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The Times of Israel liveblogged Monday’s events as they happened.
Julian Assange reaches plea deal with US that will let him return to Australia
In this May 19, 2017 file photo, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange greets supporters outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has been in self imposed exile since 2012. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
WASHINGTON — Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will plead guilty to a felony charge in a deal with the US Justice Department that will resolve a long-running legal saga that spanned multiple continents and centered on the publication of a trove of classified documents, according to court papers filed late Monday.
Assange is scheduled to appear in the federal court in the Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth in the Western Pacific, to plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information, the Justice Department says in a letter filed in court.
The guilty plea, which must be approved by a judge, brings an abrupt conclusion to a criminal case of international intrigue and to the US government’s years-long pursuit of a publisher whose hugely popular secret-sharing website made him a cause célèbre among many press freedom advocates who said he acted as a journalist to expose US military wrongdoing. Investigators, by contrast, have repeatedly asserted that his actions broke laws meant to protect sensitive information and put the country’s national security at risk.
He is expected to return to Australia after his plea and sentencing, which is scheduled for Wednesday morning, local time in Saipan, the largest island in the Mariana Islands. The hearing is taking place there because of Assange’s opposition to traveling to the continental US and the court’s proximity to Australia.
US says Blinken pressed Gallant on Gaza aid, called to ‘avoid further escalation’ on Lebanon border
This handout photo shows Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department in Washington, June 24, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israel to take additional steps to protect humanitarian workers and ensure the delivery of aid throughout Gaza during his meeting with visiting Defense Minister Yoav Gallant earlier today, the State Department says.
The US readout is a regurgitation of US talking points about the Israel-Hamas war.
It says the pair discussed ongoing efforts to secure a hostage-ceasefire deal, which Arab and Israeli officials said earlier today were complicated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim on Sunday that he was only interested in implementing part of the deal before resuming military operations in Gaza. The premier subsequently attempted to walk back his comments, insisting that he remains committed to the Israeli proposal outlined by US President Joe Biden last month.
During today’s meeting, Blinken “emphasized the need to take additional steps to protect humanitarian workers in Gaza and deliver assistance throughout Gaza in full coordination with the United Nations, the State Department readout says.
Blinken also updated Gallant on US planning for the post-war governance of Gaza and “emphasized the importance of that work to Israel’s security,” according to the US readout. Washington has repeatedly criticized Jerusalem over this issue, arguing that failure to plan for “the day after” will lead to Israel either permanently occupying Gaza or a state of chaos in the Strip that will allow for Hamas to reconstitute.
Regarding the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, Blinken “underscored the importance of avoiding further escalation of the conflict and reaching a diplomatic resolution that allows both Israeli and Lebanese families to return to their homes,” the US readout says, adding that the secretary “reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security.”
Jordanian police find explosives in Amman that are allegedly part of Iran-linked plot
Illustrative: Jordanian security vehicles patrol the area surrounding the site of an explosion at a military munitions depot in the city of Zarqa, east of the capital Amman, September 11, 2020. (Khalil Mazraawi/AFP)
AMMAN, Jordan — Jordanian security forces say they uncovered and detonated explosives hidden in a commercial warehouse in an industrial area southeast of the capital Amman that security sources say are part of an Iran-linked plot to destabilize a key US ally.
Witnesses earlier said security forces had sealed the Abu Alanda area in a wide scale security operation two days after authorities announced they had detonated explosives uncovered in another location in the capital.
The authorities say the explosives found Monday were hidden by the same group of suspects who stored the explosives uncovered on Saturday in a crowded residential area close to a military airport used by US army planes.
The authorities, who have not disclosed who was behind the storing of munitions or whether arrests have been made, say they will reveal details once the investigations are completed.
Over the past year, Jordan has said it has foiled many attempts to smuggle weapons by infiltrators linked to pro-Iranian militias in Syria, who it says have crossed its borders with rocket launchers and explosives, adding that some of the weapons managed to get through undetected.
Iran has denied being behind such attempts.
Security sources say some of the arms are bound for the neighboring Israeli-controlled West Bank, adding that they have arrested several Jordanians linked to Palestinian terrorists.
Security officials say the incidents are terror-related based on the quantities of explosives found. They say it is linked to Iran’s clandestine efforts to recruit agents to undertake sabotage acts within the kingdom to destabilize a key ally of Washington in the region.
Former Trump employee says boss joked about Nazi ‘ovens’ to Jewish executives
Republican presidential candidate, former president Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on June 9, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A former employee of Donald Trump has told MSNBC that the former president once joked about Nazi ovens to Jewish executives.
Barbara Res, who was in charge of construction in the Trump Organization in the 1980s and 1990s, and led the Trump Tower project, said Trump’s recent comments praising fictional cannibal Hannibal Lecter reminded her of the time he hired “a residential manager, a German guy.”
Trump then “was bragging to us executives, there were four of us, about how great the guy was and he was a real gentleman, and he was so neat and clean. And he looked at a couple of our executives who happen to be Jewish, and he said, ‘Watch out for this guy, he sort of remembers the ovens,’ you know, and then smiled.”
“Everybody was shocked,” Res said. “I couldn’t believe he said that. But he was making a joke about the Nazi ovens and killing people, and that’s the way he was.”
Captive’s parents: New clip a reminder to leaders of people behind the word ‘hostage’
Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, parents of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, spoke to Channel 12 after the airing of the new clip of his capture.
“It’s a clip no parent in the world wants to see,” Jon said. “We the parents of the hostage don’t need a reminder. But maybe decision-makers in Israel and the world need every reminder — that we’re not just talking about a word, “hostage,” but about human beings, real people, with dreams, with families, with people who love them, who are waiting for them.”
Knesset advances bill to extend delay of retirement age for IDF reservists
The Knesset approves in its first reading a bill delaying the retirement age for IDF reservists, extending a temporary measure passed last December by another three months, after ministers approved the bill Sunday.
The proposal, a Defense Ministry-backed “draft Security Service Law,” calls to extend a temporary measure raising the exemption age for reserve military service from 40 to 41 for soldiers and from 45 to 46 for officers for several additional months, due to a manpower shortage because of the ongoing war in Gaza. Specialists such as doctors and air crewmen will be required to continue serving until 50, instead of 49.
Blinken to talk to Gallant of need for ‘robust, realistic’ plan for Gaza governance
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media as after meeting with families of Hamas hostages, during his visit to Tel Aviv, Israel, June 11, 2024. (Jack Guez/ Pool Photo via AP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will emphasize to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant the importance of Israel developing a “robust and realistic” plan for the governance of Gaza once the war is over, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says.
Blinken and Gallant are currently meeting at the State Department.
Miller says the US has been advancing “day after” plans with its Arab allies, but asserts that it is critical Israel conduct some of this work on its own as well.
He acknowledges that Israel has been slightly more focused on the issue more recently, as it nears the completion of its intensive military activity in Gaza. However, Miller insists that Israel has not done enough on this and again warns that failure to do so will leave Israel to choose between re-occupying Gaza or a state of chaos where Hamas will be able to reassert control.
Speaking at a press briefing, Miller says Blinken will also discuss with Gallant, who is visiting Washington this week and meeting with senior US officials, the need to avoid further escalation of the Gaza conflict and to improve humanitarian aid access.
Rabbis ask Defense Ministry to honor headstone preference for Haredi fallen soldier
Cpt. Israel Yudkin (Courtesy)
Orthodox rabbis ask the defense ministry and the army to permit parents whose son fell in combat to add the acronym Heh-Yud-Dalet to his gravestone for the expression “HaShem Yikom Damo” or “May God avenge his blood.”
The letter by the Tzohar rabbinical group follows the Defense Ministry’s refusal to include the letters on the the gravestone of Cpt. Israel Yudkin, a deputy company commander in the Haredi Netzach Yehuda battalion, who fell in battle in Gaza on May 22. His family is asking the ministry to add the letters denoting the formulation, which is standard in some sectors of Judaism for people who were killed in connection with their faith.
