The Times of Israel is liveblogging Wednesday’s events as they unfold.
Iran’s newly created Persian Gulf Strait Authority says in a post on X that there will be a “controlled maritime zone” at the Strait of Hormuz.
The authority, which was set to manage the strait, set the zone as the “line connecting Kuh-e Mobarak in Iran and southern Fujairah in the UAE at the eastern side of the strait, to the line connecting the end of Qeshm Island in Iran and Umm Al Quwain in the UAE at the western side of the strait.”
It says transit through the area to pass through the strait will require coordination and authorization from the authority.
US President Donald Trump says the United States is willing to wait a few days for the “right answer” from Iran, as talks are right “on the borderline.”
“It’s right on the borderline, if we don’t get the right answers, it goes very quickly,” he tells reporters just after stepping off Air Force One. “We’re all ready to go.”
The president says that “we have to get the right answers [from Iran], so it’d have to be complete 100% good answers, and if we do, we save a lot of time, energy and lives.”
Trump says that it “could be a few days, but it could go very quickly.” He says the US is dealing with Iran with “people that are, I think, far more reasonable than the people that are really no longer with us… so hopefully those people will make a deal that’s going to be great for everyone.”
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told US President Donald Trump in a call today that he welcomed the extension of a ceasefire between the US and Iran, adding he believed contested issues between the sides could be resolved, according to the Turkish presidency.
“During the meeting, our president stated that he viewed the decision to extend the ceasefire in the conflict zone in our region as a positive development [and] that he believed a reasonable solution to the disputed issues was possible,” the presidency says in a statement.
It adds that Erdogan called renewed stability in Syria an “important gain” for the region, adding that he urged steps to prevent the situation in Lebanon from worsening amid the continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Trump tells reporters that he had a “very good” call with Erdogan, adding that the pair have a very good relationship.
An IDF soldier was seriously wounded and three others were moderately wounded earlier today after an explosive drone struck troops operating in southern Lebanon, the military says.
According to the IDF, a female soldier was seriously wounded, while a combat officer and two additional soldiers sustained moderate injuries in the blast.
Another officer and two more soldiers were lightly wounded in the same incident, the military says.
All of the wounded were evacuated to a hospital for treatment, and their families have been notified.
Undercover troops from the IDF’s Duvdevan commando unit arrested two wanted Palestinians in separate operations in the West Bank within less than 12 hours, including one suspect accused of planning an imminent terror attack, the military says.
According to the IDF, one suspect was arrested in the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya. The military says he had been involved in advancing terror plots and was planning to carry out an attack in the “immediate future.”
In a separate operation, Duvdevan troops arrested another suspect in Nablus, who the IDF says was involved in “advancing terror activity.”
Israel Prisons Service Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi reportedly approved the behavior of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir in a widely derided clip of detained activists from the Gaza flotilla.
According to a report in the Kan public broadcaster, Yaakobi, considered a close ally of Ben Gvir, gave the go ahead for the minister to tour the facility where the activists were held, as well as them being restrained, forced to kneel on the ground and having him parade around with an Israeli flag and blasting Hebrew music.
The media outlets suggests that the prison officials present in the clip were acting against political and military policies.
The Prisons Service tells Haaretz in a statement that the detention of the activists was “carried out in accordance with procedure and professional considerations.”
The video was condemned not just by a wide range of nations, including the US, UK, Canada and most European countries, but also by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.
Yaakobi is set to be indicted on charges that he informed a senior police official that he was the subject of a covert probe, in a bid to curry favor with Ben Gvir.
The IDF is investigating a suspected looting incident involving a reserve battalion commander with the rank of lieutenant colonel, after troops allegedly took a generator from southern Lebanon and brought it back to Israel, according to the Kan public broadcaster.
Kan reports that information recently reached the officer’s commanders alleging that the battalion commander, another officer and several soldiers loaded the generator onto their jeep while operating in Lebanon and drove it back into Israeli territory.
According to the report, the incident came to light after soldiers informed their commanders, who then instructed the battalion commander to return the generator to the location from which it had been taken.
Responding to the report, the IDF says the incident was carried out “without authorization and in violation of mandatory procedures,” adding that the military “views any deviation from the orders and norms expected of its soldiers with great severity and acts accordingly.”
The incident comes less than a month after IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warned senior commanders that incidents of looting by troops “stain the entire IDF.”
US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a tense phone call last night about new mediation efforts by several Arab and Muslim states to reach a deal between the US and Iran, the Axios news site reports, citing an American source and two Israeli sources familiar with the call.
The emerging proposal – reportedly drafted by Qatar and Pakistan with input from regional mediators Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt – would see Washington and Tehran sign a “letter of intent” that would officially end the war and open 30 days of negotiations on issues including reopening the Strait of Hormuz and limiting Iran’s nuclear program, a US source involved in the phone call tells the news outlet.
The two leaders disagreed on the path forward during the call, as Netanyahu was highly skeptical of the framework, believing the US should continue applying military pressure on Iran to further weaken the regime by destroying its critical infrastructure, two Israeli sources tell Axios.
The US source says that Netanyahu’s “hair was on fire after the call,” though Israeli sources note that Netanyahu “is always concerned” about how negotiations with Iran will go, even during stages that previously failed.
The Prime Minister’s Office and the White House declined to comment to Axios on the report.
Mediators have been working over the last several days to bridge gaps on the last Pakistani proposal, and Qatar recently presented the US and Iran with a new draft, two Arab sources and an Israeli source tell Axios, though a fourth Qatari source says there is no separate draft from Qatar and Doha is only aiming to improve the Pakistani draft.
The current efforts aim to get stronger commitments from the Iranians regarding limiting their nuclear program and better guarantees from the US to gradually unfreeze Iranian funds kept abroad, according to the report.
Qatar sent a delegation to Tehran earlier this week for talks on the latest draft, as did Pakistan, the report adds.
The exchange of messages between Iran and the United States has continued based on Tehran’s 14-point proposal, with Pakistan’s interior minister in Iran to help facilitate it, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson says.
Esmaeil Baghaei also tells state TV that Iran is seeking to establish a mechanism with Oman to ensure sustainable security in the Strait of Hormuz.
He says Iran is ready to develop protocols for safe shipping traffic in cooperation with other coastal states, without providing further details.
Iran has largely shut the Strait of Hormuz to all ships apart from its own since the war with the US and Israel began in late February, causing the biggest disruption to global energy supplies in history. The United States responded last month with its own blockade of Iran’s ports.
Several current and former Likud members said to be involved in efforts to establish a more “statesmanlike” alternative to the ruling Likud party have reportedly been in contact with Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz but failed to come to an agreement to work together, Channel 12 reports.
According to the network, both sides believe in a broad-based Zionist coalition and have not ruled out sitting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, Gantz was not willing to give up control of the party, the report states.
Speaking with The Times of Israel, a source familiar with the matter denies the report, stating that it is incorrect, “and they know it.”
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee joins the wave of condemnations of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir after he posted a video celebrating the fact that the Gaza flotilla activists were bound and forced to kneel on the ground.
Huckabee writes on X that Ben Gvir’s actions sparked “universal outrage & condemnation from every high-ranking Israeli official,” including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, criticizing the minister’s “despicable actions.”
“Flotilla was stupid stunt, but Ben Gvir betrayed dignity of his nation,” he adds.
The US military boarded Iranian-flagged commercial oil tanker M/T Celestial Sea in the Gulf of Oman today after suspecting it had violated a US blockade, U.S. Central Command says in a statement.
US forces released the ship, which was headed toward an Iranian port, after searching it and directing its crew to alter course, the statement says.
The coalition announces that it has nominated lawyer Michael Rabello for the position of state comptroller, with 30 lawmakers, including all coalition faction leaders, signing the nomination.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reported to have personally pushed for Rabello’s nomination. Rabello has represented the premier before the High Court of Justice on multiple occasions, including regarding petitions demanding that a state commission of inquiry be established into the failures surrounding the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, invasion and atrocities.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party has meanwhile backed retired Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron for the role, with Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party also announcing its support for his candidacy.
Coalition lawmakers, including members of Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, had sought to nominate Elron, who is seen as a staunch conservative jurist, but the prime minister pushed for Rabello’s candidacy instead, according to Channel 12.
The state comptroller, elected by secret ballot in the Knesset and who must secure a majority of votes, has the authority to audit and review the functioning of government ministries and agencies and examine whether they are acting legally, efficiently and properly.
Germany, the UK and Greece all join in condemning far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s treatment of detained activists on an intercepted Gaza-bound flotilla, after he published a video flaunting their detention.
Germany’s ambassador to Israel calls the treatment “wholly unacceptable.”
