The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they unfolded.
The US military carried out new strikes overnight Wednesday-Thursday in Iran, targeting a military site that officials believed posed a threat to US forces and commercial maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a US official tells Reuters.
The official says the US military has also intercepted and shot down multiple Iranian drones that posed a similar threat.
The comments from the US official come shortly after Iranian media reported that three explosions were heard east of the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas at around 1:30 a.m. local time. Iranian media said that air defenses were activated for several minutes and that authorities were following up to determine the origin of the sounds.
The US military strikes, which have not been previously reported, came during negotiations to end a three-month-old war that has killed thousands and sent global energy prices sharply higher since it began on February 28 with US and Israeli attacks.
US President Donald Trump earlier on Wednesday dismissed an Iranian state media report that Iran and Oman would jointly manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz as part of a peace deal. Trump said the waterway would remain open.
The US last carried out what it called defensive strikes against Iran on Monday, in what Iran called a violation of the countries’ fragile ceasefire. The US targets included boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites that the US military’s Central Command said posed a threat to US forces.
A man who admitted to taking part in a plot to kill an Iranian-American activist who is a prominent critic of Tehran has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Jonathan Loadholt, 37, was arrested in November 2024 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit stalking and money laundering in the plot targeting Masih Alinejad, who is 49.
He and another man, Carlisle Rivera, were charged with accepting $100,000 to kill Alinejad, who lives in the United States.
Rivera was sentenced to 15 years in prison in January after pleading guilty to a count of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.
The US Justice Department has said the plan to kill Alinejad was ordered by Iran’s government.
“Tehran attempted to murder a US journalist in the United States simply because she exposed a few of that regime’s many abuses,” says Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg.
Another suspect remains at large: Farhad Shakeri, an Afghan living in Iran who is accused of recruiting the other two men on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the powerful ideological branch of Iran’s military.
Alinejad is one of the most prominent dissident campaigners against Iranian authorities and for years has pushed for the abolition of the obligatory headscarf in Iran under the banner of “MyStealthyFreedom.” She left Iran in 2009.
Alinejad was the target of another assassination attempt thwarted at the last moment in the summer of 2022.
She has nearly nine million followers on Instagram.
The United States has re-added Francesca Albanese, a UN special rapporteur on the West Bank and Gaza, to a list of sanctioned individuals, according to a notice posted to the US Treasury’s website.
The Treasury Department removed Albanese from the list just last week after a federal judge temporarily blocked the sanctions, finding that US President Donald Trump’s administration likely violated her free-speech rights by imposing the measures.
Albanese, who has long been accused of antisemitism and extremist rhetoric against Israel, was sanctioned by the Trump administration last year for alleged “political and economic warfare” against the US and Israel. As United Nations special rapporteur on the West Bank and Gaza, she has recommended the International Criminal Court pursue war crimes prosecutions against Israeli and American nationals.
Three explosions were heard east of the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas at around 1:30 a.m. local time, Iranian media reports early on Thursday, adding that air defenses were activated for several minutes and that authorities were following up to determine the origin of the sounds.
Police were filmed removing a couple from the Old City of Jerusalem because one of them was wearing a hat with the phrase, “FCK BNGVR.”
The woman tells the Haaretz daily that she and her partner were walking through the Muslim Quarter when an officer stopped them and demanded she turn over her “provocative” hat criticizing far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, whose office oversees the police.
The woman, identified as Dafna Brenkel, tells Haaretz that after she refused the order, the officers told them they had to leave the Old City.
Brenkel’s partner filmed the officers pushing them out of the Muslim Quarter, while refusing to identify themselves.
Brenkel tells Haaretz the incident was “the tip of the iceberg of what other people experience in Jerusalem.”
“I belong to a population group that still has the ability to look straight into the eyes of people who abuse their power in this country without suffering too severe consequences, for the most part,” says the Jewish Israeli woman.
Police, in a statement on the incident, tell Haaretz they are looking into the matter.
בני הזוג שהורחקו מהעיר העתיקה בגלל כובע FCK BNGVR pic.twitter.com/4NoIDsk9Lz
— הארץ חדשות (@haaretznewsvid) May 27, 2026
Former US first lady Jill Biden says in an upcoming interview that her husband’s disastrous 2024 debate performance against Donald Trump was so alarming, she thought he was having a stroke on stage.
“I was frightened, because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never,” she tells “CBS News Sunday Morning” as part of an interview airing this weekend.
“I don’t know what happened,” she says in the clip released Wednesday. “As I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, he’s having a stroke.’ And it scared me to death.”
In the debate, then 81-year-old president Joe Biden stumbled on his words, stared open-mouthed and lost his train of thought as he struggled to counter his bombastic rival.
Yet immediately after the debate, Jill Biden praised her husband’s performance, telling him in front of a crowd of supporters: “Joe, you did such a great job. You answered every question, you knew all the facts.”
Joe Biden’s debate performance sparked intense concern within the Democratic Party over his evident decline, ultimately leading to his exit from the White House race in favor of then-vice president Kamala Harris.
She lost to Trump following an abbreviated campaign.
Jill Biden on watching the 2024 debate.
“As I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, he’s having a stroke.’ And it scared me to death,” pic.twitter.com/jQfjMxd15C
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) May 27, 2026
Meta has launched paid subscription plans for its flagship apps, marking a major push by the tech giant to diversify beyond its longtime reliance on advertising revenue.
Meta head of product Naomi Gleit announces the move in a video posted to Instagram, saying she was rolling out Facebook Plus, Instagram Plus and WhatsApp Plus globally, with more plans in the works for businesses, creators and artificial intelligence products.
The move comes as Meta faces investor scrutiny over its massive AI spending. The company has projected capital expenditure — mainly for AI data centers — of between $125 billion and $145 billion for the year.
Meta’s stock rose nearly three percent on the news.
According to reports, Instagram Plus and Facebook Plus will be priced at $3.99 per month, while WhatsApp Plus will cost $2.99 per month.
Instagram Plus and Facebook Plus will unlock extra features, including better analytics, story rewatch statistics, wider audience reach and profile customization options.
WhatsApp Plus focuses on personalization, including premium stickers, custom ringtones and app themes.
Gleit says the company intends to eventually consolidate its various offerings under a single brand called Meta One.
Meta in 2023 launched ad-free, paid versions of Facebook and Instagram in Europe to comply with EU data privacy legislation, giving users a choice between a free, ad-supported experience and a paid, ad-free one.
Hamas-linked health officials in Gaza say seven people were killed and 18 more were wounded after the IDF said it targeted two “senior” Hamas operatives in an airstrike in the northern part of the enclave late Wednesday.
A group of over 60 archaeologists petitions the High Court of Justice to block the appointment of Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu’s pick for the head of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).
The group says in a statement that they are asking the court to annul both the search committee’s decision to recommend candidate Esti Schreiber for the position of IAA director-general and the minister’s decision to select her. The group also wants the court to require that the IAA Council convene and discuss Schreiber’s candidacy.
The petition is based on alleged procedural issues. The group states that the minister ordered the establishment of a search committee without receiving a request to do so from the IAA Council; he placed the Heritage Ministry’s director general at the head of the search committee rather than a professional figure, detailed inadequate selection criteria; and he did not make a decision about extending the tenure of the current IAA director general.
At the same time, the petitioners described Schreiber as a political appointee lacking the necessary qualifications to lead the IAA.
Administrators at the University of California, Berkeley, refused to hand a diploma to a graduate holding a Palestinian flag, video shows.
At the ceremony for the university’s Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy, a student comes on stage holding the flag aloft.
He approaches administrators to receive his diploma, but is refused, the footage shows.
“Sorry, but we’re not allowed to have flags. Flags are prohibited,” an administrator says. “It’s not our policy. It’s the university policy.”
???????? — WATCH: UC Berkeley leaders refused to hand a graduation certificate to a student who brought a Palestinian terror flag onto the stage during a commencement ceremony Friday morning, but the crowd still cheered for him. pic.twitter.com/ildpSdDYIK
— Belaaz News (@TheBelaaz) May 27, 2026
The student walks offstage amid shouts from the audience.
