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The Times of Israel liveblogging Wednesday’s events as they happened.
IDF: Manhunt underway for Palestinian perpetrator in West Bank car-ramming attack
The Israeli military says it has launched a manhunt for a Palestinian suspect who carried out a car-ramming attack at one of the entrances to the West Bank city of Nablus.
It says a large number of forces are involved in the pursuit.
Two Israelis were hurt in the attack.
Meta ‘working to understand’ why AI-generated pro-Israel image was removed from Instagram
Social media company Meta says that it is looking into the removal of a pro-Israel AI-generated image from Instagram, after it was deleted earlier today and the account of its creator banned.
The image was created by Benjamin Jamon in response to an AI-generated pro-Palestinian image that was shared tens of millions of times across social media in recent days.
In response to queries regarding the removal of the image, which had been shared half a million times, Meta says that it did not violate their policies and as such, it is “working to understand what technical problem led to its accidental removal.”
ממטא נמסר בתגובה על הסרת הסטורי הוריאלי שתמך בישראל: ״התמונה הזו לא מפרה את המדיניות שלנו, ואפשר לשתף אותה בפלטפורמות שלנו. אנחנו פועלים כדי להבין איזו בעיה טכנית הובילה להסרה שלה בטעות״. pic.twitter.com/qMaPWOaziO
— Ran Boker רן בוקר (@ranboker) May 29, 2024
Two seriously wounded in car-ramming attack near Nablus, IDF and medics say
The scene of a car-ramming attack near Nablus in the West Bank, May 29, 2024. (Rescue without Borders)
Two people are wounded in a car-ramming attack near the West Bank city of Nablus, the military and medics say.
The IDF says it has received reports of a ramming, and that it will provide more details soon.
The Rescuers Without Borders emergency service says two seriously wounded people were treated at the scene and are being taken to a hospital.
Syrian state-run media says alleged Israeli strike killed girl, wounded 10 civilians
Syria’s state-run SANA news agency, says an Israeli airstrike on the coastal city of Baniyas this evening killed a girl and wounded 10 more civilians.
The report, citing a military source, says Israeli fighter jets launched their missiles from the direction of Lebanon, targeting a residential building in Baniyas, just south of Latakia.
It says the strike also caused “some material losses.”
IDF says fighter jets struck Hezbollah position in southern Lebanon
Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah position in southern Lebanon’s Khiam earlier this evening, the military says.
The IDF says it also shelled areas near Hamoul, Kafr Kila, and Naqoura with artillery.
Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah position in southern Lebanon's Khiam earlier this evening, the military says.
The IDF says it also shelled areas near Hamoul, Kafr Kila, and Naqoura with artillery. pic.twitter.com/KtPWmNp9RY
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 29, 2024
Survey: Netanyahu favored over Gantz as PM for first time in a year; Likud gains on National Unity
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz at a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, October 28, 2023. (Abir Sultan/ Pool Photo via AP)
For the first time in a year, Benjamin Netanyahu is the preferred choice as prime minister of more Israelis than his rival Benny Gantz, a Channel 12 survey finds.
Netanyahu is preferred to Gantz by 36% to 30% of respondents, the survey shows. He is also preferred to Opposition leader Yair Lapid (by 37% to 30%), former prime minister Naftali Bennett (34% to 32%), and would-be prime minister Avigdor Liberman (36% to 19%).
Gantz was preferred to Netanyahu by 45% to 27% in a December survey, and by 35% to 29% as recently as April, the TV station notes, and ascribes the change to Gantz’s threat to leave the war coalition, apparently shedding considerable support that he had accrued for ostensible statesmanship in joining the coalition after October 7. (Netanyahu outscored Gantz by 38% to 37% in a Channel 12 survey on May 18, 2023.)
If elections were held today, the survey also shows Netanyahu’s Likud strengthening and Gantz’s National Unity sliding.
It also finds an anticipated joint Labor-Meretz lit led by newly elected Labor leader Yair Golan would win 10 seats. Repeated polls have shown that under former leader Merav Michaeli, Labor would not have passed the electoral threshold in the next elections.
The parties would score as follows, the poll finds: National Unity: 25; Likud: 21; Yesh Atid: 13; Shas: 10; Yisrael Beytenu: 10; a joint Labor-Meretz list: 10; Otzmah Yehudit: 9; United Torah Judiasm: 7; Ra’am: 5; Religious Zionism: 5; Hadash-Ta’al: 5.
At its height, in a December survey, Channel 12 notes, the gulf between National Unity and Likud was 37-18 — as in, 19 seats; now the gap is down to four seats.
In terms of potential coalition blocs, the pro-Netanyahu camp has 52 seats (compared to the 64 it has today) — far short of a majority in the 120-member Knesset — while the other parties have 68. However, that 68 includes two majority Arab lists, Ra’am and Hadash-Ta’al, each with five seats, either or both of which would likely not sit easily in a coalition with Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu.
A new right-wing party with Bennett, ex-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar and Liberman would win 16 seats, the poll shows, while Likud and National Unity would both slip to 21 seats each, and Yesh Atid would win 12.
The survey also showed 49% of respondents want a state commission of inquiry into the events of October 7 to be held now; 40% want one at the end of the war, and 3% do not want such an inquiry at all.
It also showed 63% of respondents believe Miri Regev should resign over her alleged misconduct as transportation minister, while 15% think she she should stay.
The survey was conducted today by Midgam, among 503 representative respondents, by phone and internet, with a 4.4% margin of error.
After months-long disagreement, Smotrich, Gallant agree to establish committee to examine defense spending
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, left, talks with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant during a discussion and vote on the state budget at the Knesset plenum in Jerusalem, May 23, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Following an extended battle with the defense establishment, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announces he has reached an agreement with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to establish a public committee to examine defense spending.
In a statement, Smotrich welcomes the move, which he says comes after the Defense Ministry and IDF refused to honor an agreement to create such a body. According to Smotrich, the committee is to be comprised of two members representing the prime minister, two representing the defense minister and two representing him.
Their meetings will be “regularly attended” by representatives of the army and relevant ministries, as well as the Bank of Israel, National Economic Council and National Security Council, the statement says.
“Establishing the committee to examine the defense budget is an important step for the economy and security,” says Smotrich, arguing that the events of October 7 and the subsequent war have “undermined many of the basic assumptions” behind military spending.
Smotrich and Gallant have engaged in a public battle over the defense budget, with Gallant slamming his fellow cabinet minister earlier this month for continuing to delay approving the purchase of two fighter jet squadrons for the Israeli Air Force amid the war.
In April, Ynet reported that Smotrich decided to veto the approval of the procurement of new F-15 and F-35 jets until a committee tasked with looking at the defense budget was convened.
Smotrich said at the time that he wouldn’t approve “strategic and long-term future force build-up” until after the committee publishes recommendations on the defense budget, claiming that “doing the same thing over and over again without learning from past mistakes will bring us a disaster.”
On Tuesday, the Israel Hayom daily reported that the ongoing budget battle had prevented the transfer of almost $1.7 billion in funds needed for the ongoing war in Gaza.
Smotrich called the report “fake news.” Both the IDF and Gallant’s office declined to comment.