“It is good to hear many Israeli voices — including the foreign minister — call out in all clarity Minister Ben Gvir’s treatment of the detainees for what it is: wholly unacceptable and incompatible with the basic values of our countries,” Steffen Seibert writes on X.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both sharply criticized Ben Gvir over the video.
British Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper says she is “truly appalled” by the video.
In a statement on X, Cooper says Britain is in contact with the families of several British nationals involved and is providing consular support.
“We have demanded an explanation from the Israeli authorities and made clear their obligations to protect the rights of our citizens and all those involved,” Cooper says.
Greece’s foreign ministry says in a statement that “the conduct of the Israeli Minister of National Security, which targeted citizens participating in the ‘Global Sumud Flotilla,’ is unacceptable and absolutely condemnable.”
The statement calls on Israel to “immediately release” detained Greek citizens and says a formal protest has been lodged at the instruction of Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz meet with soldiers on the eastern border with Jordan, where efforts are underway to reinforce defenses, according to a statement from the premier’s office.
“It is an extremely important mission to defend the eastern border. We are taking into account that our enemies want to invade Israel, and therefore we rely on you,” Netanyahu tells the soldiers in the IDF’s 96th Division, responsible for the Jordan border area.
The prime minister and defense minister “received a detailed briefing on efforts being made to reinforce defenses on the eastern frontier,” including barrier construction and the deployment of newly advanced systems and equipment, the statement reads.
Israel has become increasingly wary of border vulnerability since the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion, and has been increasing efforts to defend its 300-mile-long border against weapon smuggling and terrorist infiltrations.
US President Donald Trump says that Iran’s navy and air force are gone and the only question is whether the US goes back to finish the job or will Iran sign a document ending the current war.
“Everything’s gone. Their navy’s gone. Their air force is gone. Just about everything. The only question is, do we go and finish it up? Are they going to be signing a document? Let’s see what happens,” Trump says in a commencement address at the US Coast Guard Academy.
Canada and the Netherlands say that they will both also summon their Israeli ambassadors to protest after National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir shared a video taunting detained Gaza flotilla activists.
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand says: “What we’ve seen, including the video shared by Itamar Ben Gvir, is deeply troubling and absolutely unacceptable,” she tells reporters on a conference call. “This is a matter we take very, very seriously. It’s a matter of humane treatment of civilians, and I can assure you that we are acting with absolute urgency.”
Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen says that “the images shared by extremist Minister Ben Gvir of detained flotilla activists are shocking and unacceptable.”
“This treatment of detainees violates basic human dignity. I raised this directly with my Israeli colleague Gideon Sa’ar and will summon the Israeli ambassador,” he writes in a post on X.
The activists were aboard a flotilla that was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters yesterday and later taken to an Israeli port.
The government approves a NIS 250 million plan for the preservation and development of heritage and archaeological sites in the West Bank, the Prime Minister’s Office, Finance, Tourism, Heritage, and Settlement ministries announce in a joint statement.
According to the statement, the plan will include the establishment of new heritage centers and tourism infrastructure, as well as efforts to combat looting and vandalism.
“In the year in which we will mark 60 years since the liberation of Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, the heart of our homeland, the government of Israel is making a decision of the highest national and historical importance,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says.
“Today we are investing in preserving our past in order to secure our future, strengthen our hold on the Land of Israel, and pass on to future generations the heritage, identity and historical truth of our people,” he adds.
The move comes as the coalition is also advancing legislation to establish an Israeli civilian body responsible for antiquities and heritage sites in the West Bank and Gaza, which critics say amounts to de facto annexation and supporters describe as a way to apply sovereignty in the field of antiquities.
The Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee is set to finish preparing the bill for its final readings in the plenum on Sunday.
Lawmakers vote 53-0 in favor of a preliminary reading of an opposition bill sponsored by Blue and White MK Pnina Tamano-Shata, party chair Benny Gantz, and others to dissolve the Knesset.
The vote comes hours after lawmakers also unanimously approved a preliminary reading of a coalition-backed bill to dissolve the parliament.
“This is the beginning of the end. This failed government will go home sooner or later,” says Gantz in a statement.
According to the bill, elections would be held exactly 90 days after the law passes. The coalition’s bill does not specify a date but stipulates that it be set by the Knesset House Committee on a day no less than three months from the legislation’s final approval.
By advancing its own dissolution bill, the opposition ensures that an alternative path to early elections remains on the table even if the coalition abandons its legislation, increasing pressure on the government to demonstrate progress on a draft exemption law for yeshiva students or risk the ultra-Orthodox parties shifting support to the opposition bill.
The IDF says troops operating in northern Gaza killed a terror operative earlier today after he crossed the Yellow Line and approached forces in a manner that “posed an immediate threat.”
The operative was identified and killed by troops from the 14th Reserve Armored Brigade, the military says.
A man has been stabbed to death in Bnei Brak, police say. The perpetrator fled the scene.
The victim, 45, had been studying with his 13-year-old son in a kollel study hall inside a synagogue in the largely Haredi city, Hebrew outlets report.
He was taken to the hospital with critical injuries following the attack and later pronounced dead by medical staff there.
Police are hunting for suspects in the lethal stabbing and have tasked the Dan Precinct’s crime-fighting unit with overseeing the investigation.
Israel is considering closing its consulate in Istanbul, one of its first in the world, which was targeted in a shooting in April, an Israeli source tells AFP.
Israel’s embassy in Ankara will remain open, but still shorn of diplomatic personnel after their evacuation in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
Diplomats were likewise pulled from the Istanbul consulate, located in a business district of Turkey’s largest city, with both institutions staffed with Turkish personnel since.
“The issue is under discussion; no decision has been made,” insists the source, referring to plans to demolish the building housing the Istanbul consulate as part of earthquake preparation measures. “Some argue these vacant premises, that belong to us, are costing us a lot of money.”
It comes after a shooting took place on April 7 near the building. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, while authorities blamed a “terrorist organization which exploits religion,” without giving further details.
A 25-year-old man from Jerusalem is indicted on terror charges after allegedly taking part in three separate Jewish nationalist attacks on West Bank Palestinians and their property, one of which left a man in a coma.
The defendant, Israel Grossman, is accused of participating in the brutal beating of a Palestinian man who worked on a poultry farm on the outskirts of a village located south of Nablus.
The victim, 32-year-old Zahran Shanabla, suffered serious injuries and remains hospitalized and in a coma as a result of the attack in April.
Earlier this year, in February, Grossman allegedly vandalized property, smashed windows and set fire to a car in the town. Prosecutors say he and several other accomplices were masked and equipped with clubs and axes.
The indictment also implicates Grossman in an attack on security forces that took place in May, in which he tried again to reach the poultry farm in an ATV, while equipped with a weapon resembling a gun, pepper spray and an axe.
When police tried to arrest him, he fled and hit the forces with his vehicle, the indictment reads.
Grossman is charged with a litany of offenses including arson, causing aggravated bodily harm with a terror motive, rioting and malicious property damage.
Following reports of a suspected car-ramming attack near the West Bank settlement of Ofra, the IDF says the incident was not determined to be a terror attack.
According to the military, the incident involved a verbal altercation between an Israeli driver and a Palestinian driver, during which the Palestinian driver struck an Israeli civilian with his vehicle.
The Israeli civilian sustained light injuries and was treated at the scene by first responders, the IDF says.
The Palestinian driver later turned himself in to the authorities.
Amid a growing wave of international condemnations, France summons Israel’s envoy over National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s posting of a video where he taunts detained activists from the Gaza flotilla, while Ireland’s Foreign Minister calls for the immediate release of Irish activists in response to the footage.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot says he ordered Israel’s ambassador to be summoned “to express our indignation and obtain explanations,” in a French-language post on X. “Whatever one may think of this flotilla — and we have repeatedly expressed our disapproval of this initiative — our citizens participating in it must be treated with respect and released as soon as possible,” Barrot adds.
In another statement, Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee says she is “appalled and shocked by the video footage” posted by Ben Gvir, “in which illegally detained participants of the Global Sumud Flotilla, including Irish citizens, are not in any way being treated with appropriate dignity or respect.”
“Ireland’s Ambassador to Israel has demanded immediate assurances that the welfare and wellbeing of all Irish citizens is safeguarded and that they are afforded all the protections that they are entitled to under international law. I have also demanded their immediate release,” McEntee says.
In the footage shared by Ben Gvir, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar have condemned, activists are seen kneeling with their hands tied and being physically restrained by Israeli security forces.
Barney Frank, the longtime Democratic congressman and leading liberal who brought new visibility to gay rights and crafted the most significant reforms to the financial system in a generation, has died at age 86.
