The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they unfolded.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani praises the progressive Jewish group T’ruah and an Israeli activist honored at a T’ruah gala yesterday.
Mamdani attended T’ruah’s “Celebration of Human Rights,” an annual gala, yesterday at the B’nai Jeshurun synagogue in Manhattan, T’ruah says.
The event recognized “five Jewish human rights heroes,” including Gili Getz, an Israeli peace activist and photographer based in New York City.
“This year’s honorees, including New York’s own Gili Getz, remind us that solidarity is a practice,” Mamdani says in a statement.
Getz is affiliated with leftist Israelis in the city who promote dialogue and coexistence with Palestinians, and protest against the Israeli government, while supporting Israel’s continued existence.
The leftist Israeli group, Israelis for Peace, is to the left of the Jewish center, but also outside the mainstream anti-Israel movement in the city, which calls for Israel’s destruction.
T’ruah says its members “care deeply about Israel’s future as a Jewish, democratic state, and as a safe haven for the Jewish people,” while recognizing “the impact and consequences of Israel’s creation for the Palestinian people.”
The T’ruah gala was also attended by city Comptroller Mark Levine, a Jewish centrist.
Mamdani, who has identified as an anti-Zionist, is often at odds with mainstream Jewish groups due to his antagonism toward Israel.
The IDF says it is investigating Hezbollah’s use of first-person view (FPV) drones with apparent night-vision capabilities.
The terror group this past week published several clips showing FPV drones with what appears to be thermal cameras. Two IDF soldiers have been killed in explosive drone attacks that took place at night this week.
“The IDF is continuously and consistently developing responses to contend with the drone threat across all sectors,” the army says in response to a query.
The IDF says the drone threat is “a dynamic and evolving threat, characterized by inexpensive, readily available tools with a high rate of variability.”
“Trends in the field, including the use of night-vision capabilities, are known and being studied,” the IDF says.
The military says that “various review processes are being conducted alongside the implementation of solutions and operational methods to contend with the threat, in accordance with lessons learned from the field and the operational situation assessment.”
US President Donald Trump says that talks with Iran could yield results over the coming weekend and are going “very well.”
“I hear the negotiation itself is going very well actually,” Trump tells reporters, adding of a potential deal: “It might not happen… It could happen over the weekend.”
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett and leader of the Together slate has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government of installing the premier’s personal lawyer, Michael Rabello, as state comptroller in order to shield himself from scrutiny for the October 7, 2023, attacks, in a highly controversial vote.
Rabello was elected earlier today following a chaotic vote in which Likud lawmakers were allegedly pressured to film their ballots to prove they had voted for him, despite the law calling for a secret ballot.
“This government will stop at nothing to evade the truth and escape responsibility for the greatest massacre in the state’s history,” Bennett said in a pre-recorded video message.
“If turning a private lawyer into a state comptroller is what it takes to cover up the search for truth, then that is what they will do,” he continued.
Netanyahu, who has never acknowledged direct responsibility for the failures surrounding October 7 and relentlessly attempted to place the blame on others, has steadfastly refused to establish a state commission of inquiry into October 7, arguing at different times that such a probe could not proceed during wartime and later that it would be biased because its members are appointed by the judiciary, whose powers the government has sought to curb.
Comparing the party to the mafia, and calling Rabello Netanyahu’s “consiglieri,” Bennett said that today’s “patently illegal” election undermines the independence of an office tasked with overseeing the government and investigating failures by public officials.
Bennett and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid’s joint Together slate announced earlier today that it would petition the High Court of Justice to overturn the vote.
A meeting between Hamas and Gaza truce mediators in Egypt has been postponed until Sunday, a source close to the movement says, as it demands Israel halt ongoing attacks in the Palestinian territory.
The meeting had originally been planned for Wednesday in the Mediterranean city of El-Alamein, and was set to include a Hamas delegation headed by chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, along with Palestinian factions such as the Islamic Jihad terror group and mediators from Egypt, Turkey and Qatar.
“Hamas and the Palestinian factions are expected to begin consultative meetings in Cairo next Saturday” ahead of meetings between the Palestinian movements and the mediators on Sunday, a source close to the negotiations says.
The source says Hamas has “requested to postpone the talks,” calling them meaningless amid “Israeli intransigence.”
Prices in the United States grew at a “moderate to strong pace” in recent weeks, largely driven by surging energy costs caused by the Iran war, the Federal Reserve says.
“Districts noted that energy-related costs tied to the conflict in the Middle East were the primary driver of inflationary pressures, with spillovers into shipping, packaging, groceries, and fertilizer,” the Fed says in its “beige book” survey of economic conditions in the United States.
The United States and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28, plunging the region into turmoil as Tehran’s retaliatory attacks hit Washington’s regional allies and virtually blocked the Strait of Hormuz. The blockade of the vital waterway — which sees roughly a fifth of global oil and gas supplies pass through it under normal circumstances — has seen energy prices skyrocket and significantly disrupted supply chains.
The Fed’s beige book presents a national summary of information gathered by each of the US central bank’s 12 districts through interviews with key business contacts, economists and other sources.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warns that any attack on Lebanese capital Beirut would trigger a “full-scale resumption” of the Middle East war, as Israel presses its campaign against Hezbollah.
“Any attack on Beirut will have grave consequences and will lead to a full-scale resumption of the war,” the Tasnim news agency quotes Araghchi as telling Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen TV. “Our armed forces are ready to strike Israel if it attacks Beirut.”
Araghchi also says that lines of communication with the United States are still open, but “no tangible progress” has been made in negotiations to end the Middle East war.
“Communications with the Americans have not been cut off, and messages have been exchanged regarding the need to stop aggression against Beirut, but no tangible progress has been made in the negotiation process,” he says.
“Returning to the negotiating table is conditional on ensuring the rights of the Iranian people, ending the war in Lebanon, and stopping tensions in the region.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and ministers condemn the attack on Justice Noam Sohlberg’s home tonight.
“I strongly condemn the violent riot against Justice Noam Sohlberg,” Netanyahu says, adding that the ultra-Orthodox rioters behind it should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
“Incitement, threats and attacks on the home of a judge in Israel are not a form of protest — they are the crossing of a dangerous red line, says Herzog. “Those who seek to intimidate the judicial system are harming not only an individual, but also the very foundations of Israeli democracy. No matter how deep the disagreement, it cannot be allowed to turn into violence and intimidation.”
