March 3: Jews’ greatest disaster since Holocaust ‘will always belong to you,’ PM told by Lapid

German official says ‘concrete indications of mental illness’ in Mannheim suspect

German investigators have “concrete indications” that a man arrested after a car was driven into a crowd today, killing two people, had mental health problems, a prosecutor says.

“We have concrete indications that the perpetrator had a mental illness,” Romeo Schuessler tells a press conference after the suspected attack in Mannheim, ruling out a “politically motivated act.”

Likud responds to Bennett: We have no idea what his positions are on any issue

Responding to Naftali Bennett’s call for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “go home already,” a Likud spokesman accuses the former prime minister of having “deceived his voters just to form a government with Meretz and the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Bennett, “for the first time since 2014, allowed tens of thousands of Gazans into Israel every day,” the spokesman says, referring to a decision to allow workers in that the current Netanyahu government maintained upon taking office.

“But like all Israeli citizens — we really have no idea what his positions are on any issue.”

Family of hostage soldier Matan Angrest publishes first photo of him from captivity

The family of hostage soldier Matan Angrest has published the first photo of him from captivity, from a video received from Hamas.

The still photo joins an audio recording released several months back, in which Angrest begged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure his release, in comments likely dictated by his captors.

Angrest, 21, was taken from a tank at Nahal Oz during battles there on October 7, 2023.

הקרב על מוצב נחל עוז כפי שמעולם לא נראה, ומעולם לא סופר – כולל תיעוד בלעדי של מתן אנגרסט, השריונר שנחטף מהמוצב ונמצא כבר 514 ימים בשבי חמאס | עובדה בפרויקט מיוחד של @eyalgonen1, מתחילים מיד אחרי החדשות pic.twitter.com/sVPreOqk59

— עובדה (@Uvda_tweet) March 3, 2025

Mother of soldier Nachshon Wachsman dies, 30 years after his kidnapping and murder

The mother of an IDF soldier and dual Israeli American citizen kidnapped and murdered by Hamas in the West Bank has died, 30 years after the incident. Esther Wachsman was 76 year old.

Her son, Nachshon Wachsman, was abducted in October 1994 while hitching a ride near Jerusalem. He was held for six days, while his mother Esther made an appeal to Israelis to pray for him.

Israel eventually mounted a failed attempt to rescue Wachsman, which resulted in his death, as well as the death of one of the soldiers in the extraction force, and the injury of several more. His captors were all killed in the raid.

Since Nachshon’s death, Esther committed herself to commemorating him.

Report: Israeli officials expect Gaza fighting to renew in some 10 days if no deal struck

Channel 12 reports Israeli officials expect to return to fighting in Gaza in some 10 days if no agreements are reached with Hamas.

The report ties the date both to the new IDF chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, entering his post in the coming days, and an expected visit next week by US envoy Steve Witkoff.

Pope has two episodes of ‘acute respiratory failure,’ Vatican says

Pope Francis suffered two new breathing attacks today, requiring two separate bronchoscopies, the Vatican says, as the 88-year-old pontiff struggles to recover from pneumonia.

“Today, the Holy Father experienced two episodes of acute respiratory failure, caused by a significant accumulation of endobronchial mucus and consequent bronchospasm,” it says in a statement, on Francis’s 18th day in hospital, the longest of his papacy.

In its usual evening update, the Holy See says the pope had resumed the use of an oxygen mask and notes that he is “alert, focused and cooperative.” It adds that Francis’s prognosis remains “reserved,” an indication that doctors cannot predict the likely outcome of his condition.

At trial, Netanyahu says heads of Mossad and Shin Bet part of ‘junta’ working against him

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in court in Tel Aviv on February 26, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Earlier today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly accused heads of Mossad and Shin Bet of working against him during a hearing of his criminal trial in the Tel Aviv District Court, and claimed they were part of a “junta” against him.

Netanyahu’s defense attorney Amit Hadad was asking the prime minister about negative media articles against him on the Walla news website, ahead of the 2015 elections, including an opinion article by a former head of the Shin Bet.

“It’s not new that heads of the Shin Ben and Mossad are against me, they’re all part of the same word that begins with [the Hebrew letter] Heth,” the prime minister said, as cited by Ynet. He later clarified that he was referring to the word “junta.”

He also said those he was accusing of acting against him were “not only former officials,” indicating he believed current position-holders were part of such efforts as well.

Netanyahu has in the past claimed the “deep state” is persecuting him, including officials in the judicial system, law enforcement agencies and the media. He claimed today at the Knesset that the “deep state” was conspiring to form a biased investigative committee of the October 7 disaster.

Lapid, Smotrich both criticize UTJ chief over demands for funds to Haredim

Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf attends a conference in Tel Aviv on March 22, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/ Flash90/ File)

Earlier, both Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich criticized the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, following its threat to oppose the 2025 state budget and its public attacks on the coalition.

Addressing reporters ahead of his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Lapid slammed UTJ chairman and Housing Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf over a letter he sent to Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs over the weekend, demanding more than a billion shekels in coalition funds for Haredi education. If he did not get the money, he would oppose the 2025 state budget, bringing down the government, he warned.

Lapid said that Goldknopf’s demands do not matter because as soon as the opposition comes into power, it will cancel all of those coalition funds “down to the last shekel.”

Following up on his letter, Goldknopf on Sunday evening sent reporters a copy of his coalition agreement with Likud, stating that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling party has failed to follow through on many of its commitments. These include passing legislation to regulate the enlistment status of yeshiva students and the enactment of a Basic Law enshrining Torah study as a national value.

Asked about Goldknopf’s threat during his own Religious Zionism party’s faction meeting, Smotrich condemned his coalition partner’s “false populist campaign,” asserting that he had failed to obtain conscription exemptions for yeshiva students and “is now looking for a way to explain to [his] public that there are no budgetary achievements.”

“This budget is good. It is first and foremost a budget that supports the war efforts… until victory,” he continues, asserting that it is “also a good budget for the Haredi public.”

Bennett lashes ‘Netanyahu’s disastrous government,’ tells it to ‘go home already’

Naftali Bennett attends a commemoration ceremony for a slain Israeli soldier at Mt. Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, December 25, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90/ File)

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling him to “go home already,” following a tumultuous evening in the Knesset during which the premier rejected the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into October 7 and Knesset guards used force to block hostage families from entering the plenum visitors gallery.

“Tonight, we witnessed a total disconnect by Netanyahu’s disastrous government,” he says in a statement.

“A government that does not respect its fallen is not worthy of this people. Cast your eyes down, take responsibility. The government of ‘Hamas is an asset,’ the government of weakness and evasion of responsibility — get out of our lionlike nation’s sight and, for God’s sake, go home already.”

Report: IDF chief says he knew for years that Nahal Oz base was problematic

The IDF's Nahal Oz base (left) and Kibbutz Nahal Oz (in the background) on October 7, 2023, as seen in footage released by the Hamas terror group. (Screenshot: Telegram)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi is cited by Channel 12 news as saying he knew for years that the Nahal Oz base was positioned in a problematic area, but moving it away from the frontier did not happen for budgetary reasons.

“I knew for years about the problem at the camp, wide open, hundreds of meters from the enemy. Even when I was a brigade commander, I thought it wasn’t good. [Dealing with it] didn’t happen because of budgetary reasons, 200 million shekels,” Halevi says, according to the network.

The IDF published its investigation into the attack on the base on October 7, 2023, earlier this evening. The probe found that the base did not function properly as a border post, and was therefore quickly captured by terrorists.

IDF confirms airstrike in northwestern Syria targeting facility of former regime

The IDF confirms carrying out an airstrike in northwestern Syria a short while ago.

According to the IDF, the strike targeted a military facility belonging to the former Syrian regime in the town of Qardaha, east of Latakia, where weapons were being stored.

“Due to the latest developments in the area, it was decided to strike infrastructure at the site,” the army says, adding that it continues to monitor Syria for potential threats to Israel.

Trump threatens to lose patience as Europeans float proposals for Ukraine ceasefire

US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 2, 2025, as he returns to Washington, DC. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP)

Britain says several proposals have been made for a truce in fighting between Ukraine and Russia, after France floated a plan for a one-month pause leading to peace talks, but US President Donald Trump suggests his patience is running out.

European countries, led by Britain and France, are rallying around Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to hatch a peace plan that includes Kyiv, after last week’s Oval Office rupture between Zelensky and Trump.

The US president has responded angrily to an AP report quoting Zelensky as saying the end of the war is “very, very far away.”

“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelensky, and America will not put up with it for much longer!” Trump writes on Truth Social.

“It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be peace as long as he has America’s backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelensky, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the US.”

Zelensky says a ceasefire must carry explicit security guarantees from the West to ensure that Russia, which invaded Ukraine three years ago and holds about 20 percent of its land, does not attack again. Trump has refused to give any such guarantees.

Syrian media report alleged Israeli airstrike in Tartus

Syrian media report an alleged Israeli airstrike in the coastal city of Tartus.

No further details are immediately available.

غارات إسرائيـ ـلية تستهدف عدة مواقع بالقرب من محافظة طرطوس مع تحليق مستمر لطائرات الإحتلال الإسرائيـ ـلي pic.twitter.com/C58tzLXA3z

— الإعلامي محمد جمال (@ammamaiii) March 3, 2025

Defense minister threatens Hamas: If no hostages freed soon, ‘gates of hell will open’

Defense Minister Israel Katz speaks at an event marking 33 years since the death of former prime minister Menachem Begin, in Jerusalem, March 3, 2025. (Shlomi Amsalem/ Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Israel Katz threatens Hamas that if the terror group does not release Israeli hostages soon, “the gates of hell will open.”

Speaking at an event marking 33 years since the death of former prime minister Menachem Begin, Katz says that “despite the Hamas terror organization’s recurring violations and its refusal for the framework offered by President Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East Witkoff, we responded to the mediator’s request to allow a few more days of negotiations. And in the meantime, we have stopped the humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“Hamas should make no mistake, this is just the beginning. If Hamas does not release the hostages soon, the Gaza gates will be locked and the gates of hell will open,” he says.

