Trump, in an interview on WABC radio, claims Harris looked uncomfortable while meeting last week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“You can see the disdain,” he says, adding, “No. 1, she doesn’t like Israel. No. 2, she doesn’t like Jewish people. You know it, I know it and everybody knows it and nobody wants to say it.”

Trump has tried to capitalize on divisions in the Democratic Party over the Israel-Hamas war and sought to paint his political opponents as antisemitic while overlooking some of his own past comments and behavior, such as dining at his Florida club with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist. With Harris replacing President Joe Biden as the likely Democratic presidential nominee, Trump has escalated his attacks on her.

“America is better than the fear, hate and despicable insults of Donald Trump,” says James Singer, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign. “Vice President Harris believes Americans want a president who unites our country instead of divides it, uses the power of the presidency to help families instead of hurt them, and has a vision for our future, instead of taking us backwards.”

In the interview, the Republican former president repeats comments he has made before lashing out at Jewish voters who back Democrats, saying anyone who does “should have their head examined” and “if you’re Jewish, if you vote for a Democrat, you’re a fool, an absolute fool. They have let Jewish people down since Obama at a level that nobody could believe.”

As Trump continues, he again says of Harris, “She dislikes Jewish people and Israel even more than Biden did.”

The interview host, Sid Rosenberg, then mentions Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff and says, “He’s Jewish like Bernie Sanders is Jewish. Are you kidding me?”

“Yeah,” Trump says.

“He’s a crappy Jew,” Rosenberg says, continuing.

“Yeah,” Trump says again.

Rosenberg goes on, saying of Emhoff, “He’s a horrible Jew.”

They then move on to criticizing Harris on other issues.

Security sources in Beirut tell Reuters that Fuad Shukr survived Israeli strike

Bystanders surround an ambulance near the site of an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on July 30, 2024. (Anwar Amro/AFP)

BEIRUT — The head of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah’s operations center Fuad Shukr survived an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut aimed at killing him, two senior security sources tell Reuters.

UN peacekeepers in touch with both Israel and Lebanon in bid to prevent war

A man inspects a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The heads of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon and UN Special Coordinator Jeanine Hannis-Plasschaert are talking to both Lebanon and Israel in an attempt to prevent the outbreak of war, says UN Secretary-General spokesman Stéphane Dujarric, shortly before the IDF carried out an airstrike on a senior Hezbollah official in the heart of southern Beirut.

Source close to Hezbollah says 2 killed in Israeli strike on Beirut suburbs

BEIRUT — A source close to Lebanon’s Hezbollah tells AFP two people were killed in the Israeli strike on the southern Beirut suburbs.

“Two people were killed in the Israeli strike,” says the source requesting anonymity after earlier saying the target was a “leading commander” of the group.

Security sources tell Reuters that fate of Hezbollah commander remains unknown

An Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut targeted the head of the armed group Hezbollah’s operations room, three senior security sources tell Reuters, saying that his fate remained unknown.

The sources names him as Muhsin Shukr but say he’s also known as Fuad Shukr.

The Al-Arabiya outlet meanwhile reports that the assassination failed. No further details are given.

US: Fuad Shukr sits on Hezbollah’s top military body, previously aided pro-Assad forces in Syria

According to the US State Department’s Rewards for Justice program, Fuad Shukr — aka Hajj Mohsin — serves as a senior military adviser to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. He also sits on the Jihad Council, Hezbollah’s top military body.

Shukr played a “central role” in the 1983 bombing of US Marine Corps barracks that left 241 US Marines dead, according to the State Department.

The State Department reported that during the Syrian civil war he “aided [Hezbollah] fighters and pro-Syrian regime troops” as they battled anti-Assad forces.

The US placed a $5 million bounty on his head.

Shortly after strike, PM’s office releases photo of Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, with his chief of staff Tzachi Braverman, his military secretary Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, in a photo released soon after an Israeli strike on a Hezbollah target in Beirut, July 30, 2024 (PMO)

Shortly after the IDF announces it carried out an airstrike in Beirut targeting the Hezbollah commander behind Saturday’s deadly rocket attack that killed 12 children in the Golan Heights, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson releases a photo of him on the phone at his Jerusalem office.

He is joined by his chief of staff Tzachi Braverman, his military secretary Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi.

Targeted Hezbollah commander named as Fuad Shukr, head of precision missile project who is wanted by US

A US State Department wanted poster for Hezbollah's Fuad Shukr (State Department)

The Hezbollah commander targeted in the Israeli airstrike in Beirut a short while ago is reported by multiple media outlets to be Fuad Shukr, also known as Hajj Mohsin, a senior adviser to the terror group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Shukr was named by the IDF several years ago as a commander of Hezbollah’s precision missile project. He is also wanted by the United States for his role in the 1983 bombing of a US Marines barracks in Beirut.

‘Hezbollah crossed the red line,’ says Gallant after IDF strike in Beirut

Minutes after the IDF confirms striking a Hezbollah commander in Beirut, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant puts out a statement saying the Lebanese terror group “crossed the red line.”

IDF confirms striking Beirut, says target was Hezbollah commander behind Majdal Shams attack

The IDF confirms it carried out an airstrike in Lebanon’s capital Beirut a short while ago.

According to the military, the strike targeted the Hezbollah commander behind the deadly rocket attack on Majdal Shams, and other deadly attacks on Israel.

There are no changes to instructions for Israeli civilians as of yet, the IDF says.

The IDF says it will provide further details soon.

Security source to Reuters: Target of strike was senior Hezbollah commander

A strike in the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh targeted a senior Hezbollah commander, a security source tells Reuters.

The commander’s fate is known, according to the source.

Explosion reported in Beirut suburb that’s a known Hezbollah stronghold

An explosion is reported by Lebanese media in the Dahieh suburb of Beirut, a known Hezbollah stronghold.

No further details are immediately available.

طائرات العدو الاسرائيلي تشن غارة على الضاحية الجنوبية pic.twitter.com/TbCRRter8E

— Al Jadeed News (@ALJADEEDNEWS) July 30, 2024

عدوان اسرائيلي يستهدف #الضاحية_الجنوبية لـ #بيروت pic.twitter.com/rYEFiZ9iAg

— HusseinSabra – حسين صَبْرَا (@HusseinSabralb) July 30, 2024

Meeting reservists on Gaza border, Gallant says ‘no one has right to harm the IDF’

This handout photo shows Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meeting with IDF reservists serving along the Gaza border, July 30, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says “no one has the right to harm the IDF,” a day after right-wing mobs stormed a pair of military bases to protest the arrests of reserve soldiers on suspicion of severely sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee.

“It doesn’t matter who it is… including public representatives,” Gallant tells reservists during a tour of the Gaza border, according to a statement from his office. “If you harm the IDF, you harm your self, your harm us, all of us.”

“There are lot of things that don’t happen perfectly in the State of Israel, but one thing needs to be clear: When you look back you need to see the people of Israel behind you — all of them,” adds Gallant.

Rocket warning sirens sound in Galilee Panhandle, Golan Heights

Rocket warning sirens are activated in numerous communities in the Galilee Panhandle and Golan Heights.

Palestinian tries to stab troops at West Bank junction, is shot — military source

A Palestinian who attempted to stab Israeli soldiers at a junction near the West Bank town of Beit Einun was shot, a military source says.

There are no other injuries in the incident.

IDF strikes Hezbollah targets after rocket and drone attacks from Lebanon

Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah operative post in Ayta ash-Shab and other infrastructure in Kafr Kila a short while ago, the IDF says.

Some 15 rockets were launched at the Upper Galilee in the past few hours, with impacts in the Yi’ron, Yiftah and Metula areas.

Also this afternoon, several explosive-laden drones launched from Lebanon impacted the Beit Hillel area, the IDF says.

The impacts sparked fires in several areas, which firefighters are working to extinguish.

There are no injuries in the attacks, and the IDF says it is shelling the launch sites.

לפני זמן קצר, מטוסי קרב תקפו עמדת תצפית של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב עייתא א-שעב ותשתית טרור של חיזבאללה במרחב כפר כילא שבדרום לבנון.