The reason given to the family is formalistic, namely that the acronym is outside protocol for military headstones, whose format is generally uniform with only a handful of permissible deviations. The burial plot of Yudkin is currently absent a headstone, while talks between the ministry and the parents continue.
In light of the family’s “sacrifice, we would ask that the decision be granted to forego the need for uniformity in favor of the family’s interests,” reads the letter by Tzohar to Défense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief-of-Staff Herzi Halevi.
The issue comes during a time of polarizing debate in Israeli society on military service by Haredi men, many of whom are exempt from the draft if they attend yeshiva. Activists and politicians pushing for an end to the exemption argue that it is discriminatory, as the High Court of Justice has ruled repeatedly, including in 2017.
Surveys: Potential new right-wing alliance would win big in new election
A new Channel 12 poll indicates a right-wing alliance of Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman, former prime minister Naftali Bennett, New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar, and former Mossad director Yossi Cohen would net the most Knesset seats in an election, winning 25.
A Channel 13 survey yesterday that asked the same question found that prospective party would win 35 seats.
In the Channel 12 Midgam poll, Likud would then win 18 seats, with National Unity at 17, Yesh Atid at 13, Labor-Meretz at 11, Shas at 10, UTJ at 8, Otzma Yehudit at 8, Hadash-Ta’al at 5 and Ra’am at 5.
The current opposition would in such an eventuality win 71 seats in the 120-seat legislature (not including Hadash-Ta’al).
If parties remain as they are today, with only a Labor-Meretz union, National Unity takes the lead at 23, with Likud at 20, Yesh Atid 15, Yisrael Beytenu 14, Labor-Meretz 11, Shas 10, Otzma Yehudit 9, UTJ 8, Hadash-Ta’al 5, Ra’am 5.
The current opposition would in such an eventuality win 68 seats (not including Hadash-Ta’al).
In match-ups between Benjamin Netanyahu and various opposition figures on suitability for the premiership, Netanyahu leads 33% to Yair Lapid’s 29%, Gantz leads 34% to Netanyahu’s 31%, and Bennett leads 39% to Netanyahu’s 29%.
US argues continued Israeli military engagement in Gaza ‘makes Israel weaker’
Troops of the 401st Armored Brigade operate in southern Gaza's Rafah, in a handout photo published June 23, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
WASHINGTON — The US comes out against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to “continue mowing the lawn” in Gaza after the war against Hamas ends.
“Continued military engagement in Gaza [is] just a recipe for continued conflict, continued instability, and continued insecurity for Israel,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says when asked about Netanyahu’s comments last night during a Channel 14 interview.
The prime minister claimed Israel would need to maintain overall security control over Gaza after the war and enter the Strip as needed in order to ensure that Hamas can’t revive its presence in Gaza.
“It is obviously extremely harmful to the people of Gaza who want to be able to rebuild their lives and rebuild their homes and want to be able to chart a different future,” Miller begins.
“But we also think continued military action in Gaza Just makes Israel weaker. It makes it harder to achieve a resolution in the north, it adds to instability in the West Bank, it makes it harder for Israel to normalize relations with its neighbors. That’s why we will continue to put forward what we believe is an alternative path that actually helps Israel’s security, not one that weakens it,” Miller says.
US on Smotrich’s plan to expand control of West Bank: ‘It’s self-defeating’
Religious Zionism party leader Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting in northern Israel, May 19, 2024. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
WASHINGTON — The US pans Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s recent comments on a clandestine effort to expand Israel’s civilian control of the West Bank. the way Israel governs the West Bank.
“We have seen the finance minister, who also is a minister inside the Defense Ministry’s attempt to further administratively integrate settlements into Israel. We have made quite clear that settlements are counterproductive to peace, that the government of Israel’s settlement program is inconsistent with international law, and we will continue to make that clear,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says when asked about Smotrich’s comments during a press briefing.
“We will continue to make the case to [Israel] that actions like these don’t just harm the Palestinian people, but they ultimately are self-defeating. They ultimately hurt Israel’s interests and weaken Israel’s security,” Miller adds.
US spokesman indicates Netanyahu misspoke in comments on hostage-ceasefire deal
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller indicates that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu misspoke when he told Channel 14 yesterday that he only supports phase one of the hostage deal so that Israel can resume fighting Hamas afterward.
Miller notes Netanyahu’s subsequent statements walking back the claim.
“I think all of us who speak publicly at times make mistakes… and when we do so we have an obligation to come and clarify, and we’re glad he did,” Miller says.
US condemns ‘shocking’ video of Palestinian tied to hood of army car in West Bank
WASHINGTON — The US condemns the “shocking” video of a wounded Palestinian tied to the hood of a military vehicle by IDF soldiers in the West Bank over the weekend.
“This practice is absolutely unacceptable. Humans should never be used as human shields. The IDF should swiftly investigate what happened and hold people accountable,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says, when asked about the clip during a press briefing.
Miller acknowledges the statement put out by the IDF, which said the conduct was inconsistent with military protocol and is being investigated.
قوات الاحتلال تنكل بشاب فلسطيني في #جنين بربطه على مقدمة آلية عسكرية#حرب_غزة pic.twitter.com/Oor9G1r66N
— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) June 22, 2024
Arab diplomat: Netanyahu saying he only backs partial hostage deal harmed negotiations
WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim yesterday that he only supports a partial hostage deal with Hamas so that Israel can resume fighting against the terror group after female, elderly and sick hostages are released has caused harm to negotiations, a senior Arab diplomat from one of the mediating countries tells The Times of Israel.
The diplomat says Hamas has long expressed its concern in the talks that Israel would only agree to phase one of the deal before finding a way to resume fighting, rather than continuing to phase two, during which Israel is supposed to permanently withdraw from the Strip in exchange for the remaining living hostages.
The senior Arab diplomat says Netanyahu has vindicated Hamas’s concerns with his remarks to Channel 14 yesterday.
The premier sought to walk back his comments, claiming earlier today that he is “committed to the Israeli [ceasefire] proposal welcomed by [US] President Biden.”
The Arab diplomat says the outstanding issue in the talks remains Hamas’s demand that Israel commit up front to a permanent ceasefire.
Eisenkot: There has been a lack of leadership, PM must make decisions
Former chief of staff and war cabinet observer Gadi Eisenkot at the Herzliya Conference, June 24, 2024. (Ronen Topelberg)
Former chief of staff and war cabinet observer Gadi Eisenkot says Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is the reason a deal for releasing hostages has not been reached. But, he argues, there has been “a lack of leadership, of strength” in Israel.
Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, the opposition lawmaker acknowledges that the cabinet he was part of until earlier this month failed to bring the hostages back.
“I expect [Netanyahu] to make decisions. And that’s one of the reasons we left the government.”
He says that there were decisions that contradicted Israel’s strategy, and that “we are five months behind, which explains the lack of achievements right now.”
“Whoever sees the goal as the conquest of Gaza and the return of settlements to Gaza is mistaken, and there is no shortage of ministers who are aiming for this,” Eisenkot adds.
Eisenkot calls for a hostage deal and a change in Israel’s strategy, based on striking in Lebanon at a time of Israel’s choosing and preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon.
Israel will destroy Hamas, he promises, “but it will take years.”
“It’s not a secret that Itamar [Ben Gvir] and Betzalel [Smotrich] have a lot of influence, including in the affairs of Judea and Samaria, even though that this is against the government’s policy,” he continues. “It happens because of the weakness of the government and its leader and the exploitation of the political reality in order to promote such an agenda.”
Eisenkot blasts Netanyahu’s decision to critique the Biden administration in a video last week: “If they want to send a message, it is certainly not through a television clip. That clip caused damage vis-à-vis the most serious threat, that same strategic union that it is crucial that we strike,” he says, referring to the Iranian axis. “And that harms our national security.”