“We will return to fighting and [Hamas] will face the IDF with strength and methods that it has not known, until [Hamas] is totally defeated. We will not allow Hamas to rule in Gaza,” Katz adds.

Bereaved father who fainted during Knesset clash: Is that our place? On the floor?

Shimon Buskila, a bereaved father who fainted during the earlier clash at the Knesset and was treated by medics, says he was “broken” by the violence that was displayed at the Knesset today against bereaved families and relatives of hostages and other victims of October 7.

“Fifteen months ago I was broken,” a tearful Buskila says in a video shortly after the clash. “I am fighting, struggling, working, trying to rehabilitate myself. I swore over Yarden’s grave that their deaths would not be in vain. And today they didn’t even let us go into [the gallery], 15 people. Tell me it’s not agenda-driven.

“Today I was broken. What more do I need to fight beyond the pain that I haven’t even had time to deal with, to realize I lost a son? I’m fighting all the time, [focusing on] commemoration — that has a healing effect on me. So today I came here to make a statement, and I’m entitled to make a statement, no matter what it is, and I was not allowed,” he says.

“Is this how bereaved families are treated? With us on the floor? Is that our place? How are we to stand on our legs?.”

Shimon’s son Yarden Buskila was killed in the Hamas-led assault on the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023.

שמעון בוסקילה, אבא של ירדן שנרצח בנובה,
בדמעות על רצפת הכנסת- pic.twitter.com/HNt3KMfcUx

— Noa Shpigel (@NoaShpigel) March 3, 2025

No immediate ‘political motive’ found in deadly car incident — German police

Police investigators work at the scene of a car ramming in Mannheim, southwestern Germany on March 3, 2025. (Thomas LOHNES / AFP)

German police say they have no immediate reason to suspect a political motive after a car struck a crowd in the southwestern city of Mannheim, killing two people.

“At the current stage of the investigation, there is no suspicion of a political background,” police say in a statement after arresting a 40-year-old German suspect.

Ohana orders probe of Knesset guards’ use of force against hostages’ families

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana attends a plenum session on the appointment of Israel Katz as defense minister and Gideon Sa'ar as foreign minister at the Knesset in Jerusalem, November 7, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90/File)

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana instructs Knesset director general Moshe Edri and Sergeant-at-Arms Yuval Chen to conduct an investigation into Knesset guards’ use of force against hostages’ families, a Knesset spokesperson announces.

“Since the beginning of the war, the Knesset has opened its doors to the families of the hostages and the bereaved in an unprecedented manner and will continue to be an open house to all citizens of Israel,” the spokesperson says.

During the incident, members of the October Council — which represents October 7 survivors, former hostages, and victims’ families — were blocked by Knesset guards from entering the plenum guest gallery. The incident devolved into a shoving match, with guards pushing and grabbing at protesters at the base of a stairwell leading to the observer’s gallery.

After PM rejects state commission, Sa’ar’s party reiterates support for such a probe

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar with his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani (not pictured) hold a press conference at the end of their meeting in Rome, Italy, January 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

After Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected the establishment of a court-appointed state commission of inquiry into the events surrounding October 7, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party reiterates its support for such a probe.

In a statement, the right wing party says that a state commission of inquiry is “the right tool for investigating the events of October 7 and what led to them.”

It adds that during a recent cabinet meeting on the subject, Sa’ar proposed amending the law to allow the government to appoint the head of a state commission of inquiry from among the ranks of current and former presidents and vice presidents of the Supreme Court.

He argued this would maintain the commission’s independence from the government, while increasing flexibility in terms of who runs the probe, “which will increase the general public’s trust in the commission that will be established.”

State commissions of inquiry are appointed by the Supreme Court president and typically headed by a retired Supreme Court justice. Esther Hayut would be a potential choice for that role, given that she just recently finished her tenure as president of the top court. However, Netanyahu is reportedly vehemently opposed to her appointment, given her outspoken criticism of his government’s effort to radically overhaul the judiciary in 2023.

Last week, Likud MK Ariel Kallner presented a proposal for an alternative investigatory body whose members would be appointed by the Knesset. Critics say this would ensure its politicization.

Lapid to Netanyahu: Jews’ greatest disaster since Holocaust will always belong to you

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid told the premier in response to his Knesset speech: “The greatest disaster that has happened to the Jewish people since the Holocaust belongs to you. It will always belong to you.

“Any person on whose watch this disaster happened would take it with him to his grave until his last day,” he said, adding that “there was never a government here that had so many reasons to ask for forgiveness.

“An entire country is in pain, anxious, angry, abandoned by a government that takes no responsibility for anything. Ask for forgiveness from them,” he said.

Lapid also took a jab at Netanyahu for losing his temper while being heckled and booed during his speech.

“Prime Minister, you once gave me good advice: never lose your temper at the podium. I propose to give this advice to you. It was not an easy performance to watch,” he said.

“I think of the families sitting here, and I think of the soldiers in the army who see a prime minister losing his temper at the podium, why? Because you had a tough morning in court? It’s not good for an Israeli prime minister to lose his temper at the podium during a war.”

לפיד פשוט צודק. pic.twitter.com/RbpWLBGM5c

— Hila Sarel (@HSarel59572) March 3, 2025

Haifa stabbing spree not a terror attack, Druze leaders, assailant’s father insist

Members of Israeli security and emergency services deploy at the site of a stabbing terror attack at a central bus station in Haifa on March 3, 2025. (Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

Several Druze politicians and community leaders maintain that the stabbing attack carried out in Haifa by a Druze Israeli today was not terror-related, citing the assailant’s history of mental illness.

“From a quick probe, it would have become clear to police that there was no nationalist incident and no Druze terrorist,” says MK Hamad Amar of the right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party. “There has never been a Druze terrorist, nor will there ever be a Druze terrorist.”

Earlier today, 20-year-old Shfaram resident Jethro Shahin exited a bus in Haifa’s Lev Hamifratz station and stabbed five people, killing a 70-year-old man and injuring four others. He was shot dead at the scene by armed civilians. Police said the attack was nationalistic terror.

Amar notes the assailant suffered from severe mental health issues that landed him in a psychiatric ward several times. He adds that Shahin received a monthly disability allowance from the government for his mental illness. A Druze resident of Shfaram himself, Amar urges police to “apologize to all the young Druze who felt extremely hurt” by law enforcement’s labelling the incident as a terror attack.

Suqrat Shahin, the father of the attacker, attests to his son’s mental health issues, in an interview with Ynet and confesses he was shocked to hear about the stabbing.

“We lived in Germany for over 20 years, we used to run joint projects against violence,” he says. “I raised my children for tolerance and love of others. None of us ever had ever thought to harm other people, regardless of who they are.”

Shahin adds that he “is certain that the police will back down from their position that the incident had a nationalistic motive.”

Shfaram’s deputy mayor, Faraj Khanifas, also denies that the attack had any nationalist motive in a letter that affirms the young man had a history in mental health institutions and received assistance from the city’s welfare bureau.

In tirade against ‘deep state,’ PM claims court-led Oct. 7 probe would be biased

More from Netanyahu’s speech a short time ago:

Interrupted repeatedly by opposition members, a pugnacious Netanyahu said that, while Israel is fighting its enemies, it has to deal with those who “are drilling holes in the national ship.”

He said that everyone has heard the “lies” around the beeper operation against Hezbollah, the ground invasion into Rafah, and the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah — that the ones who approved the operations were indecisive and hesitant.

Turning to the issue of a state inquiry into October 7, for which the session was called, Netanyahu says it is “important and crucial to investigate in depth the events of October 7 and what led up to it. Until the last detail.”

“But,” he says emphatically, “this investigation needs to win the trust of the nation, or the overwhelming majority of the nation.”

Turning red and shouting into the microphone, he calls for an “objective, balanced, independent investigation… not a commission whose findings are predetermined.”

“What do you think? That we’re children?” he yells, as he blasts the idea of a state commission appointed by the High Court, which he claims would lead a partisan investigation. “That we don’t understand? That you say the word ‘state [commission]’ and that makes it one?

“The public demands the truth. We demand the truth,” he says, banging on the rostrum. “We want a commission that will investigate everything, everything, with no exceptions.”

רה"מ נתניהו: חשוב להקים וועדת חקירה אובייקטיבית לא מוטית לא מכוון אחד. לא מקשת דעות של רבע מילימטר.

איך אפשר לעשות דבר כזה? אנחנו ילדים? תגידו ממלכתי וזה עושה את זה ממלכתי?

אנחנו רוצים ממלכתיות אמיתית pic.twitter.com/a6Agl6BTsq

— אבי רבינא Avi Ravina (@AviRabina) March 3, 2025

Netanyahu returns to his demand there be an investigation into leaks from cabinet meetings and confidential Knesset sessions, especially singling out Democrats MK Gilad Kariv, who was ejected at the beginning of the address. He also calls for an investigation into Democrats party head Yair Golan, for his ostensible calls for refusal to perform military service.

“None of this is investigated,” he laments, alleging that the media and bureaucrats are collaborating to carry out baseless probes into the prime minister and his associates. “It’s a travesty, and a serious strike at democracy.”

They “inflate balloons” with great fanfare, he says, “and they are punctured silently. We don’t hear them at all.”

He says that there have been a series of “baseless” scandals — claims of altered protocols of meetings at his office, threats against witnesses, of fabricating a visit to Tulkarm, as well as lies about his wife, his son, and his health.

“My health is good,” he says, admitting he is not at his peak (the premier recently underwent prostate surgery).

Netanyahu then unexpectedly turns to the late disgraced American financier and child sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein, and wonders why former prime minister Ehud Barak, who met with him dozens of times, is still invited to appear on TV in Israel without being asked about the scandal.

He blasts the media for “full cooperation with the deep state.”

Netanyahu claims that the majority of the public wants total victory, “but you, I say this with regret, who are involved with divisive incitement around the clock, and you say terrible things about us, that we intentionally abandon the hostages, that we are sending them to their graves…you accuse us of causing division? What hypocrisy.”

“The more desperate you become, you create more fires, more scandals,” he says, adding that “it won’t work. The nation is not stupid.”