Justice Minister Yariv Levin says: “The severe violence at the home of Deputy President of the Supreme Court Noam Sohlberg is a grave matter and deserves unequivocal condemnation. I hope that this time law enforcement authorities will fulfill their duty by bringing those responsible to justice and eradicating such violence.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir says: “The freedom to protest is a fundamental right, but it does not include the freedom of anarchy. I strongly condemn the small extremist group that threw stones, acted violently, and disturbed public order outside Justice Sohlberg’s home. This is not the way of the Torah, and this is not the way of a democratic state.”
Dozens of Haredi rioters descended on the home of Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg tonight, shattering windows and smashing flower pots outside the property to protest the arrest of ultra-Orthodox draft evaders.
Officers dispatched to the West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut, where Sohlberg and his wife reside, have detained “dozens of suspects,” police say.
The arrests were carried out after rioters attempted to flee the scene on a bus, Ynet reports. Police who arrived in the area stopped the vehicle and held the passengers there until reinforcements arrived to apprehend the suspects.
במחאה על חוק הגיוס: מפגינים חרדים הגיעו לביתו של שופט העליון סולברג pic.twitter.com/SaggruWSci
— לירן תמרי | Liran Tamari (@liran__tamari) June 3, 2026
Sohlberg and his wife were both at home during the incident, Hebrew outlets report. Footage from the scene shows that the window to the bathroom was shattered, alongside flower pots placed on the house’s doorstep.
תיעוד מהנזק בבית משפחת סולברג אחרי ההפגנה pic.twitter.com/x2cc1tBfS0
— שילה פריד???????? (@shilofreid) June 3, 2026
Standing outside the damaged house, the justice’s wife compares the riot to Kristallnacht, a deadly pogrom led by the Nazi regime against Germany’s Jews in 1938.
“The children of Holocaust survivors, Jews, hurting each one another so, how can this be?” Meira Sohlberg said in disbelief to reporters at the scene. “Look at this destruction, a pogrom, what is this, Kristallnacht?”
The IDF says it killed at least two Palestinian terror operatives who “posed a threat” to troops in the Gaza Strip yesterday.
In one incident in southern Gaza, the IDF says it struck and killed Ahmed Abu Mughaysib, the head of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket-launching cell.
The military says Abu Mughaysib was involved in advancing attacks on IDF troops and Israeli civilians, and took part in “facilitating smuggling attempts into the Gaza Strip.”
In another incident overnight, a strike targeted several Hamas operatives in central Gaza, who the military says advanced attacks on troops and “posed an imminent threat” to Israeli forces.
At least one Hamas operative was killed in the strike, the army says.
The High Court of Justice rules unanimously to annul the government’s policy prohibiting the Red Cross from visiting Palestinian security prisoners, stating that it is not supported by Israeli or international law.
The court rules that the state failed to present a legal foundation for its blanket policy of denying the Red Cross visiting rights to prisoners, which it allowed before the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion, despite “innumerable opportunities” and extensions given by the court to the government to do so.
The court also notes that the central justification by the government for its ban was previously that the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza were being denied Red Cross visits, but notes that the last hostages were released in October of last year.
It says, therefore, that the state must allow visits by Red Cross representatives to security prisoners and transmit information about their status, although it does not mention a timeframe at all.
The decision was issued by Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg and Justice Daphne Barak Erez, the three most senior judges on the court.
The government imposed a blanket ban on Red Cross visits following the October 7 attacks, and petitions were filed by human rights groups against the decision in February 2024. The court gave the state numerous extensions during the course of the case, and previously appeared reluctant to rule on what was an explosive issue due to the ongoing captivity of the Israeli hostages.
Barak Erez, who wrote the principal opinion for the court, says explicitly that it was “hard to countenance” the situation in which Israel’s hostages were suffering from severe conditions in Gaza without access to Red Cross visits, while some of those involved in the October 7 attacks were seeking such access.
She says, however, that under the current circumstances, the court does not need to deal with this “dilemma,” although she notes that “obligations under international law stand regardless of reciprocity.”
The petitioning organizations, led by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), lament the long-delayed decision, but express hope that the ruling will restrain what it says is “abuse” of prisoners at the hands of the Israel Prison Service.
“The situation in the prisons and military detention facilities is appalling. Since the beginning of the war, horrific testimonies have been received about the abuse, violence and starvation of Palestinian prisoners, without exception,” says Oded Feller, an attorney for ACRI.
“We regret that the legal process has taken so long. We hope that the return of the Red Cross to the prisons will finally lead to a curb on the abusive policies of the Prison Service.”
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir slams far-right MK Tzvi Sukkot over what he describes as a “political” visit to Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus that diverted military resources during wartime, Channel 12 reports.
In a letter published by the news outlet sent to senior officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, chair of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Boaz Bismuth and Defense Minister Israel Katz, Zamir writes that the May 19 visit was presented to the military as a professional oversight tour by a Knesset subcommittee chaired by Sukkot, but ultimately became a political and media event.
According to the letter, the IDF allocated extensive resources to secure the visit, including Border Police and military forces, drones, attack helicopters and secured evacuation routes. Zamir says that some of those resources came at the expense of other operational missions and that a battalion was diverted from Lebanon due to the risks associated with entering the site during daylight hours.
“Conducting a political tour under the guise of a security review, which requires operational resources, during wartime, is fundamentally unacceptable and must not be repeated,” Zamir writes.
Sukkot denies wrongdoing, telling Channel 12 that the planned committee discussion was canceled after its timing changed, though the tour itself still took place. He argues that such visits are often conducted solely by the committee chair.
The United Nations General Assembly has elected Austria, Kyrgyzstan, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zimbabwe to the 15-member UN Security Council for two-year terms starting on January 1, 2027.
Germany, which had lobbied hard for a seat, came third for the two places contested by the Western European and Others Group, with 104 votes, against 134 for Portugal and 131 for Austria.
The contest between the Philippines and Kyrgyzstan for the seat for the Asia-Pacific Group went to four rounds of voting, with Kyrgyzstan eventually achieving the necessary two-thirds majority and securing its first-ever Security Council seat by 142 votes to 49.
The Security Council is the only UN body that can make legally binding decisions such as imposing sanctions and authorizing the use of force.
It has five permanent veto-wielding members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
The remaining 10 members are elected, with five new members joining every year. This year, one comes from the Africa Group, one from the Latin American and Caribbean Group, one from the Asia-Pacific Group, and two from the Western European and Others Group.