Official involved in Hamas talks tells TV Netanyahu’s statements were ‘actual sabotage’
An Israeli source with knowledge of the negotiations with Hamas tells Channel 12 that Netanyahu’s comments yesterday on backing only a “partial” deal “caused damage that will be very difficult to fix and at terrible timing — when all pressure was directed at [Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya] Sinwar.
“His statement was actual sabotage. It’s difficult to see how we can reach a deal in the near future. It’s ‘game over’ for a deal,” the source said, adding: “He’s giving up on releasing the abducted soldiers and on the chance to try to first bring home the women, female soldiers, and the elderly.”
Military releases footage of strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
Israeli fighter jets struck facilities belonging to Hezbollah’s air defense unit in northeastern Lebanon’s Baalbek earlier today, the military announces.
The IDF has struck in Baalbek, a Hezbollah stronghold some 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the border, several times during the war.
The IDF also says it struck Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon’s Blida and Maroun al-Ras a short while ago.
It publishes footage of the attacks.
Meanwhile, the IDF says that earlier today, air defenses shot down a suspected drone that entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon. It publishes footage of the interception. The incident set off sirens in the Golan Heights community of Kela.
Additionally, rocket sirens that sounded a short while ago in the Upper Galilee were determined to be false alarms, the military adds.
Iran, Bahrain to start talks on releasing Iranian funds, resuming relations
Iran and Bahrain have agreed to start talks about the release of Iranian funds frozen in Bahrain and resuming diplomatic ties, Iran’s state media reports.
On Sunday, Bahrain’s state news agency said the two countries have agreed to start discussing re-establishing political relations.
“The two parts have agreed to hold technical negotiations to free Iranian funds frozen in Bahrain,” Iran’s state media says, without elaborating on the timing of the talks or the amounts involved.
The talks will be aimed at releasing funds of Iran’s central bank and other banks held in Bahrain, according to state media.
Bahrain, home to the US Navy Fifth Fleet, has long blamed Tehran for stirring up its own majority Shi’ite Muslim population against the country’s Sunni monarchy. It cut diplomatic ties with Iran in 2016, a day after Saudi Arabia did so because of attacks on the Saudi embassy in Tehran.
Last month, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa said in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that there was no reason to postpone the resumption of diplomatic relations between the kingdom and Iran.
Netanyahu: Video of hostages’ kidnapping breaks all of our hearts
After the release of the harrowing footage of the kidnapping of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Or Levy and Eliya Cohen on October 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the video “breaks all of our hearts, and once again emphasizes the cruelty of the enemy that we have pledged to eliminate.”
“We will not stop the war until we bring all of our 120 loved ones home,” the premier says in a statement.
US ambassador: Israel’s impatience in receiving weapons understandable
US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew gives a speech at a rally calling for the release of hostages in Hamas captivity, Tel Aviv, January 13, 2024. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
Israel’s impatience in receiving weapons is understandable, says US Ambassador Jack Lew. “The US system is moving quickly still,” he stresses, acknowledging that it is “perhaps not at the speed of October 8.”
Speaking at the annual Herzliya Conference, Lew adds that the initial pace of weapons delivery “isn’t physically sustainable because you start running into supply issues.”
He acknowledges that “one shipment of large diameter bombs” was held up, but “precision-guided missiles were still delivered.”
The issue returned to the headlines last week when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video calling on US President Joe Biden to release holds on weapons shipments.
Lew says he does not understand claims that the Biden administration is not sufficiently supportive of Israel during the war on Hamas. “We support Israel and we will continue to support Israel,” he says.
“We’ve done what the closest of friends do,” the envoy continues. “We’ve shared mostly in private where things stand and where things need to go.”
Lew says that the US has been “urging that Israel fight the war in a way that reflects our shared values, that is something that leads to a better future.”
The diplomat acknowledges that “Israel did provide and is continuing to provide a huge amount of humanitarian assistance.”
He also emphasizes that the US does not believe that there is a famine in Gaza.
At the same time, he urges more clarity on who rules Gaza after Hamas: “The real issue in terms of wisdom is having a vision of where it goes afterwards… You need a vision where you don’t end up back where you started again.”
He calls for “a conversation about the future of the Palestinian people,” and argues that “Israel is on the brink of being accepted by all the moderate Arab countries.”
Biden ‘appalled’ by anti-Israel protest at LA synagogue: ‘Unconscionable’
Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers clash with anti-Israel protesters gathered outside the Adas Torah Synagogue in Los Angeles, June 23, 2024. (DAVID SWANSON / AFP)
US President Joe Biden blasts conduct of anti-Israel protesters who attempted to block Jewish congregants from entering a synagogue in Los Angeles.
“I’m appalled by the scenes outside of Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles. Intimidating Jewish congregants is dangerous, unconscionable, antisemitic, and un-American,” reads a tweet from US President Joe Biden’s X account.
“Americans have a right to peaceful protest. But blocking access to a house of worship — and engaging in violence — is never acceptable,” he adds.
Protesters could be heard chanting for an intifada and reportedly used dousing bear spray on Jewish attendees, leading to clashes that had to be broken up by police.
The demonstration was held to protest a real estate event being held inside the synagogue, which reportedly included the sale of plots of land in the West Bank.
IDF announces death of Sgt. Maj. Muhammad Alatrash, killed and abducted on Oct 7
Sgt. Maj. Muhammad Alatrash, who was killed and abducted by Hamas on October 7 (Courtesy)
The IDF announces the death of Sgt. Maj. Muhammad Alatrash, who was killed and abducted by Hamas on October 7.
Alatrash, 39, from the southern Bedouin community of Sa’wa, served as a tracker in the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade.
According to the IDF, Alatrash was killed on October 7 and his body was then taken hostage to Gaza. His death was recently declared based on findings and new intelligence information.
VP Harris’s adviser: Rejecting Gaza deal would drain Israeli resources, increase isolation
Vice President Kamala Harris's National Security Adviser Philip Gordon, in May 2024. (YouTube screenshot)
Speaking in Herzliya, Vice President Kamala Harris’s national security adviser urges Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the terms of the deal laid out by President Joe Biden last month, though Netanyahu said yesterday he wants only a “partial” accord.
“A rejection of this deal would not bring about some undefined notion of total victory,” says Philip Gordon at Reichman University’s Herzliya Conference, “but it would lead to endless conflict, draining Israel’s resources, contributing to its isolation on the world stage, and preventing the hostages from being reunited with their families.”
On the other hand, says Gordon, the deal Biden presented is “the path to that more hopeful future (that) starts with the ceasefire bill.”
“That proposal offers the opportunity to end the war in Gaza in a way such that Israel is secure, the hostages come home, Hamas no longer governs Gaza, and the Palestinian people have a hopeful political horizon to freedom, security, and an eventual state, living side by side in peace with Israel,” he continues.
Gordon stresses that the US “is certainly not asking Israel to sacrifice its security or immediately to come to a negotiated agreement on two states.”
He also places blame on Hamas: “It is now time for Hamas to accept the deal. Let’s be clear, by refusing to do so, Hamas is responsible for ongoing suffering of so many Palestinians. The deal Israel offered at the end of May was almost identical to what Hamas proposed on May 6th. In many ways, Hamas is walking away from its own proposal.”
Hostage families release Hamas video showing 3 men’s abduction into Gaza
In the early morning hours of October 7, hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Or Levy and Eliya Cohen were shoved, bloodied and terrified, onto the flatbed of a pickup truck. Hamas terrorists towered over them yelling “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) with AK-47s pointed high as the truck barreled down a one-lane road into Gaza.
The images of that ride — from a portion of a Hamas video obtained by Israel — are being shared for the first time this evening by the families of the three hostages.
The footage is the third section of a Hamas video that shows the chronology of events for the three on the morning of October 7.
One section that was published several months ago showed the terrorists throwing grenades at the field shelter where some 29 people from the Supernova desert rave were attempting to hide. Goldberg-Polin, Cohen and Levy were all in the same shelter.