“The cooperation between the bureaucracy in the deep state and the media didn’t work in the United States, and it won’t work here,” he says, a message that is sure to please US President Donald Trump.

Netanyahu says he is not deterred by “fabricated” scandals and witch hunts. “Truth and justice will win,” he shouts.

Prosecutors indict 17 serving and former Bedouin public officials for corruption

The entrance to the Central District Court in Lod (CC BY-SA Yarin50/Wikipedia)

The State Attorney’s Office files 17 indictments on corruption charges against serving and former public officials in the Bedouin community, including a serving mayor, six former mayors, their deputies, and other officials.

A former senior official in the Education Ministry with responsibility for the Bedouin education system is also among those indicted.

The indictments, filed to the Central District Court, include charges of bribe-taking, coordinating bribes, money laundering, and fraud and breach of trust, among other charges.

According to the indictments, filed by the Central District Attorney’s Office, the defendants demanded and received bribes from the operators of a network of high schools in Bedouin towns totaling millions of shekels, as well as getting other benefits.

This included demands for the school network to employ close associates of the public officials in exchange for winning tenders to operate the schools, “while abusing their status and public office.”

Among those indicted are Tuba-Zangariyye Mayor Hussein Heib, as well as a former mayor of the town, and the former mayors of the Arab towns of Ar’ara BaNegev, Basmat Tab’un, Ka’abiyye-Tabbash-Hajajre, Shibli-Umm al-Ghanam, and Zarzir.

The indicted former Education Ministry official is Muhammed al-Heib.

Along with the indictments, the prosecution files a request with the court to seize property belonging to some of the defendants, totaling approximately NIS 2.5 million ($700,000).

The case was investigated by the National Fraud Investigation Unit of the Lahav 433 major crimes unit.

Netanyahu: Israel not violating ceasefire, we might need to return to war

After asking Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to refrain from clearing protesters out of the visitors’ gallery, Netanyahu denies that Israel violated the ceasefire deal with Hamas.

“According to the side letter that accompanied the agreement from the previous [US] administration, backed by the Trump administration, we have the right at any moment from Day 42 to drop out of the negotiations and return to fighting if we are under the impression that the talks are pointless,” he says.

He states that he cannot disagree with US special envoy Steve Witkoff that the sides are too far apart to move to a second phase, and that this endangers talks. “There is a proposal in front of us. We are still in the agreement, we are not violating the agreement, but we are not returning immediately to war.”

“Who knows, we might need to,” he says. “[Witkoff] offers a way to return all the hostages, in two releases.”

Addressing Hamas, Netanyahu says, “If you don’t release our hostages, there will be consequences that you can’t even imagine.”

After speaking at length about his decision to greenlight the “beeper operation” against Hezbollah, he says that this is the way his government operates: “Doing what is good for the country, at the right time and the right place.”

He calls US President Donald Trump’s plan to encourage emigration from Gaza “brave and innovative.”

“We must support it. We support it fully,” he says, asserting that tens of thousands of rich Gazans had managed to bribe their way out of Gaza. “The time has come to give them the freedom to leave. The time has come to give them the freedom to choose.”

In Syria, he says Israel’s hands are outstretched to the Druze and Kurds.

Turning to Iran, he says Israel will continue to act with determination to ensure that Iran does not attain a nuclear weapon.

Israel says Hamas has ‘enough food to fuel an obesity epidemic’ for its operatives

Palestinians queue to receive food aid from an UNRWA distribution center at the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip on March 3, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer accuses Hamas of hoarding supplies, saying they have “enough food” in Gaza a day after Israel blocked aid deliveries amid an impasse in truce talks.

Mencer tells a press briefing that the Palestinian group is hoarding supplies for its operatives “for months and months” and has “enough food to fuel an obesity epidemic,” adding that “no one is going hungry in Hamas” and that “the supplies are there, but Hamas don’t share.”

Netanyahu accuses opposition of ‘cynical campaign on the backs of hostages’ families’

Speaking at the Knesset plenum, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is preparing “for the next stages” of the seven-front war.

“We won’t stop until we achieve all the goals of victory,” he promises, as a number of opposition lawmakers yell out and are expelled by Speaker Amir Ohana.

Protesters also hold up photos of hostages and demonstrate from the visitors’ gallery.

He says that after the first hostage release in November 2023 — during which he says he managed to get dozens more hostages released than Hamas was initially willing to release — the terror group was the one that consistently refused to agree to another deal. Senior Biden administration officials have said as much publicly, he reminds the Knesset, while blasting the opposition, members of the negotiating team, and the media for a “fictitious and cynical campaign… on the backs of the hostages’ families,” that argues that the government is the one torpedoing a deal.

“What do you think goes through the minds of the hostage families when they hear you?” he asks. “You are simply shattering their souls.”

Mixed response for Elise Stefanik at ADL summit

Rep. Elise Stefanik, US President Donald Trump's nominee to be the United Nations ambassador, testifies during a Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing for her pending confirmation on Capitol Hill, January 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

US Rep. Elise Stefanik, the incoming US ambassador to the United Nations, draws applause but also a round of boos at the annual Anti-Defamation League summit in New York City.

Stefanik’s statement that the October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel “would never have happened” under US President Donald Trump sparks widespread boos in the audience of hundreds.

Stefanik receives applause for many other parts of her speech, though, including for discussing her questioning of university presidents last year that led to the resignations of several Ivy League leaders.

During that questioning, Stefanik asked university presidents whether calling for the genocide of Jews was a violation of their campus policies. The university leaders said it depended on the context, causing a major uproar.

Stefanik, at the ADL summit, says the query was an off-the-cuff question she scribbled down minutes before she asked it, and not part of her prepared remarks. She says she did not anticipate the “earthquake” caused by the responses.

“It was truly the question and horrific answer heard around the world,” she says.

Her calls to further crack down on campus antisemitism, deport foreign students who engage in antisemitism and support of terror, and pressure the United Nations also draw applause.

“The antisemites at the United Nations better buckle up because I’m coming. The university presidents were just a warm-up,” she says.

Some families in Knesset gallery turn backs on PM as he speaks

As Netanyahu addresses the Knesset, some families of October 7 hostages and victims in the visitors’ gallery turn their backs on the premier in a show of protest. Others hold up photographs of their loved ones.

Speaker Amir Ohana calls for the families to be removed, as protest is not allowed at the plenum, but then appears to walk it back, and says the relatives must show respect.

משפחות שכולות הפנו גב לנתניהו, אוחנה דרש לפנות אותם מהיציע pic.twitter.com/EbWf3toc3J

— עמיאל ירחי (@amiel_y) March 3, 2025

Two opposition MKs removed for yelling at Netanyahu as he starts Knesset speech

Democrats MK Gilad Kariv and Yesh Atid lawmaker Vladimir Beliak are removed from the Knesset plenum for yelling at Prime Minister Netanyahu as he addresses lawmakers during a debate over the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into October 7.

Lawmakers boo and jeer Netanyahu as he starts his prepared remarks, causing the prime minister to demand that they be quiet.

Families now allowed to enter Knesset guest gallery

Members of the October Council — which represents October 7 survivors, former hostages and victims’ families — have entered the Knesset gallery after initially being barred by Knesset security, sparking violent clashes.

Channel 12 reports that most of the members have now been allowed to go into the guest gallery.

In letter read at Knesset, Yarden Bibas says ‘so few taking responsibility’ for October 7

Yarden Bibas (R) with his sister Ofri as he eulogizes his wife Shiri and two young sons Kfir and Ariel, at Tsoher Regional Cemetery on February 26, 2025 (Screen grab/YouTube)

Addressing the Knesset plenum, National Unity MK Chili Tropper reads a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu by recently released hostage Yarden Bibas, whose wife Shiri and sons Ariel and Kfir were murdered in captivity by Hamas.

In his letter, Bibas says that he “will no longer be able to hug my children and my wife” but that there are other hostages who can still be rescued, and calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu help bring them home.

Bibas also calls for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry and invites Netanyahu to come with him to visit Kibbutz Nir Oz for the first time.

“Mr. Prime Minister, you and your government have still not taken responsibility,” he writes.

“So many citizens are asking for forgiveness. So few politicians are asking for forgiveness. So many citizens and fighters are taking responsibility. So few members of the government are taking responsibility. Eighty-three percent of Israeli citizens are demanding a state commission of inquiry, along with 1,500 October Council families, myself among them.”

“I am constantly thinking and regretting that I did not protect my wife and children better. It eats me up inside. I only had a gun and I am a simple citizen in a quiet kibbutz. Do you think about this? Do you also find it difficult to spend days and nights without a heavy sense of responsibility for what happened?” he asks.

“I have not yet entered my home in Nir Oz and I do not know what awaits me inside. I ask you to come with me, to join me for the first time since October 7. I ask that we do this together. If we do not look the disaster in the eye, we will not be able to recover.”

After reading Bibas’s letter, Tropper walks over to Netanyahu to give it to him, but the prime minister does not look up. Tropper puts it down in front of him.

11 שניות שמראות ניתוק .
חילי טרופר מגיש לו מכתב ממשפחת ביבס .
והאיש בכלל לא רואה וכנראה לא מעניין אותו.
עצוב. וכאזרח.
גם שובר לב.
???????? pic.twitter.com/5nN3EbGHXE

— YANIV HALIVA TOLEDANO ???????? (@htyaniv) March 3, 2025

Gantz reads letter in Knesset from bereaved brother accusing PM of ‘tormenting Israelis’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset on March 3, 2025 (Video screenshot)

Addressing the Knesset plenum, National Unity chairman Benny Gantz reads a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu written by Yarden Adam, the brother of Mapal Adam, who was murdered at the Nova festival on October 7.

“I wanted to tell you about Mapal, my perfect, kindhearted, moral, funny and beautiful sister whom I miss so much, but I don’t believe it will reach your heart. I assume you are present here at a meeting that was forced upon you,” Gantz reads, as Netanyahu sits in the plenum.