In addition to his battle over defense spending, Smotrich has also spoken out against the promotion of senior officers during wartime, arguing that the current military leadership does not have a “mandate to design the new and reformed IDF.”
Hagari: Philadelphi Corridor on Gaza-Egypt border was Hamas’s ‘oxygen pipeline’ for weapon smuggling
Troops of the 401st Armored Brigade operate in southern Gaza's Rafah, in a handout image published May 29, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in a press conference says the now-captured Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border served as “Hamas’s oxygen pipeline” for smuggling weapons.
“In recent days, IDF troops established operational control on the Philadelphi Corridor, on the border between Egypt and Gaza. The Philadelphi Corridor was used by Hamas as an oxygen pipeline, through which Hamas would frequently smuggle weapons into the Strip,” he says.
“Our troops located along the axis dozens of primed launchers for rocket attacks, launching pits used by Hamas to fire rockets and mortars at Israel,” Hagari says.
He says Hamas “took advantage of the Philadelphi area, took advantage of it and built its infrastructure just dozens of meters from the border with Egypt, so that we won’t strike there.”
The rocket launchers were located between 10 and 40 meters from the Egyptian border, “in a way that Israel won’t strike there on the fence with Egypt,” Hagari says.
Some 70 rockets and mortars were fired from the Rafah area in recent weeks, he says.
US brands UN Security Council resolution against Rafah offensive as ‘imbalanced’
The US brands as “imbalanced” the UN Security Council resolution drafted by Algeria aimed at halting Israel’s military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby clarifies that the US is still reviewing the draft and will not publicly negotiate its contents.
“But I would take the opportunity to note that we believe it is imbalanced, and it fails to note a very simple fact, and this is the same thing we have objected to in previous resolutions,” the White House spokesperson continues. “It does not note that Hamas is to blame for this conflict and that the fighting in Rafah could end tomorrow if Mr. Sinwar did the right thing and agreed to this deal to get a ceasefire and a release of the hostages.”
US confirms new hostage deal proposal being advanced with Israel’s support
The US confirms that a fresh hostage deal proposal is being advanced by the mediators with Israel’s support.
“There is a fresh proposal that’s being worked… I can tell you that the Israelis are fully supportive of this fresh proposal… and as before have been willing to [negotiate] in good faith,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says during a briefing with reporters.
The latest proposal is for a temporary ceasefire that “could also lead to something more sustained,” Kirby says.
Hamas has yet to formally respond to the offer crafted over the weekend.
Dozens demand greater army presence at security fence-adjacent communities in central Israel
Citizens of the Israeli town Bat Hefer protest for improved security measures along the security fence on May 29, 2024 after Hamas terrorists fired at the town from Tulkarem in the West Bank. (Shahar Yaari/Flash90)
Holding her six-month-old baby at a rally in Bat Hefer near Netanya, Shelley Levin Hatam recalls fearing earlier today that her family was about to be murdered in their home.
“The gunfire sounded like it was on our street. I fully expected to see terrorists outside our home,” says Hatam, a mother of three from Kibbutz Yad Hannah, which is one of several communities in the region that came under fire today from the West Bank, across the Security Barrier.
Hatam and her youngest are among the dozens of people gathered in Bat Hefer to demand heavier army presence and actions to stop the targeting of Israeli fence-adjacent communities. The protesters say they are under fire daily since October 7.
“We have an emergency team of five people and no army presence. It’s insane. If 30 men with ladders climb over the fence tomorrow, we will be overrun and at their mercy,” she says, noting that a bullet that hit one of the eastern houses of Yad Hannah was recovered earlier today.
“Just like the Gaza envelope communities were abandoned before October 7, now Samaria-envelope ones, like this one, are abandoned,” says Limor Rehney, a 59-year-old who moved into Bat Hefer in 1996, a year after the establishment of the town, which is today home to some 5,000 people.
“The reality here has changed dramatically after October 7,” says Bat Hefer’s municipal rabbi, Yosef Karasik, who is also at the rally. “The shootings are daily. Army presence is thin. It is becoming difficult to raise children here, and those with the means are already leaving.”
Limor Rehney attends a protest rally in Bat Hefer on May 29, 2024. (Canaan Lidor\Times of Israel)
IDF says it demolished ‘significant’ Hamas tunnel near Rafah Crossing in Gaza
Troops of the 401st Armored Brigade operate in southern Gaza's Rafah, in a handout image published May 29, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says it recently demolished a “significant” Hamas tunnel near the Rafah Border Crossing in the southern Gaza Strip.
According to the military, troops reached a tunnel shaft, some 100 meters from the border crossing with Egypt, following intelligence on its location.
The shaft led to an underground network, about a kilometer and a half long, which the IDF says was used by Hamas operatives to attack troops operating in the area.
Troops raided the tunnel, locating weapons, including anti-tank missiles, guns, and explosive devices, according to the military.
The IDF says the network had many branching paths at different depths, and some areas were blocked with blast doors. It also featured rooms where Hamas operatives would reside, as well as bathrooms.
The tunnel network was later demolished, the IDF adds.
Syrian media says country’s air defenses are engaging ‘enemy targets’ over Homs
Syrian air defenses are engaging “enemy targets” — a euphemism generally referring to Israeli Air Force fighter jets and missiles — over the western city of Homs, the country’s state-run SANA news agency reports.
It does not immediately provide details on possible damage or injuries as a result of the strike.
Netanyahu tells Nikki Haley that ICC’s Khan ‘seeks to handcuff’ Israel in war against Hamas
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, May 29, 2024. (Haim Zach/GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells visiting former American UN ambassador Nikki Haley that International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan “seeks to handcuff” Israel in its fight against Hamas, which would imperil all democratic societies in their fight against terrorism. “That will not stop us,” he pledges.
Netanyahu also repeats that he is “surprised, disappointed” that the Biden administration “backed off” of its support for sanctions on Khan and other ICC officials for seeking arrest warrants against Israeli leaders.
“I hope that doesn’t happen because it’s important to send a message to the ICC that free societies will retain the right and the ability to defend themselves,” he says.
Haley says that “the majority of Americans stand with Israel.”
“A win for Israel is a win for America,” says the former South Carolina governor and potential Donald Trump running mate. “Israel is fighting America’s enemies.”
“Tune out the noise – you know what the job is,” Haley tells the Israeli public.
“Israel continues to be careful about every human life and everything they do to protect that human life,” she says.
Netanyahu pledges that Israel will achieve all its war aims: “There are some people who don’t believe in an Israeli victory. They don’t believe that we can achieve all our war aims – releasing all the hostages, defeating Hamas, and of course establishing an arrangement that Gaza will no longer be a threat to Israel. We believe it, we will continue to do it, and we will achieve it.”
In Rafah, Halevi says dismantling Hamas battalions in southern Gaza city is a top priority
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi (center) meets with officers in southern Gaza's Rafah, May 29, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi held an assessment in southern Gaza’s Rafah today, saying that dismantling Hamas’s battalions there is a top priority for the country.
“We are here for several reasons. Firstly, this is the last [Hamas] Brigade left with full capabilities, so we want to dismantle the Rafah Brigade,” Halevi says.
He says that dismantling Hamas’s battalions is a “national mission of the State of Israel.”