The second portion, also previously released, showed Goldberg-Polin being led by terrorists onto the flatbed of the Hamas pickup truck, clutching his tourniquet-bound arm that had just been partially blown off below the elbow.
The two-minute third portion, released the evening, was edited and blurred in accordance with the requests of the families.
“The video is a sharp indictment of the abandonment that’s continued for 262 days,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum says in a statement.
IDF chief says army close to defeating Hamas’s Rafah Brigade
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi (left) is seen with the head of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, in southern Gaza's Rafah, June 23, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi has said the military is getting close to defeating Hamas’s Rafah Brigade.
“We have very significant achievements in the fighting in Rafah,” Halevi said during a visit to the city in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, in comments released now.
“This is reflected in the number of terrorists killed, as well as in the destroyed infrastructure [and] tunnels,” he said.
Halevi said the IDF’s control of the so-called Philadelphi Route on the Gaza-Egypt border is “very, very significant.” He said it closes Hamas’s “oxygen pipeline for future smuggling.”
“We are clearly approaching the point where we [can] say we dismantled the Rafah Brigade. It is defeated not in the sense that there are no more terrorists in it, but in the sense that it can no longer function as a fighting framework,” he said.
Halevi said “many” of the Rafah Brigade’s operatives had been killed, telling the troops that “you will take care to kill as many terrorists as possible and destroy as much infrastructure as possible until the end of the mission here.”
PM says Israel committed to hostage-ceasefire offer after stating he wants ‘partial’ deal only
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a debate at the plenum hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem, on June 24, 2024 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
At the Knesset, Prime Minister Netanyahu says Israel is “committed to the Israeli [ceasefire] proposal welcomed by [US] President Biden. Our position has not changed.”
The Israeli proposal would reportedly see a hostage release in the first stage and a potential permanent ceasefire later down the line. But yesterday, Netanyahu said he was only “prepared to do a partial deal… that would return some of the people to us” while being “obligated to continue the fighting after a pause in order to complete our goal of destroying Hamas.”
Today too, he says: “We will not end the war until we bring back all the hostages… We will not end the war until we eliminate Hamas and return residents of the south safely to their homes.”
The terms of Israel’s latest ceasefire and hostage deal proposal, some of whose details were presented by US President Joe Biden last month, reportedly provides for a temporary ceasefire in the first phase of the deal, to be extended into “a sustainable calm (cessation of military operations and hostilities permanently)” in the second phase. However, Netanyahu has repeatedly denied that the Israeli proposal provides for ending the war before Israel achieves its two declared goals of destroying Hamas and bringing home all the hostages.
Former war cabinet observer MK Gadi Eisenkot said Monday that Netanyahu’s comments contradicted decisions made by the war cabinet. “As someone who sat in the cabinet, there were only two options: a full deal all at once, or a comprehensive deal in three stages. The cabinet voted unanimously on this, and therefore Netanyahu’s statement about a ‘partial deal’ is contrary to the war cabinet’s decisions.”
Rare rocket from Gaza intercepted over Ashkelon, another over Mefalsim
Two rockets were launched from the northern Gaza Strip a short while ago, one toward the southern coastal city of Ashkelon and the other at the border community of Mefalsim.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for the attack.
The military said both rockets were intercepted.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service says it is treating two people in good condition who fell over while running to shelters as sirens sounded in Ashkelon and several more towns near the Strip.
There are no reports of damage in the attack.
Two rockets were launched from the northern Gaza Strip a short while ago, one toward the southern coastal city of Ashkelon and the other at the border community of Mefalsim.
According to the Ashkelon municipality, the rocket launched at the city was intercepted by air defenses.… https://t.co/1KntgtmAva pic.twitter.com/sdJNQuhodO
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) June 24, 2024
Sa’ar attacks Netanyahu at Knesset: ‘You’re not an emperor! You’re not a king!’
MK Gideon Sa'ar speaks at the Knesset, in Jerusalem on June 18, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The Knesset holds a “40 signatures discussion” called by the opposition after a minimum of 40 opposition MKs requested to hold a debate with the prime minister.
The opposition is pillorying the government, with MK Gideon Sa’ar (New Hope) saying, “The State of Israel is under caution,” after a state commission cautioned the prime minister regarding his conduct in the so-called “submarine affair.”
Saying Netanyahu is accused of bypassing his cabinet, ministers, the security establishment and others in his decision-making, Sa’ar says: “You’re not an emperor! You’re not a king!”
Accusing the government of “still trying” to “crush [Israel’s] constitutional and governmental traditions,” Sa’ar attacks it for failing to appoint a new Supreme Court chief. “You’re acting intentionally to create chaos,” he says. “Why? Because the justice minister does not have a majority on the committee to select whoever he wants. So what do you do? Select no one!”
‘Rampant’ looting, smuggling impeding aid delivery in Gaza, UNRWA says
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini at a press conference on the situation in Gaza at the United Nations offices in Geneva, April 30, 2024. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)
The head of the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees warns that a breakdown of civil order in Gaza has allowed widespread looting and smuggling, and blocked aid deliveries.
More than eight months of war have led to desperate humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory and repeated UN warnings of man-made famine there.
“Gaza has been decimated,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini tells the agency’s advisory body. “We have witnessed unprecedented failures of humanity in a territory marked by decades of violence,” he says, according to a written version of his closed-door address in Geneva.
“Palestinians and Israelis have experienced terrible losses and suffered immensely.”
Lazzarini warns that Gazans are in “a living hell, a nightmare from which they cannot wake.”
Cornerstone-laying ceremony held for new neighborhood in ravaged Kibbutz Be’eri
File - Houses destroyed during Hamas's brutal October 7 onslaught in Kibbutz Be'eri, seen on December 20, 2023. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A cornerstone laying ceremony is being held today for a new neighborhood in Kibbutz Be’eri, which was ravaged by the October 7 attacks, with 101 people murdered and over 150 buildings destroyed.
The new Shikmim neighborhood will contain 52 homes.
Speaking to Channel 12, resident Miri Gad Messika describes “very difficult feelings” on this day, with many residents and bodies still held hostage in Gaza, “but on the other hand my home was burned down so I don’t have anywhere to go back to. There’s no choice but to rebuild and move forward.”
But, she stresses, “true rebuilding will happen only when the hostages return home — those murdered, for burial, and those living to rehabilitation. Only then can we rise up from October 7.”
Medics aim to screen thousands of Gaza children for malnutrition
Palestinian children wait with family members at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 24, 2024 (Bashar TALEB / AFP)
Medics in Gaza say they are working to step up screening of young children for severe malnutrition amid fears that hunger is spreading as people flee to new areas.
Aid group International Medical Corps (IMC) and partners are planning to reach more than 200,000 children under 5 years old as part of a “Find and Treat” campaign, one of its doctors, Mumawwar Said, tells Reuters by phone.
“With the displacement, communities are settling in new locations that do not have access to clean water, or there is not adequate access to food,” he says. “We fear there are more cases being missed.”
Over the weekend, families were already coming into an IMC clinic in the central city of Deir al-Balah, opened after the agency said it had to shut down two centers in the southern city of Rafah due to insecurity.
Staff can gauge nutrition levels by measuring the circumference of children’s arms. During a Reuters cameraman’s short visit at least two of the measurements were in the yellow band, indicating a risk of malnutrition.
A group of UN-led aid agencies estimates that around 7% of Gazan children may be acutely malnourished, compared with 0.8% before the Israel-Hamas conflict began with Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7.
Thailand to send farm workers to Israel for first time since Hamas attacks
Thailand will resume sending agricultural workers to Israel this week after an eight-month hiatus, the Thai labor ministry says, with a target of having more than 10,000 of its citizens working in the country by year’s end.
Around 30,000 Thai laborers had been working in the agriculture sector, comprising one of the largest migrant worker groups in Israel, before the conflict broke out last October.
Caught in the fighting when terrorists attacked Israel on October 7, 39 Thais were killed and 32 were taken hostage, according to the Thai government.
Six of them are believed to remain in captivity.
