Trump says he warned Netanyahu Israel could be left alone if it escalated Iran fight
PM says Iran attacks halted ‘for now,’ Israel will strike Tehran and Hezbollah if attacked again, as Katz says Beirut will be hit if terror group targets Israel * Schools to reopen nationwide tomorrow * Security cabinet set to meet
The Times of Israel is liveblogging Sunday’s events as they unfold.
‘Why should we pick a fight with him?’: Netanyahu said to have resisted far-right pressure to defy Trump on Iran strikes
Discussions held today exposed disagreements between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right security cabinet ministers over how Israel should respond to US President Donald Trump’s demand that Israel halt its strikes in Iran, and over whether it should prioritize confronting Iran directly or intensifying pressure on Hezbollah in Lebanon, Channel 12 reports.
The exchanges happened during a series of limited security consultations between Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and senior security officials at the Kirya headquarters today, according to the report.
Netanyahu reportedly defended coordination with Washington, arguing that Trump remains aligned with Israel’s broader objectives regarding Iran: “We are on the same page as Trump. He is not releasing Iran’s frozen funds, he is determined to secure the nuclear material, and he is maintaining the pressure. Why should we pick a fight with him?”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir reportedly argued that Israel should resist US pressure, saying: “We need to stand our ground against Trump. We need to fight tooth and nail and make it clear that we have red lines.”
Netanyahu reportedly responded by suggesting Ben Gvir’s position was influenced by the approaching election campaign, a charge the minister rejected.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich reportedly argued that Israel should continue focusing its military response on Hezbollah targets in Beirut, seeming to suggest this would both weaken Hezbollah and reinforce Israel’s rejection of Iranian demands that Lebanon be included in any ceasefire.
“The right course of action is to stick with the Beirut model… Strike hard in Beirut. That will cause Hezbollah to beg for it to stop, and it could help further separate the [Iranian and Lebanese] fronts… Action in Iran carries diplomatic costs and is complicated. We can flip the equation. We should take advantage of the separation of the fronts and turn the tables,” Smotrich reportedly said.
The report also says that after Trump urged him against further attacks on Iran this afternoon, Netanyahu told senior security officials that Israel will strike Hezbollah targets in Beirut if the terror group attacks northern Israeli communities, even at the risk of triggering another round of confrontation with Iran, the report adds. Katz openly stated as much earlier today.
Ben Gvir says he’s ‘undeterred’ by Italy investigation over flotilla video
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir dismisses Italy’s announcement that it has put him under investigation over a video he published showcasing the humiliation of activists who were part of the Gaza flotilla last month.
“Israel isn’t a punching bag for a gang of lying terror supporters who invent libels and lies against our fighters,” he says.
“I am undeterred by this sort of investigation and will continue to stand proudly with our fighters.”
Knesset passes law to deduct compensation for terror victims from PA tax revenues over pay-for-slay stipends
The Knesset votes 29-5 to grant final approval to a law offsetting compensation paid to terror victims by making additional deductions from tax revenues meant to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority.
The deductions will apply in cases involving attackers or their families who receive regular payments from the PA under a controversial arrangement dubbed pay-for-slay by critics, and which Ramallah has claimed to reverse, though Israel says it has continued.
Israel has withheld all of the PA’s clearance revenues — taxes collected by Israel on the PA’s behalf under the Oslo Accords — over the past year, arguing that Ramallah allocates some of that money for terrorists and their families.
Since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which sparked a crackdown on terrorists in the West Bank, it has also no longer transferred the monthly sums the PA once directed to Gaza.
Altogether, the Gaza and “pay-for-slay” withholdings constitute nearly NIS 2 billion ($600 million), or about a fifth of the total annual clearance revenues.
Report details play-by-play Trump-Netanyahu messages throughout latest Iran flareup
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to halt a larger operation against Iran this afternoon after a direct intervention by US President Donald Trump, Channel 12 reports, citing unnamed Israeli officials.
According to the Hebrew network, Israel had been preparing a major strike for late afternoon, which had been approved by Netanyahu, but the premier ultimately blocked it after Trump urged him to de-escalate.
The report describes several communications between Jerusalem and Washington that led up to this afternoon’s call.
Following Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah targets in Beirut yesterday afternoon, Washington conveyed a message to Israel that they were unhappy about the strikes, to which Israel responded that it was a measured strike that could not be avoided given Hezbollah’s attacks on northern Israel.
After Iran’s ballistic missile attacks against Israel in support of Hezbollah last night, Netanyahu held a tense phone call with Trump, during which the president urged against escalation, telling him not to respond to the attacks, with Netanyahu reportedly replying: “The Iranians violated our sovereignty. We have to draw a red line.”
Trump replied that Washington would not grant Israel “a green light,” while adding that Netanyahu has his “own calculations,” according to the network.
Some senior Israeli officials tell Channel 12 that Trump came away from the conversation believing Israel would not strike, while others claimed that Trump understood from Netanyahu’s comments that Israel intended to proceed.
