June 3: PM said weighing ousting Edelstein amid Haredi threats to topple government

Iran said open to nuclear deal with consortium located in Iran

Iran is open to basing a nuclear agreement with the United States around the idea of a regional uranium enrichment consortium based in Iran, Axios reports, citing a senior Iranian official.

IDF says it carried out strikes in Syria in response to rockets at Golan Heights

The IDF carried out a series of airstrikes throughout southern Syria that it says targeted weapons belonging to the regime after a pair of projectiles were fired into the Israeli side of the Golan Heights on Tuesday night.

“The Syrian regime is responsible for what is happening in Syria and will continue to bear the consequences as long as hostile activity continues from its territory,” the IDF said in a statement.

Hostage families to meet Trump officials this week in Washington, official tells ToI

A group of released hostages meets US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on March 5, 2025. (White House/X)

The families of some of the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza will be meeting with senior Trump administration officials in Washington this week, a White House official tells The Times of Israel.

The meetings will come amid an ongoing impasse in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Hamas said Monday that it is prepared to immediately enter indirect talks in order to bridge remaining gaps, in an apparent softening of its position after the updated proposal it submitted to the US on Sunday was blasted by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, who said it took the sides backward.

The main issue of contention remains whether the temporary truce under discussion leaves enough of a window for Israel to resume fighting after it expires or if the proposal’s assurances from the Trump administration are enough to convince Hamas that the ceasefire will hold permanently.

Syria says it doesn’t pose threat to any party in region, working to curb non-state actors

The Syrian foreign ministry asserts that it “has not and will not pose a threat to any party in the region” and is working to rein in armed, non-state actors in southern Syria.

The statement comes after Israel said a pair of rockets were fired at its side of the Golan Heights from southern Syria and blamed the Syrian government for the attack.

The Syrian government claimed it had yet to confirm the rocket launches that targeted Israel, but it did condemn the Israeli counter-attack, saying it resulted in “heavy human and material losses” and violated Syria’s sovereignty “at a time when we are most in need of calm and peaceful solutions.”

“We call on the international community to assume its responsibilities in stopping these attacks, and to support efforts aimed at restoring security and stability to Syria and the region,” the Syrian foreign ministry statement says.

Parents of Sbarro bombing victim urge US to demand extradition of Hamas terrorist behind attack

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee meets with Frimet and Arnold Roth at the US Embassy in Jerusalem on May 13, 2025. (Courtesy)

Frimet and Arnold Roth, the parents of Malki Roth, an American citizen killed at age 15 in the 2001 Sbarro Pizzeria bombing in Jerusalem, met last month with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee to deliver a petition urging the extradition of the attack’s orchestrator, Hamas terrorist Ahlam Tamimi, from Jordan, according to a statement shared by the parents today.

“This is a matter of justice for the families of murdered Americans,” Arnold told Huckabee during a May 13 meeting at the US Embassy in Jerusalem, according to the family’s statement.

The Roths presented Huckabee with a petition bearing 30,000 signatures and demanding that Washington press Jordan to extradite Tamimi, who was convicted in an Israeli court for playing a central role in the suicide bombing that killed 16 people, including seven children and a pregnant woman, and injured 130 more. Temimi later found shelter in Jordan after being released from prison in the 2011 deal in which Israel freed 1,027 terrorists in exchange for captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

“What brought us to the embassy was remembrance, but also justice,” Arnold continued. “Justice in the Tamimi prosecution has been thwarted for years and barely mentioned publicly by the very US officials who bear the responsibility of bringing the fugitive to trial. We came to implore the government represented by Ambassador Huckabee to carry out its duty to protect and stand for American victims of terrorism abroad.”

Ahlam Tamimi is welcomed at Queen Alia international airport in Amman, late October 18, 2011. (LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images)

The petition was submitted for delivery to US President Donald Trump, US Attorney General Pam Bondi, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the statement adds, and urges Jordan to honor its 1995 extradition treaty with the US. Despite the treaty, Jordan’s high court blocked Tamimi’s extradition in 2017, reportedly claiming the agreement was never ratified, a contention disputed by Washington.

The Roths also presented Huckabee with a photo of Malki’s shattered phone, recovered from the attack site, on which she had written a Hebrew message about the Jewish prohibition against speaking ill of others. “This phone is one of the few physical traces we have left of Malki,” he said.

A framed photo of Malki Roth’s shattered phone presented by her parents to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on May 13, 2025 (Courtesy of the Roth Family)

Shortly before King Abdullah II’s February meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House, Arab media reported https://www.timesofisrael.com/jordan-reportedly-warns-it-could-extradite-sbarro-bombing-mastermind-to-us-for-trial/ that Jordanian intelligence had warned Hamas Tamimi might be handed over unless another country agreed to take her in. No official sources confirmed the reports.

Since her release, Tamimi has lived openly in Jordan, where she holds citizenship, and has publicly glorified the bombing. In a 2017 Associated Press interview, she stated that Palestinians have the right to resist Israel “by any means,” including deadly attacks.

“Tamimi has never shown the smallest degree of remorse. The massacre she spearheaded made her a celebrity in Jordan and beyond…It is unconscionable that Jordan, a lavishly funded beneficiary of US tax-payer-funded aid, has enabled her to be glorified as an icon while her victims’ families — including American families — are ignored,” Arnold said in the meeting.

Initial IDF probe finds Gazans shot at by troops got lost en route to aid center — report

A senior IDF official tells the Axios news site that initial findings from a probe into the latest mass-casualty incident surrounding Palestinians near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution site indicate that Palestinians mistakenly approached soldiers after getting lost on their way to the aid center.

The UN and aid organizations warned for weeks that such incidents would result from forcing Gaza’s entire population of two million people to travel long distances and pass through IDF lines in order to reach the GHF’s distribution sites.

Netanyahu said weighing ousting Edelstein amid Haredi threats to topple the government

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, attends a Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee meeting alongside Likud MK Yuli Edelstein at the Knesset on June 13, 2023. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

As spiritual leaders of the Haredi coalition parties are set to meet tomorrow to discuss the threat to bolt the coalition and topple the government, the Kan public broadcaster reports that one of the options Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering to quell the rebellion is to remove Likud MK Yuli Edelstein from his post as head of the Knesset’s powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

That panel has been in charge of putting together legislation exempting most ultra-Orthodox men while drafting others to the military, though the gaps between Edelstein’s stance and that of the Haredi parties have proven insurmountable. The Haredi parties have been demanding that such a law be passed since the current government’s inception, and they have grown angry at Netanyahu for dragging the matter on for years.

Netanyahu’s office denies the Kan report.

Gaza aid body says its sites won’t open tomorrow due to work to accommodate larger crowds

People carry boxes of relief supplies distributed by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation at an aid distribution center in the central Gaza Strip on May 29, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

Humanitarian aid distribution sites in the Gaza Strip will not open tomorrow, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the US- and Israel-backed body in charge of the aid distribution, announces.

According to GHF, the aid sites will be closed for a day to carry out logistics work to accommodate larger crowds that have been arriving in recent days, as well as for the Israel Defense Forces to prepare the access routes.

GHF says it will resume activities on Thursday.

The IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Col. Avichay Adraee republishes the announcement, warning Palestinians that travel on roads leading to the aid sites is prohibited, as they are considered combat zones.

UN Security Council likely to vote tomorrow on Gaza measure demanding truce, release of hostages, full resumption of aid

The 10 elected members of the UN Security Council have asked for the 15-member body to vote tomorrow on a draft resolution that demands “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected by all parties,” diplomats say.

The draft text, seen by Reuters, also demands the release of all hostages held by Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups, and the immediate lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and its safe and unhindered distribution at scale, including by the UN throughout the enclave.

A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain or France — to pass.

Family of Colorado firebombing suspect taken into federal immigration custody

Mohamed Sabry Soliman (right), the suspect who allegedly attacked pro-Israel activists (left) in Boulder, Colorado on June 1, 2025. (Screen capture/X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

The family of the Colorado firebombing suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, has been taken into custody by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), says US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

Soliman, an Egyptian national, came to the US on a tourist visa in 2022. He stayed after the visa expired and was in the US illegally, the department has said.

“Today the Department of Homeland Security and ICE are taking the family of suspected Boulder, Colorado, terrorist and illegal alien Mohamed Soliman into ICE custody,” Noem says on X.

“Mohamed’s despicable actions will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but we’re also investigating to what extent his family knew about his horrific attack, if they had any knowledge of it or if they provided any support,” she says.

Soliman lived in Colorado Springs with his wife and five children.

He told investigators he planned the attack for a year and waited until his daughter graduated from high school, then carried out the firebombing three days later. He told police his family did not know of his plans.

He said he left an iPhone with messages to his family hidden in a desk drawer at his home. His wife has turned over an iPhone to investigators.

Authorities have said the family is cooperating with the investigation.

Possible shards from Houthi missile or interceptor land in city of Modiin

Possible fragments from a Houthi ballistic missile or the interceptor missiles used to shoot it down that landed in the central city of Modiin, June 3, 2025. (Israel Police)

Possible fragments from this evening’s Houthi ballistic missile or the interceptor missiles used to shoot it down have landed in the central city of Modiin.

