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The Times of Israel liveblogged Tuesday’s events as they unfolded.
US official: Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar a ‘psychopath and messianic’
Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar speaks during a rally marking Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, in Gaza City, April 14, 2023. (Mohammed Abed/AFP)
Barbara Leaf calls Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar a “psychopath” and “messianic” in testimony before a Senate subcommittee hearing.
The US assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs is asked to characterize the role Qatar has played in mediating between Israel and Hamas throughout the war.
Leaf acknowledges that there have long been mixed feelings in Israel regarding the role of Qatar, which has hosted Hamas leaders and provided funds to Gaza at the request of the US and Israel.
“Qatar really does punch above its weight, and it has a nimbleness of approach with a variety of actors that we don’t have relations with, but that we need to communicate with… They have worked tirelessly on this hostage piece,” she says. “There has been very understandable frustration from the families, from the Israeli government [who say], ‘Can’t Qatar do more? Can’t the US put more pressure on Qatar to put more pressure on Hamas?’
“There’s a cadre of political officials of Hamas in Doha — and boy do they squeeze them, I can assure you they squeeze them — But at the end of the day, there’s one guy 10 stories below the ground: a psychopath, messianic in his own belief that he has established himself in history, and [he believes that] there’s a sunk cost of having lost thousands of fighters and carnage in Gaza,” Leaf says, indicating that Doha doesn’t have the same leverage over Sinwar, who is the ultimate decisionmaker.
“Qatar’s ability to do the indirect mediation is critical to our interest and to Israel’s, but I would say they have become a very trusted partner of ours,” she adds.
Senior US official says Israel not behind aid distribution woes in Gaza
A bundle of humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip with the logo of World Central Kitchen (WCK) on a truck at the Kerem Shalom border crossing in southern Israel, on May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
A senior US official says Israel is not behind the limited distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza.
“I wouldn’t say there is sufficient humanitarian aid going into Gaza — by no stretch of the imagination, but it is not because Israel is trying to impede it,” US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf says in testimony to a Senate subcommittee.
She says a series of factors are behind the dire humanitarian situation, including a breakdown in security apparatuses needed for the distribution of aid once it enters the Kerem Shalom Crossing in southern Gaza.
“As the IDF has stepped back, various violent actors have stepped in, to the point where the much-diminished Hamas enforcers cannot get control of independent families and gangs,” Leaf says, adding that humanitarian workers are facing incredibly high risks and that the US is working with Israel to ameliorate some of these issues.
Aid organizations have argued that Israel’s continued military operations are the reason for the distribution bottlenecks, with convoys routinely held up or turned back at IDF checkpoints throughout the Strip. Israel announced that it would be implementing daily localized pauses to allow more aid to be distributed earlier this week, but aid groups say they have yet to lead to improvements on the ground.
Jerusalem has routinely argued that the UN and other agencies are failing to keep up with the amount of aid it is getting into Gaza.
No one wants to see regional war in Middle East – Pentagon
The United States does not want to see a wider regional war in the Middle East, the Pentagon says.
“I’m not going to get into hypotheticals and speculate on what might happen other than to say no one wants to see a wider regional war,” Major General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson tells reporters when asked about Israel’s move to approve operational plans for war.
Gantz pans Netanyahu for pressing local leaders to back rabbis bill amid war
War cabinet minister Benny Gantz at a Jerusalem Day ceremony in Jerusalem, on June 5, 2024. (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)
National Unity leader Benny Gantz slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for soliciting support tonight from the heads of local authorities for a controversial bill regulating the appointment of municipal rabbis.
“It took me two months to convince the prime minister to summon the heads of authorities from the south and the north to discuss the needs of the residents during the war,” he tweets.
“It took him almost eight months to approve the plan to support the residents of the north. The meeting tonight with the aim of convincing heads of authorities to support the municipal rabbis law is a violation of the basic trust between the state and its residents. This is not how you run a war.”
His comments come after reports emerged that Netanyahu invited the heads of local authorities for an impromptu meeting on the bill, seeking their support as it faces fierce opposition from members of his coalition.
Air defenses shoot down suspected drone over the sea in north, army says
Israeli air defenses shot down a suspected drone over the sea just off the coast of Gesher HaZiv in northern Israel, close to Lebanon, the military says.
No sirens sounded “according to protocol,” the army says.
Meanwhile, the IDF says fighter jets struck several Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, including infrastructure in Taybeh, Odaisseh, and Jebbayn, and a building in Ayta ash-Shab.
It publishes footage of the strikes and the interception.
Israeli air defenses shot down a suspected drone over the sea, just off the coast of Gesher HaZiv in northern Israel, close to Lebanon, the military says.
No sirens sounded "according to protocol," the army says.
Meanwhile, the IDF says fighter jets struck several Hezbollah… pic.twitter.com/Zw02gsZu0m
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) June 18, 2024
NY Times: US Gaza aid pier may be dismantled soon, after little success
The aid pier built by the US for some $200 million may soon be dismantled, having so far completed a total of 10 days of actual operations, The New York Times reports.
Officials have told aid organizations in Gaza the pier could be taken apart early in July, the paper reports, having done little to alleviate goods shortages in the Strip.
The pier has been mostly inoperative since it was inaugurated in mid-May due to weather damage, weather threats, security concerns and the like.
White House responds to Netanyahu: We genuinely don’t know what he’s talking about
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during a briefing at the White House, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The White House says it has no idea what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is talking about after the premier claimed earlier today that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had agreed to remove “bottlenecks” after months of delays in US weapons and ammunition shipments to Israel.
“We genuinely do not know what he’s talking about. We just don’t,” White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre says when asked about Netanyahu’s claim during a press conference.
“There was one particular shipment of munitions that was paused, and you’ve heard us talk about that many times. We continue to have constructive conversations with the Israelis for the release of that particular shipment and don’t have any updates on that. There are no other pauses or holds in place… Everything else is moving in due process,” she adds.
Qatari PM meets Hamas leader to pressure group to accept ceasefire deal
Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani gives a joint press conference with the visiting US Secretary of State in Doha on June 12, 2024. (Ibraheem Al-Omari/Pool/AFP)
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani met earlier today with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, pressing him to compromise on some of the revisions it submitted last week to Israel’s hostage-ceasefire proposal, a government official familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel.
Another source familiar with the matter says that the main stumbling blocks to a deal remain Hamas’s demand for Israel to agree to a permanent ceasefire and complete withdrawal of IDF troops in the first phase of the deal, while Israel is insisting it will only agree to end the war after all hostages are released and after Hamas has been removed from power.
Top Israeli generals approve Lebanon offensive battle plans, army says
The head of IDF Northern Command Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin (left) and head of the Operations Directorate Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk (right) hold an assessment, July 18, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The head of the IDF’s Northern Command Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin and head of the Operations Directorate Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk approved Lebanon battle plans today, the military says.
In a statement, the IDF says the generals held an assessment, during which “operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved.”
The top commanders also made decisions regarding “accelerating the readiness of the forces on the ground,” the military adds.
The announcement comes amid repeated attacks by Hezbollah and allied Palestinian terror groups in Lebanon on northern Israel, with fears of a wider conflict.
Israel has warned it can no longer tolerate Hezbollah’s presence along its border following the October 7 atrocities, and has warned that should a diplomatic solution not be reached, it will turn to military action to push Hezbollah northward.
Ben Gvir: Police chief putting on a ridiculous show, wants to join the protest camp
Otzma Yehudit party leader National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on June 3, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
After Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai warned earlier of what he said were the dangers of a law giving broad powers over police policy to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, the minister assails Shabtai, calling the document he filed with the court setting out his position “no more than a ridiculous show.”