During a second conversation with Trump today, Netanyahu justified the choice to strike Tehran, telling the president that Israel “knew that a strike on Iran would not lead to a [full-blown] war,” according to the report. It isn’t clear from the report how Netanyahu made that argument while also having planned the larger attack on Iran that was called off.
Following Israel’s strikes against Iran overnight and again this morning, and Iran’s two rounds of strikes in return, Tehran approached the Trump administration and said it was prepared for a ceasefire, the network says.
Around the same time, intense discussions were underway at the Kirya IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv regarding a major operation Israel hoped to carry out later that afternoon, the report continues.
Around 4:30 p.m., Netanyahu reportedly approved the operation shortly before Trump called him and instructed him to halt any further attacks so Washington could pursue a deal with Iran.
Some Israeli officials portray the leaders’ conversation to Channel 12 as one characterized by mutual understanding, while other sources say it was effectively a directive from the president. In any case, Netanyahu apparently agreed to halt the fire and ordered an end to the operation, leading to “considerable confusion” within the military high command, as aircraft were already prepared for takeoff.
The Prime Minister’s Office does not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
Italy puts Ben Gvir under investigation over Gaza flotilla video
Italian prosecutors have put Israel’s far-right police minister Itamar Ben Gvir under investigation over a video he published showcasing the humiliation of activists who were part of the Gaza flotilla last month, a judicial source says.
Bennett slams Netanyahu for ‘normalizing’ periodical attacks from Iran
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett pans Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his handling of the recent round of fighting with Iran, claiming it will be “remembered as the start of the normalization” of periodical attacks from the Islamic Republic.
He goes on to detail his often-repeated attacks on Netanyahu, including that he doesn’t sufficiently talk to the public; cannot achieve decisive victory on any war front; is hindered by his dependence on the ultra-Orthodox parties since he can’t act to recruit Haredim to the IDF; and that he and his coalition partners are divisive in their rhetoric and legislative initiatives.
Lebanese president appeals to Israel to pursue talks, not war; says he won’t meet Netanyahu until deal signed
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun makes a rare public appeal to the Israeli government and people in an interview with CNN, saying a military solution “will never provide you with security and safety” for the people in northern Israel.
“We are ready, we are willing, we are committed. Are you? If you are, let’s sit and talk,” says Aoun.
“We are fed up and we want to live in peace,” he says, adding that the Lebanese people “deserve to live in peace and in dignity, they deserve not seeing their homes being destroyed every five to 10 years.”
Regarding Israel’s military operations, Aoun says: “They can invade the whole country, they can flatten the whole country, but they will never be able to achieve their objective.”
He says he will not meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before reaching an agreement to end the war, which he says would be a non-aggression pact and not a full peace deal.
Trump says he warned Netanyahu Israel could be left alone if it escalated Iran fight, claims US got last-minute notice of strikes
US President Donald Trump says that he warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the past day that Israel could find itself alone against Iran if it escalated the conflict further, while claiming Washington was informed only at the last minute about Israel’s overnight strikes against Iran and that he succeeded in limiting their scope.
In a phone conversation with Channel 12’s Barak Ravid, Trump says that he asked Netanyahu during a phone call last night that Israel not respond to Iran’s ballistic missile attacks.
According to the Hebrew network, the conversation ended without a clear conclusion, but several of Trump’s aides who were on the call told Channel 12 they were given the impression that Trump had succeeded in buying a few more days without Israeli retaliation to support the US-Iran talks on a deal.
Following last night’s call, however, Netanyahu convened consultations with senior security officials, after which he informed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that he had decided to carry out strikes in Iran, according to Channel 12.
Referring to Israel’s initial strikes against Iran last night, Trump tells the network that Israel updated Washington on the strikes very late, as the missiles were already on their way to Iran, while adding that he managed to scale back the scope of the attack.
Trump adds in the report that five regional countries involved in mediation efforts between the US and Iran had asked him to pressure Netanyahu to halt the strikes and move forward with an agreement.
He says that this morning, Iranian officials contacted Washington and said they would not carry out any more attacks on Israel and requested that Israel stop attacking in return, after which Trump again called Netanyahu and persuaded him to agree to halt further strikes.
The president reiterates to Channel 12 that he believes an agreement with Iran remains within reach, that Tehran wants to sign one, and that such a deal would be beneficial. Trump told Fox News on Tuesday last week that he believed he had been only days away from finalizing an agreement with Iran before the fighting between Israel and Iran erupted.
Man with PTSD said to have broken into Haifa zoo, shattered window of leopard enclave
A 25-year-old man suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder broke into northern Israel’s Haifa Zoo this morning and shattered the glass screen of the Persian leopard exhibit, Hebrew media reports.
Upon seeing zoo staff, the man bolted into the bear exhibit and climbed a tall tree.
The break-in activated the zoo’s emergency procedures.
The zoo’s management reported that the leopard had been nowhere near the window, and that there was no danger to the man at any point.
Zoo staff tried to calm the man until police and ambulance workers arrived, along with the man’s father.
The man was referred for treatment and medical supervision.
US military says it disabled unladen oil tanker headed to Iran
US forces disabled a Palau-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman today as the unladen vessel Marivex headed toward Iran, the US military says.