“The government asked for the cooperation of the Israeli government to help emphasize to employers to take care of the safety of Thai workers,” the labor ministry says.
The first batch of around 100 workers will fly out from the capital Bangkok tomorrow, followed by another group in early July.
Many Thais, particularly from the rural northeast region, have sought employment in Israel drawn by higher wages and an opportunity to work their way out of ballooning debt, a gnawing issue for millions in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy.
Knesset allocates hundreds of millions in budget surplus to coalition funds
MK Moshe Gafni leads a Finance Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on June 12, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The Knesset Finance Committee allocates NIS 10.1 billion ($2.7 billion) in surplus funds from the 2023 budget to the 2024 budget.
Channel 12 news notes that hundreds of millions will go to discretionary funding promised to various coalition parties as part of political deals, eliciting criticism from the opposition, which says any surpluses should be diverted to national needs amid the war.
Key discretionary allocations include: NIS 302 million to the National Missions and Settlements Ministry of Orit Strock, doubling its budget; NIS 23 million to the Jerusalem Affairs Ministry held by United Torah Judaism; and NIS 95 million to various ultra-Orthodox educational frameworks.
Gallant to US envoy Hochstein: Move to ‘Phase C’ in Gaza war will affect all fronts
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (R) meets US special envoy Amos Hochstein in Washington DC, June 24, 2024 (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant tells US special envoy Amos Hochstein that moving to “Phase C” in the Gaza war will affect all fronts, according to a readout from his office.
Phase 3 refers to low-intensity conflict as the military works to root out the remaining pockets of Hamas in Gaza, while the political echelon works to find an alternative to the terror group as ruler of the Strip.
Gallant met Hochstein during his ongoing visit to Washington DC.
The Defense Ministry says the pair discussed “the actions required to achieve a framework that enables the safe return of Israeli communities to their homes in the north.”
Gallant tells Hochstein that “the transition to ‘Phase C’ in the war in Gaza will impact developments on all fronts, and that Israel is preparing for every scenario both militarily and diplomatically,” his office adds.
Army says sirens at Kerem Shalom were false alarm
Rocket sirens that sounded in the southern community of Kerem Shalom a short while ago were determined to be false alarms, the military says.
Families of hostages Goldberg-Polin, Levy and Cohen to publish video of abduction
Left to right: Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eliya Cohen and Or Levy (Courtesy)
The families of hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Or Levy and Eliya Cohen, along with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, will publish a video at 7 p.m. of the abduction of the three men from the field shelter where they were hiding on October 7.
“The video is a sharp indictment of the abandonment that’s continued for 262 days,” the Forum says in a statement.
Goldberg-Polin and his friend, Aner Shapira, ran to the field shelter as rockets were fired from Gaza. When terrorists stormed the shelter, Shapira was killed while defending others inside by hurling back grenades thrown by the attackers. Goldberg-Polin was taken captive, his right arm blown off from the elbow down.
On April 24, Hamas published a video of Goldberg-Polin, the first sign of life that the family received.
Or Levy reached the Supernova festival with his wife Einav Levy at 6:20 a.m., only nine minutes before the Hamas attack began. Or and Einav also entered the same field shelter. Einav was killed and Or was taken to Gaza as a hostage. Their toddler son, Almog, will mark his third birthday on Tuesday, without his mother or his father.
Eliya Cohen and his girlfriend, Ziv Aboud, went to Supernova with her niece and her nephew’s partner. When the attack began, all four ran to the same field shelter as Goldberg-Polin and the Levys. Ziv Aboud’s family members were killed. Eliya was taken hostage while Ziv survived after being buried under dead bodies.
The two-minute video has been edited and blurred according to the requests of families.
Liberman says he’s best choice to lead a united right-wing party to challenge Netanyahu
Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on May 27, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Hawkish opposition politician Avigdor Liberman says that he believes he is the most qualified to run a united right-wing front to challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Responding to a question by a journalist ahead of his Yisrael Beytenu party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Liberman says he believes “in terms of experience, capabilities, and the ability to face all challenges I feel I am built better than the others.”
Speaking with Army Radio earlier in the day, Liberman made a similar claim, stating that he would insist “on the first place in the union not because of delusions of grandeur” but because he has “the most experience in the most positions.”
“I’m in favor of unifying everyone, but it has to be done right,” he continues, adding that he is “talking to everyone and we’re trying to make as many preparations as possible for that moment when there will be elections.”
According to a Channel 13 poll released on Sunday, a united right-wing front comprising Liberman, former prime minister Naftali Bennett, New Hope chair Gideon Sa’ar and former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen would receive 34 seats if elections were held today.
Sa’ar stated last month that he was open to making concessions in order to establish a right-wing bloc in opposition to the current government, and Bennett has recently hinted at a political comeback.
Over the weekend, Channel 12 aired a poll in which, for the first time, more Israelis said they believe Bennett is better suited to be prime minister than incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu.
It is unknown what Cohen is planning or how a state committee of inquiry’s announcement that it is sending him a warning notice in relation to the so-called submarine affair will affect his viability as a candidate.
Exiled Moscow chief rabbi: Kremlin using resources to repress critics rather than protect vulnerable groups
In this photo taken from video released by The Telegram Channel of the head of Dagestan Republic of Russia on June 24, 2024, a damaged Star of David is seen on the wall of the the Kele-Numaz synagogue in Derbent after an attack by gunmen a day earlier. (Telegram Channel of the head of Dagestan Republic of Russia via AP)
Moscow’s exiled former chief rabbi accuses the authorities of leaving Jews and other citizens vulnerable to attacks like yesterday’s gun rampages by turning the state’s security apparatus on Kremlin critics instead of terrorist threats.
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt’s comments come after gunmen killed 19 people in the mainly Muslim region of Dagestan in southern Russia in attacks on churches, synagogues and law enforcement.
“The Russian authorities during the last years have used the law enforcement authorities to repress any kind of opposition to the Kremlin, opposition to the war and any movements like the LGBT movement which was declared as extremist. People are sent to prison for criticizing the war,” Goldschmidt says in a video interview from Berlin.
“So instead of using law enforcement and the interior ministry and FSB (Russia’s security service) to provide security for Russian citizens, it’s being used to eradicate any opposition to the regime. And here we see the results, that such terrorists like ISIS are able to again and again mount successful attacks against houses of worship, against cultural events.”
Investigators have yet to establish who was behind Sunday’s attack but ISIS, or Islamic State, has an established presence in Russia’s North Caucasus region, which includes Dagestan.
In addition, coordinated strikes by gunmen who are prepared to die while conducting marauding attacks are a hallmark of the Islamist militant group, which claimed responsibility for a massacre of 145 people attending a concert near Moscow in March.
Lapid: ‘Submarine affair’ proves Netanyahu is a danger to Israel’s security
Opposition leader Yair Lapid speaks at a Yesh Atid faction meeting in the Knesset, June 24, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Responding to the news that a state commission of inquiry accused Benjamin Netanyahu of “risking the state’s security and harming Israel’s foreign relations,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declares the prime minister a danger to Israel.
“Netanyahu is a danger to Israel’s security. So it was the case of the submarines, so it was with the Mount Meron disaster, so it was regarding all of the conduct that led to and caused the October 7 massacre,” he says.
This morning, the commission investigating the so-called submarine affair announced that it is sending warning notices to five individuals it believes may be harmed by its probe, including Netanyahu.
The commission of inquiry, formed under then-premier Naftali Bennett in 2022, stated that Netanyahu had “created parallel and conflicting channels of action, thereby risking the state’s security and harming Israel’s foreign relations.”
Earlier this year, a different state commission of inquiry named the premier among the officials personally responsible for the 2021 Meron disaster, in which 45 Israelis were trampled to death during a pilgrimage at the grave of a revered second-century rabbi.
Lapid also slams the Knesset Finance Committee, after it votes to appropriate part of the 2023 budget surplus to various ministries, including millions of shekels for ultra-Orthodox education.