According to Ben Gvir, “over the past year, the police commissioner did his best, though not with great success, to carry out my policies.”
The minister claims that “with his time in office coming to an end and his desire to be part of the [anti-government protest] camp, he has begun to adopt positions challenging me, through flattery to the attorney general and substandard work.”
FM says Hezbollah would be destroyed in a ‘total war’
Foreign Minister Israel Katz attends a plenum session at the Knesset in Jerusalem on May 29, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Israel warns the Iran-backed Hezbollah it would be destroyed in the event of a “total war,” after a US envoy called for de-escalation on the Lebanese border as tensions flare.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz’s comments come after Hezbollah published a more than nine-minute video showing drone footage purportedly taken by the terror group over northern Israel, including parts of the city and port of Haifa.
Israel and Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, have traded near-daily cross-border fire since the Palestinian terror group’s October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in the Gaza Strip.
“We are very close to the moment when we will decide to change the rules of the game against Hezbollah and Lebanon,” Katz says, quoted in a statement from his office.
“In a total war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be hit hard.”
Thousands of protesters demand early elections outside the Knesset
Former defense minister Moshe Ya'alon speaks at an anti-government protest outside the Knesset in Jerusalem in June 18, 2024. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)
Thousands of anti-government protesters are demonstrating outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, calling for early elections and the government’s ouster.
The demonstration is taking place on the third consecutive day of what protest groups are calling a “week of disruption” aimed at replacing the government.
Former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon speaks to the crowd outside the Knesset, decrying Netanyahu and his government for not having a clear goal in the ongoing Gaza war, and for not planning for the day after the fighting ends.
“Since the founding of this government, the security situation has worsened, our economy has declined,” says Yaalon, accusing the current coalition of being “prepared to sacrifice the hostages for the messianic outlook” of government ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
“We are the majority and this is why they [the members of the government] worry about elections. We are demanding elections, now!” he continues.
Shas calls Otzma Yehudit claims of deal with Ra’am ‘a complete lie’
In a statement, the Shas party calls Otzma Yehudit’s claim “a complete lie,” declaring that it has not made “any agreement with any Arab party or any opposition party to support the Rabbis Law” and expects to pass it with all 64 members of the coalition voting in favor in the Knesset plenum.
Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben Gvir is “spreading lies in order to blackmail Shas into accepting the appointment of rabbis he desires, or the appointment of one chief rabbi or another,” the ultra-Orthodox party says.
“Shas expects that the coalition agreement signed with it will be fulfilled, and if Itamar Ben Gvir decides to violate coalition discipline and vote against the law, the responsibility will be solely on him.”
IDF carries out strikes in Lebanon as rocket and drone sirens ring out in north
The IDF says it carried out a series of strikes in southern Lebanon today, targeting several Hezbollah operatives involved in launching drones.
The operatives were part of Hezbollah’s aerial forces unit, which the military says was behind dozens of explosive-laden drone attacks on northern Israel and other surveillance operations.
In the past hour, sirens rang out several times in northern communities signaling rocket launches and suspected drone infiltrations.
Three French teens suspected of antisemitic rape of 12-year-old Jewish girl
Illustrative: A view of Paris suburb Courbevoie (YouTube screenshot)
Three French teens are suspected of assaulting and raping a 12-year-old Jewish girl in the Paris area with an antisemitic motive, according to French media.
Le Parisien reports that the girl and her parents filed a police report in the capital’s suburb of Courbevoie. They accused the girl’s ex-boyfriend, 12, and two other boys, aged 13 and 14, of leading her into a shed where they beat her and raped her, all while threatening to kill her and insulting her for her religion.
Prosecutors confirmed the incident to the paper. The three suspects are currently under arrest. A gynecological examination confirmed the girl was raped.
Questioned on the allegations, the suspects allegedly admitted to some of the facts, while the former boyfriend said he was angry the girl had ostensibly hidden her religion from him.
Blinken: Only one weapons shipment to Israel withheld, everything else moving normally
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken reacts to questions by the media during a joint press conference with Moldova's President Maia Sandu at the Moldovan Presidency in Chisinau, Moldova, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, Pool)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken responds to Netanyahu’s claim that the Biden administration is withholding weapons and ammunition transfers, insisting that only one shipment of heavy bombs has been withheld and that all remaining transfers are continuing.
Earlier today, Netanyahu released an English-language video statement in which he called the US move “inconceivable” and revealed that Blinken had assured him in their meeting last week that the administration was working to remove these “bottlenecks.”
Appearing at a Washington press conference alongside visiting NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Blinken is asked whether Netanyahu’s account was accurate.
“We are continuing to review one shipment that President Biden has talked about with regard to 2000-pound bombs because of our concerns about their use in a densely populated area like Rafah. That remains under review,” Blinken responds. “But everything else is moving as it normally would move… with the perspective of making sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against this multiplicity of challenges [it faces].”
Pressed again to answer whether Netanyahu was telling the truth, Blinken responds, “I’m not going to talk about what we said in diplomatic conversations.”
Otzma Yehudit says won’t accept alleged deal to see Ra’am abstain on rabbis bill
The far-right Otzma Yehudit party accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud of entering into a “political deal” with the Shas and Ra’am parties in order to pass a controversial bill regulating municipal rabbis in the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.
Otzma Yehudit claims that the deal would see Ra’am chief Mansour Abbas abstain from voting on the measure. The party, which accuses Ra’am of supporting terror, though the latter party has repeatedly spoken out against terrorism, says it will not cooperate with such a deal.
Netanyahu to meet families of dead Gaza hostages; some refuse
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a Knesset plenum session in Jerusalem on May 27, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has invited relatives of hostages killed in Gaza to a meeting at his home, several families tell AFP.
“I was invited to meet the prime minister,” says Sharon Sharabi, whose brothers Yossi and Eli were kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7.
In February, the army told Sharabi that his brother Yossi had been killed and his body was in the hands of Hamas. He says he will accept the invite.
But a family member of a hostage who died in captivity tells AFP on condition of anonymity that she had declined the invitation.
“He remembered a little late to invite us,” she says.
Some of the dead captives’ families have previously accused Netanyahu of a lack of empathy towards them, whereas he rushed to meet hostages released by the army in an operation earlier this month, hailing their return and congratulating security forces.
He will receive some of the mourning families on Thursday and another group on Sunday, the families say.
Gotliv blasts plan to replace her on committee amid objection to rabbis bill
Likud MK Tally Gotliv accuses coalition whip Ofir Katz of acting as a “pawn of Deri and Netanyahu,” after being informed that she is to be removed as one of Likud’s representatives in the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee for blocking the advancement of a controversial bill changing how municipal rabbis are chosen.
Katz “does not have the authority to do this without the House Committee but he is doing it anyway,” she tweets, condemning those backing a “corrupt law during wartime.”
Aryeh Deri is the chairman of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party. On Monday evening, Channel 12 reported he had threatened to bring down the government if the bill isn’t passed. Critics of the bill charge that it would benefit the Shas party by providing jobs for its apparatchiks.
According to Hebrew media, coalition whip Katz has decided to substitute two new lawmakers for Gotliv and fellow Likud MK Moshe Saada.
Gotliv had reportedly initially agreed to be replaced by another lawmaker for the vote but ultimately backtracked, taking part in today’s committee meeting.
When announcing the cancellation of the vote due to insufficient support within the committee this morning, committee chairman Simcha Rothman lashed out at Saada and Gotliv.
Rothman said that coalition legislators should remember they are “acting as part of a framework” and that it is necessary to compromise “in order to preserve a unified government during war.”