After representing broad swaths of Boston’s suburbs in Congress for 32 years, Frank and his husband moved to Ogunquit, Maine. He entered hospice there in April with congestive heart failure and is survived by his husband, Jim Ready, and sisters, the longtime Democratic strategist Ann Lewis and Doris Breay, along with brother David Frank.
A self-described “left-handed gay Jew,” Frank was known for his acerbic wit, combative style and focus on marginalized communities. He represented the party’s left wing while keeping close with Democratic leaders who sometimes frustrated progressives.
The grandson of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, Barnett Frank was born on March 31, 1940 in Bayonne, New Jersey. A high school debating star, he graduated from Harvard University and started working for the Boston mayor’s office in the late 1960s before becoming an aide to a Democratic US congressman for Massachusetts and later himself running for Congress, entering office in 1981.
He is best known as a pioneer for LGBT rights. After decades of grappling with his sexuality, he publicly came out as gay in 1987, the first member of Congress to do so voluntarily. With his 2012 marriage to Ready, he became the first incumbent lawmaker on Capitol Hill to marry someone of the same sex.
The commander of the 401st Armored Brigade, Col. Meir Biderman, 41, was seriously wounded earlier today when an explosive drone struck in southern Lebanon, the IDF says.
The military says that Col. (res.) H., who currently serves as the brigade’s chief of staff, will temporarily fill his position.
A reserve lieutenant colonel serving in the 162nd Division was moderately wounded in the same incident, while an additional reservist sustained light injuries, according to the IDF.
All three were evacuated to a hospital for treatment, and their families have been notified, the army says.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan praised Donald Trump’s decision to “give diplomacy a chance,” after the US president announced earlier that he had called off planned strikes on Iran.
The minister writes on social media that the kingdom “highly appreciates the US President Donald Trump’s decision to give diplomacy a chance to reach an acceptable agreement to end the war.”
The minister adds that Saudi Arabia remains supportive of ongoing mediation efforts carried out by Pakistan and urged Iran to seize “the opportunity to avoid the dangerous implications of escalation.”
Former prime minister and Together chief Naftali Bennett meets with Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman in the Knesset.
“During the meeting, the two agreed to continue the dialogue and cooperation between the sides, with the goal of bringing about the replacement of the evasion government and establishing a Zionist, statesmanlike and liberal government,” the two parties announce in a statement.
Bennett’s 2026 party recently united with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid to form the Together list. Liberman, for his part, has not yet decided on joining any united list, although earlier this month, he and Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot released a joint statement that their two parties are working to expand cooperation ahead of the upcoming election.
Bennett and Eisenkot met Sunday evening and “discussed the necessary moves within the ‘correction and hope’ bloc ahead of the dissolution of the Knesset, leading it to victory, and establishing a Zionist government based on the ‘alliance of those who serve,'” a Bennett spokesperson announced earlier this week.
The High Court of Justice rules unanimously against a petition by an association of 19 international aid organizations against new security regulations imposed by the government, asserting that state agencies are entitled to require strict security checks to ensure foreign organizations are not involved in terrorism or connected to terror groups.
The petition was filed by the AIDA umbrella organization after an inter-ministerial working group under the authority of the Diaspora Affairs Ministry published the new regulations in 2025 for any aid groups operating in Israel, the West Bank or Gaza, which 37 organizations refused to comply with, saying doing so would endanger their employees and violate international law.
The licenses of the organizations were subsequently revoked earlier this year.
“It is clear that the information requirement serves a clear security purpose,” writes Justice Gila Canfy-Steinitz, quoting a comment in a recent ruling by Supreme Court President Isaac Amit that terrorist organizations had sought to take control of humanitarian aid shipments during the war in Gaza.
“The existence of a security inspection mechanism is not only legitimate, but constitutes a critical necessity that serves the paramount interest of state security and the protection of human life,” writes Canfy-Steinitz.
The court also determines that security screening “falls within the core sovereign powers of the State,” and that self-assessments conducted by international aid organizations cannot replace independent state security reviews.
The court gives the organizations whose licenses were revoked 30 days to comply with the new security screening regulations
“The rejection of the petition sends a clear and unequivocal message — the State of Israel will not allow terrorist activity to operate under the guise of humanitarian aid,” says Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli.
AIDA’s legal representative, Yotam Ben-Hillel, criticizes the ruling and says it will harm the supply of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“The HCJ [High Court of Justice] ruling is deeply disappointing, as it once again reflects the marginal status accorded to international law within the Israeli judicial system,” says Ben-Hillel.
AFP contributed to this report.
US President Donald Trump says he is in “no hurry” to reach an agreement with Iran, and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will do “whatever I want him to do” regarding a potential military strike on Iran.
While speaking to reporters, Trump is asked what he has said recently to Netanyahu regarding a potential attack on Iran, to which he replies: “He’s fine, he’ll do whatever I want him to do.”
“He’s a very good man, he’ll do whatever I want him to do. And he’s a great guy… Don’t forget he was a wartime prime minister,” Trump says.
Asked if he is open to a limited Iran deal that would only open the Strait of Hormuz and extend the ceasefire, Trump says he is in no rush to reach an agreement: “We’d have to open the strait that would open immediately, so we’re gonna give this one shot. I’m in no hurry. Everyone is saying, ‘Oh, the midterms.’ I’m in no hurry… Ideally I’d like to see few people killed, as opposed to a lot.”
Trump has given vague timelines for reaching a diplomatic solution with Iran, saying yesterday that he could wait “two or three days” or for “a limited period of time,” after announcing this week that he canceled a strike planned for Tuesday.
Trump on Netanyahu:
Netanyahu will do whatever I want him to do. pic.twitter.com/j3qC7UmPYX
— Clash Report (@clashreport) May 20, 2026
Visiting the Knesset for the first time since leaving politics in 2022, former premier Naftali Bennett launches a scathing attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, arguing that its insistence on advocating for Haredi draft exemptions is killing Israeli troops.
“The outgoing government, in its final days, is not pursuing our enemies. It is not pursuing the perpetrators of crime and public disturbances across the entire country. It is now courting, with all its might, the draft-evasion operators from the Haredi parties,” Bennett says during a joint press conference with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, his partner on the new Together list.
Bennett accuses Netanyahu of “running around like the lowest of vote contractors, groveling before [Shas chairman Aryeh] Deri and [Degel HaTorah chairman Moshe] Gafni just to hand them an official document of surrender.”
Directly addressing Netanyahu, Bennett says: “It’s over, let go.”
According to Bennett, IDF soldiers “are being told that they need to abandon positions they have already captured, simply because there are no soldiers to hold those positions. And then they have to capture that same position a second and third time. This costs us soldiers’ lives. It cannot go on like this.”
Asked about his meeting with Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot on Sunday, Bennett replies that he believes “victory will come from a huge, large, and united party under my leadership. I believe that is what will happen.”
Asked by The Times of Israel if he will speak with the media more than Netanyahu, who rarely holds press conferences, Bennett replies in the affirmative, declaring that he is “in favor of communication with the public.”
Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says the United States is seeking to restart the war and still hopes the Islamic Republic will surrender.
“The enemy’s movements, both overt and clandestine, show that despite economic and political pressure, it has not abandoned its military objectives and is seeking to start a new war,” Ghalibaf says in an audio message carried by Iranian media.
“Close monitoring of the situation in the United States reinforces the possibility that they still hope for the surrender of the Iranian nation,” he adds.
In a rare instance of rebuke, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemns National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir over his posting a video showing him taunting detained activists from the Gaza flotilla, adding that he instructed the activists to be deported as soon as possible.
“Israel has every right to prevent provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters from entering our territorial waters and reaching Gaza. However, the way that Minister Ben Gvir dealt with the flotilla activists is not in line with Israel’s values and norms,” Netanyahu says.
“I have instructed the relevant authorities to deport the provocateurs as soon as possible,” the premier adds.
Ireland’s Jewish community is up in arms after a Dublin city councillor posted a WhatsApp status that called for a “real final solution” against Jewish people and repeated antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Philip Sutcliffe, an independent councillor representing the Ballyfermot-Drimnagh area, posted a 76-second video on Monday with footage of Adolf Hitler, including a voice-over praising Hitler for allegedly warning about current events. It described Jewish people as “satanic,” blamed them for pornography and “white replacement,” and called for a “real final solution,” using Nazi terminology used for the Holocaust.
Sutcliffe later deleted the post and said yesterday that he “probably shared something I shouldn’t have.”
He claimed he did not watch the full video before posting it as his WhatsApp status, telling reporters he “probably just pushed the share button” after receiving the clip from someone else. He said he did not endorse its views.
“I don’t think I even looked at that one to tell you the truth,” he told The Irish Times. “If it’s on my page, I probably just shared something that I shouldn’t have. I’ll have a look at it now.”
