ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 569
The Times of Israel liveblogged Thursday’s events as they unfolded.
Ehud Barak, the former prime minister and former IDF chief of staff, indicates in a television interview that pilots and some other elite soldiers should refuse to continue to serve in the IDF if a bill currently being advanced by the coalition as part of its judicial overhaul becomes law.
The bill in question would prevent the judiciary from using the “reasonableness” doctrine to review decisions made by the cabinet, government ministers and unspecified other elected officials.
It was approved by the Knesset’s Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee on Tuesday and is set for its first reading in the Knesset next Monday. The coalition reportedly aims to have it enacted in law before the Knesset breaks for summer recess at the end of July.
“When a law like that passes a first reading [in the Knesset], it is passed in order to prepare it for its second and third [final] readings,” says Barak to Channel 12. “That marks the sounding of an alarm, a genuine alarm for the entire country.
“On that day,” Barak goes on, “I expect the pilots, the Military Intelligence Special Operations Division, to all repeat their warning: Netanyahu, watch out, the minute you try to turn the first reading into an actual law, we will not serve a dictatorship. Period.”
The Israel Defense Forces announces that Staff Sgt. Shilo Yosef Amir, of the Givati Brigade, is the person killed in the shooting attack near the West Bank settlement of Kedumim earlier today.
The IDF says Amir, 22, from the northern town of Meirav, was fatally shot by the Palestinian gunman. The Hamas terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The military barred publication that a soldier was killed in the attack until his family was notified.
The spokesman for the military wing of Hamas says the terror group is directly responsible for a recent string of terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank.
In a statement, Abu Obaida says the terror shooting near the West Bank settlement of Eli on June 20, which left four Israelis dead, was carried out by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades in response to a deadly Israeli military raid in the city of Jenin two days prior.
Initially, Hamas only confirmed the two gunmen were affiliated with the terror group, without claiming responsibility.
Abu Obaida says a car-ramming terror attack in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, which left seven Israelis wounded, was also carried out by the group.
Earlier today, the al-Qassam Brigades also claimed responsibility for a shooting attack near the West Bank settlement of Kedumim, which left one Israeli dead.
“When the al-Qassam Brigades said that Jenin was not alone, it was well aware of what it was saying,” Abu Obaida says. He says the attacks “reaffirm the readiness of al-Qassam… to respond to aggression on any part of our land and holy sites.”
Hamas’s military wing has rarely issued statements taking responsibility for attacks in recent years. It last claimed a deadly shooting attack outside the West Bank city of Ariel in April 2022.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seizes a commercial ship “possibly engaged in smuggling activity” in the Gulf, the US Navy says.
US forces monitored the incident in international waters, the Bahrain-based US Navy’s Fifth Fleet says in a statement, but “assessed the circumstances of this event did not warrant further response.”
Yesterday, the US Navy said it had blocked two attempts by the Iranian navy to seize commercial tankers in international waters off Oman.
A series of roads have been blocked nationwide and some protesters have been arrested as demonstrators rally outside the homes of cabinet ministers across the country.
Police say that two protesters were arrested in Tel Aviv on charges of attacking police officers and disturbing public order, near the home of Negev and Galilee Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf. Two people were also arrested outside the home of Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana in Tel Aviv for disturbing public order, say police.
Route 2 along the coast was briefly blocked, as are roads near Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s home in Modiin and in areas of Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan.
Last night, 37 protesters were arrested nationwide in fiery demonstrations after Tel Aviv police chief Ami Eshed said he was forced out of his job for not cracking down more harshly on protests.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vows that Israel will respond to the anti-tank guided missile fire from Lebanon at northern Israel earlier today.
“Against any violation of our sovereignty and challenge to our presence in our country, we will respond at the place and time of our choosing, in overt and covert ways, that will exact a clear price from those responsible,” says Gallant at a memorial event for fallen soldiers of South Lebanon Army, a Christian militia supported by Israel between the mid-1980s and 2000.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres says Israel used excessive force in the counter-terror operation in Jenin last week.
He says he was “deeply disturbed” by news of the operation and “strongly condemns all acts of violence against civilians.”
Asked if his condemnation applies to both sides of the conflict, Guterres says, “it applies to all use of excessive force and obviously in this situation there was an excessive force used by Israeli forces.”
“Israeli airstrikes and ground operations in a crowded refugee camp were the worst violence in the West Bank in many years, with a significant impact on civilians,” Guterres says.
“I once again call on Israel to abide by its obligations under international law, including the duty to exercise restraint and use only proportional force,” he says. “The use of airstrikes is inconsistent with the conduct of law enforcement operations.”