Following the announcement that the committee will vote on the bill tomorrow morning, Gotliv slams Rothman, tweeting that he lied to local government representatives who oppose the bill by assuring them “that there would not be a vote without agreement.”
“As expected, they lied to you,” she says.
Weighing in on his Twitter account, Saada declares that he “opposes this bad law and its bad timing and no sanction or intimidation will change my ideological position.
“Today in the Constitution Committee we saw mayors, including those representing the Likud party, shouting against the injustice that this law creates and I am proud to stand by them and by the majority of the public even at the cost of removal from the committee,” he declares.
“Since the beginning of the war, I have criticized the government whenever it deviates from the values that I and the majority of right-wing voters advocate, and I will continue to fulfill my role without fear.”
Official says UN unable to use Israel-designated safe route due to Palestinians looting aid
A UN official says the agency responsible for most of the aid distribution in Gaza is still unable to use a route introduced by the IDF to help humanitarian goods flow into the Strip.
The official says the agency, known as UNRWA, tried to send a convoy of aid trucks down the route today after canceling its convoy yesterday because of what it termed as persistent law and order concerns. However, Palestinians took goods from most of the trucks along the way and today’s convoy had to stand down, the official says, speaking on condition of anonymity because he isn’t authorized to discuss with the media the movement of aid along the newly declared route.
The UN official also disputes an Israeli claim that aid groups no longer need to coordinate their use of the route, asserting that coordination is still necessary because the area remains an active combat zone.
Aid groups contend that Israeli inspections, ongoing fighting and desperate residents taking cargo has paralyzed aid delivery to Gaza’s south. Israel blames the UN and other aid agencies for not ramping up their ability to deliver the backlog of aid.
COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of facilitating aid into the territory, has said 62 commercial trucks used the designated corridor yesterday. The commercial trucks are operated separately from UN-run aid convoys. COGAT has declined to say who is handling the commercial trucking operations.
Israel, Kosovo agree to allow each other’s citizens visa-free entry
Citizens of Kosovo and Israel will be able to visit the other nation without a visa following an agreement between the two governments signed today, the Kosovar Foreign Ministry says.
The visa waiver agreement is signed in the Kosovar capital, Pristina, by visiting Interior Minister Moshe Arbel and Kosovar Foreign Minister Donika Gervalla.
Gervalla says the agreement will “open a new chapter in promoting our country, our cooperation and economic development, youngsters’ educational development and the implementation of joint initiatives and projects between our citizens and our countries in the future.”
The visa waiver will go into effect in September. No details on the length of stay are given.
Kosovo and Israel formally established diplomatic ties in February 2021. Israel is the 117th country to recognize Kosovo.
Delayed vote on divisive rabbis bill to take place tomorrow; rebel MKs to be replaced
The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee announces that it will hold a vote tomorrow morning on a controversial bill that would dramatically change how municipal rabbis are chosen, only hours after it postponed the vote due to fierce opposition to the legislation by both coalition and opposition lawmakers.
Hebrew media reports say coalition whip Ofir Katz has decided to unilaterally substitute two new lawmakers for committee members and Likud MKs Moshe Saada and Tally Gotliv, who have vocally refused to support the controversial measure.
According to Hebrew news reports, Gotliv had initially agreed to be replaced by another lawmaker for today’s aborted vote but ultimately backtracked, reiterating that she would participate and oppose the bill.
Earlier today, announcing the cancellation of the vote due to insufficient support within the committee following a heated debate, Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman Simcha Rothman lashed out at Saada and Gotliv.
Rothman said that coalition legislators should remember that they are “acting as part of a framework” and that it is necessary to compromise “in order to preserve a unified government during a war.”
“It would be a shame and disgrace if you remained silent for three months during the waffling over Rafah but were willing to blow everything up over the rabbis law,” he said.
If passed into law, the bill could cost taxpayers tens of millions of shekels annually in salaries for hundreds of new neighborhood rabbis employed by local municipalities.
It would also greatly expand the influence of the Chief Rabbinate and the Religious Services Ministry in the appointment of municipal rabbis at the expense of local authorities — while also eroding the role of women in the process.
Critics of the bill charge that it would benefit the Shas party by providing jobs for its apparatchiks. On Monday evening, Channel 12 reported Shas chairman Aryeh Deri had threatened to bring down the government if it isn’t passed.
In video message, Netanyahu says Blinken pledged to remove limits on US arms shipments
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video message issued on June 18, 2024. (Screenshot: GPO)
Following unsourced reports in Israeli and German media that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week that Washington would remove all restrictions on weapons transfers to Israel in the coming days, Netanyahu goes on the record with an assertion that the top American diplomat gave him assurances to that effect.
“When Secretary Blinken was recently here in Israel,” says Netanyahu in an English-language video, “we had a candid conversation, I said I deeply appreciated the support the US has given Israel from the beginning of the war.”
“But I also said something else, I said it’s inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel.”
“Secretary Blinken assured me that the administration is working day and night to remove these bottlenecks,” Netanyahu says. “I certainly hope that’s the case. It should be the case.”
Netanyahu also says more US weapons will help finish the war more rapidly — something US President Joe Biden is eager to achieve, especially with a tough election contest underway.
“During World War II, [UK leader Winston] Churchill told the United States, ‘Give us the tools, we’ll do the job,'” says Netanyahu. “And I say, give us the tools and we’ll finish the job a lot faster.”
After Blinken’s ostensible pledge, Netanyahu reportedly told Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi to make sure, during their upcoming meetings with American officials in Washington, that the arms transfers have been fully restored.
NYT’s Friedman: Netanyahu’s acceptance of Congress invite an ‘act of disloyalty’ to Biden
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman — often seen as a mouthpiece for messages from US President Joe Biden’s administration — calls Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s acceptance of an invitation to address a joint session of Congress “such an act of disloyalty to Joe Biden — who flew all the way to Israel to hug him in the days after Oct. 7 — that it simply takes your breath away.”
“Pushed into a corner,” writes Friedman in his column, “the top Democrats in the Senate and the House signed on to the invitation, but the unstated goal of this Republican exercise is to divide Democrats and provoke shouted insults from their most progressive representatives that would alienate American Jewish voters and donors and turn them toward Donald Trump.”
He also contends that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken should refuse to return to Israel “without Israel and Hamas agreeing to a clear war-ending plan.”
Friedman urges Israel to accept what he describes as Hamas’s demand to end the war and withdraw all troops in exchange for the return of all hostages.
According to Friedman, if Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar tries — after a ceasefire deal is reached — to start another fight against Israel or to smuggle weapons into Gaza, “it will all be on him.”
IDF says alarms near Kerem Shalom were due to ‘false identification’
The IDF says recent rocket sirens that sounded in the Kerem Shalom area near southern Gaza were due to a “false identification.”
No further details are given.
Army says 3 suspected drones shot down over Western Galilee
Three suspected drones were shot down over the Western Galilee a short while ago, the military says.
The IDF says it launched interceptor missiles at the three “suspicious aerial targets” that crossed into Israeli airspace, and successfully intercepted them.
Sirens sounded due to fears of falling shrapnel following the interceptions.
Hezbollah publishes video it says is from reconnaissance drone flying over Israel
The Hezbollah terror group has published a video it says is from one of its reconnaissance drones flying over northern Israel, including the Haifa port.
It is unclear when the footage was filmed, although in recent months Hezbollah has been increasingly launching drones, including explosive-laden ones, at northern Israel.
The IDF has not commented on the video.
Hezbollah has published a video showing one of its reconnaissance drones flying over northern Israel, including the Haifa port. pic.twitter.com/7UxfpiX3Io
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) June 18, 2024
Gaza conflict has caused major environmental damage, UN says
The conflict in Gaza has created unprecedented soil, water and air pollution in the region, destroying sanitation systems and leaving tons of debris from explosive devices, a United Nations report on the environmental impact of the war says.