Sutcliffe, a former Olympic boxer, said he did not endorse the video’s views. He declined further questions from The Irish Times, saying he had to leave to train MMA fighter Conor McGregor, with whom he works as a coach.
Sutcliffe previously apologized in November after sharing a photo of a spoiled election ballot containing racist and homophobic slurs, which he also said was posted accidentally. He resigned from the political party Independent Ireland last year following controversy surrounding his association with McGregor.
The Jewish Representative Council of Ireland tells local media outlets that the Jewish community is “weary” of such hatred.
“We are not seeking special treatment and we are not playing victims. We simply want to live openly and safely,” the council says in a statement. “If similar repeated prejudice were directed at almost any other minority, there would be immediate condemnation from all. Antisemitism deserves exactly the same moral clarity.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards navy says they allowed more than 25 vessels, including oil tankers, to transit the Strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours.
Iran has largely blocked shipping through the strait, a vital global energy conduit, since the outbreak of war with the United States and Israel on February 28.
Iran, which has been under a US naval blockade since April 13 despite a ceasefire, has insisted that ships transiting through the waterway must obtain permissions from the Iranian armed forces.
“Over the past 24 hours, 26 vessels — including oil tankers, container ships and other commercial vessels — transited the Strait of Hormuz,” says the Guards’ navy in a post on X. It adds that the ships passed after “coordination and security provided by the IRGC Navy.”
Yesterday, South Korea said one of its oil tankers passed through the strait, marking the first passage by a vessel from the country since the war began.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar angrily hits back at his fellow cabinet member, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, over his posting a video showing him taunting detained activists from the Gaza flotilla.
“You knowingly caused harm to our state in this disgraceful display – and not for the first time,” Sa’ar says in a statement. “You have undone tremendous, professional and successful efforts made by so many people — from IDF soldiers to Foreign Ministry staff and many others.”
Sa’ar tells Ben Gvir: “You are not the face of Israel.”
In response, the police minister hits back and accuses Sa’ar of submitting to “supporters of terrorism,” saying “Israel’s foreign minister is expected to understand that Israel has stopped being a punching bag. Anyone who comes onto our territory to support terrorism and identify with Hamas will get hit back — we will not turn the other cheek.”
The IDF says it received a report of a suspected car-ramming attack near the West Bank settlement of Ofra, northeast of Ramallah, a short while ago.
The military says the details of the incident are under review.
The UAE demands that Iraq “immediately” prevent further attacks from its territory, following an accusation by the Emirates that a drone targeting a nuclear plant was launched from there.
The foreign ministry, in a statement, calls on “Iraq to prevent all hostile acts originating from its territory urgently and without conditions,” saying there is a “need to address those threats promptly, immediately, and responsibly.”
On Sunday, an unclaimed drone attack struck an electrical generator near the Arab world’s only nuclear power plant in Barakah in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, triggering a fire but causing no injuries or radiation leak. Two other drones were intercepted.
Italy’s government says that Israel’s treatment of the Gaza flotilla activists is “unacceptable” and that it will summon the Israeli ambassador for an explanation.
The statement comes shortly after far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir released a video in which he can be seen taunting the detained activists as they kneel on the floor, hands tied.
A strongly worded statement by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani says Italy “demands an apology for the treatment” of the activists and the “total disrespect” for the Italian government’s requests.
“The images of Israeli Minister Ben Gvir are unacceptable. It is unacceptable that these protesters, including many Italian citizens, are subjected to this treatment that violates their human dignity,” the statement reads.
The IDF says it struck a Hezbollah weapons production site on Monday in the Tyre area of southern Lebanon that had been established inside a building previously used as a civilian clinic, located meters away from a mosque.
The IDF says secondary explosions were identified following the strike, indicating the presence of weapons inside the building.
The military echoes accusations it made earlier today, when the IDF announced a separate strike on a civilian building allegedly housing Hezbollah surveillance equipment in southern Lebanon, with the military again accusing the terror group of using civilian infrastructure in operations against Israel.
במרחק מטרים בודדים ממסגד: צה״ל תקף אתר לייצור אמצעי לחימה של חיזבאללה שהוקם במבנה ששימש כמרפאה
כוחות צה"ל תקפו שלשום, אתר לייצור אמצעי לחימה של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב צור שבדרום לבנון.
האתר הוקם במבנה ששימש כמרפאה אזרחית, במרחק של מטרים בודדים ממסגד. לאחר התקיפה, זוהו… pic.twitter.com/I73KLtWCPo
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 20, 2026
Coalition whip Ofir Katz announces that the Knesset will hold discussions next month on granting fellow Likud MK Tally Gotliv procedural immunity following her indictment for allegedly violating the law by disclosing the identity of a Shin Bet agent.
In a statement, Katz’s spokeswoman says that Gotliv’s immunity hearings will take place June 8-9 in the Knesset House Committee, which Katz chairs.
There are two types of parliamentary immunity for MKs: substantive immunity, which applies to actions that are directly related to an MK’s official duties and mostly applies to their freedom of speech, and procedural immunity protecting MKs from being put on trial while in office, but which must be actively granted by the Knesset.
After the attorney general sends the indictment to the accused MK and to the speaker of the Knesset, the MK is given 30 days in which to request that the Knesset grant him or her immunity. When such a request is submitted, the Knesset House Committee must consider it as soon as possible.
In January 2024, Gotliv posted on social media that the partner of Shikma Bressler, a key leader of the protest movement against the government’s judicial overhaul, was an agent with the security service. She is charged with violating a law forbidding publicly revealing the identity of agency agents. According to the indictment, filed in the Petah Tikva Magistrates Court, Gotliv shared the agent’s identity “in a conscious, deliberate, ongoing, demonstrative and repeated manner” to her tens of thousands of Twitter followers.
The IDF says the suspected terrorist infiltration in the West Bank settlement of Nofim was a false alarm and residents may safely leave their homes.
A short while ago, the IDF said troops were conducting searches in the area following the identification of suspects inside the community, triggering alerts for residents on the Home Front Command app.
According to the military, the alert was triggered after a resident of the settlement was mistakenly identified as a suspect near the community’s fence.
The IDF says there is no concern of a security threat.
Dozens of Meta’s Israel employees have begun to receive dismissal notices as the US tech titan embarks on a wave of layoffs to trim 10 percent of its global workforce to offset costs for AI infrastructure.
As part of the global layoffs, Meta is slated to fire about 90 employees, or 10 percent of its workforce in Israel, primarily from its development center in Tel Aviv.
The layoffs in Israel are in line with widely reported plans by Meta to cut about 8,000 employees, or 10% of global headcount, starting today.
Alongside the layoffs, Meta is shifting 7,000 employees into new AI roles as part of the broader restructuring, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir releases a video in which he can be seen taunting the detained activists from the Gaza flotilla.
Dozens of international activists can be seen kneeling on the ground at the facility at Ashdod port, apparently with their hands tied.
The video begins with one of the activists shouting “Free Palestine,” before they are bundled to the ground by officers and dragged out of the way of the minister as he tours the facility.
With dozens of activists handcuffed and kneeling on the ground, Ben Gvir is then seen waving a large Israeli flag and shouting in Hebrew, “Welcome to Israel, we are the masters.”
In another shot, activists can be seen on the deck of a ship as Israel’s national anthem is played over a loudspeaker, while other parts of the clip show Ben Gvir arguing with a man, and saying “that’s how it needs to be,” when shown another man being restrained.
The activists are detained at Ashdod port after the Foreign Ministry said yesterday that the latest activist flotilla aiming to break the naval blockade of Gaza has “come to an end,” with the activists taken to Israel.
The sister of Ireland’s President Catherine Connolly is among the over 400 activists who were on board the flotilla that sailed from Turkey last week.
Israel has dismissed the flotilla as “a PR stunt at the service of Hamas.”
ככה אנחנו מקבלים את תומכי הטרור
Welcome to Israel ???????? pic.twitter.com/7Hf8cAg7fC
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) May 20, 2026
The IDF says forces were dispatched to the West Bank settlement of Nofim a short while ago following reports of suspects identified inside the community.
According to the military, an alert warning of a possible security incident was activated through the Home Front Command app in the settlement.
Troops are currently conducting searches in the area and additional forces have been sent to the scene, the IDF says, adding that it is in continuous contact with residents and local security officials.
The IDF says troops struck Hezbollah surveillance equipment embedded inside a civilian building in southern Lebanon yesterday.
According to the military, the surveillance system was used by Hezbollah operatives to monitor and direct activity against troops in the area, in what the IDF says is another example of the terror group using civilian infrastructure in attacks on its forces.
