March 12: Hamas official welcomes Trump’s assertion that Palestinians won’t be expelled

Hamas official welcomes Trump’s assertion that no Gazans will be expelled

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem welcomes what he views as a retreat by US President Donald Trump from his stance on relocating Gazans, urging him to refrain from aligning with the vision of the “extreme Zionist right.”

Earlier today, Trump said “nobody is expelling anyone from Gaza” after a reporter referred to his plan to take over the Strip as an “expulsion” initiative.

When Trump introduced his vision early last month, he said all of Gaza’s residents would be permanently relocated to other countries.

When pressed as to whether he would relocate Palestinians by force, Trump insisted that no people in Gaza actually want to remain there.

Until this afternoon, though, he had never specifically ruled out the notion of expulsion.

China, Iran and Russia hold joint naval drills in Mideast as tensions rise between Tehran and US

China, Iran and Russia have conducted joint naval drills in the Middle East, offering a show of force in a region still uneasy over Tehran’s rapidly expanding nuclear program and as Yemen’s Houthi rebels threaten new attacks on ships.

The joint drills, called the Maritime Security Belt 2025, took place in the Gulf of Oman near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all crude oil traded worldwide passes. The area around the strait in the past has seen Iran seize commercial ships and launch suspected attacks in the time since President Donald Trump first unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

The drill marked the fifth year the three countries took part in the drills.

This year’s drill likely sparked a warning late Monday from the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which said there was GPS interference in the strait, with disruptions lasting for several hours and forcing crews to rely on backup navigation methods.

“This was likely GPS jamming to reduce the targeting capability of drones and missiles,” writes Shaun Robertson, an intelligence analyst at the EOS Risk Group. “However, electronic navigation system interference has been reported in this region previously during periods of increased tension and military exercises.”

Canada and the EU swiftly retaliate against Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs

Major trade partners swiftly hit back at President Donald Trump’s increased tariffs on aluminum and steel imports, imposing stiff new taxes on US products from textiles and water heaters to beef and bourbon.

Canada, the largest supplier of steel and aluminum to the US, says it will place 25% reciprocal tariffs on steel products and also raise taxes on a host of items: tools, computers and servers, display monitors, sports equipment and cast-iron products.

Across the Atlantic, the European Union will raise tariffs on American beef, poultry, bourbon, motorcycles, peanut butter and jeans.

Combined, the new tariffs will cost companies billions of dollars, and further escalate the uncertainty in two of the world’s major trade partnerships. Companies will either take the losses and earn fewer profits, or, more likely, pass costs along to consumers in the form of higher prices.

Prices will go up, in Europe and the United States, and jobs are at stake, says European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

“We deeply regret this measure. Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers,” von der Leyen says.

The EU duties aim for pressure points in the US while minimizing additional damage to Europe. EU officials have made clear that the tariffs — taxes on imports — are aimed at products made in Republican-held states, such as beef and poultry from Kansas and Nebraska and wood products from Alabama and Georgia. The tariffs will also hit blue states such as Illinois, the No. 1 US producer of soybeans, which are also on the list.

Spirits producers have become collateral damage in the dispute over steel and aluminum. The EU move “is deeply disappointing and will severely undercut the successful efforts to rebuild US spirits exports in EU countries,” said Chris Swonger, head of the Distilled Spirits Council. The EU is a major destination for US whiskey, with exports surging 60% in the past three years after an earlier set of tariffs was suspended.

Trump guts Department of Education, slashing office handling antisemitism complaints

Acting on decades of Republican ambitions, the Trump administration is dramatically scaling back the federal education department, including its civil rights office — which has gone into high gear addressing antisemitism allegations at colleges and public schools.

Staffing at the Office of Civil Rights, which handles complaints filed under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, is among the casualties of the administration’s mass firings. According to Chalkbeat, an education news site, half of the 12 regional civil rights offices are being eliminated. The New York Times reports that only “a skeleton crew” remains in major offices in New York City, Boston and San Francisco.

The Office of Civil Rights handles discrimination claims against schools and has been a central source of recourse for Jewish and pro-Israel students who believed their rights were infringed upon by pro-Palestinian campus protests since October 7, 2023.

The office has opened dozens of Israel-related civil rights investigations since then, including several since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, amid vows by both the Biden and Trump administrations to protect Jewish students on campus.

Just this week, the office sent letters to 60 colleges and universities warning them that they could face consequences if they did not fulfill their responsibility to protect Jewish students.

Judge extends ban on former Columbia student’s deportation from US

A US judge has extended his order blocking federal authorities from deporting a detained former Columbia University student, in a case that has become a flashpoint of the Trump administration’s pledge to deport some pro-Palestinian college activists.

US District Judge Jesse Furman had temporarily blocked Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation earlier this week, and extended the prohibition on Wednesday in a written order following a hearing in Manhattan federal court to allow himself more time to consider whether the arrest was unconstitutional.

Even before Furman blocked it, there was no indication Khalil’s deportation was imminent. Khalil has the right to plead his case to avoid deportation before a separate judge in immigration court, a potentially lengthy process.

Ultra-Orthodox students from state-funded yeshiva filmed singing against enlistment in ‘infidel’ army

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students from a seminary that receives tens of millions of shekels annually in state funds were filmed last night gleefully singing their refusal to enlist in the Israeli army of the “infidels.”

The Ateret Shlomo students were attending the wedding of a fellow student in the Ma’ale Adumim settlement and had filled bleachers outside the hall afterward to sing.

Singer Arale Samet led the crowd in a raucous rendition of a famous Neturei Karta song, but changed the words to say, “We don’t believe in the government of infidels and we won’t show up to their (army) recruitment offices.”

Hundreds in the crowd can be seen joining Samet in belting out the adapted line in a clip that quickly went viral, sparking uproar across the political spectrum.

רבבות תלמידי ישיבות עטרת שלמה בראשות ראש הישיבה הגרש"ב סורוצקין שרים בהתלהבות: "בשלטון הכופרים אין אנו מאמינים ובלשכותיהם אין אנו מתייצבים" pic.twitter.com/8d44FHeKVp

— משה ויסברג (@moshe_nayes) March 11, 2025

IDF launches manhunt after Israeli civilian shot near northern West Bank settlement

The IDF has launched a manhunt after an Israeli civilian was shot and moderately wounded near the West Bank settlement of Ariel.

According to a military source, it is unclear where exactly the shooting took place. The victim reached Ariel’s industrial park after coming under fire, where he met up with security forces and medics.

Troops are blocking roads and using aerial surveillance amid the searches for the assailant, the source says.