“We cannot display flags. We are prohibited from displaying flags,” an administrator says in the footage.
The student returns without the flag, receives his diploma and walks offstage.
Anti-Israel activism has caused repeated controversies at university graduation ceremonies in the US.
An Austrian court has sentenced an unrepentant 24-year-old Syrian Kurd refugee to life in prison over a jihadist knife attack that claimed the life of a teenage boy and wounded five.
“He said he was prepared to do it again at any time,” Christian Liebhauser-Karl, spokesman for the court in the southern city of Klagenfurt, tells AFP.
After his arrest, the man told police he regretted not having achieved his aim of killing at least 10 people and dying during the operation.
The verdict is not final, even though the convicted man has waived his right to appeal to the Supreme Court, as the public prosecutor’s office formally has three days to lodge an appeal.
On February 15, 2025, the refugee carried out the attack in the name of the Islamic State in Villach in southern Austria.
A 14-year-old boy died and five other passers-by under the age of 33 were injured.
The criminal court unanimously found him guilty of murder, five counts of attempted murder, and terrorist offenses.
Given his prior record, the element of surprise in his modus operandi, the presence of minors among the victims, his lack of remorse, the religious motive, and the risk of repeat attacks, the prosecution had asked the jury to make full use of the sentencing scale.
The man was granted asylum in Austria in 2020 to escape conscription, before rapidly becoming radicalized from 2024 onwards by watching videos on TikTok.
He pledged allegiance to IS two days before the attack.
During the attack, he was overpowered by a food delivery driver, also originally from Syria, who rammed him with his vehicle.
In 2020, another man claiming allegiance to IS opened fire in central Vienna, killing four people.
The IDF says it struck two “senior” Hamas operatives in northern Gaza a short while ago.
More details will be provided later, the military says.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil has fallen 5.3% to $94.28 today, as Iran claimed through state media to have received an initial draft of a deal to end the war — although the White House later denied Iranian media’s account of the purported terms of the framework.
A barrel of benchmark US crude has also fallen 5.5% to settle at $88.68 on hopes that the United States and Iran can reach an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and allow oil tankers to exit the Persian Gulf for deliveries again.
Former UN ambassador and ex-Likud minister Gilad Erdan and Likud MK Yuli Edelstein have reached initial agreements regarding the potential establishment of a new political party together, with “significant progress” reportedly made in recent talks, according to a Channel 12 news report.
According to the report, the two are working together closely and waiting for former finance minister Moshe Kahlon to decide whether to join the initiative.
The two are in talks with other right-wing figures about joining the party, according to the report, including former Beit Shemesh mayor Aliza Bloch, former IDF general Ofer Winter, who is widely expected to enter politics, and former fire commissioner Dedi Simchi, who has said that he will run for the Knesset.
Erdan, Edelstein, and Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel have all been mentioned in recent months in reports about the possible formation of a new party tentatively dubbed “Likud B,” aimed at creating a more “statesmanlike” alternative to the ruling party, which would eschew some of the extreme populist elements of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s current party.
The report comes a day after Erdan publicly confirmed that he is considering establishing a new right-wing party to compete with Likud, saying in an interview with Radio 103FM that he sees himself as a potential future prime minister, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leaves political life.
US President Donald Trump is asked whether the MOU under discussion with Iran defers talks on Iran’s enriched uranium to a subsequent negotiation, as has been widely reported.
Trump suggests that the initial agreement will touch on nuclear issues, but declines to elaborate, instead focusing on other issues that the MoU will address.
“One of the things that will happen is the strait will open immediately,” he says, highlighting something that was not even an issue before the war was launched by the US and Israel.
Trump is asked whether he would accept a deal that gives Iran and Oman temporary control over the Strait of Hormuz.
“No, the strait is going to be open to everybody… It’s international waters. Nobody’s going to control it. We’re going to watch over it.”
“Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that, and they’ll be fine,” he adds.
He repeats his claim that the US has brought about regime change in Iran, even though the Islamic Republic is still in power. He claims that Iran’s “new leaders” are “much more reasonable” and “smarter” than their predecessors.
“We can make a good deal right now, but maybe not a great deal,” Trump says, insisting that he only wants to sign a great deal.
Asked if he is concerned about rising gas prices, Trump insists that the US has enough oil and that Iran’s closing of the Strait of Hormuz is a bigger problem for the rest of the world than it is for Washington.
He reiterates that his main concern is preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, suggesting that he is willing to put up with the economic fallout in the interim, while insisting that gas prices will quickly come back down when the issue is resolved.
Trump is asked about having Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium transferred to Russia or China — something he has dismissed before. He again says he would not be comfortable with that.
He insists that the US will not grant Iran any sanctions relief until Tehran “behaves properly.”
“When they do what’s right, we’ll let them have their money,” he says, before seeming to contradict himself. “One thing is not contingent on the other.”
Asked to place a timeline on when a deal may be reached, Trump declines to do so, while insisting that talks are going well.
US President Donald Trump suggests he may not sign a deal with Iran if neighboring Gulf countries do not join the Abraham Accords.
“I’m not sure we should make the deal if they don’t… join the Abraham Accords,” Trump says during a cabinet meeting, referring to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and others.
On Sunday, Trump for the first time tied Iran talks with the Abraham Accords, as he seeks to secure diplomatic wins amid questionable results on the battlefield, with the Islamic Republic still in power and in control of missiles and uranium stockpiles, as well as the Strait of Hormuz.
But Saudi officials were quick to reiterate that Riyadh will only normalize ties with Israel if the latter agrees to establish an irreversible pathway to a Palestinian state — something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to reject.
Trump appears not to budge, telling reporters that Gulf countries “owe it” to the US to join the Abraham Accords after Washington launched the war against Iran — a conflict that placed them in Tehran’s crosshairs for weeks.
Asked if he would go as far as to specifically make the Iran deal contingent on countries joining the Abraham Accords, Trump takes a step back from the bluster.
“I’m not going to [tell] you what’s contingent, and what’s not,” he responds.
Trump turns to US special envoy Steve Witkoff and asks if countries will join the Abraham Accords, but the senior adviser is similarly non-committal.
“We’re definitely pushing it,” Witkoff responds.
A police detective in the Lahav 433 major crimes unit is under investigation on suspicion of contact with a foreign agent.
He was detained for questioning yesterday by investigators in the Department of Internal Police Investigations, a State Attorney’s Office body that probes police suspected of criminal activity.
He was placed under house arrest following the interrogation, the agency says. The investigation is ongoing.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledges that Iran retains some missiles, even after the weeks-long US-Israel bombing campaign.
However, Tehran can no longer build new ones, he claims.
“They may have missiles, but they can’t build more right now,” Hegseth says during a cabinet meeting.
“They can’t build more drones right now, and they can’t build more ships, and so they came and cried ‘uncle’ to talk,” Hegseth claims.
Touting the US blockade of Iranian ports, Hegseth says, “No Iranian tanker around the globe is safe, and we’ve seen seizures all around the globe, choking off their economic life blood.”
The IDF issues a sweeping evacuation advisory urging residents across southern Lebanon to move north of the Zahrani River, warning that “all areas south of the river are considered combat zones.”
“We call on all residents of southern Lebanon to stay away from Hezbollah operatives, facilities, and combat equipment,” says military spokesman Avichay Adraee, adding that “the IDF does not intend to harm civilians.”
The military has issued a series of localized evacuation warnings in recent days targeting specific cities and villages in southern Lebanon. This announcement is the first broad advisory covering the entirety of southern Lebanon since the ceasefire, which has now largely unraveled, came into effect on April 16.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeats that “some progress” has been made in talks with Iran.
“We’ll see over the next few hours and days whether progress could be made,” Rubio says during a White House cabinet meeting, offering little-to-no new details on the status of talks.
Rubio reiterates that US President Donald Trump’s administration would prefer a diplomatic path to ensuring Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon, but that Washington “ha[s] other options available” if talks do not succeed.
“Iran — and these people in charge of Iran — can never have a nuclear weapon, and they will never have a nuclear weapon as long as you’re president of the United States,” Rubio tells Trump, as cabinet ministers go around the table updating the president on their work, while making a point to profusely praise him.