In a separate incident, the unit also killed a Hezbollah operative who the IDF says was operating from a warehouse used to store weapons. The military says secondary explosions were identified following the strike, indicating the presence of munitions inside the structure.
כך ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה עוקב אחר כוחותינו ממבנים אזרחיים: תיעוד מתקיפת אמצעי תצפית על ידי כוחות היחידה הרב-מימדית
אתמול, כוחות היחידה הרב-מימדית זיהו ותקפו אמצעי תצפית של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בדרום לבנון.
אמצעי התצפית מוקם בתוך מבנה אזרחי ושימש את ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה למעקב… pic.twitter.com/QHHZoUvnE2
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 20, 2026
Opposition whip and Yesh Atid MK Merav Ben-Ari calls for the immediate advancement of legislation to dissolve the Knesset after lawmakers unanimously advanced a coalition-backed dissolution bill in its preliminary reading, a move that could trigger slightly earlier elections if the measure becomes law.
In a letter to coalition whip Ofir Katz, Ben-Ari demands that the Knesset House Committee convene today to advance the bill “without delay,” arguing that the legislative process should be expedited “in order to bring about the Knesset’s dissolution as soon as possible.”
Maj. (res.) Itamar Sapir, 27, who was killed in combat with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, is eulogized by his widow as he is buried.
Sapir was killed during an exchange of fire when a Hezbollah operative began firing from inside a church at Israeli forces operating in the village of Qouza.
He is survived by his wife, Roee, their one-year-old son, Maayan, his parents and his brothers.
“My beloved, I called you after they announced that you were dead, because I was sure it wasn’t true,” Roee says at his graveside, according to Channel 12. “How do we continue? Do we continue? With you, everything was possible.”
“Thank you for making me happy,” she says. “Thank you for Maayan. It suddenly scares me how much he resembles you. I hope he’s like you in character too. You were a loving father without limits.”
Opposition leaders hail today’s vote on a preliminary reading to dissolve the Knesset, potentially triggering slightly earlier elections if ultimately passed into law, while urging the coalition to halt the advance of controversial legislation.
Calling today’s vote “the beginning of the end of the worst government in Israel’s history,” Democrats chair Yair Golan says that “it no longer matters whether elections are moved up or held on schedule,” the government that has caused “unprecedented damage” is “nearing the end of its path.”
“These are the October 7 elections,” the left-wing party leader says in a statement, vowing to “send home the government of failure that brought upon us the greatest disaster in the state’s history.”
Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz calls on Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to halt the advancement of controversial coalition legislation that is underway.
“It is proper and necessary for the Knesset to refrain from advancing controversial legislation with broad public, constitutional, economic and social implications that does not enjoy broad consensus or within the legislature,” Gantz says in a statement, referring in particular to the draft exemption bill for yeshiva students, the media overhaul bill and the bill to split the role of the attorney general.
The coalition is racing to advance contentious legislation before the Knesset dissolves and early elections are triggered. Opponents warn that the legislation, particularly the bill to split the attorney general’s role and significantly curtail the office’s powers, is part of an effort to remove one of the sole checks on executive power just as Israel heads into an election period.
A High Court of Justice hearing begins over a petition against Justice Minister Yariv Levin for failing to make key appointments in the judiciary, including the appointment of district court presidents and their deputies.
The High Court has already issued a conditional order against Levin over the petitions following an earlier hearing on the case in February, ordering him to justify his ongoing refusal to make the appointments and cooperate with Supreme Court President Isaac Amit.
The appointments have not been made because they require the approval of Amit as president, but Levin has refused to recognize him as the head of the court ever since he was appointed in January 2025.
Levin had at the time refused to appoint a new court president for 16 months, and the High Court eventually ordered him to hold a vote, leading to Amit’s installment, and the justice minister’s subsequent boycott.
Levin has argued that as justice minister he has the sole authority to convene the Judicial Selection Committee to make the appointments, and that the court has no right to intervene.
In a separate but similar case, Yesh Atid MK Karine Elaharrar who sits on the Judicial Selection Committee for the opposition accused Levin of stymieing judicial appointments since he lacks a majority to force through appointments he seeks and block candidates he opposes.
The petition is being heard by Justices Ofer Grosskopf, Alex Stein, and Yechiel Kasher.
Lawmakers vote 110-0 in favor of a preliminary reading of a government-backed bill to dissolve the Knesset, potentially triggering slightly earlier elections if ultimately passed into law.
The vote comes after the coalition failed to pass legislation codifying military conscription exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not attend the vote, instead reportedly holding security discussions.
Following the vote, Yesh Atid MK Merav Ben Ari screams out the “shechiyanu” blessing recited by Jews on joyous occasions.
Coalition whip Ofir Katz says the “coalition has served its purpose.”
“We have passed nine budgets in this term and 520 laws. Regarding the conscription law, we will bring a law that comes through dialogue and meets the needs of the IDF,” Katz says. “The value of Torah study must be maintained, and at the same time, those who do not study will enlist.”
The dissolution bill does not specify an election date, instead stipulating that it be set by the Knesset House Committee on a day no less than three months from the legislation’s final approval.
The timeline for passing the bill remains unclear: the legislation could be pushed swiftly through the Knesset in the coming days, or delayed by political machinations.
Thirteen separate bills to dissolve the Knesset, sponsored by both opposition and coalition lawmakers, are on today’s plenum agenda. The various bills will likely be combined before being sent to committee for deliberations ahead of the next of the three Knesset readings it must pass before becoming law.
Elections must be held within five months of the law’s passing, which would mean mid- to late-October at the latest. The Haredi parties reportedly favor an election date in early September. Elections must, in any case, be held by October 27.
The IDF says it destroyed a Hamas weapons depot in central Gaza overnight, saying the arms stored in the cache posed a threat to troops operating along the Yellow Line and Israeli civilians.
במטרה להסיר איום: צה"ל השמיד מחסן אמצעי לחימה של ארגון הטרור חמאס
צה"ל השמיד במהלך הלילה, מחסן אמצעי לחימה של ארגון הטרור חמאס במרכז רצועת עזה.
אמצעי הלחימה נועדו לפגוע בכוחות צה"ל הפועלים במרחב הקו הצהוב ובאזרחי מדינת ישראל, והושמדו במטרה להסיר את האיום.
כוחות צה"ל בפיקוד… pic.twitter.com/6UF1dtoDC6
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 20, 2026
The Jordanian military announces it shot down a drone of unknown origin in its airspace. No casualties were reported.
“This morning, the Jordanian Armed Forces engaged with a drone of unknown origin that entered Jordanian airspace and was brought down in Jerash Governorate, without any injuries,” the military says of an area located around 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the capital Amman.
The hawkish opposition Yisrael Beytenu party announces that civil society leaders Dalit Kislev Spector and Michaela Levin-Shamir are joining its ranks ahead of the elections.
Kislev Spector, whose husband and two sons are reservists, co-founded the advocacy group Ima Era (Wide-awake Mother) after the October 7, 2023, attacks, to support families of combat soldiers and reservists. A labor lawyer, she also represents reservists in employment disputes related to their service.
“Since October 7, my personal and public reality has changed,” she says in a statement, adding that “it is no longer enough to fight from the outside.”
Kislev Spector adds that Yisrael Beytenu is the only party “consistently and clearly advancing a responsible, liberal Zionist right-wing agenda, with a genuine commitment to equality in service and to strengthening those who serve the state.”
Levin-Shamir, also a lawyer, co-founded the One Million Lobby group, which represents Israel’s roughly 1.2 million Russian-speaking citizens.
The party adds that she is heading its “Generation 1.5 Forum” which advocates for the Russian-speaking despite “serving in the IDF, working, paying taxes, and shouldering their share of the burden” continue to “encounter discrimination and unequal rights.”
Yisrael Beytenu, which represents Israel’s largely secular Russian-speaking community, has long pushed to overhaul policies shaped by religious authorities, including marriage, divorce and military conscription.
A fiber-optic cable said to be from a Hezbollah drone was discovered in the northern border community of Zarit, Hebrew media reports.
Images circulating online show the cable stretching across a residential street in the moshav.
It remains unclear when the cable landed in the area or what happened to the drone it was attached to.
Hezbollah has recently begun employing drones guided by fiber-optic cables that are resistant to jamming and capable of traveling up to 20 kilometers from their operators, largely used to target troops operating near the Lebanese border.
סיב אופטי של רחפן חיזבאללה התגלה במושב זרעית שבגליל
צילום: יקרת אלבוים@rubih67 pic.twitter.com/HCmDPFXQ9b— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) May 20, 2026
Likud MK Yuli Edelstein slams the coalition’s controversial ultra-Orthodox draft exemption bill as a danger to the future of the political right in Israel during a heated debate in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Edelstein chaired the panel until he was removed last summer over his refusal to advance a conscription bill based on a compromise reached with the Haredi parties.