White House says Witkoff will visit Moscow this week

US envoy Steve Witkoff is going to Moscow this week for talks on a Ukraine ceasefire, the White House says, after US President Donald Trump said negotiators were headed to Russia.

“Mr. Witkoff is traveling to Moscow later this week,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tells reporters, referring to the former property developer who has become a key conduit for talks with Russia.

Group of senior Syrian Druze expected to visit Israeli Golan Heights

A group of around 100 senior figures from Syria’s Druze are expected to visit the Israeli Golan Heights on Friday, members of the community say, in a further sign of Israel’s support for the minority group.

The group is expected to meet Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, as well as other members of the community and to visit a shrine.

There is no immediate confirmation of the visit from the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

The Druze, an Arab minority present in Syria, Israel and Lebanon, practice a faith that originated in Islam but which has a distinct identity.

In Israel, many Druze serve in the military and police, including during the war in Gaza, and some have reached high rank.

Friday’s visit is the latest sign of Israeli support for the Druze since a ceasefire in Lebanon and the shock overthrow of former President Bashar al-Assad in Syria towards the end of last year.

Israel has called repeatedly for the rights of Syrian minority groups including the Druze to be protected.

This week Defense Minister Israel Katz said Druze from across the separation line would be allowed to enter the Golan Heights for work and even that Israel would be ready to defend the community, following days of violence in Syria.

Israeli ministers have expressed deep mistrust of the new Syrian government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, describing his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham movement as a Jihadist group. The group was formerly affiliated with Al Qaeda but later renounced the connection.

IDF responding to reports of shooting near Ariel settlement; one said wounded

The IDF says it is responding to reports of a shooting near the West Bank settlement of Ariel.

According to medics, one Israeli man is wounded by gunfire in the incident.

PM huddles with security chiefs amid hostage talks in Doha

With a hostage negotiating team in Doha, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls his top political partners and security chiefs together for a situational assessment.

According to office of one of the principals, Netanyahu is joined by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, Mossad Director David Barnea, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.

Bar’s presence is sure to raise eyebrows, as Netanyahu has been trying to push him out, and the two reportedly had a tense meeting last week in which the prime minister tried to convince him to step down.

Avinatan Or’s family receives first sign of life since he was taken hostage on Oct. 7

Avinatan Or, a Nvidia employee, taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 from the Supernova desert rave. (Courtesy)

The family of Avinatan Or says it has received the first confirmation that the 32-year-old is alive, Hebrew media reports.

It is not immediately clear what the sign of life is or how it was obtained.

He is being held in central Gaza in difficult conditions, according to the Ynet news site.

Or, 32, was abducted from the Nova festival and separated from his girlfriend, Noa Argamani, who was rescued by Israeli soldiers in June 2024.

Later that day, a Hamas video of Or and Argamani was posted on Telegram, showing Argamani on an all-terrain vehicle, as she calls in fear, crying, “Don’t kill me!” reaching out her arms to Or, who is being marched away from her, surrounded by at least three terrorists.

Or who grew up in the West Bank settlement of Shilo, is an electrical engineer who works for Nvidia. Before his abduction, he lived in Tel Aviv, where he and Argamani were planning to move in together.

Philippine ex-president Duterte has been ‘surrendered to custody’ of ICC

Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte was handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) earlier today, it says, after issuing a warrant for his arrest over his deadly crackdown on drugs.

“Mr Rodrigo Roa Duterte… was surrendered to the custody of the International Criminal Court,” the ICC says in a statement. “He was arrested by the authorities of the Republic of the Philippines in accordance with an arrest warrant issued… for charges of murder as a crime against humanity.”

ICJ says it will hold hearing next month on Israeli decision to block Gaza aid

The International Court of Justice will hold hearings next month on Israel’s humanitarian obligations towards Palestinians, amid claims the Israeli government is blocking aid access to Gaza.

The United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution in December requesting that the world body’s top court give an advisory opinion on the matter.

The hearings will open on April 28 at the court’s seat in The Hague, it says in a statement.

The resolution, submitted by Norway in October, was adopted by a large majority.

It calls on the ICJ to clarify what Israel is required to do to “ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population.”

Although the ICJ’s decision are legally binding, the court has no concrete means to enforce them.

But they increase the diplomatic pressure on Israel.

Norway’s initiative was triggered by an Israeli law banning from the end of January the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA from operating on Israeli soil and coordinating with the Israeli government.

IDF releases footage of Monday night airstrikes in southern Syria

The military releases footage showing Monday night’s wave of airstrikes in southern Syria.

The Israeli Air Force strikes had targeted radars and other intelligence-collecting systems, along with military headquarters and weapon depots, belonging to the former Syrian regime, the IDF says.

In all, some 40 targets were hit by some 60 munitions dropped by 22 IAF fighter jets, according to the military.

22 מטוסי קרב ו-60 חימושים:
תיעודים מתקיפות חיל האוור בסוריה

לכל הפרטים: https://t.co/7wmsNeJf4A pic.twitter.com/svE6zmsc4v

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 12, 2025

Arab ministers agree to continue consultations with Trump envoy on Egypt’s Gaza plan

Arab foreign ministers have agreed to continue consultations with US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff regarding Egypt’s plan for the post-war management of Gaza.

The group of top Arab diplomats met with Witkoff earlier today and issued a joint statement about their plan to continue talks with him shortly afterward.

Notably joining the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt and Jordan is Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s top aide Hussein al-Sheikh.

Sheikh met with Witkoff in Riyadh in January.

שרי החוץ הערבים עם וויטקוף בדוחה, גם מזכ"ל הוועד הפועל של אש"ף, חוסיין א-שייח' https://t.co/vgSwrgX1qE pic.twitter.com/KhZFh1rCwv

— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) March 12, 2025

Judge orders Columbia student protester be allowed private calls with lawyers

A US judge orders that a detained Columbia University student be allowed to have private phone calls with lawyers challenging his arrest by immigration authorities.

Mahmoud Khalil’s case has become a flashpoint of the Trump administration’s pledge to deport pro-Palestinian college activists. Khalil’s lawyers argue the arrest violated his right to free speech under the US Constitution’s First Amendment, and have urged his release.

At a hearing in Manhattan federal court, Khalil’s lawyer Ramzi Kassem says his client had been allowed just one call with his legal team from immigration detention in Louisiana. Kassem says the call was cut off prematurely and was on a line recorded and monitored by the government.

US District Judge Jesse Furman rules that Khalil, 29, and his lawyers should have one phone call today and another one tomorrow covered by attorney-client privilege, meaning the government would not have access to their conversation.