Macron urges Abbas to reform Palestinian Authority with ‘prospect of recognition’ if he does
French President Emmanuel Macron urges Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to “implement necessary reforms,” offering the “prospect of recognition of the state of Palestine” during a phone call Wednesday, his office says.
Macron “highlighted France’s commitment to building a common vision of peace with European and Arab partners, offering security guarantees for Palestinians and Israelis,” as well as “making the prospect of recognition of a state of Palestine part of a useful process,” Macron’s Elysee Palace says.
Earlier, Macron accused fellow European Union members Spain and Ireland of recognizing Palestinian statehood as part of “political positioning,” instead of seeking a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israeli climber summits Everest in memory of Matan Lior, killed on Oct. 7
Israeli climber Ran Krauss became the 11th Israeli to summit Mount Everest when he reached the top of the world’s tallest mountain last week at the end of a trek dedicated to Matan Lior, who was killed at the Supernova music festival on October 7.
Upon reaching the mountain peak, Krauss was photographed holding a flag with a picture of Lior emblazoned on it.
Speaking to Channel 12, Krauss says from the moment he set out on his 50-day trek, he knew he wanted to dedicate his summit, and his photo at the top, to Lior.
“I wanted to dedicate it to and honor his memory,” he says.
Netanyahu said to pan US refusal to sanction ICC over arrest warrants
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pans the Biden administration’s announcement yesterday that it won’t support sanctions against the International Criminal Court after its top prosecutor asked the tribunal to issue arrest warrants against the Israeli premier and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“The United States said that they would, in fact, back the sanctions bill. I thought that was still the American position because there was bipartisan consensus just a few days ago,” Netanyahu says in a yet-to-be-aired interview with Sirius XM’s “The Morgan Ortagus Show” that was leaked to Politico.
Last week, the US blasted ICC prosecutor Karim Khan’s decision and said it would work with Congress to advance a “bipartisan response” but stopped short of backing sanctions against The Hague court.
“Now you say there’s a question mark and frankly I’m surprised and disappointed,” Netanyahu says.
Blinken: In the absence of a plan for day after in Gaza, there won’t be a day after
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a joint press conference with Moldova's President Maia Sandu at the Moldovan Presidency in Chisinau, Moldova, Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, Pool)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warns that continued Israeli refusal to advance a viable plan for the post-war management of Gaza will lead to a never-ending war in the enclave.
“In the absence of a plan for the day after, there won’t be a day after,” Blinken says at a press conference in Moldova.
Israel must adopt such a plan “as quickly as possible,” the top US diplomat says, warning that failure to do so will either lead to Israel permanently occupying Gaza and facing an “enduring insurgency”; Hamas remaining in control, which is unacceptable; or a power vacuum that will be filled initially by chaos and lawlessness followed by Hamas or other Jihadist groups regaining power.
“A plan one that can actually help ensure the enduring defeat of Hamas — which is a shared objective and should be everyone’s objective — is imperative,” Blinken says. “A plan that accounts for security in Gaza, that accounts for governance in Gaza, that accounts for rebuilding the lives of the Gazan people.”
The secretary of state argues that without a plan for the day after, incremental gains against Hamas — such as the strike over the weekend that Israel says was intended to only target a pair of senior commanders — have to be questioned.
“After Israel has had real success in helping to destroy Hamas’s capacity to repeat October 7… it has to ask [whether]… further incremental gains against Hamas — gains that may not be durable… absent a [day after] plan… that stacks up against some of the unintended, but horrific consequences of military action in a place where the people you are going after so closely embedded with civilians,” Blinken says.
Blinken reiterates Washington’s horror over the Sunday night IDF strike that led to the killing of dozens of Palestinian civilians sheltering in Rafah and says the US is waiting for Israel to conduct a swift and thorough investigation before passing further judgment.
Calling the incident “horrific,” he said: “Anyone who has seen the images cannot be deeply affected by them, just on a basic human level.”
“We have been very clear with Israel on the imperative — in this instance as in other instances — to immediately investigate and determine exactly what happened and why it happened, and if accountability is necessary to make sure that there is accountability,” Blinken said.
He said he could not verify a report that US weapons were used in the attack.
He notes Israel’s claim that it used a small-diameter bomb to avoid civilian casualties.
“But just assuming for a moment that that’s what happened, we also see that even limited, focused, targeted attacks designed to deal with terrorists who have killed innocent civilians or who are planning to kill more; even those kinds of operations can have terrible, horrific, unintended consequences,” Blinken says, indicating increasing discomfort with any continued Israeli operations in Gaza.
Gallant in warning to Nasrallah: Hezbollah and Lebanon will pay the price for harsh reality you’ve created
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visits the IDF's Northern Command, May 29, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant presents to IDF officers in the Northern Command photos and details about senior Hezbollah commanders Israel has killed in eight months of cross-border clashes since October 7.
The nine Hezbollah officers are equivalent to the rank of brigadier general in conventional militaries, according to a statement from the Defense Ministry.
“[Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah is dragging Lebanon into a harsh reality,” says Gallant. “The ones who will pay the price are the residents of Lebanon and Hezbollah forces. This is the same Nasrallah who said two weeks ago that there are no casualties among the Hezbollah terrorists.”
“I ask him – all these people aren’t yours?” Gallant continues.
“There are over 320 dead terrorists including senior terrorists. If you continue we will escalate,” warns Gallant.”
IDF says it has established ‘operational control’ over key Philadelphi Corridor on Gaza-Egypt border
Illustrative: Egyptian soldiers patrol on a road parallel to the Philadelphi Corridor, a buffer zone that separates Egypt from Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, March 19, 2007. ( Cris Bouroncle/AFP)
The Israeli military says it has established “operational control” over the entire so-called Philadelphi Corridor — which runs for a total of 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) all along the Gaza-Egypt border.
IDF troops are physically located in most of the corridor. There is a small section near the coast where ground forces are not present, but the IDF says it controls the area with surveillance and firepower.
Along the corridor, adjacent to Rafah, the IDF has located so far some 20 tunnels that cross into Egypt. Hamas has been known to use such tunnels to smuggle weapons into Gaza.
The IDF believes Hamas can now no longer smuggle in weapons from Egypt, as the military controls the area.
Some of the tunnels were already known to the IDF, and others were discovered for the first time. Some have already been demolished, and Israel has also been updating Egypt on the developments.
Another 82 tunnel shafts have been located in the Philadelphi Corridor area, according to the military.
Dozens of rocket launchers were also discovered along the corridor, some only a dozen meters from the Egypt border. The IDF believes Hamas positioned the rocket launchers along the corridor in an attempt to prevent Israel from striking them, thinking Israel would fear overshooting into Egypt.
Jury deliberations begin in Donald Trump’s hush money trial
Former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump awaits the start of proceedings in his criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on May 29, 2024. (Curtis Means / POOL / AFP)
Jury deliberations begin in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, putting the outcome of the historic case in the hands of a dozen New Yorkers who have vowed to be fair and impartial in the face of their unprecedented task.
The jury of seven men and five women was sent to a private room just before 11:30 a.m. (6:30 p.m. Israel time) to begin weighing a verdict in the first criminal trial of a former US president.
The jurors’ discussions will be secret, though they can send notes to the judge asking to rehear testimony or see evidence. That’s also how they will notify the court of a verdict, or if they are unable to reach one.