בשעות האחרונות זוהו כחמישה עשר שיגורים שחצו משטח לבנון למספר מרחבים בגליל העליון, זוהו נפילות במרחבים יראון, יפתח ומטולה, אין נפגעים >> pic.twitter.com/LvkLN8OaAn

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 30, 2024

Troops detained for abusing Palestinian inmate suspected of aggravated sodomy

Demonstrators, one holding a poster that reads, "Our heroic soldiers should be released," protest against the detention of military reservists suspected of severely abusing a Palestinian terror suspect, in front of a military court in Beit Lid army base near Kfar Yona on July 30, 2024. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

Nine soldiers taken for questioning yesterday over the alleged abuse of a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility are suspected of aggravated sodomy, causing bodily harm under aggravated circumstances, abuse under aggravated circumstances and conduct unbecoming of a soldier.

Some of the suspects are also suspected of assault and interfering with the work of public servants, according to the IDF.

UK hands life sentence to notorious Islamist preacher convicted of leading terror group

Radical Islamic cleric Anjem Choudary is seen leaving a probation hostel in London on October 19, 2018, following his release from prison. (Daniel Leal/AFP)

LONDON — British radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary, whose followers have been linked to numerous plots around the world, is sentenced to life imprisonment for directing a terrorist organization.

Choudary, 57, was convicted last week of directing al-Muhajiroun, which was banned as a terrorist organization more than a decade ago, and encouraging others to support the proscribed group.

“Organizations such as yours normalize violence in support of an ideological cause,” Judge Mark Wall tells Choudary at London’s Woolwich Crown Court.

“Their existence gives individuals who are members of them the courage to commit acts which otherwise they might not do. They drive wedges between people who otherwise could and would live together in peaceful coexistence.”

Wall imposes a life sentence on Choudary with a minimum term of 28 years before he can be eligible for parole, less just over the year that he has spent in custody since his arrest.

Once Britain’s most high-profile Islamist preacher, Choudary drew attention for praising the men responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and saying he wanted to convert Buckingham Palace into a mosque.

He was previously imprisoned in Britain in 2016 for encouraging support for Islamic State, before being released in 2018 after serving half of his five-and-a-half-year sentence.

IDF indicts reserve soldier for severely beating Palestinian detainees

An IDF reservist has been indicted for abusing Palestinian detainees, unrelated to the ongoing investigation against nine soldiers who were taken for questioning yesterday.

According to an indictment filed by military prosecutors, the reservist in several incidents between February and June, while securing the transport of terror suspects, allegedly “used severe violence against the detainees he was entrusted with guarding.”

“During some of the transports, without any danger from the security detainees, and while the detainees were handcuffed and blindfolded, the defendant hit them,” the IDF says.

The reservist allegedly hit the detainees with a stick and his personal weapon, while filming the acts, according to the incitement.

He is charged with several counts of aggravated abuse and conduct unbecoming a soldier.

Israel’s Sharon Kantor currently ranked second in women’s windsurfing at Olympics

Israel's Sharon Kantor competes in Race 4 of the women's IQFoil windsurfing event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games sailing competition at the Roucas-Blanc Marina in Marseille, July 30, 2024. (Christophe SIMON / AFP)

After her first seven races, Israeli windsurfer Sharon Kantor is ranked in second place overall in the women’s iQFoil event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, behind only the UK’s Emma Wilson as the day’s events come to a close.

Kantor, a strong medal contender for the Israeli delegation, won gold earlier this year at the iQFoil World Championships.

In the men’s event, windsurfer Tom Reuveny is ranked in third place overall after six races, behind competitors from Poland and the Netherlands.

Windsurfing got a slow start at the Olympics after all the races in Marseilles were canceled on Sunday due to low winds, and only two races for the women and one for the men were held yesterday before the rest were also canceled. The sailors were slated to compete in 20 races overall before Friday’s medal races, but are now likely to have only 16 or 17.

Cops scuffle with ultra-Orthodox protesters outside IDF enlistment event in Tel Aviv

Clashes have broken out between police and ultra-Orthodox men outside an IDF event in Tel Aviv, as the latter protest against conscripting members of their community to the military.

עשרות חרדים מהפלג הירושלמי בקריאות ״רוצח״ לעבר תת אלוף שי טייב העוסק בגיוס חרדים. זה קורה בהפגנה מחוץ לאירוע של צה״ל בבית החייל בתל אביב pic.twitter.com/fTIoGbGeEL

— גל ג׳רסי (@galdjerassi) July 30, 2024

FBI says social media account believed to be Trump shooter’s had antisemitic posts

US Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe, Jr. (L), and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate are sworn in before testifying during a joint congressional committee hearing on the security failures leading to the assassination attempt on former US president Donald Trump, at the US Capitol in Washington, on July 30, 2024. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

WASHINGTON — The acting director of the Secret Service says he “cannot defend” why the roof used by the gunman in the assassination attempt of former US president Donald Trump was not secured.

Ronald Rowe is testifying before two Senate committees. Rowe says he recently traveled to the Pennsylvania shooting site and says what he saw made him ashamed.

The FBI’s No. 2 official, Paul Abbate, says a social media account believed to be associated with the gunman suspected in the assassination attempt espoused political violence and included antisemitic and anti-immigrant sentiment. The posts were from the 2019 and 2020 timeframe, when the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, would have been in high school.

Senate lawmakers are grilling the officials about law enforcement lapses in the hours before the attempted assassination of Trump in the latest in a series of congressional hearings dedicated to the shooting.

Rowe became acting director of the agency last week after Kimberly Cheatle resigned in the aftermath of a House hearing in which she was berated by lawmakers and failed to answer specific questions about the communication failures preceding the July 13 shooting.

US sanctions procurement networks for Iran’s missile and drone programs

WASHINGTON — The United States imposes sanctions on five individuals and seven entities that the Treasury Department says are facilitators for Iran’s missile and drones program.

The targeted individuals and entities — based in Iran, China, and Hong Kong — help procure various components, including accelerometers and gyroscopes, for Iran’s ballistic missile and unmanned aerial vehicle program, the Treasury Department says in a statement.

New footage shows Hezbollah rocket hitting Majdal Shams soccer field, killing 12 children

New footage circulated on social media shows the moment a Hezbollah rocket struck a soccer field in the Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams on Saturday, killing 12 children.

One video appears to have been taken by a child at an adjacent playground as sirens sound, while the second video is taken from a surveillance camera.

Hezbollah said that it launched a Falaq rocket at an IDF base near Majdal Shams, although once reports emerged of civilian casualties in the town, the terror group denied its involvement.

The IDF said the shrapnel at the scene matched an Iranian-made Falaq-1 rocket, which is used in Lebanon exclusively by Hezbollah.

Full video of the Hezbollah rocket attack on Majdal Shams on Saturday, which killed 12 children. https://t.co/DmODqPqALt pic.twitter.com/FffIMz5t0H

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) July 30, 2024

New footage shows the moment of the Hezbollah rocket impact in Majdal Shams, killing 12 children. pic.twitter.com/ZnZqUH7A6S

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) July 30, 2024

Army officials say destroying tunnels gives IDF ‘freedom of action,’ ground forces needed for job

IDF troops of the 98th Division are seen operating in Gaza Strip, in a handout photo published July 30, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF believes that eliminating Hamas’s tunnel network will enable a decisive victory over the terror group, but that it can only be done by ground forces.

The terror group has a vast underground network, which before the ground offensive in Gaza theoretically enabled Hamas operatives to move from the north of the Strip to its south almost exclusively via the tunnels.

Taking away the tunnels has given the IDF “freedom of action” in Gaza, military officials say.

In Khan Younis, where the 98th Division operated for 128 days earlier this year, some 70 kilometers’ (43 miles’) worth of tunnels were demolished.

In contrast, during an operation to recover the bodies of five hostages last week, the division was able to reach the tunnel where the remains were hidden by Hamas and recover them within 24 hours, and later wrap up the entire raid within eight days.

In another recent raid carried out by the 98th Division, in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, troops demolished eight major tunnels in less than two weeks, before withdrawing. An earlier offensive in Shejaiya lasted several months and saw much heavier IDF losses.

The recent fast and effective raids, military officials say, would not have been possible without the previous lengthy operations there, which took out most of Hamas’s major tunnel networks there and has ostensibly impeded attempts by the terror group to regroup and defend against future IDF actions.

According to the IDF, Hamas has used the tunnels for residing, surviving, and moving about in Gaza — including to launch attacks on troops.

There have been very few gunfights between IDF troops and Hamas gunmen inside the tunnels. Instead, Israeli troops use various methods to surprise the terror operatives and kill them from a distance, or the operatives end up fleeing through the underground network.