“Mr. Prime Minister, we both served as fighters and commanders in an elite unit, educated with the same values ​​of taking responsibility, investigating failures and correcting mistakes. We both know that what has been happening since October 7 completely contradicts these values,” he continues. He adds that he believes that Netanyahu, in the depths of his heart, knows that “the establishment of a state commission of inquiry is inevitable.”

“The only question is how much longer you will continue to tear apart and torment Israeli society and us in particular until we get there.”

Gantz’s address takes place at the beginning of a so-called 40 signatures debate on the topic of the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, which Netanyahu has consistently opposed.

Switching to his own words, Gantz declares that avoiding establishing an official probe “is a prelude to anarchy.” He condemns what he says are government efforts to allow those under investigation to “choose the investigators.”

Last week, Likud MK Ariel Kallner presented a proposal for an alternative investigatory body whose members would be appointed by the Knesset.

Turning to Netanyahu, Gantz states, “We will not agree to any hybrid creation that will replace a state commission of inquiry.”

Following his speech, Gantz presents Netanyahu with a binder full of letters from bereaved families.

While October 7 families denied access, guest gallery at Knesset is empty

Amid the clashes at the Knesset, the guest gallery at the Knesset was empty, TV footage shows.

It is not yet clear whether families of October 7 victims will be allowed in.

‘Condemnation is not enough’: ADL chief lays out post-Oct. 7 strategy pivot at summit

ADL chief Jonathan Greenblatt speaks at the organization's annual summit, in New York City, March 3, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

Anti-Defamation League chief Jonathan Greenblatt lays out the organization’s pivot in strategy since October 7, 2023, at the ADL’s annual summit in New York City.

Greenblatt tells an audience of hundreds at the “Never is Now” conference that since the Hamas invasion of Israel, Jewish Americans have experienced a fear that had been forgotten for generations. Jews have changed vacation plans, taken down mezuzahs and reconsidered college choices due to discrimination, he says.

“In the face of this very real fear, we must do better. We cannot keep doing the same thing,” Greenblatt says.

Greenblatt says the ADL has shifted its focus in five ways, including by leaning more on data.

“Condemnation is not enough because when there is no moral shame, you just can’t scold someone into action, but data doesn’t lie. Data is what drives change,” he says, pointing to examples like the ADL’s campus report card on antisemitism.

Second, the ADL is making more use of lawsuits, filing more legal actions in the past 12 months than in the first 112 years of the organization’s existence, Greenblatt says.

Third, the group is using its Center for Antisemitism Research to “interrupt antisemitism before it happens.” The center is using focus groups, surveys and randomized control trials to improve the efficacy of ADL activities, such as social media and curriculum.

Fourth, the ADL is “punching back” in the finance world against the boycott movement against Israel, with a Jewish exchange-traded fund launched last week.

Lastly, the organization is taking action on the ground, such as pressuring officials in Amsterdam to respond after riots against Israelis late last year.

“I know there is hope, and while we’re inspired by this hope, I’ll also acknowledge that hope is not a strategy,” Greenblatt says.

The annual ADL summit is taking place today and tomorrow at the Javits Center in Manhattan. Prominent speakers include the parents of American-Israel Omer Neutra, a hostage killed by Hamas whose body is being held in Gaza, and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant.

October Council calls on Knesset speaker to resign following violent clash

The October Council calls on Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to resign following the violent clash between families of Oct. 7 victims and Knesset ushers who blocked them from entering the Knesset’s gallery.

“Yesterday we sent a letter to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, announcing the intention of dozens of bereaved families to come to the guest gallery and watch the discussion on establishing a state commission of inquiry,” the group says in a statement.

“The violence directed at the families of the October Council is unacceptable,” it says, arguing that it is aimed at preventing the families from receiving answers regarding what happened to their loved ones on October 7.

“The Knesset speaker should resign today. By ordering bereaved families to be beaten by the Knesset Guard, [he has caused] the entire State of Israel to be ashamed of him,” the group says. “Our patience is running out.”

It is not clear that Ohana had a hand in the ushers’ conduct.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid tweets: “There is no limit to the horror and shame of the images of Knesset guards forcibly pushing away bereaved October 7 families.

“Amir Ohana is a partner in this disgrace. No one has degraded the institution of the Knesset speaker more than him.”

Violence at Knesset as guards block families of Oct. 7 victims from guest gallery

Hostage families clash with Knesset guards after being blocked from plenum visitors’ gallery, in Jerusalem, March 3, 2025. (Video screenshot/October Council)

Members of the October Council — which represents October 7 survivors, former hostages and victims’ families — are blocked by Knesset guards from entering the plenum guest gallery.

The incident devolves into a shoving match, with guards pushing and grabbing at protesters at the base of a stairwell leading to the observer’s gallery.

The father of Yarden Buskila, who was murdered on October 7 at the Nova festival, fainted during the clash and required medical attention, Channel 12 reports.

In a statement, the group, which represents 1,500 bereaved families and families of hostages, calls on Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to intervene “immediately.”

The Knesset is about to hold a special plenum session during which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will respond to lawmakers’ demands for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 catastrophe, a demand backed by the October Council.

The families earlier held a press conference at the Knesset calling for the establishment of a state inquiry. They had reportedly told Knesset officials ahead of time that 40 people would want to enter the plenum gallery for the debate.

In a statement, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says he approached Ohana at the plenum rostrum and demanded the families be allowed in. He says Ohana replied: “I’m checking.”

Hostage families clash with Knesset guards after being blocked from plenum visitors’ gallery, in Jerusalem, March 3, 2025. (October Council)

At Knesset, dozens of families demand state inquiry into October 7

Dozens of families affiliated with the so-called October Council — which represents October 7 survivors, former hostages and victims’ families — gather at the Knesset for a special plenum session during which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will respond to lawmakers’ demands for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into October 7.

“We came today to listen to the prime minister’s words. We demand that he listen to our words as well,” the group announces. “We need a state commission of inquiry established immediately.”

“I don’t sleep at night,” Nova rave surviver Tali Biner says at a press conference ahead of Netanyahu’s speech.

Netanyahu is slated to speak during a so-called 40 signatures debate, a plenum discussion that the opposition can call once a month and that the prime minister is legally obliged to attend.

Recalling the screams of those being murdered and raped, Biner demands that Netanyahu establish a state commission of inquiry “to investigate what happened to us that day.”

“Without understanding the failures, we cannot fix them and the next disaster is already at hand,” she says.

Rabbi Elhanan Danino, father of slain captive Ori Danino, says: “I appeal to the lawmakers: Look into our eyes and you will see the eyes of parents whose children were slaughtered, murdered, burned and raped. And you say no to them” on forming a commission.

Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the mother of slain hostage Goldberg-Polin, calls on Israeli decision-makers to take inspiration from the American response to 9/11. Following those attacks, “President George W. Bush signed legislation establishing a committee that would investigate the worst terrorist attack in American history,” she says.

“The committee led to major changes in the government, fixed weaknesses in the system, and published a final, clear and accessible report detailing what went so wrong. I call on our decision-makers to listen to the overwhelming majority of the people, establish a state investigation committee and step forward towards the light. A light that only clarity can provide.”

Smotrich praises Settlements Minister Strock after Lapid speaks out against her

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calls Settlements Minister Orit Strock to the podium during the Religious Zionism party's weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, March 3, 2025 (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calls Settlements Minister Orit Strock to the podium during their Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, praising her as an effective politician and expressing his pride in her accomplishments in the wake of comments made against her by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.

Smotrich slams liberal groups and women’s organizations for not coming out against Lapid for his comments.

Lapid sparked controversy Sunday after saying on a podcast he “deserve[s] a raise” for having to look at Strock. “I look at Orit Strock — and just for that I deserve a raise — and God’s with her,” he said, referring to the Orthodox politician’s religious zeal. “She says, ‘You might have all sorts of opinions, but God’s with me.'”

Asked about his comment, Lapid tells reporters at his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting that he was not referring to Strock’s appearance but rather her opinion that the hostages “can be left to die in Gaza.”

“I can’t look at her, and if you want gender equality, then Itamar Ben Gvir too. I feel exactly the same way. That’s why I walk out of the plenum every time he speaks. I can’t look at anyone who is against the return of the hostages,” he says.

Last week, Strock stated that in her opinion, victory over Hamas is more important than the return of all the hostages.

Hamas says Israel is pushing things back to ‘square one’

Hamas official Osama Hamdan speaks during an interview with AFP in Istanbul on September 15, 2024. (Ozan Kose/ AFP)

Hamas says Israel is trying to push things back to square one by asking to extend the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

“The occupation is pushing to return things to square one and overturn the agreement through the alternatives it is proposing,” senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan says in a televised statement.

Ben Gvir suggests Israel bomb aid depots in Gaza, threaten to execute prisoners

Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben Gvir chairs a faction meeting at the Knesset, February 3, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben Gvir praises Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his decision halt the entry of aid into Gaza, but demands that he go even further and bomb existing aid depots in the Palestinian enclave in order to “suffocate Hamas and make it surrender and return all our hostages.”

“To make this happen, Gaza must endure hell. And hell also means bombing all the aid depots that Hamas holds” as well as halting the supply of electricity and water, Ben Gvir tells reporters ahead of his party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.

“I call on the prime minister to announce that Israel will take these steps, before returning to fighting, which of course must also happen,” he says. Doing so “will cause mass starvation of Hamas terrorists and their supporters in the Gaza Strip and will allow us to return to war with tremendous force, when Hamas terrorists are weak and exhausted, without any significant ability to fight back — and we can crush them without difficulty.”

Ben Gvir says this carries risks, including that Hamas may harm the hostages it still holds. As such, Israel must inform Hamas that “harming an Israeli hostage will be met with the execution of terrorists in Israeli prisons through emergency regulations, and the permanent imposition of sovereignty over large areas in the Gaza Strip.”

“These are not trivial steps for those who hold progressive values, but for the only Jewish state in the Middle East surrounded by a host of enemies who seek its destruction, these are necessary steps for its continued existence,” he insists.

Asked by a reporter if he would provide Netanyahu’s coalition with a safety net if the ultra-Orthodox parties oppose the 2025 state budget, Ben Gvir replies that he won’t say what he will do until the Haredim know themselves what they plan to do.