“I understand Israel’s legitimate concerns with its security but escalation is not the answer,” he adds. “It simply bolsters radicalization and leads to a deepening cycle of violence and bloodshed.”
The Israeli operation came in response to a series of deadly terror attacks, many emanating from Jenin and its environs. The IDF says all of the 12 Palestinian fatalities were combatants, and most have been claimed by terror groups.
Yesterday, the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinians, Francesca Albanese, accused Israel of committing war crimes during the Jenin operation. Albanese has a history of antisemitism and incendiary rhetoric against the Jewish state.
Asked about the war crimes allegations, Guterres avoids answering.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin hits back after Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara warns the government against unduly intervening in the police response to anti-government protests.
Levin says Baharav-Miara is “ignoring the ongoing and unprecedented violation of the basic rights of millions of citizens to get safely to work, to the hospital, to freely access the airport, etc.”
The minister also adds that the attorney-general is ignoring the “dangerous selective enforcement” against different types of protests, citing “draconian” measures used against opponents of the Gaza disengagement as well as Haredi and Arab protesters.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara sends a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which she warns against any government intention to interfere in the police response to widespread ongoing protests.
“Precisely during a protest against the government’s policy and its ministers, the government must be extremely careful to avoid actions that could be interpreted as an attempt to illegitimately influence the professional judgment of law enforcement officials,” Baharav-Miara writes in the letter, in response to a request for information by the cabinet secretary on the issue.
The letter comes a day after Tel Aviv police chief Ami Eshed — who had repeatedly clashed with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir — resigned his position, saying he was forced out for political reasons and for his refusal to violently crack down on protesters.
“I could have easily used disproportionate force and filled the Ichilov [Medical Center] emergency room at the end of every demonstration in Tel Aviv,” Eshed said last night. “We could have cleared Ayalon [Highway] within minutes at the terrible cost of cracking heads and breaking bones and at the cost of breaking the pact between police and the citizenry… Unfortunately, for the first time in my three decades of service, I was met with the bizarre reality in which calm and order were not the desired goal, but rather the contrary was the case.”
Anti-overhaul protesters are gathering outside the homes of government ministers, less than 24 hours after fiery protests in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and elsewhere ended in dozens of arrests.
אחרי אירועי המחאה אמש באיילון: מפגינים מתאספים בשעה זו מחוץ לבתי השרים ברחבי הארץ. בסרטון – מפגינים סמוך לביתה של השרה גילה גמליאל בתל אביב@michalpeylan pic.twitter.com/P8apNWZuxu
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) July 6, 2023
Protesters are outside the homes of Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel and Science Minister Ofir Akunis in Tel Aviv, and are also planning to target the homes of Economy Minister Nir Barkat in Jerusalem, Justice Minister Yariv Levin in Modiin, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Moshav Amikim, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi in Moshav Zameret, Health and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel in Petah Tikva and many others.
מאות מפגינים כעת מול ביתו של השר אופיר אקוניס ברמת אביב, הם צועקים: ״אקוניס, שפן!״. מספר פעילי אם-תרצו הגיעו למקום וכמה מהם התעמתו עם המשטרה. עד כה לפי מארגני המחאה נעצר מפגין אחד @GLZRadio pic.twitter.com/f4JTrEv28o
— Maya Schocken || מיה שוקן (@MayaSchocken) July 6, 2023
Last night, water cannons were used to disturb a raucous protest blocking the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, injuring several protesters.
The military wing of the Hamas terror group claims responsibility for the deadly shooting attack near the West Bank settlement of Kedumim earlier today.
In a statement, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades says Ahmed Yassin Ghaidan, from the village of Qibya, carried out the attack.
Hamas says the attack comes as a response to the Israeli operation in Jenin earlier this week, during which at least 12 Palestinian gunmen were killed, and over recent settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.
The terror group also warns Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in Kedumim, that “the al-Qassam brigades almost knocked on your door.”
The Israel Defense Forces says a projectile fired from Lebanon at northern Israel earlier today was an anti-tank guided missile and not a rocket as initially assessed.
According to the IDF, the missile impacted the border fence near the northern village of Ghajar.
Part of the projectile was found in Israeli territory, while another part landed in Lebanon.
The military is still assessing who is behind the attack.
The mother of Iyad Halak decries “injustice” after the Border Police officer who shot dead her autistic son in 2020 was acquitted earlier today in the Jerusalem District Court.
“My son is now in the grave and his killer is relaxing and going out and having a good time, and this is a particular injustice,” Rana Halak tells AFP after the verdict was pronounced.
