Nov. 5: IDF says Hamas terrorist who held six hostages was killed in airstrike last month
IDF says it killed two terror operatives in Gaza who crossed Yellow Line, posed threat to troops * Mamdani: I’ll be mayor for all New Yorkers, including Jews who didn’t vote for me
The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they happened.
US ambassador to the UN meets with Palestinian diplomats in New York
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz met on Tuesday with a delegation of Palestinian diplomats in New York to discuss the Security Council resolution that Washington is looking to pass in order to establish an International Stabilization Force to help secure postwar Gaza, a Palestinian official tells The Times of Israel.
The meeting was a rare example of direct engagement between US and Palestinian officials and perhaps the first such sit-down on US soil since President Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Washington issued a visa ban preventing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from attending a UN conference promoting the two-state solution in September, and the handful of known meetings between officials from Washington and Ramallah have taken place in the Middle East.
The Palestinian delegation used the meeting to try and make the case for edits to the text of the US-sponsored Security Council resolution that would tie the PA more directly to the ISF and the technocratic government that the Trump administration envisions will run postwar Gaza, the Palestinian official says, confirming a report in the Axios news site.
Earlier drafts of the resolution have limited the PA’s role to the hand-off of Gaza’s control from the ISF and the unaffiliated technocratic government, once Ramallah has undergone significant reforms.
Dermer transitioning to special envoy post, Leiter to take on larger role from DC — sources
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer is slated to step down from his position next week and hand over some of his responsibilities to Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, an Israeli official and a second source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.
Dermer is seen as Netanyahu’s closest adviser and has been handling a wide range of diplomatic issues, from ties to the US to Israel’s relations with its Arab neighbors.
While stepping down from the government, Dermer will remain involved on certain issues, such as efforts to expand the Abraham Accords, and he will operate as a special envoy for Netanyahu, according to the source familiar with the matter.
However, additional responsibilities regarding ties with the Trump administration will be transferred to Leiter, who will stay on as ambassador in Washington.
The source familiar with the matter likened Dermer’s new role to the one held by Jared Kushner, who did not formally rejoin the government for US President Donald Trump’s second term, but has played a central role in the brokering and implementation of the ceasefire in Gaza on behalf of the American administration.
The Israeli Embassy in Washington and Dermer’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Pro-Israel student group in Toronto says event with IDF veterans ‘stormed’ by anti-Israel activists
A pro-Israel student group in Toronto, Canada, says its event with IDF veterans was “stormed” by anti-Israel protesters, causing injuries.
Student Supporting Israel at Toronto Metropolitan University posts videos on social media showing the altercation between the pro-Israel students and masked protesters at the off-campus event at which former IDF soldiers were due to speak.
An anti-Israel activist chants, “We refuse to allow war criminals in our city,” while the pro-Israel students shout, “Get out,” and “Call 911.”
Other videos show the pro-Israel students barricading themselves behind a glass door with furniture as the masked protesters gather on the other side.
The two groups shout at each other through the glass door before the glass is smashed. It’s unclear which side broke the glass.
The pro-Israel group shares a video of blood seeping out of a sliced forearm, as a woman cries in the background.
“Broken glass. Blood everywhere. All because we’re Jewish — and tried to open dialogue,” the group says in a statement.
Toronto police say that officers made multiple arrests after a group of demonstrators forced their way into a building, that one person was injured, and that there was a “significant police presence” in the area.
The university’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine says on Instagram, “Our universities refuse to hold war criminals accountable. We will hold them accountable.”
Hillel Ontario says in a statement that it is “aware” of the reports of an “anti-Jewish mob violently disrupting an event sponsored by Students Supporting Israel.”
“This follows Students for Justice in Palestine Toronto Metropolitan University sharing a call to interfere with the event and encouraging others to do so,” it notes.
“There should be no space for violence or intimidation on our campus or in our city. We call on the TMU administration to take urgent and immediate steps to ensure those who perpetrated today’s incident are held to account.”
Trump holding out hope that Saudi Arabia will join the Abraham Accords
US President Donald Trump reiterates his hope that Saudi Arabia will soon join the Abraham Accords, while appearing to recognize that it’s a sensitive issue, as Riyadh has long conditioned ties with Israel on the latter agreeing to a pathway to a future Palestinian state.
“We have a lot of people joining now the Abraham Accords,” Trump claims in remarks before the America Business Forum in Miami. “Hopefully, we’ll get Saudi Arabia very soon, but I’m not saying that. I’m not lobbying,” Trump quips, giving a shoutout to Riyadh’s ambassador to Washington, who is in the audience.
Trump suggested to CBS’s ’60 Minutes” on Sunday that Saudi Arabia isn’t serious about its public demand for a Palestinian state. The last time he did that, in February, Riyadh issued a statement at 4 a.m. rebutting the president’s claim. This week, they did not.
The US president calls his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner the “father of the Abraham Accords” and reiterates his belief that the agreements will be easier to expand following the US attack on Iran’s nuclear sites in June.
“The key was when we took out the nuclear capability of Iran. All of a sudden, everybody said, ‘Wow, that was nice.’ They’ve been wanting to do that for 20 years,” Trump says. No countries in the region have publicly praised the US attack and Arab diplomats told The Times of Israel at the time that it was a cause of anxiety among some in the Gulf who feared it would lead to further escalation and destabilization
On the Gaza ceasefire he brokered last month, Trump insists that it’s stable. “There’s nothing tenuous [about it]. It’s a serious end,” he adds, joking that he hopes it holds, otherwise the number of wars he says he has ended would drop from eight to seven.”
IDF troops cross into Israel with casket containing apparent body of hostage
The casket containing the apparent remains of a dead hostage has been brought out of the Gaza Strip by troops, the military says.