Victim of Haifa stabbing attack named as Hassan Karim Dahamsheh, 70, from Kafr Kanna

Hassan Karim Dahamsheh, who was killed in a stabbing attack in Haifa on March 3, 2025. (Social media)

The victim of a Haifa stabbing spree earlier today is identified as Hassan Karim Dahamsheh, a 70-year-old resident of the Arab town of Kafr Kanna in the Galilee, according to Hebrew outlets.

The attacker, a 20-year-old Druze Israeli named Jethro Shaheen, fatally stabbed Dahamsheh and injured four others after exiting a bus in the northern city’s Lev Hamifratz bus station.

Shaheen is said by his family to have suffered from mental illness.

1 dead, several injured as car driven into crowd in Germany’s Mannheim

Emergency services and police stand at Paradeplatz in Mannheim, Germany, on March 3, 2025. (Dieter Leder/dpa via AP)

One person has died and several are injured after a car drove into a crowd of people in the German city of Mannheim, a police spokesperson says, adding that one suspect has been arrested.

The official says it is unclear whether any other suspects were involved. The police are appealing to the public to stay at home.

Druze leaders condemn Haifa terror attack, say perpetrator suffered from mental illness and grew up in Germany

Security forces at the scene of a terror attack in Haifa, March 3, 2025. (Flash90)

The perpetrator of a deadly terror stabbing in Haifa struggled with mental illness and grew up in Germany, according to several Druze community leaders who condemned the attack.

Jethro Shaheen, a 20-year-old Druze Israeli with German citizenship, stabbed five people after getting off a bus at Haifa’s Lev Hamifratz bus station earlier today. He was shot dead at the scene by a security guard and armed civilian.

In a Ynet interview, the attacker’s uncle Roni Kharis says that his nephew was not a terrorist, but rather struggled with mental illness.

“I am a disabled IDF veteran and his other uncle is a reserve soldier. We have nothing in our family that is hostile to the state,” he declares.

Druze politician Ayoub Kara, a former Likud MK, writes on X that he is shocked and ashamed at the mere mention of the Druze community in relation to the stabbing spree. He adds that Shaheen was born and raised in Germany and suffered from schizophrenia.

“This strange and irregular incident will only strengthen the blood and civil covenant between the Druze and the state of Israel,” he continues in a post on X. He also claims that Shaheen had attempted terror attacks while in Germany.

According to police, Shaheen arrived in Israel a week prior to his attack, after spending several months abroad.

Shfar’am Mayor Nahed Hazem, whose city the assailant hails from, tells the Kan public broadcaster he is shocked by the incident.

“It is a heinous crime, and I completely condemn it,” Hazem says, noting that Shaheen suffered from mental illness and was being treated by the city’s welfare bureau. He also notes the attacker’s German upbringing.

The mayor divulges that two of the people injured in the attack are Shfar’am residents, one of them related to a manager in his office.

Sheikh Muafak Tarif, the spiritual head of Israel’s Druze community, offers his condolences to the family of the murdered victim, an unnamed man in his 60s, in an interview to Ynet.

“The Druze community fights terrorism everywhere, and the civilians involved in neutralizing him were also members of the Druze community,” Tarif adds.

The forum of the heads of the Druze and Circassian authorities put out a statement denouncing the attack.

“We are certain that the identity of the attacker and his mental condition will soon become clear, and that the attacker is likely of German origin,” the statement reads. “The forum stands united and determined against any attempt to harm the security of Israeli citizens.”

Germany urges Israel to ‘immediately’ stop blocking aid to Gaza, calls for release of hostages

Palestinians queue to receive food aid from an UNRWA distribution center at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on March 3, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

Germany urges Israel to “immediately” stop blocking aid from entering the Gaza Strip.

“Unimpeded access for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip must be guaranteed at all times,” foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer tells a press briefing.

“Granting or denial of humanitarian access is not a legitimate means of pressure in negotiations.”

Germany, traditionally a staunch ally of Israel, also calls on Palestinian terror group Hamas to release the hostages it is still holding, Fischer says.

“Hamas must now put an end to the suffering and humiliation of the remaining hostages and their families,” he says.

Israel said yesterday it would not allow any more aid to enter Gaza over what it called Hamas’s refusal to accept a proposal to extend the expired first stage of the ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Brother at funeral of slain hostage: ‘The state abandoned you to your death’

Dani Elgarat standing next to the coffin of his brother, Itzik Elgarat, during a funeral service outside the slain captive's home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, March 3, 2025 (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Thousands attend the Kibbutz Nir Oz funeral of slain hostage Itzik Elgarat, whose siblings issue emotional tirades against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government they accuse of abandoning their brother to his death in Gaza.

“Itzik, unfortunately, you were right. Your last words before you were abducted were ‘Dani, this is the end, this is the end.’ You already knew, and we didn’t want to believe it,” says Dani Elgarat.

“We fought with all our might to prove you wrong. We failed. We didn’t do enough,” says Elgarat, a prominent figure in the fight to secure the release of the hostages.

“Netanyahu defeated us and you didn’t return from captivity. The enemy who caused your death was not the one who abducted you, but the one who abandoned you,” he says.

“You managed to survive the kidnapping, the kidnappers, and the injury for many months,” he says.

“Finally Netanyahu subdued you through the torpedoing [of the hostage deal] and abandonment. This is the end of the Jewish state that did not fulfill its duty and stood by while your blood was spilled. It abandoned you to Hamas to die for the sake of ‘power, honor, and money.'” he charges.

“You were correct that it was the end. But not only of your life. This is also the end of the democratic state that deprived you of your freedom, your dignity, and your human and civil rights. This is the end of the value of mutual responsibility and the value of life in Israeli society. Values ​​that distinguished us from our enemy, and now we have become like them,” he says.

Rachel Danzig, Elgarat’s sister, praises her brother for his bravery on October 7, 2023, as terrorists swarmed Kibbutz Nir Oz.

“You, Itzik, fought them with a fierce heart. They took you alive. I believed so much that you would return alive. You left too soon. They tortured you, they starved you, you left in great agony that only bloodthirsty murderers can inflict,” she says.

“We were unable to save you and our friends. We were unable to save you from an evil government,” she says.

Israel announces title of Eurovision song: ‘New day will rise’

Yuval Raphael, winner of the reality show 'The Next Star,' speaks to the media after winning the final in Neve Ilan, near Jerusalem, January 22, 2025 (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

Israel’s entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest is titled “New day will rise,” announces the Kan public broadcaster, which is responsible for the country’s participation in the annual competition.

The song, which will be performed by Yuval Raphael at the contest in Switzerland in May, is slated to be unveiled by Kan on March 9.

Raphael is a survivor of the October 7, 2023, terror onslaught at the Nova music festival.

The song — which was written by Keren Peles — has stirred controversy, with a group of songwriters accusing Kan of rigging the process and improperly favoring Peles, who also wrote last year’s song and serves as a judge on the reality TV competition that selected Raphael. Kan has rejected the accusations and said the song selection process was carried out blindly.

Peles also wrote “Hurricane,” Israel’s entry to the contest last year, sung by Eden Golan. It finished fifth.

Foreign Ministry: Israel rejects ‘agenda-driven’ Geneva conference on Gaza war

Israel “strongly rejects” an upcoming conference in Switzerland on international humanitarian law in the Middle East, the Foreign Ministry says.

“The planned conference is part of the legal warfare against Israel,” the Foreign Ministry states in a press release, saying that “Israel will not lend its hand to this agenda-driven initiative.”

The upcoming conference of the states who have ratified the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which governs the protection of civilians during war and occupation, is set to take place in Geneva on Friday.

The parties at the convention “have convened only three times in the past – all of them in relation to Israel – rendering this event inherently political and a blatant politicization of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law,” says the Foreign Ministry.

According to Swiss public broadcaster SWI swissinfo, the convention will be held at the ambassadorial level and a declaration is expected to be adopted.

“Some states will push for the declaration to condemn the illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories,” but won’t go beyond a declaration passed by the convention in 2014, Vincent Chetail, professor of international law at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, tells the news outlet.

The convention comes at a delicate stage in Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations, after Israel paused the entry of all trucks carrying aid into Gaza as a response to Hamas’s refusal of what Israel called a US-proposed offer to extend the first phase of the ceasefire that ended on Saturday.

The UN General Assembly mandated Switzerland to convene the parties in September. In the past, the conference has convened in response to concerns about Israeli policies in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, with discussions often focused on the legal status of occupied territories and alleged violations of international law.

Coffin of slain hostage Itzik Elgarat arrives at his Kibbutz Nir Oz home ahead of funeral

The coffin of slain hostage Itzik Elgarat is placed outside his home during his funeral service in Kibbutz Nir Oz on March 3, 2025 (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

The coffin of slain hostage Itzik Elgarat arrives at Kibbutz Nir Oz ahead of his funeral.

Crowds lined the route as the convoy made its way from Rishon Lezion to the Gaza border community.

The funeral ceremony will be held outside the home of Elgarat, from which he was kidnapped during the terror onslaught on October 7, 2023.

One in four of Kibbutz Nir Oz’s residents were killed or kidnapped on that day.

Comptroller says IDF probes into October 7 failures ‘do not present the full picture’

File - State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman addresses the Knesset Finance Committee, December 20, 2023. (Courtesy: State Comptroller’s Office)

Addressing the Knesset State Control Committee, State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman states that the IDF’s internal investigations into the failures of October 7 “do not present the full picture” and says that he plans on issuing a report that will enable the committee to establish a state commission of inquiry.

A state commission of inquiry can be established by either the government or the State Control Committee, upon receipt of a report by the state comptroller.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is opposed to the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, and it is unlikely that the State Control Committee, in which the coalition has a majority, would vote to establish one.

Englman tells the committee that he plans on issuing a “sharp critique” that will pin “personal responsibility” on those to blame for various “shortcomings and failures” — and that his critique will “include all levels — political, military and civilian.”

His own report do not preclude the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, he continues, adding that “you, the members of the committee, can establish such a commission based on a report that we will issue.”