Furman on Monday temporarily blocked Khalil’s deportation.

Furman says the calls would help Khalil’s lawyers prepare a revised petition challenging the constitutionality of his arrest on Saturday evening by Department of Homeland Security agents outside his university residence in Manhattan.

“Mr. Khalil was identified, targeted, detained and is being processed for deportation on account of his advocacy for Palestinian rights,” Kassem says in court.

US nudged Kurds towards Damascus deal as troop presence comes into focus

The United States encouraged its Syrian Kurdish allies to reach Monday’s landmark deal with the Islamist-led government in Damascus, six sources say, an agreement that could stave off further conflict in northern Syria at a time of uncertainty over the future of US forces deployed there.

The deal aims to stitch back together a country fractured by 14 years of war, paving the way for Kurdish-led forces which hold a quarter of Syria to merge with Damascus, along with regional Kurdish governing bodies. Key details of how this will happen have yet to be spelt out, however.

General Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), was flown to Damascus for Monday’s signing with interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa aboard a US military aircraft, three sources say.

Three other sources — US officials — said the United States had encouraged the SDF to move towards an agreement to resolve its status in the new Syria — the focus of multi-track talks which began after Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December and which Reuters reported on in January.

“The US played a very crucial role,” a senior regional intelligence source says.

The deal came at a moment of pressure on both sides.

Sharaa is grappling with the fallout of sectarian killings which were reportedly carried out by militants aligned with his government, while the SDF is locked in conflict with Turkey-backed Syrian groups who are allied to Damascus.

Four sources, including one close to the Syrian government, say the sectarian violence had nudged along the agreement.

The intelligence source and a Damascus-based diplomat expected the deal to ease Turkish military pressure on the SDF, deemed by Ankara as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Turkey has welcomed the agreement.

A Syrian government official says the presidency would work to address pending issues between the SDF and Turkey.

Iran’s Khamenei rejects idea of nuclear talks with US

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says that nuclear talks with the United States “will not remove the sanctions” after Tehran confirmed receiving a letter from US President Donald Trump.

“If the goal of the negotiation is to lift sanctions, negotiating with this American government will not lift sanctions, meaning it will not remove sanctions and will make the sanctions knot tighter,” Khamenei says during a meeting with students.

“When we know they won’t honor it, what’s the point of negotiating? Therefore, the invitation to negotiate … is a deception of public opinion,” Khamenei is quoted as saying by state media.

Trump: No one is expelling any Palestinians

US President Donald Trump greets Ireland's Prime Minister Michael Martin as he arrives at the West Wing of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

US President Donald Trump says no one is expelling anyone from Gaza.

During a press spray with Ireland’s Prime Minister Michael Martin in the Oval Office, a reporter asks the Irish leader about Trump’s plan to “to expel Palestinians out of Gaza.”

“Nobody’s expelling any Palestinians,” Trump pipes in.

The comment appears to amount to an about-face for Trump who when introducing his proposal to take over Gaza last month said that all of the Strip’s population of roughly 2 million people would be permanently relocated.

When pressed last month as to whether he would relocate Palestinians by force, Trump insisted that no people in Gaza actually want to remain there.

REPORTER: What about the president's plan to expel Palestinians out of Gaza?

TRUMP: Nobody is expelling any Palestinians. Who are you with?

REPORTER: I'm with Voice of America, sir.

TRUMP: Oh, no wonder. pic.twitter.com/SfosOKDnv6

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 12, 2025

Earlier in today’s Oval Office spray, Trump laments that people are forgetting what Hamas did on October 7. He reiterates the brutal treatment of the hostages by the terror group.

“We’re working hard with Israel… to see [how] we can solve the problem,” Trump says.

He again calls Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer a “Palestinian.”

“He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore,” Trump says.

After hearing IDF troops above their tunnel, Hamas captors drew guns on hostage

Israeli civilian hostage Omer Shem Tov, center, wearing an approximation of an IDF uniform, is flanked by armed Hamas fighters before being handed over to the Red Cross in a propaganda ceremony in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, February 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The mother of freed Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov reveals that while he was held captive in a Gaza tunnel, Hamas terrorists heard IDF soldiers above and threatened to kill him if the troops approached.

Omer “heard the tanks above and the voices of the soldiers. The captors had their weapons drawn on him and told him, ‘If the IDF arrives, we’ll shoot you in the head,'” Omer’s mother, Shelly Shem Tov, tells the Kan public broadcaster.

In those moments, Shelly says, Omer told himself, “I have no control over anything — I can only pray.”

Shelly describes the daily conditions Omer faced, saying he was kept in “a confined space with four guards. It was even harder when the army was in the area, everything was tense.”

Omer was included in the final group of captives released in the first stage of the hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, which ended on March 1. Shelly has said that he was kept for 450 days alone in a tunnel.

Shelly also comments on Omer’s recent meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington, saying that “Omer got the impression that the president was genuinely committed…and intended to bring everyone back. That was meaningful for him. He was disappointed that it took so long to bring him home.”

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are currently holding 59 hostages, including 58 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. This includes the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hundreds rally outside court hearing for detained Columbia graduate in New York

Protesters rally for detained Columbia organizer Mahmoud Khalil outside his court hearing, in New York City, March 12, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

A crowd of hundreds rallies outside a federal court in New York during a hearing for a detained anti-Israel protest leader from Columbia University.

Protesters carry signs with a photo of the activist, Mahmoud Khalil, and chant for his release and for the Palestinians.

“We want justice, you say how? Lift the siege on Gaza now,” they chant.

Speakers tie Khalil’s detention to domestic issues including affordable housing, health care and poverty.

A speaker from the Democratic Socialists of America says the US is providing funding to “exterminate whole families in Gaza” instead of “ending homelessness.”

“This is what Mahmoud is being detained for protesting,” he says.

The White House has said Khalil was detained for distributing Hamas propaganda material.

Lebanese source says normalization with Israel not on table after official in Jerusalem claimed otherwise

After an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel that the country is aiming toward normalization with Lebanon in upcoming talks, a Lebanese source tells the pro-Iran Al-Mayadeen channel that ties with Israel are not on the table.

The three working groups, says the source, “are not separate from Resolution 1701, and will not engage in direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.”

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the previous round of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, calls for southern Lebanon to be free of any troops or weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.

“Everything being said about these working groups being a prelude to normalization is completely false,” says the Lebanese source.

Pakistan security forces free 190 hostages in ongoing train siege

Train passengers eat food at the deputy commissioner office in Quetta on March 12, 2025, after escaping the siege claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA). (Photo by AFP)

Pakistan security sources say the military had freed 190 train passengers taken hostage by gunmen as a deadly siege in the mountainous southwest stretched through its second day.