The body is now escorted by the police to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification, a process which officials have said may take up to two days.
Hamas did not provide the identity of the hostage it handed over.
If the body is confirmed to belong to a hostage, it would mean that the remains of six hostages are still held in Gaza.
IDF receives casket with apparent body of hostage from Red Cross in Gaza
IDF troops in the Gaza Strip have received a casket, with the apparent body of a dead hostage, from the Red Cross a short while ago.
The casket had been collected by the Red Cross from Hamas in Gaza City.
The IDF is set to inspect the casket before draping it in an Israeli flag and holding a short ceremony led by a military rabbi.
The remains will then be taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification.
Historians urge Austria’s far-right parliamentary speaker to cancel event honoring declared antisemite
Historians have called on Austria’s first far-right parliamentary speaker to call off a planned event that “honours a declared antisemite.”
Parliament elected Freedom Party (FPOe) lawmaker Walter Rosenkranz as speaker after his far-right party topped national polls last year for the first time, though the FPOe failed to form a government.
The country’s main Jewish organization has ruled out participating in events with Rosenkranz, who faces widespread criticism for being a member of a far-right student fraternity known for its strident pan-German nationalism.
In the latest controversy, Rosenkranz has come under fire for an event he plans to hold in parliament on November 11, named after Franz Dinghofer, an Austrian vice chancellor in the 1920s.
In an open letter sent to AFP, more than a dozen historians urge the event to be called off, citing Dinghofer’s Nazi party membership, which he held from 1940 onwards.
They criticize that parliament is being made “the place of honourable remembrance for a declared antisemite.”
The event is to be held just after Austria marks the 87th anniversary of the anti-Jewish “Kristallnacht” or “Night of Broken Glass” pogrom on November 9-10.
It has also drawn criticism from the IKG, which represents the Jewish community in Austria, and major political parties.
The ruling conservative People’s Party (OeVP) insists the focus should be on “the victims — and not the perpetrators”, while the opposition Greens have called it a “disgrace” that “damages the dignity of the high house.”
The FPOe, founded by former Nazis, dismisses the criticism as a “smear campaign,” claiming Dinghofer ended up as a “victim of the Nazi regime.”
After the war, Dinghofer joined the German nationalist Federation of Independents party, the predecessor to the Freedom Party.
Rosenkranz has not immediately replied to an AFP request for comment.
The Freedom Party has frequently faced accusations of antisemitism, which it denies.
Mamdani, other New York leaders condemn election night swastika graffiti on NY yeshiva
New York City’s mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, condemns swastika graffiti found on a Brooklyn yeshiva a day after he won the city’s mayoral election.
“This is a disgusting and heartbreaking act of antisemitism, and it has no place in our beautiful city. As Mayor, I will always stand steadfast with our Jewish neighbors to root the scourge of antisemitism out of our city,” Mamdani writes on X.
This is a disgusting and heartbreaking act of antisemitism, and it has no place in our beautiful city. As Mayor, I will always stand steadfast with our Jewish neighbors to root the scourge of antisemitism out of our city. https://t.co/W3jVlmr1rU
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) November 5, 2025
Before the election, the school required parents to prove they were registered to vote, amid Jewish community concern over Mamdani.
Mamdani has repeatedly condemned antisemitism in New York and announced plans to combat discrimination against Jews, even as his anti-Israel rhetoric has alarmed swaths of Jewish New Yorkers.
Jews are targeted in hate crimes in New York far more than any other group, with dozens of incidents typically reported per month, ranging from harassment to vandalism and assault.
The swastika graffiti stands out both because it targeted a school and due to the proximity to the election, with some local officials drawing a connection between Mamdani’s win and the incident.
As new guy was taking his victory lap last night, this was happening in Brooklyn.
Our grandparents weren't warned.
We were. pic.twitter.com/dYh43WrBto— Kalman Yeger (@KalmanYeger) November 5, 2025
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Governor Kathy Hochul, and other elected officials condemn the vandalism.
The far-right Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman wades into the incident, tagging Adams on X and asking what the mayor will “do about that?”
Report: Shin Bet head Zini, IDF chief Zamir clash over security responsibilities
A heated confrontation allegedly erupted between Shin Bet chief David Zini and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir during a recent high-level discussion at the Prime Minister’s Office, Channel 12 reports.
According to the report, tensions flared when Zamir accused Zini of overstepping his authority and commenting on matters outside the Shin Bet’s domain, particularly concerning security responsibilities and coordination between the IDF and the internal security agency.
In one exchange cited by Channel 12, Zamir challenged Zini’s role in a particular security matter, saying: “Sorry, I just want to understand — what exactly is the Shin Bet’s role here? What are their powers? Are they the ones who will issue warnings? No, the IDF will issue warnings, not you.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was present at the meeting, reportedly intervened to mediate and proposed establishing a joint working mechanism between the two security bodies.
While security sources tell Channel 12 that the two leaders maintain generally good working relations, the report noted lingering “mutual suspicion” and concerns within the IDF that Zini has been acting independently in areas outside his purview.
Both the Shin Bet and the IDF decline to comment on the report, saying they do not respond to details from closed security discussions.
The alleged confrontation follows Zini’s dismissal from the IDF in May by Zamir, after Zini reportedly held talks with Netanyahu without informing the chief of staff, leaving Zamir blindsided by the premier’s announcement of Zini as the next head of the Shin Bet.
IDF says there’s no intel to suggest that Hadar Goldin’s body is held in a tunnel under Rafah
The IDF says it has no information indicating that the body of Lt. Hadar Goldin is being held in a tunnel where Hamas operatives are holed up in southern Gaza’s Rafah.