The war between Israel and Hamas has swiftly reversed limited progress in improving the region’s water desalination and wastewater treatment facilities, restoring the Wadi Gaza coastal wetland, and investments in solar power installations, according to a preliminary assessment from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
Explosive weapons have generated some 39 million tons of debris, the report says. Each square meter of the Gaza Strip is now littered with more than 107 kilograms of debris. That is more than five times the debris generated during the battle for Mosul, Iraq, in 2017, the report says.
“All of this is deeply harming people’s health, food security and Gaza’s resilience,” says UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen.
High Court refuses to hear police chief’s position on minister’s expanded powers
Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai at the Independence Day ceremony at the Israel Police National Headquarters, Jerusalem, May 9, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The High Court of Justice refused a request by Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai to address the court during the crucial hearing for petitions against a law that granted the national security minister, who has authority over the police, broad powers to determine police policy.
The representative for the Attorney General’s Office Aner Helman said that Shabtai’s insight into the dangers the law poses to the politicization of policing was crucial, but the court declined the request, telling Helman to submit Shabtai’s comments in writing.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who demanded the law be passed before entering the government, recently sought to fire Shabtai from his post after the latter wrote to the attorney general complaining about repeated interference by the minister in operational police matters.
“I came here due to a heavy concern for the future of the Israel Police as a professional and apolitical police force without different [forms of] interference,” says Shabtai outside the court room,” adding he would deliver this message in writing instead.
Earlier, Ben Gvir said outside the court that he felt like an “ornamental plant” as minister, and couldn’t determine anything within his ministry.
The minister said that when he arrived in the ministry he was told that the police doesn’t carry out enforcement on things such as protection rackets, illegal construction in the Negev or bigamy — issues affecting Arab society in Israel.
“I came and said ‘Gentlemen, these games are over, I will outline general policy,” said Ben Gvir.
Municipality nixes Jerusalem deputy mayor’s call to cancel French consulate’s trash collection
French consulate in Jerusalem. (CC BY-SA Neta, Wikimedia Commons)
After the French government asks for a ban on Israeli companies from the Eurosatory 2024 defense trade show, Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Arieh King asks the municipality to cease waste collection from the French consulate in Jerusalem.
“In light of the treacherous and anti-Israel conduct of Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron, the president of France who passed resolutions in his government whose purpose and aim is to harm the State of Israel and Israeli industry,” the far-right King writes to the city’s sanitation department, “I ask you to order the employees of the Jerusalem Municipality’s sanitation department to immediately stop the garbage removal service from the French Consulate building on Paul-Emile Botta Street.”
He also asks that the municipality not trim the grass on the sidewalk in front of the consulate.
The Jerusalem Municipality rejects King’s request, telling The Times of Israel that the city “clears waste from all parts of the city based on professional considerations, and offers optimal services to all its residents.”
A French diplomatic source tells The Times of Israel that they have not received any notifications from the municipality on the matter. “We know that the professionalism of the municipal services responsible for waste collection can be trusted, and we value their dedication to public health,” says the official.
The official also underscores “the importance of the international obligations that Israel has assumed in ensuring the security and proper functioning of the diplomatic missions.”
The ban on Israeli companies was struck down by a Paris court earlier today.
Coach of NBA champions Celtics promised to visit Israel if they won
Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla shouts to his players during the first half of Game 5 of the NBA basketball finals against the Dallas Mavericks, June 17, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, whose team won its 18th NBA championship last night, promised in May that he would take his family to Israel if his squad took home the title.
“If we win the championship this year, we’re flying to Jerusalem and we’re walking from Jericho to Jerusalem,” said Mazzulla in an NBC docuseries released on May 17.
“We went last year and we stopped right along this mountainside of the Kidron Valley and you can see a path in between the mountains,” he said. “The only way [Jesus] could’ve gotten from Jericho to Jerusalem was this valley, and right there I was like ‘we have to walk that.'”
Mazzulla is a devout Catholic who famously wears his faith on his sleeve.
IDF releases footage showing coordinated airstrikes on Hamas operatives in Rafah
Troops of the Commando Brigade operate in southern Gaza's Rafah, in a handout photo published June 15, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF releases footage showing troops directing airstrikes on Hamas operatives in Rafah sometime in the past few days.
According to the military, troops from the 932nd Battalion then raided the building, eliminating a number of terrorists who it says were responsible for firing rockets and mortars at troops. Israeli forces found grenades, weapons and short-range anti-tank missiles in the building, the military says.
צה"ל השמיד תשתיות טרור וחיסל בהיתקלויות מעל ומתחת לקרקע עשרות מחבלים שביצעו ירי לעבר הכוחות באמצעות רקטות ופצצות מרגמה ברפיח. חיל האוויר תקף 3 מחבלים תוך כדי היתקלות עם לוחמים@Itsik_zuarets @ItayBlumental pic.twitter.com/vfbDL5dxnV
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) June 18, 2024
Rocket, drone warning sirens sound in Rosh Hanikra, surrounding towns
Sirens warning of both rocket fire and a possible drone invasion sound in more than a dozen towns in the Galilee near the border with Lebanon, including Shlomi and Rosh Hanikra.
Some opposition MKs cautiously optimistic over possible Haredi draft legislation
MK Gadi Eisenkot, a former IDF chief, speaks at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on June 18, 2024. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset spokesman)
Some opposition MKs express cautious optimism that the Knesset may pass an ultra-Orthodox draft law which they find acceptable.
Speaking with the Times of Israel outside the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee during a debate over the ultra-Orthodox draft bill, Yesh Atid MK Moshe Tur-Paz, an alternate member of the committee, appears upbeat.
“I believe that this is very important, maybe a breakthrough that we are leading in order to integrate the ultra-Orthodox in Israel. I think we have to finish this law as soon as possible and to have many new soldiers in the IDF,” he says.
Asked if there is a real chance to modify the bill, Tur-Paz says he believes “the only way the law will pass is if it will be very clear that thousands of young ultra-Orthodox guys who are relevant to [join] the army will go into the army in the coming year. Nothing less than that will be approved by us.”
“I don’t know [how] to predict if we will succeed, but we are working very hard at it,” he adds.
Yesh Atid MK Meir Cohen sounds a similar note, calling the atmosphere in the meeting “excellent” and claiming that those in the committee “completely understand that this is a historic moment and the story isn’t just the enlargement of the army but a moral story of equality of the burden.”
Coalition lawmakers in the committee appear willing to advance a law drafting the Haredim, he adds.
New Hope chairman Gideon Sa’ar is less sanguine, however, telling the Times of Israel that a change in the law “is possible but I don’t think the government will do that.”
“I said in the discussion that if we cannot legislate a good law, it’s better not to legislate a law at all,” he states.
Far-right lawmakers establish Knesset caucus calling to resettle Gaza
MKs Limor Son Har-Melech (Otzma Yehudit) and Zvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism) at the first meeting of the newly established 'Knesset Caucus for the Renewal of Settlement in the Gaza Strip,' June 18, 2024. (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)
Israel’s national security was severely harmed by the 2005 Gaza Disengagement, far-right lawmaker Limor Son Har-Melech declares, calling for renewed Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip following the end of the war against Hamas.
Speaking at the sparsely attended inaugural meeting of the newly-established “Knesset Caucus for the Renewal of Settlement in the Gaza Strip,” the Otzma Yehudit legislator complains that her position has led her to be branded as a messianist and says “it is time to return” to the settlements uprooted nearly two decades ago.