Police say officers have reached the scene to remove the debris.

Katz casts Syria’s Sharaa as responsible for rocket fire, vows ‘full response’ soon

Defense Minister Israel Katz meets with IDF officials at the site of the Sa-Nur settlement in the West Bank after the government approves its reconstruction, May 30, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Following the rocket fire from Syria at Israel this evening, Defense Minister Israel Katz says Jerusalem views Syrian leader Ahmad al-Sharaa as “directly responsible for every threat and [rocket] fire toward the State of Israel.”

“The full response will come soon,” Katz threatens, adding that Israel “will not allow a return to the reality of October 7.”

Police locate site of 2 rocket impacts near Golan town after launches from Syria

A police officer at the site of a rocket impact near the Golan Heights community of Ramat Magshimim, shortly after two rockets were fired from Syria, June 3, 2025. (Israel Police)

Police say officers located the site of two rocket impacts near the Golan Heights community of Ramat Magshimim a short while ago.

The rockets, launched from Syria, hit open areas, causing no injuries. The IDF responded with artillery fire toward the launch site.

IDF says Nazareth sirens were false alarm

The IDF says the sirens that sounded in the Nazareth area of northern Israel earlier this evening were caused by “fears of interceptor fragments,” but were later confirmed to have been a “false identification,” meaning not a threat.

IDF says rockets from Syria were fired from town of Tasil, 12km from Israel border

The IDF confirms carrying out artillery shelling against southern Syria following the rocket attack on the Golan Heights this evening.

The two rockets had been launched from the Tasil area, located around 12 kilometers from the Israeli border.

IDF troops came under fire from gunmen while operating near the town of Tasil in April.

Senior French official downplays planned UN conference’s focus on Palestinian state

The United Nations conference to be hosted by France and Saudi Arabia later this month is aimed at achieving “a ceasefire enabling the release of all hostages, the disarmament of Hamas and setting a stage in the Gaza Strip for the day after,” says a senior French official who is currently in Israel to meet with Israeli counterparts.

“And for that to happen, we agree that we need additional pressure on Hamas,” says the official.

French recognition of a Palestinian state, a move under serious consideration by French President Emmanuel Macron, is “a matter that will be dealt with separately from the outcome of the June conference,” says a second official.

However, the overarching goal is to rally support for a two-state solution, alongside regional integration of Israel.

“What we are aiming to do is to create a political framework in which the two-state solution is a central piece,” says the senior visiting official, adding that the outcome of the conference will not be a UN resolution, but will be instead a vision document that UN member states can sign on to.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has dismissed France’s potential upcoming recognition of a Palestinian state, calling the move “revolting” while Israel fights Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“What we are trying to do is contribute to relaunch a positive and lasting political dynamic to ensure peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians,” says the senior French official. “We are not overpassing the US. We are engaging with the US ahead of the conference.”

Nor is France trying to exclude Israel, says the senior official.

Israel’s criticism has grown increasingly strident of late, with the Foreign Ministry accusing Macron of a “crusade” against the Jewish state.

“We are having a discussion with Israel on the content of this vision. The purpose of our visit is to try and comprehend what is Israel’s vision for the day after and for the future.”

Pro-terror activists circulate videos backing Colorado attack, urging further violence — ADL

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the suspect in an attack on a rally for Israeli hostages in Boulder, Colorado, in a mugshot released on June 2, 2025. (Boulder Police Department)

Antisemitic, pro-terror US activists are sharing videos purportedly showing the suspect in the Colorado firebombing attack to urge followers toward further violence, the Anti-Defamation League says.

The videos are posted on an Arabic-language Telegram channel called Taufan al-Ummah that has 30,000 followers. The name of the channel translates to “Flood of the Muslims” and refers to Hamas’s October 2023 onslaught in Israel, which is referred to as the “Al-Aqsa Flood” by the Palestinian terror group.

Yesterday, the channel shared two videos that claim to show the Colorado suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, immediately before the attack. The channel claims to have received the video from a private source who is “close to the hero.”

The ADL says the videos have not been verified and should be treated with suspicion, although the underlying purpose — stoking terrorism and antisemitism — is clear.

In one of the clips, Soliman says in Arabic: “God is greater than anything. Greater than the Zionists, greater than America and her weapons, greater than F-35 fighters, greater than everything.”

In another video, Soliman says: “For my mother, my wife, my children, my sister, my family. I bear witness for Allah and for you, in Allah and his prophet, and for love of Jihad that is greater than the love of you, the world, and everything in it, and with faith in Allah.”

Another post in the channel says, in reference to the Colorado attack: “With the simplest tools, you can inflict a heavy toll on the accursed Zionists and seek forgiveness before God. And you can contribute to the nation’s flood that has begun.”

Boulder city council member refuses to sign statement condemning firebombing, since it doesn’t say ‘anti-Zionist’

US law enforcement officials investigate after an attack on the Pearl Street Mall, June 1, 2025, in Boulder, Colorado. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

A member of the Boulder, Colorado, city council refuses to sign onto a statement condemning the firebombing attack against a rally for Israeli hostages because it calls the attack antisemitic, and not anti-Zionist.

“I could not sign into the joint letter because my request to add the anti-Zionist to the antisemitism attack sentence or the word anywhere in the document was denied,” council member Taishya Adams writes on Facebook.

“I cannot sign a letter that equates the calls for a ‘Free Palestine’ with antisemitism. Without the anti-Zionist part, the reader will fail to understand a key driver of this terrible attack,” she writes. “Also, the perpetrator, whose actions I condemn fully and that resulted in harm to our community members, was explicit about ending Zionism.”

The US city’s statement calls the firebombing a “targeted, antisemitic attack.”

“We cannot – and will not – allow antisemitism to become normalized here,” the statement says.

Adams is the “sister city liaison” between Boulder and the Palestinian West Bank city of Nablus.

A member of the hostages’ advocacy group in Boulder has previously accused Adams of anti-Jewish discrimination, including by blocking the hostages’ group on her official Instagram account.

Before the attack, the Boulder city council was repeatedly disrupted by anti-Israel protests, prompting a Jewish council member to say she felt unsafe at the meetings, according to Boulder Reporting Lab, a local news site.

IDF responds with artillery fire toward source of rocket attack from Syria

The IDF is responding with artillery fire toward the source of the rocket fire from southern Syria this evening.

The two rockets launched in the attack hit open areas, according to the IDF, causing no injuries.

US ‘maximum pressure’ campaign on Iran remains in full force, State Department says

The US maximum pressure campaign against Iran remains in “full force” despite US efforts to reach a new nuclear deal with Iran, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce tells reporters.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that a directive came down last week from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt to pause all new sanctions activity toward Iran. President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign was stuck running in place, the Wall Street Journal said, citing a source close to the White House.

IDF says Houthi missile successfully intercepted

A ballistic missile launched at Israel by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen was successfully intercepted by air defenses a short while ago, the military says.

Sirens had sounded across central Israel. Preceding the sirens by three minutes, an early warning was issued to residents, alerting civilians of the long-range missile attack via a push notification on their phones.

Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen have launched 45 ballistic missiles and at least 10 drones at Israel. Several of the missiles have fallen short.

More rocket alerts sound in Nazareth area in Galilee; IDF investigating

Rocket sirens are sounding in the Nazareth area.

The alerts are activated in Nof HaGalil and several nearby towns.

The IDF says it is investigating.

The sirens come after a ballistic missile attack on central Israel from Yemen and rocket fire on the Golan Heights from Syria.

Sirens blare in central Israel following Houthi missile launch

Sirens are now sounding across central Israel following the launch of a ballistic missile from Yemen.

The IDF says it is working to shoot down the projectile.

IDF says missile launched from Yemen, sirens expected to sound in central Israel

A ballistic missile has been launched from Yemen at Israel, the military says.

Sirens are expected to sound in the Jerusalem area and central Israel in the coming minutes.

The IDF says it is working to shoot down the projectile.

IDF says 2 rockets fired from Syria in first such attack in over a year; both hit open areas

Two rockets were launched from southern Syria at the Golan Heights a short while ago, the Israeli military says.

According to the IDF, both rockets struck open areas, causing no injuries.

Sirens had sounded in the communities of Hispin and Ramat Magshimim.

It marks the first rocket attack from Syrian territory on Israel since May 5, 2024, and the first since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December.

In first since November, sirens sound in Golan towns due to apparent rocket fire from Syria

Israeli forces on the border fence with Syria, in the northern Israeli town of Majdal Shams, in the Golan Heights, May 9, 2025. (Michael Giladi/FLash90)

Sirens are sounding in the Golan Heights communities of Hispin and Ramat Magshimim following apparent rocket fire from Syria.

The IDF says it is investigating.

It is the first alert in the Golan since a drone alarm from Iraq sounded there in November last year. It is the first rocket fire from Syria at Israel since May 2024.

White House says it will look into reports of IDF firing at Gazans before drawing conclusions

The White House says it is aware of reports of Israeli troops firing on Palestinian aid seekers near a food distribution site in southern Gaza, which the IDF has disputed, saying it targeted suspects.

“We’re going to look into reports before we confirm them from this podium or before we take action,” says White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt at a press briefing.