The IDF releases a video showing a gunman being killed by an explosive device that troops managed to push into a tunnel.

Additionally, the IDF prefers to reach the tunnel with ground forces to investigate them and later destroy them, as airstrikes have proven to have been ineffective in fully demolishing underground passages in some cases. Earlier in the war, the IDF was not entering the tunnels at all, but only demolishing them once it was confirmed no hostages were held there.

The IDF also says it has improved in locating Hamas’s tunnels but is unlikely to find every last one. According to the military, it has managed to find new tunnels by interrogating captured terror operatives, as well as searching areas where rockets were launched from or gunmen attacked troops.

After recent recovery ops, IDF believes some hostages in Gaza may never be found

IDF troops of the 98th Division are seen operating in Gaza Strip, in a handout photo published July 30, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Recent complex military operations in the Gaza Strip to recover the bodies of slain hostages have brought the Israel Defense Forces to the understanding that there is a possibility that some of those abducted by Hamas terrorists on October 7 may never be found, The Times of Israel has learned.

The assessment comes as 111 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, now for nearly 300 days, including the bodies of 39 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

Last week, during a raid in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, the IDF’s 98th Division along with the Shin Bet recovered the bodies of five hostages who were killed and then kidnapped during the onslaught nearly ten months ago.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said following the operation that “we were near these bodies before, we didn’t know how to reach out. Now we knew how to reach out. We brought five [slain hostages], that otherwise it’s not certain we would have ever found them.”

The bodies had been buried inside a tunnel some 20 meters belowground in Khan Younis. According to the military, the bodies were hidden behind one of the walls inside the tunnel, and without the exact information of the location — provided by a detained terrorist — it is unlikely they would have been found.

Another similar discovery occurred in April with the recovery of the body of hostage Elad Katzir, who had been abducted alive and later murdered by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza. His body was buried in the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza, at a site used by terror operatives.

The military obtained visual intelligence on the site where Katzir was held and sent forces there to search for the body, which was then located and brought back to Israel for burial.

Katzir’s captors, according to IDF assessments, had all been killed by the military and it was unlikely that anyone else knew where he was being held.

Still, the IDF assesses that the likelihood of it obtaining intelligence on the hostages will increase as time passes. But at the same time, the chances of the hostages remaining alive decreases over time.

There is currently a vast amount of intelligence — obtained amid the ground operation in Gaza — that the IDF is deciphering, which may bring leads on the hostages.

Masoud Pezeshkian sworn in as Iran’s new president

TEHRAN, Iran — Masoud Pezeshkian is sworn as the Islamic Republic’s ninth president in parliament at a ceremony attended by foreign dignitaries.

“I as the president, in front of the Holy Quran and the people of Iran, swear to almighty God to be the guardian of the official religion and the Islamic Republic system and the constitution of the country,” Pezeshkian says in the ceremony broadcast live on state TV.

Sister of detainee accused of abusing terror suspect urges nonviolent protest at military court

A sister of one of the nine soldiers accused of abusing a Hamas terror suspect in prison calls for a protest outside the military prison where he’s being held, but insists it be nonviolent.

“Every Israeli who wants to avoid the growing rift in our society should come to Beit Lid to protest these arrests, which are unfounded, but we don’t want any violence or disturbances because that would only further the rift,” Orian Ben Chitrit tells reporters outside the Beit Lid military court, where her brother and eight others are held as they are investigated for allegedly assaulting and raping the prisoner.

Ephraim Dimri, a litigator representing one of the suspects, tells reporters that his client and the other detainees deny any wrongdoing. He acknowledges that the prisoner had injuries to his rectum, which led to suspicions that soldiers assaulted him.

“We are Jews. That’s not what we do. There is no way this is true,” the sister says of the allegations.

“We know how the injuries were caused, the truth will come out, but we’re not about to reveal our legal defense here to the media,” Dimri says. The detainees are reservists from Unit 100 who were trained specifically in guarding terrorists, he adds.

Several dozen protesters and family members of the detainees are waiting outside the military court for a decision on whether the detainees will be arraigned.

Hezbollah claims rocket attack that killed civilian in northern kibbutz

Hezbollah claims responsibility for the attack that killed an Israeli civilian in Kibbutz Hagoshrim this afternoon, saying it launched dozens of rockets at a nearby military base.

Since October 8, Hezbollah-led attacks have resulted in 25 civilian deaths on the Israeli side and the deaths of 18 IDF soldiers and reservists.

Health Ministry reports 738 people have contracted West Nile virus in current outbreak

The number of patients diagnosed with West Nile virus has risen to 738, with 51 people dead since the outbreak began in June, the Health Ministry announces.

The ministry says that five of those who died were between 45 and 64 years old; 21 were 65-79; and 25 were over 80.

The virus has been in the country for many years, with incidents of West Nile fever occurring mainly between June and November. This year, they started earlier than usual, likely due to climate change in Israel and worldwide.

The virus is primarily transmitted to humans from the bites of infected mosquitoes, particularly species of mosquitoes that feed on birds. The virus does not spread from person to person.

According to the Health Ministry, about 80 percent of people infected with West Nile virus show no symptoms. About 20% may experience varying symptoms, including fever, headaches, and body aches.

Less than 1% of those infected will have possible rare complications such as acute inflammation of the brain or meningitis. The risk of significant illness is higher among the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.

Hospital removes piece of shrapnel lodged in boy wounded in Majdal Shams attack

A piece of shrapnel that was removed from a 12-year-old boy wounded in a Hezbollah rocket attack on Majdal Shams. (Courtesy/Galilee Medical Center)

Galilee Medical Center says that doctors removed an 18mm (.7″) piece of shrapnel from a 12-year-old boy injured in the deadly rocket attack on the Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams over the weekend.

Dr. Alon Rod, a spine surgery specialist, removed the fragment. The boy is in stable condition.

“The large fragment stuck in the back of the vertebra and broke it, but miraculously did not damage the spinal cord itself,” says Dr. Nimrod Rahamimov, director of the department of orthopedics and spinal surgery.

The boy is being treated in the pediatric surgery department and is expected to be released home in the coming days.

British FM: Labour committed to recognizing Palestinian state but as part of peace process

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy leaves after attending a aabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London on July 30, 2024. (Henry Nicholls/AFP)

Pressed in the House of Commons on whether UK’s Labour government will set out a timeline for recognizing a Palestinian state, Foreign Secretary David Lammy affirms that Palestinian statehood is a goal but that it must come about as part of a comprehensive peace process.

“We want a credible and irreversible pathway toward a two-state solution — a safe and secure Israel along a viable and sovereign Palestinian state,” says Lammy, who was in Israel earlier this month. “We are committed to recognizing a Palestinian state as a contribution to the peace process at a time that’s most conducive to that process.”

After being questioned again by Labour MP Paula Barker on why he favors waiting to recognize a Palestinian state, Lammy says, “We want it to be part of a process. It does not deliver a two-state solution in and of itself. But it is absolutely right that the Palestinians are enabled to have a sovereign state; that is, it is a just cause and we will work with other partners to bring that about.”

Supporters of accused soldiers gather outside military court ahead of hearing

At the gates of the Beit Lid military base near Netanya, a mother of three named Hila gives her youngest instructions on the phone on where to find a painkiller for his migraine.

Hila’s husband is awaiting arraignment at the military court inside the base, one of nine reserves soldiers suspected of torturing a Hamas terror suspect being held at the Sde Teiman camp in the Negev. The prisoner sustained injuries to the rectum. At least some of the soldiers are suspected of raping the prisoner, as well as assaulting him.

Hila, 39, asked friends to look after their children while she sits outside the base in the sweltering summer heat. With her are about 30 activists and friends of the reservists.

“These are not criminals, they are our soldiers, who have given the past nine months of their lives for Israel’s security,” she tells The Times of Israel about the nine men in custody.

The gathering is a smaller and toned-down follow-up to the rioting by far-right activists that happened here and at Sde Teiman yesterday, when the nine troops were arrested. Footage from both bases shows rioters breaching the gates, in scenes that Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and other politicians have condemned roundly.

A soldier serving in the Military Police’s investigative unit, which handled the probe into the alleged torture, says that his commanders asked the unit’s soldiers to remove their unit tags and blue berets while they are outside the base for fear the protesters would target them. “It’s crazy, now I’m supposed to fear Israeli civilians as well as Hamas terrorists?”