“Arguments have been made here that this is a discussion for the government and a discussion intended to preserve the coalition. I see things exactly the opposite. I think this is a discussion that could bury right-wing rule in the State of Israel,” Edelstein declares.
Edelstein also harshly criticizes Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs, who appeared to claim that Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir supports the legislation.
Addressing the committee, Fuchs states that Zamir, “in classified letters sent to the cabinet and the government” emphasized that both extending the terms of service of IDF recruits and passing “a conscription law that regulates the situation” are necessary.
Zamir “explicitly said, ‘I want the three laws to pass,'” Fuchs says, referring to the service extension, Haredi draft bill and a law regulating reserve service.
The government’s law is necessary because “you cannot change the lifestyle of the Haredi public by force,” Fuchs argues. “When it comes to a confrontation with 80,000–90,000 young Haredi men, what do you want to do? Set up detention facilities, or enlist soldiers into the IDF?”
Hitting back, Edelstein calls Fuch’s statement “embarrassing,” countering that “in an official statement, the chief of staff said he did not mean this specific law.”
Speaking with The Times of Israel following the hearing, committee member MK Evgeny Sova of the opposition party Yisrael Beytenu accuses Fuchs of lying.
“The chief of staff sat in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee a week and a half ago and said ‘I am crying out, I don’t have soldiers.’ That’s all. After something like that, coming and saying that the chief of staff supports the bill is simply just an absolute lie,” Sova says.
The Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee ends without a vote to send the controversial “West Bank and Gaza” antiquities bill, which many say amounts to de facto annexation, to the plenum for its final approval.
Committee Chair MK Zvi Sukkot of the far-right Religious Zionism party says the work on the bill will resume on Sunday. The committee needs to approve the final version of the proposal to advance it to the plenum. However, it is not clear whether the plenum will be able to vote on the bill as the Knesset is expected to be dissolved ahead of elections.
If approved, the bill will extend the State of Israel’s direct responsibility for antiquities, heritage sites, and archaeology in the West Bank, including in areas governed by the Palestinian Authority, and in the Gaza Strip, with provisions directly affecting Palestinian residents of the regions.
The committee has been trying to fast-track the bill after it was passed by the plenum in its first reading last week.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett slams “the desperate attempt by Netanyahu, Smotrich, and Deri to pass the despicable draft evasion law” after the coalition returned the controversial legislation to the Knesset this morning with a discussion in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
“The government of Israel is fighting with the last of its strength to pass the anti-Zionist draft evasion law. With one hand, the evasion government sends our soldiers to fight in Lebanon, and with the other hand, stabs them in the back,” says Bennett.
“We will block them with all our might, replace them, and then repair all the destruction they have brought upon the people of Israel,” says Bennett, who is seen as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival in the upcoming elections.
Israel’s flagship carrier El Al posts a loss in the first three months of the year as the US-Israel war with Iran and the closure of the country’s airspace caused severe disruptions to flight operations.
In the January to March quarter, El Al lost a net $67 million, compared with a net profit of $96 million during the same period a year earlier. The airline’s revenue in the first quarter dropped 27 percent to $562 million from $774 million a year earlier.
When the war erupted on February 28, Israel initially closed its airspace to civilian traffic completely, forcing all airlines to cancel their flights.
After a week, it eased restrictions, though operations were still at only a fifth of pre-war levels, and only Israeli airlines – El Al, Arkia, and Israir — were authorized to operate. Since the April 8 ceasefire and the reopening of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport to more regular activity, El Al gradually returned to full operations.
El Al says damage from the 40 days of war with Iran amounted to $145 million. A total of about $90 million in losses was recorded in the first-quarter results and $55 million will be reflected in the April to June results. The airline also reports an increase in operating expenses in the first quarter due to rising fuel prices and a strengthening of the shekel against the dollar.
“With the removal of restrictions on aviation activity and the opening of Israel’s airspace, the company began to return to flight activity gradually, taking into account security and operational restrictions, until returning to full activity at the beginning of May 2026,” El Al says. “However, the rate of return of foreign airlines is expected to be slower relative to the rate that was expected prior to the operation.”
“All these are expected to lead to increased demand for the company’s flights, which are expected to be reflected in high occupancy rates in the second and third quarters of 2026,” El Al says.
During a diplomatic visit to the Czech Republic, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar conducts a business forum along with his Czech counterpart, Petr Macinka, and some 200 Israeli and Czech businesspeople, according to a statement from Sa’ar’s office.
“The forum reflects our intention to strengthen the strategic partnership between our governments… My foreign policy is: invest in friendly countries. And the Czech Republic is one of Israel’s greatest friends,” Sa’ar says in the statement.
Economic and tourism ties between the countries have increased in recent years, according to Sa’ar’s office, which says that bilateral trade between Israel and the Czech Republic surpassed $1.4 billion in 2025, and that Israeli tourism in the Czech Republic jumped 33.4 percent that year compared to 2024.
The Czech Republic has “always” been an advocate for Israel in the European Union and will remain so, Macinka told The Times of Israel last month, days after the electoral defeat of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who was widely seen as Israel’s most reliable ally in Europe.
State prosecutors charge a 43-year-old man with aggravated murder and arson after his ex-wife was found dead in a burnt-out car last month in central Israel.
Hussein Abu Sabit was arrested shortly after the body of 30-year-old Marlene al-Touri, from Kafr Qasim, was discovered on the outskirts of the town.
He is accused of running over, stabbing and setting fire to the woman.
The defendant, from the southern Bedouin town of Tel Sheva, divorced Touri just ten days after marrying her. Their sudden separation stemmed from animosity between her and his first wife, with whom he had 10 children, prosecutors say.
On April 15, the day of her death, Touri drove to meet her ex-husband in a parking lot in Rosh HaAyin.
She left her car in the lot and got into his, and the two traveled in the vicinity of Kibbutz Nahshonim for over two hours.
During the ride, prosecutors claim Touri pleaded several times with her ex-husband to bring her back to the parking lot where she left her car, but he refused.
At one point, the defendant stopped his car to speak to his first wife over the phone. At this point, Touri tried to escape the car.
Once Touri was out of the vehicle, Abu Sabit accelerated and ran her over, then exited the car and stabbed her eight times in the chest, prosecutors say.
He put his ex-wife into the trunk and then texted his brother, “That’s it, the woman is finished, I killed the woman,” the indictment reads.
Later that night, the siblings set about trying to destroy evidence linking him to the murder by setting Touri’s body on fire in her own car, prosecutors say.
Police arrested Abu Sabit in an unrecognized Bedouin village hours after Touri’s body was discovered.
His brother, suspected of aiding and abetting the homicide, has not yet been charged.
Lawmakers begin gathering in the plenum ahead of a preliminary vote on legislation to dissolve the Knesset, potentially triggering slightly earlier elections.
Thirteen separate bills to dissolve the Knesset, sponsored by both opposition and coalition lawmakers, are on today’s plenum agenda. The primary, government-backed dissolution bill does not specify an election date, which will be set by the Knesset House Committee.
The timeline for passing the bill remains unclear: the legislation could be pushed swiftly through the Knesset in the coming days, or delayed by political machinations.
If approved in preliminary votes, the various bills will likely be combined before being sent to committee for deliberations ahead of the next of the three Knesset readings it must pass before becoming law.
Dissolving the Knesset is not the only issue on the agenda today. Lawmakers are also set to vote on legislation dealing with a variety of other matters, including an opposition bill calling for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into October 7 and a coalition bill aimed at streamlining the process of building new settlements.
The Knesset Law and Constitution Committee starts discussing a divisive bill that would ban and criminalize any activity at Jewish holy sites that is deemed contrary to the guidelines and decisions of the Chief Rabbinate.
The Chief Rabbinate generally upholds a strict version of Orthodox Judaism, and its heads, the Ashkenazi and Sephardic chief rabbis, have traditionally been ultra-Orthodox rabbis.
It is highly unlikely that the bill can be approved into law before the expected proceedings to dissolve the Knesset, which could happen as early as the beginning of next week.
The bill is sponsored by MK Avi Maoz, the only representative of the far-right national religious party Noam. It was approved by the plenum in a preliminary reading in February, and it will need three more readings to be passed into law (the second and third usually happen on the same day). The purpose of today’s committee meeting is to start preparing the bill for its first reading in the plenum.
The bill aims to amend the 1967 Protection of the Holy Places law, which states that “the Holy Places shall be protected from desecration and any other violation and from anything likely to violate the freedom of access of the members of the different religions to the places sacred to them.”