“This is money stolen from the pockets of Israeli citizens, during wartime. It’s the taxes of the middle class that this cynical bunch is robbing. The good citizens of Israel go to the reserves, and by the time they return from service, these corrupt people steal their money,” he says.
“I want to say from here to Likud voters: You were betrayed. Your elected officials betrayed you,” he declares.
Reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah in China indefinitely postponed
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (third right), and top official Khalem Mashaal (second right), are seen meeting with Fatah's Nasser al-Qudwa (second left) and Samir al-Mashrawi (third left) in Qatar on November 22, 2023. (Courtesy)
Reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah due to be held in China this month have been delayed and no new date has been set, officials of the Palestinian factions tell Reuters.
After hosting a meeting of Palestinian factions in April, China said Fatah – which is led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas – and Hamas had expressed the will to seek reconciliation through unity talks in Beijing. Fatah and Hamas officials had previously said the meeting would take place in mid-June.
With the factions deeply divided, analysts had held out little hope of the talks achieving a breakthrough toward a reconciliation deal that could create a unified Palestinian administration for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which has been controlled by the Hamas terror group since 2007.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim, who had attended the previous meeting, tells Reuters the meeting was postponed and no new date has been set for another meeting, blaming Fatah which he says requested the delay.
Three Fatah officials confirm the postponement, speaking on condition of anonymity and saying the movement was going to issue a statement on the issue.
IDF: Iron Dome intercepted rocket launched at southern Israel from Rafah
A rocket launched from southern Gaza’s Rafah at southern Israel was intercepted by the Iron Dome, the military says.
Sirens had sounded in several communities in the Eshkol Regional Council.
Edelstein at Haredi draft debate: IDF’s needs are top concern, Haredi factions aren’t the majority here
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein attends a debate on the government-backed Haredi draft legislation, June 24, 2024. (Noam Moshkovitz/Knesset spokesperson)
Members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee debate government-backed legislation lowering ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students’ age of exemption from military service.
Addressing the committee, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs says that Haredim believe that those learning full-time in yeshiva are comparable to the IDF’s Sayeret Matkal special forces unit, though he noted that “you don’t have to agree.”
Enlisting the ultra-Orthodox into the army will take time, he continues, arguing that “if we want to effectively advance our goals, we need to start with those who the army knows” aren’t really engaged in full-time yeshiva studies.
The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, whose lawmakers are not taking part in the debate, has argued that drafting full-time yeshiva students is a red line.
Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon tells the committee that the proposed enlistment legislation lacks a factual basis, is “disconnected” from the needs of the army and “does not provide an answer to the growing damage to equality” caused by ultra-Orthodox exemptions.
If eventually approved, the bill would lower the current age of exemption from mandatory service for Haredi yeshiva students from 26 to 21 and “very slowly” increase the rate of ultra-Orthodox conscription.
Pushing back against critics both within the government and in the opposition, committee chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud) says that if lawmakers truly support the IDF and its needs, he “would like to hear members of the committee from all factions supporting this proposal.”
Edelstein has previously argued that despite widespread criticism of the legislation, it provides an opportunity to solve one of the longest-running controversies in Israeli politics.
Responding to opposition MKs who say that the discussion is not serious because of the absence of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers, Edelstein says he is “not going to run after anyone.”
“The last time I checked, the Haredi factions are not the majority in the Knesset,” he adds.
Reporters banned from entering cargo area in tour of Beirut airport aimed at disproving claims of weapons stockpiling
Planes are grounded due to the coronavirus pandemic at the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, March 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
A tour of Beirut airport for journalists and ambassadors that Lebanon’s Hezbollah-affiliated transport minister said would prove that the terror group is not storing weapons on site is interrupted as reporters and cameramen are prevented from entering a cargo-handling area in the airport.
The tour had been arranged by Beirut’s Transport Ministry to disprove allegations published yesterday by The Telegraph that the Shiite terror group has stockpiled weapons coming from Iran at the airport, including ballistic missiles, unguided artillery rockets, and laser-guided anti-tank guided missiles, as well as a highly explosive and toxic white powder known as RDX.
In response to the allegations, Lebanon’s Hezbollah-affiliated Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamieh held a press conference at the airport yesterday, dismissing the “ridiculous” allegations. Hamieh invited journalists and ambassadors to take a tour of the airport’s facilities this morning, to prove that “there is nothing to hide,” Lebanese media quoted the minister as saying.
During today’s tour, dozens of journalists and ambassadors are accompanied through parts of the airport, but only the diplomats are allowed to enter one of the cargo-handling buildings due to “organizational issues,” while journalists are left to wait outside in the heat, according to the Saudi Al-Hadath news outlet.
مراسلة #الحدث غنوة يتيم: أمن مطار بيروت منع الصحافيين من دخول مركز الشحن الجوي في مطار #بيروت رفضاً للتصوير خلال جولة الدبلوماسيين والإعلاميين بعد أزمة "أسلحة حزب الله"#لبنان pic.twitter.com/5ZlZdw5toP
— ا لـحـدث (@AlHadath) June 24, 2024
Foreign Minister Katz meets with Argentina’s new ambassador to Israel
Foreign Minister Israel Katz meets with Argentina’s new ambassador to Israel, Rabbi Shimon Axel Wahnish.
“Thanks to the friendship and support of President [Javier] Milei, the ties between Argentina and Israel will become tighter, and will reach new heights,” writes Katz on X. “I am sure that we will soon see Argentina’s new embassy in Jerusalem.”
Wahnish, 42, has been close to Milei as the Catholic “anarcho-capitalist” made a meteoric rise to power and is widely understood to be responsible for Milei’s recent philosemitism, which shaped his candidacy and first months as president.
Wahnish moved from Buenos Aires to Israel with his wife and six children. Milei has vowed to move Argentina’s embassy from Herzliya to Israel’s capital.
The post at Argentina’s embassy has been vacant since early 2022, when the previous ambassador was removed following a corruption conviction.
שמחתי לארח היום את השגריר החדש של ארגנטינה בישראל שמעון ואחניש ביום כניסתו לתפקיד.
בזכות הידידות והתמיכה של הנשיא מיליי @JMilei, הקשר בין ארגנטינה לישראל יתהדק ויתחזק לפסגות חדשות, ואני בטוח שבקרוב נראה את השגרירות החדשה של ארגנטינה בירושלים – בירתה הנצחית של מדינת ישראל.
אדוני… pic.twitter.com/GVTGQ5BoAn
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) June 24, 2024
JTA contributed to this report.
Eisenkot says PM’s statement that Israel would agree to partial hostage deal is contrary to war cabinet decision
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)
Former war cabinet observer MK Gadi Eisenkot slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he said last night that he would be open to a partial hostage deal, which would bring about the release of “some” hostages, and accuses him of going against decisions made by the war cabinet.
“As someone who sat in the cabinet, there were only two options: A full deal all at once, or a comprehensive deal in three stages. The cabinet voted unanimously on this, and therefore Netanyahu’s statement about a ‘partial deal’ is contrary to the war cabinet’s decisions,” Eisenkot, who left the government two weeks ago, tells the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Netanyahu’s statement caused the families of hostages “emotional turmoil,” Eisenkot tells the committee, and caused “critical damage to Israel’s national resilience.”
“This requires immediate clarification from the prime minister,” he says.
Netanyahu on Sunday, in his first interview with a Hebrew-language outlet since Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught, told Channel 14 that Israel was prepared to pause fighting in Gaza for a partial deal in exchange for the return of a number of hostages held by Hamas, but insisted the war will not end until the terror group is destroyed.
Backing up Eisenkot, committee chairman Yuli Edelstein of Likud says that he too is familiar with the decisions Eisenkot says were made by the war cabinet.
Committee okays fast-tracking bill raising age of exemption for IDF reservists
The Knesset House Committee approves a government request to fast-track a bill delaying retirement for IDF reservists.