Shai Glick of Betzalmo, a right-wing rights organization, says he does not object to the investigation, but to the way it was carried out. “Raids, arrests, are not the way. Any investigation can be conducted respectfully,” he says.

Air raid sirens activated in northern communities due to suspected drone

Air raid sirens are activated in northern communities near Lebanon, including a kibbutz where a man was just killed in a rocket attack, due to what the IDF’s Home Front Command says is a suspected hostile aircraft.

Legal aid group: Terror suspect tried to grab taser from one of the accused soldiers

The hard-right Honenu legal aid organization, which is representing three of the nine IDF soldiers accused of abusing and sexually assaulting a Palestinian terror suspect at the Sde Teiman detention facility, says that during a search of the prisoner he tried to grab one of their taser guns, mildly injuring one of the soldiers.

“The incident began when the terrorist, a Hamas company commander in Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip, tried to seize a taser gun from one of the soldiers, and only due to the determination of the soldiers did they succeed in overpowering the terrorist,” Honenu claims.

Honenu’s statement does not address how this incident could have resulted in the reported severe injuries sustained by the suspect to his rectum, for which the soldiers are being held on suspicion of rape and assault.

Yesterday, Honenu said that the terror suspect had been transferred from Ofer Prison to Sde Teiman and that the Force 100 unit of the IDF military police was involved in the operation, during which the soldiers conducted the search.

“During the search, the terrorist resisted and began to attack and bite the soldiers, and as has been said, tried to grab one of their taser guns,” Honenu claims.

A hearing for the extension of the detention of the nine soldiers currently being held in military prison over the incident is set for 3:30 p.m.

Man pronounced dead after sustaining critical wounds in rocket attack from Lebanon

Medics have declared the death of an Israeli civilian in his 30s who was wounded by rocket shrapnel in the northern community of Kibbutz HaGoshrim a short while ago.

The IDF says 10 rockets were fired from Lebanon in the attack, and most were intercepted by the Iron Dome.

One rocket struck HaGoshrim, criticality injuring the man who has now been declared dead.

The IDF says it is shelling the launch site with artillery. It adds that earlier, fighter jets struck a Hezbollah site in southern Lebanon’s Jibchit.

Hezbollah says it fired at Israeli warplanes in Lebanese airspace, forced them to turn back

Illustrative: This picture taken from northern Israel shows an Israeli Air Force fighter jet flying over the border area with south Lebanon on July 7, 2024 (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

Lebanon’s Hezbollah says it fired at Israeli warplanes that broke the sound barrier in Lebanese airspace.

Hezbollah adds that it forced the warplanes to turn back.

Military to step up security for IDF Advocate General after far-right rampages

IDF Advocate General Brig. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi speaks at the Israel Bar Association annual conference of attorneys in Eilat in southern Israel, on May 27, 2024.(Flash 90)

The military will step up security for IDF Advocate General Brig. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi after far-right activists stormed two military bases to protest the arrest of nine reservists on suspicion of seriously abusing a Palestinian security prisoner, Hebrew media report.

The reports say that the military’s VIP protection unit decided to enhance her personal security and the protection of her home.

Tomer-Yerushalmi has been the subject of intense anger from far-right activists and politicians for ordering the arrest of the nine soldiers serving at the Sde Teiman facility.

Medics say man hurt in rocket strike on northern kibbutz in critical condition

A man in his 30s is critically wounded in a rocket strike in Kibbutz HaGoshrim in northern Israel, medics say.

Police say officers are also handling several more rocket impact sites in the Galilee Panhandle, following a barrage from Lebanon.

Lapid calls for special Knesset session during recess after far-right protesters storm IDF bases

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid leads a Yesh Atid faction meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on July 22, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls on Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to convene a special plenum debate during the legislative recess after far-right mobs broke into two IDF bases on Monday.

“We are not on the brink of an abyss, we are in the abyss,” Lapid writes, arguing that “the participation of members of the Knesset and ministers in the invasion of violent militias into IDF bases constitutes a crossing of a red line that Israeli democracy has never known.”

“This is not another demonstration of one political camp or another; it is a sharp threat to Israel’s image as a Jewish and democratic state,” he continues. “I appeal to you, as speaker of the Knesset, the place that represents Israeli democracy above all else, to hold an urgent discussion in the Knesset plenum on the issue.”

After Military Police arrested nine soldiers suspected of abusing a security prisoner, members of Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party announced that they were setting out to Sde Teiman and called on others to join them. Politicians and activists broke in and demonstrated at the detention facility and later stormed the Beit Lid base, where the suspects are being held.

Among the lawmakers who participated in the protests were Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu of Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit Party, Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot, and MKs Nissim Vaturi and Tally Gotliv of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party.

Medics: At least one person hurt in rocket attack in on northern Kibbutz HaGoshrim

Medics are responding to initial reports of at least one person injured in a rocket impact in the northern community of HaGoshrim.

Sirens had sounded in the kibbutz and other nearby towns a short while ago, amid a rocket attack launched from Lebanon.

🚨 Large Red Alert [14:53:09] – 9 Alerts:

• Confrontation Line — Kfar Yuval, Kiryat Shmona, Tel Hai, Dafna, Kfar Giladi, Beit Hillel, HaGoshrim, Shear Yeshuv, Ma'ayan Baruch#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/4V4rzGk5mX

— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) July 30, 2024

New UK government announces plans to resume free trade agreement talks with Israel

Britain's Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary Jonathan Reynolds leaves at the end of a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London on July 9, 2024. (Justin Tallis/AFP)

The new Labour government in the United Kingdom announces its intention to resume free trade agreement talks with Israel.

UK’s Business and Trade Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, announces that he will pursue trade talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council, India, Israel, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey.

“This announcement will kickstart the process of getting negotiators back into the room with counterparts as soon as possible, with the first round of trade talks under the new government expected to take place during the Autumn,” says the Department for Business and Trade.

The fourth round of FTA negotiations between the UK and Israel were held virtually in February under Rishi Sunak’s Tory government.

“The UK will maintain its long-standing foreign policy positions in this FTA, including with respect to the internationally recognised borders of Israel; and will continue to exclude illegal settlements to ensure nothing in this FTA undermines the viability of a two-state solution,” the Minister for Trade Policy wrote at the time.

Men’s 4×200m freestyle relay team break Israeli record, qualify for event finals for 1st time

Swimmers compete in the men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay at the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 30, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (AP/Bernat Armangue)

The Israeli team in the men’s 4×200m freestyle relay — made up of Bar Soloveychik, Eitan Ben Shitrit, Gal Cohen Groumi and Denis Loktev — sets a new Israeli record in the event with a time of 7:08.43 and advances to the final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The team ties exactly with Japan, both coming in the 8th spot and making it into the final, which will be held later tonight.

This is the first time Israel has made an Olympic final in the 4×200m freestyle relay, and its first swimming final of the Paris Games.

Shas minister leads colleagues from across the aisles in call for restraint after mobs storm IDF bases

Far-right activists, some masked and armed, protest against the detention of Israeli reserve soldiers suspected of abusing a Hamas terrorist, at the Beit Lid military base, July 29, 2024. (Flash90)

Politicians from right to left join Interior Minister Moshe Arbel (Shas) in a public appeal to pull back from “the abyss” after far-right mobs broke in to two IDF bases on Monday.

“Many Israeli citizens were heartbroken last night in the face of the break-ins at the IDF bases,” the lawmakers write, claiming to represent “the voice of the many Israelis who request that the IDF only engage in war against the cruel enemies who harm us, and that no politics and no rioters enter its gates.”

“Our fighters should overwhelm the enemy at the front and not protect IDF bases from their brothers,” they write, insisting that while they may differ on many issues, “including the question of investigating soldiers during wartime,” they all agree that the IDF should remain apolitical and that the independence of law enforcement and military rules “must be respected.”

Arbel is joined by MK Eli Dallal (Likud), MK Hili Tropper (National Unity), MK Moshe Solomon (Religious Zionism), MK Meirav Ben-Ari (Yesh Atid), MK Efrat Reiten (Labor) and MK Oded Forer (Yisrael Beytenu).

Minister of Interior Moshe Arbel attends a Knesset committee in Jerusalem on April 1, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

“We will not remain silent in the face of the danger of internal breakdown at the hands of extremist elements. We will not stand aside in the face of silence and certainly in the face of the [expressions] of irresponsible leaders, who roll us into the mouth of an abyss,” they continue — promising that anybody seeking to harm “our common home” will find him or herself faced with “a majority of Israelis” who support both the troops and law enforcement.