“The failed preconception could bring Israel back to a cycle of suffering and we have to prevent it,” she insists, arguing that without new settlements Israeli cities will remain exposed to rocket fire and that only by moving to Gaza will Israel’s enemies be convinced of their defeat.
“There is no more time to wait. That’s why we established a lobby,” she says. “We need to mobilize with all our might.”
Speaking at the meeting, former Likud lawmaker Moshe Feiglin calls for Israel to conquer the entire West Bank and Gaza and expel the Palestinians living there.
“There is no victory without settlement,” he says to applause. “From the river to the sea it is either you or me. There is no room for Israel and this Islamic Nazism. There is no room for any arrangement. The only solution is complete victory, occupation, expelling the enemy and settlement.”
Likud MK Vaturi apologizes for comparing protesters to Hamas: ‘Not at all fitting’
Likud MK Nissim Vaturi attends a meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, April 1, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Likud MK Nissim Vaturi apologizes for comments he made earlier today comparing anti-government protesters to Hamas.
Speaking at a Knesset committee meeting, Vaturi says that when he heard his own comments on the radio “I was horrified… I meant something else entirely and that’s what came out. I’m sorry for that. I don’t think it’s fitting at all to compare anyone to Hamas or its activities.”
Asked on the Kol Berama radio station earlier today about his thoughts on the raucous anti-government protests in Jerusalem last night, Vaturi said that “there are a few branches of Hamas — the fighting branch of wicked terrorists who murder children, and the branch of the protests.”
He then tweeted falsely claiming that his words were “taken out of context.”
Eisenkot says current version of IDF draft bill puts military at ‘great risk’
MK Gadi Eisenkot, a former IDF chief, speaks at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on June 18, 2024. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset spokesman)
If the ultra-Orthodox draft law as currently written passes into law “I see a great risk to the IDF’s ability to continue to fulfill its mission,” warns National Unity MK and former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot during a debate in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
“On October 7, the biggest failure occurred since the establishment of the state, we entered a serious security reality that will last for years and it will be necessary to increase the order of forces, both regular and reserve,” he states.
“Both out of operational necessity and out of mutual responsibility, another law is required and not the proposed law… [which] is completely inappropriate in my opinion,” he continues. “I recommend throwing out this law and bringing in its place an Israeli service law for all which needs to apply to all 18-year-olds.”
Education Minister Yoav Kisch of Likud calls on the government to adopt an Defense Ministry report which lays out how the country could effectively recruit and integrate members of the ultra-Orthodox community “in an understanding, accommodating, accepting” manner.
“This bill is a huge opportunity that we must not miss,” Kisch says, calling to both meet the IDF’s manpower needs while also committing to “real integration of the ultra-Orthodox sector.”
“The truth is simple, the army needs the ultra-Orthodox sector inside. It’s not simple, it’s complex, but now the army is going to do it,” he says.
D-Day Jewish veteran ‘disgusted’ by honoring in France of Hamas apologist
Mervyn Kersh, a Jewish World War II veteran who took part in 1944's Normandy Campaign, looks through documents and newspapers from the Second World War, at his home in London, Great Britain, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
A Jewish veteran of D-Day criticizes French officials for honoring a “Hamas spokesperson,” as he terms it, as part of the 80th anniversary events commemorating the World War II Allied invasion into Nazi-occupied France.
“I see the president of Normandy himself has invited a Hamas spokesman, giving him an honor, a medal, in the last few days,” Londoner Mervyn Kersh, 99, tells The Times of Israel. “I want to tell them how wrong they are and how disgusting it is to those who liberated France,” he says in an interview, referring to the regional government of Normandy, where D-Day happened.
Kersh’s issue is with the honoring on June 4 by the Region of Normandy of Motaz Azaiza, a Palestinian journalist from Gaza who has justified the October 7 atrocities by Hamas against Israelis and, according to some, also glorified Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists during the fighting that the October 7 onslaught triggered.
Azaiza, who is staying in Qatar following his evacuation from Gaza in January aboard a Qatari government aircraft, is the 2024 recipient of the Normandy region’s Prize of Liberty. It comes with a $27,000 check that Azaiza received during a ceremony attended by Hervé Morin, the president of the Normandy region, as part of the 80th anniversary events.
Azaiza is on record as saying that “if you want a besieged Palestinian to condemn” October 7, then “you need to declare that you condemn what Israel [has] been doing against Palestinians before October 7, since 1948 and during the genocide.”
At Normandy, Kersh and other troops “came to rescue France and the rest of Europe, which we did. We all thought that was worth doing. I have my doubts now,” he says, citing Azaiza’s honoring and the rising expression of antisemitism.
Hamas health ministry says 25 Palestinians killed in Gaza over the past day
A Palestinian man searches the rubble following overnight Israeli strikes in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, June 18, 2024. (Bashar TALEB / AFP)
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says that at least 37,372 people have been killed in the territory during more than eight months of war.
The toll includes at least 25 deaths in the past 24 hours, a ministry statement says, adding that a total of 85,452 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
The toll, which cannot be verified and does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, includes some 15,000 terror operatives Israel says it has killed in battle.
The IDF said earlier today that it continues to carry out airstrikes across the Strip against terror infrastructure.
Lapid says IDF exemption of ultra-Orthodox ‘was always unfair, now it’s impossible’
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on June 18, 2024. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset spokesman)
Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee during a debate over the ultra-Orthodox draft bill, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says that lawmakers must remember “that we are in an emergency.”
“Only a week has passed since the law before us was passed by the Knesset plenum. This week there were already 16 funerals of IDF soldiers,” he says, adding that Hamas and Hezbollah “do not differentiate between the periphery and the center and do not differentiate between secular and religious and ultra-Orthodox.”
“They want to kill us all, and therefore we all need to mobilize to defend ourselves,” he declares.
“The current situation, where there are tens of thousands of young people exempt from conscription was always unfair, now it is impossible. Impossible on the ethical level, impossible on the operational level,” Lapid continues, calling for “a pointed and substantive discussion” leading to a bill that does not discriminate “between blood and blood.”
“The eyes of the fighters and the eyes of their families are in this room and if they make wrong decisions here, people will die. If the army is not given the tools it needs, people will die. If we engage in political considerations here instead of security considerations, people will die,” he concludes, calling for lawmakers to pass a bill quickly.
“The army needs the soldiers now,” he says.
Chair of Knesset defense committee says enlistment bill must provide ‘a real answer’
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Likud MK Yuli Edelstein at a committee meeting on June 18, 2024. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset spokesman)
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud) calls to pass a law providing a solution to the IDF’s manpower needs during a hearing on a controversial bill dealing with the military service of yeshiva students.
“I saw the headlines and heard all kinds of definitions — the draft law, the non-draft law, the evasion law, it’s not relevant. What is placed before the committee is essentially a platform, a shortcut to bureaucratic procedural procedures. We have the possibility, based on this platform, to enact a new law and provide a real answer to the needs of the IDF and the security system for the new reality,” he says.
“We need to provide a short-term solution that will also work in the long-term. This means allowing an ultra-Orthodox guy who enlists to also emerge as ultra-Orthodox. It is not always simple, there will also be conflicting values, but the IDF must prepare,” Edelstein adds.
In rare critique, IDF slams right-wing pundit for claiming military chief wants Hamas to rule Gaza
Radio show host Yaakov Bardugo speaks at the annual Jerusalem Conference of Channel 20 in Jerusalem, on March 16, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
The IDF Spokesman’s Office issues a rare critique of a commentator for suggesting that the army chief of staff supports the Hamas terror group ruling the Gaza Strip following the end of the war.
In a statement, the IDF says the claim by the right-wing Channel 14 pundit Yaakov Bardugo that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi supports leaving Hamas in power in Gaza “is a complete lie and has no basis.”