More than 450 passengers were on board when a militant separatist group captured the train in a remote frontier district of Balochistan province on Tuesday afternoon, with an unknown number of hostages still being held.

“So far, 190 passengers have been rescued, and 30 terrorists have been killed. Due to the presence of women and children with suicide bombers, extreme caution is being exercised,” a security source tells AFP.

“The operation continues to eliminate the remaining militants.”

An AFP photographer in Quetta, the provincial capital, witnessed about 140 empty coffins being transported by train to the incident site earlier today.

The assault was immediately claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which released a video of an explosion on the track followed by dozens of militants emerging from hiding places in the mountains and storming onto the carriages.

Attacks by separatist groups who accuse outsiders of plundering natural resources in Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, have soared in the past few years.

The deaths of three people have been confirmed so far — the train driver, a police officer and a soldier — according to paramedic Nazim Farooq and railway official Muhammad Aslam.

A security official in the area also tells AFP: “Information suggests that some militants have fled, taking an unknown number of hostages into the local mountainous areas.”

New IDF Southern Command chief appears to prioritize defeating Hamas over freeing hostages

Incoming Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor (left), IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (center), and outgoing Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman during a handover ceremony inside Gaza, March 12, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor has entered the role of chief of the IDF Southern Command, replacing Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman who is resigning over his part in the failures that led to Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.

A handover ceremony took place earlier today inside the Gaza Strip, with new IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir attending.

Asor’s previous role in the IDF was head of the Personnel Directorate.

In his speech, Asor seemingly prioritizes the defeat of Hamas over the release of the hostages.

“The first mission — the complete destruction of Hamas terrorists,” Asor says.

He adds, “Those who have sworn to annihilate us, who sought to kill, destroy, and exterminate every Jew, young and old, infant and woman, in a single day…will face the crushing force and indomitable spirit of the soldiers of the IDF.”

Asor goes on to state, “The second mission — the return of our brothers who are suffering in captivity, both the living and the fallen.”

‘Trump, help us bring daddy home from Gaza’ — hostage Omri Miran’s daughters

Hostage Omri Miran's children record a message to US President Donald Trump on March 10, 2025. (Screen capture/X)

The wife of hostage Omri Miran has uploaded a video of her two young daughters asking US President Donald Trump to bring their father home.

“Trump, help us bring daddy from Gaza,” one of them says in Hebrew.

“Thank you,” she adds in English.

The two of them hug and kiss photos of their father.

They then are filmed drawing a sign for their father with a heart in the middle.

'Help bring daddy home from Gaza': Hostage’s daughters appeal to Trump.
Lishi Lavi-Miran shares video of her daughters pleading for help in securing their father Omri's release; she criticizes Netanyahu for not fulfilling promises on hostage negotiations, urges public to join… pic.twitter.com/RgJaaSY0rr

— Ynetnews (@ynetnews) March 11, 2025

Israel and Ethiopia must fight ‘shared threat’ of terrorism, says Sa’ar

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar asserts the need to combat terrorism in Israel and Africa during a press conference with his Ethiopian counterpart Gedion Timotheos.

“Terrorism is a shared threat to our peoples,” says Sa’ar at the event in Jerusalem. “We are witnessing radical Islamic terror in our regions — Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, jihadists in Syria, and Al-Shabaab in Africa. Terror must be eradicated.”

Sa’ar points to ties between the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab militant group in Somalia and the Houthis rebels in Yemen. The Houthis began launching attacks against Israel after the Hamas terror group’s October 7, 2023 attack, and today threatened to resume attacks on Israeli vessels traveling on Mideast waters as a response to Israel halting aid trucks entering into Gaza during an uncertain ceasefire with Hamas.

“Ethiopia plays a critical role in combating the Al-Shabaab terrorist organization,” says Sa’ar, explaining that Al-Shabaab “collaborates with the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, further destabilizing the region. Since October 7, the Houthis have launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israeli civilians, disrupted global trade routes, and now threaten to block Israeli ships from the Red Sea. They are a threat to Israel, Africa, and the global order.”

The foreign minister adds that Timotheos’s visit is “the first in an initiative…to deepen ties with African nations,” calling Ethiopia “one of the leading countries” in the region.

He says relations between the countries “go back to biblical times” and that Israel’s “community of immigrants originally from Ethiopia is a central part of Israeli society, integrated into all walks of life.”

Sa’ar adds that he will soon make a reciprocal visit to Ethiopia, according to the Foreign Ministry.

US sanctions Iran-linked Swedish group behind attacks on Israeli, Jewish targets in Europe

The US is sanctioning Rawa Majid and his Foxtrot Network, a Sweden-based “transnational criminal organization… involved in arms trafficking and rising violence in Northern Europe, including shootings, contract killings, and assaults,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio announces.

“The Iranian regime leveraged the Foxtrot Network to carry out attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in Europe, including the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, in January 2024,” Rubio says in a statement.

“Majid has specifically cooperated with the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security, which is sanctioned by the United States under multiple authorities. Majid is also the subject of numerous Swedish charges related to narcotics and firearms,” the statement adds

Iran says it has received Trump’s letter from UAE official

A letter from US President Donald Trump to Iran’s clerical establishment has been delivered by Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson and state media says.

Trump, who said last week he had sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proposing talks on a nuclear deal, has warned that “there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal” that prevents Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

The letter was given to Gargash by Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, who was in Abu Dhabi yesterday, Axios reports.

Khamenei, who has the final word in Iranian state matters, promptly responded that Tehran would not be bullied into talks with “excessive demands” and threats.

On Tuesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran would not negotiate with threats hanging over its head, telling Trump in an outburst to “do whatever the hell you want,” Iranian state media reported.

Gargash met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi today, Iranian state media said. Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei did not give details about the meeting.

The UAE, one of Washington’s key Middle East security partners and host to US troops, also maintains ties with Tehran. Despite past tensions, business and trade links between The two countries have remained strong, with Dubai serving as a key commercial hub for Iran for more than a century.

While leaving the door open for a nuclear pact with Tehran, Trump has reinstated the “maximum pressure” campaign he applied in his first term as president to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports towards zero.

Rubio: Anti-Israel activist’s arrest ‘not about free speech’

The arrest of a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activist does not contradict the US administration’s stance on defending free speech, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says.

“This is not about free speech,” Rubio says when asked if the weekend arrest of Mahmoud Khalil clashed with US President Donald Trump’s championing of the right to express opinions in the United States and in Europe.