“We call on all public leaders to stop tearing us apart from the inside. We have one army. We have one country” and they must be kept “strong and united.”

Hamas says Gaza toll at 39,400

Displaced Palestinians leave western Khan Yunis to areas in the eastern parts of the city following reports of Israeli forces withdrawing from the area in the southern Gaza Strip on July 30, 2024. (Bashar Taleb/AFP)

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says the Palestinian death toll since the terror group launched the October 7 attack on Israel now stands at 39,400.

The figure cannot be independently verified and includes more than 15,000 Hamas gunmen Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

At rowdy cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said to condemn mob breaking into IDF bases, but compare it to anti-government protests

Illustrative. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads a special cabinet meeting at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem on Jerusalem Day, June 5, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Today’s cabinet meeting erupts in chaos and mutual recriminations over yesterday’s break-ins at two IDF bases by far-right activists and MKs angry over the arrest of nine servicemen accused of seriously abusing a Palestinian security prisoner.

According to Hebrew media reports, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells government ministers that “we do not break into bases,” but also rails against “selective enforcement” and compares the break-ins to highway blockages by anti-government protesters.

In response, Social Equality Minister May Golan (Likud) declares that the protesters “came to support the soldiers because the people can’t accept that heroic fighters who have been risking their lives for nine months are being arrested.”

This prompts Interior Minister Moshe Arbel (Shas) to condemn Netanyahu’s comparison and insist that the far-right demonstrators cannot be allowed to “endanger the IDF like that.”

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli also insists there is no comparison, drawing Golan’s ire and allegations of demagoguery. Hitting back, Chikli asks if Golan is representing the far-right Otzma Yehudit party rather than Likud.

Chikli then condemns National Security Minister and Otzma Yehudit chief Itamar Ben Gvir, saying that “there are those who support the mob and there are those who do not.”

“Those who understand the army know that it is not allowed to do this, unlike [people like] Ben Gvir who did not serve in the army who say it is fine,” Chikli states.

After Military Police arrested nine soldiers suspected of abusing a prisoner, members of Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party set out to Sde Teiman, where politicians and activists broke in and demonstrated. Protesters and MKs later stormed the Beit Lid base where the suspects are being held.

Among those who broke into Sde Teiman were Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu (Otzma Yehudit) and MK Zvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism).

Judoka Sagi Muki loses to South Korea’s Lee Joon-hwan

South Korea's Lee Joon-hwan and Israel's Sagi Muki (blue) compete in the judo men's -81kg round of 16 bout at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Champ-de-Mars Arena, in Paris, ,July 30, 2024. (Jack Guez/AFP)

Israeli judoka Sagi Muki loses to South Korea’s Lee Joon-hwan — ranked 3rd in the world — in the men’s under-81kg weight class, ending his individual Olympic run.

Muki, making his third Olympic appearance, is expected to take part in the mixed-team judo competition on Saturday.

Shin Bet worker, 2 others charged with divulging state secrets, endangering national security

Illustrative: A person being arrested. (BrianAJackson via iStock by Getty images)

The female Shin Bet worker and two other Israeli citizens are charged with divulging state secrets and endangering the country’s security.

A joint statement from the Shin Bet, Israel Police and the State Prosecutor’s Office says that “during an investigation it was discovered that the worker divulged confidential information that she was exposed to during her work to unauthorized people, in complete contravention of a ban on doing so.”

Some of the information was passed on by the two citizens who were arrested to others and eventually to a wide group of unauthorized people, the statement says.

“Passing on the information lead to a real danger to the lives of people and the security of the country,” the statement says.

However, the statement notes that despite the damage caused and the severity of their actions, the three did not deliberately attempt to harm state security.

A strict gag order is placed on all other details of the case.

Greek probe clears state intelligence of malware use in wiretap scandal

Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis speaking to members of the media at the NATO summit in Washington, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP/Matt Rourke)

Greece’s Supreme Court says a two-year probe had found no proof that the country’s intelligence service used a notorious malware software at the heart of a wiretap scandal.

“State intelligence… was not involved with the Predator spyware or any similar software,” Supreme Court prosecutor Georgia Adeilini says in a statement.

The court prosecutor’s office had conducted an “in-depth investigation of every facet of the case,” Adeilini says.

A number of ministers and other officials were revealed in 2022 to have been under surveillance by state intelligence — which is supervised by the prime minister’s office.

At least 11 people including the prosecutor of the state intelligence agency EYP and the head of Greek police were also found to have been targeted with the Predator malware, a media investigation including French online newspaper Mediapart, German magazine Der Spiegel and Greek site Reporters United said in November.

Though the purpose of the state wiretaps was classified and was never disclosed, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis later told parliament the monitoring was legal.

Two Israeli-controlled companies, Intellexa and Cytrox, are said to be behind behind the Predator malware.

Intellexa was established by former Israeli Defense Force intelligence officer Tal Dilian, who was previously associated with NSO Group, creator of the notorious spyware Pegasus.

Forbes reported that Dilian took over Cytrox in 2019 to make Intellexa a “one-stop-shop” for hacking and electronic surveillance services and products.

High Court to hold 2nd hearing on closing Sde Teiman facility at center of abuse allegations

This undated photo taken in the winter 2023 and provided by Breaking the Silence, a whistleblower group of former Israeli soldiers, shows blindfolded Palestinians captured in the Gaza Strip in a detention facility on the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel. (Breaking The Silence via AP)

The High Court of Justice says it will hold a second hearing on August 7 for the petition demanding the closure of the Sde Teiman detention facility which is at the center of abuse and torture allegations allegedly committed on Palestinian detainees.

The decision comes following revelations that the Military Advocate General’s office has launched an investigation into nine soldiers over suspected severe abuse of a Palestinian detainee approximately a month ago, and the riots at Sde Teiman itself as well as the Beit Lid military court yesterday after the soldiers were arrested.

The court grants the state’s request for an extension until August 4 to file its latest response and update to the court, and orders both sides to submit their principle arguments by August 5.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel which filed the original petition along with other human rights groups has demanded that the court order the defense minister and military advocate general to shutter Sde Teiman due to the alleged multiple, severe human rights abuses at the facility.

The court issued a provisional order on July 15 demanding the government explain why the operation of the facility should not be conditioned on “compliance with the conditions set forth in the law on the imprisonment of illegal combatants.”

Provisional orders switch the burden of proof from the petitioners to the respondent, in this case the defense minister and the Military Advocate General, and generally indicate that the court sees merit in the petition.

Judoka Sagi Muki wins bout, advances to round of 16 in men’s under-81kg

Germany's Timo Cavelius and Israel's Sagi Muki, left, compete during their men -81kg elimination round match in at Champ-de-Mars Arena during the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 30, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP/Eugene Hoshiko)

Israeli judoka Sagi Muki beats Germany’s Timo Cavelius with an ippon in the men’s under-81kg weight class, advancing to the round of 16.

Muki will next up face South Korea’s Lee Joon-hwan.

Earlier, Palestinian judoka Fares Badawi, who was born in Syria and is one of the Palestinian Olympic Committee’s eight athletes in Paris, lost his initial match to Tajikistan’s Somon Makhmadbekov, ending his Olympic run.

Over in the pool, Israeli swimmer Tomer Frankel comes second in his heat in the men’s 100m freestyle but 21st overall, not advancing to the semifinal.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders meet with Ayatollah Khamenei during Iran visit

A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him (R) meeting with leaders of the Palestinian Hamas movement Ismail Haniyeh (C) and the Islamic Jihad group Ziad Nakhaleh in Tehran on July 30, 2024. (KHAMENEI.IR/AFP)

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and Palestinian Islamic Jihad secretary general Ziyad Al-Nakhaleh meet with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian news agency IRNA reports.

The two terror leaders are in the Islamic Republic with their respective delegations for the swearing-in ceremony of newly elected Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian, which will be held this afternoon.

In a statement, Hamas announces that Haniyeh also held talks with Pezeshkian this morning, briefed him on the latest developments in Gaza, and thanked him for the Islamic Republic’s support.

The newly elected president also sat down with Nakhaleh yesterday and pledged his support for the “Palestinian resistance” and Iran’s efforts to achieve unity among Islamic countries against Israel, according to Palestinian media reports.