“These are false claims that harm the family,” the military says, after defense officials claimed that Goldin’s body is assessed to be held in southern Gaza’s Rafah, where some 150 terror operatives are holed up in a tunnel network.
Some of the operatives trapped in Rafah are assessed by Israel to have information on the location of the body, which may be hidden at another location in the area.
The US has been pressuring Israel to permit safe passage for the estimated 200 operatives who are trapped in the IDF-held area of southern Gaza, as part of efforts to advance to the next stage of the emerging ceasefire framework based on Trump’s plan.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir recommended to political officials earlier this week that Israel should condition the safe passage of the operatives from Rafah to Hamas-held areas of the Strip on the return of Goldin’s body.
However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel will not allow them safe passage.
IDF says Red Cross headed to troops inside Gaza to hand over apparent body of hostage
The IDF says the Red Cross has notified the military that it has collected a casket, with the apparent body of a slain hostage, from Hamas in Gaza City a short while ago.
The Red Cross is now bringing the casket to IDF troops inside the Strip, where a small ceremony, led by a military rabbi, will be held.
Report: Netanyahu wants to move ahead with conscription bill after Haredi parties signal approval
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to move forward with a law regulating ultra-Orthodox military conscription and draft exemptions, Channel 12 reports, as Haredi factions within the Knesset are said to have given the legislation a nod of approval.
The ultra-Orthodox Shas and UTJ parties have been upholding a partial legislative boycott over the matter of Haredi conscription, stymying the coalition’s agenda since the start of the winter legislative session.
According to Channel 12, Netanyahu has now realized that the only way he can stabilize his coalition is to promote the passage of the bill, despite the political damage it could cause him in the long term.
The bill, drafted by Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth, sets a long-term target of enlisting 50% of each annual ultra-Orthodox draft cohort within five years.
Critics have accused it of being symbolic, however, as it will lower the requirements for draft exemption for yeshiva students and soften any potential sanctions in comparison to a previous proposal prepared by the ousted committee chair, Yuli Edelstein, earlier this year.
Netanyahu is hoping that the bill can be passed into law, or at least be close to becoming law, within the next month, the report says.
It adds that the legislation appears to have the necessary votes to pass into law, as the Degel Hatorah faction of UTJ has given it the green light following conversations with Shas, which also appears set to support its passage.
The Agudat Yisrael faction of UTJ is divided on whether it should support or oppose the bill, Channel 12 adds, although the faction is too small to sway the vote without the other Haredi lawmakers.
The report notes, however, that even if the bill advances, solving one of Netanyahu’s headaches, it is likely to cause him others, as the extent to which it is an exemption law, rather than a conscription law, may become clear as it advances through the Knesset.
Sam Sokol contributed to this report.
US pushing Israel to grant safe passage to Hamas operatives holed up in Rafah tunnels
The US is urging Israel to grant safe passage to the 100 to 200 Hamas fighters currently holed up in a tunnel network on the Israeli-controlled side of the Yellow Line under the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a Middle Eastern diplomat tells The Times of Israel.
Washington views the effort as a pilot program for a broader decommissioning and amnesty program it is hoping to implement for Hamas fighters, in line with US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war, the Mideast diplomat says, confirming details of a report on the Axios news site.
The Trump administration envisions Hamas fighters being allowed to come out of the tunnels, upon which they would hand over their weapons to members of the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center based in Kiryat Gat.
Those fighters would then either be given safe passage to a third country or be allowed to retreat to the western side of the Yellow Line, which is under de facto Hamas control, the diplomat says.
The US has been in intensive discussions with Israel and Turkey about the initiative over the past several days, the diplomat says.
While Israel has not rejected the US proposal outright, it has pushed back on letting all of the Hamas fighters go free, arguing that some are responsible for attacks on Israelis and will have to be taken into IDF custody if they don’t want to be killed, the diplomat adds.
Publicly, Netanyahu has taken a harder line, with his office issuing a statement last week asserting that Israel will not grant safe passage to the holed-up Hamas fighters.
A US official told The Times of Israel last week that Egyptian and Qatari mediators had informed Hamas on October 28 that the group had 24 hours to evacuate its fighters from the Israeli side of the Yellow Line or risk being exposed to Israeli fire.
However, it’s unclear whether Israel was on board with the ultimatum and would have been willing to grant safe passage to Hamas fighters who came out of the Rafah tunnel network before the deadline expired. Ultimately, the ultimatum didn’t work, though, as no fighters heeded it and talks on securing their safe passage in order to avoid a firefight that could risk the ceasefire have dragged on.
Point 6 of Trump’s 20-point plan states, “Once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty. Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries.”
The proposal was verbally accepted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when Trump first unveiled it at the White House in September, but the actual agreement signed by Israel and Hamas only focused on the initial ceasefire, IDF pullback, hostage-prisoner swap and humanitarian aid provisions.
Red Cross heading to receive apparent body of hostage from Hamas in Gaza City
Red Cross vehicles are now heading to a handover site in Gaza City to collect the apparent remains of a deceased hostage from Hamas, the IDF says.
Hamas did not identify the hostage whose body it is set to hand over.
The terror group said that it had located the body today in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood.
ADL announces ‘Mamdani monitor’ to track incoming NYC administration
The Anti-Defamation League announces a program to “track and monitor policies and personnel appointments” in New York City’s incoming Zohran Mamdani administration.
The effort aims to protect Jewish New Yorkers, the ADL says in a statement. Jews are disproportionately targeted in hate crimes in the city.
“Mayor-Elect Mamdani has promoted antisemitic narratives, associated with individuals who have a history of antisemitism, and demonstrated intense animosity toward the Jewish state that is counter to the views of the overwhelming majority of Jewish New Yorkers,” ADL chief Jonathan Greenblatt says in a statement.