The proposal, a Defense Ministry-backed “draft Security Service Law,” seeks to extend a temporary measure raising the exemption age for reserve military service from 40 to 41 for soldiers and from 45 to 46 for officers for several additional months due to a manpower shortage amid the ongoing war in Gaza. Specialists such as doctors and air crewmen will be required to continue serving until 50, instead of 49.
The current increase in the exemption age, which was initially passed as a temporary measure by the Knesset late last year, is set to expire at the end of the month and the committee’s approval of the government’s request clears the way for the bill’s first reading in the plenum to take place today — with the remaining two readings taking place this week.
Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik criticizes the government for requesting to fast-track the legislation “at the last minute, leaving two days of work for the Knesset and the committee.”
“This is an insult to the Knesset and its status and ability to work, especially after the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee did not agree to grant a one-year extension in the past,” she says.
Kremlin says Russia has started updating its nuclear doctrine
Russia, the world’s biggest nuclear power, has started updating its nuclear doctrine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says, citing an earlier statement by President Vladimir Putin.
“President Putin has said that work is under way to bring the doctrine into line with current realities,” Peskov tells a briefing, without elaborating.
A senior member of the Russian parliament said on Sunday that Moscow could reduce the decision-making time stipulated in official policy for the use of nuclear weapons if it believes that threats are increasing.
Putin said last month that Russia might change its official nuclear doctrine setting out the conditions under which such weapons could be used.
The war in Ukraine has triggered the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
‘Endangered state security’: PM sent warning letter by state commission of inquiry into ‘submarine affair’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touring the INS Tanin submarine, built by the German firm Thyssenkrupp, as it arrived in Israel on September 23, 2014. (Kobi Gideon/GPO/Flash90)
A state commission of inquiry investigating the so-called submarine affair has announced it sent warning notices to five individuals it believes may be harmed by its probe, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former naval commander Admiral Ram Rothberg, in order to allow them to submit additional testimony and view evidence relating to their conduct. Netanyahu is accused of “endangering the state’s security and harming Israel’s foreign relations.”
According to an 11-page statement released by the commission, Netanyahu made decisions with “significant implications for security” without an orderly decision-making process, bypassed his own government in order to come to agreements with Germany on a series of political, security and economic issues, and made defense purchases “without orderly staff work [while] deviating from the operation needs established by the government.”
Netanyahu additionally excluded relevant security bodies from the decision-making process when dealing with “sensitive political-security questions,” avoided documenting meetings and “created parallel and conflicting channels of action, thereby endangering the state’s security and harming Israel’s foreign relations,” the commission states.
In addition to Netanyahu and Rothberg, former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon, former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and former National Security Council employee Avner Simchoni were also warned by the commission.
The commission of inquiry, formed under former premier Naftali Bennett in 2022, has spent more than two years probing submarine and naval vessel purchases that occurred under a previous Netanyahu government.
Israel purchased the vessels from German shipbuilder Thyssenkrupp in a murky $2 billion deal that has been under scrutiny for possible corruption and bribery.
While Netanyahu is reportedly not considered a suspect, he has given testimony to the police in connection with the deal, and several of his close associates were indicted and convicted for their involvement in the negotiations.
In a statement on behalf of Netanyahu, the Prime Minister’s Office states that “the submarines are a central pillar of Israel’s national security and in ensuring its existence against Iran, which is trying to destroy us.
“Not only does the acquisition of the submarines not harm the security of the state – it ensures its existence,” it says, adding that “history will prove that Prime Minister Netanyahu was right on this issue as well and made the right decisions for the security of Israel.”
Hamas official says terror group’s goal is for Israel to ’emerge defeated’ in Gaza
The goal for Hamas in the war in Gaza is for Israel to “emerge defeated,” says Suhail al-Hindi, a member of the terror group’s politburo.
Speaking to the London-based Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Hindi insists that “the resistance will not raise the white flag, and will fight the enemy until its last breath.” He also stresses that there will be no deal with Israel “without a ceasefire and the withdrawal of the occupation.”
Hindi believes that Netanyahu is continuing the war to stay out of prison, he told the outlet.
The IDF, in his telling, wants to end the war “because of exhaustion.” Hindi argues that Israel is looking for a “victory image,” including declaring Hamas defeated.
Bahrain, Iran to discuss renewing diplomatic ties after severing them in 2016 – Iranian media
Iran and Bahrain have agreed to talk about how they might resume bilateral relations after nearly eight years, Iranian media reports.
The report by state-run IRNA news agency says Iran’s acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani and his Bahraini counterpart Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani spoke on the sidelines of the ongoing Asian Cooperation Dialogue in Tehran.
The report says both sides agreed on creating the framework to start talks on the requirements for resuming diplomatic relations.
This is al-Zayani’s second visit to Tehran in a month. The first came during the memorial for president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May.
Bahrain cut its diplomatic relations with Iran after Saudi Arabia did so, following Riyadh’s execution of an opposition Shiite cleric and attacks on Saudi diplomatic posts in Iran in 2016. Iran and Saudi Arabia resumed their diplomatic relations in 2023.
Bahrain has had diplomatic ties with Israel, Iran’s arch-foe, since September 2020.
In first since Oct. 7, seriously ill Gazan children to leave for treatment via Kerem Shalom – report
Palestinian children with serious illnesses wait with family members at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 24, 2024, after they reportedly were given permission by the Israeli army to leave for treatment through the Kerem Shalom Border Crossing for the first time since the outbreak of war. (Bashar Taleb/AFP)
A group of Palestinian children with serious illnesses, including cancer, are reportedly to be allowed out of the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom border crossing, for the first time since the war began.
According to Palestinian media reports, the children, from the northern Gaza Strip, were to be taken abroad for treatment. The reports say the move was coordinated via the World Health Organization.
Since Israel’s takeover of the Rafah border crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border in early May, Palestinians have been unable to leave the Strip.
Israel had closed off all of its own crossings with Gaza after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, later reopening them to deliver aid into the Strip, though not for Palestinians to leave.
There is no immediate comment from Israeli authorities on the move.
عن طريق منظمة الصحة العالمية
وصول بعض من أطفال مرضى سرطان الدم من منطقة شمال غزة الى مستشفى ناصر عن طريق منظمة الصحة العالمية مساء اليوم لمساعدتهم وتسهيل مغادرتهم عبر معبر كرم أبو سالم للسفر للعلاج في الخارج لاسيما مع تدهور حالتهم الصحية بسبب انتشار المجاعة شمال غزة pic.twitter.com/6wvshzZiTT
— حسن اصليح | Hassan (@hassaneslayeh) June 23, 2024
Protesters call for general strike at rally outside Histadrut building in Tel Aviv
The Changing Direction protest group stages a rally calling for elections, outside the Histadrut labor federation building in Tel Aviv, June 24, 2024. (Adar Eyal / Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
At a protest outside the Histadrut labor federation in Tel Aviv, anti-government protesters call on the workers’ union to declare a general strike until a date is set for new elections.
A group of protesters hold a banner reading “What happened to solidarity?” while others block the entrance to the building.
Police at the scene are attempting to disperse the protesters, who have locked arms through PVC pipes, hindering police efforts.
IDF says Hamas operative involved in developing weapons killed in Gaza drone strike
A prominent Hamas operative involved in developing weapons for the terror group was killed in a drone strike in the Gaza Strip yesterday, the military says.
The IDF says Muhammad Salah “took part in a project to develop strategic weapons” for Hamas, as well as commanding several more squads that were developing weaponry.
Many more strikes were carried out across Gaza over the past day, including tunnel shafts and cells of gunmen, the military says.
The strikes come as troops continue to operate in southern Gaza’s Rafah and in the Netzarim Corridor in the Strip’s center.
In Rafah, the IDF says, troops advanced in the Tel Sultan neighborhood, locating weapons and rocket launchers used in previous attacks.