Judoka Gili Sharir loses first match in women’s under-63kg to defending Olympic champion

France's Clarisse Agbegnenou and Israel's Gili Sharir (blue) compete in the judo women's -63kg match at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Champ-de-Mars Arena, in Paris, July 30, 2024. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

Israeli judoka Gili Sharir loses her first match to France’s Clarisse Agbegnenou — who won the gold medal in Tokyo — in the women’s under-63kg weight class, ending her individual run at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“I do feel like I gave it my all, but a good match isn’t enough,” Sharir tells Israel’s Sport5 channel minutes after the match.

Fellow Israeli judoka Sagi Muki is up soon in the men’s under-81kg weight class.

IDF said to acknowledge mistakes in way 9 reservists suspected of abusing Palestinian prisoners were detained

A heated argument erupts between soldiers at the Sde Teiman detention facility in southern Israel after Military Police investigators arrived to detain suspects for questioning, July 29, 2024. (Screenshot: X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

The  chief of staff at the  IDF Personnel Directorate Brig. Gen. Yoram Knafo tells the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the manner in which the arrest of nine servicemen was carried out yesterday was mistaken and would not recur, according to committee chair Yuli Edelstein.

The soldiers, suspected of severe abuse of a Palestinian terror detainee, were arrested by masked military policemen during a raid on the Sde Teiman detention center in southern Israel. After the arrests, a mob of far-right activists and lawmakers broke into the base and demonstrated, and later stormed the Beit Lid base where the suspects were being held.

“This morning we held an urgent discussion on the subject of the arrest of the fighters and the conduct of the Military Advocate General and the military police,” Edelstein says in a statement on the closed door meeting. “Unfortunately, the Military Advocate General chose or was instructed not to come to the committee. I am announcing right now that we will hold another discussion in which she will be required to appear before the committee and provide adequate answers regarding investigative policy.”

“I am happy that the head of the Personnel Directorate concluded quickly that the army’s conduct on this issue was not correct and similar cases will not happen again,” he adds.

Following yesterday’s arrests, Edelstein was critical of the army, stating that “a situation in which masked military policemen raid an IDF base is not acceptable to me and I will not allow it to happen again. Our soldiers are not criminals and this contemptible pursuit of our soldiers is unacceptable to me.”

IDF wraps up weeklong incursion into Gaza’s Khan Younis

IDF soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip in the picture released on July 30, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF’s 98th Division has withdrawn from southern Gaza’s Khan Younis after operating there for just over a week, the military says.

Amid the operation, the IDF says that troops with the division killed over 150 terror operatives. The division also demolished tunnels and other sites used by Hamas, and recovered the bodies of five hostages.

Meanwhile, a prominent Hamas commander responsible for anti-tank fire in the terror group’s Nuseirat Battalion was killed in a drone strike, the IDF says.

Additionally, reservists with the 252nd Division operating in the Netzarim Corridor area killed several gunmen during raids on Hamas sites, the military adds.

Ben Gvir hits back at Gallant with call to probe whether defense minister had advance notice of Oct. 7

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir at a conference called "Israel's return to the Temple Mount," at the Knesset, on July 24, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir dismisses allegations that he ordered police not to stop a mob of right-wing protesters from overrunning two IDF bases yesterday and calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to probe, and then fire, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant instead.

Writing to Netanyahu, Ben Gvir calls Gallant’s concerns over his conduct “baseless” and demands that the premier look into whether the defense minister had advance warning of Hamas’s October 7 attack and intentionally refrained from bolstering the IDF’s presence on the Gaza border.

The alleged misdeeds on the part of the defense minister that Ben Gvir says require investigation are: conducting an independent defense policy, supporting protesters against the government’s judicial overhaul who refused to serve in the IDF reserves, and approving demolitions of Israeli construction in the West Bank to satisfy foreign interests.

Ben Gvir further demands to know if Gallant knew in advance that Military Police would arrive at the Sde Teiman base in southern Israel yesterday to arrest soldiers — and accuses him of working with “opposition elements” to bring down the government.

Ben Gvir’s letter comes in response to one sent to Netanyahu by Gallant, in which the defense minister calls on the prime minister “to act with a heavy hand against the coalition members who took part in the unrest and order an investigation to examine if the minister of national security prevented or delayed the police from responding to the violent incidents that members of his party took part in.”

After Military Police arrested nine soldiers suspected of mistreating a prisoner, members of Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party set out to Sde Teiman, where politicians and activists broke in and demonstrated. Protesters and MKs later stormed the Beit Lid base where the suspects are being held.

US defense secretary says Hezbollah-Israel conflict not inevitable

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin gestures as he speaks to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (unseen) during a meeting at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila in Manila, Philippines on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. U.S. Secretary of Sate Antony Blinken is at right. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe, Pool)

United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin does not believe that a full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah is inevitable, and says Washington would like to see things resolved in a diplomatic fashion.

Austin makes the comments at a joint press conference in Manila, following security talks between himself, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their respective Philippine counterparts, Gilberto Teodoro and Enrique Manalo.

Israel has vowed to retaliate for a deadly Hezbollah rocket attack that killed 12 children in northern Israel, after more than nine months of attacks by the Iran-backed terror group amid the war against Hamas in Gaza.

Greece’s Aegean Airlines cancels flights to Beirut until Aug. 1 due to Israel-Hezbollah tensions

Greece’s Aegean Airlines said on Tuesday that it canceled flights to Beirut until August 1, due to the current situation.

“We are constantly evaluating the developments following the instructions of the competent authorities,” the airlines says.

Report: UK to delay decision on halting arms exports to Israel

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy leaves at the end of a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London on July 9, 2024. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)

The UK will delay a decision to cease exporting arms to Israel for several months, The Times reports.

Israeli officials had feared that the decision could come as soon as this week following other steps taken by the new Labour government to reverse the previous government’s policy on Israel amid the war with Hamas in Gaza.

The Times says the process will take longer because the UK is looking to only suspend export licenses for specific weapons systems that they can link to suspected war crimes and a study will take several weeks.

While still in the opposition, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy had said earlier this year that the government should suspend the sale of British arms if there was a clear risk they might be used in a serious breach of humanitarian law.

Now in government, he said last week that he had requested an assessment of the legal situation regarding weapons use in Gaza, and that he hoped to be able to communicate any decisions with “full accountability and transparency.”

Palestinian officials demand international investigation into alleged abuses at Sde Teiman base

This undated photo taken in winter 2023 and provided by Breaking the Silence, a whistleblower group of former Israeli soldiers, shows blindfolded Palestinians captured in the Gaza Strip in a detention facility on the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel. (Breaking The Silence via AP)

In response to the storming of the Sde Teiman detention facility by a mob of right-wing activists last night, some Palestinian officials assert that the assault is evidence of the rising power of the far right in Israeli politics, and demand an independent international investigation into alleged abuses of security prisoners.

Veteran Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti says that “the attempt to prevent the investigation of Israeli prison guards and soldiers who perpetrated sexual crimes is evidence of the rise of fundamentalist Zionist fascism.”

The IDF is trying to protect itself from the International Criminal Court by conducting a formal investigation, but even that does not please “Israeli fascists,” the politician tells Ramallah’s Maan news agency.

Barghouti, who served in the past as a government minister and sits today in the Palestinian Legislative Council, adds that Palestinians do not trust Israeli military courts, and demands the formation of an international inquiry committee to investigate alleged crimes committed against Palestinian detainees.

His words are echoed by Qadura Fares, also a former minister who today heads the Palestinian Prisoners Club, who calls on the international community to “urgently intervene to stop Israel’s unprecedented crimes” against Palestinian detainees.

In a press release, Fares demands the formation of a UN investigation committee on the conditions under which Palestinian prisoners are detained, particularly at Sde Teiman, but also at other facilities where sexual assaults were allegedly perpetrated. The arrest by the Israeli military police of a number of soldiers is a “farce,” Fares adds, aimed at misleading international public opinion and giving the illusion that Israel is a country governed by the rule of law.

IDF says it killed Hezbollah operative, hit arms depot in series of south Lebanon strikes

The Israel Defense Forces says it carried out a series of strikes in southern Lebanon overnight.

The military says it attacked with drones, fighter jets and artillery in seven areas across the border.

The military says the strikes killed a Hezbollah terrorist in the Beit Lif area and destroyed what is says was an arms depot, terror infrastructure, military bases and launchers used by Hezbollah.

The IDF publishes footage of the strikes.