“[Iyad] created a special atmosphere within the family,” she adds, sitting beside portraits of her son.
In the first week of its presidency of the United Nations Security Council, the United Kingdom displays an aggressive stance toward Iran, announcing a raft of new sanctions over human rights abuses. The Foreign Office announces 13 individuals and entities involved in torture in prisons, surveillance of regime opponents and repression of women. These come on top of over 350 UK sanctions already in place.
The UK will also “lead international opposition to Iran’s weapons proliferation and nuclear escalation” at the Security Council, it says, adding that it plans to denounce Tehran’s behavior at today’s meeting, which will be attended by Iran’s ambassador to the UN.
London also gave new evidence to UNSC members that Iran is continuing to send weapons to Houthis in Yemen and to Russia.
“The Iranian regime is oppressing its own people, exporting bloodshed in Ukraine and the Middle East, and threatening to kill and kidnap on UK soil,” says Foreign Secretary James Cleverly in a statement. “Today the UK has sent a clear message to the regime — we will not tolerate this malign behavior and we will hold you to account. Our new sanctions regime will help to ensure there can be no hiding place for those who seek to do us harm.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will travel to Turkey on Friday for the first time since Russia’s invasion for talks with counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Turkish presidency says the two leaders could stage a joint press conference after the talks in Istanbul.
The meeting is due to focus on an expiring deal to ship Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea as well as next week’s NATO summit.
But analysts expect Zelensky to push Erdogan to give a green light for Sweden’s membership in NATO ahead of the July 11-12 alliance summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. Turkey is blocking Sweden’s candidacy because of a longstanding dispute about Stockholm’s perceived lax attitude toward alleged Kurdish militants living in the Nordic country.
Both Zelensky and Erdogan want to extend a United Nations and Turkey-brokered deal with Russia under which Ukraine has been allowed to ship grain to global markets during the war.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen calls on countries around the world to condemn the Palestinian Authority following a deadly shooting in the West Bank.
“I am calling on the international community to condemn the PA which supports terror and pays the murderers of Jews,” Cohen tweets in Hebrew after a Palestinian gunman shot and killed an Israeli in the West Bank. “The State of Israel will continue to fight vigorously against terror.”
The United Kingdom announces plans for a tougher sanctions regime against Iran over alleged human rights violations and hostile actions on UK soil.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly says the “further measures” were “a toolkit that I would prefer not to use, but the decision on whether I do so or whether I do not is firmly in the hands of the Iranian regime itself.”
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen meets his Greek counterpart Giorgos Gerapetritis in Athens, where he thanks his hosts for their cooperation in foiling an Iran-backed terror plot against Jewish and Israeli targets in Athens in March.
“We will continue to advance the strategic relations with Greece,” Cohen pledges in a joint press conference after their private meeting, “in the fields of security, energy, and technology, and the Hellenic triangle with Greece and Cyprus.”
Cohen is the first foreign minister to visit since Greece’s new government came to power last month.
Cohen also invites Greece to join new regional frameworks that have arisen in the wake of the Abraham Accords, according to the Foreign Ministry.
There was no immediate statement on the meeting from the Greek side.
The Israeli victim shot near the West Bank settlement of Kedumim has died, medics say.
There are no other victims in the attack, MDA spokesman Zaki Heller says.
Security forces are still scanning the area for other possible suspects, after the gunman was shot dead by troops.
The Palestinian gunman who opened fire near the West Bank settlement of Kedumim has been shot dead, Israeli medics say.
A clip circulating online shows Israeli troops opening fire, apparently at the gunman.
Dozens of Israeli soldiers are seen at the scene, searching for other possible suspects.
Magen David Adom says the Israeli victim is listed in critical condition, and is undergoing resuscitation efforts at the scene
Footage purportedly from the scene shows Israeli security forces opening fire pic.twitter.com/ixTaoPIF56
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) July 6, 2023
Security forces and medics are responding to reports of gunfire near the West Bank settlement of Kedumim.
Magen David Adom reports that at least one person is hurt, and said to be in serious condition.
A suspected infiltration siren is sounding in the community, west of Nablus.
The IDF confirms the reports of gunfire in the area, but does not immediately provide further details.
The IDF’s Home Front Command orders residents to remain in their homes and lock their doors and windows until further notice.
Leaders of the ongoing protest movement against the judicial overhaul promise an intense day of demonstrations on Tuesday.
“We are going to intensify our struggle. Mark your calendars down for Tuesday, which will be a protest such as has never been seen before in Israel,” they say in a statement.