“The administration is aware of those reports, and we are currently looking into the veracity of them. Because unfortunately, unlike some in the media, we don’t take the word of Hamas with total truth.”

UN urges independent probe into Gazans harmed near aid sites

It is unacceptable that civilians are risking — and losing — their lives just trying to get food in Gaza, a UN spokesperson says, after Hamas health officials claimed at least 27 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded trying to reach an aid distribution site, with the IDF saying it targeted suspects, not civilians.

“The Secretary-General [Antonio Guterres] continues to call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for the perpetrators to be held to account,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric tells reporters.

Health Ministry suspends for 6 months license of top doctor accused of sexual assault

Prof. Arie Levine, suspected of multiple sexual offenses, appears at the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court on October 4, 2021. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The Health Ministry announces that the license of Prof. Arie Levine, 67, a pediatric gastroenterologist accused of multiple sexual offenses, including the rape of a girl under the age of 14, will be suspended for six months, the maximum period allowed by law.

Levine served as the director of the Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition Unit at Holon’s Wolfson Medical Center until recently. He also practices at a private clinic.

At the time of his arrest in 2021, he denied wrongdoing, and the defense argued that his actions were necessary for the medical treatment he was giving.

An anonymous senior police source cited by the Haaretz daily said experts had given professional opinions on the matter and contradicted the claim by the defense.

The ministry can suspend or restrict the license of a doctor who has not yet been convicted for a period up to six months, and at the end of this period, its extension can be considered.

The ministry says it takes with utmost seriousness any harm to patients and has a zero-tolerance policy on issues related to sexual harassment.

Dermer said to speak to Qatari PM about efforts to reach ceasefire-hostage deal

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer speaks at the Jewish News Syndicate conference in Jerusalem, on April 28, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer spoke over the weekend with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the Walla news site reports. The two discussed efforts to reach a hostage-ceasefire deal in Gaza before Qatar’s leader spoke with Hamas, according to the outlet.

According to a source with knowledge of the details, the call was meant to get beyond the “broken telephone” between Israel and Qatar, and to ensure Al Thani understood Israel’s position.

This was the first conversation between them since Dermer was appointed in February as head of Israel’s negotiating team.

IDF says Hamas claims of deaths from Israeli fire near aid site in Rafah ‘exaggerated’

IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin holds a press conference on June 3, 2025. (IDF)

Responding to a question at a press conference, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin says Hamas’s claims regarding deaths in recent incidents near the humanitarian aid distribution sites in southern Gaza are “exaggerated.”

“Hamas disseminates false information, which is unfortunately taken by some international media without verification,” he says.

“This week, it was claimed that the IDF fired on civilians at the aid distribution site. This is a totally false report, it is echoing Hamas propaganda,” he says, referring to an incident on Sunday in which Hamas claimed 31 people were killed.

He adds regarding the incident on Sunday that “this did not happen.” The IDF acknowledged firing warning shots at Palestinians about a kilometer from the aid site before it opened for distribution on Sunday, and it has dismissed claims that it happened “within” the aid site during opening hours.

Defrin says he is aware of the criticism regarding how long it takes for the military to investigate these incidents, but he says that “we will not report information or details that are not true. Reliability is critical, even if it takes time.”

Asked by a reporter what happened at the aid site in Rafah this morning and how many people the IDF shot in the area, Defrin says Hamas’s claims are “exaggerated.”

“The numbers given by Hamas were the same. It reported 29 on Sunday and today — exaggerated. We are investigating. Today we fired warning shots, didn’t hit that many people as far as we understand, we will continue to investigate,” he says.

“We fired warning shots toward a group of people who posed a threat to our forces, far from where they were supposed to be. Warning shots were fired, not to hit anyone. According to the claims, people were hit, so we are investigating, but it will take time,” Defrin adds.

Poland protests after Times of Israel calls new president ‘Holocaust revisionist’

Karol Nawrocki, candidate for the 2025 Polish presidential election supported by Poland's right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, flashes the victory sign in front of supporters as exit polls were announced on tv during their election night event at the Mala Warszawa Theatre in Warsaw, Poland, during the second round of the presidential elections on June 1, 2025. (Photo by Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP)

Poland’s foreign ministry has sent a letter to The Times of Israel protesting yesterday’s story that called Poland’s incoming president Karol Nawrocki a “Holocaust revisionist.”

Nawrocki, a nationalist historian, narrowly won Sunday’s presidential election in the highly polarized EU and NATO member state against his pro-EU rival Rafal Trzaskowski.

Yesterday, The Times of Israel published a story whose headline called Nawrocki a “Conservative Holocaust revisionist,” and said he “made Holocaust revisionism part of his campaign.” The story also linked to a previous article, headlined: “Poland to vote for next president, with Holocaust history an apparent item on the ballot.”

In a letter addressed to the site, Poland’s embassy in Israel says it is “concerned by the use of the term ‘Holocaust revisionist,’ as not only unfair, but also potentially harmful, as it may suggest that he denies the Holocaust — which is an unfounded and misleading implication.”

“In reality,” it adds, Nawrocki, “during his tenure as President of the Institute of National Remembrance, engaged in scholarly debate concerning the extent of Polish civilians’ involvement in the Holocaust under Nazi German occupation.”

“We respect the editorial right to make judgements, but this particular judgement, especially in Poland, evokes very dangerous associations,” foreign ministry spokesman Pawel Wronski tells the Polish news agency PAP.

In 1st, IDF publishes map showing where its units are operating in Gaza

A map revealed by the IDF on June 3, 2025, showing its ongoing ground offensive against Hamas, with the Gaza Division operating in the Rafah area; the 36th and 98th divisions pushing into Khan Younis from the south and east; the 252nd operating in Gaza City and the Netzarim Corridor area; and the 162nd fighting Hamas in the Strip's north. (IDF)

During a press conference by IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the military reveals for the first time a map showing its ongoing ground offensive against Hamas.

According to the map, the Gaza Division is operating in the Rafah area; the 36th and 98th divisions are pushing into Khan Younis from the south and east; the 252nd is operating in Gaza City and the Netzarim Corridor area; and the 162nd is fighting Hamas in the Strip’s north.

IDF says Hamas ‘losing control’ of Gazan population thanks to new aid system

IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, in his press conference, says Hamas is losing control of the Gaza Strip.

“Alongside the continuous military pressure against Hamas, its rule is cracking and is being undermined,” he says, attributing this to the new aid distribution system that ostensibly prevents Hamas from taking control of the humanitarian aid.

“Each day, tens of thousands of food packages are handed out, directly to residents,” Defrin says.

“Hamas is losing control of the population,” he adds.

IDF: Terrorists used tunnel under Gaza building to kill soldiers; these buildings are military targets

IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin holds a press conference on June 3, 2025. (IDF)

Palestinian terror operatives who planted roadside bombs used in a deadly attack on troops yesterday in northern Gaza’s Jabalia set out from a tunnel hidden inside a partially demolished building, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin says in a press conference.

Three soldiers were killed in the attack.

“The terrorists set out from a tunnel shaft in a building and planted the explosive devices. This is an active tunnel that is used for terror,” he says.

“The entrance to the tunnel is located inside a destroyed building, close to a route. Therefore, it is important to emphasize, this building is a military target, like tens of thousands of other buildings in Gaza that are used for terror,” Defrin says.

“Nearly every other building is booby-trapped and contains a tunnel entrance. We are demolishing these homes, not for the sake of destruction. Every building that is destroyed poses an operational threat and could harm our forces,” he adds.

Israel rejects reports of IDF targeting Gazans at aid sites, warns of ‘Hamas misinformation’

People carry boxes of relief supplies distributed by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation at an aid distribution center in the central Gaza Strip on May 29, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer addresses reports of incidents over the past three days in which Gazan civilians were allegedly shot and killed by IDF troops around an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, during an online press briefing for international reporters held by the National Public Diplomacy Directorate in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Mencer reiterates the IDF’s response to reports that dozens were killed and wounded today after the military fired into crowds near the site, saying that troops “diligently” fired warning shots at suspects who approached them roughly half a kilometer away from an aid distribution site in the Rafah area of southern Gaza.

Health officials in the Hamas-run Strip said that 27 Gazans were killed and dozens wounded in the incident, though the tolls cannot be independently verified. Gaza-based media also reported, without confirmation, that hospitals have received multiple casualties from gunfire near aid zones.

“Let’s be clear: Israel is not preventing Gazans from accessing humanitarian aid, and the IDF did not fire at civilians in or near aid distribution zones,” Mencer emphasizes.

“The IDF is very much aware of reports of casualties and is reviewing the incident,” he says, adding: “The IDF is doing everything in its power to allow Gazans to get to the humanitarian aid. The IDF is not preventing the arrival of Gazans at humanitarian aid sites. Indeed, we are encouraging it.”

Referring to a separate incident on Sunday, in which Hamas authorities claim at least 31 Palestinians were killed and dozens more wounded by IDF fire while on their way to an aid site in Rafah, Mencer says: “The IDF’s initial investigation confirms that serious accusations made on Sunday in so much of the media… were based on Hamas propaganda. The IDF has already proved them — has put out materials proving them to be false and baseless.”