“We are deeply concerned that those individuals and principles will influence his administration at a time when we are tracking a brazen surge of harassment, vandalism and violence targeting Jewish residents and institutions,” Greenblatt says.
The platform includes an antisemitism tip line for New Yorkers to report discrimination; research into policies, appointments and funding at City Hall that relate to Jews; and a “Mamdani monitor” that will track the administration.
Mamdani is asked about the initiative at his first press conference after winning the election.
“I have not spoken to Jonathan Greenblatt. I take the issue of antisemitism incredibly seriously, and last night in my speech, I spoke about how my City Hall will stand steadfast with Jewish New Yorkers in fighting the scourge of antisemitism across the city and making that clear in the actions we deliver on,” he says.
“I look forward to working with Jewish leaders across this city, whether they be elected officials, whether they be rabbis, whether they be community leaders, to deliver on the promise of not just protecting Jewish New Yorkers but celebrating and cherishing them,” he says.
“I think anyone is free to catalog the actions of our administration. I have some doubts in Jonathan’s ability to do so honestly, given that he previously said I had not visited any synagogues, only to have to correct himself,” he says.
Greenblatt said in an interview in August, after Mamdani won the city’s primary, that Mamdani had not visited any synagogues, although Mamdani had been to the far-left congregation Kolot Chayeinu and attended a mayoral debate at B’nai Jeshurun in Manhattan during the primary.
Greenblatt later said that Mamdani had not visited “a single mainstream synagogue or Jewish community since the primary.”
Jewish Dem. Jacob Frey wins re-election as mayor of Minneapolis
Jacob Frey has won re-election as mayor of Minneapolis, earning his third term.
Minneapolis uses ranked choice voting to select its mayor, which in Minneapolis means that if no candidate clears the threshold in the first round, candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated for the next round of counting. The process is repeated until one candidate has enough.
Frey won during the final round.
The election was officially nonpartisan, though Frey chose to include the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party label on his ballot line. He defeated a large field that included state Sen. Omar Fateh, a democratic socialist.
The Associated Press declares Frey the winner at 12:38 p.m. EST.
IDF says troops found cache of Hamas weapons in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood
Amid the ongoing ceasefire in Gaza, the IDF says troops deployed to Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood — on the eastern side of the Yellow Line — located a cache of weapons belonging to Hamas.
The arms depot was found by troops of the 252nd Division in “the heart of the Shejaiya neighborhood,” the army says.
The site was used by Hamas to store various types of explosive devices, as well as rockets.
The IDF says it remains deployed in Gaza “in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat.”
Citing corruption, Lapid says Yesh Atid to distance itself from ‘Zionist institutions,’ push to nationalize KKL-JNF
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid announces that his Yesh Atid party will no longer seek any positions in any of the so-called Zionist institutions and will advance legislation to nationalize the Jewish National Fund-KKL, arguing that this is the only way to “clean up this organization and the other national institutions is to bring them under state law, state audit, and the strictest transparency regulations.”
In a message to the press, Lapid says that his party “will not be part of any of the agreements in the Zionist institutions. We will not take budgets, we will not take managerial positions, and we will not be part of the deal being stitched together there.”
“We entered politics to fight corruption, not to be part of a system to arrange jobs for the Netanyahu family and the Deri family. We wanted to clean the national institutions of the culture of corruption and political appointments — but it’s not possible.” Lapid says, referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Shas chairman Aryeh Deri. “There’s no way to do it, and no one to do it with.”
During this year’s World Zionist Congress, representatives of Israel’s political parties and Diaspora Jewish organizations vied for control over national institutions such as the World Zionist Organization, Jewish National Fund-KKL and Keren Hayesod, which control billions of dollars in funding for Jewish causes.
A compromise over positions that would have seen Yesh Atid MK Meir Cohen serve as the next chairman of the Jewish National Fund-KKL fell apart last week after Netanyahu’s controversial elder son, Yair Netanyahu, was unexpectedly tapped for a cushy board position at the World Zionist Organization.
The national organizations are used for patronage and are being expanded in order “to hand out more and more jobs and budgets to political cronies – at the expense of the Jewish people, and at the expense of Israeli taxpayers,” says Lapid, promising to “fight it, not join it.”
This alleged corruption pushes Diaspora Jews “even further away from the State of Israel and from Zionism,” he continues, calling on other political parties “to reconsider whether they are willing to be part of an agreement that is so clearly an act of corruption and dirty politicking.”
Zamir instructs IDF to focus efforts on countering drone threat on Egyptian border
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has instructed the military to focus efforts and resources on countering the threat of drones on the Egyptian border.
In the past year, there have been frequent attempts to bring weapons and drugs over the Egyptian border using drones.
The military says Zamir held a meeting today on the Egyptian border drone threat with senior IDF officers, along with Shin Bet and police representatives.
The meeting, led by the IDF’s Operations Directorate, is part of a “multi-organizational thought process aimed at formulating a comprehensive outlook for dealing with the growing threat,” the military says.
The IDF says that in the meeting, Zamir said that “in his view, the drone threat is not merely a criminal threat but a security threat with terror potential, and emphasized the IDF’s and the defense establishment’s commitment to deepen the operational response while developing new operational capabilities.”
Some of the decisions made during the meeting include: establishing a dedicated IDF, police, and Shin Bet task force to counter the drone threat; allocating resources toward long-term force build-up, including the development of new defense technologies; intensifying intelligence-gathering efforts, alongside expanded technological efforts for drone interception, disruption, and detection; and the formation of a new combat unit which will be tasked with handling the smuggling attempts, including under difficult terrain and nighttime conditions.