Zimbabwe will replace Somalia and Trinidad and Tobago will replace Panama, while Portugal and Austria will replace Denmark and Greece. Kyrgyzstan will replace Pakistan.
Bahrain, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Latvia and Liberia will continue to serve as non-permanent members of the Security Council until the end of 2027.
Israeli authorities have extended the detention of a player on the Palestinian women’s national soccer team after she was summoned for questioning in Jerusalem, police say.
In a response to an AFP query about the detention extension for 20-year-old player Rand Halawani, Israeli police say her arrest came after an incident in which objects were thrown from a rooftop at demonstrators in Jerusalem earlier this week.
“Police arrested a male and female suspect, aged 18 and 20, residents of East Jerusalem, who are suspected of being the individuals documented throwing objects at demonstrators,” police say in a statement.
The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) denounces the prolonged detention of Halawani, who was arrested on Tuesday evening.
In a statement, it says Halawani’s arrest and that of a former national team player is “not an isolated incident, it is part of a well-documented pattern of systematic targeting of Palestinian athletes, which continues without accountability.”
According to the Palestinian governorate for Jerusalem, an Israeli court extended Halawani’s detention until Friday.
An anonymous Knesset member confirms reports that coalition members were pressured to document their votes in today’s Knesset vote for state comptroller, Channel 12 reports.
The MK says lawmakers faced “tremendous pressure” to back Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s preferred candidate, attorney Michael Rabello, and were asked to film themselves casting their ballots to prove their support.
According to the report, a senior coalition figure close to Netanyahu told lawmakers that sending proof of their vote would “make the prime minister happy” and was important for “the dignity of the prime minister and the coalition.”
At least one coalition MK who had initially voted for Rabello’s rival, retired Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron, is said to have changed their vote after being pressured to provide video evidence.
The allegations have prompted opposition calls to invalidate the vote and plans to petition the High Court of Justice.
After Iranian attacks on Kuwait damaged its airport and injured dozens, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says in a post on X that his country’s armed forces are conducting “self-defense strikes on sites the US is permitted to use to attack civilian shipping and violate the ceasefire.”
“Any hostile act will be met with an immediate, decisive response,” he adds.
During a visit to the Haifa Naval Base today, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says that in Lebanon, “there is no ceasefire for our forces.”
“We are working to maximize the freedom of action that has been granted to us and will seize every opportunity to remove threats to the citizens of Israel and to our forces,” he says, in remarks provided by the IDF.
Zamir also says that the Israeli Navy is becoming “an additional long-range strategic arm” of the military.
“Upon assuming my position, I directed the strengthening of the Navy as an additional long-range strategic arm of the IDF. We are now accelerating the implementation of the operational concept,” he says.
Zamir says the Navy has been operating “across all combat fronts, in challenging maritime arenas near and far, and in operations that cannot yet be disclosed to the public.”
“The IDF, across all its branches, is prepared to immediately return to combat against the Iranian terror regime. The Navy plays a decisive role in our ability to once again strike the terror regime with force, as we have done in the past,” he adds.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that he and US President Donald Trump are aligned on the goal of disarming Hezbollah in order to achieve peace between Israel and Lebanon.
Hezbollah “is an Iranian proxy that puts all the citizens of Lebanon at gunpoint and uses Lebanon as a platform to launch terror missiles into our cities, to launch killer drones against our civilians,” Netanyahu says in an interview with CNBC.
“And so if we want to save Lebanon, if we want to get a Lebanese-Israeli peace, as I do, we have to disarm Hezbollah and we have to demilitarize Lebanon. And I know that this is a goal that the president and I share, and that’s what we have to do.”
He also says Iran is “playing with fire” after the Islamic Republic carried out an attack on Kuwait.
“Iran surely knows what the president has said, that if necessary, there’ll be a full-scale return to military action,” Netanyahu says.
Asked if there is still a ceasefire following recent attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain, Netanyahu states, “You know, it’s the president’s decision. Israel is ready and the US forces are ready. I think Iran should take that into account. I think they are taking it into account, but they’re playing with fire, that’s clear.”
In an interview with CNBC, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not deny having a difficult conversation with Trump during a phone call on Monday, but downplays the significance of the matter.
“I’m not going to get into details of our conversations. We’ve had thousands, well, a lot of them,” he says. “And if you think this is a crisis, you should be in some other conversations. But we’ve always found a way.”
He says he and Trump agree on “the main things,” including the necessity of preventing Iran from posing a threat to Israel, the region and the world.
Netanyahu @CNBC : https://t.co/j3LQ6j3N5M pic.twitter.com/B221yN0Mq9
— Iris (@streetwize) June 3, 2026
“We have common goals. Sometimes we have, as in the best of families, you have these tactical disagreements,” he says. “We always find a way to work them out. And we do so as great friends. We can disagree in the morning, and by the afternoon, we have common actions. He respects me. I respect him. We always find a way to work out our differences.”
Asked about Trump reportedly telling him he’d “be in prison if it weren’t for me,” Netanyahu says, “I’m not going to get into the details, but he’s been very vocal about the absurdity of this fake trial that I’m going through.”
Kuwait says that its territory and airspace were not used to attack “any country,” denying Iranian claims that the United States launched strikes from there.
The denial comes as Kuwait summons Iran’s charge d’affaires, with Deputy Foreign Minister Hamad Suleiman Al-Mashaan issuing “Kuwait’s categorical rejection of the use of its territory or airspace in any hostile acts against any country, emphasizing that the false Iranian claims are baseless and do not rely on evidence,” a ministry statement says.
A Jewish British doctor who is immigrating to Israel has said doctors he met told him they would not treat patients who come from Israel even if their life was in danger.
Speaking to ITV News in a program on the rise in antisemitism, the London doctor, identified only as Baruch, said:
“It is very scary to me that I have met doctors who’ve said that they will not, point-blank, treat somebody who has come from certain areas of the world,” he said. “If they are dying in [the ER], I’ve been told by doctors that if they’re from Israel, then they will not treat that person. That to me is disgraceful.”
Baruch also says he has been threatened and berated on the streets repeatedly as a kippah-wearing Jew, including “Free Palestine” and “You don’t belong here.”
According to The Jewish Chronicle, the UK’s Department of Health called Baruch’s comments “shocking” and said that “it is unacceptable that people do not currently feel safe working in and using the health service.”