The IDF, in fact, has not issued any materials from the incident in Rafah to prove its claims. It released a video from an unrelated event in Khan Younis later in the day, which it explicitly said was from Khan Younis and not from the aid distribution site in Rafah.

“It is clear that Hamas is trying their hardest to keep its own people, Gazans, away from the GHF distribution sites,” continues Mencer. “We urge the media — do not amplify Hamas disinformation. Verify before reporting.”

“It’s a battle of the narrative, and too many global newsrooms have become foot soldiers for Hamas,” Mencer says.

Likud lawmaker assails Haredi parties for threat to leave coalition

Likud MK Dan Illouz slams the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties’ threat to topple the government unless a law exempting yeshiva students from military service is passed immediately.

“Anyone who threatens to overthrow a right-wing government — in the midst of an existential war — just to avoid participating in that war will be remembered forever as a disgrace,” he tweets.

Gaza Humanitarian Foundation taps US Evangelical leader Johnnie Moore as new chairman

US Rev. Johnnie Moore speaks onstage at The Simon Wiesenthal Center's 2017 National Tribute Dinner at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on April 5, 2017, in Beverly Hills, California. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images/AFP)

American Evangelical interfaith leader Johnnie Moore is appointed as the new executive chairman of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the US- and Israel-backed organization providing aid to Gazans announces in a statement.

Its previous CEO Jake Wood quit last week, and the Boston Consulting Group abandoned the project today.

Moore has served as a liaison between evangelical Christians and US President Donald Trump, and is a commissioner on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. He is outspoken on religious freedom and toleration, and meets regularly with Middle Eastern heads of state.

“GHF believes that serving the people of Gaza with dignity and compassion must be the top priority,” says Moore.

“We welcome others to join us and urge extreme caution against sharing unverified information from sources that have repeatedly issued demonstrably false reports,” he continues, referring to daily reports of lethal violence at GHF sites that the organization denies. “False reporting of violence at our sites has a chilling effect on the local population and we can think of no greater disservice to a community in dire need.”

Shortly before his appointment was announced, Moore wrote on X that he had “several really encouraging meetings with the [Red Cross] in recent weeks.”

The Red Cross has not agreed to participate in the GHF initiative.

“We don’t always see eye-to-eye, but we have always found ways to collaborate meaningfully together,” Moore continued. “We trust one another.”

AP stands by reporting after Huckabee claimed outlet complicit in antisemitic attacks

The Associated Press says it stands by its reporting on a mass-casualty incident outside a Gaza aid distribution site on Sunday, after US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee accused the wire outlet and other American news sites of “contributing to the antisemitic climate” that resulted in the recent attacks targeting Israeli embassy staffers in Washington and Israeli activists for the Gaza hostages in Colorado.

AP says its reporting included multiple eyewitness accounts, interviews with health and hospital officials and the Red Cross, as well as statements from the Israeli military and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

“The Israeli military later released a video of what it said were masked men firing at civilians trying to collect aid, which the AP included in its coverage. That video was shot in daylight from the city of Khan Younis, miles from the incident in Rafah that witnesses described,” the AP statement says.

“The Rafah incident occurred in an Israeli military zone that international journalists have been barred from entering except on approved military embeds. AP and other news organizations have repeatedly called for international journalists to be allowed into Gaza to report on the war,” the statement adds.

Huckabee claimed yesterday that “without verification of any source other than Hamas and its collaborators, the New York Times, CNN, and Associated Press reported that a number of people seeking to receive humanitarian food boxes from the Gaza Humanitarian Fund were shot or killed by the Israeli Defense Forces.”

“These reports were FALSE. Drone video and first-hand accounts clearly showed that there were no injuries, no fatalities, no shooting, no chaos,” Huckabee asserted.

It is unclear what drone footage and first-hand accounts Huckabee was referring to.

A US embassy spokesperson cited IDF drone footage when pressed by The Times of Israel, but the footage released by the IDF was not shot at the time or place where the incident in question took place.

Netanyahu: 3 IDF troops killed in Gaza didn’t fall in vain, we will achieve all of war’s goals

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in a video message from his office in Jerusalem, June 3, 2025. (Screenshot)

In a video message to the families of the three Israeli soldiers who were killed by a roadside bomb yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the infantrymen “did not fall in vain.”

“They fell in a uniquely just war,” he says, “a war in which we will defeat Hamas, release all our hostages and ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.”

As Operation Gideon’s Chariots expands in Gaza, Netanyahu says the IDF is making “careful progress to prevent or reduce as much as possible” further troops’ deaths.

The price is heavy, he continues, promising that “we will achieve the goals of the war — all of them — without exception.”

FM Sa’ar set for state visit to Germany tomorrow, as Berlin grows more critical of Gaza war

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, left, greets his German counterpart Johann Wadephul at the Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Defense, Research and Development during his visit to Israel, May 11, 2025. (Defense Ministry)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar will take off tomorrow for a state visit to Germany, his office announces.

Sa’ar will meet with Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who said last week that his country was “now at a point where we have to think very carefully about what further steps to take” regarding the war in Gaza. He also said that Germany would decide whether to approve new weapons shipments to Israel based on an assessment of the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz also changed his tone recently on the fighting, contending that Israel’s continued campaign no longer makes sense.

Sa’ar is also slated to meet Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and Education Minister Karin Prien, as well as Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Armin Laschet.

Sa’ar and Wadephul will visit Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial together.

Wadephul was in Israel last month to mark 60 years of bilateral ties, where he said that the conflict in Gaza cannot be solved by military means and that a political solution must be found to end the war permanently.

Sa’ar will sit for interviews with German media, and will meet with local Jewish leaders.

IDF thwarts another attempt to smuggle arms from Egypt via drone

The IDF says it foiled yet another attempt to smuggle weapons into Israel from Egypt using a drone today.

The drone had been identified crossing the border from Egypt into Israel before it was downed by troops deployed to the area.

The drone was found to be ferrying 11 rifles and ammunition. The contraband and drone have been handed over to the police.

In recent months, there have been frequent attempts to bring weapons and drugs over the Egypt border, as well as from Israel into Gaza, using drones.

תצפיות צה”ל במרחב חטיבת פארן זיהו מוקדם יותר היום רחפן שחצה משטח מצרים לשטח ישראל בניסיון להבריח אמצעי לחימה.

הרחפן הופל ע”י כוחות צה”ל.
בסריקות שביצעו לוחמי צה״ל, הלוחמים איתרו את הרחפן שנשא 11 נשקים ארוכים ותחמושת.

אמצעי הלחימה שהוחרמו הועברו להמשך טיפול כוחות הביטחון pic.twitter.com/vguuwPvMY9

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 3, 2025

Katz names czar to handle extremist settlers, after nixing administrative detention for them

Defense Minister Israel Katz, left, shakes hands with Col. (res.) Avichai Tanami, the new czar to handle extremist settlers in the West Bank, June 3, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Israel Katz says he has appointed a former senior IDF officer as a czar to handle extremist settlers in the West Bank.

The move comes after Katz, upon entering the role in November, ordered an end to administrative detention orders for West Bank settlers. The controversial policy of holding suspects without charge is currently only used against Palestinian terror suspects.

Col. (res.) Avichai Tanami is appointed by Katz to be “the czar for handling hilltop youth,” referring to extremist settler activists involved in building illegal outposts in the West Bank and frequently alleged to be involved in violence against Palestinians.

Katz says the decision to appoint Tanami was made following discussions held with the National Security Council, the attorney general, the Shin Bet and other government offices.

“As I vowed, we are implementing alternative and normative tools to address the phenomenon, instead of using the draconian measure of administrative detention orders, which I canceled [for settlers] and completely oppose,” Katz says.

Tanami served in the IDF’s elite Sayeret Matkal unit, and in recent years has been an educator.

Top Haredi political adviser meets Gantz in Knesset, amid threats to bolt coalition

Housing Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf, right, and his senior adviser Motti Babchik arrive at United Torah Judaism faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, February 17, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Amid Haredi threats to bolt the coalition, National Unity chairman Benny Gantz of the opposition meets with Motti Babchik, a senior adviser to Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, the head of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party.

A source with knowledge of the meeting tells The Times of Israel that the pair “discussed ongoing efforts to disperse the Knesset.”

Babchik, a prominent member of the Gur Hasidic group, carries significant influence in ultra-Orthodox circles. He was previously an aide to then-UTJ chief Yaakov Litzman.

Last year, Channel 12 reported that Gantz and Babchik had held a previous meeting as part of the former’s efforts to cultivate political relationships with the ultra-Orthodox.

Key US consulting firm withdraws from new Gaza aid mechanism

A youth carries an empty box of relief supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, as displaced Palestinians walk near a food distribution center in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on June 1, 2025. (AFP)

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a US management consulting firm that helped establish the new American- and Israeli-backed aid distribution mechanism in Gaza, has abandoned the project, calling back its team from Tel Aviv on Friday, a spokesperson for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) says, confirming a report by The Washington Post.

A BCG spokesperson has said the company, responsible for setting the payment and procurement rates for a network of contractors tasked with constructing four aid distribution centers in southern Gaza, ended its contract with the GHF, the leading body running the mechanism, and has placed a senior partner overseeing the project on leave, awaiting an internal review, the report says.