Hamas terrorist who held six hostages killed in airstrike last month, IDF announces
A Hamas terrorist who was responsible for holding six Israeli hostages in captivity was killed in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip last month, the IDF and Shin Bet announce.
According to the military, Zeid Zaki Abd al-Hadi Aqel held hostages Bar Kuperstein, Ohad Ben Ami, Maxim Herkin, Elkana Bohbot, Segev Kalfon, and Yosef-Haim Ohana in captivity. All six have since been released.
Aqel was targeted in a strike on October 29, the IDF says, which came as part of a wave of strikes against Hamas in response to a deadly attack on troops in the Rafah area during the ceasefire.
This handout video shows a strike in the Gaza Strip on October 29, 2025, targeting a Hamas terrorist responsible for holding six hostages in captivity. (Israel Defense Forces)
Mamdani-affiliated Democratic Socialists of America hails his win as a victory for Palestine
The national branch of the far-left Democratic Socialists of America hails Zohran Mamdani’s win as a victory for Palestine.
Mamdani is a longtime DSA member. He has said he joined the party due to its focus on the Palestinians.
“This election proves that Democratic Socialist ideas are popular and that organized people can defeat the power of big money. Zohran wasn’t afraid to say boldly what his voters and the majority of Americans believe: that Palestine should be free, and that the US shouldn’t be complicit in Israel’s genocide,” the national DSA says in a statement.
“We will continue to fight for a free Palestine,” the statement says.
Mamdani: I’ll be mayor for all New Yorkers, including Jews who didn’t vote for me
New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani says at a press conference that he will serve all New Yorkers, including Jews who didn’t vote for him.
“I look forward to being the mayor for every person that calls this city home. That includes the Jewish New Yorkers that voted for our campaign, and those that didn’t. My responsibility is to all eight and a half million New Yorkers,” he says, without mentioning any other ethnic groups.
Mamdani is also asked about criticism from Anti-Defamation League chief Jonathan Greenblatt, and an ADL program announced today that will track Mamdani’s administration.
“I have not spoken to Jonathan Greenblatt. I take the issue of antisemitism incredibly seriously, and last night in my speech, I spoke about how my City Hall will stand steadfast with Jewish New Yorkers in fighting the scourge of antisemitism across the city and making that clear in the actions we deliver on,” he says.
“I look forward to working with Jewish leaders across this city, whether they be elected officials, whether they be rabbis, whether they be community leaders, to deliver on the promise of not just protecting Jewish New Yorkers but celebrating and cherishing them,” he says.
“I think anyone is free to catalog the actions of our administration. I have some doubts in Jonathan’s ability to do so honestly, given that he previously said I had not visited any synagogues, only to have to correct himself,” he says.
Greenblatt said in an interview in August, after Mamdani won the city’s primary, that Mamdani had not visited any synagogues, although Mamdani had been to the far-left congregation Kolot Chayeinu and attended a mayoral debate at B’nai Jeshurun in Manhattan during the primary.
Greenblatt later said that Mamdani had not visited “a single mainstream synagogue or Jewish community since the primary.”
Parents of fallen soldier Itay Chen relieved by return of his body
Ruby and Hagit Chen, the parents of slain hostage soldier Itay Chen, offer a statement following the return of his body from Gaza last night.
“We finally can say, ‘Itay came home,'” says Ruby Chen, describing his son as a smiling kid who loved Israel and was proud to enlist in the IDF and to protect the land of the Jews.
He describes the events of October 7, when his son was wrested from a tank along with Daniel Perez and Tomer Leibowitz, both of whom were also killed, and Matan Angrest, one of the 20 living hostages, who was released back to Israel three weeks ago.
Chen says the family fought across continents to bring their son and the other hostages home.
On the 148th day after October 7, 2023, the family “received the terrible knock on the door,” telling them that their son would probably not return alive and that they should hold a shiva — the 7-day Jewish mourning period — for their son.
“I looked at my wife and we said, ‘That’s not happening because he’s not back, because of the commitment of government and the IDF to bring him back as they’re supposed to,'” recalls Chen. “We don’t finish this until he comes home.”
Chen says he asked people not to say the words, “his memory is a blessing” — a Jewish phrase used when referring to the deceased — when mentioning Itay’s name, until their son’s body was returned home.
“Now we’ll sit shiva,” says Chen.
He says that they will not stop fighting for the remaining seven deceased hostages until the last hostage is home and the fight is over.
Chen says that when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called him to express his condolences, he told the premier that the country cannot return to the divisive discourse that was widespread before October 7, 2023, and that his son’s death cannot be in vain.
He says that he told Netanyahu that a state commission of inquiry must be established, that the people of Israel, the bereaved families, deserve answers about what happened on October 7, 2023.
“Two years is enough time to wait for answers,” says Chen.
He thanks the Hostages Forum, US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and US hostages envoy Adam Boehler for their help, as well as the German government and German ambassador to Israel Steffen Seibert, Netanyahu and the IDF.
“The hostages’ families will continue fighting until the last hostage and hopefully that day will come very soon,” says Chen.
Hagit Chen, Itay’s mother, says there is no joy in laying one’s child to rest, but there is relief and there is peace for the soul.
“Every family of the fallen hostages deserves this bare minimum: a grave for their loved ones,” says Chen, listing the names of the final seven hostages. “We cannot leave these families living in dread that their loved one is abandoned in the ruins of Gaza.”
Elderly Palestinian said injured in settler attack in South Hebron Hills
Palestinian media reports that an elderly Palestinian has been injured in a settler attack in the village of Shaab al-Butum, in the South Hebron Hills.
The injured Palestinian is identified as Musa al-Najjar, 75.
Footage from the scene shows the injured Palestinian lying on the ground. Other images show that Hebrew graffiti reading “regards from the Susya harvest” has been sprayed on the walls of the house where he was attacked.