It acknowledged that “the medical healthcare professional regulatory system is failing to protect Jewish patients and NHS staff.”
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid says he will submit a petition on behalf of his and former prime minister Nafatli Bennett’s joint Together slate, over the election of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyer Michael Rabello as state comptroller, arguing that the secret-ballot vote was irreparably compromised by efforts to pressure Likud lawmakers into proving how they had voted.
“Likud has tainted the elections for state comptroller,” Lapid says in a statement, saying that he will petition the High Court of Justice over “the undermining of the secrecy of the vote, and following the Knesset speaker’s intervention on behalf of the Likud faction regarding the legal adviser’s position.”
“These were not free votes, but extortion of Likud MKs living under the threat of a price on their heads,” Bennett says, adding that the votes should be “disqualified.”
The criticism follows a chaotic election in which retired Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron, backed by the opposition, won the first round 60-57, falling just one vote short of the 61 needed for victory, meaning that several coalition lawmakers had defected. The second round of votes was halted over reports that Likud MKs had been pressured to photograph or film their votes to prove they’d voted for Rabello despite the election being conducted by secret ballot.
Knesset Speak Amir Ohana subsequently ordered the second round to be rerun from scratch but rejected advice from Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik to ban phones from the plenum, ruling that lawmakers could photograph themselves if they chose.
Rabello ultimately prevailed in the rerun, defeating Elron 61-57 in the second round.
More than 2,300 people from 478 families are expected to immigrate to Israel from North America this summer, according to Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organization that facilitates immigration.
For the year, Nefesh B’Nefesh expects to exceed the 4,150 North American immigrants it brought last year, which was one of the largest numbers in its 23-year history, a spokesperson notes.
Over the summer, which is the busiest immigration season of the year, Nefesh B’Nefesh will run 47 group flights operated by El Al, departing from major North American hubs, including New York, New Jersey, Miami, Boston and Los Angeles.
The organization attracted more than 650 prospective immigrants and family members to events in New Jersey and Toronto during the past week, organized in partnership with Israel’s Aliyah and Integration Ministry, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and Jewish National Fund-USA, the organization says.
“The summer aliyah season represents an important moment for both the olim and the State of Israel,” says Nefesh B’Nefesh co-founder and executive director Rabbi Yehoshua Fass. “These events provide an opportunity for families, friends and their local communities to celebrate that decision and ensure that every Oleh feels supported as they prepare for their futures in Israel.”
Col. Ayub Kayuf took charge of the IDF’s Golani Brigade from Col. Adi Gonen, during a handover ceremony held this morning at the Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon.
Kayuf previously commanded the Israeli Air Force’s elite Shaldag Unit, the Menashe Regional Brigade in the West Bank, and the Operations Department in the Operations Directorate.
Golani troops captured the strategic Beaufort Castle earlier this week.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, publishes a video showing a first-person view (FPV) drone with a night-vision camera flying around the castle, ostensibly on Monday. However, no Israeli troops are visible in the footage.
⭕️المقاومة الإسلامية في لبنان تنشر فيديو لتحليق استطلاعي ليلي بالتصوير الحراري لمحلّقة أبابيل الانقضاضيّة فوق قلعة الشقيف التاريخيّة ومحيطها جنوبيّ لبنان pic.twitter.com/OBUpPKJCLS
— قناة العالم (@v_alalamnews) June 3, 2026
Hate crimes targeting Jews spiked in New York City last month, compared to previous months.
There were 41 confirmed hate crimes targeting Jews in the city last month, according to NYPD data. The figure amounts to 60% of all hate crimes in the city in May, marking a slightly higher percentage than normal, and an average of one antisemitic hate crime every 18 hours.
Jews make up about 10% of the city’s population and are targeted in hate crimes in the city more than all other groups combined every month.
Experts say that many or most incidents are likely not reported to police.
Last month, there were three hate crimes targeting Asians, zero against Black people, one against an unspecified ethnicity, one based on gender, one against a Hispanic person, five against Muslims, 10 against unspecified religious groups, five based on sexual orientation, and one against a white person.
The antisemitic hate crimes in May marked a jump of 46% over the average for the previous three months. There were 30 confirmed antisemitic crimes in April, 32 in March, and 21 in February.
The NYPD changed its hate crime reporting in February, shifting from suspected incidents to confirmed incidents, so there is no data on confirmed incidents in January. After coming under criticism, the police now report both suspected and confirmed incidents.
So far this year, Jews have been targeted in 152 confirmed hate crimes in the city, accounting for 57% of the total — the same percentage as all of 2025. Hate crimes against all groups have increased 8.6% this year, compared to the same period last year. For Jews, incidents are up 6.3% this year.
The increase in hate crimes is bad news for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who took office on January 1 and had pledged to combat hatred in the city.
The prevalence of hate crimes is affected by a range of factors largely outside of the city government’s control, such as broad social trends, national and international news, and the weather. Warmer weather tends to correlate with an increase, for example, as more people come in contact outdoors, which could account for some of the increase last month.
Lawmakers vote 61-57 to elect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal lawyer Michael Rabello as state comptroller, following a day of unprecedented turmoil in which the second round of voting was halted and rerun amid allegations that Likud lawmakers were instructed to photograph — and even film — their ballots to prove they had voted for Rabello.
Rival candidate, the retired Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron, backed by the opposition, won the first round 60-57, falling just one vote short of the 61 needed for victory, meaning that several coalition lawmakers had defected.
The second round, which required a simple majority, was then plunged into chaos and ultimately halted amid reports that Likud MKs had been ordered or pressured to photograph or film their votes to prove they had voted for Rabello, despite the election being conducted by secret ballot, as required by law.
Coalition lawmakers suspected of backing Elron in the first round were summoned to Netanyahu’s office, while opposition politicians accused Likud of behaving like a “crime organization” and compared the affair to practices in authoritarian regimes.
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana ordered the second round to be rerun from scratch, calling any instruction to photograph ballots “illegal and invalid.” But he rejected advice from Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik to ban phones from the plenum, ruling that lawmakers could photograph themselves and their ballot paper if they chose. Several MKs, including Likud’s Sasson Guetta, and Ministers May Golan and Shlomo Karhi, did so.
The final result indicates that several coalition members who had voted for Elron in the first round changed course and backed Netanyahu’s choice of Rabello in the second.
Rabello has represented Netanyahu in various political negotiations, and both Netanyahu and his wife Sara in numerous legal proceedings.