BCG offered its services to the humanitarian effort on a pro bono basis and did not receive any compensation for its work, says the company’s spokesperson in the report. However, another individual familiar with the project disputes this claim, asserting that BCG submitted monthly invoices exceeding $1 million.

According to three sources connected to the GHF and the consulting firm, the new aid system will be harder to operate without the support of the consultants who helped build the project, the Post says.

The BCG withdrawal adds to the challenges faced by the GHF since it began operations, including the departure of top executives, separate allegations that it and the IDF opened fire on civilians collecting aid, and continued rejection by the United Nations and key humanitarian groups.

Following a nearly three-month aid blockade on the territory, Israel announced last week the start of the new system, which is meant to keep aid from reaching Hamas members. It has come under harsh condemnation from the United Nations, rights groups and foreign countries who claim it does not sufficiently address the humanitarian needs in Gaza. The GHF says it has to date distributed 7 million meals at three distribution sites, though the number is based on boxes of dry food products that require cooking equipment or community kitchens, which are limited throughout the war-torn Strip.

Dutch PM Schoof steps down after Wilders quit coalition

Netherlands' Prime Minister Dick Schoof reacts during a joint press conference with Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte (not pictured) following their bilateral meeting at the Nato headquarters, in Brussels, on May 21, 2025. (JOHN THYS / AFP)

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof says he will step down, several hours after far-right leader Geert Wilders, leader of the largest government party, quit the right-wing coalition.

Wilders has been frustrated with what he sees as the slow pace of introducing the “strictest-ever immigration policy,” agreed on with coalition partners after his shock election win in November 2023.

After ToI exposé, Knesset panel to discuss adapting IDF uniforms for female troops

Israeli soldiers seen near the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, on March 4, 2024. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)

Following a Times of Israel exposé that found female combat troops in the Israel Defense Forces are still being given uniforms, boots and tactical equipment made for men, the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee will hold a discussion on addressing the matter.

The discussion on adapting the clothes and equipment for female soldiers — who make up 20% of combat servicepeople — will be held in a fast-tracked manner due to its importance.

Yesh Atid MK Merav Ben-Ari of the opposition has asked, in coordination with the coalition, to convene the meeting. Also joining the bipartisan request were Yisrael Beytenu MK Sharon Nir and National Unity MK Michael Biton of the opposition, and Religious Zionism MK Michal Woldiger and Likud MK Keti Shitrit of the coalition.

Police say 2 foreign activists to be deported after entering closed military zone in West Bank

Police detained two foreign activists who entered a closed military zone in the southern West Bank on Saturday, a police spokesman says. Both are slated for deportation in the coming days.

The women were arrested in the South Hebron Hills after officers received a complaint from the security coordinator for Maon, a West Bank settlement in the area.

Police investigators discovered that one of the women detained has a reputation abroad as an anti-Israel activist.

After being brought to a hearing before the Population and Immigration Authority, the two women were ordered deported from the country.

While one of the activists accepted the ruling, the other is petitioning to overturn her deportation.

Until the appeal hearing is held, both women will remain in custody at Givon Prison in central Israel, police say.

Palestinian arrested for allegedly being recruited to carry out terror attack for Iran

Possessions seized from an East Jerusalem man suspected of carrying out tasks for Iran, in an image released June 3, 2025. (Israel Police)

Police and Shin Bet agents arrested a Palestinian man in recent weeks on suspicion of being recruited by Iran to stage a terror attack in central Israel.

The suspect, a man in his 30s residing in East Jerusalem’s Issawiya neighborhood, had been in contact with an Iranian agent who asked him to carry out various “missions” against the State of Israel, says a police spokesman.

The suspect reportedly received thousands of shekels for hanging signs, burning IDF uniforms, and gathering information about sites and streets in Jerusalem, including the Western Wall and Mahane Yehuda Market.

The agent asked the recruit to stage a terror attack in central Israel, set fire to a forest, and smuggle weapons into the West Bank, but the suspect was arrested before any of the plans were set into motion.

Footage shared by a spokesman shows the suspect hanging a sign over a highway running through the Mount Scopus tunnel in Jerusalem, on an unknown date.

Footage shows a Palestinian suspect hanging a sign over a highway running through the Mount Scopus tunnel in Jerusalem, on an unknown date. (Israel Police)

While arresting the suspect, police seized cash he received from the agent, a can of spray paint, two airsoft guns, and a substance thought to be a drug.

Officers also found in his home a banner with a spray-painted message reading: “Bibi is a dictator, we are not weeds. Ronen Bar, we support you.”

The East Jerusalemite’s detention was extended, and state prosecutors are expected to file an indictment against him for serious security offenses in the coming days, law enforcement says.

Police in recent years have arrested dozens of suspects, many Israeli citizens, for espionage on behalf of Iranian agents.

Typically, handlers contact potential recruits online, offering them money to carry out missions. At the outset, these tasks consist of less serious crimes such as political vandalism, but quickly escalate into severe security offenses, like intelligence gathering on IDF facilities and other sensitive sites.

Norway fund’s ethics body reviews Israeli bank stakes over West Bank settler loans

People walk by a Bank Hapoalim branch in Tel Aviv, September 9, 2020. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

OSLO, Norway — The ethics watchdog for Norway’s $1.9 trillion wealth fund is scrutinizing Israeli banks’ practice of underwriting Israeli settlers’ housebuilding commitments in the West Bank, in a review that could prompt up to $500 million in divestments.

The Council on Ethics, a public body set up by Norway’s Finance Ministry, has, however, decided not to object to the Fund’s investments in accommodation platforms such as Airbnb that offer rentals in the Jewish settlements.

The body checks that firms in the portfolio of the world’s largest wealth fund meet ethical guidelines set by Norway’s parliament.

In an interview with Reuters on May 22, Council head Svein Richard Brandtzaeg said it was examining how Israeli banks offer guarantees that protect Israeli settlers’ money if the company building their home in the West Bank should fold.

Other practices are also being looked at “but this is what we can see so far,” he said. “That is what is well documented.” He declined to say how long the review would take.

Brandtzaeg did not name the banks but, at the end of 2024, the fund owned about 5 billion crowns ($500 million) in shares in the five largest Israeli lenders, up 62% in 12 months, according to the latest data.

The banks – Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Israel Discount Bank, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank and First International Bank of Israel – did not answer requests for comment.

Since 2020, they have been included in a list of companies with ties to settlements in the Palestinian territories compiled by a UN mission assessing the implications for Palestinian rights.

Lapid dismisses idea of running on joint slate with Yair Golan’s The Democrats

Opposition leader Yair Lapid leads a Yesh Atid faction meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on June 3, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

His Yesh Atid party will not run on a joint slate with Yair Golan’s left-wing The Democrats party, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declares.

“Netanyahu says ‘everybody who is against me is on the left,’” Lapid tells reporters ahead of his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.

“Why should we work for his campaign? No one has a problem passing the threshold. There is no ideological, ethical, or practical reason to unite the left and the center. They are two different things,” he says.

Last week, Golan called for a pre-election merger of his party with the two largest centrist parties to compete with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc.

“We must unite before the elections and form the largest party within the bloc, a party that will be the alternative to lead the next government and set Israel’s course,” Golan said at a conference titled “Democratic Israel Will Win.”

He urged Lapid and Benny Gantz, who chairs the centrist National Unity party, to work together to offer voters what he referred to as a democratic Zionist alternative to the current government.

Lapid warns Haredi leaders they are ‘being deceived,’ Netanyahu won’t pass ‘evasion law’

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid speaks at a press conference in Jerusalem, June 3, 2025. (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid warns the senior leaders of the ultra-Orthodox community that they are “being deceived” by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because the premier will not pass what he calls an “evasion law” exempting yeshiva students from military service.

Addressing reporters ahead of his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Lapid slams Netanyahu for sending his people to meet with Haredi representatives in the Knesset and “begging them to give them another 10 days to arrange a mass draft evasion law for them, which would prevent the possibility of them enlisting in the IDF in time of war.”

“A prime minister with a shred of responsibility left in him should have told the Haredim [that] on October 7, everything changed. We are at war, we don’t have enough soldiers, your evasion is over,” he says.

Asserting that enlisting in the IDF “does not harm the Torah world and does not contradict Judaism,” Lapid directly addresses three of the most senior Haredi Rabbis: the Gur Hasidic sect’s Rebbe Yaakov Aryeh Alter; former Sephardic chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef; and Rabbi Dov Lando, the 94-year-old spiritual leader of the non-Hasidic, so-called Lithuanian stream of ultra-Orthodoxy.

“Know that you are being deceived. Netanyahu knows that there will be no evasion law; he is just stalling for time to somehow get through the summer [Knesset legislative] session,” Lapid declares.

“All he is interested in is being still in power during his cross-examination in court, so that he can continue to receive ‘important notes’ in the middle of his testimony. He is selling you fairy tales and empty promises [and] cannot pass the law you want.”

Report: Lebanese FM tells Iranian counterpart that ‘military adventures brought Lebanon to a difficult situation’

Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji (left) receives his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi (center) in Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Saudi outlet Al Arabiya reports that Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raji told his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi during a meeting in Beirut that “military adventures”— a likely reference to Hezbollah — “have brought Lebanon to a difficult situation.”