“This is about people that don’t have a right to be in the United States to begin with,” Rubio tells reporters at Ireland’s Shannon Airport during a refueling stop after a trip to Saudi Arabia.

Khalil, a recent graduate of Columbia and one of the most prominent faces of the university’s high-profile protests, was arrested by US immigration officials even though the university’s student union and his lawyer said he held a Green Card allowing permanent residency.

“No one has a right to a student visa. No one has a right to a Green Card, by the way,” says Rubio.

“When you come to the United States as a visitor, which is what a visa is, which is how this individual entered this country — on a visitor’s visa -— you are here as a visitor,” he says.

“We can deny you that if you tell us when you apply, ‘Hi, I’m trying to get into the United States on a student visa, I am a big supporter of Hamas,'” he adds.

Zelensky expects ‘strong’ action from US if Russia refuses truce

President Volodymyr Zelensky says that he expects strong measures from the United States if Russia rejects Washington’s proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine.

“I understand that we can count on strong steps. I don’t know the details yet, but we are talking about sanctions (against Russia) and strengthening Ukraine,” Zelensky says at a press conference in Kyiv..

“I have emphasized this many times, none of us trust the Russians,” Zelensky says.

Hamas says Houthi threat to Israel shipping shows ‘commitment’ to Palestinian cause

Hamas praises Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels after they announced they would resume attacks on Israeli shipping, calling it a demonstration of “true commitment” to the Palestinian cause.

“It is a true commitment of support for our Palestinian people and their resistance, and it exerts real pressure to break the unjust siege on Gaza,” Hamas says in a statement, after the Houthis announced they would resume attacks following the expiration of their deadline for Israel to stop blocking aid deliveries into Gaza.

50 relatives of hostages petition High Court to reverse cut of electricity to Gaza

Some 50 relatives of hostages being held in Gaza have filed a petition to the High Court of Justice demanding the reversal of Israel’s decision to cut off electricity to a water desalination plant in the Gaza Strip on the grounds that it endangers their loved ones.

“This is a decision that directly and immediately endangers the lives of the hostages, Israeli citizens, who cannot protect themselves,” the families argue in a statement announcing the petition.

They argue in the petition that the decision to cut electricity to Gaza was made by Energy Minister Eli Cohen without the necessary authority.

Moreover, they maintain that immediate action needs to be taken by the court to oblige the government to reverse decision through an interim order.

Government announces new benefits for IDF reservists

Israel will implement a comprehensive plan to expand benefits for IDF reservists and their families, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz announce in a joint statement.

“Those who serve more, pay less,” Smotrich declares.

“Anyone who leaves his family, work, and routine to defend the country needs to know that the country stands behind him,” he says.

The plan, developed through the combined efforts of the Defense Ministry and the Finance Ministry, includes an additional NIS 3 billion ($820 million) to enhance recognition and support for reservists, provide financial assistance to their families, and bolster employers who integrate reservists into the workforce, according to the statement.

The plan will feature the launch of a personal digital wallet, which will be loaded based on the number of reserve days served, tax credit points, employer grants, and special grants for commanders.

A newly created department within the Defense Ministry, according to the statement, will collaborate with the IDF and government offices to advance legislation, government decisions, and partnerships with local authorities and the private sector, aiming to improve the rights and benefits of reservists.

“The reserve force has carried the burden of Israel’s security since October 7, fighting in Gaza, the north, Judea and Samaria, and across all fronts — a battle that may soon expand again,” says Katz.

FM Sa’ar to restart trilateral forum with Greece, Cyprus

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (C), his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiadis pose in Athens on January 2, 2020, ahead of the signing of an agreement for the EastMed pipeline project designed to ship gas from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe. (ARIS MESSINIS / AFP)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar will visit Athens on Thursday to meet with his Greek and Cypriot counterparts and restore a tripartite forum between the Mediterranean countries, the Foreign Ministry says.

During the visit — the first trilateral summit since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 — Sa’ar aims to “renew the operations of the trilateral forum with our friends Greece and Cyprus” and “engage in discussions with my counterparts on regional issues of shared interest among the three countries,” according to his office.

The framework, established in 2016 and suspended throughout the war, seeks to revive cooperation on energy, economy and defense in the region.

During the trio’s first summit, discussions centered on energy cooperation regarding newly found offshore gas reserves in Israel as well as migration, counter-terrorism, and tourism. The countries signed a cooperation agreement on water resource management, and later agreed on a joint emergency rescue force for instances of natural disasters.

Far-left reporter questioned over praise for Palestinians who attack IDF troops, settlers

Far-left journalist Israel Frey speaks to supporters outside a police station in Tel Aviv, March 12, 2025. (Screen capture: X/Oren Ziv, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Far-left journalist Israel Frey was questioned by police today on allegations of incitement to terrorism.

A police spokesman says officers interrogated the independent ultra-Orthodox reporter regarding several posts he made on X over the past year, citing one particular comment from last summer.

“A Palestinian who attacks an IDF soldier or a settler in the apartheid territories is not a terrorist. And this is not a terror attack,” the spokesman quotes from his social media. “He is a hero who struggles against an oppressor for justice, liberation and freedom.”

Frey doubles down on his comment and other similar ones, insisting that the posts police presented him with during the interrogation “draw a simple, factual, moral and necessary distinction between abhorrent harm to innocent people and resistance against security forces.”

“In their hearts, the investigators also know that the effort to charge me with support for terrorism is a despicable attempt at persecution aimed to obscure the very existence of the debate over the legality and morality of security forces’ actions,” he continues on X.

Officers summoned him for questioning in response to a complaint by right-wing nonprofit Btsalmo, and have released him without conditions.

Btsalmo director Shai Glick says in a statement that Frey’s tweets are “not just incitement to murder IDF soldiers. He even went so far as to explicitly write that a Palestinian who murders a settler is a hero.”

Police say that the State Attorney’s Office approved their opening of an investigation earlier today.

Ukraine’s Zelensky says 30-day ceasefire could be used to draft peace plan

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hails this week’s meeting in Saudi Arabia between US and Ukrainian officials as constructive, and says a potential 30-day ceasefire with Russia could be used to draft a broader peace deal.

Zelensky makes the remark during a briefing in Kyiv, where he says Ukraine supports a US effort to end Russia’s three-year-old invasion as soon as possible, and that the resumption of US military aid and intelligence sharing is very positive.