The opposition is expected to petition the High Court of Justice to annul the vote over the irregularities in the process.
The state comptroller, who reports directly to the Knesset, is responsible, among other things, for the external oversight of the activities of government ministries and local government, and the financial affairs of political parties, safeguarding the public interest. The office is meant to be independent of the prime minister and the government.
Netanyahu congratulates Rabello on his election to the position, saying he will invite him in the coming days to their first working meeting.
“We will work together in full cooperation for the benefit of the public service in the State of Israel,” he says.
Speaking at a conference of the Israel Democracy Institute, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says: “It will take another two weeks, three weeks, maybe a little longer, before we announce that Gadi Eisenkot has joined us as well.”
Lapid recently joined with former prime minister Naftali Bennett to form the Together slate. The two have been pressuring Eisenkot, head of the Yashar party, to join them.
“Gadi is coming, the camp is uniting, just as the country needs to unite,” Lapid says.
Media outlets affiliated with Hamas report that two people were killed and others wounded, some seriously, in an IDF strike on a house in the al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
The IDF has not yet commented.
A four-month-old baby is in serious condition after being forgotten in a car near Rishon Lezion.
The infant was rushed in serious condition to Assaf Harofeh Medical Center.
The construction of 2,162 housing units in three West Bank settlements is approved by the Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration, a department of the Defense Ministry.
The committee approves 1,006 units for Gvaot in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank in one of the most important stages of the planning process, which will massively expand the settlement — where several dozen families currently live — and create homes for thousands of new residents.
Gvaot was established in 1997 as a neighborhood of existing settlement Alon Shvut, even though it lies some 3 kilometers (2 miles) northwest of Alon Shvut, in order to bypass the need for cabinet authorization of a new settlement.
The government formally authorized Gvaot as a new settlement in March 2025.
The Higher Planning Committee also approves 922 units for the settlement of Har Bracha in the Samaria region in an early stage of the planning process, which will triple the size of the settlement, currently home to 3,500 residents.
Another 234 units are approved for Kiryat Arba in the southern West Bank, adjacent to Hebron, in the last stage of the planning process.
“This is not just a planning step, but a national development that solidifies our hold on the territory, strengthens Israel’s security, and establishes clear facts that prevent the establishment of an Arab terrorist state in the heart of the country,” says far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Smotrich has been the architect of the government’s unprecedented expansion of the settlement movement, including approval of new settlements for the first time in decades; the retroactive legalization of formerly illegal settlement outposts; and a massive increase in approval for housing construction in the various planning stages.
Kuwait says it detected 30 ballistic missiles and drones launched as part of a “heinous Iranian aggression” in today’s attack.
“Since dawn today, the armed forces have detected and engaged 13 hostile ballistic missiles within Kuwaiti airspace. These missiles were intercepted over several residential areas, resulting in some debris falling. The armed forces also detected and engaged 17 hostile drones. This heinous Iranian aggression targeted civilian and vital facilities,” defense ministry spokesman Saud Abdulaziz al-Atwan says.
One person was killed and dozens injured in the attacks.
Two rockets launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon at the border community of Misgav Am a short while ago were intercepted by air defenses, the military says.
No injuries are reported in the attack.
Sirens had sounded in the community.
The Lebanese army says an Israeli strike today in the southern town of Deir ez-Zahrani targeted one of its military vehicles.
The strike wounded an officer and a soldier, the Lebanese Armed Forces says in a statement.
Israel says it is only targeting the Hezbollah terror group and not the Lebanese army, despite IDF strikes occasionally hitting members of the LAF amid the two and half years of fighting.
The IDF has not commented on the latest strike that wounded the two Lebanese soldiers, nor on a similar strike yesterday in the same area that wounded two other Lebanese soldiers.
بتاريخ ٣ /٦ /٢٠٢٦، استهدفت مسيّرة إسرائيلية معادية آلية للجيش على طريق دير الزهراني – النبطية، ما أدى إلى إصابة ضابط وعسكري بجروح، يأتي ذلك في سياق الاستهداف المتعمّد لعناصر الجيش وآلياته ومراكزه.
يتزامن ذلك مع الاعتداءات الإسرائيلية المتواصلة على لبنان، ولا سيما الجنوب، الأمر… pic.twitter.com/cCvXrJgNqT— الجيش اللبناني (@LebarmyOfficial) June 3, 2026
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana allows lawmakers to bring phones into the plenum as the second round of voting for state comptroller is rerun, despite advice from Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik that they be barred in order to protect the secrecy of the ballot, according to a Channel 12 report.
Afik reportedly warned that allowing phones into the voting area could enable MKs to document their votes, undermining the integrity of the secret ballot, but Ohana nevertheless ruled that lawmakers may photograph themselves if they choose.
The decision comes after an uproar in the plenum over reports that Likud lawmakers were instructed to photograph or film their ballots to prove they voted for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s preferred candidate, his lawyer Michael Rabello, halted the vote.
At least 63 people were injured in Iran’s attack on Kuwait, including airport workers and passengers, the health ministry says.
Kuwait’s foreign ministry said one person was killed in the Iranian attack.
An Israir flight was prevented from landing in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana earlier today, with authorities citing opposition to Israeli government policies, Hebrew-language media reports.
The plane circled for a while before landing in Croatia, reports say.
Israir’s CEO, Uri Sirkis, tells Channel 13 that the incident “is a blatant violation of the European Union’s aviation agreements.”
The Foreign Ministry decries the incident as “completely unacceptable.”
“Israel has made it clear to the Slovenian authorities that this is a completely unacceptable step,” the Foreign Ministry says. “A new government is expected to be formed in Slovenia soon to replace the outgoing hostile government, and Israel expects a significant improvement in relations between the countries.”
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana announces that the second round of voting for state comptroller will begin again from scratch after the process was halted amid an uproar over reports that Likud lawmakers were instructed to photograph themeselves voting for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s preferred candidate, attorney Michael Rabello.
“If there was any instruction from anyone to photograph ballots in the voting booth, it was illegal and invalid. Of course, every voter has the right to choose whether to photograph themselves,” says Ohana, adding that “in order to preserve the integrity of the process and remove any doubt, we will begin the second-round vote again from the start.”
According to a Channel 12 report, MKs were instructed to film the entire voting process, including placing their ballot in the envelope, despite the vote being conducted by secret ballot.