“It is not my responsibility to judge the evidence here. It is yours,” Judge Juan M. Merchan told jurors.
Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records at his company in connection with an alleged scheme to hide potentially embarrassing stories about him during his 2016 Republican presidential election campaign.
Israeli diplomats said to lament FM Katz’s ‘weird, ineffective’ social media trolling
Foreign Minister Israel Katz in Jerusalem, February 19, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
A number of Israeli diplomats have begun anonymously speaking out against their boss, Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who has made an undiplomatic habit of trolling countries on social media in response to policies he disagrees with.
Katz regularly trolls Turkey and its President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has repeatedly compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Hitler. Katz accuses Ankara of perpetrating a genocide against the Armenian minority — a genocide Israel has long refused to formally recognize.
Since Spain, Norway and Ireland recognized the state of Palestine, Katz set his sights on attacking the three countries on X.
Katz published a video that compiled footage from Hamas’s October 7 onslaught with a couple dancing flamenco, including the caption”Hamas thanks you for your service.”
.@sanchezcastejon, Hamas thanks you for your service. pic.twitter.com/Pkdp5diHRX
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) May 26, 2024
The Financial Times reports that the public diplomacy strategy “has been met with a mixture of bafflement and eye-rolling” in Katz’s office.
“I don’t think any other foreign minister is doing what he’s doing,” one diplomat tells FT in a story headlined, “Israel’s ‘trolling’ foreign minister confronts the world.”
“It’s just weird… I think he thinks it works . . . But it’s not effective. People see it as aggressive and offensive, not as an effective means of communication,” another diplomat tells the British publication.
Other diplomats explained to FT that the undiplomatic approach was a result of Katz’s limited role in decision-making, given that Netanyahu leads most of Israel’s contacts with countries abroad and that Katz is not part of the powerful war cabinet.
“It’s a means for him to make noise and be seen,” says another diplomat, who acknowledged the foreign ministry’s general lack of prominence.
US deputy ambassador to the UN: Israel must do more to protect innocent civilians in Gaza
Robert Wood, deputy US ambassador to the United Nations, speaks during a Security Council meeting on a resolution that would have recognized the Palestinians as a full UN member state, at United Nations headquarters, April 18, 2024, (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Israel must do more to protect innocent Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and more must be done to ensure humanitarian aid gets into the enclave and can be safely distributed, says Deputy US Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood.
“The continued pattern of significant civilian harm resulting from incidents like Sunday’s air strikes undermines Israel’s strategic goals in Gaza,” Wood tells the UN Security Council, reiterating long-held US talking points regarding the war.
Eisenkot castigates Netanyahu, urges elections this year, indicates National Unity party will leave coalition soon
War cabinet observer, Minister Gadi Eisenkot, speaks at the annual Meir Dagan conference at Netanya Academic College, May 29, 2024. (Courtesy)
War cabinet observer MK Gadi Eisenkot accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of having failed Israel on matters of both security and economy in an address at the annual Meir Dagan conference at the Netanya Academic College. He says the government must be replaced, and calls for elections before the end of the year.
In particular, Eisenkot, the number two to Benny Gantz in the National Unity party, criticizes Netanyahu for creating and pushing the “airy slogan of ‘total victory'” against Hamas and says that a war against terrorism is one of endurance, rather than speed.
Israel, he says, has taken the tactical matter of Rafiah, with three or four [Hamas] battalions, and turned it into a global hub and such a complex story. If we had [dealt with Rafah] at the right moment, with the right timing and with the right forces, it would have been a [relatively minor] tactical event.
“Anyone who says that we’ll disband three battalions in Rafah and after that be able to bring back the hostages is sowing false illusions,” he adds. “This is a much more complex event. The truth is that it will take three to five years to stabilize [Gaza], and then many more years to establish another government.”
He says it is clear that the government that was in power on October 7 “failed utterly” and that the massacre carried out by Hamas that day marked “the greatest failure since the establishment of the state.”
He says the return of the hostages is both “the highest moral imperative of the state, which failed in the defense of its citizens, and a paramount strategic obligation.”
He also criticizes Netanyahu for failing to achieve the promises he made in his 2022 election campaign — primarily to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia and to strengthen Israel’s economy.
One of Netanyahu’s main election promises was “the pursuit of peace with Saudi Arabia,” Eisenkot says, adding that “it seemed like we were a step away from a peace agreement.”
“Today it seems quite far away, both because of what happened here, and also as a result of Israel’s decisions regarding the order of priority for its national interests.”
“I think that peace with Saudi Arabia and a new hierarchy in the Middle East is a distinct Israeli interest,” Eisenkot says, explaining that it would work to counter the nuclear threat from Iran, something he also accuses Netanyahu of failing to achieve. A historic opportunity is being missed, he argues.
Finally, on the economy, he says that despite Netanyahu’s promises, “it is completely clear that the trends are negative, and the predicted future is not encouraging.”
Eisenkot makes clear that National Unity will leave the emergency war coalition in the near future, as Gantz has threatened to do. He says “our influence has been reduced” and that narrow political factors have become factors in coalition decisions.
He suggests that he and two other ministers are misrepresented as “three traitors who want to stop the war: Gantz, [Defense Minister Yoav] Gallant, Eisenkot, helped by [IDF hostage talks negotiator] Nitzan Alon, when inside the [war cabinet] room, the decision [on a possible framework for a hostage deal] was unanimous.”
“Have a little more patience,” Eisenkot says. “General elections are required between September and December.”
“It is very important that the intensive operation in Gaza end within weeks, that an agreed date be set for elections as early as possible… It will be a choice between the approach of Itamar Ben Gvir, the most influential minister on the prime minister, and the approach of the current Knesset majority.”
He adds: “To me, it’s clear that this government must be replaced, as soon as possible.”
Eisenkott says he hopes for a reorientation of Israeli politics to enable the representation of “the 80 percent of the Zionist majority that believes in a Jewish, democratic and liberal state.”
He also says that a state commission of inquiry into “everything related to October 7” must be established. It should investigate “the past 10-year period, including my term as IDF chief of staff… checking deeply into the conception” that led to Israel’s failure to thwart the Hamas massacre.
Foreign Ministry says no word from Brazil on decision to formally recall its ambassador
After reports emerge of Brazil formally recalling its ambassador from Israel, the Foreign Ministry says it has received no official message on the matter. The Foreign Ministry summons the deputy ambassador for a meeting tomorrow to discuss the matter.
Ambassador Frederico Meyer has been out of Israel since February, when he was called home for consultations.
Pro-Israel AI image, countering ‘All eyes on Rafah’ campaign, removed from Instagram without explanation
An AI-generated image created by Israeli Instagram user Benjamin Jamon on May 28, 2024, to counter the pro-Palestinian 'All eyes on Rafah' campaign that had gone viral on social media. Jamon's account briefly banned and his campaign removed.
A pro-Israel AI-generated image that was created to combat a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel campaign on social media has been removed from Instagram without explanation, Channel 12 reports.
The image was created and spread online after a similar pro-Palestinian AI-generated image reading “All eyes on Rafah” was shared tens of millions of times across social media in recent days.