The law carries a penalty of seven years for violators and determines that the religious affairs minister is responsible for implementing it in consultation with “representatives of religions” and with the consent of the justice minister.
The bill would give the Chief Rabbinate exclusive authority to represent Judaism.
Over the past few months, the chief rabbis have reiterated that they do not accept any non-Orthodox Jewish religious practice in any part of the Western Wall area, including in the Ezrat Israel egalitarian plaza, where Jewish liberal movements currently hold their services.
The bill is denounced by Jewish liberal movements.
Also, the Beyadenu group, which promotes Jewish visits and prayers to the Temple Mount, which is a holy site for both Jews and Muslims who refer to it as Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque is located, expressed reservations about the bill.
The Chief Rabbinate maintains it is forbidden for Jews to visit the Temple Mount, due to the risk of desecrating the area where the Jewish Temple stood.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warn that the Middle East war will extend beyond the region if the United States and Israel resume attacks on the Islamic Republic.
“If the aggression against Iran is repeated, the promised regional war will this time spread far beyond the region, and our devastating blows will crush you,” the Guards say in a statement on their website Sepah News.
The IDF’s manpower shortage is expected to grow considerably in the coming months, as the first cohort of troops serving a shortened enlistment of 30 months is discharged in January 2027, a senior IDF officer tells lawmakers.
Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate’s Planning and Personnel Management Division, says that the number of missing troops is slated to soon rise from 12,000 to 17,000 — despite a small but insufficient increase in Haredi recruits from around 700 annually before the war to around 2,800 currently.
In addition, there are currently around 32,000 people classified as draft evaders, with an additional 50,000-plus who have received a so-called Order 12, sent to those who do not show up to enlist when required to do so.
“We will very soon reach the region of 80,000-90,000 draft dodgers,” Tayeb says, adding that the army is “prepared to absorb twice as many” Haredim as are currently enlisting.
Tayeb’s warning comes only days after Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told the committee that the military needs more soldiers “immediately,” amid ongoing multifront fighting and the IDF issued a warning that the military could “collapse” due to its manpower woes.
Turning to the coalition’s ultra-Orthodox draft exemption bill, which was returned to the Knesset agenda this morning, Tayeb says that the IDF was “not presented with a new draft that was substantially different from the previous versions that we discussed in dozens of discussions last time.”
Addressing the committee in December, Tayeb said that the legislation fell short of solving the IDF’s manpower shortage. In January, he told lawmakers that up to 80 percent of all draft evaders are ultra-Orthodox.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has several times urged the government to again extend mandatory military service for men to 36 months, after it was shortened to 30 months in August 2024. The government has so far refused to approve the move.
The Israel Defense Forces says it opposes a controversial law seeking to extend Israeli civilian responsibility over antiquities in the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, which a military representative says could be seen as de facto annexation of the Strip and would cause difficulties in the West Bank.
“The IDF opposes the direct application of this law to the Gaza Strip,” says Maj. Marta Kramenko, head of the Infrastructure, Economics and Personnel Section in the Legal Adviser for Judea and Samaria (the biblical name of the West Bank), during a meeting of the Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee.
“The application of Israeli legislation on territory that is not in Israeli hands, and in particular the granting of administrative powers, management, supervision, enforcement, expropriation or collection of fees to a civilian Israeli body in relation to assets and sites located in the Strip could harm the status of the relevant military and security elements, create significant security and professional complexities for them, and be seen in the international arena as a step with characteristics of de facto annexation,” she adds.
Kramenko says the proposal runs counter to the peace plan advanced by the president of the United States.
She also reiterates that the army opposes the bill regarding the West Bank, because, if passed in its current form, it would prevail over military legislation.
If approved, the bill will change the decades-long status quo in the West Bank by establishing a civilian body to assume responsibilities currently held by the Defense Ministry, and directly affecting the Palestinians living there. It is not clear how the law will be practically applied in Gaza (the version of the bill approved in the first reading last week did not mention Gaza).
The “Judea, Samaria and Gaza Heritage Authority” would also be given the power to operate in parts of the West Bank governed by the Palestinian Authority (Areas A and B).
Critics of the bill say that it represents an unprecedented step toward annexation. Supporters of the bill also say that the legislation is about extending Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank and Gaza.
The committee has been trying to fast-track the bill to prepare it for its final votes in the plenum before becoming law, with the goal of allowing the Knesset to vote it into law before the expected proceedings to dissolve the Knesset, which could happen as early as the beginning of next week. It is not clear yet whether there will be time for the plenum to approve it.
Settlers set several vehicles on fire and attempted to torch a home overnight in the village of Halhul, north of Hebron in the southern West Bank, Palestinian media reports.
No injuries are reported in the arson attacks.
There is no comment from police.
مليشيات المستوطنين تحرق عددا من المركبات وتحاول إحراق منزل في حلحول شمال الخليل فجر اليوم. pic.twitter.com/sLPMzq6mTr
— قناة عودة الفضائية (@AwdehTV) May 20, 2026
Lawmakers are set to vote today on a preliminary reading of a bill to dissolve the Knesset, which could trigger slightly earlier elections.
The parliamentary plenum is set to begin at 11 a.m.
After clearing its preliminary reading, the bill will still need to undergo committee deliberations and clear three more Knesset readings before becoming law, but the legislation is expected to be swiftly pushed through the Knesset.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s erstwhile allies in the United Torah Judaism party announced last week that they would push to dissolve the Knesset.
In response, in an effort to control both the legislative process and the timing of the elections, Coalition Whip Ofir Katz submitted legislation calling for new elections to be held, which would see the the country go to the polls no less than three months from the bill’s final approval, with the date of the election to be determined by the Knesset House Committee.
The House Committee is chaired by the Likud’s Katz.
The bill was cosponsored by lawmakers from UTJ, Shas, New Hope, Religious Zionism, and Otzma Yehudit parties. Similar bills were submitted by the opposition as well.
If lawmakers vote to dissolve the Knesset, elections must be held within five months of the vote passing, which would mean mid- to late-October at latest. The Haredi parties reportedly favor an election date in early September. Elections must in any case be held by October 27.
Netanyahu has reportedly urged the ultra-Orthodox parties not to force early elections in September, warning in private conversations that such a timeline would “endanger” the right-wing bloc’s chances of winning.
In an effort to win the Haredim over and avoid a September election date, Netanyahu placed the coalition’s ultra-Orthodox draft exemption bill back on the parliamentary agenda, with a discussion currently taking place in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Netanyahu’s suggestion was rejected by the ultra-Orthodox, with Degel HaTorah spiritual leader Rabbi Dov Lando telling lawmakers earlier this week “not to get drawn into political games and to support the dissolution of the Knesset.”
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung says Israel detained South Korean nationals in international waters, calling the action “way out of line.”
Lee is apparently referring to nationals who were participating in the flotilla to Gaza — the Foreign Ministry announced yesterday that the latest activist flotilla aiming to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza had “come to an end,” with more than 400 activists taken to Israel.
In a cabinet meeting, Lee says the South Korean citizens had been detained for reasons not valid under international law, questioning whether such actions could be allowed to pass without protest.
The flotilla was led by Turkish aid organization IHH, which is designated in Israel as a terror organization and which organized the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla to Gaza.
Lee also says he believes many European countries are willing to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under International Criminal Court warrants, but that Seoul must make its own judgment on the matter.
Only minutes after the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee resumes deliberations on the coalition’s contentious Haredi draft exemption bill, Yesh Atid MK Moshe Tur-Paz is removed from the parliamentary panel’s chamber after repeatedly interrupting chairman Boaz Bismuth.
Bismuth opens the discussion by linking the Haredi draft issue to the recent jailing of an IDF soldier for wearing a Messiah patch on his uniform, which the Likud lawmaker argues highlights the importance of making sure Haredi soldiers can retain their religious identity in the IDF.
Tur-Paz repeatedly interrupts Bismuth, shouting “shame on you Boaz” and yelling that he needs to study more Torah to understand the issue at hand.
The soldier was jailed after IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir paid a visit to an army post in the West Bank, where he was displeased to find that his recent warning about eroding discipline appeared to have gone unheeded.
The IDF says two separate suspected drone infiltration alerts in northern Israel a short while ago were ultimately determined to be false alarms.
According to the military, sirens that sounded in the community of Malkia were triggered by a false identification.
In a separate incident, sirens warning of a hostile aircraft infiltration sounded in Kiryat Shmona and Margaliot, where the IDF says an interceptor was launched at what was later determined to be a false target.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa reveals Donald Trump has sent him cologne from the US president’s own line of fragrances, apparently concerned that the former rebel leader may have finished the supply he was gifted in Washington last year.