החל משעות הערב, צה"ל תקף באמצעות כלי טיס, מטוסי קרב וארטילריה כ-10 מטרות טרור של חיזבאללה בשבעה מרחבים שונים בדרום לבנון.

בתקיפות שבוצעו, מהאוויר ומהקרקע, חוסל מחבל חיזבאללה במרחב בית ליף, והושמדו מחסן אמל״ח, תשתיות טרור, מבנים צבאיים ומשגר ששימש את חיזבאללה בדרום לבנון pic.twitter.com/cov7pBe29K

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 30, 2024

Bella Hadid: I didn’t know about Munich massacre of Israeli athletes before taking Adidas gig linked to ’72 Games

A new campaign for Adidas features supermodel Bella Hadid wearing a reissue of sneakers from the 1972 Munich Olympics. (Photos courtesy of Adidas. Design by Jackie Hajdenberg via JTA)

Palestinian-American model and activist Bella Hadid says she did not know about the Palestinian terror attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics, where 11 members of the Israeli team were killed, when she agreed to take part in an Adidas campaign advertising a retro sneaker linked to those games.

Reacting publicly for the first time since she was dropped from the campaign following an outcry, Hadid posts on Instagram that the Adidas campaign was “insensitive.”

“For those of you who do not know my heart, I want to make sure you’re hearing directly from me about my recent campaign with adidas. I would never knowingly engage with any art or work that is linked to a horrific tragedy of any kind,” she writes without specifically naming the Munich massacre carried out by Palestinian Black September.

“In advance of the campaign’s release, I had no knowledge of the historical connection to the atrocious events in 1972. I am shocked, I am upset, and I am disappointed in the lack of sensitivity that went into this campaign,” she says.

Hadid says she would never have agreed to take part had she known, blaming herself, her team and the German athletic apparel company, saying she would have spoken up had she known.

“While everyone’s intentions were to make something positive, and bring people together through art, the collective lack of understanding from all parties undermined the process,” she said. “I do not believe in hate in any form, including antisemitism.”

Hadid also says it pained her that the Palestinian cause is immediately associated with terrorism.

“Palestine is not synonymous with terrorism and this campaign unintentionally highlighted an event that does not present who we are,” she says, adding that she is a “proud Palestinian woman” and ‘”there is much more to our culture than the things that have been equated over the past week.”

“I will forever stand by my people of Palestine while continuing to advocate for a world free of antisemitism. Antisemitism has no place in the liberation of the Palestinian people,” Hadid says.

Adidas has apologized to Hadid after removing her from the campaign for the Adidas Originals line, under which the retro SL 72 sneakers are sold, and has said it is revisiting the campaign entirely, without elaborating on what this means.

Hadid, who was born in the United States but has Palestinian roots through her father, has been harshly critical of Israel in her activism on behalf of Palestinians since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 triggered the war in Gaza. She has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza — an allegation rejected as unfounded by Israel — and been accused by Israel and US Jewish groups of antisemitism.

Gallant calls on Netanyahu to probe whether Ben Gvir ordered police not to stop mob at IDF bases

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in a video message on July 28, 2024 (Screenshot: Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant sends a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urging him investigate whether far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir ordered police not to stop a mob of right-wing protesters from overrunning two IDF bases.

“I call on you to act with a heavy hand against the coalition members who took part in the unrest and order an investigation to examine if the minister of national security prevented or delayed the police from responding to the violent incidents that members of his party took part in,” Gallant writes in the letter, which was made public.

Gallant says yesterday’s events at the two bases “seriously harm the security of the country and the authority of the government that exist due to the IDF.”

Far-right minister says ‘zero legitimacy’ for mob overrunning IDF bases

Immigration and Absorption Minister Ofir Sofer speaks during a conference at the Reichman University in Herzliya, January 5, 2023. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer of the Religious Zionism party comes out against the far-right activists who broke into a military base where soldiers detained on suspicion of abusing a Palestinian detainee were taken for questioning.

“There is zero legitimacy to what happened at the IDF bases yesterday,” Sofer tells Army Radio. “And there need to be arrests.”

Asked about the participation of right-wing ministers and MKs in the events, including from his own party, Sofer says he believes that the politicians underestimated how far the protests would go.

“This needs to be a lesson as to how careful we need to be at a time like this, how things can get out of control,” he says, saying that politicians need to take responsibility.

Sofer also criticizes the Military Police for the way they handled the arrest of the nine Israel Defense Forces soldiers suspected of the serious abuse of a Palestinian terror detainee at the Sde Teiman military facility in southern Israel, saying they should be presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

Soldiers arrested for abusing Palestinian detainees to have military court hearing today

A heated argument erupts between soldiers at the Sde Teiman detention facility in southern Israel after Military Police investigators arrived to detain suspects for questioning, July 29, 2024. (Screenshot: X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

The IDF soldiers arrested by military police yesterday for suspected severe abuse of Palestinian terror suspects will be brought for a hearing before the military court at Camp Gur this afternoon, says the hard-right Honenu legal aid organization which is representing some of the soldiers.

According to the organization, the suspects were questioned at length by military investigators and remained in military custody overnight.

16 children wounded in Saturday rocket attack in Majdal Shams still hospitalized; 7 in serious condition

People look at the place where a rocket hit in Majdal Shams on July 28, 2024. (Canaan Lidor/Times of Israel)

Sixteen children wounded in the Hezbollah rocket attack on the northern Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights on Saturday are still hospitalized, including seven in a serious condition.

Eight of the wounded are in Ziv Medical Center including three in serious condition; two of them are still sedated and ventilated. All three have abdominal injuries, chest injuries, and limb fractures, the hospital says.

One child is in moderate condition and four others are  Four others are lightly wounded, mainly suffering from shrapnel injuries. One child is in moderate condition.

The Rambam Medical Center in Haifa says that 5 children are still hospitalized. Three are in serious condition, sedated and ventilated in the pediatric intensive care unit; two children are in mild condition in the pediatric surgery unit. All are suffering from shrapnel injuries.

There are three children at Tsafon Medical Center (Pouriya) near Tiberias. One remains in serious condition and another in moderate condition. A third child is expected to be discharged soon.

Italy’s Meloni urges Israel not to fall into ‘trap’ of retaliation in Lebanon

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (2nd L) speaks during a meeting with China's President Xi Jinping at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on July 29, 2024. - (Photo by Vincent Thian / POOL / AFP)

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni calls on Israel not to fall into the “trap” of retaliation, saying she was “very, very worried” by the situation in Lebanon and by the risk of a regional escalation.

Her call comes after a rocket fired by the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group killed 12 children playing soccer in northern Israel.

Speaking during an official visit to China, Meloni says the international community should continue sending messages of moderation, and that China could help in these efforts, having “solid ties” with Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Hospital says child infected with ‘brain-eating’ amoeba still in serious condition

A 3D illustration of the brain-eating infectious amoeba Naegleria fowleri.(iStock)

Ziv Medical Center says the 10-year-old child infected with the “brain-eating” amoeba is still in serious condition.

The otherwise healthy boy contracted Naegleria fowleri last week at Gai Beach water park in Tiberias.

This is the same location where a 25-year-old man contracted the disease and died in early July.

The Health Ministry ordered the park closed after the discovery of the second case.

Environmental health inspectors had examined the beach after the first case was reported, but no initial evidence of amoeba contamination was found.

The mortality rate from encephalitis, an infection of the brain, caused by the amoeba is extremely high, and while infection is extremely rare, it is often fatal.

In August 2022, a 36-year-old man died of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, a brain infection caused by the same amoeba.

These are the only three recorded cases in Israel. Only some 400 cases have ever been diagnosed worldwide.

Four arrested for running ring to provide gun licenses in return for bribes

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir leads an Otzma Yehudit faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on March 18, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Police say they have arrested four people and detained 10 others for question on suspicion of being part of a criminal ring to provide firearm licenses for people who would not normally qualify.

Among those arrested is a worker in the firearm licensing department in the Ministry of National Security.

According to police the worker provided licenses in return for bribes solicited by the other other members of the ring.

Police say the arrests and detentions follow a weeks-long undercover operation.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has made easing measures for many Israelis to obtain a firearm license a signature policy since taking office.

More than 100,000 licenses have been issued since the October 7 Hamas terror assault.

Judge orders UCLA to draw up plan to protect Jewish students

Pro-Israeli demonstrators look at an anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest on the campus of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), in Los Angeles on April 28, 2024. (Etienne Laurent/AFP)

A federal judge has ordered the University of California, Los Angeles, to craft a plan to protect Jewish students, months after pro-Palestinian protests broke out on campus.

