Tamar Pileggi is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
The Times of Israel liveblogged Tuesday’s events as they unfolded.
A 19-year-old from Syria is on trial in Berlin over an assault in the German capital on an Israeli wearing a skullcap.
The young man is charged with bodily harm and slander. The April 17 attack caused nationwide outrage and fueled concerns over anti-Semitism in Germany.
German news agency dpa reports that the verdict could come later today.
The victim, an Arab Israeli who has said he isn’t Jewish but wore the skullcap as a personal experiment, caught the assault on video, showing the attacker whipping him with a belt while shouting “Yehudi!” — Arabic for “Jew.”
Prosecutors say the suspect was assigned to a home for refugees outside Berlin, but lived in the city without a fixed address. He turned himself in two days after the assault.
— AP
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency is reporting that the country has no plan to increase the range of its missiles.
The report quotes the chief of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, as saying: “We have the scientific ability to increase our missile rages, but it is not our current policy.”
Gen. Jafari adds that most of Iran’s enemies are already situated within a 2,000-kilometer (1,240-mile) radius of Iran.
In 2017, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered limits on the country’s ballistic missile program to 2,000 kilometers.
This range would encompass much of the Middle East, including Israel and American bases in the region. However, such limits come as Iran routinely says its ballistic missile program is only for defensive purposes against regional adversaries.
— AP
Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein joins criticism of MK Ayman Odeh for attending a conference hosted by two Palestinian terror groups, saying he will file a complaint against the Joint (Arab) List chairman with the Knesset Ethics Committee.
“This morning I saw a video of MK Odeh participating in a event inciting terrorism, and I was ashamed – as the speaker of the Knesset and as a citizen of Israel,” Edelstein says in a statement.
The conference in East Jerusalem, which was organized by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was shuttered by police after an injunction was issued by the Jerusalem police chief.
The PFLP and DFLP, both components of the Palestine Liberation Organization, are responsible for a number of deadly terror attacks in Israel over the years.
“We cannot have a public official, elected to represent the Israel-Arab population, effectively representing terror organizations and inciting violence,” Edelstein adds. “There is not place for inciters in the Knesset.”
Earlier, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan called for a criminal investigation to be opened against Odeh over his participation in the event.
— Raoul Wootliff
Former minister Gonen Segev, who has been charged with spying for Iran, has been moved from an undisclosed Shin Bet facility to the Gilboa prison in the Lower Galilee, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
Earlier in the day, the Foreign Ministry denied reports that Segev had served as a doctor to Israeli officials at the embassy in Nigeria in recent years.
According to Hadashot news, the ministry said the embassy in Abuja had no connection to him.
Yesterday, the Shin Bet revealed that Segev was charged with spying for Iran, accusing him of giving Israel’s arch-foe sensitive information about locations of security centers and the country’s energy industry. He was allegedly an active agent at the time of his arrest, and had twice been to Iran to meet his handlers.
Hussein Dawabsha, the grandfather of the Palestinian baby killed in a 2015 Jewish terror attack, pleads that “justice be done in this case.”
“I would like to know what they decide today,” he says at the Central District Court ahead of its ruling on the admissibility of the Shin Bet’s confession from the suspects who have claimed they were tortured by the security service during their interrogations.
A decision to throw out the confessions would mark a significant blow for the prosecution, which is said to be under immense pressure to convict alleged assailants Amiram Ben-Uliel and an unnamed minor accomplice who were indicted in January 2016 for firebombing the home of the Dawabsha family on July 31, 2015.
— with Jacob Magid
A Croatian man is handed a 15-month suspended sentence for giving a Nazi salute at an annual commemoration in Austria of a 1945 massacre of pro-Nazi Croats.
The Austria Press Agency reports that the state court in the southern city of Klagenfurt convicted the 51-year-old under a law banning the glorification of Nazi ideology.
The defendant says he was drunk, and had given the salute of the pro-fascist soldiers known as Ustashas when he saw a Croatian flag with the symbol of the armed forces.
He says friends talked him into going to the controversial May 12 event in Bleiburg.
Tens of thousands of Croatians fled to Bleiburg in May 1945, only to be turned back from Austria by the British military and into the hands of anti-fascists.
A senior political aide to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the reports that an Israeli ex-minister has been charged with spying for Iran should be ignored.
Mohammad Bagher Nobakht tells reports on the sidelines of a press conference that the “Zionist regime uses every tool to blame the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“It’s not clear what this is, but we must ignore it,” Nobakht says.
The Central District Court rules the confessions given by the primary suspect in the 2015 Duma terror attack will be admissible at trial despite allegations they were obtained by torture during Shin Bet interrogations.