Englman’s report was delayed by opposition from the IDF and Shin Bet security service, he continues, citing a June 2024 High Court interim injunction ordering him to suspend the aspects of his investigation involving the two bodies. Englman has repeatedly criticized the army and the Shin Bet for failing to cooperate with his investigation and has alleged that the military was “intimidating” senior officers who gave testimony to his staff.

This week, the IDF released a series of reports on its own failures, which it presented to Englman.

These reports are important but “naturally these are military investigations,” which focus on the IDF and “do not present the full picture of the failures of October 7.”

“This further strengthens the obligation to conduct an audit of the core of the failure,” he says, arguing that his office is the “only body” capable of coordinating probes into the various governmental and security agencies involved in a wide-ranging investigation.

Englman calls on Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to order the IDF and Shin Bet to cooperate with his probe.

Druze MK: Haifa terror attack ‘does not reflect the loyal spirit of the Druze community’

Hamed Amar speaks during a committee meeting in the Knesset, on June 14, 2016. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

This morning’s stabbing attack in Haifa’s Hamifratz central bus station does not represent the Druze community, MK Hamed Amar of the right-wing opposition Yisrael Beytenu party declares after media outlets report that the perpetrator was a Druze citizen of Israel who also holds German citizenship.

According to eyewitness testimonies, the attacker was around 20 years old and arrived at the station on a bus coming from Shfar’am.

Amar, who hails from Shfar’am, strongly condemns the attack, which he says was “carried out by a terrorist with German citizenship who was born and lived in Germany.” Police say the attacker returned to Israel a week ago after several months abroad.

“Such an act of terrorism is contrary to every moral and human value and certainly does not reflect the loyal spirit of the Druze community in Israel, which is a full partner in defending the state and its values,” Amar states.

Police: Haifa terrorist returned to Israel last week after several months abroad, victim was fatally stabbed in back

Members of Israeli security and emergency services deploy at the site of a stabbing terror attack at a central bus station in Haifa on March 3, 2025. (Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

Police confirm that the perpetrator of a stabbing terror attack in Haifa this morning is a Druze citizen of Israel from Shfar’am, who returned to Israel a week ago after spending several months abroad.

Hebrew outlets name the attacker as Jethro Shaheen, around 20 years old. There is no confirmation of his identity from authorities.

The terrorist stabbed five people, killing a man in his 60s and injuring four others, according to a statement from law enforcement. The victim has not been publicly named.

The assailant was shot dead at the scene by a security guard and armed civilian.

The victim in his 60s was fatally stabbed in the back multiple times, police say, contradicting earlier reports suggesting he may have been shot dead by civilian gunfire directed at the terrorist.

They note he suffered a non-fatal gunshot wound to his foot, presumably from civilian gunfire.

Hospital says 15-year-old boy seriously wounded in Haifa terror attack underwent surgery, is stable

Zaka personnel at the scene of a terror attack in Haifa, March 3, 2025 (David Cohen/Flash90)

A 15-year-old boy who was critically wounded in the Haifa terror attack underwent surgery at Rambam Medical Center and is now in stable condition and recovering in the pediatric intensive care unit, Dr. Michal Mekel, deputy director of the hospital says.

Three other people wounded in the attack are in moderate condition.

A man aged around 70 was killed in the attack at a bus station in the northern city this morning.

IDF says it struck vessel identified as threat after crossing maritime border off Gaza coast

The IDF says it struck a suspicious vessel that passed a maritime boundary set by the military off the coast of northern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip earlier today.

Before the strike, warning shots were fired at the vessel, which the military says was identified as a threat.

It is unclear whether the vessel sank or remained afloat.

The IDF has repeatedly warned fishermen, swimmers, and divers not to enter the sea along the entire Strip during the ceasefire.

Separately, the IDF says troops opened fire on two suspects who approached them in the southern Gaza Strip and “posed an imminent threat.” Palestinian media reported two dead in the incident.

Dore Gold, former UN envoy and Netanyahu aide, dies at 71

Director-General of the Foreign Ministry Dore Gold at the weekly cabinet meeting in the Prime Minister's Office, Jerusalem, June 26, 2016. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Dore Gold, a former ambassador and adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, dies aged 71.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar sends his condolences on social media, calling Gold “a model diplomat, paving new paths for Israel’s relations with countries around the world, especially within the Arab sphere.”

Gold held key diplomatic posts, including Foreign Ministry director general from 2015 to 2016, and Israel’s UN ambassador from 1997 to 1999.

He was a member of Israel’s delegation at the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference, and was Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser during his first term in the 1990s and again from 2013 to 2015. He also headed the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs think tank.

Gold is survived by his wife, two children and six grandchildren.

Reports: Haifa terrorist was Druze Israeli citizen with German citizenship who lived abroad until recently

Israeli security forces secure the scene of a stabbing terror attack in Haifa, Israel, on March 3, 2025 (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Hebrew outlets report that the terrorist who carried out a stabbing attack in Haifa’s Hamifratz central bus station is a Druze citizen of Israel who also holds German citizenship.

The assailant apparently lived abroad for some time before returning to Israel around a month ago.

According to eyewitness testimonies, the attacker was around 20 years old and arrived at the station on a bus coming from Shfar’am.

He was shot dead at the scene.

Netanyahu offers condolences to family of man killed in Haifa terror attack

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives to the District Court in Tel Aviv, to testify in his ongoing corruption trial, February 24, 2025. (Moti Milrod/Pool)

After an Israeli civilian is murdered in a terrorist attack in Haifa, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offers his condolences to the victim’s family, and extends his wishes for a speedy recovery for the four people who were injured.

“We will continue to fight those who seek to take our lives everywhere — and we will defeat them,” says Netanyahu in a statement.

The victim of the attack has not yet been publicly named.

Eyewitness to Haifa terror attack: He shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ and started stabbing people

Members of Israeli security and emergency services at the site of a stabbing terror attack at a central bus station in Haifa on March 3, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

An eyewitness to this morning’s deadly terror attack in Haifa says the assailant shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he began to stab people.

“He got off [the bus] at the Hamifratz station, shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ and started stabbing people,” the unnamed witness tells the Walla news site. “Security guards shot him.”

One man was killed and four injured in the terror attack in the northern city. The assailant was killed at the scene.

Crowds line streets for funeral procession of slain hostage Itzik Elgarat

Crowds wait for the funeral procession of slain hostage Itzik Elgarat in Rishon Lezion on March 3, 2025. (Pro-democracy protest groups/Yael Gadot)

Crowds line the streets as the funeral procession of slain hostage Itzik Elgarat makes its way from Rishon Lezion to Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Elgarat was abducted by terrorists from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023.

His body was transferred to Israel by Hamas last week under the hostage-ceasefire deal.

He is survived by two children, a brother and two sisters.

Yair Golan: Deadly Haifa attack shows ‘profound failure’ of right-wing government

Leader of The Democrats Yair Golan holds a press conference in Tel Aviv, on February 13, 2025 (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

The deadly terror attack in Haifa “illustrates the profound failure of the full right-wing government,” declares The Democrats chairman Yair Golan.

“This is a government that does not guard the security of its citizens because it is preoccupied with political survival instead of running the country,” Golan writes on X, arguing that Israel “needs courageous and responsible leadership now.”

“Full right-wing government” is a catchphrase used by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to refer to the fact that it is the most right-wing in Israel’s history, pursuing hawkish policies.

Opposition lawmakers: Bill giving coalition control over appointment of judiciary ombudsman will set off ‘hunting campaign’

Opposition members of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee say a bill scheduled to be passed into law today that gives the coalition control over the appointment of the ombudsman for judges would set off a “hunting campaign” against judges who rule against the government.

“This is the beginning of a hunting campaign against judges who do not get in line with the will of the government, a further step in the regime coup that is being advanced under the public radar,” say MKs Yoav Segelovich (Yesh Atid), Gilad Kariv (Democrats) and Karine Elharrar (Yesh Atid).

The legislation will create a new seven-member committee to appoint the ombudsman, who oversees disciplinary procedures against judges, on which the current coalition will likely have a majority.

The opposition alleges that the complaints and disciplinary process will become tainted by political considerations as a result, but the coalition says that under the current system judges have too much power in the appointment of the official who is in charge of reviewing misconduct claims against them.

Under the current system, the justice minister and the president of the Supreme Court must agree on a candidate, and the Judicial Selection Committee votes on their nomination.

Israel assumes presidency of International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, Dani Dayan to serve as chair

Yad Vashem director Dani Dayan on January 9, 2025, at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem. (Menahem Kahana / AFP)

Israel is assuming its yearlong presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), taking over from the United Kingdom, which held it previously in the rotation.

Yad Vashem chairman Dani Dayan will serve as chair of the IHRA through February 2026. A ceremony is being held today at the Foreign Ministry to mark the occasion.

As this year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust, Israel’s presidency will focus on the theme “The Crossroads of Generations,” a reference to the rapidly approaching reality in which Holocaust survivors and firsthand witnesses are no longer available to educate future generations.

The IHRA is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to promoting Holocaust education and research and combating antisemitism. Its working definition of antisemitism has become an accepted criterion for defining antisemitism in 40 countries and 1,200 cultural and academic institutions, along with local and regional authorities.

“The voices of victims and survivors demand that we honor their legacy by standing firm against Holocaust denial, distortion, and hatred,” Dayan says. “In a world witnessing a dramatic rise in antisemitism and grappling with the challenges and opportunities of emerging technologies, our obligation to historical truth has never been more critical.”

Police say assailant in Haifa terror attack was an Israeli citizen

Members of Israeli security and emergency services at the site of a stabbing terror attack at a central bus station in Haifa on March 3, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

The terrorist who carried out a deadly stabbing attack this morning in Haifa is an Israeli citizen, says police spokesman Aryeh Doron.

Police say the assailant was killed shortly after carrying out the stabbing attack. It is suspected he was shot by a bus station security guard.

According to reports, eyewitnesses say the terrorist is around 20 years old and arrived at the bus station from the northern city of Shfar’am

One man was killed and four people were injured in the attack near the entrance to a Haifa bus station.