According to the report, Raji, a member of a Christian party opposed to Hezbollah, also said these “actions had not contributed to ending the Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory.”

He reportedly added that Lebanon’s recovery is tied to Hezbollah’s disarmament, and that “coordination between Lebanon and Iran should occur through official state channels,” meaning not via intermediaries like Hezbollah. These remarks have not been independently confirmed.

The visit by the Iranian foreign minister comes amid rising tensions between the two countries, fueled by Lebanon’s reported plans to disarm Hezbollah and the suspension of commercial flights between the two countries over suspicions of arms and money smuggling from Iran to Lebanon.

Prosecutor: Netanyahu’s wife asked Hollywood mogul to gift large Bugs Bunny toy to her son in 1996

Arnon Milchan (left) and Benjamin Netanyahu at a press conference in the Knesset, on March 28, 2005. (Flash90/ File)

In a story involving a giant Bugs Bunny toy and a movie screening in New York City, State Attorney prosecutor Yehonatan Tadmor seeks to challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s description of his first meeting with Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan in 1996 as almost unplanned and coincidental.

Tadmor is seeking to establish that Milchan sought out Netanyahu’s favor in order to obtain help from him in the future, and was prepared to accede to his wife’s requests, setting in motion the events that led to Case 1000 — in which Netanyahu is accused of accepting luxury gifts worth hundreds of thousands of shekels from Milchan and of having done various favors for him in return.

Tadmor asserts that ahead of the 1996 meeting, Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, had requested both a change to the movie that they were planning to see, and that Milchan bring a huge Bugs Bunny stuffed toy with him for their son, Yair.

Tadmor reads from Milchan’s testimony in 2023, in which he said “I didn’t have a driver, it was raining, but I got a pretty big Bugs Bunny, very big, and no one wanted to stop, I looked for a cab, and I’m standing there with the Bugs Bunny, and in the end… I got to the prime minister’s hotel… Sara took the Bugs Bunny and said it was ok… and then we ate dinner.” Tadmor also notes that Netanyahu had requested that he, Sara, and Milchan be left alone because they were having such an interesting conversation.

Tadmor presses Netanyahu, arguing that it was strange to make such demands of Milchan upon meeting him for the first time.

The prime minister says in response that he doesn’t recall that the movie was changed.

“Regarding the Bugs Bunny, I have no idea how it arrived. It sounds like the Hollywood movie ‘Who Killed Roger Rabbit,'” jokes Netanyahu.

“Confirm to me that you knew it was important to Milchan to meet with you, confirm to me that Milchan was important,” Tadmor insists to Netanyahu.

“I knew a lot of people who wanted to meet with me,” says Netanyahu in response.

Woman murdered in Bat Yam named as Yelena Galovsky, 51

The woman who was murdered in her Bat Yam apartment yesterday, presumably by her partner, is named as Yelena Galovsky, Hebrew outlets report.

First responders found the 51-year-old victim stabbed to death in her apartment yesterday morning after she recently separated from her husband, Yevgeny Galovsky.

Galovsky, the prime suspect, is said to have repeatedly stabbed his wife in the early morning in the presence of their 18-year-old daughter, who reported the murder at around 9 a.m. The couple had no criminal history.

The recently estranged husband then ascended to the roof of their apartment building and stayed there for hours.

Russian-speaking police negotiators tried to convince Galovsky to come down from the roof to no avail, police said yesterday. After nine hours, the likely killer jumped from the five-story building and was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to the Israel Women’s Network, 14 women have been murdered in Israel since the start of the year, 13 of them by a partner or relative.

IDF says it struck dozens of terror targets across Gaza over past day

Over the past day, the Israeli Air Force struck dozens of targets across the Gaza Strip, including terror operatives, buildings used by terror groups, tunnels, and other infrastructure that posed a threat to troops, the military says.

A strike yesterday carried out by the 215th Artillery Regiment eliminated a Hamas operative who was spotted at a weapons depot, the IDF says, attaching footage of the strike, which shows secondary explosions.

Report: Spain reneges on $325 million purchase of anti-tank missiles from Israel’s Rafael

Spain cancels another arms deal with Israel, as Madrid calls for international sanctions on the Jewish state.

The Spanish Defense Ministry will not go through with its planned purchase of Spike anti-tank missiles from Rafael, says the Ara daily newspaper, a deal worth $325 million (NIS 1.15 billion).

The deal was finalized four days before the October 7, 2023, massacre by Hamas.

Rafael says in response that it was unaware of the deal being canceled.

In April, Spain canceled an order for 15 million bullets from Israel.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters recently that Spain would request the “immediate suspension” of the European Union’s cooperation deal with Israel, and would also urge partners to impose an arms embargo on Israel.

Spain is a long-time critic of Israel’s policies toward Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and outraged Jerusalem by recognizing Palestinian statehood in May 2024. Tensions escalated last month when Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called Israel a “genocidal state” while speaking in the Spanish parliament.

Report: Syria’s Sharaa will address UN General Assembly in New York in September

Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa receives Saudi Arabia's foreign minister in Damascus, Syria, on May 31, 2025. (SANA / AFP)

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa will visit New York in September to participate in the United Nations General Assembly, according to Sky News Arabic.

Reports of Sharaa’s intention to address the UN have emerged in Arabic-language media in recent weeks.

This would mark the first time a Syrian president has addressed the UN since June 1967, when Nureddin al-Atassi did so after Israel’s victory in the Six Day War.

Israel initially dismissed the prospect of constructive interaction with Sharaa, a former leader in Syria’s local al-Qaeda branch who has been branded a terrorist by Jerusalem.

After US President Donald Trump met with Sharaa and agreed to ease sanctions, Israel’s approach has shifted, including holding secret talks with Syrian officials.

Prosecutor: Despite ‘phenomenal’ memory, Netanyahu told police 1,778 times he ‘doesn’t remember’

State Attorney prosecutor Yehonatan Tadmor at the cross-examination of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his criminal trial at the Tel Aviv District Court, June 3, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

State Attorney prosecutor Yehonatan Tadmor tries to undermine Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s credibility as a reliable witness during cross-examination in court, pointing out that former senior aide to the prime minister and state witness Nir Hefetz testified that Netanyahu had a “phenomenal” memory and that Netanyahu himself recalled specific details about long-distant meetings.

Netanyahu tries to argue , claiming that some details of some meetings stuck out more than others.

Tadmor then points out that Netanyahu said 1,778 times during police questioning regarding Cases 1000 and 2000 that he “doesn’t remember,” and that his use of the phrase increased as the interrogation sessions continued.

“I am saying that you said ‘I don’t remember’ when it was convenient for you,” charges Tadmor.

Netanyahu denies the allegation, arguing that no one can remember every precise detail about past events.

Judge Rivka Friedman Feldman interrupts, asking, “When you said ‘I don’t remember,’ did you do it in order to avoid answering?” to which Netanyahu responds, “No.”

Far-right researcher says ex-chief justice’s body should be burned when he dies, later deletes post

Eliahu Yosian attends the annual Jerusalem Conference of the 'Besheva' group in Jerusalem, on February 25, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Far-right former intelligence analyst Eliyahu Yosian says former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak’s body should be burned upon his death, and that he should not be buried in Israel.

Yosian, who now conducts research and lectures on Iran and the Islamic Revolution, deletes the X post shortly after drawing backlash on social media.

“Good morning to the Jewish nation,” Yosian wrote on X, along with a picture of Barak in a wheelchair. “He cannot have a grave in the State of Israel. This is a desecration of the people of Israel, the land of Israel, and the State of Israel. This is a desecration of the Jewish state. His body must be burned in this world and his soul in the next,” he wrote.

Barak has long been reviled by many on the hard right for his activist approach during his tenure. The Netanyahu government’s judicial overhaul plan is aimed at sidelining the powers assumed by Israel’s highest court during his time as chief justice, and the retired judge has been vocally critical of the effort.

Yosian’s calls to kill “at least 50,000 Gazans” in the days immediately after the October 7, 2023, massacre drew attention in Israel.

UN says attacks around Gaza aid distribution site may constitute war crime

GENEVA, Switzerland — The United Nations human rights office says the impediment of access to food and relief for civilians in Gaza may constitute a war crime, describing attacks on civilians trying to access food aid as unconscionable.

“For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. This morning, we have received information that dozens more people were killed and injured,” the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Jeremy Laurence tells reporters in Geneva.

The military earlier said that it fired on Palestinian suspects who approached them around 500 meters (550 yards) from a humanitarian aid distribution site in the Rafah area of southern Gaza.

The GHF said that aid was distributed earlier this morning at the site itself without incident.

Herzog urges global ‘unified stance’ to demand release of hostages above all other war demand

President Isaac Herzog (right) speaks at a Microsoft AI conference in Tel Aviv, June 3, 2025. (Haim Zach/GPO)

President Isaac Herzog encourages world leaders to prioritize the release of hostages above all other demands related to the ongoing war, speaking at a Microsoft AI conference in Tel Aviv.

In a statement from his office, Herzog calls for the return of the remaining 58 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, saying “to bring everyone home as quickly as possible — every last one of them.”