IDF claims Hamas ‘cynically’ sent 4-year-old boy to IDF post in Gaza, troops returned him

IDF soldiers with a 4-year-old Palestinian boy who said he was sent by Hamas to an Israeli military position in the Gaza Strip, March 11, 2025. (IDF)

Hamas sent a 4-year-old boy yesterday toward an IDF post in the Gaza Strip, the military claims, adding that forces returned the child in coordination with international organizations.

In a tweet, the army says that after troops spotted the kid nearing them in a Gaza security zone, “the child said that he was sent to the post by the Hamas terrorist organization.

“Hamas does not hesitate to use any means to cynically use and exploit civilians and children to advance its terrorism.”

It is not clear how the 4-year-old child knew “Hamas” had sent him, and the IDF doesn’t provide additional information substantiating the account.

Israeli official: Talks in Doha on Gaza are centered on ‘Witkoff proposal’

Israel is focused on the so-called “Witkoff proposal” during ongoing talks in Qatar on the future of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.

The outline — said to have been created in talks between Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff — envisions a roughly two-month extension of the ceasefire, during which Hamas would release about half of the living hostages up front, and the rest at the end along with an end to the war.

The Israeli negotiating team is scheduled to return home tonight, says the official, but could remain in Doha if there is a breakthrough.

“Witkoff landed last night,” says the official. “Let’s see if there are any developments, and we’ll see if there is a reason to stay there. If there is, they’ll stay.”

Israel aims for ‘normalization’ with Lebanon in new talks, senior Israeli official tells ToI

A vehicle drives past buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war with Hezbollah, near the border wall in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia, March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

Israel’s aim in the new talks with Lebanon is “to reach normalization,” a senior Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.

Jerusalem and US President Donald Trump’s administration announced yesterday that Israel, Lebanon, France and the US would create working groups to discuss the Israel-Lebanon border, the presence of IDF troops in southern Lebanon, and Lebanese detainees held by Israel.

The two countries do not recognize each other.

The next meeting will be between the political echelons of Israel and Lebanon, says the official. “This means official Israeli diplomacy within Lebanon.”

Yesterday’s meeting was military-to-military.

Israel released five Lebanese prisoners yesterday, says the official, so that Lebanon’s new President Joseph Aoun can show the public that he is able to bring results for the country without military conflict that destroys Lebanon.

“I am coming and trying the diplomatic way and I am bringing achievements,” says the Israeli official, paraphrasing what Israel hopes Aoun is presenting to the Lebanese public.

Doctors Without Borders chastises Israel, accuses it of using aid as ‘bargaining chip’

The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) medical charity claims Israel has “instrumentalized humanitarian needs” in Gaza, with its decision to halt aid and cut electricity into the Strip.

“Israeli authorities are yet again normalizing the use of aid as a negotiation tool,” MSF emergency coordinator Myriam Laaroussi says in a statement. “This is outrageous. Humanitarian aid should never be used as a bargaining chip in war.”

The group’s statement makes no mention of the Hamas terror group’s use throughout the war and before it of civilian hostages as bargaining chips.

Israel has halted aid deliveries to Gaza to pressure Hamas to agree to release more of the 59 hostages it is still holding amid fragile ceasefire, which since January 19 has reduced hostilities after more than 15 months of fighting since the Palestinian terror group’s murderous onslaught on October 7, 2023.

Ahead of a current round of talks in Doha, Israel ramped up the pressure, halting the supply of electricity to a desalination plant in the Strip.

Describing the move as “collective punishment,” MSF demands Israel “end this inhumane blockade of the Strip.”

It warns that with the suspension of electricity supply, the water desalination plant in Khan Younis in the south of the territory has already run out of fuel.

“The plant has dropped its production from 17 million to 2.5 million liters per day,” its statement says. “This decision to cut electricity will gradually severely impact the public water supply” to Gaza’s some 2.4 million people, who are already caught in a dire humanitarian crisis, it adds.

“The blockade on all supplies is inevitably hurting hundreds of thousands of people and is having deadly consequences,” Laaroussi claims.

MSF says its last delivery into Gaza took place on February 27, when it sent in three trucks carrying mostly medical supplies. It asserts that even before the blockade, people on the ground were facing critical shortages.

“Although more trucks have entered during the ceasefire, the Israel authorities’ goods entry system, systematically used to obstruct humanitarian aid, has made it impossible for us to scale up properly, even before this blockade,” Laaroussi says.

The system has consistently obstructed and restricted “the entry of lifesaving supplies including scalpels, scissors, oxygen concentrators, desalination units and generators,” MSF says. “Even when approved, the process takes a long time and continues to be a complex bureaucratic impediment.”

Arab Israeli sports announcer charged over interview with Hamas TV, praise for terror groups

An Arab Israeli journalist and sports announcer is indicted on charges of having contact with foreign agents and identifying with a terrorist organization following an interview he did with a Hamas-run television channel.

The indictment filed by the State Attorney’s Office at the Haifa District Court against Said Hassanin, 62, from Shfaram, describes him as a “well-known and influential figure” in the Arab community, who alongside his work as a stadium announcer for the Bnei Sakhnin soccer team also works as a journalist and radio broadcaster.

On February 22, Hassanin was interviewed by Hamas’s Al Aqsa television station, which was blacklisted as a terrorist entity in 2019 under the terms of the Law for Combating Terrorism.

Hassanin described the Hamas terror organization as “the Islamic resistance” and said that Hamas had treated the hostages it seized in its October 7, 2023, massacre “in a totally humane manner, in accordance with Islamic law, and proved to the entire world that the Islamic resistance, Hamas, protects human dignity and the dignity of women taken captive by the Hamas movement on October 7.”

In a separate interview with the Qudsna Palestinian television channel, Hassanin expressed praise for the slain leader of the Hezbollah terror organization, Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated by Israel, saying that “it would not have been honorable for Hassan Nasrallah to die other than in this manner, he wanted to die as a martyr and he did die as a martyr.”

Having contact with a foreign agent is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, while expressing identification with a terror organization is punishable by up to three years in prison.

In court, Netanyahu bangs on table, protests order to hurry up; judge tells him to lower his voice

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Tel Aviv District Court for the 17th day of his testimony in his corruption trial, March 12, 2025. (Yair Sagi/POOL)

During the 17th day of his testimony in his corruption trial, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes an impassioned request for judges to allow him to go into more detail in countering some of the claims against him, banging on the table and being told to lower his voice.

Netanyahu also takes aim at state prosecutors, saying they “live in an alternate universe” and charging that “you have put me through hell.”

At the Tel Aviv District Court, the premier is asked by his lawyer Amit Hadad about the 46th item on the list of over 300 alleged cases of illicit attempted intervention by him or his aides in the coverage of the Walla news site. The indictment in Case 4000 asserts this was part of a bribery deal with the owner of Walla in exchange for regulatory benefits for the owner’s other businesses.