US President Donald Trump indicates that no progress has been made toward a deal after declaring four days ago that an agreement was “largely negotiated” and that the details would be “announced shortly.”
In opening remarks at a White House cabinet meeting, Trump again claims that Iran “wants to make a deal,” but that the US is “not satisfied” yet with what it is seeing.
“We will be [satisfied]… Either that, or we’ll have to just finish the job,” Trump again threatens.
Trump claims Iran has decided to begin lifting the country’s internet blackout “because they’re getting clobbered.”
“They thought they were going to out-wait me,” Trump says, claiming that Iran thought he would be forced to capitulate to bring down costs ahead of the fall midterms.
“I don’t care about the midterms,” Trump says, before clarifying that the candidates he backs are winning regardless.
“With Operation Epic Future, our warriors are ensuring that the world’s number one state sponsor of terror never obtains a nuclear weapon,” he adds.
A 3-year-old boy is in critical condition after being hit by a car in Or Akiva, first responders say.
Magen David Adom medics are attempting to resuscitate the toddler while taking him to Hillel Yaffe Hospital in Hadera.
The circumstances of the incident are not immediately clear.
Social Equality Minister May Golan calls for Israeli settlements to be built in Gaza, making her the second Likud minister to do in 24 hours.
“It is a great privilege to celebrate the achievements we’ve made in recent years in this government, and God willing to issue a clear call that we will settle in all parts of the Land of Israel including Gaza and in every place where the holy land of Israel should be settled,” Golan says during an event with the Nachala settlement organization.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli made similar comments yesterday, also during a meeting with Nachala officials, stating that building Israeli settlements in the northern border area of Gaza should be part of Likud’s election platform.
Palestinian media outlets publish footage of a settler beating a dog with a stick in the South Hebron Hills area of the southern West Bank.
According to reports, the dog is a guard dog owned by a Palestinian resident of Khirbet a-Rakiz.
Additional footage said to be from the same incident shows a settler entering a family’s home and knocking over a woman, who falls on the child standing next to her.
ממש עכשיו בחירבת׳ מרכאז שבדרום הר חברון
מתנחל תקף אישה מבוגרת ואת התינוק שלה (!!) ולאחר מכן תקף גם את הכלב שלהם.
זה מה שתנועת ההתנחלות מייצרת עם כל מאות המיליונים שהממשלה שופכת עליהם, גברים אלימים שתוקפים את החלשים ביותר בסדיזם טהור. pic.twitter.com/v8q7ttfn2R
— נדב וימן Nadav Weiman (@weimanadav) May 27, 2026
The police say they have opened an investigation into the incident, adding that officers arrived at the scene, took testimonies from residents, and began working to locate the suspect.
Investigations into incidents of settler violence rarely lead to arrests.
Sirens sound in the northern community of Kiryat Shmona near the Lebanese border, warning of a suspected Hezbollah drone infiltration.
The IDF says a short while later that the alert was triggered by a false identification.
Residents are told they can safely leave their bomb shelters.
Russia’s state nuclear corporation has decided to postpone the return of its staff to Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, Rosatom head Alexei Likhachev says.
Rosatom had previously evacuated 813 personnel from the site due to the US-Israel war with Iran, leaving only 20 behind.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The IDF says it is striking “Hezbollah command centers” in and around Tyre, in southern Lebanon.
It had issued an evacuation warning for the area.
Yesh Atid says Oz Haim, head of the Zionist Council in Israel, will enter the Knesset following MK Boaz Toporovsky’s announcement earlier today that he is stepping back from politics.
Haim will enter the Knesset to fill Toporovsky’s seat after leading the Zionist Council of Israel for four and a half years.
The council operates under the umbrella of the World Zionist Congress, which oversees major Zionist institutions, including the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency and Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael–Jewish National Fund, and allocates some $1 billion annually to Jewish causes worldwide.
After Iran’s State TV publishes what it purported to be a draft of the Memorandum of Understanding being crafted between the US and Iran, the White House adamantly denies its accuracy.
“This report from Iranian controlled media is not true and the MOU they ‘released’ is a complete fabrication. Nobody should believe what Iranian state media is putting out. FACTS MATTER,” the White House writes on X.
The Iranian report said the draft MoU envisioned the US withdrawing forces from Iran’s vicinity and lifting its blockade of Iran’s ports in exchange for Tehran restoring commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to pre-war levels within a month.
Iran would still be tasked with managing ship traffic through Hormuz, in what would be a major win for Tehran, the reported draft said.
Yesh Atid MK Boaz Toporovsky says that he is stepping away from politics and will not seek another term in the Knesset.
In a statement, the lawmaker says that he is “taking a break from politics” but will remain part of the party that he helped found.
In a statement, Yesh Atid thanks Toporovsky for years of “meaningful, dedicated and principled public service.”
“Boaz is one of Yesh Atid’s founders, a friend of mine, and will continue to be part of our extended family,” party chairman Yair Lapid says. “I thank him for his years of service to the Israeli public and wish him success in the next chapter of his journey.”
Toporovsky first served in the Knesset from 2013-2015 as part of Yesh Atid but lost his seat in the 2015 elections. He re-entered the Knesset in 2019 and briefly served as coalition whip during the short-lived government led by Lapid and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in 2022.
The Knesset Education Committee restores the word “massacre” to legislation establishing an annual state memorial day for the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack, months after it was removed from the bill’s title at the request of the Prime Minister’s Office, sparking outrage among bereaved families.
Acting committee chairman Shas MK Yosef Taieb says lawmakers reinstated the bill’s original title, “Law for the commemoration of the massacre and heroism on Simhat Torah – October 7,” because the government was “sensitive to concerns,” insisting that “no one wants to whitewash or change the narrative.”
The move comes after relatives of victims accused the government of attempting to “erase” history and evade accountability by dropping the word “massacre” from the legislation in February.
Despite the reversal, sharp disagreements remain over how the day should be commemorated, with bereaved families criticizing language in the bill describing one of its goals as strengthening “national resilience and social cohesion,” arguing that the focus should remain on remembering those murdered and abducted.
“Why is strengthening social cohesion relevant to this law? The law is about the day of the massacre and the days surrounding it,” says Esther Buchshtav, whose son Yagev Buchshtav was abducted by Hamas on October 7th and murdered in captivity.
Reut Edri, whose son Ido Edri, a Shin Bet agent, was killed at the Nova music festival, argues similarly that “the massacre, the failure and abandonment have no place alongside heroism. Please understand the families’ request to separate them.”
Responding to the criticism, Taieb proposes removing references to resilience and social cohesion from the bill’s statement of purpose, saying that “if commemoration and heroism do not ultimately contribute to national resilience, then there is no point in the bill.”
Backed by more than 80 of the 120 MKs, the bill would establish a national memorial day for the October 7 attack, the worst in Israel’s history, on the 24th of the Jewish month of Tishrei.
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York City, a leading figure in the US Reform movement, warns about anti-Zionism in Jewish institutions during a keynote address to Reform leaders.
“If the North American Reform movement, in word or in deed, by action or silence, becomes, in fact, or even in perception, an anti-Zionist, anti-particularistic movement that cares only, or mostly, about universal concerns, unanchored in, and unmoored from, the centrality of Jewish peoplehood, most American Jews will abandon us,” Hirsch says, according to a transcript of his speech.
“A diaspora community that disengages from Israel, where half of the remnants of our people lives, has no future. Such a community will eventually wither away and, at best, constitute a footnote in the annals of Jewish civilization,” Hirsch says. “If we marginalize ourselves from the mainstream of our people, the Jewish people and the Jewish state will continue without us, and it is we who will be remembered only in books and learned articles.”
He says that Jews have the right to anti-Zionist views, and to hire anti-Zionist communal leaders if they wish, but that the Reform movement should not, because “it is not what we believe.”
“Any seminary that either in word or deed, in principle or impression, acquires the reputation of being hostile to Zionism — a seminary that ordains anti-Zionist clergy — has no future in America,” Hirsch says.
He says that history shows that anti-Zionism is “catastrophic for the Jewish people” and that the ideology will be “rejected by the vast majority of the world’s Jews.”