The statement notes that Halevi has repeatedly stated that Hamas cannot continue to rule in the Strip. Nevertheless, it adds, such a policy decision is made not by the military but by the government, and the IDF merely carries out orders.
The “claims” circulated by Bardugo suggesting otherwise are “a complete lie and an attempt to harm the IDF.”
UN human rights chief says situation in West Bank ‘drastically deteriorating’
Illustrative: Israeli forces take a position in a street during a raid in the al-Faraa camp, near Tubas in the West Bank on June 10, 2024. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)
The United Nations human rights chief warns that the situation in the West Bank is rapidly deteriorating, while there had been “unconscionable death and suffering” in Gaza.
“The situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is dramatically deteriorating,” Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, tells the opening session of the UN Human Rights Council, noting the climbing death toll of more than 500 Palestinians and 23 Israelis since the war against Hamas began.
Turk says he is also “appalled by the disregard for international human rights and humanitarian law” by parties of the conflict in Gaza, citing both Israeli military activity in Gaza as well as the continuation of terror groups to hold hostages, including in heavily populated areas.
In Beirut, US envoy says deal to calm border is ‘both achievable and urgent’
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, right, meets with US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut, Lebanon, June 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
US envoy Amos Hochstein calls for the “urgent” de-escalation in cross-border exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel.
“The conflict… between Israel and Hezbollah has gone on for long enough,” the presidential envoy says on a visit to Beirut. “It’s in everyone’s interest to resolve it quickly and diplomatically — that is both achievable and it is urgent.”
Hochstein says Washington is seeking to avoid “a greater war” in the region, describing the situation along the border as “serious,” and says that is why US President Joe Biden dispatched him to Lebanon. Hochstein is in Lebanon for one day of meetings following his brief trip to Israel yesterday.
“A ceasefire in Gaza and, or, an alternative diplomatic solution could also bring the conflict across the Blue Line to an end” and allow the return of displaced civilians to southern Lebanon and northern Israel, the envoy adds.
Comptroller demands Prime Minister’s Office turn over documents tied to October 7 probe
The Israeli war cabinet and top security officials meet in Tel Aviv on April 14, 2024, hours after Iran's missile and drone attack on Israel. (Amos Ben Gershom/ GPO)
The State Comptroller’s office sends a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office saying that while the High Court froze its probe into the October 7 failures of the IDF and the Shin Bet, it is still investigating the PMO.
The comptroller demands that the PMO turn over requested documents and transcripts of relevant meetings in recent years, including those with security officials.
The letter notes that it requested such information two weeks ago, and received a response yesterday from the PMO, citing the High Court ruling in its refusal to comply, since such documentation is linked to meetings with the IDF and the Shin Bet.
The comptroller rejects the argument and says that its investigation into the PMO is still ongoing even if other probes have been halted.
French court strikes down ban on Israeli companies at Paris defense show
Visitors walk past a Type-X robotic combat vehicle on display at the Eurosatory international land, air defense and security trade fair, in Villepinte, a northern suburb of Paris, June 17, 2024. (JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)
The Paris Commercial Court strikes down the restrictions requested by the French Defense Ministry on Israeli companies at the Eurosatory 2024 defense show.
The order suspends “the execution of the measures adopted against the Israeli companies whose stands were prohibited at the EUROSATORY 2024 exhibition, until the closing date of the exhibition.”
A representative from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems tells The Times of Israel that the court decision changes nothing for the company. It will not set up a booth or send representatives.
A separate ruling from a French district court over the weekend — that organizers of the exhibition must ban anyone working for or representing Israeli firms from participating in the event — was not addressed by today’s decision.
The Paris Commercial Court ruling, signed by the court president, also orders the trade show organizer Coges Event to pay court costs.
The appeal was made by the Israel-France Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The French Defense Ministry last month ordered Coges Events to ban the Israeli defense industry from setting up stands at the show, saying that “the conditions are no longer right to host Israeli companies at the Paris show, given that the French president is calling for the cessation of IDF operations in Rafah.”
The subsequent ban on individuals working for Israeli companies angered the organizers and the French government. In a letter dated Saturday, Coges President Charles Beaudoin wrote that the organization thinks the court’s ruling “goes beyond the government’s decision taken two weeks ago,” as the latter prevented Israeli firms from exhibiting at the fair, while the former bans their representatives from entering.
France’s defense minister also decried the ban on individuals yesterday.
🚨Saisi en référé d’heure à heure à la demande de la Chambre de commerce France Israel, le Président du Tribunal de commerce de Paris vient de juger que la mesure d’exclusion des société israéliennes de Eurosatory est discriminatoire. Il a ordonné de la faire cesser. Je suis très… pic.twitter.com/ZQz4kJ8Ioe
— Patrick Klugman (@PKlugman) June 18, 2024
Drone warning sirens sound in Western Galilee towns
Sirens warning of a potential drone attack sound in a number of towns in the Western Galilee near the border with Lebanon, including Arab al-Aramshe and Adamit.
They mark the first such warnings along the northern border in around two days.
University of Haifa cracks top 100 in journal’s sustainability rankings
Illustrative: Students at the University of Haifa, on April 11, 2016. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
For the first time, the University of Haifa has been ranked 95th worldwide in the Times Higher Education’s Impact Rankings, which examine international universities’ efforts in comparison to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, the university announces.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals are “the world body’s benchmarks in the realm of eliminating poverty, hunger and discrimination. University of Haifa’s ascent to the rankings’ top 100 for the first time reflects the university’s institution-wide commitment to making strides toward achieving the UN’s recommended goals,” the university says in a press release.
The University of Haifa jumped from 400th place to 95th place on the magazine’s list within a span of three years, and is now ranked first among Israel’s institutions of higher learning on the sustainability index, indicative of “the hard work we have done at the University of Haifa to meet the crucial task of universities in the 21st century: To be influential institutions that take part in solving the major challenges of humanity in the 21st century,” the statement says.
Among the various goals indicated by the index, the University of Haifa ranked 17th in the world in “gender equality,” 32nd for “peace, justice and strong institutions,” 68th in “quality education,” 82nd in “preserving life on Earth,” and 91st in “labor relations and economic growth.”
The 2024 Times Higher Education’s Impact Rankings examined more than 2,100 universities across 125 countries.
Knesset committee chairman pushes off vote on highly contentious rabbis bill
Chair of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee MK Simcha Rothman heads a meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on June 18, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman Simcha Rothman postpones a vote on a bill that would dramatically change how municipal rabbis are chosen, following outspoken opposition by lawmakers.
Announcing the postponement due to insufficient support within the committee, Rothman lashes out at Likud lawmakers Moshe Saada and Tally Gotliv, who vocally declined to support the controversial measure.
Their opposition is “a shame and a disgrace,” he says, complaining that after all the issues on which they stayed silent, such as the government’s “waffling” in Rafah, they choose to take a stand on this one.
If passed into law, the bill could cost taxpayers tens of millions of shekels annually in salaries for hundreds of new neighborhood rabbis employed by local municipalities. Critics of the bill allege that it would benefit the Shas party by providing jobs for its apparatchiks and increasing the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate’s say both in appointing rabbis and in how they operate.
Lawmakers from both the coalition and legislation voiced objections to the reintroduction of the law during today’s hearing, with Gotliv repeatedly interrupting the proceedings as Rothman called for order.
Federation of Local Authorities chief Haim Bibas also objects to the bill, accusing Rothman of silencing him.
During the hearing, Rothman orders the removal of Yesh Atid MK Yorai Lahav-Hertzanu after he loudly decried the law. In a tweet, Lahav-Hertzanu calls the committee meeting a “horror show by Simcha Rothman, who just threw me out of the committee just because I asked a question about a section of the law.”