In response to the pro-Palestinian campaign, Benjamin Jamon created a similar image, also with the use of AI, which reads: “Where were your eyes on October 7?” The image features a depiction of a Hamas soldier standing over an infant with red hair, implied to be Kfir Bibas, who was nine months old when he was taken hostage with his mother and brother on October 7.
Where were your eyes on October 7?
Where are your eyes now when our sons and daughters are being held hostage by Hamas? pic.twitter.com/atHQCDeR1Z— Maya Kadosh (@MayaKadosh) May 28, 2024
The image was shared roughly half a million times before Jamon’s account was banned, he tells Channel 12.
The “All Eyes on Rafah” does not appear to have been removed.
All eyes on #Rafah ???????? pic.twitter.com/bg3bAtl3dQ
— The Palestinian (@InsiderWorld_1) May 27, 2024
IDF: Iron Dome downed 2 drones that crossed into Israeli airspace from Lebanon
The Iron Dome air defense system shot down two drones that entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon a short while ago, the military says.
Sirens had sounded in communities in the Galilee Panhandle.
Earlier this morning, the IDF said another suspected drone from Lebanon was downed by air defenses over the sea, near the border community of Rosh Hanikra.
Houthis claim to have targeted six ships in three seas
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen say they have targeted six ships in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea, including Marshall Islands-flagged bulker Laax that was damaged after a Houthi missile attack off the coast of Yemen yesterday.
Brazil recalls ambassador from Israel over Gaza war with no date set for his return
Brazilian Ambassador to Israel Frederico Meyer tours the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem, February 19, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Brazil has recalled its ambassador from Israel and will not immediately appoint a replacement, a diplomatic source tells AFP, ratcheting up tensions between the two countries over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Frederico Meyer was initially recalled for consultations with his government after Brazil and Israel exchanged harsh statements in February over the conflict. “There were no conditions for him to return” to Israel, the source says.
World Court president a ‘raving antisemite,’ Lindsey Graham tells Netanyahu
GOP senator Lindsey Graham meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, May 29, 2024. (Yehezkel Kandil/GPO)
Meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham calls the International Court of Justice “a joke.”
Graham calls ICJ President Nawaf Salam of Lebanon a “raving antisemite.”
The ICJ is hearing a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide.
Grahams also attacks the International Criminal Court for seeking arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“There are so many problems and challenges to overcome, but one of the problems you never have to worry about is America. I promise you that we will do all we can… to hold the ICC to account for this outrage against the people of Israel. It’s a slap in the face to your judiciary.”
Netanyahu says that Israel “has no better friend” than Graham, who is in Israel on his fifth visit since the Hamas attack of October 7.
7-Eleven set to close all stores in Israel a year and a half after opening
People line up outside of 7-Eleven's first store in the country, at Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv, January 12, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
US convenience store mega-chain 7-Eleven, which opened its first store in Israel in January 2023, is set to close its doors and shut down its operations in the country.
The local chain was established as a partnership between 7-Eleven and Israel’s Electra Consumer Products, which is selling the stores to Israeli convenience store chain Seven Express for NIS 3.4 million. The Seven Express chain will buy Seven Eleven’s eight stores and turn them into its local Seven Express stores.
When 7-Eleven opened its first Israel store, in Tel Aviv, it was greeted by long lines of customers. Electra was slated to open some 30 branches across the country by the end of 2024, but the initial hype waned. Only 10 stores were opened, of which two have already been closed.
In Israel, 7-Eleven stores sell signature items like Slurpees, a slushed ice drink, in addition to Israeli snacks, ready-to-eat takeaway meals, and basic home supplies.
Erdogan: Netanyahu is a ‘psychopath’ and a ‘vampire that feeds on blood’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to the media during a press conference following the Friday noon prayer in Istanbul, May 3, 2024. (Khalil Hamra/AP Photo)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashes out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling him a “psychopath” and a “vampire that feeds on blood,” following Israeli airstrikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah that triggered a deadly fire in a camp for displaced people.
Israel has lamented the “tragic mishap” and said its strike on Hamas targets possibly ignited a hidden store of terror munitions that caused the fire.
In a speech to legislators from his ruling party, Erdogan holds the United States and European nations responsible for the deaths while also criticizing the Islamic Cooperation Organization for failing to take joint action against Israel.
“Oh, the American state, this blood is on your hands also. You are responsible for this genocide at least as much as Israel. Oh, the heads of state and government of Europe, you are also a party to Israel’s genocide, this barbarism, this vampire-like act of Israel, because you remained silent,” Erdogan says.
Haredi party issues ultimatum to Netanyahu, demanding education funds by June 1
Likud's Benjamin Netanyahu with UTJ MK Moshe Gafni at a vote in the assembly hall of the Knesset on December 28, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
The United Torah Judaism party issues an ultimatum to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning that if hundreds of millions of shekels aren’t transferred by this coming Saturday to increase the salaries of teachers in Haredi schools, its members will quit their roles in the government and as chairs of Knesset committees.
The ultra-Orthodox party claims that despite many recent conversations on the matter, all the funds for Haredi priorities are being withheld. It says it has held an emergency meeting on the matter.
A party statement says its No. 2, MK Moshe Gafni, has sent a message to Netanyahu — backed by the rest of the party — saying he won’t be able to continue serving as chairman of the Knesset’s Finance Committee if the matter isn’t resolved by June 1.
The office of UTJ lawmaker Yisrael Eichler adds that not only Gafni would resign if the demand goes unfulfilled — Yaakov Asher and Eichler will resign as heads of the Interior Committee and the Welfare Committee, respectively, and ministers Yitzhak Goldknopf and Meir Porush, as well as deputy minister Uri Maklev, “won’t be able to continue in their roles.”
Reports: Israel’s Rafah strike used US bombs designed to reduce civilian casualties
A screenshot of video filmed by a volunteer of the Palestine Red Crescent Society showing a fire that broke out in a camp for displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza's Rafah, following an Israeli strike on what the IDF said was a compound used by Hamas in the area, May 26, 2024. (PRCS/AFP)
The bombs Israel used in Sunday’s strike near Rafah that killed dozens of Palestinians were GBU-39s, a US-manufactured munition, according to investigations by CNN and by The New York Times.
Both outlets analyze debris from the bomb visible on local footage, including identification numbers and the tail actuation system, to identify the munitions.
According to the NYT report, American officials have urged Israel to use GBU-39s, as they can help reduce civilian casualties.
The IDF said yesterday that it used two bombs with 17 kg of explosives, the smallest its jets have. That figure matches the specifications of the GBU-39.
Iranian media says Tehran has handed Yemen’s Houthis sea-launched ballistic missile
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reports that Tehran’s sea-launched ballistic missile Ghadr has been made available to Yemen’s Houthis.
“Iran’s sea-launched ballistic missile, named Ghadr, now has been made available to Yemen’s fighters,” reports Tasnim, which is believed to be affiliated with Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.
“Now, the missile… has become a weapon capable of presenting serious challenges to the interests of the United States and its main ally in the region, the Zionist regime,” Tasnim says.
Hanegbi: War won’t end this year; Israel holds 75% of buffer zone along Gaza-Egypt border
File: National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi speaks to reporters at the Israel Defense Forces' Tel Aviv headquarters, October 14, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash 90)
The Israel Defense Forces is now in control of 75% of the Phildelphi Route, a buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi says.