Hirsch adds that the leadership of the North American Reform movement must teach congregants and students to “Direct your hearts and your eyes toward your people.”
“Feel their spirit, their pulse, their soul. If they rejoice, rejoice with them. And if they are suffering – suffer with them. Mourn with them. Support them. Help them. Free them. Redeem them,” Hirsch says.
Hirsch makes the comments during a keynote address at the third “Re-CHARGING Reform Judaism” conference at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
More than 300 Reform rabbis and other community leaders are attending the conference, the synagogue says.
The IDF says troops from the 401st Armored Brigade killed the Hezbollah operative responsible for the death of Maj. (res.) Itamar Sapir in southern Lebanon last week.
According to the military, the operative opened fire from the area of a church in southern Lebanon, killing Sapir. Troops on the ground returned fire.
The IDF says the operative was later identified entering a nearby building and was killed in a combined tank shelling and targeted air force strike.
The military adds that additional Hezbollah observation posts, weapons depots and buildings allegedly used for terror activity were also struck during the operation.
Sirens sound in several northern communities near the Lebanese border, warning of a suspected Hezbollah drone infiltration.
The IDF says the details are under review.
Hamas confirms that Mohammed Odeh, the head of the terror group’s military wing, was killed by Israel yesterday, along with his wife and two of his children.
The statement does not say who would succeed Odeh as head of Hamas’s military wing.
The IDF issues evacuation warnings for Tyre and the nearby neighborhoods and the Palestinian refugee camp ahead of airstrikes targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.
Residents of areas marked in red on a map published by the military are instructed to evacuate north of the Zahrani River.
“In light of the Hezbollah terror organization’s violations of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF is forced to act against it with force and does not intend to harm you,” warns army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee.
#عاجل ‼️انذار عاجل إلى سكان مدينة صور والمخيمات والأحياء المحيطة بها وفق ما يعرض في الخارطة
????في ضوء قيام حزب الله الارهابي بخرق اتفاق وقف اطلاق النار واستهداف الأراضي الاسرائيلية يضطر جيش الدفاع للعمل ضده بقوة. جيش الدفاع لا ينوي المساس بكم.
????حرصًا على سلامتكم عليكم إخلاء… pic.twitter.com/BxZUqiQ4io
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) May 27, 2026
Three Israelis were attacked with a sharp object in the Cyprus capital of Nicosia yesterday, with one victim sustaining injuries, according to local media.
The assault reportedly took place in the city center. One of the Israelis suffered an injury to the ear and received medical treatment following the incident, local media say. The victim’s condition was not immediately clear.
Police launched a manhunt after the attack and later arrested two suspects identified as men of Syrian origin, reports say. The suspects were taken to the Nicosia Criminal Investigation Department headquarters for questioning.
Police said investigators were working to determine how the confrontation began and whether the attack was racially motivated. The investigation remains ongoing.
“I am deeply shocked by the violent attack against Israeli citizens in Nicosia, targeted solely because of their visibly Jewish appearance,” Israeli Ambassador to Cyprus Oren Anolik writes on X. “Such antisemitic violence has no place in Cyprus.”
Είμαι βαθιά σοκαρισμένος από τη βίαιη επίθεση εναντίον Ισραηλινών πολιτών στη Λευκωσία, οι οποίοι στοχοποιήθηκαν αποκλειστικά λόγω της εβραϊκής τους εμφάνισης. Τέτοιου είδους αντισημιτική βία δεν έχει θέση στην Κύπρο.
Ευχαριστώ την Αστυνομία Κύπρου για τη γρήγορη σύλληψη των…
— Oren Anolik ???????? (@OrenAnolik) May 27, 2026
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid condemns Degel HaTorah chairman Moshe Gafni after the ultra-Orthodox politician urged members of his party in local government to halt all cooperation with law enforcement.
“Gafni’s announcement calling for anarchy throughout the State of Israel is further proof of why cooperation with the ultra-Orthodox parties is forbidden. Their attempts to undermine the very existence of the State of Israel are disgraceful. They should sit in the opposition,” says Lapid.
Following the arrest of several draft evaders overnight, Gafni this afternoon sent a letter to party representatives in local government throughout the country urging them to “immediately halt all cooperation with the Israel Police, including the municipal policing units, until further notice.”
Iran’s state TV says Tehran has obtained a draft of an initial, unofficial framework for a memorandum of understanding with the United States on ending their conflict.
Under the framework, Iran would restore commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to pre-war levels within a month, while the United States would withdraw military forces from Iran’s vicinity and lift a naval blockade.
State TV says the framework, which excludes military vessels and envisages Iran managing ship traffic through the strait in cooperation with Oman, is not yet finalized and that Tehran will take no steps without “tangible verification.”
It adds that if a final agreement is reached within 60 days, it could be approved as a binding UN Security Council resolution.
Several explosive Hezbollah drones impacted in northern Israel near the Lebanese border a short while ago, the IDF says, following sirens that sounded in a number of border communities.
The military says the incident is under investigation.
There are no immediate reports of injuries.
Following the arrest of several draft evaders overnight, Degel HaTorah chairman Moshe Gafni sends a letter to party representatives in local government throughout the country instructing them to halt all cooperation with law enforcement.
“Following the change in policy by the Israel Police, and so that we do not, God forbid, become complicit in harming the holy Torah and those who study it, I request that you immediately halt all cooperation with the Israel Police, including the municipal policing units, until further notice,” he writes.
Following harsh criticism from both the military and the High Court of Justice, the Israel Police announced last week that Commissioner Danny Levy had issued new orders to officers to detain draft dodgers and wait for the Military Police to pick them up.
According to the hardline Jerusalem Faction, three yeshiva students were arrested for draft evasion overnight.
Following the arrests, activists arrived to protest outside the home of the security chief of the IDF’s Neve Tzedek Military Prison near Beit Lid.
Officials say that a large fire at the largest kosher supermarket in London’s heavily Jewish Golders Green neighborhood appeared not to be suspicious, and was caused by an electrical fault.
“Our specialist Fire Investigators, in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police Service, have worked at pace to establish that the circumstances of the fire are not believed to be suspicious and investigations on the cause and origin of the fire are ongoing,” the London Fire Brigade says.
Police say that investigators believe the blaze was caused by an electrical fault.
Sirens sound in several northern border communities near the Lebanese border, warning of a suspected Hezbollah drone infiltration.
The IDF says the details are under review.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says most of Iran’s “military capabilities have been destroyed” and its nuclear program “set back by years,” as the Israeli Air Force receives its first Boeing KC-46 “Gideon” refueling plane from the United States.
“The structure of evil built by the ayatollah regime has been significantly cracked, and its future and stability are shrouded in uncertainty,” Zamir says at the ceremony inaugurating the aircraft.
“Its leaders are being hunted, most of its military capabilities have been destroyed, its nuclear program has been set back by years,” he adds. “Its economy is collapsing, and its citizens have yet to grasp the scale of the disaster their extremist leaders have brought upon them.”
The aircraft was inaugurated at Nevatim Airbase during a ceremony attended by Zamir and Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Omer Tischler. It is the first of six KC-46 aircraft purchased by the Defense Ministry.
“The arrival of the new plane significantly strengthens the air force’s superiority in the ongoing multi-front war and in long-range operations,” the IDF says, noting that the aircraft also provide “advanced transport and multi-mission capabilities.”
“Here, from the runways of Nevatim Airbase, refueling aircraft took off around two months ago and carried the entire air force to Iran on their wings,” Tischler says, referring to the US-Israel war on Iran.
“Even at this hour, the air force is in the skies – its aircraft and personnel are operating from the air and on the ground, striking Hezbollah with force,” he says, adding that the new KC-46s provide “more fuel, more payload, farther reach.”
A seven-year-old girl has died of her wounds after being shot and critically injured in Arara.
Police have arrested two people, including the suspected perpetrator and the girl’s father, according to the outlet.
According to the Kan public broadcaster, the shooting took place after parents intervened in a fight between their children.
One of the parents pulled out a gun and fired it, hitting the girl in the neck.