#صورة| إصابة مسن جراء اعتداء قطعان المستوطنين على الأهالي في خربة شعب البطم بمسافر يطا جنوب الخليل pic.twitter.com/bAMV56Dz9P
— شبكة فلسطين للحوار (@paldf) November 5, 2025
Attorney Kamar Mashraki-Asad, who provides legal representation to residents of Susya and Shaab al-Butum, was present in the area at the time of the attack. He tells The Times of Israel that prior to the attack, settlers cut down around 30 trees in the Susya area, just hours before a scheduled olive harvest coordinated with the Israeli military.
According to Mashraki-Asad, after cutting down the trees, a group of about 10 settlers descended on al-Najjar’s home in Shaab al-Butum and assaulted him. He was later taken to a hospital for medical treatment.
The Israel Police has not yet issued a response.
Defense officials: Hadar Goldin’s body being held in Rafah, where 150 Hamas operatives are trapped
The body of Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed and abducted by Hamas during the 2014 Gaza War, is assessed by Israel to be held in southern Gaza’s Rafah, where some 150 terror operatives are holed up in a tunnel network, according to Israeli defense officials.
The IDF has avoided launching airstrikes or demolishing the specific tunnel in the Jenina neighborhood where the operatives are holed up, over fears that Goldin’s body may be lost, the officials claim.
The operatives trapped in Rafah are assessed to have information on the location of the body, although it remains unclear if the remains are being held in the tunnel with the gunmen or at another location in the area.
The US has reportedly been pressuring Israel to permit safe passage for the operatives who are trapped in the IDF-held area of southern Gaza, as part of efforts to advance to the next stage of the emerging ceasefire framework based on Trump’s plan.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir reportedly recommended to political officials earlier this week that Israel should condition the safe passage of the operatives from Rafah to Hamas-held areas of the Strip on the return of Goldin’s body.
However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel will not allow them safe passage.
Reservists party endorses Smotrich’s legislative boycott over tax break for reserve troops
Yoaz Hendel’s Reservists party calls on all members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to join Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in boycotting votes until the Knesset passes legislation providing tax credits for IDF reservists.
“There are also those in the Likud who understand the injustice. Don’t be silent. The minimum required is to reward those who serve and take money from those who evade. A government that evades its duties is a government that acts against the state,” the Reservists party says in a statement.
In a statement earlier today, Smotrich announced that “in light of Likud’s refusal to advance the bill… to provide tax benefits to reservists, the Religious Zionism faction will not vote with the coalition until the Tax Benefits for Reservists Law is approved in second and third reading.”
The Reservist party was only recently formed and has no representation in the current Knesset.
Bulgaria launches commission of inquiry into activities of Jewish philanthropist George Soros
Bulgaria’s National Assembly has set up a commission of inquiry into the activities of US billionaire and philanthropist George Soros, his son, and their foundations in the country.
The creation of the commission — “to collect and analyze documents, question Bulgarian services and institutions as well as individuals” — sparked criticism from justice and rights groups.
The investigation comes after a suggestion from the party of Delyan Peevski, a former media tycoon targeted by US and British sanctions for corruption.
Lawmakers passed a vote with the help of two ruling coalition parties, as well as all pro-Russian or far-right parliamentary groups.
The main party in power, GERB, and the pro-European CC/BD alliance did not support the motion.
The commission is to establish “the flow of financing and to identify any links with political parties, judges, schools, media, economic circles and public institutions.”
Soros’s Open Society Foundation was established in Sofia in 1990, just after the fall of the communist regime in Bulgaria.
It funds education, judicial reform and anti-discrimination projects.
Soros, 95, has become the target of ultra-conservatives and conspiracy theorists. In August, US President Donald Trump called for legal action against Soros, accusing him of having backed violent protests.
For a number of years, Soros, a Jewish Holocaust survivor, has also been seen as the nemesis of the government in his native Hungary.
IDF confirms drone strike in southern Lebanon, says target was Hezbollah Radwan Force operative
The IDF confirms carrying out a drone strike in southern Lebanon today, saying it killed a member of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.
The operative, Hussein Jaber Dib, had “advanced terror attacks against the State of Israel and its citizens,” the military says. He was killed in a strike targeting a car near the southern Lebanon town of Burj Rahal.
Since the start of the November 2024 ceasefire in Lebanon, the IDF says it has killed more than 330 Hezbollah operatives in strikes, including 20 in the past month alone, saying they were violating the terms of the truce.
צה״ל חיסל מחבל מיחידת ׳כוח רדואן׳ בארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בדרום לבנון: כ-20 מחבלים חוסלו בחודש האחרון
צה"ל תקף וחיסל מוקדם יותר היום, בהובלת פיקוד הצפון ובאמצעות חיל האוויר, את חסין ג׳אבר דיב, מחבל ביחידת ׳כוח רדואן׳ של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה, שקידם מתווי טרור נגד מדינת ישראל… pic.twitter.com/TDNk4w85j4
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 5, 2025
Israeli, Greek air forces held joint aerial refueling drill over Greece this week
The Israeli Air Force and Hellenic Air Force wrapped up a joint aerial refueling drill earlier this week over Greece, the IDF announces.
As part of the exercise on Monday, the military says, the IAF’s 120th Squadron practiced aerial refueling of dozens of Greek fighter jets.
“The exercise simulated an operational flight and the refueling of fighter jets over long distances. For several hours, the fighter jets joined the refueling aircraft and were refueled by them to continue their missions,” the IDF says.
The IAF and HAF conduct regular joint drills. “This exercise is part of the annual training program and reflects the ongoing regional cooperation between the two countries,” the military adds.