Police chief says law enforcement working to identify terrorist in Haifa attack

Israel Police chief Daniel Levy (C) at the scene of a terror attack in Haifa on March 3, 2025 (Israel Police)

Israel Police chief Daniel Levy says law enforcement is still trying to verify the identity of the assailant in a terror stabbing attack this morning in Haifa.

“The identity of the eliminated terrorist is not yet clear. We are scanning the area in order to rule out the presence of additional assailants,” he says in a statement after arriving at the site of the attack.

Man killed in Haifa terror attack; 3 seriously injured, including teen; 1 moderately wounded

The scene of a suspected terror attack in Haifa on March 3, 2025 (Social media used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

A man aged around 70 was killed in the terror stabbing attack in Haifa, medics say.

The Magen David Adom emergency service says four others were injured. A teenage boy and a man and woman aged around 30 were seriously wounded, and a woman of around 70 was in moderate condition.

The injured were taken to Rambam Medical Center in the northern city.

Netanyahu apologizes to recently released hostage Eli Sharabi: ‘Sorry that it took us so long’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to recently freed hostage Eli Sharabi by phone, March 3, 2025 (screenshot/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologizes to recently freed hostage Eli Sharabi for failing to free him earlier.

“I am sorry that it took us so long,” says Netanyahu in a phone conversation, according to the Prime Minister’s Office transcript. “We fought hard to get you out, and your brother and the entire family fought hard too.”

Sharabi, 53, is expected to meet Donald Trump this week after the US president saw an interview in which the freed hostage described having been chained, beaten and starved by his captors.

Netanyahu tells the Kibbutz Be’eri resident that he “greatly appreciates the courageous way you are telling about what you have been through, and it is also very important that you tell President Trump.”

Sharabi stresses the importance of bringing all the hostages home, including the slain. The body of Sharabi’s brother Yossi is still being held in Gaza.

“Thank you for all the efforts you are making in this direction,” says Sharabi, promising that he and his brother Sharon will do what they can to advance the cause with Trump. “Perhaps with joint efforts we will bring this whole saga to an end,” says Sharabi.

“That is the goal,” responds Netanyahu, “and I want you to know that we are not letting up on it for a moment, including in these moments that I am speaking to you.”

Police say attacker in Haifa stabbing terror attack ‘neutralized’ on scene

The scene of a suspected terror attack in Haifa on March 3, 2025 (Social media used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Police say that the attacker who carried out the Haifa terror stabbing attack was “neutralized.”

While reports have suggested that a second attacker was also shot on the scene at the Haifa bus station, the police announcement suggests that the second person shot may not have been an assailant.

Earlier reports had said the attack was carried out by two men using a gun and a knife.

Medics say five people were injured — one critically, three seriously and one moderately.
 

4 injured in suspected terror shooting, stabbing attack in Haifa; 2 assailants said ‘neutralized’

Four people were injured in a suspected terror attack in Haifa, the Magen David Adom emergency service says.

The head of the medical service, Eli Bin, says the injured are in serious-moderate condition.

According to reports, two terrorists carried out the attack — one of them opened fire while the second one stabbed passersby.

Both of the attackers were said to have been “neutralized” on the scene.

An image shared on social media, purporting to be of the attackers, shows two men lying prone on the ground, apparently near an entrance to the bus station.

Number of people wounded in suspected terror shooting attack in Haifa

A number of people have been wounded in a suspected terror shooting attack in Haifa, police say in a statement.

According to Channel 12 news, at least four people were injured in the suspected attack in the area of the central bus station in the northern city.

Reports suggest some of the victims may have been stabbed and that an attacker was “neutralized.”

Russia says it ‘neutralized’ man planning terror attacks on Jewish institution, Moscow metro

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) says it “neutralized” a man who was planning “terrorist attacks” on the Moscow metro and a Jewish religious institution in the Moscow region.

FSB officers attempted to arrest the suspect, but he resisted and was shot dead by return fire, the FSB says.

The suspect had planned to travel to Afghanistan and join a terrorist group following the attacks, it states.

Family of slain hostage Itzik Elgarat asks public to line route of his funeral procession today

Itzik Elgarat was taken captive from his Kibbutz Nir Oz home by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)

The family of slain hostage Itzik Elgarat has called on the public to bring Israeli national flags and line the route of his funeral procession today.

The convoy will take the following route:

10:45 a.m. Ahad Ha’am in Rishon Lezion
11:15 a.m. Rishonim interchange
11:30 a.m. Yavne interchange
12:00 p.m. Yad Mordechai interchange
12:15 p.m. Hakeshatot interchange
12:30 p.m. Sa’ad interchange
12:45 p.m. Nir Oz interchange
1:00 p.m. arrival at Kibbutz Nir Oz

The progress of the convoy and the funeral itself will be screened at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square.

Elgarat’s funeral is to be held at 2 p.m. outside his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, from which he was abducted on Oct. 7, 2023.

The service will be open to the public and media while the burial at the kibbutz cemetery will be private.

Elgarat’s body was handed over by Hamas last week under the hostage-ceasefire deal. He is survived by his two children and siblings.

Palestinian media reports 2 shot and killed by IDF troops in south Gaza’s Rafah area

Palestinian media report that two were shot to death by Israeli troops in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip this morning.

The IDF has not yet commented.

Israeli forces are still deployed to a buffer zone along the Gaza border and the Egypt-Gaza border area, amid the ceasefire, and the IDF has repeatedly warned Palestinians against approaching the area.

Bank Hapoalim announces 2024 net profit of over $2 billion as borrowing costs stay high

People withdraw money from a Bank Hapoalim ATM machine in Tel Aviv on December 9, 2024 (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

Bank Hapoalim, one of Israel’s two largest lenders, earned a net profit of NIS 7.64 billion ($2.12 billion) in 2024 as borrowing costs for mortgage and loan holders remained high, which helped propel income from net interest and fees.

Net profit increased from NIS 7.36 billion in 2023. Net interest income last year jumped 5.4 percent to about NIS 17 billion in 2024 year-on-year. Fee income increased 2.3% to almost NIS 4 billion. Total income in 2024 rose by 2.7% to about NIS 22 billion compared to 2023.

“The main driver of the increase is income growth, coupled with a decline in credit loss provision, partially offset by an increase in expenses, mainly due to an early retirement plan,” Hapoalim says in a statement.

The bank’s profit declined 11.9% to NIS 1.55 billion in the October to December period from the NIS 1.76 billion earned during the same period a year ago due to “a negative contribution of the CPI and an increase in expenses.” Meanwhile, net interest income amounted to NIS 4.18 billion, up from the NIS 3.75 billion recorded during the same quarter in 2023.

Hapoalim says quarterly and annual results were impacted by a NIS 597 million expense for an early retirement plan announced last December.

The bank provides guidance and sees its net profit in the range of NIS 8.5 billion to 9.5 billion in both 2025 and 2026.

Culture minister decries Oscar win for Palestinian-Israeli documentary on Israeli demolitions in Palestinian village

Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar attends a ceremony for the Israeli Olympic and Paralympic delegation competing at the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris, at the President's Residence in Jerusalem on June 19, 2024. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

Culture Minister Miki Zohar decries the Oscar win for “No Other Land,” a Palestinian-Israeli documentary which chronicles Israel’s demolitions in the Palestinian West Bank village of Masafer Yatta.

“The Oscar win for the film ‘No Other Country’ is a sad moment for the world of cinema – instead of presenting the complexity of our reality, the filmmakers chose to echo narratives that distort Israel’s image in the world,” Zohar writes on X.

“Freedom of expression is an important value, but turning the slander of Israel into a tool for international promotion is not creativity – it is sabotage of the State of Israel, and after the massacre of October 7 and the ongoing war, it doubly hurts,” he writes.

Zohar says the win demonstrates the need for legislation “to ensure that public resources are directed to works that speak to the Israeli audience, and not to an industry that makes a career out of defaming the country at foreign festivals.”

Zohar has championed reform to push government money toward commercially oriented movies rather than artistic films and documentaries that shed light on Israel’s periphery and minorities, with financing going to films based on audience numbers and ticket sales.

The proposal is seen by professionals as an effort by Israel’s right-wing government to silence liberal voices and limit the opportunities to hear non-mainstream perspectives.

Slain hostage Itzik Elgarat to be buried today at Kibbutz Nir Oz; family says service open to public

Itzik Elgarat was taken captive from his Kibbutz Nir Oz home by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. (Courtesy)

The funeral of slain hostage Itzik Elgarat is to be held at 2 p.m. outside his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, from which he was abducted on Oct. 7, 2023.

The service will be open to the public and media. The burial at the kibbutz cemetery will be private.

Elgarat is survived by two children, a brother and two sisters.

His body was transferred to Israel by Hamas last week under the hostage-ceasefire deal.

The kibbutz said Elgarat, who was abducted at 68, “came to Nir Oz following his brother and became a beloved figure in the community. For years, he served the kibbutz with dedication as a groundskeeper and was responsible for plumbing, gas, and steam maintenance.

“He was an integral part of the social fabric, loved spending time at the local pub, hosting friends, and connecting different generations. His great love for soccer and backgammon was well known, and he shone in local games, always with a smile and a warm spirit.”

Freed hostage Agam Berger visits Joseph’s Tomb in Palestinian West Bank city of Nablus

Freed hostage Agam Berger visits Joseph’s Tomb in the Palestinian West Bank city of Nablus overnight.

Berger is an IDF surveillance soldier who was kidnapped to Gaza on October 7 and freed in January under the hostage-ceasefire deal.

“I want to say thank you to you, the soldiers. Take care of yourselves, you are truly heroes,” Berger says.

“And don’t forget anyone. They need us, they need our prayers, they need us to be strong for them,” she says, referring to the hostages.