One of the girl’s relatives rushed her in his car to Karkur Junction, where he met with Magen David Adom medics who then took her to Hillel Yaffe Hospital.
Police have not yet commented on the circumstances of the shooting.
Police have arrested a suspect in the car bombing that killed a man in Afula yesterday morning.
The detained suspect is a 38-year-old man from northern Israel, police say.
At the police’s request, the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court imposed a gag order on the details of the ongoing investigation. The order is due to expire on June 10.
Yesterday, two men were killed in separate car explosions that occurred in Afula and on a highway near Or Akiva. Police are probing both incidents.
The IDF launches another wave of airstrikes targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
Earlier, the military issued evacuation warnings for the city of Nabatieh and five towns and villages in southern Lebanon.
The strikes come amid a recent surge in Hezbollah drone attacks on troops operating in Lebanon and northern Israeli communities.
Following harsh criticism of any potential rapprochement with the Haredim by fellow leaders of the anti-Netanyahu bloc, Yashar chief Gadi Eisenkot declares that his approach has not changed and that he still supports conscription for Haredim — although he believes that three percent of the top yeshiva students should still receive draft exemptions.
Channel 12 quotes Eisenkot as saying that “the fact that partners and rivals attribute naivety to me works in my favor. I am also meeting and talking with members of the Likud in order to shorten the days of this bad government.”
The network reported on Sunday that Eisenkot met with Degel HaTorah chairman Moshe Gafni after the Haredi party’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Dov Lando, called to dissolve the Knesset and declared his faction’s separation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc.
According to the network, it remains unclear what was said during the meeting, and spokespeople for both politicians declined to comment on the matter. Eisenkot has said that he maintains good relations with the Haredim, despite differences of opinion and recently generated anger by stating that he would join a coalition “with those who strengthen Israel” when asked if he would sit with the Haredi parties.
Addressing a Kibbutz Leadership Conference today, the former IDF chief of staff further states that his “approach has not changed: Service for all, even at the cost of additional elections.”
“We need to come up with a realistic plan. It is impossible to accept a reality in which there are 37,000 deserters and 45,000 draft evaders. They did not carry out this process during a comprehensive, difficult, and ongoing war,” Eisenkot says — dismissing what he describes as “populist and unserious statements made by officials who held the highest positions in the country but did not advance ultra-Orthodox enlistment by a single millimeter.”
All Haredim should serve in the army while Arabs engage in national service, Eisenkot contends, arguing that three percent of each annual Haredi draft cohort should “be given the opportunity to study Torah, similar to outstanding musicians and athletes” who also receive exemptions.
Earlier today, former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid slammed The Democrats chairman Yair Golan for telling party activists that he would be willing to sit in a government with the Haredim. After video of his remarks was broadcast by the pro-Netanyahu Channel 14, Golan released a video statement declaring that “the Haredim will be outside [the government], that is a guarantee.”
A seven-year-old girl is critically wounded after being shot in Arara, an Arab town in northern Israel.
Medics are attempting to resuscitate the girl while taking her to the hospital, Magen David Adom says.
The police says its forces are operating in the area and have launched an investigation into the shooting.
The IDF issues evacuation warnings for five towns and villages in southern Lebanon ahead of airstrikes targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.
Residents of Kfar Houneh, Aaramta, Mlikh, Jarjouaa and Houmin al-Fawqa are instructed to evacuate at least a kilometer away.
“In light of the Hezbollah terror organization’s violations of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF is forced to act against it with force and does not intend to harm you,” warns army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee.
The IDF says it launched an interceptor missile at “suspicious aerial targets” in an area where troops are operating in southern Lebanon, following sirens that sounded in the Rosh Hanikra area.
The results of the interception are currently under review.
The military adds that sirens were sounded according to protocol.
The IDF says it struck more than 150 Hezbollah terror infrastructure sites and operatives in the Lebanese cities of Tyre and Nabatieh, as well as in the Beqaa Valley, over the past day, publishing footage of strikes.
The military has issued several evacuation warnings in recent days for residents of different areas of southern Lebanon ahead of strikes targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, most recently for Nabatieh earlier today.
בצור, בנבטיה ובבקעא: צה"ל תקף לאורך היממה האחרונה יותר מ-150 תשתיות טרור ומחבלים של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה
צה"ל ממשיך לתקוף תשתיות טרור ומחבלים של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה pic.twitter.com/cjACkAlR0l
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 27, 2026
Hezbollah says it is clashing with IDF troops north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese media reports.
In response to the reports, the IDF says that it is “unaware of anything unusual.”
Yesterday, the IDF confirmed that it has expanded ground operations beyond the designated security zone in parts of southern Lebanon in recent days.
Lawmakers vote 44-37 in favor of a preliminary reading of a bill restoring daycare subsidies for the children of draft evaders, after United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni reportedly threatened to vote in favor of a state commission of inquiry into October 7 unless the legislation was approved.
The legislation, sponsored by the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, stipulates that only the employment or educational status of a child’s mother will be taken into account when deciding on a child’s eligibility for subsidies.
“A woman’s rights regarding her work and livelihood are constitutional rights of the highest order” and decisions regarding subsidies meant to enable her to work “cannot be dependent on any person other than the woman herself,” the bill’s explanatory notes state — adding that cancelling such subsidies “based on their spouses who have chosen to dedicate their lives to Torah study, contradicts the foundations of human dignity and liberty and the freedom of occupation.”
In a statement, deputy minister Yisrael Eichler, the initiator of the bill, argues that “the Knesset’s vote in favor of the law is an important bright spot in the darkness of persecution of the entire Haredi public.”
In a statement, UTJ chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf slams Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for abstaining from the vote, stating that he had revealed “his true face” and accusing him of seeing Haredi children as just “another tool in the political game to pass the electoral threshold.”
Gafni also slams Smotrich, accusing his Religious Zionism party of ingratitude.
“We gave them everything — in terms of the settlements, budgets and positions — and yet, when it comes to issues important to the Haredi public, they turn their backs and act against us. They are completely devoid of decency and values. From now on, we will take this into account in everything regarding Religious Zionism.”
According to Hebrew media reports, Gafni, the chairman of UTJ’s Degel HaTorah faction, told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his party would vote in favor of establishing a state commission of inquiry into October 7 unless the coalition supported the bill. Netanyahu’s government has steadfastly refused to establish a state commission of inquiry, the only available independent public forum with investigative powers, into the October 7 disaster.
In August 2024, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara ordered the Labor Ministry to cut daycare subsidies for the children of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who disobey military draft orders, explaining that since the High Court has ruled that as members of the ultra-Orthodox community must be inducted into the army, there was no longer a legal basis for the state to fund daycare for those who don’t comply.
Several explosive Hezbollah drones impacted in Israeli territory a short while ago, the IDF says, following sirens that sounded in the northern community of Shlomi near the northern border.
There are no reports of injuries, and the IDF says the incidents are under investigation.
Additionally, the Israeli Air Force intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” in an area where troops are operating in southern Lebanon, the military says.
Sirens sound in the northern community of Rosh Hanikra near the Lebanese border, warning of a suspected Hezbollah drone infiltration.
The IDF says the details are under review.
An Australian state police force is working to form a heavily armed rapid response team since gunmen killed 15 people and wounded three police officers armed only with handguns at a Sydney Hanukkah celebration in December, a government inquiry hears.
Testifying before the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, which is investigating the spread of antisemitism in Australia ahead of the December 14 terror attack targeting the Jewish community at Bondi Beach, New South Wales Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson describes a firepower imbalance.
The police force has responded with a plan to establish an Armed Response Command, equipped with semiautomatic rifles, and by reviving a priority-resourced operation that focused on antisemitic crimes and retaliations against Muslim targets, Hudson says.
Rifles within the force have been largely restricted to two specialized paramilitary squads, he says.
Father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram opened fire with two shotguns and a hunting rifle on hundreds of people celebrating Hanukkah in a beachside park. Only four police officers were present. They were armed with Glock pistols, which are only accurate for a short distance.
“On December 14, our police officers were placed at significant risk being in a gunfight armed with 9 mm Glocks against long arms,” Hudson tells the inquiry.