Hamas says it will hand over hostage’s body at 9 p.m.
The military wing of Hamas announces that it will hand over the body of a hostage this evening at 9 p.m.
It says the body was found in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City.
The terror group does not identify the hostage whose body it is set to hand over.
Smotrich’s party to stop voting with coalition until Knesset passes law giving tax breaks to reservists
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announces that his Religious Zionism party will stop voting with the coalition until the Knesset passes legislation providing tax credits for IDF reservists.
In a statement, the far-right lawmaker states that “in light of Likud’s refusal to advance the bill… to provide tax benefits to reservists, the Religious Zionism faction will not vote with the coalition until the Tax Benefits for Reservists Law is approved in second and third reading.”
The [arty adds, “Reservists come first. The State of Israel owes them everything and this outweighs any political consideration. No MK is allowed to harm reservists.”
The government approved the tax benefits in August and the legislation has since passed the first of three readings needed to become law but has since been held up in the Knesset Finance Committee.
If passed into law, the bill would grant income tax credit points to combat reservists on a graduated scale based on the number of days served. Reservists would receive more benefits depending on the time served and how many children they have.
Responding to Smotrich, coalition whip Ofir Katz says that “the bill in its current form drastically discriminates against many reservists, especially students and those with low incomes, who will not be able to take advantage of the benefit.”
“The purpose of the bill is commendable, but changes are needed, and there is agreement on this among all members of the Finance Committee. It is a shame that someone who has been opposing ultimatums and boycotts for three years is acting in this way instead of resolving the matter substantively, and is refusing any compromise offered to him.”
“We seek to benefit all reserve soldiers, not just those with high incomes. I support Finance Committee chairman Milwidsky and the committee members in their just struggle,” Katz says in a statement.
Religious Zionism’s decision not to vote with the coalition will have little impact, as the coalition does not currently have a majority as it is and is contending with an ultra-Orthodox legislative boycott.
Finance Committee chairman Hanoch Milwidsky has previously complained that there are significant economic disparities in the bill, which he asserted discriminated against lower earners.
“I’m very sorry, but I can’t shake the feeling that in the finance minister’s office they’re more concerned with how they look in the media — with making it seem as though they support the reservists and are doing something — while in practice, when it comes time to actually do the work, they’re not really doing it,” he told the committee last month.
Swastikas sprayed on NYC yeshiva on election night
Vandals sprayed swastikas on a Brooklyn yeshiva last night, the night of the New York City mayoral election.
Photos from the scene show two red swastikas scrawled on a wall and a window of the Magen David Yeshiva.
As new guy was taking his victory lap last night, this was happening in Brooklyn.
Our grandparents weren't warned.
We were. pic.twitter.com/dYh43WrBto— Kalman Yeger (@KalmanYeger) November 5, 2025
Before the election, the school required parents to prove they were registered to vote, amid Jewish community concern over Zohran Mamdani.
Jews are targeted in hate crimes far more than any other group in New York City.
Israeli couple charged with public indecency over copulation at popular Thai tourist spot
An Israeli couple has been arrested on the island of Ko Pha Ngan, in Thailand, for having sex in public in broad daylight.
According to Channel 12, the couple was seen fooling around in a waterfall yesterday, in full view of other tourists who were trying to enjoy the scenic views.
Some tourists recorded the pair and uploaded the footage to social media, where it spread quickly, provoking outrage among locals and catching the attention of the island’s police force, the report says.
Law enforcement then located the couple’s hotel and arrested them. The forces were accompanied by the Ko Pha Ngan police chief, deputy inspector, and immigration officers.
According to the report, the pair were charged with public indecency and were criticized by the police for disrespecting local customs and damaging the reputation of a popular tourist destination.
Poll finds a third of NYC Jews voted for Mamdani, while Cuomo dominated Jewish neighborhoods
A CNN exit poll finds that 33% of New York City Jews voted for the far-left anti-Israel politician Zohran Mamdani in yesterday’s mayoral race.
The survey finds 63% of Jews voted for independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, and 3% for Republican Curtis Sliwa.
The poll’s Jewish sample size is around 710 people. The margin of error and methodology are unclear.
New York City does not release data on voter religion or ethnicity, so it’s difficult to measure the Jewish vote with precision.
Granular geographic data is available, though, and shows that Jewish areas heavily favored Cuomo.
The Hasidic enclave in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, formed an island of Cuomo support in a sea of Mamdani voters running through western Queens and Brooklyn.
In Hasidic parts of the neighborhood, up to 90% of residents supported Cuomo, while blocks away, in gentrified areas, close to 90% went to Mamdani.
Jewish areas of Crown Heights and Boro Park, also in Brooklyn, overwhelmingly voted for Cuomo. In one section of Boro Park, he won more than 96% of the vote.
Cuomo appears to have dominated Boro Park and parts of neighboring Midwood more thoroughly than any other area of the city.
Cuomo also won most of the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and parts of the Upper West Side. Both neighborhoods have a large Jewish population, but they are more mixed with non-Jews than Hasidic areas are.
Man arrested on suspicion of promising to procur weapons for attack on Jewish targets in Germany
BERLIN (AP) — A man suspected of promising to get weapons for an attack on Jewish targets in Germany has been arrested in Denmark, Germany’s top prosecutor says.
The suspect, an Afghan national who is identified as Tawab M. in line with German privacy rules, had allegedly been in contact with a Danish national who is suspected of gathering information on Jewish locations and individuals in Berlin for Iranian intelligence, possibly with a view to attacks.
The federal prosecutor says that in late May, Tawab M. promised Ali S. that he would obtain a weapon for a third person and persuade them to attack Jewish targets in Germany. Tawab M. allegedly has a history of procuring weapons, accessories and explosive devices in Denmark.