The item is a demand for the news site to run a story about the Netanyahus going to the grave of the prime minister’s late brother Yoni — killed while leading the 1976 Operation Entebbe that rescued over 100 hostages from Uganda after terrorists hijacked a plane — ahead of Memorial Day.

“I wasn’t involved” in the request, Netanyahu says. “This isn’t a demand, it borders on a plea.”

He goes on to say: “Your honors, after 10 years I’m allowed to say this: So many things here are absurd, but how was this included in the indictment? The charge works in a different direction here, not against me.”

When at one point the judges tell him to hurry up and skip his response to some of the items on the list, Netanyahu protests, complaining that the case has been going on for 10 years and that he should be getting more time to counter the charges in detail.

Addressing Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman, he says: “I usually am a very restrained person, but there is an unacceptable thing here. They took our lives and ruined them. I am carrying out my duties as prime minister at this time. I come here twice a week. But I deserve the right to shatter these absurd [allegations] and show everything is based on a complete lie. There is malicious recklessness by the investigators who didn’t check and didn’t question me [about certain allegations]. This cannot pass quietly.”

Netanyahu bangs on the table several times during the exchange, which sees Friedman-Feldman tell him to lower his voice.

The premier then is handed an envelope, reads its contents and asks for a break, which is granted.

IDF razes West Bank home of terrorist who killed an Israeli last year

During operations in Qalqilya overnight, the IDF says it demolished the home of a Palestinian terrorist who killed an Israeli man in the West Bank city last summer.

On June 22, Ali Khalil and other members of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad cell opened fire on an Israeli car in Qalqilya, killing Amnon Muchtar, 67, of Petah Tikva.

Khalil and a second terrorist involved in the attack, Jamal Abu Haniyeh, along with seven other gunmen, were killed in drone strikes in the Tulkarem area of the West Bank in August.

Khalil’s home was demolished overnight. Abu Haniyeh’s was razed in January.

As a matter of policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly attacks.

IDF troops demolish the home of a Palestinian terrorist in the West Bank city of Qalqilya, March 12, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Sister of Israeli held in Iraq says Boehler gave family ‘hopeful’ updates

In this September, 2018 selfie image provided by Emma Tsurkov, right, she and Elizabeth Tsurkov are shown in Santa Clara Valley, California. (AP Photo/Eric Tucker)

After reporting that Israeli-Russian captive Elizabeth Tsurkov may have been moved from Iraq to Iran, the Ynet news site quoted her sister Emma Tsurkov as dismissing that possibility, adding that the family is hearing positive signs from the US leadership.

After US hostage envoy Adam Boehler was reported to have visited Iraq recently to push for the academic’s release, Emma Tsurkov says she has spoken with Boehler and received “hopeful” updates.

“We have spoken directly with Boehler several times, and I have met his staff. It’s amazing how in a few weeks they have gotten things to move,” she says.

Responding to the unnamed Iraqi official speculating about Elizabeth being moved to Iran, Emma says: “It’s a convenient pretext that ‘senior’ officials say all the time. She’s not in Iran.”

Iraqi official: Israeli captive Tsurkov may have been moved to Iran, which is deeply involved in case

Elizabeth Tsurkov in an undated photo (social media; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Israeli-Russian academic Elizabeth Tsurkov, who was kidnapped in Baghdad in 2023 and whom the United States is currently pressuring Iraq to free, could potentially have been transferred to Iran, which is seen as likely to be involved in holding and interrogating her, the Ynet news site reports, citing an unnamed senior Iraqi official.

“She may well have been secretly transferred there, or the Iranians sent intelligence officers,” the official is quoted as saying. “It’s really lucky that Tsurkov is alive. Usually in cases like these, they are executed during questioning. Her foreign identity is benefiting her.”

Tsurkov is being held in Iraq by the Iran-backed Shiite militia Kataib Hezbollah, a group backed by Iran, according to Israeli officials.

The Iraqi official quoted by Ynet says there is “full documentation” of the kidnapping as well as eyewitness testimonies provided to authorities, adding that Tsurkov was abducted while exiting a cafe in Baghdad’s Karada neighborhood after meeting with an Iraqi national who likely tipped off Kataib Hezbollah.

The official reiterates that Iraqi Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani doesn’t know where Tsurkov is being held, “but he definitely knows who kidnapped her.” Repeated efforts haven’t yielded a breakthrough on locating her, despite increasing US pressure and threats.

“The government of Iraq is taking steps, but there is no cooperation from Tsurkov’s kidnappers and we estimate that the Iranian leadership in involved and giving the instructions,” the official adds.

“The Tsurkov story is directly connected to Iran. Only from there will come a decision on her matter.”

Flights briefly halted at Ben Gurion Airport after driver tries to breach roadblock, in criminal incident

Departures and arrivals were briefly halted this morning at Ben Gurion Airport after a driver tried to breach a roadblock in one of its entrances and security officials feared a potential security incident, Hebrew media reports.

The incident has turned out to be criminal, with the driver having stolen a vehicle and trying to escape cops. He has been arrested after trying to flee on foot.

Ynet reports the detainee is a Palestinian staying illegally in Israel, who stole the car in the Tel Aviv area and was trying to head back to the West Bank when he raised security guards’ suspicion.

Palestinian Authority slams Hamas over talks with US, urges it to resume ‘national sanity’

The Palestinian Authority condemns Hamas for holding negotiations with the United States regarding Gaza’s future, saying this harms Palestinian unity and violates a law against communications with foreign parties.

In a statement issued on PA mouthpiece WAFA last night, presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh alleges the talks circumvent and “weaken” the Arab consensus in favor of Egypt’s plan for postwar Gaza, as well as the efforts to confront US President Donald Trump’s plan to displace all the Strip’s population.

Highlighting the longstanding split between the PA-controlled West Bank and the Hamas-ruled Gaza, Abu Rudeineh urges the terror group “to come back to national sanity, end the intra-Palestinian division, and hand over the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian National Authority, so that the Gaza Strip and the West Bank would be reunited under the rule of a single national authority, a single law, a single weapon, and a single legitimate political representation.”

Poll: Half of Israelis think Trump more concerned about fate of the hostages than Netanyahu

US President Donald Trump (right) meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on February 4, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Half of Israelis believe US President Donald Trump is more concerned about the fate of the hostages held by Hamas terrorists than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a Channel 13 news poll (Hebrew).