Within five minutes of the Akrams opening fire, 11 police officers had reached the scene. Three of those officers were among the dozens wounded in the massacre. Police shot the father dead and apprehended the wounded son less than eight minutes after the first shot was fired, the inquiry heard Monday.
In response to the shooting, police also revived Operation Shelter, which had been established in response to escalating community tensions days after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, Hudson says.
Hudson had established Operation Shelter as a “high visibility” proactive police operation to ensure there was no escalation of street violence in Sydney. At its peak, 200 officers had been assigned daily to the operation, which had authority to bring in outside staff from other duties as required.
Operation Shelter existed “in name only” when the Bondi massacre occurred, Hudson says, explaining that the program was quickly revived after the shooting and elevated to an “active policing resource” that will remain until the armed response squad is fully operational in the next 18 months to two years.
The Jerusalem District Court agrees to cancel the entire hearing scheduled for today for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s testimony in his corruption trial.
Earlier today, the court agreed to delay the start of today’s hearing following a request from Netanyahu to cancel the hearing, since he said he had been dealing with security and diplomacy matters “until the late hours of the night,” and had further such meetings in the morning.
After receiving a further update from Netanyahu’s lawyers, the court agrees to cancel the rest of the day’s hearing as well.
An alleged accomplice of a man who was convicted of stabbing and seriously wounding a Spanish tourist at Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial last year is arrested in the German capital.
The Syrian national, identified only as Khalaf A., in line with German privacy rules, is suspected of being an accessory to attempted murder and bodily harm, federal prosecutors say in a statement.
They say that he spent the afternoon before the attack on February 21, 2025, with the man convicted of the stabbing, Wassim Al M., and encouraged him to carry out his plan.
Wassim Al M., also a Syrian citizen, was convicted in March on charges including attempted murder and attempted membership in a foreign terrorist organization. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
The Berlin district court found that he traveled from Leipzig to Berlin to carry out an attack in the name of the Islamic State group.
He chose the Holocaust Memorial because “he believed he would find people of Jewish faith there,” presiding judge Doris Husch said at the time, and he stabbed the Spanish tourist in the throat before shouting, “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great.”
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a field of 2,700 gray concrete slabs near the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Berlin, honors the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust.
The stabbing took place two days before a German national election in which migration became a central issue, pushed to the forefront by a string of deadly attacks involving immigrants in the months before the vote.
The IDF issues an evacuation warning for the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh ahead of airstrikes targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.
Residents of the city are instructed to evacuate north of the nearby Zahrani River.
“In light of the Hezbollah terror organization’s violations of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF is forced to act against it with force and does not intend to harm you,” warns army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee.
A similar evacuation warning was issued for Nabitieh yesterday.
Hungarian lawmakers vote overwhelmingly to cancel the European country’s withdrawal from the International Criminal Court set in motion by former nationalist premier Viktor Orban last year.
Pro-EU conservative Prime Minister Peter Magyar, who won a landslide electoral victory in April, vowed he would reverse the year-long exit process before it takes effect on June 2.
The 199-member parliament votes 133 for, 37 against with five abstentions to formally repeal a law on exiting the ICC, just ahead of the deadline.
Magyar submitted the bill on Monday and rushed it through legislature in a fast-track procedure.
It is up to President Tamas Sulyok, an Orban-ally, to sign the legislation into law.
The ICC’s legislative body hailed an “important decision” after the government announced last Friday it would discontinue the process of withdrawal.
Orban pulled Hungary out of the court last year after it issued an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes, arguing that it had become a “political court.” He announced the move as he welcomed the Israeli prime minister for a visit to Budapest, defying Hungary’s legal obligation to arrest him as a party to the ICC.
Magyar had previously indicated that Hungary would execute ICC warrants against anyone, even Netanyahu, despite inviting him to Budapest alongside other world leaders for a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Hungarian Uprising.
United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf demands that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly intervene to prevent the Military Police from engaging in enforcement against draft evaders following several arrests overnight, calling such activity “a dangerous escalation in the relentless persecution of Torah students, which unfortunately recalls dark periods in the history of the Jewish people.”
“Precisely during such a sensitive and tense period, the police force entrusted with public order is expected to act with responsibility and discretion, and to avoid populist measures that create unnecessary confrontations,” Goldknopf states, arguing that police should focus their attention on other matters and calling on Netanyahu “to intervene immediately and order an immediate halt to these arrests.”
Following harsh criticism from both the military and the High Court of Justice, the Israel Police announced last week that Commissioner Danny Levy had issued new orders to officers to detain draft dodgers and wait for the Military Police to pick them up.
According to the hardline Jerusalem Faction, three yeshiva students were arrested for draft evasion overnight before the group’s Tzeva Shachor anti-conscription hotline could send out a warning and “community activists did not manage to arrive at the scene in time to prevent the handover.”
Following the arrests, the ultra-Orthodox group reported that activists had arrived to protest outside the home of the security chief of the IDF’s Neve Tzedek Military Prison near Beit Lid, prompting the use of tasers and tear gas. There was no comment from police.
Last month, 25 Haredim were arrested after demonstrators affiliated with the Jerusalem Faction breached the home of the head of the IDF’s Military Police in order to protest the detention of yeshiva students who have evaded military conscription.
The IDF says several rioters arrived last night at the private home of a noncommissioned officer serving as chief of security of the Beit Lid military prison, where they demonstrated and vandalized the area outside the building.
Ultra-Orthodox protesters gathered outside the officer’s home in the northern town of Kiryat Ata to protest efforts to draft Haredi men into military service, after three ultra-Orthodox men were arrested earlier in the day for draft evasion and taken to the prison, Hebrew media reports.
In a statement, the military calls the incident “serious and unacceptable,” saying IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir “strongly condemns” any attempt to harm or intimidate service members carrying out their duties.
The IDF says it expects law enforcement authorities to “act decisively” against those involved.
Sirens sound in the northern community of Shlomi near the Lebanese border, warning of a suspected Hezbollah drone infiltration.
The IDF says the details are under review.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid release simultaneous statements decrying any compromise with the Haredim, following recent comments by fellow opposition party leaders indicating a potential willingness to sit in government with the Knesset’s ultra-Orthodox parties in the next government.
“All the talk about ‘compromises with the Haredim’ is a political mistake and a moral error. After 40 years, we have a real opportunity for real change. For the first time, an opportunity has arisen to enlist young Haredi men, mandate core curriculum studies, and integrate them into the labor market,” says Lapid, insisting that such an opportunity should not be missed “for short-term political gains.”
In a separate statement, Bennett says “Israel is at an existential moment,” insisting that the state “will not survive when more and more of its citizens are educated to [say] ‘we will die before we enlist,’ do not serve in the IDF, and do not join the workforce.”
“The working and serving public cannot continue to bear the economic and security burden alone. This is national suicide in slow motion, and I will not let it happen. I want it to be clear to everyone: In the next government under my leadership, there will be no compromises on draft issues. There will be no political deals at the expense of those serving in the army,” Bennett says.
Bennett and Lapid’s statements come after Channel 14 broadcast a clip last night of The Democrats chairman Yair Golan telling party activists that he would be willing to sit in government with the Knesset’s ultra-Orthodox parties in order to replace the current coalition. Golan subsequently stated this morning that “the Haredi parties have disqualified themselves” and “will be outside” the next government.
Last week, Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot reportedly met with Degel HaTorah chairman Moshe Gafni. Eisenkot, who has indicated that he supports granting service exemptions for up to three percent of Haredim, has said that he maintains good relations with the Haredim, despite differences of opinion. He recently generated anger by stating that he would join a coalition “with those who strengthen Israel” when asked if he would sit with the Haredi parties.
The IDF says 433 ultra-Orthodox recruits enlisted in designated military service tracks during the April-May draft cycle, including a record 272 combat soldiers.
Over 79,000 conscription orders have been issued to ultra-Orthodox men since the High Court of Justice ruled in 2024 that they were obligated to enlist, after the law allowing for blanket exemptions expired the previous year.
According to the military, today’s figure marks an approximate 24 percent increase compared to the same recruitment period last year. The IDF also says the ultra-Orthodox Hasmonean Brigade reached a new record with 96 new combat recruits.