“Inside Gaza, the IDF is now in control of 75% of the Philadelphi Route and I believe it will be in control of it all with time. Together with the Egyptians, we must ensure weapon smuggling is prevented” from Egypt into Gaza, he tells the Kan public broadcaster.
Hanegbi adds that he expects fighting in Gaza to continue throughout 2024 at least.
Nikki Haley meets Gallant and Gantz to discuss threat from Hamas, Iran
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meets former US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley — a possible Donald Trump vice president pick — in Tel Aviv to discuss Israel-US ties in the face of Iranian threats, according to a post on X by Gallant.
“Hamas and Hezbollah not only attack Israel, they attack our shared values and way of life,” says Gallant.
Haley also meets with war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, whose office says the two discussed the fighting in Rafah and Israel’s right to fight wherever necessary to remove the Hamas threat.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, right, meets former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley in Tel Aviv on May 29, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
Lapid, Sa’ar, Liberman meet in effort to bring down government, urging Gantz to join
Left to right: New Hope party head Gideon Sa'ar, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman meet on May 29, 2024. (Yair Lapid's office)
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid meets with two heads of right-wing opposition parties in an attempt to coordinate a bloc that will work together to bring down the government.
Lapid, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman and New Hope head Gideon Sa’ar “agreed on a plan of action to replace the government for the sake of the future of the State of Israel,” a statement on behalf of the trio says.
They once again call on National Unity party chief Benny Gantz to quit the coalition and join them, as Gantz has threatened to do by June 8 if the premier doesn’t fulfill a series of demands.
IDF strikes RPG-wielding operative in Gaza’s Jabaliya, finds weapons cache near mosque
A weapons cache found by IDF troops adjacent to a mosque in Gaza's Jabaliya, May 29, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The military releases footage showing an airstrike against an RPG-wielding operative in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya.
The IDF says the operative was spotted by troops of the 636th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit before a strike was carried out. A second airstrike was carried out a short while later after a second operative was identified in the area, the military adds.
Troops in Jabaliya have come under massive RPG fire amid the latest operation there in recent weeks.
Separately, troops located and demolished several tunnel shafts and dozens of rocket launchers, and located a weapons cache adjacent to a mosque, the IDF adds.
A weapons cache found by IDF troops adjacent to a mosque in Gaza’s Jabaliya, May 29, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
MKs give initial okay to bill branding UNRWA a terror group; coalition expected to bury it
The Knesset passes in a preliminary reading an opposition-proposed bill to declare the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA a terror group.
The legislation, filed by Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky and backed in the vote by the coalition, is not expected to progress further, with reports saying the coalition intends to derail it down the line.
3 soldiers killed yesterday in booby-trapped building in Gaza’s Rafah
Soldiers killed in southern Gaza on May 28, 2024. Left to right: Staff Sgt. Uri Bar Or, Staff Sgt. Ido Appel, Staff Sgt. Amir Galilove. (Israel Defense Forces)
Three Israeli soldiers were killed yesterday amid operations in southern Gaza’s Rafah, the military announces.
The slain troops are named as:
- Staff Sgt. Amir Galilove, 20, from Shimshit
- Staff Sgt. Uri Bar Or, 21, from Midreshet Ben-Gurion
- Staff Sgt. Ido Appel, 21, from Tzofar.
They all served in the Nahal Brigade’s 50th Battalion.
Their deaths bring the toll of slain troops in the IDF’s ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and amid operations along the border to 291.
According to an initial IDF probe, the three were killed by a blast in a booby-trapped building.
An officer and two soldiers of the 50th Battalion were seriously wounded and another officer was moderately hurt in the same incident, the military says.
In another incident yesterday, an officer and a soldier of the Combat Engineering Corps’ 614th Battalion were seriously wounded while fighting terror operatives in northern Gaza.
Separately, a soldier of the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit was seriously wounded and three other soldiers were lightly and moderately hurt as a result of a blast in a booby-trapped tunnel shaft in southern Gaza yesterday.
Earlier today, a soldier of the Multi-Domain Unit was seriously hurt in northern Gaza, the IDF adds.
Smotrich urges West Bank crackdown ‘even if it means Tulkarem will look like Gaza’
Religious Zionism party leader Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting in northern Israel, May 19, 2024. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also a minister in the Defense Ministry, reacts to the outrage caused by Palestinian terrorists’ gunfire from the West Bank’s Tulkarem toward the Israeli town of Bat Hefer in the central Sharon region, arguing that West Bank terrorists “must be fought like in Gaza.”
“We must not allow them to do in the Sharon what they did on October 7″ near the Gaza border,” Smotrich tweets. “Terror needs to be uprooted anywhere, even if it means Tulkarem will look like Gaza looks today.”
The far-right minister says he has spoken with Emek Hefer Regional Council head Galit Shaul and agreed to hold a meeting in the coming days along with other officials “to meet the immediate needs as a result of the worsening of the threat to the residents.”
He adds that the phenomenon is further proof that a future Palestinian state would pose “an existential threat to the State of Israel.”
UK police: 40 arrested for refusing to leave anti-Israel rally at designated time, assaulting cops
Metropolitan Police officers face anti-Israel protesters during a rally in central London against Israel's offensive in Gaza's Rafah, May 28, 2024. (Photo by BENJAMIN CREMEL / AFP)
UK police say 40 people were arrested and three officers were injured yesterday after anti-Israel protesters refused to disperse following a demonstration in London against the Rafah offensive against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.
The British capital’s Metropolitan Police Service says the individuals were arrested last night for offenses including breaching public order conditions, obstructing roads and assaulting emergency workers.
It says two officers sustained minor injuries after being assaulted while a third, who was struck by a bottle thrown from within the crowd, suffered a “serious facial injury.”
The Met, as the force is widely known, says an investigation is underway to identify who threw the bottle.
Police had approved plans for the early evening protest — organized by a coalition including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign — outside the gates of Downing Street in central London.
But it imposed conditions including that the rally end by 8 p.m. (local time).
Up to 10,000 people attended, and the “vast majority” left by the required time, but a group of around 500 remained to continue protesting, according to police.
“Officers engaged extensively before making a number of arrests for failing to comply with conditions,” the Met says in a statement.
“As they moved in, some in the crowd resisted physically, requiring officers to use force to extract those who had been arrested.”
Further arrests followed later in the evening after the remaining demonstrators launched a breakaway march and were eventually corralled outside a train station, the Met says.
Israel should have ended the war 4.5 months ago, says new Labor party head
Yair Golan speaks to the media after the results were announced in the Labor party primary elections, in Tel Aviv, May 28, 2024. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
A day after his landslide primary win, incoming Labor party chief Yair Golan tells Radio 103FM that Israel should have ended the war in Gaza four and a half months ago, “when we completed the step of crushing Hamas’s military wing.”
“That was the right timing,” Golan says.
“Unfortunately, the prime minister doesn’t want to free the hostages because he understands that would lead to the end of the fighting, and he is dragging the country to a disaster. That’s why we must change course.”
Amid terrorist gunfire from Tulkarem toward Israeli town, officials urge crackdown
Palestinian terrorists fired many bullets this morning from the West Bank city of Tulkarem toward the nearby Israeli town of Bat Hefer on the other side of the Green Line.