The incident has sparked fierce criticism from opposition lawmakers, who accuse Likud of violating the integrity of the election.
Democrats chairman Yair Golan calls Likud “a crime family” and says it must be fought like one, while Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman accuses Netanyahu of trying to turn the Knesset into “a house of rags,” declaring that “North Korea is here.”
“Once, [Netanyahu] wanted to photograph Arab citizens as they voted in elections. Today he wants to photograph his servants as they vote in the Knesset,” says Hadash-Ta’al chairman Ayman Odeh, referring to past efforts by Likud to place cameras in Arab polling stations.
“I only hope I will get to photograph his final departure from the Prime Minister’s Office, and from there to the dustbin of history,” Odeh adds.
Democrats MK Naama Lazimi calls the directive to photograph ballots “mafia-style and illegal,” describing Likud as “a full-fledged crime organization,” while Yesh Atid MK Moshe Tur-Paz similarly denounces the affair as “the conduct of a crime organization.”
“The criminal and illegal disgrace taking place now in the state comptroller election is only a preview of the next Knesset election,” says Democrats MK and former Labor chair Merav Michaeli.
Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak warns that “if you have any doubt whether Likud will try to undermine the integrity of elections, look at what is happening right now in the plenum with the election of the state comptroller. This is only the introduction.”
The Knesset temporarily pauses the second round of voting for state comptroller following an uproar in the plenum over reports that lawmakers from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud were instructed to photograph their ballots to prove they voted for Netanyahu’s preferred candidate, his lawyer Michael Rabello, despite the vote being conducted by secret ballot.
According to Hebrew media reports, Likud faction manager Aliza Broshi instructed lawmakers to take a selfie showing their vote, in violation of Knesset law, after Rabello received only 57 votes in the first round of voting. His rival, retired Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron, received 60 votes, meaning that several coalition lawmakers backed the opposition-supported candidate.
Channel 12 news says the lawmakers were not only asked to photograph their ballots, but in fact were requested to film the whole process of putting the slip of paper into the envelope.
Hebrew media also reports that several Likud MKs suspected of voting for Elron are currently being summoned to Netanyahu’s office.
“Likud’s demand that members of Knesset photograph themselves during a secret ballot is a disgrace and an affront to the Knesset of Israel,” says Blue and White leader Benny Gantz.
US President Donald Trump says Iran has agreed not to obtain nuclear weapons amid ongoing talks with Tehran on a deal, during his interview with The New York Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast.
“We can’t let them have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve already agreed they’re not gonna have a nuclear weapon,” Trump says.
“They’ve agreed to that. They can change their mind, but that’s, that was one of the things they had to agree, they agreed to that – that was the big thing,” he says.
It is unclear in what form Iran ostensibly agreed not to have a nuclear weapon. The White House has confirmed reports that, under the memorandum of understanding being discussed between the sides, Iran will formally commit not to pursue nuclear weapons.
Trump says he believes that Iran’s newly elected supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is “involved, absolutely” in talks on ending the war and that “[Iranians] have a lot of respect for him,” though he declined to comment on reports that he was severely injured during Israel’s opening strikes in the war that killed his father, the late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and other members of his family.
“I’d like to meet him,” Trump says, adding, “I’d love to meet everybody. I would like to meet him, and we probably will meet at some point, depending on how it all works out.”
US President Donald Trump confirms that he called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “fucking crazy” during a Monday phone call about Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah, but adds that he respects Netanyahu and works “very well” with him, during an hourlong interview on the “Pod Force One” podcast.
“I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon,” Trump tells podcast host Miranda Devine, while noting, “I like Bibi a lot. And I work very well with him.”
Trump’s “expletive-laden” rant at Netanyahu was first reported on Monday by Axios, and later denied by Israeli officials.
The Knesset is holding a second secret ballot for state comptroller after neither candidate secured the support of a majority of lawmakers in the first round of voting, with a number of coalition lawmakers apparently not voting for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s preferred candidate.
Retired Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron, the opposition’s favored candidate, received 60 votes, falling one short of the 61 needed for election, while Netanyahu’s lawyer Michael Rabello received 57 votes.
One ballot was a blank piece of paper, Channel 12 news reports.
Under the State Comptroller Law, if neither candidate wins the backing of at least 61 MKs in the first round, a second ballot is held, after which the candidate who receives a majority of the votes will be declared the winner, even without getting 61 votes.
Former prime minister and leader of the Together slate Naftali Bennett unveils a plan to create a unified national education system, pledging to end state funding for “independent and party-affiliated institutions” and require all publicly funded institutions to teach a core curriculum.
“The goal of this plan is to create a single education system that brings together all parts of Israeli society under one Israeli story,” says Bennett in a speech at Israel Democracy Institute’s Eli Hurvitz Conference, calling it “the greatest social revolution since the establishment of the state.”
Under the proposal, schools receiving public funding will be required to devote at least 60 percent of instruction time to core subjects, including Hebrew, English, mathematics, Bible studies, civics, and Zionism, while remaining free to devote the rest of their curriculum to subjects of their choosing. Arab schools will teach Quran, he says.
Israel’s education system is currently divided into multiple streams, including the state secular and state religious systems, alongside ultra-Orthodox school networks that receive state funding despite largely not teaching core subjects such as mathematics, science and English, with the state turning a blind eye given the Haredi parties’ pivotal role in successive coalition governments.
Bennett says that separate education systems have created “separate states” within Israel, including “an independent, anti-Zionist Haredi state” which is funded by taxpayers, as well as Arab schools, particularly in the Negev, which he says “don’t teach Hebrew and employ Palestinian teachers.”
He says that his government will halt funding for educational institutions that operate outside the state system, declaring that “if it’s not state education, it’s not on my tab.”
At the same time, Bennett says his plan would strengthen the state-Haredi school system through investment in teachers, school leadership, and infrastructure while preserving its ultra-Orthodox identity.
The Galilee Medical Center announces that, in light of the changing security situation in northern Israel, the hospital is “once again returning aboveground.”
The hospital staff had brought all the inpatient wards to the hospital’s protected areas on Saturday.
Kuwait says Iranian attacks on its territory killed one person and wounded several others, as well as forcing its airport to close and damaging unnamed diplomatic missions.
Kuwait’s foreign ministry condemns the attacks “that once again targeted vital and civilian infrastructure, including Kuwait International Airport, killing one person and injuring others, in addition to causing damage to vital infrastructure including diplomatic missions.”