Three Jewish students sued the university in June, alleging that they experienced discrimination on campus amid demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war. Yitzchok Frankel, a UCLA law student who is Jewish, said in the lawsuit that he declined an invitation from the director of student life to help host a lunch gathering because he did not feel safe participating.

“Under ordinary circumstances, I would have leapt at the chance to participate in this event,” Frankel said. “My Jewish identity and religion are integral to who I am, and I believe it is important to mentor incoming students and encourage them to be proud of their Judaism, too.”

But Frankel argued UCLA was failing to foster a safe environment for Jewish students on campus.

UCLA spokesperson Mary Osako says the school is “committed to maintaining a safe and inclusive campus, holding those who engaged in violence accountable, and combatting antisemitism in all forms.”

“We have applied lessons learned from this spring’s protests and continue to work to foster a campus culture where everyone feels welcome and free from intimidation, discrimination and harassment,” Osako says in a statement.

The university was ordered to craft a proposed plan by next month.

Report: Five rockets shot toward Israel from Lebanon overnight

At least five projectiles were launched at Israel from Lebanon overnight but failed to cross into Israeli territory, the Walla news site reports, without citing a source.

During the night, a rocket siren sounded in Kibbutz Hanita near the Lebanon border in the Western Galilee.

There is no comment from the Israeli military and no claim of an attack from Hezbollah.

Trump agrees to FBI interview over attempted assassination

Former President Donald Trump has agreed to be interviewed by the FBI as part of an investigation into his attempted assassination in Pennsylvania earlier this month, a special agent says.

The expected interview with the 2024 Republican presidential nominee is part of the FBI’s standard protocol to speak with victims during the course of its criminal investigations. The FBI said on Friday that Trump was struck in the ear by a bullet or a fragment of one during the July 13 assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“We want to get his perspective on what he observed,” says Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office. “It is a standard victim interview like we would do for any other victim of crime, under any other circumstance.”

Trump says in a Fox News interview that he expects the FBI interview to take place Thursday.

Through more than 450 interviews, the FBI has fleshed out a portrait of the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, that reveals him to be a “highly intelligent” but reclusive 20-year-old whose primary social circle was his family and who maintained few friends and acquaintances throughout his life, Rojek says. Even in online gaming platforms that Crooks visited, his interactions with peers appeared to have been minimal, the FBI says.

His parents have been “extremely cooperative,” with the investigation, Rojek says. They have said they had no advance knowledge of the shooting.

The FBI has not uncovered a motive as to why he chose to target Trump, but investigators believe the shooting was the result of extensive planning, including the purchase under an alias in recent months of chemical precursors that investigators believe were used to create the explosive devices found in his car and his home, and the deployment of a drone about 200 yards (180 meters) from the rally site in the hours before the event.

Police unhappy to be blamed for failing to curb chaos at IDF bases

Police say in a statement that all protesters have been cleared from the Beit Lid and Sde Teiman bases where right-wing activists rioted and broke in earlier.

The police statement notes that “contrary to reports, no complaints were received about threats from military officers.” It also seems to take a swipe at IDF officials who reportedly said police, and not soldiers, should be blamed for failing to head off the chaos at the bases.

“We are disappointed by the attempts to criticize police and their work,” the statement reads.

Storm pushes off Olympic surfing as Israeli Lelior hangs in

Israel's Anat Lelior competes in women's surfing round 1, during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Teahupo'o, Tahiti, July 27, 2024. (Jerome BROUILLET / AFP)

Israeli surfer Anat Lelior will have to wait to find out if she can advance to the Round of 16 at the Olympics after organizers called off a planned third day of qualification heats.

The decision to delay was made after the men’s third round on Monday, after the arrival of a storm wrecked a morning of phenomenal waves at Tahiti’s Teahupo’o.

Brazil’s Gabriel Medina appears to levitate above the waves in the 5th heat of the men’s surfing round 3, during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Teahupo’o, on the French Polynesian Island of Tahiti, on July 29, 2024. (Jerome BROUILLET / AFP)

Lelior is set to face Australia’s Tyler Wright in the second heat once the third round does get underway.

Badminton player Zilberman out of medal contention after second loss in Paris

Israel's Misha Zilberman plays against Mark Caljouw from the Netherlands during their men's singles group play stage badminton match at the 2020 Summer Olympics, July 26, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Israeli Misha Zilberman has fallen to Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen in men’s singles badminton play in Paris, essentially eliminating him from medal contention.

Zilberman loses 21-9 21-11 in the Group P match in Paris, leaving him at the bottom of the group table alongside Nepal’s Prince Dahal, who he will face on Wednesday for an ultimately meaningless match.

On Saturday, Zilberman lost 21-17 19-21 21-13 to Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen, who will now face Axelsen for a chance to win the group and move to the Round of 16.

Some protesters at Beit Lid wore IDF uniforms, masks and carried guns; MK Gottliv spoke alongside them

Far-right demonstrators, some of them wearing military uniforms and face masks and carrying weapons, gather outside the Beit Lid army base as they protest over the detention for questioning of military reservists who are suspected of abuse of a Palestinian terror suspect detained there, on July 29, 2024. (Oren Ziv / AFP)

Some of the far-right protesters who gathered at the Beit Lid base wore IDF uniforms and face masks and carried weapons.

Likud Knesset member Tally Gotliv was pictured alongside them, addressing the crowd.

המהומה בבית ליד: רעולי פנים חמושים במדים על משאית, לצד ח"כ גוטליבhttps://t.co/G5clWDCVSw

צילום: רענן בן צור pic.twitter.com/D66VJIM9sE

— ynet עדכוני (@ynetalerts) July 29, 2024

Gotliv had earlier posted on X that the soldiers arrested for alleged abuse of a terror suspect at the Sde Teiman detention center were being questioned at Beit Lid.

She encouraged her followers to come to the base on their behalf. “Come in your multitudes,” she urged.

Visiting Beit Lid base, IDF chief says right-wing riots are ‘bordering on anarchy,’ harm army and state

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi (center) meets with soldiers at the Beit Lid base in central Israel, July 29, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says rioting harms the military, during a visit to troops at the Beit Lid base in central Israel, after a right-wing mob stormed the facility in protest of the questioning of reservists suspected of abusing a Palestinian detainee.

“We came to Beit Lid… to make sure that nothing more serious happens. The arrival of rioters and attempts to break into the bases is serious behavior, against the law, bordering on anarchy, harming the IDF, the security of the state and the war effort,” he says.

IDF: Right-wing riots at army bases delay discussions of reprisal against Hezbollah

Ultranationalists protest against the detention of Israeli reserve soldiers suspected of assaulting a Hamas terrorist, at the Beit Lid military base near Beersheba, July 29, 2024. (Chen Leopold/Flash90)

The IDF says the rioting by right-wing mobs at the Sde Teiman base in southern Israel earlier today and the Beit Lid base in central Israel this evening are directly harming Israel’s security.

Over the past day, the IDF says it has been preparing for its retaliation against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the rioting has been a major distraction.

Top IDF officers, including Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, stopped critical discussions on the north to deal with the infiltration into the bases.

Halevi visited the Beit Lid base this evening following the rioting.

Meanwhile, several IDF companies from the West Bank and others on vacation are being dispatched to the Beit Lid base this evening, and several battalions will be there by tomorrow.

The incidents began after Military Police officers detained nine reservist soldiers at Sde Teiman this morning on suspicion of seriously abusing a Palestinian detainee several weeks ago at a detention facility at the base.

הלם בצה"ל מהתנהלות המשטרה (נטולת המפכ"ל).
גורמים צבאיים אומרים שבמצ"ח התחננו למשטרה שישלחו כוחות פינוי לבסיס בית ליד כדי למנוע את מראות שדה תימן אך המשטרה סירבה במכוון: "במשטרה אמרו לנו שחיילים יפתרו את זה. גם עכשיו בכירים במשטרה עושים הכל כדי להקטין את חומרת האירוע כמעודדים את… pic.twitter.com/GQEyQSVLyt

— יואב זיתון (@yoavzitun) July 29, 2024

Not long after, some 1,200 right-wing activists, along with several ultranationalist lawmakers, gathered outside Sde Teiman in protest of the investigation of the reservists, with many of them breaching into the base. It was unclear how many exactly entered the facility.

There have been no reports of arrests by police.