EU’s Borrell warns war in Middle East on the brink of expanding
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell speaks during a debate in Strasbourg, eastern France, April 24, 2024. (Jean-Francois Badias/AP)
European foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says that the Middle East is close to seeing the conflict expanding into Lebanon just days after Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah threatened EU member Cyprus.
“The risk of this war affecting the south of Lebanon and spilling over is every day bigger,” Borrell tells reporters ahead of a foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg. “We are on the eve of the war expanding.”
Greek foreign minister decries ‘unacceptable’ Hezbollah threats against Cyprus
Greece’s foreign minister says that threats by Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah against Cyprus last week were unacceptable and the European Union would stand by member states against all such threats.
“It is absolutely unacceptable to make threats against a sovereign state of the European Union,” Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis tells reporters on arrival in Brussels for a monthly foreign ministers meeting. “We stand by Cyprus and we will all be together in all kinds of global threats coming from terrorist organizations.”
Operation against Dagestan gunmen is over, Russian anti-terror agency says
This screengrab picture taken from video released on June 23, 2024 by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti shows an area sealed off by Police following deadly attacks on churches and a synagogue in Russia's North Caucasus region of Dagestan. (AFP Photo/RIA Novosti)
An operation against gunmen who attacked churches and synagogues in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Dagestan, killing several people is over, the national agency in charge of fighting terrorism says.
“Following the neutralization of the threats to the lives and health of citizens, it was decided to end the anti-terrorist operation in Dagestan from 0515 GMT,” the National Antiterrorism Committee says, according to Russian news agencies.
Anti-government protesters block traffic on Route 2, close to Tel Aviv
Protesters briefly blocked traffic on Route 2, close to Tel Aviv, as part of a demonstration against the government, Hebrew media reports.
“As hostages are neglected in Gaza, the north is burning and another war threatens to erupt, the government is neglecting all of our lives,” the protesters say in a statement. “This is an emergency situation. It’s clear that Netanyahu is neither fit nor worthy.”
The protesters call for a general strike to be declared across Israel as a way of putting pressure on the government.
Defense Ministry: Rocket engine test carried out ‘as planned’ from base in central Israel
A test of a rocket engine was carried out a short while ago from a military base in central Israel, the Defense Ministry says.
The ministry in a statement says the rocket propulsion system test was planned ahead of time and carried out “as planned.”
Footage posted to social media showed a missile streaking through the sky.
Based on eyewitness accounts, the rocket test took place at the Palmachim Airbase, outside of the city of Rishon Lezion, in central Israel.
Reports of a missile launch over southern Israel. pic.twitter.com/W5cfg8PsqR
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) June 24, 2024
The ministry did not say what type of missile was fired in the test.
The Palmachim base is often used for missile tests.
Israel has been developing a host of missile systems, many of them defensive, and some — at least according to foreign reports — offensive.
Two members of Metula security team injured in Hezbollah anti-tank missile attack
Two members of Metula’s local security team were injured by last night’s Hezbollah anti-tank missile attack.
One was seriously wounded while the other is listed in good condition, the IDF says.
The pair, like all local security officers in border communities, are listed by the IDF as reservists amid the war.
Meanwhile, fighter jets struck several Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon overnight, the IDF says.
The military says the sites included a building used by Hezbollah in Aitaroun, along with other infrastructure in Kafr Kila and Khiam.
כתוצאה מפגיעת טיל נ״ט אמש במרחב מטולה, נפצעו שני חיילי צה״ל במילואים, חברי כיתת כוננות, באורח קשה וקל.
חברי כיתת הכוננות פונו לקבלת טיפול רפואי בבית חולים, משפחותיהם עודכנו pic.twitter.com/eDcR8Vv9Ry
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 24, 2024
Heads of churches say Israeli government demanding they pay property tax, upsetting status quo
Christian pilgrims hold candles during the Holy Fire ceremony, a day before Easter, at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected, in Jerusalem's Old City, May 4, 2024. (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP)
Leaders of major churches are accusing Israeli authorities of launching a “coordinated attack” on the Christian presence in the Holy Land by initiating tax proceedings against them.
The churches say the move upsets a centuries-old status quo and reflects mounting intolerance for the tiny Christian presence in the Holy Land, although Israeli officials have dismissed the disagreement as a routine financial matter,
In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week, the heads of the major Christian denominations allege that four municipalities across Israel have recently submitted warning letters to church officials cautioning them of legal action if they did not pay taxes.
“We believe these efforts represent a coordinated attack on the Christian presence in the Holy Land,” write the heads of the Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox churches. “In this time, when the whole world, and the Christian world in particular, are constantly following the events in Israel, we find ourselves, once again, dealing with an attempt by authorities to drive the Christian presence out of the Holy Land.”
The churches, who are major landowners in the Holy Land, say they do not pay property taxes under longstanding tradition. They say their funds go to services that benefit the state, like schools, hospitals and homes for the elderly.
The letter says the municipalities of Tel Aviv, Ramla, Nazareth and Jerusalem in recent months have all either issued warning letters or commenced legal action for alleged tax debts.
The Jerusalem municipality tells The Associated Press that the church had not submitted the necessary requests for tax exemptions over the last few years. It says that “a dialogue is taking place with the churches to collect debts for the commercial properties they own.”
The other municipalities did not immediately comment, and it is unclear if the municipalities acted in a coordinated effort or whether the tax moves are coincidental.
Gallant holds first set of meetings after arriving in Washington
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant holds an initial set of meetings after arriving in Washington for a stateside visit set to focus on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and the intensive cross-border fighting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Gallant first meets with the heads of AIPAC, saying the US “is the most important ally of Israel — and more central than ever before,” before meeting with GOP Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Thank you to @AIPAC leaders Howard Kohr and Arne Christenson for an important discussion at the start of my visit to Washington. Committed to ensuring a strong U.S.- Israel alliance.
The United States is the most important ally of Israel – and more central than ever before. pic.twitter.com/Ar9sCAkQAJ
— יואב גלנט – Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) June 23, 2024
Hostage families accuse Netanyahu of ‘walking back’ proposed ceasefire deal
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his remarks during an interview about a hostage-for-ceasefire deal, accusing him of withdrawing his support for a proposal being pushed by the US.
“We strongly condemn the prime minister’s statement in which he walked back from the Israeli proposal. This means he is abandoning 120 hostages and harms the moral duty of the state of Israel to its citizens,” the group says in a statement.
Russian news agencies raise police death toll in Dagestan to over 15
More than 15 police officers were killed in a series of attacks in the southern Russian region of Dagestan, Russian news agencies quote the head of the region as saying.
There are also civilian casualties, the agencies reports.
Clashes erupt between Israel backers, pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrating outside LA synagogue
Clashes have broken out between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Los Angeles after a group of the latter held a protest outside the Adas Torah synagogue.
Video shows police and others attempting to intervene between the sides, before declaring it an unlawfully assemble.
Things escalating quickly, updating as quickly as possible. Another large violent event happens as several police officers go into the crowd. LAPD and Magen Am and a few protesters chasing one pro-Palestinian demonstrator. Another scuffle occurs nearby.
Pico-Robertson, LA, CA pic.twitter.com/eRBGmqIwl5
— acatwithnews (@ACatWithNews) June 23, 2024
Police clear the area in front of the synagogue though scuffles continue to break out in the surrounding area.
Things still going on with random moments of violence. I haven’t seen an officer in probably an hour, maybe more.
The dueling Palestine/Israel protest now on Doheny and Olympic in LA. pic.twitter.com/OQfxTKphyW
— acatwithnews (@ACatWithNews) June 23, 2024
Hamas: Netanyahu’s remarks on hostage-ceasefire deal show he opposes offer backed by Biden
Hamas issues a statement charging that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments about a hostage-for-ceasefire deal amount to a rejection of the Israeli proposal unveiled by US President Joe Biden.
Hamas reiterates its demand that any agreement include a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war sparked by its October 7 attack, which Netanyahu rejected this evening, vowing Israel would continue fighting until the terror group is destroyed and all the hostages it holds are returned.
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