The gunmen film and upload footage of their attack, which according to Hebrew media didn’t cause injuries but did cause some damage.
The Israel Defense Forces says forces have been sent to search the area, adding that “impacts have thus far not been identified” and that troops are “working to locate those who perpetrated the gunfire.”
בפעם השנייה ביומיים האחרונים: מחבלי חמאס מתעדים את עצמם יורים מאזור טולכרם לעבר בת חפר. אין נפגעים pic.twitter.com/Rp270bEAtE
— Carmel Dangor כרמל דנגור (@carmeldangor) May 29, 2024
It is the second such incident this week, prompting anger in the small community.
Galit Shaul, head of the Emek Hefer Regional Council, sends a letter to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant urging an emergency meeting on the matter.
New Hope party chief Gideon Sa’ar says that the repeat gunfire is “intolerable and necessitates immediate and effective treatment,” urging the “failed” war cabinet to “wake up.”
On Monday, dozens of Bat Hefer’s residents demonstrated at the entrance to the town after Hamas gunmen shot toward the town, and after Palestinians were seen crossing the security barrier into Israel and being caught.
ירי מאסיבי: מחבלים ירו מטולכרם לעבר בת חפר הסמוכה לה בשעות הבוקר. כוחות צה"ל פתחו בסריקות במקום, ובמקביל נקודות הסעה של תלמידים לבתי הספר אובטחו@hadasgrinberg (אורלי אלקלעי) pic.twitter.com/Gyi8NUsOfO
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) May 29, 2024
30 פלסטינים (שב"חים) חצו הבוקר את חומת ההפרדה מהכפר שוויכה (גזרת טול כרם) לעבר הישובים בת חפר ובחן בעמק חפר pic.twitter.com/IzhtQAZMfe
— yishai porat – ישי פורת (@yishaiporat) May 27, 2024
Anti-Israel rioters clash with Mexico police, try to reach Israeli embassy
Rioters clash with police during a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel rally called "Urgent action for Rafah," held in front of the Israeli embassy in Mexico City on May 28, 2024. (Photo by Pedro PARDO / AFP)
Clashes broke out yesterday between police and rioters outside the Israeli embassy in Mexico during a rally against the country’s military offensive against the Hamas terror group in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, AFP journalists report.
Some protesters covered their faces and threw stones at riot police who blocked their path to the diplomatic complex in the city’s Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood.
Around 200 people joined the “Urgent action for Rafah” demonstration, about 30 of whom started to break down barriers preventing them from reaching the Israeli mission.
Police officers deployed tear gas and threw back the stones hurled at them by rioters.
A rioter takes part in a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel rally called “Urgent action for Rafah,” held in front of the Israeli embassy in Mexico City on May 28, 2024. (Photo by Pedro Pardo / AFP)
Rioters clash with police during a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel rally called “Urgent action for Rafah,” held in front of the Israeli embassy in Mexico City on May 28, 2024. (Photo by Pedro PARDO / AFP)
Members of the police try to put out a fire in a house during a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel rally called “Urgent action for Rafah,” held in front of the Israeli embassy in Mexico City on May 28, 2024. (Photo by Pedro PARDO / AFP)
Head of world’s largest humanitarian network urges Gaza ceasefire ‘so I can do my job’
Kate Forbes, president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Cairo, Egypt, February 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) calls for a ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip.
The war-torn enclave is suffering from a humanitarian catastrophe nearly seven months after the war was sparked on October 7 by the Hamas terror group’s unprecedented onslaught that killed some 1,200 people in Israel and resulted in the kidnapping of 252 hostages.
“We desperately need a political solution that will allow us to have a ceasefire to get aid in,” IFRC President Kate Forbes tells Reuters in an interview in the Philippine capital Manila.
“We’re ready to make a difference. We have to have access, and to have access there has to [be] a ceasefire,” says Forbes, who in December became the second woman to ever hold the top job at the world’s largest humanitarian network.
The IFRC president is a volunteer position and oversees a network that unites 191 organizations working during and after disasters and wars, such as the Palestine Red Crescent Society, which has ambulance crews in Gaza.
Forbes says she saw the “atrocious” situation in Rafah during a visit in February, months before Israel launched a military assault on the southern Gaza city, which is believed to be Hamas’s last major stronghold but had also been sheltering more than a million Palestinians who fled assaults on other parts of the enclave.
“There was not enough housing. There was no water, there weren’t enough sanitation toilets. We had a hospital with no equipment… and unfortunately what I was afraid of has happened, and that there wasn’t going to be enough food,” Forbes says.
“I plead with the governments on all sides to negotiate a ceasefire so that we can get aid in,” Forbes says. “My job is to ensure that when it happens, we can give the aid that’s necessary. And so they need to do their jobs so I can do my job.”
Escalating rhetoric, Saudis accuse Israel of ‘continuous genocidal massacres’ in Gaza
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan attends a news conference about the Israel-Hamas war, December 8, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
In perhaps its most strongly worded statement against Israel since the war against Hamas in Gaza began, the Saudi Foreign Ministry accuses Israel of committing “continuous genocidal massacres” by targeting “the tents of defenseless Palestinian refugees in Rafah,” saying it holds Jerusalem accountable for “what is happening in Rafah and all across the occupied Palestinian territories.”
Riyadh, which was in talks to normalize relations with Israel before the war erupted, has been escalating its rhetoric against the Jewish state as the talks have faltered, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refusing demands to commit to a credible path toward a future Palestinian state as part of the normalization talks.
In its statement, the ministry says Israel’s “continuous blatant violations of all international and humanitarian resolutions, laws, and norms… exacerbate the magnitude of the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe experienced by the Palestinian people.”
It urges the world to “stop the massacres” and “hold those responsible accountable.”
#Statement | Saudi Arabia condemns and denounces in the strongest terms the continuous genocidal massacres committed by the Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinian people without deterrence by continuing to target the tents of defenseless Palestinian refugees in Rafah. pic.twitter.com/p7AsUAwRQ9
— Foreign Ministry ???????? (@KSAmofaEN) May 28, 2024
Herzog visits Israel’s northernmost town, vows evacuated residents will ‘definitely return’
President Isaac Herzog, left, meets IDF officers in the evacuated town of Metula, near the Lebanon border, on May 28, 2024. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)
President Isaac Herzog visited the northern border town of Metula yesterday and met its mayor, members of its civilian security squad and IDF reservists serving there amid the war, the President’s Residence says in a statement.
The most northern community in Israel has been evacuated of its residents for over seven months, as have towns and cities up to 5 kilometers from the Lebanon border, amid near-daily cross-border skirmishes with the Hezbollah terror group that have accompanied the war against Hamas in Gaza.
Herzog vows that despite its current state, Metula “will exist for hundreds and thousands of more years.”
President Isaac Herzog (L) meets Metula Mayor David Azoulay (2L) and IDF officers in the evacuated town of Metula, near the Lebanon border, on May 28, 2024. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)
Amid prolonged frustration among northern residents and the government’s refusal to lay out a timeline for their return, Herzog says: “Israel sovereignty extends until the border, most definitely. We simply care for the residents and therefore they’re not here. But this war will eventually end in one way or another.