With regards to the second suspect, who remains unnamed, the judges rule the confessions he gave regarding the planning of the attack are inadmissible.
— Jacob Magid
New Jersey is considering honoring celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain with a food trail.
The famed Jewish cook, writer and host of the CNN series “Parts Unknown” killed himself nearly two weeks ago in a luxury hotel in France. The 61-year-old was born in New York, but grew up in the New Jersey suburb of Leonia.
Democratic New Jersey Assemblyman Paul Moriarty yesterday introduced a resolution that would require the Travel and Tourism Division to establish the “Anthony Bourdain Food Trail.” Bourdain visited 10 eateries in the state in a 2015 episode of CNN’s “Parts Unknown.
One of the stops was Donkey’s Place in Camden, which Bourdain said rivaled nearby Philadelphia for cheesesteaks.
— AP
Rebel shellfire slammed into the southern Syrian city of Sweida on Tuesday for the first time in three years, a monitor said, as fresh regime reinforcements arrived in the area.
The government holds most of Sweida province but rebels still control much of the nearby Daraa and Quneitra governorates.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says opposition forces fired shells into Sweida city, “which led to loud blasts but no casualties.”
“It is the first time since 2015 that the city has been subjected to shellfire,” says Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman.
Syrian state news agency SANA also blames rebels “spread out in the towns and villages in eastern parts of Daraa province” for firing shells on Sweida.
Sweida, whose residents are mostly from the Druze minority, has remained relatively insulated from seven years of war that ravaged the rest of the country.
But rebels hold a sliver of territory in western Sweida that borders their main bastion in the province of Daraa, and clashes and exchanges of fire have erupted in that area in recent days.
— AP
White House special adviser Jared Kushner and US peace envoy Jason Greenblatt are meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah in Amman as they seek to lay the groundwork for the release of the Trump administration’s regional peace plan.
According to reports, the US officials discussed the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and ways to jumpstart Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Kushner and Greenblatt are also set to visit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Israel this week.
At least six fires break out near the Gaza border that were apparently sparked by burning kites sent over the border from the Palestinian territory.
According to reports, firefighters are battling blazes in the Eshkol and Sdot Negev Regional Councils.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un briefs Chinese President Xi Jinping about his summit with US President Donald Trump, a visit that underscores Beijing’s efforts to remain at the center of fast-moving nuclear diplomacy.
Kim “felt thanks for and highly praised China’s promotion of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and its important role in protecting the peninsula’s peace and stability,” state broadcaster CCTV says. North Korea “hopes to work with China and other concerned parties to promote and establish a solid, long-lasting peace mechanism on the Korean Peninsula and make joint efforts to achieve a lasting peace on the peninsula.”
For his part, Xi told Kim he “wants North Korea and the US to carry out the results of their leadership summit,” the report said.
Xi urged the US and North Korea to implement the agreements reached at the June 12 summit in Singapore, while Kim thanked Xi for his role in the diplomatic efforts, according to Chinese state media.
— with AFP
Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian Authority police officer in the Palestinian neighborhood of A-Ram, north of Jerusalem, police say in a statement.
The officer is arrested after a search of his home uncovered a Carl Gustav submachine gun and ammunition.
This type of homemade or craft-produced rudimentary automatic weapon has been used in the majority of shooting attacks on Israeli civilians and security personnel.
Security forces have had some success in cracking down on these weapons, locating three small-scale production and storage facilities in the West Bank last year.
— with Judah Ari Gross
Fierce fighting is raging outside the airport of the vital Yemeni city of Hodeida, pitting thousands of pro-government fighters backed by a Saudi-led coalition against Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels, Yemeni military officials said.
The United Arab Emirates-backed Amaleqa brigades, supported by airstrikes and naval shelling from the Saudi-led coalition, have been trying to storm the southern and western parts of the airport, the officials say.
However, land mines and Houthi snipers have been hindering efforts to get the airport under government control, they say.
“It is a vast, open area and the Houthis have covered the ground with land mines to prevent the forces’ advancements,” one Yemeni military official said. “It’s back and forth battles.” The official said it was a matter of hours before the forces take full control of the airport.
The Amaleqa brigades have captured dozens of rebel fighters, including minors, in the airport fighting, the officials added. Combat has been raging at the southern runway about one kilometer (less than a mile) from the main airport compound.
— AP
Facing a major funding shortfall, the UN Palestinian refugee agency is planning to defer payment of salaries and suspend some of its operations in Gaza, an official says.
The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees was thrown into severe financial crisis after the United States cut $250 million from its budget.
UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov tells a Security Council meeting that UNRWA is “weeks away from painful cuts to its emergency assistance for Gaza and elsewhere in the region.”
“In Gaza, this would include a deferral of salaries to some of its workforce in July and the start of suspending core operations in August,” he adds.
— AFP
The army says an Israeli drone has crashed in the Syrian town of Hader, just across the border.
The IDF confirms reports in Syrian media that the Skylark UAV was recovered from the southern town, and says there is no fear of an intelligence breech.
Officials in a Saudi-led coalition battling Shiite rebels in Yemen have shown journalists weapons they say they seized on the battlefield that prove Iran is arming the insurgents.
Iran long has denied arming the rebels, known as Houthis, despite reports by the United Nations, Western countries and outside groups linking them to the rebels’ arsenal.
The weapons shown today in Abu Dhabi and later at an Emirati military installation included drones, a sniper rifle, roadside bombs disguised as rocks and even a “drone boat,” which had been filled with explosives that failed to detonate.
The news conference came as the United Arab Emirates leads Yemeni fighters in an assault on the rebel-held port city of Hodeida that has been criticized by international rights groups.
— AP
The Trump administration is poised to announce its departure from the United Nations’ main human rights body in its latest withdrawal from an international institution.
Officials say Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley will deliver the verdict on membership in the UN Human Rights Council in a joint appearance at the State Department later today. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly preview the decision.
Haley threatened the pullout last year citing longstanding US complaints that the council is biased against Israel. But today’s announcement will also come just a day after the UN human rights chief denounced the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents.
UAE-backed Yemeni government forces fought their way into Hodeida airport this afternoon, pressing an offensive that has seen some of the most intense fighting of a three-year war against Shiite Huthi rebels.
The United Arab Emirates, which has US-trained troops fighting alongside the Yemeni army, says the alliance has entered the airport in Hodeida — a Red Sea port city that is a key aid hub and the entry point for three-quarters of Yemen’s imports.
“With the participation and support of the Emirati armed forces, the joint Yemeni resistance (army) entered Hodeida airport,” the UAE state news agency WAM tweets.
A Yemeni military source confirms to AFP that troops entered the rebel base at the disused airport on the southern edge of the city.
Military sources also report that 33 Huthis and 19 soldiers killed in today’s battle, bringing the death toll in Hodeida this week to 216 fighters. No civilian casualties have yet been confirmed.
The battle for Hodeida has sparked fears of a new escalation of the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, which is already teetering on the brink of famine.
— AFP
Egypt’s lineup against Russia is unchanged except for one highly anticipated change: the return of Mohamed Salah in attack.
The Premier League’s top scorer adds some much-needed bite to an Egyptian attack that struggled to threaten Uruguay in a 1-0 loss Friday.
Salah damaged ligaments in his left shoulder when he tangled with Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos during last month’s Champions League final playing for Liverpool.
On the other side, Russia winger Denis Cheryshev was promoted to the starting lineup after scoring twice as a substitute in Thursday’s tournament-opening 5-0 win over Saudi Arabia.
— AP
US President Donald Trump defends the “zero tolerance” policy leading to thousands of migrant families being split on the US border as the only effective way to fight illegal immigration.
“I don’t want children taken away from parents,” he tells a gathering of small business owners, before adding: “When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away.”
“We don’t have to prosecute them, but then we are not prosecuting them for coming in illegally. That’s not good.”
— AFP
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has endorsed Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin as his replacement, and calls on city residents to vote for him in the upcoming municipal elections later this year.
In a video posted on Barkat’s Facebook page, the mayor says that Elkin “has fought for us in the government and together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he is a real partner for the change that we made in Jerusalem.”
“Only Elkin can carry on Jerusalem’s success,” he adds.
Saudi air defenses intercept a ballistic missile fired from rebel-held territory in neighboring Yemen, state media reports, as a Riyadh-led military coalition intensifies an offensive to capture a strategic port.
The missile targeted Khamis Mushait in the kingdom’s south and caused no casualties, the coalition says in a statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency.
The Iran-allied Huthi rebels say via their news outlet Al-Masirah they had targeted a Saudi Aramco facility near the southwestern city of Abha.
The state-owned oil giant was not immediately reachable for comment.
— AFP
The head of the IDF’s Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Yoel Strick, says that Iran is trying to seize control of Syria in its entirety in order to attack Israel.
“Iran is trying to make Syria a territory under its control, and is using bases on Syrian soil to attack Israel and destabilize the security of the entire region,” Strick says.
He adds that Israel is “in the middle of a complex security situation,” and underscores that the IDF is constantly working to improve its operational readiness.