התצפיתנית שורדת השבי אגם ברגר נכנסה הלילה לקבר יוסף: "אני רוצה להגיד לכם, לחיילים ולחיילות תודה. שתשמרו על עצמכם, שאתם באמת גיבורים. ושלא לשכוח אף אחד. הם צריכים אותנו, הם צריכים את התפילות שלנו, הם צריכים אותנו חזקים בשבילם"@HGoldich
צילום: רועי חדי, מועצה אזורית שומרון pic.twitter.com/gUOt5n4ZZU

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) March 3, 2025

The shrine, regarded by some as the final resting place of the biblical Joseph, is located inside Area A of the West Bank, which is officially under complete Palestinian Authority control, though the Israeli military regularly enters despite Palestinian opposition.

Before the war, busloads of Orthodox Jews visited Joseph’s Tomb under IDF protection on a nearly monthly basis, and the pilgrimages almost always sparked violent clashes with Palestinian locals.

The IDF bars Israeli citizens from entering Palestinian cities without prior authorization and protection, and some criticize the monthly incursions as an unnecessary provocation that additionally places Israeli soldiers at risk. Groups often enter without coordination with the military, frequently resulting in troops needing to be sent in to extract them.

Trump downplays ‘worrying’ over Russia rapprochement: ‘We should spend less time worrying about Putin’

L: Russian President Vladimir Putin, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, February 17, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP); R: US President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago golf club in in Palm Beach, Florida, February 18, 2025. (Pool via AP)

US President Donald Trump responds to criticism over his increasing closeness to Russia on Ukraine, saying the United States should worry “less” about Vladimir Putin.

“We should spend less time worrying about Putin, and more time worrying about migrant rape gangs, drug lords, murderers, and people from mental institutions entering our Country – So that we don’t end up like Europe!” Trump posts to his Truth Social platform.

Trump’s stunning shift in approach to the war and Russia was on full display days earlier when he berated Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in front of reporters at the White House.

The unprecedented public spat — with Trump calling the Ukrainian leader “disrespectful” — resulted in Zelensky leaving the White House without the anticipated signing of a pact on sharing mineral rights.

Trump’s growing closeness with Putin has rung alarm bells across Europe as well as among the US Democratic Party, who have raised national security concerns.

Sa’ar thanks Trump, Rubio for move to expedite delivery of $4 billion in military aid to Israel

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar in Jerusalem on February 16, 2025 (Rafi Ben Hakun/GPO)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar thanks US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the moves to expedite delivery of approximately $4 billion in military assistance to Israel.

Sa’ar says the decision is “enabling Israel to have the tools it needs to get the job done.”

“We are grateful for the expedited actions to enhance our security and ensure our defense,” he writes on X.

Rubio said Saturday that he had signed a declaration for the military assistance, without disclosing what arms or other assistance were included in the package.

The Trump administration, which took office on January 20, has approved nearly $12 billion in major foreign military sales to Israel, Rubio said in a statement, adding that it “will continue to use all available tools to fulfill America’s long-standing commitment to Israel’s security, including means to counter security threats.”

Rubio said he had used emergency authority to expedite the delivery of military assistance to Israel as it prepares for the possible return to war in Gaza amid a teetering ceasefire with Hamas.

‘Anora’ wins Oscar for best picture; here’s a complete list of this year’s winners

Quentin Tarantino, left, presents the award for best director to Sean Baker for "Anora" during the Oscars on March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Adrien Brody has taken home his second leading actor Oscar for “The Brutalist,” Mikey Madison snags the best actress statuette, and “Anora” is crowned best picture on its way to five awards.

Kieran Culkin wins the Oscar for best supporting actor for his work on “A Real Pain” and Zoe Saldaña wins for her work in “Emilia Pérez.” Sean Baker has a stunning night, winning the screenplay, director and editing awards for “Anora.”

“Flow” beats “The Wild Robot” for best animated feature film while Paul Tazewell becomes the first Black man to win an Oscar for costume design for his work on “Wicked.”

Here’s the complete list of winners at the 97th annual Academy Awards:

Best picture

“Anora”

Best Actor

Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”

Best Actress

Mikey Madison, “Anora”

Director

Sean Baker, “Anora”

Best Supporting Actress

Zoe Saldaña, “Emilia Pérez”

Best Supporting Actor

Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”

International Film

“I’m Still Here”

Documentary Feature

“No Other Land”

Original Screenplay

“Anora,” Sean Baker

Adapted Screenplay

“Conclave,” Peter Straughan

Original Score

“The Brutalist,” Daniel Blumberg

Original Song

“El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez”

Animated Film

“Flow”

Visual Effects

“Dune: Part Two”

Costume Design

“Wicked,” Paul Tazewell

Cinematography

“The Brutalist,” Lol Crawley

Documentary Short Film

“The Only Girl in the Orchestra”

Best Sound

“Dune: Part Two”

Production Design

“Wicked”

Makeup and Hairstyling

“The Substance”

Film Editing

“Anora,” Sean Baker

Live Action Short Film

“I’m Not a Robot”

Animated Short Film

“In the Shadow of the Cypress”

Adrien Brody wins his 2nd best actor Oscar for ‘The Brutalist,’ again as a Holocaust survivor

Adrien Brody accepts the award for best performance by an actor in a leading role for "The Brutalist" during the Oscars on March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Twenty-two years after winning best actor for “The Pianist,” Adrien Brody wins the same Oscar again for his performance as another Holocaust survivor in Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” at the 97th Academy Awards.

Brody’s win comes over Timothée Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”), who had the chance of becoming the youngest best actor ever, a record owned by Brody – just short of 30 when he won for “The Pianist.”

“Thank you God for this blessed life,” says Brody.

Brody joins an elite group of multiple winners in this category that includes Daniel Day-Lewis, Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins, Jack Nicholson and Spencer Tracy.

Brody has said his mother escaped from Hungary and moved across the Atlantic, echoing the journey of the character he plays, a modernist architect named Laszlo Toth.

“I understand a great deal about the repercussions of that on her life and her work as an artist,” he told reporters at the Venice Film Festival. Brody’s mother is the celebrated photographer Sylvia Plachy.

Brody, whose acting credits include numerous roles in Wes Anderson movies, has worked with a who’s who of prestige directors including Woody Allen, Peter Jackson, Spike Lee, Barry Levinson, Terrence Malick, Roman Polanski and Steven Soderbergh.

His commercial work includes roles in “King Kong” and “Predators.” His upcoming movies include “Emperor,” a medieval action epic.

Israeli-Palestinian film ‘No Other Land’ wins Oscar for best documentary

Basel Adra, from left, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, and Yuval Abraham accept the award for best documentary feature film for "No Other Land" during the Oscars on March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

“No Other Land,” the story of Palestinian activists fighting to protect their communities from demolition by the Israeli military, wins the Oscar for best documentary.

The collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers follows activist Basel Adra as he risks arrest to document the destruction of his hometown, which Israeli soldiers are tearing down to use as a military training zone, at the southern edge of the West Bank. Adra’s pleas fall on deaf ears until he befriends a Jewish Israeli journalist who helps him amplify his story.

“About two months ago, I became a father, and my hope to my daughter that she will not have to live the same life I’m living now, always fearing settlers, violence, home demolitions and forcible displacements,” says Adra as he receives his award.

US said to halt offensive cyber ops against Russia as part of effort to cultivate ties

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Q. Brown, Jr. (L), speaks with the media during his first official arrival at the Pentagon as secretary, in Washington on January 27, 2025. (Saul Loeb/AFP)

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a halt to offensive cyber operations against Russia in an effort to renew relations and achieve talks with Moscow on Ukraine, The New York Times reports.

The report, which cites a current official and two former officials familiar with the instruction, says this is “part of a larger re-evaluation of all operations against Russia.”

The order was given before the extraordinary public shouting match in the Oval Office between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the report adds.

Oscars ceremony kicks off in LA; actor Guy Pearce wears ‘Free Palestine’ pin

Guy Pearce wears a pro-Palestinian pin as he arrives at the Oscars on March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

The 97th Academy Awards have kicked off at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. “Emilia Pérez” leads the pack with 13 Oscar nominations, but “Wicked” and “The Brutalist” are close behind.

“The Brutalist” actor Guy Pearce shows up wearing a “FREE PALESTINE” pin featuring a white dove and a gold branch.

Pearce, who has expressed his support throughout the awards season with various pins, says: “It’s the least we can do. I’m just always on the case of trying to recognize Palestine and it having as much support as it possibly can because it’s what it absolutely needs.”

Report: Next potential steps to pressure Hamas include cutting electricity to Gaza, resuming war

Israel is planning to incrementally pile on pressure on Hamas to accept a new proposal extending the ceasefire deal’s first phase and securing the release of all the hostages the terror group is holding, in addition to Sunday’s halt to aid entering the Gaza Strip, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

The report says the next stages of Israel’s “maximum pressure” plan, said to have been drafted over the past few weeks, is to again move the Gazan population from northern Gaza to the territory’s south — as had been the case for most of the war — and later, if needed, cutting all electricity to the Strip.

The final planned measure is reportedly a full return to the war, this time with the heavy bombs withheld by the previous US administration as well as the billions worth of arms and military equipment the new administration is sending Israel.

Argentina’s Milei to visit Israel March 23, aiming to boost ties

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets Argentinian President Javier Milei in Jerusalem, February 7, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

Argentina’s President Javier Milei will travel to Israel on March 23 to strengthen ties between the two nations, the Argentine presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni tells Reuters.

France, UK propose one-month partial Ukraine truce — Macron

(L-R) Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and France's President Emmanuel Macron embrace after holding a meeting during a summit at Lancaster House in central London on March 2, 2025. (JUSTIN TALLIS / POOL / AFP)

France and Britain are proposing a one-month truce in Ukraine “in the air, at sea,” after crisis talks in London, French President Emmanuel Macron says.

In an interview with France’s Le Figaro newspaper, Macron says that such a truce would not, initially at least, cover ground fighting.

The problem there is it would be very difficult to check that it is being respected given the size of the front line, he says.

Peacekeepers would be deployed at a later date, he says, adding: “There won’t be European troops on Ukrainian soil in the coming weeks.”

Macron also suggests that European countries should raise their defense spending to between 3.0 and 3.5 percent of GDP to respond to Washington’s shifting priorities and Russia’s militarization.

“For three years, the Russians have spent 10% of their GDP on defense,” he tells the paper. “So we have to prepare for what’s next.”