“I tell you with certainty, and I tell Metula residents: We will definitely return here,” the president adds. “We will return calm to Metula and the entire north.”
Herzog also praises the IDF forces and security squad for their work.
Mayor David Azoulay thanks Herzog, saying the visit has come as a pleasant surprise that raises morale.
President Isaac Herzog, center, meets IDF reservists in the evacuated town of Metula, near the Lebanon border, on May 28, 2024. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)
IDF intercepts ‘suspicious aerial target’ near Lebanon border
The IDF says it intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” that was headed toward Israel.
A statement from the military doesn’t specify where the aircraft originated but says it was shot down over sea near Rosh Hanikra, near the Lebanon border.
It adds that fighter jets carried out a strike overnight on the opposite side of the border in Naqoura, targeting a building used by Hezbollah operatives, along with other sites linked to the terror group in southern Lebanon.
Ship off Yemen’s coast damaged in suspected Houthi missile attack
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Missile attacks twice damaged a Marshall Islands-flagged, Greek-owned ship Tuesday in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, with a private security firm saying radio traffic suggested the vessel took on water after being struck.
No group has claimed responsibility, but suspicion falls on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have launched a number of attacks targeting ships over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The first attack on the bulk carrier Laax happened off the port city of Hodeida in the southern Red Sea, near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that links it to the Gulf of Aden, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center. The vessel “sustained damage” in the assault and later reported an “impact in the water in close proximity to the vessel,” the UKMTO says.
“The crew are reported safe and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call,” the center says.
The private security firm Ambrey says the vessel reported by radio of having “sustained damage to the cargo hold and was taking on water.”
Late Tuesday night, the UKMTO reported the Laax “sustained further damage” in a second missile attack near Mokha in the Bab el-Mandeb.
The US military’s Central Command also identified the targeted ship as the Laax. The vessel reported being headed to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.
Grehel Ship Management of Piraeus, Greece, manages the Laax. A man who answered the phone at Grehel declines to answer questions about the attack and an emailed request for comment hasn’t been returned.
Central Command separately says it destroyed five Houthi drones over the Red Sea amid the attacks.
The Houthis don’t immediately acknowledge the attack, though it can take the rebels hours or even days to claim their assaults.
Nikki Haley writes ‘Finish Them’ on IDF shell while touring Lebanon border
Former US presidential hopeful Nikki Haley has been photographed writing “Finish Them” on an Israeli shell as she toured sites near the northern border with Lebanon.
The photograph was posted on X by Danny Danon, a member of the Israeli parliament and former ambassador to the United Nations, who was accompanying Haley on her visit.
“‘Finish Them’. This is what my friend the former ambassador Nikki Haley wrote,” Danon says in his post that shows a kneeling Haley writing on a shell with a purple marker pen.
Haley was a hawkish UN envoy under Donald Trump, and her term overlapped with Danon.
Finish them!
זה מה שכתבה היום חברתי, השגרירה לשעבר, ניקי היילי על פגז במהלך ביקור במוצב של תותחנים בגבול הצפון.
הגיע הזמן לשינוי משוואה – תושבי צור וצידון יתפנו, תושבי הצפון יחזרו.
צה"ל יכול לנצח! pic.twitter.com/qvLNCXPl7o
— Danny Danon ???????? דני דנון (@dannydanon) May 28, 2024
Detroit college suspends in-person classes due to anti-Israel encampment
A pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel encampment is shown on May 28, 2024, on the campus of Wayne State University in Detroit. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
Wayne State University in Detroit suspended in-person classes and encouraged staff to work remotely to avoid any problems with an anti-Israel encampment that sprouted last week.
“All on-campus events are canceled until further notice. Critical infrastructure workers are expected to report to campus,” the school says in a statement around 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
Wayne State spokesperson Matt Lockwood says there have been “public safety concerns,” especially about access to certain areas.
There are two dozen tents on green space near the undergraduate library. Participants mill around while police and private security watch nearby. Two portable toilets are full and not usable.
Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who over the weekend spoke at a conference with speakers affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group, has been at the site to offer support.
“We have told the organizers to remove the encampment several times and they have declined to do so,” Lockwood says.
Wayne State has 16,000 undergraduate students but fewer during the summer term.
Academic workers at several UC campuses strike in support of anti-Israel protests
UCLA academic workers from United Auto Workers Local 4811 picket on the first day of their strike on May 28, 2024, in Los Angeles, California, in support of anti-Israel protests on campus. (Mario Tama/Getty Images/AFP)
Discord from last month’s violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian students and activists encamped at the University of California, Los Angeles, flares again as academic workers stage a protest strike on campus protesting UCLA’s response to the incident.
Unionized academic researchers, graduate teaching assistants and post-doctoral scholars at UCLA walked off the job over what they regard as unfair labor practices in the university’s handling of anti-Israel demonstrations in recent weeks, organizers say.
They are joined by fellow academic workers at two other University of California campuses — UC Davis near Sacramento, and UC Santa Cruz, where the protest strike began on May 20.
The strike was organized by the United Auto Workers union Local 4811, which represents some 48,000 non-tenured academic employees total across 10 University of California campuses and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The UAW local includes about 6,400 academic workers at UCLA, 5,700 at Davis and about 2,000 at Santa Cruz. A union representative says “thousands” had joined the strike as of Monday by withholding their work, though fewer than 200 were seen attending a noon-time rally on the UCLA campus.
The expanding work stoppage marks the first union-backed protest in solidarity with the recent wave of student-led demonstrations on dozens of US campuses against Israel over the war with Hamas in Gaza that was sparked by the terror group’s October 7 onslaught.
Union leaders say a major impetus for the strike was the treatment of 210 people arrested at the scene of a Palestinian solidarity protest camp torn down by police at UCLA on May 2.
About 24 hours earlier, on the night of April 30-May 1, a group of masked assailants armed with sticks and clubs attacked the encampment and its occupants, sparking a bloody clash that went on for at least three hours before police moved in to quell the disturbance.
The university has since reassigned the chief of the campus police department and opened an investigation into law enforcement’s reaction to the violence, which followed several days of rising tensions during which Jewish students on campus were harassed.
The strikers are demanding amnesty for grad students and other academic workers who were arrested or face discipline for their involvement in the protests, which union leaders claim were peaceful except when counter-demonstrators and other instigators were allowed to provoke unrest.
Algeria to present UN Security Council resolution ‘to stop the killing in Rafah’
Algeria's ambassador to the United Nations, Amar Bendjama speaks during a Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York on March 25, 2024. (Angela Weiss/AFP)
UNITED NATIONS — Algeria will present a draft UN resolution calling for an end to “the killing” in Rafah as Israel attacks Hamas operatives in the crowded Gaza city, its ambassador says after a Security Council meeting.
“It will be a short text, a decisive text, to stop the killing in Rafah,” Ambassador Amar Bendjama tells reporters.
It was Algeria that requested Tuesday’s urgent meeting of the council after the Sunday strike.
The Algerian ambassador doesn’t say when he hopes the resolution might be put to a vote.
“We hope that it could be done as quickly as possible because life is in the balance,” says Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong, expressing hope for a vote this week.
“It’s high time for this council to take action. This is a matter of life and death. This is a matter of emergency,” the French Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said before the council meeting.
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