The law is “a moral disgrace, and I will continue to oppose it with all my might,” he says.
High Court hears petitions against law that expanded powers of Ben Gvir’s ministry
Justices hold a High Court hearing on petitions against a police regulations bill pushed for by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, on June 18, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
A nine-justice panel of the High Court opens hearings on petitions against a law passed in December 2022 at the behest of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir that gave the minister expanded powers over police policy.
Petitioners have argued that the law will lead to the politicization of the police and law enforcement in general, while the government contends that such politicization is still illegal even under the new law.
Justices, both liberal and conservative, pose a series of tough questions to the Knesset legal adviser defending the law.
Acting president of the High Court Uzi Vogelman and Justice Noam Sohlberg both express concern over the wording of the law, which allows the national security minister to determine general policy over police investigations and which says merely that those policies must be “heard” by the attorney general but that the minister must “take advice from” the police commissioner.
“Hearing doesn’t mean taking advice from,” says Sohlberg.
“It seems to be a deliberate downgrading [of the language], that’s pretty clear. Fleeing from the phrase ‘taking advice’ also says something,” says Vogelman.
Vogelman then asks what would happen if the minister sought a policy of prosecuting demonstrators for blocking roads and the attorney general opposed such a policy.
“This is a situation of clear clash [of authorities] which has no resolution,” says Vogelman.
Troops continue to battle Hamas operatives in Rafah, says IDF
Troops of the Commando Brigade operate in southern Gaza's Rafah, in a handout photo published June 15, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Fighting continues in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, the IDF says, saying that soldiers in the Givati Brigade have eliminated a number of terrorists in battles there over the past day.
In one such incident, the IDF says, forces identified two terrorists armed with explosives who were taken out by an airstrike.
In addition, soldiers in the 401st Brigade killed a number of Hamas gunmen and discovered Kalashnikov rifles, grenades and more during their sweep of the area, according to the military.
In central Gaza, troops in the 99th Division have eliminated a number of Hamas operatives, the IDF says. They directed a fighter jet to strike and kill the head of a sniper squad in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The IDF says its fighter jets continue to carry out strikes on “terror targets” throughout the Strip.
Gantz, Lapid call on Netanyahu to demote Likud MK who compared protesters to Hamas
Deputy Speaker Likud MK Nissim Vaturi at the plenum hall of the Knesset, on June 26, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
National Unity chairman Benny Gantz and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid both slam Likud MK Nissim Vaturi and call for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to remove him from his position as deputy Knesset speaker after he referred to anti-government protesters as a “branch of Hamas.”
“The deputy speaker of the Knesset proved again this morning that he has no understanding or respect for democracy,” Gantz tweets, calling Vaturi’s rhetoric “reprehensible.”
“I call on the prime minister to remove him from his position, and to replace him with a dignified figure who will respect the State of Israel and the legislature,” he insists, adding that failure to do so constitutes agreement with Vaturi’s statement.
Lapid echoes the call, saying that “the demonstrators are IDF soldiers and officers, they are the Israeli economy, they are teachers and doctors, they are Zionism in its embodiment.
“Nissim Vaturi, on the other hand, is a man full of hatred whose inflammatory words are used by Israel’s enemies in a lawsuit in The Hague. Likud should have fired him this morning from the position of deputy speaker of the Knesset,” he says. But “they won’t do it, because this government has decided to dismantle the State of Israel. Vaturi is just the symptom.”
Doctor hit by water cannon at Jerusalem protest facing vision loss, says activist group
Tal Weissbach after being struck by a police water cannon at a Jerusalem protest on June 17, 2024. (Courtesy)
The injury received by Dr. Tal Weissbach, a volunteer doctor at last night’s anti-government protest in Jerusalem, put her eyesight at risk, says the White Coats activist group.
Prof. Hagai Levine, one of the organization’s leaders, calls on the Israeli Medical Association to act after Weissbach was hit in the face by a police water cannon’s stream as she stood on the sidewalk of Radak Street wearing a brightly colored vest identifying her as a physician on volunteer duty.
Levine says that his organization continues to warn against excessive police violence at protests.
“According to witnesses, Dr. Weissbach did not pose any threat and did not participate in any violent actions. Her injury was caused by the illegal use of force by the police,” Levine says.
Mirsham, the organization of medical residents in Israel, demands an immediate legal investigation and says those responsible must be brought to account.
UNESCO report says AI technology is fueling Holocaust denial online
The ChatGPT app on an iPhone, May 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
AI technology is helping to create false stories about World War II atrocities including Holocaust denial, risking an “explosive spread of antisemitism,” the UN warns.
The UN’s education and culture body UNESCO calls for governments and tech companies to introduce ethical safeguards around AI technology, and for schools to spread the word about the risks of AI-generated content.
UNESCO’s report highlights instances where hackers rigged chatbots to spread Nazi ideology, and others where bots dreamed up their own stories around the Holocaust.
“If we allow the horrific facts of the Holocaust to be diluted, distorted or falsified through the irresponsible use of AI, we risk the explosive spread of antisemitism,” says Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO’s director-general. She says it could also lead to the “gradual diminution of our understanding about the causes and consequences of these atrocities.”
UNESCO’s policy paper, published jointly with the World Jewish Congress to mark the International Day for Countering Hate Speech, calls for “urgent action” from governments, tech companies and educators.
Opposition, coalition lawmakers slam Likud MK for calling protesters ‘Hamas’
MK Nissim Vaturi arrives at a Likud party meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on December 3, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Lawmakers from both the opposition and the coalition slam Likud MK Nissim Vaturi for referring to anti-government protesters as a “branch of Hamas.”
Without naming Vaturi, Culture and Sport Minister Miki Zohar of Likud says such a statement “deepens the enormous rift that exists in our nation.” Likud Education Minister Yoav Kisch says the comparison is unfounded and “we must remember that we are brothers.”
Yesh Atid MK Karine Elharrar calls the comment “dangerous and irresponsible,” while Labor MK Naama Lazimi says that Vaturi is correct in saying that Hamas has “several branches… including the long money branch that Bibi [Netanyahu] tended to for many years.”
In a post on X, Vaturi backtracks and falsely claims that his comments were taken out of context, writing that the protests “harm our national resilience,” but that “the horrible actions of the Hamas Nazis are not fit to be compared to any protest or political act.”
Rocket alert sirens sound next to Gaza crossing
Rocket alert sirens sound in Kerem Shalom, at the southern crossing point into Gaza.
The army later says that the sirens were a false alarm.
Likud MK says anti-government protesters are a ‘branch of Hamas’
Likud MK Nissim Vaturi attends a discussion in the Knesset, November 21, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Likud MK Nissim Vaturi suggests that anti-government protesters are a branch of the Hamas terrorist group.
Speaking to the Kol Brama radio station, Vaturi says that “there are a few branches of Hamas — the fighting branch of wicked terrorists who murder children, and the branch of the protests.”
Police clashed last night with protesters demanding early elections who marched toward the prime minister’s home in Jerusalem and broke through barricades.
Gantz tells visiting US envoy ‘time is running out’ for deal to calm northern border
National Unity chairman Benny Gantz (right) meets with US envoy Amos Hochstein on June 17, 2024. (Courtesy)
National Unity chairman Benny Gantz met last night with visiting US envoy Amos Hochstein, his office says in a statement.
Gantz tells the envoy that “time is running out” to reach any sort of diplomatic deal to reinstate calm along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.
According to his office, Gantz stressed to Hochstein that he is committed to “removing the threat Hezbollah poses to the citizens of northern Israel, regardless of developments on the war in Gaza.”