The statement adds that “there will be no return to negotiations without completely tossing the dictatorial laws… if this legislation passes, Israel will be on a clear path to become a fanatical and extreme dictatorship.”
The UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, says it could not verify that rocket fire caused the explosion along the border with Israel this morning, but that the sounds were “consistent with a possible launch.”
UNIFIL says it sent peacekeepers to investigate what happened while the head of the mission speaks to both Lebanese and Israeli authorities to ease the situation.
“This incident comes at a sensitive time and in an area that has already experienced tensions earlier this week,” UNIFIL says in a statement. “We urge everyone to exercise restraint and avoid any action that could cause further escalation.”
The Israeli Air Force carried out airstrikes against targets near the Syrian capital of Damascus last night, the Ynet news site reports.
The report, which does not cite any sources, says Syria did not use air defenses against the strike.
Syrian media has made no mention of the incident, which would mark the second alleged IAF strike in Syria this week.
On Sunday, a Syrian anti-aircraft missile flew across Israeli airspace and exploded over the southern city of Rahat, as IAF jets carried out strikes against targets in the Syrian city of Homs.
The Jerusalem District Court clears a Border Police officer of wrongdoing after he shot and killed an autistic Palestinian man in 2020.
The Border Police officer, whose name is barred for publication, shot and killed Iyad Halak in the Old City after mistakenly believing the phone he was holding was a weapon, and after Halak refused orders to remain still.
The court rules that the officer in question “acted out of self defense and out of concern for his life and for the lives of others around him” during the incident.
Deputy State Attorney Liat Ben Ari questions Arnon Milchan — a key witness in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial — for a second time, following several days of cross-examination by the premier’s defense attorney Amit Hadad.
During cross-examination, Milchan on several occasions contradicted testimony he gave in his primary testimony to the court and to the police during the criminal investigation, benefiting Netanyahu’s account of the case and creating problems for the prosecution.
Ben Ari points out to Milchan that he said in his primary testimony that the volume of cigars and champagne he gave to Netanyahu and his wife Sara increased in accordance with the requests of the couple.
In cross-examination however, Milchan agreed with Netanyahu defense attorney Amit Hadad’s assertion that he had never counted how many bottles of champagne and how many cigars he gave and that he didn’t know if the volume of gifts grew or not.
Milchan answers that he had “felt” the volume of gifts was increasing but that he did not recall the exact numbers.
Ben Ari also notes that in his primary testimony Milchan said the requests for gifts by the Netanyahus had bothered him, and that he had thought if he didn’t bring gifts he would be less wanted at the prime minister’s residence.
In cross-examination, however, Ben Ari pointed out, Milchan had said he had given the gifts happily, out of love.
Responding to the contradiction, Milchan says “I wasn’t aware what amount [of gifts] was ok and what was not. I wasn’t sure it wasn’t crossing the line.”
The United Arab Emirates pledges to give $15 million to help rebuild the Jenin refugee camp after an intensive Israeli military operation there this week.
The funding promise comes after the IDF’s two-day offensive destroyed much of the camp’s narrow roads and alleyways. Twelve Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed in the fighting.
The UAE’s state-run WAM news agency reports that the money would be granted to UNRWA, the UN agency that assists Palestinian refugees, to rebuild damaged homes and businesses and for the agency’s services. UNRWA has struggled recently to raise the funding it needs to keep its day-to-day operations helping millions of people across the Middle East.
All protesters arrested during last night’s fiery demonstrations in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv have been released, despite police attempts to keep many of them in custody.
The nine protesters who were arrested in Jerusalem near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence have been barred by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court from taking part in demonstrations for two months. Police had sought to have their remand extended by five days, but the court rejected the demand.
Police said they arrested 15 people in Tel Aviv. All of those detainees were released earlier this morning, the Kan public broadcaster reports. A protester arrested in Rehovot has also been released.
Warning of looming civil war, opposition party head Benny Gantz calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt his coalition’s unilateral drive to overhaul the judiciary, as part of resuming reform compromise talks.
“I call on Netanyahu to immediately announce the cessation of unilateral legislation, to come to the President’s Residence today and return to dialogue,” he says. “If not for democracy, if not for security, if not for the economy, then for the integrity of the people of Israel and the prevention of bloodshed.”
Netanyahu’s Likud party quickly slaps back, saying, “We don’t believe Benny Gantz” and accusing him of not being serious about negotiating a compromise at the talks hosted by President Isaac Herzog.
Gantz, the party says, “is prisoner to the protest and is unwilling or unable to reach any agreements. His whole purpose is to waste more time.”