He thanks US envoy Steve Witkoff for his latest hostage proposal, saying the envoy “is working day and night.”

“Unfortunately, Hamas continues to reject the proposals,” continues Herzog, “and I say to the entire international community — in recent days I have spoken with three major world leaders and I told them: maybe try thinking in game theory terms, but reversely: If all of you stand united and say, ‘First the hostages — first and foremost — and only then everything else,’ you will see that you can bring about results.”

His remarks come amid mounting international criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, including from key Western allies. In recent weeks, numerous countries have urged Israel to halt its expanded military operations and lift restrictions on humanitarian aid into the territory — often coupling those demands with calls for the release of the hostages, though not as a precondition.

Prosecution begins cross-examination of Netanyahu at criminal trial

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sits at the Tel Aviv District Court before the start of his cross-examination in the criminal trial against him, June 3, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The prosecution’s cross-examination of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his criminal trial on corruption charges begins this morning in the Tel Aviv District Court, after a lengthy direct examination by his defense team and five years after the trial began.

Attorney Yehonatan Tadmor of the State Attorney’s Office begins the cross-examination with questions on Case 1000, in which Netanyahu is accused of fraud and breach of trust for allegedly accepting luxury gifts worth hundreds of thousands of shekels from Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan and Australian billionaire James Packer, and doing various favors for Milchan in return.

Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman, who heads the three-judge panel presiding over the case, reminds the prime minister of his obligation to tell the truth when responding to the prosecutors’ questions.

Tadmor begins with questions about the period when Netanyahu was first called by the police for questioning regarding Case 1000 in 2016.

Tadmor asks Netanyahu if he prepared for the police questioning, and specifically if he knew it was connected to his relationship with wealthy businessmen, and his receipt of valuable gifts from them.

Netanyahu says he remembers that the issue of his relationship with the businessmen came up in his preparation for questioning, adding, “I don’t do favors for businessmen.”

Tadmor asks the prime minister about a list of 10 businessmen which had been drawn up by the prime minister’s lawyers in connection with the upcoming police questioning, and questions Netanyahu as to whether he knew he would be questioned about his relationship with Milchan and Packer.

“I don’t remember. I thought the whole ridiculous thing began because of an article by Gidi Weitz. It’s persecution,” says Netanyahu, referring to a Haaretz journalist who reported on the prime minister’s connections to Milchan at the time.

Netanyahu: Rubio couldn’t believe I had to go be cross-examined at my trial; ‘this whole investigation is a joke’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the Tel Aviv District Court before the start of his testimony in the criminal trial against him, June 3, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

As the prosecution begins its cross-examination in his criminal trial, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reveals that he spoke last night with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

He says the two spoke from 10 p.m. until 11 p.m., and that he had to end the call in order to prepare for the trial.

“I told him: ‘Listen, I need to get some things organized for the cross-examination,'” says Netanyahu. “He didn’t believe it and I didn’t believe it either – because in my opinion this whole investigation is a joke.”

The call comes as Israel is concerned that the Trump administration might agree to a nuclear deal with Iran that allows the Islamic Republic to continue some enrichment of uranium on its soil.

The Prime Minister’s Office does not respond to questions about the content of the call.

Lufthansa extends suspension of Tel Aviv flights until June 22

Lufthansa aircrafts parked at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, September 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

The Lufthansa group of carriers continues to extend the suspension of its flight services to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport by another week until June 22.

The Lufthansa group – whose carriers also include SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings – says that following a situation assessment, it has decided to further extend flight cancellations to and from Tel Aviv through June 22, from the previously announced date of June 15.

On May 4, the group of carriers joined a list of foreign airlines canceling flight services to Israel, after a ballistic missile from Yemen struck an area of Israel’s main international airport.

Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders quits coalition, likely leading to elections

President of the far-right Party for Freedom Geert Wilders delivers a speech during a meeting of Patriots for Europe, the European Parliament's largest far-right bloc, at a hotel in Madrid, Spain, on February 8, 2025. (Thomas COEX / AFP)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Far-right Dutch leader Geert Wilders withdraws his party from the government in a row over immigration, bringing down a shaky coalition and likely ushering in snap elections.

Wilders has been frustrated with what he saw as the slow pace of introducing the “strictest-ever immigration policy,” agreed on with coalition partners after his shock election win in November 2023.

“No signature for our asylum plans… PVV leaves the coalition,” Wilders says on X, formerly Twitter.

The withdrawal opens up a period of political uncertainty in the European Union’s fifth-largest economy and major exporter, as far-right parties make gains across the continent.

The latest government crisis also comes just weeks before the Netherlands is due to host world leaders for a NATO summit.

US envoy says Washington will close all but one of its military bases in Syria

US soldiers step into an armored personnel carrier as they patrol an area in the town of Tal Hamis, southeast of the city of Qameshli in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh governorate, on January 24, 2024. (Delil Souleiman/AFP)

ISTANBUL, Turkey — The United States has begun reducing its military presence in Syria with a view to eventually closing all but one of its bases in the country, the US envoy for Syria says in an interview.

“We’ve gone from eight bases to five to three. We’ll eventually go to one,” Tom Barrack says in an interview with Turkey’s NTV.

Canadian authorities investigating alleged war crimes in Gaza, report says

Canadian police confirm reports they are investigating alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip, without detailing the scope of the investigation, the Toronto Star reports.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police began a probe into the Israel-Hamas war in early 2024, according to the report.

The report does not explicitly say if a specific Israeli is being investigated.

The RCMP probe is a “structural investigation” — a fact-finding mission that aims to hold war criminals accountable and prevent them from finding safe haven by handing information collected to other authorities or trying suspects in court.

According to The Star, cases rarely end up in Canadian courts.

IDF says troops fired on suspects who approached them 500 meters from Gaza aid site

A youth carries an empty box of relief supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, as displaced Palestinians walk near a food distribution center in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on June 1, 2025. (AFP)

For the third day in a row, the IDF says troops opened fire on Palestinian suspects who approached forces around 500 meters from a humanitarian aid distribution site in the Rafah area of southern Gaza.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reports 24 dead and dozens wounded in the incident. The tolls cannot be verified.

According to the IDF, while crowds of Palestinians were making their way to the aid distribution site in Rafah via organized routes, troops spotted several suspects approaching the forces while deviating from the pre-approved path, around half a kilometer from the aid complex.

“The forces fired warning shots, and after they did not disperse, additional fire was carried out next to several suspects who approached the forces,” the military says.

The IDF says it is aware of the reports of casualties, and is investigating the incident further.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the US- and Israel-backed body in charge of the aid distribution, says aid was handed out this morning without incident.

The IDF says that it is allowing GHF to operate “independently to distribute aid to Gaza residents and prevent it from reaching the Hamas terror organization.”

“IDF troops do not prevent the arrival of Gaza residents to the distribution sites. The shooting was carried out about half a kilometer from the distribution site, toward individual suspects approaching the forces in a way that threatened them,” the military says.

GHF has denied previous accounts of chaos and gunfire around its sites, which are in Israeli military zones.

The IDF has acknowledged firing warning shots on previous occasions outside the distribution centers.

Police nab two suspected of killing their uncle

Illustrative: Police officers in Jerusalem on October 11, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Police arrested two young men this morning on suspicion of killing their uncle.

The 21-year-old suspects are thought to have shot Muhammad Hammam, 44, last Thursday, and then to have fled into the West Bank, where they were nabbed by Israeli police.

The two were brought in for questioning by Northern District police investigators.

Their detention has been extended by the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court by two days, until June 5.

GHF says no incidents today at Gaza aid distribution site; IDF probing injuries outside facility

Makeshift tents are seen in a camp for Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive, in Gaza City, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Aid distribution this morning in southern Gaza’s Rafah passed without incident, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the US- and Israel-backed body in charge of the aid distribution, says in a statement.

In an update a short while ago, nearly three hours after a distribution site in Rafah opened, GHF says it handed out “21 truckloads of food this morning, totaling 20,160 boxes.”

“While the aid distribution was conducted safely and without incident at our site today, we understand that IDF is investigating whether a number of civilians were injured after moving beyond the designated safe corridor and into a closed military zone,” GHF says, referring to Palestinian media reports of casualties this morning.

“This was an area well beyond our secure distribution site and operations area. We recognize the difficult nature of the situation and advise all civilians to remain in the safe corridor when traveling to our distribution sites,” GHF adds.

In the eight days, GHF says it had distributed 7 million meals at three distribution sites in southern and central Gaza. But its classification of meals is based on boxes of dry food products that still require cooking equipment or community kitchens, which are very limited throughout the Strip after nearly 20 months of devastating conflict.

At least 20 killed by Israeli fire at Gaza aid distribution site, Hamas-linked media says

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — At least 20 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire as they waited for aid distribution in the Rafah area, Hamas-affiliated media says.

There is no confirmation of the reports.

Three soldiers killed in northern Gaza explosion yesterday

From left to right: Staff Sgt. Lior Steinberg, 20, a combat medic, from Petah Tikva; Staff Sgt. Ofek Barhana, 20, a combat medic, from Yavne; Staff Sgt. Omer Van Gelder, 22, a squad commander, from Maale Adumim. (Israel Defense Forces)

Three Israeli soldiers were killed and two were wounded by an explosive device during operations in northern Gaza’s Jabalia yesterday evening, the military announces.