Iran executed Fathollah Avari, a man convicted of fatally stabbing a police officer during unrest in the western city of Hamadan in January, the judiciary’s news outlet Mizan reports.
The report said the sentence was carried out after being upheld by the Supreme Court.
A suspected Hezbollah drone launched from Lebanon was intercepted by air defenses over the Kiryat Shmona area, the military says.
The drone and fears of falling shrapnel following the interception triggered sirens in the northern city and nearby communities.
The attack comes despite a nominal ceasefire.
The IDF issues evacuation warnings for three more villages and towns in southern Lebanon ahead of airstrikes targeting the Hezbollah terror group.
Residents of Jbaa, Houmine El Faouqa, and Arkey are instructed to evacuate at least a kilometer away.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemns what it describes as US attacks on an Iranian oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and a telecommunications tower on Qeshm Island, saying they violated a ceasefire understanding and international law.
The ministry says Kuwait and Bahrain bore “direct and clear responsibility” for the attacks, alleging their territory and facilities had been used to support US military operations against Iran.
Tehran says it reserves the right to self-defense and will use all available means to respond, including by targeting the source of any future attacks.
Sirens warning of a drone attack from Lebanon sound in Kiryat Shmona and nearby towns in the Galilee Panhandle.
A rocket alert also sounds in the area.
The IDF says the details are under review.
Voting is underway in a secret ballot at the Knesset in a race for the next state comptroller that will see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyer Michael Rabello face off against opposition candidate retired Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron.
Lawmakers place their votes in an envelope in a booth behind a curtain to ensure secrecy.
The state comptroller has the authority to audit and review the functioning of government ministries and agencies and examine whether they are acting legally, efficiently and properly.
Iran’s World Cup squad will arrive early on Sunday in Mexico where they will be based for the duration of the global football tournament, a team statement says.
The Iran players, who have been at a training camp in the southern Turkish resort of Antalya since May 18, are still waiting for their US visas.
The 2026 World Cup, which is being jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, runs from June 11 to July 19.
Tensions over the war have complicated the US visa issue, with Iran’s football federation chief Mehdi Taj saying last month that Team Melli was shifting its World Cup base from Tucson in the US state of Arizona to the northwestern Mexican border city of Tijuana.
Berlin will rename a section of a street near Germany’s parliament after Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial and museum, in a move intended to show the country’s commitment to Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism.
The Berlin Senate has approved renaming a stretch of Dorotheenstrasse in the Mitte district as Yad-Vashem-Strasse, Yad Vashem says in a statement.
The street borders Wilhelmstrasse, once the center of power in Nazi Germany where plans for the persecution and mass murder of Jews were developed and coordinated, Yad Vashem notes. The area once housed Adolf Hitler’s Reich Chancellery and the Reich Security Main Office.
The official renaming ceremony is scheduled for January 20, 2027, marking the 85th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference. On January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials met at a villa on Berlin’s Wannsee Lake to coordinate what became known as the “Final Solution,” the systematic murder of Europe’s Jews.
“The symbolism of the date is enormous. There could hardly have been a better one for the day of the renaming,” says Kai Diekmann, chair of the Friends of Yad Vashem. “With this, Berlin is sending a strong signal against antisemitism and for preserving the memory of the crimes against humanity committed in the name of Germany.”
The announcement comes several days after Yad Vashem said it selected Munich as the site for its first Holocaust education center outside Israel, with plans to strengthen Holocaust education and combat rising antisemitism and historical distortion in Europe.
Lebanese media reports that an Israeli strike hit a car in the town of Khalde, just south of the capital Beirut.
Two more vehicles were reportedly targeted in the southern town of Deir ez-Zahrani.
The IDF has not yet commented.
Lebanon’s aviation regulator has launched a safety audit of Middle East Airlines (MEA) as pilot groups raised concerns that crews were being asked to fly close to airstrikes and penalized for reporting safety incidents, according to letters seen by Reuters.
The audit puts scrutiny on the Beirut-based flag carrier, which has kept the country connected through war and financial collapse even as many foreign airlines have avoided large parts of Middle East airspace because of missile and drone risks since the US-Israeli war against Iran began in February.
MEA, which has a fleet of around 20 planes operating in the Middle East, Europe and West Africa, has been praised at home for continuing to fly during regional conflict and helping to prop up a weak economy that is more dependent than ever on tourism and remittances from expatriates.
The airline says it has a strong and proven safety record, and that any flights during military hostilities were conducted based on risk assessments developed alongside Lebanon’s government and aviation regulator, the Lebanese Civil Aviation Authority (LCAA).
But since 2024, multiple Israeli airstrikes have landed near Lebanon’s largest airport, raising concerns among the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA), a global federation of pilot unions, given the history of civilian aircraft being shot down in or near conflict zones.
The aviation concerns have grown as Israeli strikes on Lebanon stepped up this year during a widening conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Police say they arrested a teen suspected of repeatedly clubbing a guard dog during a raid on the Palestinian village of Atara, near Ramallah last month.
In a statement, police say the suspect is a 16-year-old from the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim who had been on the run since the attack.
The assault on the animal came to prominence after footage was circulated on social media.
The suspect will appear in court today, where police will request an extension to his detention.
A resident of Atara told The Times of Israel last month that the dog survived the attack.
Critics accuse the government and law enforcement of turning a blind eye to violent attacks by settler extremists, which have become increasingly deadly in recent years and occur on a near-daily basis. Arrests are rare and prosecutions are even less common.
The military recorded 867 incidents of nationalistic crime and settler violence in 2025, compared to 682 incidents in 2024.
The IDF issues evacuation warnings for three villages and towns in southern Lebanon ahead of airstrikes targeting the Hezbollah terror group.
Residents of Arzay, Mazraat Kauthariyet al-Rez, and Zrariyeh are instructed to evacuate and head north of the Zahrani River.
“In light of the Hezbollah terror organization’s violations of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF is forced to act against it with force and does not intend to harm you,” warns army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee.
An Israeli civilian from the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak was extracted by the Palestinian Authority’s security forces from the West Bank Palestinian city of Qalqilya overnight.
The Civil Administration, a branch of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator for Government Affairs in the Territories (COGAT), says it received a report of an Israeli wandering around Qalqilya, “endangering his well-being.”