The military says combat training programs for ultra-Orthodox recruits are now operating at their largest scale in the past three years, while emphasizing that the army remains prepared to absorb significantly larger numbers in line with operational needs.
Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate’s Planning and Personnel Management Division, says many of the new recruits are “pioneers within their families and communities,” emphasizing that the military is continuing efforts to absorb Haredi recruits “while fully preserving their way of life.”
He also stresses that the military’s operational needs “are far greater” and require broader enlistment from all sectors of Israeli society.
The IDF has repeatedly said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits – including 7,000 combat troops – due to the strain on standing and reserve forces caused by the multi-front war of recent years.
Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged 18 to 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service but have not enlisted.
During a heated debate in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, opposition lawmakers denounce “fascist” legislation to strip former high-ranking security officials of their rank for allegedly slandering the military.
“It’s a fascist law,” Yesh Atid MK and former Mossad deputy director Ram Ben Barak declares during a shouting match with coalition lawmakers, whom he accuses of “trying to silence criticism.”
“You are a fascist government,” he declares, prompting Likud MK Osher Shekalim to scream ,”Shame on you.”
Yesh Atid MK Mickey Levy, a former senior police official, queries why ministers with criminal convictions, such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, should be able to decide to penalize officers.
“Is this a fascist country or a democracy?” he asks.
The legislation is dubbed the Yair Golan bill by critics because it is widely seen as aimed at the chair of the leftwing Democrats party. Last May, Justice Minister Yariv Levin called on the IDF to revoke Golan’s military rank in the wake of his comment that Israel was killing babies in Gaza “as a hobby” — a comment that the former deputy IDF chief of staff later said was a criticism of the “most failed government in Israel’s history” and not the military.
Likud MK Ariel Kallner subsequently proposed a bill that would penalize senior officers in the security services for encouraging refusal to enlist in the IDF, calling for reservists to halt volunteering, or “slandering” the security services, which passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset in December. Such officers would be stripped of their military rank and privileges.
The bill states that if the relevant minister finds that current or former officers in the IDF, Shin Bet, Mossad, Israel Police, or other security agencies have engaged in such behavior, they may be demoted or lose their pensions or other benefits granted to veterans.
Golan, who previously dismissed the “petty uproar surrounding an unimportant law by an unimportant MK who wants to deny me rights,” writes on X: “This is what Netanyahu’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is busy with during a multi-front war that they are incapable of winning.”
“The north is collapsing, and they are persecuting officers, persecuting the opposition, and abandoning the fighters and the State of Israel. This is a coalition of poison, despair, and destruction. They can pass whatever delusional law they want; when this government is replaced, we will cancel everything,” he writes.
The Democrats chairman Yair Golan declares he will not sit in government with the Knesset’s ultra-Orthodox parties after the pro-government Channel 14 airs a clip of him telling party activists that he would be willing to do so in order to replace the current coalition.
“If you ask me, are you ruling out the Haredim? I am not ruling out the Haredim. Absolutely not. I can tell you that if now the possibility of forming a government is contingent on an Haredi party joining, I will vote in favor, provided that Likud, Smotrich, and Ben Gvir are not there,” Golan says in a clip broadcast by the pro-Netanyahu outlet yesterday evening. It is unclear when Golan made the comments.
“We mainly need to work smartly with indirect pressure, rather than direct pressure. I want to tell you right here that the entire conscription law people are talking about is tainted with populism. All those who oppose what the government is doing are right to do so. But with what they are proposing, thousands of Haredim will not just enlist tomorrow morning; it is a process,” Golan says in the clip.
In a video posted on the social network X this morning, following the broadcast of his remarks, Golan declares that “the Haredim will be outside [the government], that is a guarantee.”
Golan claims that Channel 14 took his remarks out of context, stating that “the Haredi parties have disqualified themselves, period.”
“You cannot encourage draft evasion during a time of war. You cannot live at the expense of the state without giving back to it. You cannot dictate to millions of Israelis how to marry, how to live, how to travel, and what to wear. And you cannot continue to plunder the public coffers and live off the tax money of the working public. Therefore, when I say we will not sit with the Haredim, I am saying something much deeper. We are done compromising on our values. We will not lend a hand to the corrupt, and we will not continue to surrender to a politics of extortion [and] draft evasion. We will choose ourselves and our values,” Golan declares.
Last week, Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot reportedly met with Degel HaTorah chairman Moshe Gafni. Eisenkot, who has indicated that he supports granting service exemptions for up to three percent of Haredim, has said that he maintains good relations with the Haredim, despite differences of opinion. He recently generated anger by stating that he would join a coalition “with those who strengthen Israel” when asked if he would sit with the Haredi parties, causing tension with ally and Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman.
An Iranian Revolutionary Guards official says that renewed war with the United States is unlikely, but warns that Iran stands ready against any attack.
“The possibility of war is low because of the enemy’s weakness. The armed forces are lying in wait with full magazines,” Mohammad Akbarzadeh, deputy political chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, is quoted by Tasnim news agency as saying.
“Do not doubt that we will turn the area from Chabahar to Mahshahr into a graveyard for aggressors,” he says, naming places at each end of Iran’s lengthy southern coast.
The Knesset House Committee on Monday will deliberate on a bill to dissolve the Knesset, sending it that afternoon for the first of three readings needed for it to pass into law, coalition whip and committee chairman Likud MK Ofir Katz announces in a statement.
The legislation passed its first reading 110-0 last week but was not immediately advanced further, with the coalition initially appearing to be in no rush to pass it. In response, Yesh Atid MK Merav Ben-Ari wrote to Katz yesterday demanding that the bill be immediately placed on the committee’s agenda.
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. Elections must be held by the end of October.
Palestinian media outlets report that settlers overnight set fire to a house and a vehicle in the Khirbet Masoud area near the town of Ya’bad in the Jenin area of the northern West Bank.
No injuries are reported.
There is no comment from police.
مستوطنون يحرقون منزلا ومركبة في خربة مسعود غرب بلدة يعبد جنوب غربي جنين بالضفة الغربية#فيديو pic.twitter.com/SzwTJ0qMxX
— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) May 27, 2026
A large fire is burning at the largest kosher supermarket in Golders Green, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in London.
Videos posted to social media show thick smoke and flames coming from the back of the supermarket, the largest kosher store in the neighborhood.
The London Fire Service says the cause of the fire is unknown. Local residents suggest it could have been started by an electrical fault.
A closer view to the fire at Kosher Kingdom (Golders Green, London) pic.twitter.com/o8tnh6Z5QU
— Jacobo Bentata (@JacoboBentata) May 27, 2026
Israeli airline Israir plans to launch long-haul flights from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport to New York from as early as this summer.
The carrier says it is preparing to offer nonstop flights between Tel Aviv and New York starting in the July-to-September quarter, but does not provide a specific date.
To operate the new route, Israir expects to complete the purchase of two Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft today for about $85 million.
The debut of Israir’s long-haul flight service to New York comes after local rival Arkia launched nonstop service between Tel Aviv and New York in February 2025, bringing more competition into the mix against flag carrier El Al.
Following the outbreak of the US-Israel war with Iran in late February, US carriers stopped flying to Israel. United Airlines and Delta have continued to postpone their resumption of flight services to Tel Aviv to September, and American Airlines to as far as January 2027.
The IDF says an Israeli Air Force drone identified an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) posing a threat to troops operating in southern Lebanon, before later killing a Hezbollah operative who arrived to retrieve it after it landed.
According to the military, the strike was carried out in a rapid operation after the operative approached the drone on the ground.
The military releases footage showing the identification of the UAV and the strike on the operative.
תיעוד מיוחד: סגירת מעגל על מחבל שהפעיל כלי טיס בלתי מאויש בדרום לבנון
במסגרת פעילות כוחות צה״ל בדרום לבנון, כלי טיס של חיל האוויר זיהה באוויר כלי טיס בלתי מאויש, שהיווה איום על כוחותינו במרחב.