The slain soldiers are named as:

Staff Sgt. Lior Steinberg, 20, a combat medic, from Petah Tikva.

Staff Sgt. Ofek Barhana, 20, a combat medic, from Yavne.

Staff Sgt. Omer Van Gelder, 22, a squad commander, from Maale Adumim.

The troops all served in the Givati Brigade’s Rotem Battalion. During the incident in Jabalia, they were operating in a platoon under the 9th Armored Battalion.

According to an initial IDF probe, the five troops were in a Humvee in Jabalia when they were hit by an explosive device planted there by terror operatives.

The other two wounded troops are listed in moderate condition.

The soldiers in the Humvee had been escorting an army fire engine that had entered Gaza to extinguish an armored personnel carrier that caught fire due to unclear circumstances, according to the probe. On the way out of Jabalia, the convoy was hit by several explosive devices, one of which directly hit the Humvee, killing and wounding the soldiers. Further details are under investigation by the IDF.

Their deaths bring Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip to 423. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.

Gazans report several killed in shooting near aid center for third straight morning

Media outlets in Gaza report that hospitals in Gaza have received several people killed or injured after being hit by gunfire while waiting for humanitarian aid at a newly opened distribution center in Rafah. Some websites affiliated with the Hamas terror group report that 15 people were killed.

There is no confirmation of the reports.

The claims come after two days of similar reports out of Rafah, with 31 people reported killed early Sunday and three more on Monday, according to Hamas, eyewitnesses and aid groups.

The IDF and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which runs the assistance distribution site, have denied that shootings occurred in the area during those hours, though a military official said warning shots were fired at individuals about a kilometer away early Sunday and again on Monday. According to the Red Cross, 179 people wounded by gunfire and shrapnel were brought to a field hospital it operates in Rafah Sunday morning, and 50 more on Monday morning.

Top US diplomat Rubio talks to Saudi counterpart about Gaza, Syria

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud held talks on the situation in Gaza and “stabilization in Syria,” the State Department says.

The two also discussed talks between Ukraine and Russia, according to a statement.

There is no immediate comment from Riyadh.

Video appears to show Jewish man detained after performing ‘two breads’ offering on Temple Mount

A video shared online purports to show a Jewish man performing an ancient sacrificial offering on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem Monday, supposedly a first in millenia, before being detained by police.

According to activists quoted by the Srugim religious news website, a man seen in the video in a white robe was carrying out the “Two Breads” offering detailed in the Torah for the Shavuot holiday, in which two loaves of leavened bread are waved by a kohen, or priest, before the altar and then consumed.

“The two breads offering was offered in the place of the [Temple] court, and was waved as prescribed in halacha by a kohen in priestly garb,” the site quotes activists saying, adding that the act was sanctioned by the rabbi of the Temple Institute. The Jewish organization advocates for the creation of a third Jewish temple on the flashpoint site, which is also considered holy to Muslims and houses the al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock shrine.

כהן בבגדי כהונה כשרים מניף את קרבן שתי הלחם על מקומה של עזרת המקדש. תראו את תבהלת הערבים ואת האלימות המשטרתית ותבינו כמה זה חשוב והיסטורי.
סרטון מהרשת הערבית. שימוש עפ"י סעיף 27א pic.twitter.com/kIToyIEPbA

— ארנון סגל (@arnonsegal1) June 2, 2025

In the video, the man is seen clutching something in his hands as he tries to evade police amid a loud commotion, before it is grabbed away and he is detained by a police officer and a man dressed in Muslim religious garb.

Others are also seen being led away by police as a group of men and boys off to the side sing a traditional religious song about the rebuilding of the Temple, which Jews say stood on the site in two separate iterations in ancient times.

There is no comment on the incident from police.

Religious hardliners have made several attempts to bring sacrifices onto the site in recent years, including trying to smuggle goats in shopping bags, but have always been stopped by police in the past.

Police brawl with Orthodox Jewish men trying to smuggle a sacrificial goat into the Temple Mount compound (left) and the baby goat concealed in a Rami Levy shopping bag on May 12, 2025. (Screenshot/Twitter)

MK Zvi Sukkot of the far-right Religious Zionism party writes on X that “for the first time in 2,000 years a kosher sacrifice has been brought on the mount of the house of God. There is still a long way to go until there is full religious freedom for Jews at the holiest place for the Jewish people. But there is no reason in the world to stop someone just because they are carrying out a mitzvah and surely without hurting anyone.”

A fragile status quo governing the site forbids Jewish prayer, though National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has attempted to chip away at the rule, repeatedly declaring that Jewish prayer is allowed.

Sukkot was filmed last week walking across the holy site with an Israeli flag and declaring “The Temple Mount is in our hands,” as other politicians made a show of prostrating at the site.

In an apparent reaction to the video, Jordan issues a statement condemning “the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Noble sanctuary by extremist settlers and the accompanying provocative and unacceptable practices aimed at desecrating it.”

6.2-magnitude quake jolts Greece near Turkey border

A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck the Dodecanese Islands of Greece on Tuesday, near its border with Turkey, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre says.

The quake occured at a depth of 68 km (42 miles), according to EMSC.

There are no immediate reports in Israel of shaking from the overnight temblor.

Israel punches back at UN chief for demanding probe into Gaza aid site shooting

Israel calls a demand from United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres for an investigation into reported violence at a Gaza aid site a “disgrace.”

“Even if you look very hard, there’s one word you won’t find in the Secretary-General’s statement: Hamas,” writes Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein on X.

“Not a word about the fact that Hamas is the one shooting civilians and trying to prevent them from collecting aid packages.”

“Not a word about the fact that Hamas — as stated by U.S. Special Envoy Witkoff — rejected yet another ceasefire proposal and the release of the hostages.”

Guterres said on Monday he was “appalled” by reports that Palestinians were killed the previous day on their way to a Gaza Humanitarian Fund distribution site for aid, that the UN must be allowed to provide aid to Gazans, and said that there is no military solution to the conflict in Gaza.

Multiple witnesses and Hamas authorities in the Strip said at least 31 Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded early Sunday by Israeli fire as they were on their way to a Gaza Humanitarian Fund distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces said it didn’t shoot Gazans at or near the distribution site, but an Israeli military official acknowledged that troops did fire warning shots overnight around a kilometer away from the aid site.

Israel and the United States say they helped establish the new aid system to circumvent Hamas, which they accuse of siphoning off assistance.

UN agencies have refused to work with the system, which they say violates humanitarian principles.

Marmorstein says that “the real investigation that needs to be opened is why the UN continues to resist any attempt to provide aid directly to the people of Gaza.”

Colorado firebombing suspect appears in court with head bandaged

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the suspect in an attack on a rally for Israeli hostages in Boulder, Colorado, in court in a Boulder County jail on June 2, 2025. (screen capture: YouTube)

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, suspected of firebombing a pro-Israel rally in Colorado Sunday, appears in a Boulder County jail court for the first time since his arrest a day ago.

Soliman wears an orange jumpsuit and what appears to be a bandage wrapped around his head.

(Witness Alex Osante of San Diego has said that after the initial attack, the suspect went behind some bushes and then reemerged and threw a Molotov cocktail but apparently accidentally caught himself on fire as he threw it.)

Soliman does not make any statements, except affirming that he understands a protection order that bars him from contacting the victims of the attack.

The court schedules a June 5 hearing for the filing of formal charges against him.

Colorado suspect to be charged with attempted murder, hate crime; number of injured up to 12

Law enforcement officials investigate after an attack on the Pearl Street Mall Sunday, June 1, 2025, in Boulder, Colo. (AP/David Zalubowski)

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the suspect in a firebombing of a hostages march in Colorado yesterday, will be charged with state and federal charges and facing life in prison if convicted, officials say.

Acting US Attorney J. Bishop Grewell says at a press conference that Soliman, 45, is being charged with the commission of a hate crime, a federal crime which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison when coupled with attempted murder charges he will face from Colorado.

According to Grewell, Soliman attempted to buy a firearm to carry out the attack, but resorted to homemade incendiary devices when he could not acquire a firearm because he is not a US citizen.

Boulder county district attorney Michael Dougherty says the state will charge Soliman with 16 counts of attempted murder in the first degree — eight for attempted murder with intent, and eight for attempted murder with extreme indifference. If convicted, and the sentences run consecutively, the maximum sentence is 384 years in state prison.

Soliman will also be charged with two counts of use of an incendiary device, carrying a maximum sentence of 48 years, and 16 counts of attempted use of an incendiary device, with a maximum sentence of 192 years. Soliman threw two Molotov cocktails at the demonstrators, and investigators recovered 16 unused Molotov cocktails from the scene of the attack.

Other charges may be forthcoming, Grewell says.

Dougherty says police have identified four more victims of the attack, bringing the total to 12. The four additional victims suffered minor injuries and came forward to investigators after the initial incident.

The authorities say Soliman was not “on our radar” before the attack. Investigators are working to put together a timeline of the attack using surveillance footage and license plate readers.