“Upon receiving the report, officers from the Ephraim District Coordination and Liaison office acted to provide immediate protection to the Israeli and at the same time, to transfer him to the security forces through coordination channels,” the Civil Administration says, referring to the Palestinian Authority.
According to a preliminary investigation, the Bnei Brak resident entered the West Bank city with his vehicle to meet with a resident of Qalqilya, the Civil Administration says.
“Residents who recognized an Israeli in the area filed a report on the matter, and he was extracted from the city,” the Civil Administration adds.
The man is set to be questioned by police over his entry to Qalqilya, as Israelis are barred from entering West Bank areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
Kuwait says it had suspended commercial flights after an Iranian drone attack hit the country’s airport, wounding a number of people.
Defense Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi says that “a number of hostile drones” had targeted Kuwait International Airport’s passenger building, severely damaging the building and injuring “a number of individuals.”
The drone attack came after Iran and the United States traded missile strikes overnight, with the US military saying it had launched strikes on an Iranian military facility in retaliation for Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait and Bahrain.
The Knesset is set to vote for the next state comptroller today in a race that will see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyer Michael Rabello face off against opposition candidate retired Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron.
Netanyahu is reported to have personally pushed for Rabello’s nomination. Rabello has represented the premier before the High Court of Justice on multiple occasions, including regarding petitions demanding that a state commission of inquiry be established into the failures surrounding the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, invasion and atrocities.
Coalition lawmakers, including members of Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, had sought to nominate Elron, who is seen as a staunch conservative jurist, but the prime minister pushed for Rabello’s candidacy instead, according to Channel 12.
According to Haaretz, it is unclear if all the coalition lawmakers will vote for Rabello.
The state comptroller, elected by secret ballot in the Knesset, has the authority to audit and review the functioning of government ministries and agencies and examine whether they are acting legally, efficiently and properly.
CBS News fires longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley, a day after he reportedly said Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss was “murdering the show” and accused its new producer of having “slender qualifications” for the job. The move deepens the turmoil at the nation’s most influential TV news program and the news unit that oversees it.
Pelley had criticized the program’s leadership during a meeting Monday between the show’s staff and Nick Bilton, the new executive producer named by Weiss last week, according to a detailed report on the Status website.
In a termination notice obtained by The Associated Press, Bilton, a former technology journalist and filmmaker with no traditional broadcast news experience, accuses Pelley of carrying out an “ambush” against him.
“Yesterday, you hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt,” the letter states.
Pelley’s agent does not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Dylan Byers, a senior correspondent for Puck who covers the media, posts a statement on X that quotes the former CBS News anchor as saying he had been asked to undertake questionable journalism that involved “falsehoods and bias.”
“I depart after 37 years at CBS with one emotion — a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again,” the statement quotes Pelley as saying.
Status, which said it had heard a recording of the Monday meeting, reports that Pelley grilled Bilton about the firings last week of Bilton’s predecessor, Tanya Simon, and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega. He also allegedly said that Weiss, who was not present at the meeting, was brought in to kill the news outlet, “and she’s doing exactly that.”
In the dismissal letter, Bilton says Pelley’s “performative display of hostility” demonstrates that he has “no interest in contributing to the future success of the show.”
Adam Hamawy, a US Army veteran and trauma surgeon who is a fierce opponent of Israel, wins a crowded Democratic primary to succeed retiring Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman in central New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District.
Hamawy wins among a dozen candidates with the support of progressives like Senator Bernie Sanders, who endorsed Hamawy’s campaign in the heavily Democratic district.
He also had the backing of Illinois Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, who has said he saved her life when she was injured while they were both serving in Iraq.
Hamawy has faced scrutiny over his connections back in the early 1990s to Omar Abdel Rahman, the “Blind Sheikh” convicted on terrorism charges in 1995 linked to the World Trade Center bombing two years earlier and other plotted attacks.
The US military reports a fresh Iranian drone attack targeting American forces in Kuwait.
“US Central Command air defenses successfully downed multiple drones and ensured no American personnel or assets were harmed,” says a CENTCOM statement posted online.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps claims it attacked the US Fifth Fleet headquarters and an airbase and helicopters in a regional country using missiles and drones, in response to what the IRGC describes as a US attack on an a communications tower south of Qeshm Island.
The IRGC also says its navy targeted a vessel it identifies as Panaya with missiles in response to what it says was a US attack on an Iranian tanker near the Strait of Hormuz with a projectile that damaged the engine room.
“Disrupting the security of the Strait of Hormuz will carry a heavy price for the US military,” local media cites the IRGC as saying.
Two Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait fell short or broke apart en route, and three missiles launched at Bahrain were intercepted by US and Bahrain forces, the US military says.
US Central Command adds that Iran launched ballistic missiles toward regional neighbors but all failed to hit targets, and that US forces conducted strikes on Qeshm Island in response to attempted attacks by Iran and defeated multiple Iranian ballistic missiles and drones on Tuesday.
“No US personnel were harmed. CENTCOM forces remain vigilant and ready to defend against unwarranted Iranian aggression during the ongoing ceasefire,” says a statement from Central Command.
The US touts “progress” after Tuesday’s talks it brokered at the State Departments between Israeli and Lebanese diplomatic representatives.
It was the fourth such meeting of ambassadors in Washington, which will happen again on Wednesday.
Delegations from Israel and Lebanon met today at State for the fourth round of direct talks, held under U.S. auspices. Progress continues on the political and security tracks as we break from the failures of the past 20 years and advance toward a comprehensive agreement aimed at… pic.twitter.com/Oc71MXnE1W
— Tommy Pigott (@statedeptspox) June 2, 2026
Bahrain’s interior ministry says that a warning siren has sounded and urges citizens and residents to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place.
Kuwait’s army says that air defenses are intercepting hostile missile and drone attacks and urges the public to follow security and safety instructions issued by the relevant authorities.
Any sounds of explosions heard are the result of interceptions, the army adds.
Explosions have been heard in the area of Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, Mehr news agency reports, citing local sources and residents.
The US military says it disabled a Botswana-flagged unladen oil tanker, M/T Lexie, after it attempted to sail toward Iran’s Kharg Island.
“The ship’s crew ignored repeated warnings, failing to comply with directions from US forces multiple times over a 24-hour period,” says a statement from CENTCOM. “A US aircraft ultimately disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into the ship’s engine room, preventing the tanker from reaching Iran.”
The CENTCOM says the ship is the sixth its disabled since the US launched a blockade of Iranian ports in April.
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) June 2, 2026