Asked which of the two they believe is more concerned, 50 percent of respondents say Trump, 29% Netanyahu and the rest are not sure.

Rubio says US welcomes deal between Syria’s new government and Kurdish-led forces

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that Washington welcomes an agreement between the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Syria’s new government.

The SDF, which controls much of Syria’s northeast, signed an agreement to join Syria’s new state institutions, the Syrian presidency said on Monday.

“The United States welcomes the recently announced agreement between the Syrian interim authorities and the Syrian Democratic Forces to integrate the northeast into a unified Syria,” Rubio says in a statement.

White House: Columbia refusing to help ID those involved in campus antisemitism and are ‘pro-Hamas’

Protesters demonstrate in support of Palestinian anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil outside Columbia University, March 10, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

NEW YORK — The White House complains that Columbia University is refusing to help federal agents find people being sought as part of the government’s effort to deport participants in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, as the administration continues to punish the school by yanking federal research dollars.

Immigration enforcement agents on Saturday arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a legal US resident and Palestinian activist who played a prominent part in anti-Israel protests at Columbia last year. He is now facing possible deportation.

US President Donald Trump has vowed additional arrests. In a briefing with reporters in Washington, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says federal authorities have been “using intelligence” to identify other people involved in campus demonstrations critical of Israel that the administration considers to be antisemitic and “pro-Hamas.”

She says Columbia has been given names and is refusing to help the Department of Homeland Security “to identify those individuals on campus.”

“As the president said very strongly in his statement yesterday, he is not going to tolerate that,” Leavitt says.

Ex-security chiefs said to warn renewed judicial overhaul will harm Israeli security

A group of some two dozen former top security chiefs has recently convened a secret forum to air their concerns over the government’s renewed judicial overhaul legislation and efforts to oust Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Channel 13 news reports.

According to the network, the forum includes most of the living former chiefs of the Israel Defense Forces, Mossad, Shin Bet, Military Intelligence and Israel Police, who have expressed concerns the coalition’s fresh efforts to weaken the judiciary could result in a “constitutional crisis that will harm Israel’s national security.”

The forum has no designated leader and has so far held one meeting, says the report, which adds that the former security officials intend to issue similar warnings about the potential threat of war to those to that preceded the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, terror onslaught.

The report names the group’s members as former IDF chiefs of staff as Shaul Mofaz, Ehud Barak, Gabi Ashkenazi, Moshe Ya’alon and Dan Halutz; ex-heads of the Shin Bet Ami Ayalon, Yoram Cohen, Yuval Diskin and Nadav Argaman; former Mossad leaders Tamir Pardo, Nahum Admoni, Efraim Halevy and Danny Yatom; former Military Intelligence chiefs Tamir Hayman, Aharon Zeevi Farkash, Uri Sagi and Amos Yadlin; and retired police commissioners Shlomo Aharonishki, Roni Alsheich, Yohanan Danino, Assaf Hefetz, Dudi Cohen, Moshe Karadi and Rafi Peled.

Diskin, however, denies the report and says he’s not involved in the forum.

The network doesn’t cite responses from the other listed officials, many of whom are public critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the judicial overhaul.

Houthis say they will resume attacks on Israeli ships in light of Gaza aid cut-off

The Greek-flagged oil tanker 'Sounion,' burning in the Red Sea following a series of attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on September 2, 2024. (European Union's Operation Aspides naval force via AP)

Yemen’s Houthis say they will attack any Israeli ship that violates the group’s ban on Israeli ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden, effective immediately.

The leader of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis said on Friday that the group would resume its naval operations against Israel if Israel did not lift a renewed blockage of aid into Gaza within four days.

Freed hostage Omer Wenkert says he always knew when truce talks failed because captors would take it out on him

Released hostage Omer Wenkert tells Channel 12 that although he was cut off from the outside world throughout his 505 days in captivity in Gaza, he always knew when talks for a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas had fallen through or when a senior Hamas operative was killed, because his terrorist captors would take it out on him.

“Every deal that fell through would bring up a lot of frustration, rage and anger,” Wenkert says of his captors. “Not to mention when one of their fathers was killed, or their families, or when their senior officials were assassinated. You feel it. You know exactly what happened.”

He says that in those instances, his captors would beat him, spit on him, and force him to do strenuous physical exercise.

“I was very weak physically,” he says, adding that his captors’ goal was “humiliation.”

During his interview with Channel 12, Wenkert gives a blow-by-blow account of his time in captivity, starting with the night of October 7, 2023, when he drove down to the Nova music festival with his best friend Kim Damti.

Damti was killed in the same bomb shelter Wenkert was taken from, although he didn’t discover her fate until his return to Israel.

Opposition files unprecedented 71,023 objections to controversial judicial overhaul law

A compilation of 71,023 objections to a controversial judicial overhaul law submitted by the Israeli Opposition, on March 11, 2025. (Office of MK Gilad Kariv)

Opposition parties file an unprecedented 71,023 objections to the government’s highly controversial judicial overhaul law in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee against a bill that would change the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee and how it appoints judges.

The number of objections corresponds to the date of Hamas’s October 7 invasion and atrocities in 2023, which the opposition MKs filing them say is designed to “underline the absurdity of advancing a controversial law at a time of war” and when “hostages are still being held captive by Hamas.”

The number of objections is unprecedented in the history of the Knesset, and is designed to serve as a type of filibuster to stall the progress of the bill which, once approved in committee, requires only its final back-to-back second and third readings in the Knesset plenum.

The gambit will however likely be parried by Constitution Committee Chairman MK Simcha Rothman through a parliamentary tool to bundle batches of objections together to overcome such tactics.

Voting on the objections will begin tomorrow morning, and it seems likely therefore that the committee will only be able to approve the substance of the bill next week.

A source close to Justice Minister Yariv Levin says the bill may be brought to its final votes in the Knesset plenum next week, although if the committee only votes on the clauses of the bill next week, bringing it to the plenum the same week would be unlikely.

The opposition, as well as the attorney general and three former Supreme Court presidents, have strongly criticized the bill, saying it would politicize the judicial selection process and therefore undermine the independence of the judiciary.

Democrats MK and Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee member Gilad Kariv describes the bill as “the very heart of the regime coup,” in reference to the government’s judicial overhaul agenda.

“This is an extreme and unbalanced bill that poses a real and present threat to the independence of the courts and gives the justice minister dramatic control over the selection of judges,” says Kariv.

Rothman, Levin and other proponents of the bill argue that the judiciary has too much control over judicial appointments and that giving politicians greater control would redress what they claim is an imbalanced reality in which the government has difficulty appointing judges it favors.