Gantz, who left the coalition last week, says he will therefore support “any responsible and effective political or military decision on the matter from outside the government.”
Likud MK says current version of Haredi enlistment bill belongs ‘in the trash can’
MK Moshe Saada of Likud (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Likud MK Moshe Saada says that the current version of the Haredi enlistment bill advanced by the Knesset last week should be “thrown in the trash.”
“The bill the way it is is not moral, values-based and should be thrown in the trash can of history,” Saada tells Army Radio. He says the advancement of the legislation is “technical and allows us to hold a hearing on it and turn it into one of equality — it needs to deal also with Haredim, Arabs and any people who don’t want to serve.”
The bill, which would do little to increase Haredi enlistment in the IDF, has received harsh backlash for coming amid eight months of grueling war and what the IDF says is a manpower shortage.
Two key Democrats approve Israel arms sale that includes 50 F-15s
US Rep. Gregory Meeks, Democrat-New York speaks during a news conference outside the USPS Jamaica station, in the Queens borough of New York, August 18, 2020. (John Minchillo/AP)
Two key Democrats in the US Congress have agreed to support a major arms sale to Israel that includes 50 F-15 fighter jets, the Washington Post reports, citing three unnamed officials.
Representative Gregory Meeks and Senator Ben Cardin have signed off on the deal under heavy pressure from the Biden administration after the two lawmakers had for months held up the sale, the Post reports.
“Any issues or concerns Chair Cardin had were addressed through our ongoing consultations with the administration, and that’s why he felt it appropriate to allow this case to move forward,” Eric Harris, communications director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tells the Post in a statement.
Meeks tells the paper that he had been in close contact with the White House and had urged them to pressure Israel over humanitarian efforts and civilian casualties. He says the F-15s would not be delivered until “years from now,” according to the Post.
Dozens of hostages are alive ‘with certainty’ — top Israeli negotiator
An Israeli student holds pictures of hostages during a protest calling for their release near the Knesset in Jerusalem, June 13, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
A senior Israeli negotiator tells AFP that dozens of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are certainly alive and that Israel cannot accept halting the war until all captives are released in a deal.
“Dozens are alive with certainty,” the official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.
“We cannot leave them there a long time. They will die,” he says, adding that a vast majority of them are being held by Hamas terrorists.
The official says Israel cannot end the conflict with Hamas before a hostage deal because the terror group could “breach their commitment… and drag out the negotiations for 10 years” or more.
“We cannot, at this point in time — before signing the agreement — commit to ending the war,” the official says.
“Because during the first phase, there’s a clause that we hold negotiations about the second phase. The second phase is the release of the men and male soldier hostages.”
The official says the Israeli negotiating team had green-lit the Biden plan.
“We expect, and are waiting for, Hamas to say ‘yes,'” the official says.
“In the event we don’t reach an agreement with Hamas, the IDF will continue to fight in the Gaza Strip in a no less intense fashion than it’s fighting now,” he says.
“In a different manner, but an intense manner.
US military says it destroyed four Houthi radars, one unmanned surface vessel and one drone
The US military says it has destroyed four Houthi radars, one unmanned surface vessel and one drone in the past 24 hours.
The radars and unmanned surface vessel were destroyed in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, US Central Command tweets. The drone was destroyed over the Red Sea.
Hamas sexual abuse survivor at White House event: My recovery depends on hostages’ return
Amit Soussana speaks at a White House event raising awareness for conflict-related sexual violence on June 17, 2024. (Screen capture/YouTube)
Amit Soussana, who was the first released Israeli hostage to come forward about the sexual abuse she endured in captivity, addresses a White House event marking International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.
“If someone had told me a few months ago while I was sitting in a dark room in Gaza tied up by my ankle and unable to move that I would be standing here today before you all, I would have thought that they were out of their mind,” she tells attendees shortly after meeting US Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Being in captivity means having no control over your mind, body or soul. You have absolutely no control over what happens to you. All your basic human rights are taken from you. Even your feelings are completely controlled by someone else,” says Soussana.
“Back then, I had no voice, no choice. I had no control whatsoever over my own life. I knew that my home and the people that I love were so close to me — just a few minutes drive from where I was being held. Yet they felt so far and out of reach. I feared that I would never get to see them again. I thought that I would never return home.”
“But I was lucky. I was one of the few who were released on the last day of the temporary ceasefire as part of the hostage exchange agreement (in late November).”
“Standing here today, I realize how fortunate I am to be alive, to be free, to be safe and able to share my story with you.”
“I realize that I could have just as easily still be there, perhaps even killed, with my story being told to you by others are lost and never told.”
“As difficult as it is for me to speak out, to talk to you about this very private, intimate experience that happened to me. It is far more difficult to stay silent.”
“I don’t see myself as a victim. I am a strong independent woman, and no one can change that. The sexual assault I experienced should never happen to any human being under any circumstances. No one should ever be sexually violated, and there are no justifying circumstances for these crimes.”
“I remember telling myself that no matter what happens to me, if I will come out of it alive. I would grow stronger from it and not let what happened define me.”
“Yes, it will always be a part of my story, but with time the trauma will subside, and these difficult events will empower me. Back then, I did not have any choice. I had to do what I was told in order to stay alive. Now I have a choice and I have decided I cannot stay silent.”
“I must speak about the horrible things that are probably still happening there to innocent women and men.”
“My recovery depends on the rescue of my sisters and brothers who are still there. My wounds cannot even begin to heal as long as their suffering continues.”
“When I was in Gaza during the first days of the war, I saw President Biden’s plane landing in Israel. It gave me such hope and strengthened me knowing that Israel’s best friend was coming to our aid. President Biden’s last speech renewed my hope that we can move forward with a deal and release all [the] hostages as soon as possible. I really, really hope that it will happen soon,” she concludes.
Harris: I fear testimony on Hamas sexual violence will increase as more hostages released
US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a White House event on conflict-related sexual violence on June 17, 2024. (Screen capture/YouTube)
US Vice President Kamala Harris expresses her concern that testimony on Hamas’s use of sexual violence will only increase as more hostages are released from Gaza.
Speaking at a White House event raising awareness on conflict-related sexual violence, Harris recalls stories she’s heard from former hostages, including Amit Sussana who was the first abductee to come forward publicly about the sexual abuse she endured in captivity.
Sussana is also participating in the White House event, which includes the screening of Sheryl Sandberg’s Screams Before Silence — a documentary on the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas-led terrorists during the October 7 onslaught.
“On October 7, Hamas committed horrific acts of sexual violence,” Harris says in her remarks. “In the days after October 7, I saw images of bloodied Israeli women abducted… Hamas committed rape and gang rape at the Nova music festival, and women’s bodies were found naked from the waist down, hands tied behind their back[s] and shot in the head.”
“I’ve heard the stories of a former hostage of what she witnessed and heard in captivity. I just met with Amit, a survivor who has bravely come forward with her account of sexual violence while she was held captive by Hamas.”
“These testimonies, I fear, will only increase as more hostages are released.”
“We cannot look away and we will not be silent,” Harris says.
“My heart breaks for all these survivors and their families and for all the pain and suffering in the past eight months in Israel and in Gaza.”
In an apparent indirect reference to allegations of sexual violence perpetrated against Palestinian terror suspects by Israeli security forces — charges Israel has denied — Harris says, “We are deeply concerned by all reports of sexual violence and degradation, and we mourn every innocent life lost in this conflict.”
It is devastating, which is why President Biden and I have made clear that Hamas needs to accept the deal that is on the table for a ceasefire, which would bring the hostages home and lead to a permanent end to hostilities,” the vice president adds.
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