Sharaa posts an image of two bottles of Trump’s “Victory” cologne, along with a note that reads: “Ahmed, They’re all talking about the picture we took when I gave you this great cologne — In case you ran out!”
The Syrian leader writes: “Some meetings leave an impression; ours apparently left a fragrance. Thank you, Mr. President, for your generosity and for topping up this precious gift. May the spirit of that meeting continue to shape a stronger relationship between Syria and the United States.”
Some meetings leave an impression; ours apparently left a fragrance.
Thank you, Mr. President @realDonaldTrump, for your generosity and for topping up this precious gift. May the spirit of that meeting continue to shape a stronger relationship between Syria and the United States. pic.twitter.com/4rVXeYt8zs— أحمد الشرع (@AH_AlSharaa) May 19, 2026
In a video from the two presidents’ meeting in November, Trump could be seen spraying Sharaa with the Trump-branded cologne before handing it to him.
“It’s the best fragrance,” said Trump, telling Sharaa that there would be another bottle for his wife.
“How many wives? One?” Trump asked.
Sharaa was seemingly amused by the question, laughing and confirming that he has only one wife.
“With you guys, I never know,” replied Trump, playfully slapping Sharaa’s shoulder.
Sirens in the northern border town of Kiryat Shmona and a number of surrounding communities warn of a suspected drone attack from Lebanon.
It is the second suspected drone attack by Hezbollah in less than an hour.
Sirens in the north warn of a suspected drone attack from Lebanon.
The Israel Defense Forces says it is looking into the incident.
Civil Service Commissioner Daniel Hershkowitz is pulling out of the race to become the next state comptroller, Hebrew-language media reports.
“Prof. Hershkowitz would like to sincerely thank the ministers and Knesset members from all sides who expressed confidence in him and supported his candidacy along the way, and appreciates the broad and warm support he received,” he says in a statement, according to the Ynet news site.
Yesterday, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party announced that it had begun collecting signatures for the candidacy of former High Court Justice Yosef Elron.
Elron, who was appointed to the nation’s top court in 2017 and retired in 2024, is seen as a staunch conservative.
Michael Rabello, an attorney who has represented Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the High Court of Justice on several occasions, is also a candidate for the position.
Netanyahu himself is pushing Rabello’s candidacy, Kan reported last week, and has held several meetings with coalition party heads in an effort to persuade them to support him.
Rabello has represented Netanyahu in High Court petitions when the attorney general has opposed the government’s position, including the petitions demanding a state commission of inquiry be established into the catastrophic October 7, 2023, invasion and atrocities, and the petitions against the government’s reasonableness law.
The State Comptroller has the authority to audit and review the functioning of government ministries and agencies and examine whether they are acting legally, efficiently, and properly.
The position is elected by secret ballot of all Knesset members and must secure a majority to be elected.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said further hostilities in the Middle East is “inadvisable,” calling for a “comprehensive” ceasefire, as he spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Wednesday, state media reports.
“A comprehensive ceasefire is of utmost urgency, resuming hostilities is even more inadvisable and maintaining negotiations is particularly important,” Xi told Putin, according to Xinhua news agency.
Two teenagers who shot and killed three people in an attack on a California mosque were radicalized online where they first met and shared white supremacist views, according to authorities and writings they authored.
The writings, obtained by The Associated Press, include hateful rhetoric toward Jewish people, Muslims and Islam, as well as the LGBTQ+ community, Black people, women, and both the political left and right.
Both express beliefs that white people are being eliminated, and one writes about mental health struggles and being rejected by women.
Investigators also found at least 30 guns, ammunition and a crossbow at two residences after Monday’s attack in San Diego and were trying to uncover whether the shooters had broader plans, says Mark Remily, the lead FBI agent in San Diego. The shooters, Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vazquez, 18, killed themselves, according to police.
In Philadelphia, state Representative Chris Rabb wins the Democratic primary for a seat in US Congress. Since no Republican sought that party’s nomination, Rabb is a shoo-in to succeed retiring Democratic Representative Dwight Evans.
Rabb was endorsed by progressive stalwarts US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and online streamer Hasan Piker and drew financial backing from the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He made opposition to Israel and AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group, a focal point of his campaign.
Rabb bested Sharif Street, a state senator, former state party chairman and son of the city’s former two-term mayor, John F. Street, and Dr. Ala Stanford, a pediatric surgeon.
An Israeli-developed plan called for installing Holocaust-denying former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran’s new leader after the killing of supreme leader Ali Khamenei and other top Iranian officials at the start of the US-Israel war against the Islamic Republic, according to the New York Times.
Ahmadinejad was reportedly consulted about the plan but became wary after being wounded in an Israeli strike in Tehran meant to spring him from house arrest, and has not been seen publicly since.
The newspaper notes that though Ahmadinejad has feuded with senior regime figures, he has called to “wipe Israel off the map” and backed Iran’s nuclear program, stressing that “to say he was an unusual choice would be a vast understatement.”
According to the report, having Ahmadinejad take power was one of the stages in Israel’s envisioned multiphase plan for the war, the first of which was the opening US and Israeli aerial campaign that killed top Iranian officials and a mobilization of Kurdish forces to fight against Iran.
After the strikes and planned Kurdish invasion that never materialized, the report said Israel believed Iran’s regime would be sufficiently destabilized and ultimately collapse due to political pressure and damage to key infrastructure, with an “alternative government” then able to take charge.
After being defeated in the GOP primary, US House Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky tells supporters that he would’ve announced his concession sooner but he first called his opponent “and it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv.”
Massie: I would have come out sooner but I had to call my opponent to concede and it took a while to find him in Tel Aviv pic.twitter.com/DmTkDfS17a
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 20, 2026
He also claims in his concession speech that young voters are still on his side.
“People that want somebody that will go along to get along, I’ve never heard of that strategy but that seems to be what the voters want,” Massie says. “But not the young voters.”
The crowd is still energetic despite Massie’s loss, and starts a chant of “No more wars!” that the congressman joins in on. Massie’s speech meanders through different topics and touches on other politicians before another chant start of “America First!”
In a short speech, Gallrein pledges to take the party’s agenda to Washington and work closely with US President Donald Trump. His victory speech lasts around five minutes.
“We have a saying on the family farm that it’s a contact sport,” Gallrein says. “I can tell you that campaigning is one as well folks.”
Ed Gallrein has won Republican nomination for the US House in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, beating incumbent Representative Thomas Massie.
The result shows US President Donald Trump’s persisting influence over GOP voters, adding to a growing number of Trump-backed primary challengers to defeat Republican lawmakers who angered him in his second term. It also marks a win for pro-Israel groups and donors who poured money into the race to defeat Massie, part of the Republican’s isolation wing who has called for ending aid to Israel and claimed the race was a referendum on “whether Israel gets to buy seats in Congress.”
Massie, who has served in Congress since 2012, fell into Trump’s crosshairs in part by pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and denouncing the war in Iran.
Gallrein, a former Navy Seal who avoided making public appearances on the campaign trail, ran on his military service and loyalty to the president. He accused Massie of forsaking Trump and the party.
Gallrein is expected to win the general election in the deeply red district.
US President Donald Trump tells lawmakers at the White House that the United States “will end the war very quickly” with Iran.
Most of the polls in the state have closed, including in the 4th District, where US Representative Thomas Massie is up against Ed Gallrein in the Republican primary that’s garnered national attention.
The president picked Gallrein to compete against Massie, who’s frustrated Trump partly by pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Massie, a longtime opponent of aid for Israel who is opposed by AIPAC and wealthy pro-Israel Jewish American donors, has claimed the race is a vote on “whether Israel gets to buy seats in Congress.” He’s also been accused of antisemitism for reasons that have nothing to do with Israel.
For the first time since the outbreak of the US-Israel war against Iran, the United States Senate has advanced a motion that could bar President Donald Trump’s administration from continuing to strike the Islamic Republic.
Four Republicans join their Democratic colleagues in backing the measure, which would require Congressional approval for continued military strikes against Iran.
The procedural measure requires the Senate to hold a subsequent debate on a war powers resolution to end the conflict.
Republicans can still defeat the resolution, especially if the Trump administration works to rally support on Capitol Hill. But a vote will force lawmakers to stand by their positions regarding the war.
Republicans had blocked over half a dozen of these measures since the Iran war began, demonstrating the party’s support for the war effort.
However, as the war dragged on and its economic costs have risen, cracks in support for the conflict — technically in a ceasefire — have began to surface, including in the GOP.
Senator John Fetterman was the lone Democrat to vote against the Tuesday measure, while Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowsky, Rand Paul and Bill Cassidy split from their GOP colleagues to support the resolution.
Cassidy abandoned the pack for the first time just days after losing a Republican primary race in which Trump endorsed his challenger.