כלי הטיס הבלתי מאויש נחת, ומחבל מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה הגיע לאסוף אותו. בסגירת מעגל… pic.twitter.com/VNZM9ZEQAd
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 27, 2026
The Jerusalem District Court agrees to delay the start of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s testimony in his corruption trial this morning.
Netanyahu requested that today’s testimony be cancelled due to the fact that he was dealing with security and diplomacy matters “until the late hours of the night,” and because he has a similarly busy schedule this morning.
The court agrees to delay the start of today’s hearing and says it will decide whether or not to cancel the entire hearing after it receives further details from the prime minister’s defense attorneys.
The court has repeatedly delayed Netanyahu’s testimony in recent months following the prime minister’s requests on the basis of pressing security and diplomatic concerns.
The IDF and Shin Bet also confirm that Hamas’s new military chief Mohammed Odeh was killed in a north Gaza strike last night.
According to the military, several buildings in Gaza City used as hideouts by Odeh were targeted following months of intelligence tracking of his movements and those of his aides.
A nearby apartment belonging to another Hamas terrorist involved in the October 7 attack was also struck.
Odeh had become head of Hamas’s military wing last week, following the killing of Izz al-Din Haddad, and previously served as head of the terror group’s intelligence.
The IDF says Odeh played a central role in planning and coordinating Hamas’s October 7 onslaught and later directed attacks and intelligence operations against troops throughout the war.
The security agencies describe Odeh as one of the last remaining senior Hamas military commanders involved in orchestrating the October 7 massacre, saying his killing deals a “significant blow” to the group’s efforts to rebuild.
Hamas military commander Mohammed Odeh was killed in a targeted strike in Gaza City last night, Defense Minister Israel Katz confirms, adding that Israel is advancing its goal of “voluntary emigration” from the Strip.
“The fourth commander of the Hamas terror organization’s military wing in Gaza was eliminated yesterday and sent to meet his partners in the depths of hell,” Katz says in a post on X.
Odeh, who was appointed to the position last week, succeeded Izz al-Din al-Haddad, who was killed earlier this month.
Earlier Hamas-affiliated reports from Gaza said Odeh was killed alongside his wife and sons.
Katz praises the IDF and Shin Bet for what he calls a “brilliant execution.”
“We pledged to eliminate everyone who led the October 7 massacre, and that is what we will do,” Katz writes. “They are all marked for death, everywhere.”
He also reiterates Israel’s goals of removing Hamas from power in Gaza and advancing what he describes as a “voluntary emigration” plan for the enclave.
“Everything at the right time and in the right manner.”
An eighth person has been arrested in connection with the deadly terror attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur, police say.
Greater Manchester Police say the 49-year-old man is arrested on suspicion of failing to disclose information regarding terrorist activity.
Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, were killed and three people were seriously wounded in the attack that took place on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
“The suspected offense relates directly to the terrorist attack that took place at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in October. The loved ones of Mr Daulby and Mr Cravitz, as well as those seriously injured in the attack, have been updated on this latest development,” says Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts.
“We remain unwavering in our commitment to establishing the full picture behind the attack and getting answers for those affected, including the local community,” Potts says. “We are prepared to take swift, firm action where we suspect criminal offenses may have occurred.”
Gaza media outlets affiliated with Hamas say that Mohammed Odeh, the leader of Hamas’s military wing, was killed yesterday in a strike in Gaza City.
According to the reports, Odeh was killed along with his wife and sons.
There has been no formal announcement from the terror group or from Israel that Odeh is dead.
A joint statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz yesterday said Odeh was head of Hamas intelligence during the October 7, 2023, attacks, and last week was appointed to succeed Izz al-Din al-Haddad, who was killed in a similar strike in Gaza City on May 15.
مصادر محلية: استشهاد القائد الكبير في كتائب القسام محمد عودة "أبو عمرو" مع زوجته وأبنائه، إثر قصف الاحتلال بمدينة غزة، أمس pic.twitter.com/H8didrwqT6
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) May 27, 2026
Ten Indian sailors, detained in Iran in July 2025 on an oil tanker, have been released after “sustained diplomatic engagement,” India’s shipping authorities say.
The sailors on the MV Harbour Phoenix were “detained, arrested and imprisoned in Iran following the vessel’s interception near Jask Port in July 2025,” the Directorate General of Shipping says in a statement.
“The seafarers have now been released and reunited safely,” the shipping authority says.
“Necessary arrangements are being coordinated for the earliest return of the crew members to India.”
New Delhi and Tehran have long-standing diplomatic and energy ties, but India also balances that with close links to the United States and to Israel.
Iranian forces regularly announce the interception of ships it says are illegally transporting fuel in the Gulf.
India has pursued a policy of quiet diplomacy and minimal public comment during negotiations for the release of the sailors.
It did not give further details on the reason for their arrest or about the vessel, which ship tracking sites list as a Palau-flagged oil products tanker.
India has one of the world’s largest merchant navy workforces, with thousands of Indian sailors operating in Gulf shipping lanes.
A boycott of Israeli products passes a vote from members in Brooklyn’s Park Slope Food Coop.
The vote passes with 67% in favor, 31% against, and two percent abstaining.
A member of the food co-op says 4,780 voted in favor of the boycott and 1,796 opposed.
The food co-op is a major institution in the progressive neighborhood and the vote had become a charged and divisive campaign.
Maureen Galindo, an antisemitic candidate for US Congress, loses her primary, but gets around 41% of the vote.
Galindo’s opponent, Johnny Garcia, is projected to win the election with 59% of the vote, with 66% of votes counted, according to The Associated Press.
Galindo secures more than 5,700 votes in the Democratic party primary in the 35th Congressional District runoff in Texas.
During the closing weeks of the campaign, Galindo repeatedly raised antisemitic conspiracies, and called to imprison and castrate “billionaire Zionists,” sparking widespread condemnation in the Democratic party.
The IDF says that a rocket launched from Lebanon triggered the sirens in northern Israel.
The rocket landed in an open area, resulting in no injuries, according to the military.
Rocket warning sirens sound in numerous communities near the Lebanon border, including the city of Kiryat Shmona.
Hundreds protest outside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s official residence in Manhattan.
The crowd chants “USA” and “Whose streets? Our streets.”
Attendees wear stickers that say, “Make love, not intifada,” and hold signs that say, “Remove Mamdani,” while waving American and Israeli flags.
Organizers estimate that 1,000 people will attend over the course of the protest.
The protest is organized by the EndJewHatred activist group. Attendees are Jews and Allie’s including Muslims and Iranian expats.
The rally is the first Jewish community protest outside the mayor’s residence since Mamdani became mayor.
The United Nations Security Council condemns the attack on Barakah nuclear plant in the United Arab Emirates, according to a statement, adding that the attack constituted a violation of international law.
The council doesn’t attribute blame for the attack.
The UAE says last week that six drones were launched against it from Iraq, including one that caused a fire at the nuclear power plant in the Gulf state. Iraq is home to powerful Iranian-backed militia groups which have claimed attacks against “enemy bases in Iraq and the region” during the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Lebanon says Israeli strikes targeting Hezbollah in the country’s south killed 31 people on Tuesday.
In a statement, the health ministry says 31 people, including at least four children and three women, were killed in attacks and 40 wounded, without differentiating between civilians and combatants. Fourteen were killed in Burj al-Shamali near Tyre.
US President Donald Trump announces on Truth Social that Wednesday’s planned cabinet meeting will take place at the White House instead of Camp David, due to “possible bad weather conditions.”
Cabinet meetings in Trump’s second administration have typically featured lengthy remarks by the president, after which cabinet members go around the table praising him profusely in front of reporters.
The ongoing negotiations with Iran are expected to feature prominently during the upcoming meeting.
Initial assessments indicate that Hamas’s newly appointed military chief Mohammed Odeh was successfully killed in an IDF strike in Gaza City this evening, according to Hebrew media reports.
An Israeli source confirms to the Kan public broadcaster that Odeh was killed in the strike.
Hamas has not yet commented on the targeting of Odeh, and there is no immediate official Israeli confirmation of the Hebrew media reports.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz earlier announced that Israel had carried out a strike targeting Hamas’s new military chief, following the killing earlier this month of his predecessor, Izz al-Din al-Haddad.