The third person’s identity is unknown. Ali S. was arrested in June and is being prosecuted separately.
Tawab M. was taken into custody on suspicion of having agreed to incite another person to commit a homicide, the prosecutor says. The arrest warrant was issued last month.
He will be brought before a judge in Germany to determine whether he will be kept in custody pending formal charges after extradition from Denmark. It wasn’t immediately clear when that will happen.
German security authorities stepped up protection for Jewish and Israeli facilities after a 12-day war broke out between Israel and Iran in June.
Germany is a staunch ally of Israel and has a history of tense relations with Tehran, though it has been one of the three leading European powers trying to engage Iran in diplomacy over its nuclear program.
In October, Germany ordered the closure of all three Iranian consulates in the country in response to the Iranian judiciary’s announcement of the execution of Iranian German prisoner Jamshid Sharmahd, who lived in the United States and was kidnapped in Dubai in 2020 by Iranian security forces. That left the Islamic Republic with only its embassy in Berlin.
Toronto synagogue vandalized for 10th time since 2024
Vandals smashed the exterior windows of Kehillat Shaarei Torah in Toronto yesterday in what the synagogue says is the tenth time it has been attacked since April 2024.
Four or five windows were damaged in the early morning attack, local news station report.
In a video with a timestamp of 4:30 a.m., surveillance cameras show a thin young man wearing a black hooded jacket jumping up to attack the windows with what seems to be a hammer in his left hand. The suspect, who is believed to have also been involved in some of the previous attacks, has not yet been identified.
A spokesperson for the temple told CTV News Toronto that the suspect scaled a fence that was erected around the building with funding received through the federal government’s Canada Community Security Program.
One incident is random, twice is a pattern.
Ten? That’s an epidemic of hate.
That synagogue Kehillat Shaarei Torah’s been vandalized 10x is a direct failure of #Toronto’s leadership on up, it’s a repudiation of our so-called leaders at all levels—they must act or step aside. pic.twitter.com/0rVxuCWLvG
— Kevin Vuong ???????? (@KevinVuongxMP) November 4, 2025
Rabbi Joe Kanofsky tells CTV that members of the 45-year-old synagogue plan to continue their regular routine throughout the police investigation.
“The idea (of the vandalism) is to disrupt. So we had our service this morning, at seven o’clock, we had a full quorum show up, and we continue to do what we do,” he says.
Protesters prevent Israeli tourists from disembarking cruise ship in Crete
About 1,000 Israeli travelers were unable to disembark from a cruise ship in the Greek island of Crete yesterday after a group of pro-Palestinian protesters blocked the port’s exit, Hebrew media reports.
Several dozen demonstrators harassed the passengers of the Israeli-owned Mano Maritime cruise ship as it reached the port of Souda, holding signs with anti-Israel messages and chanting “Free Palestine,” according to Ynet.
As some passengers boarded buses toward the nearby city of Chania, protesters threw stones, hurled curses, and made throat-slitting gestures, witnesses say.
Police were unable to protect the Israeli group as the demonstrators blocked the gates, other witnesses add.
Many passengers chose to stay aboard or return to the ship, which later sailed back to Israel. No injuries were reported.
“We feared for our lives,” Hava, one of the passengers, tells Ynet. “It is a scandal that tourists from a sovereign country are treated this way.”
Protesters in Greece, a popular Israeli tourist destination, have targeted Israelis several times in the past year. In August, anti-Israel groups held demonstrations at dozens of locations around Greece in a “day of rage” to protest Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
IDF says it killed two terror operatives in Gaza who crossed Yellow Line
The IDF says it killed two terror operatives who crossed the Yellow Line, which demarcates the territory held by the military after its partial withdrawal, and approached troops, in two separate incidents in the central Gaza Strip earlier today.
The operatives “posed an immediate threat” to the forces stationed in the area, the military says, adding that shortly after they were detected, “forces eliminated the terrorists to remove the threat.”
Watchdog group petitions High Court to stop Levin’s effort to sideline AG on Sde Teiman leak case
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel files a request to the High Court of Justice asking that it issue an interim order against Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s efforts to sideline Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara in the Sde Teiman video leak investigation.
The organization, a liberal legal advocacy group, also requests that the court issue a final decision regarding its petition to annul the government’s decision to fire the attorney general back in August.
Levin yesterday tapped State Ombudsman for Judges Asher Kula to oversee law enforcement processes regarding the Sde Teiman leak scandal, having told Baharav-Miara that neither she nor her office could be involved due to their involvement in the filing of submissions to the High Court on the affair that turned out to be inaccurate.
The Movement for Quality Government’s request insists that Levin’s interpretation of a law he cited to justify his actions has “not even the faintest foundation,” adding that “it is unacceptable that in democratic country a minister, a political official, decides of his own accord without any legal authority to harm the authority of the attorney general on criminal matters, while a criminal investigation is underway, while passing those authorities to another official.”
A separate petition filed earlier by Likud MK Avichai Boaron requests that the High Court do the opposite — order the attorney general to remove herself from the case — for the same reasons as Levin has alleged.
The court this morning asked the attorney general to respond, giving her until noon tomorrow.
Residents of Palestinian village facing partial demolition say it’s built on private land
Residents of the Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair in the South Hebron Hills rail against Israeli plans to demolish buildings in the community, asserting that they are built on private land.
At a press conference held in the village, residents say that the Civil Administration told them that 14 structures in the village, most of them homes, are slated for demolition since they were built illegally.
Khalil Hathaleen, the brother of Awdah Hathaleen — who was shot dead during a confrontation with a settler in the village in July — says that the residents belong to the Bedouin Jahalin tribe and have lived in the area since 1948, while “only in 1981 the first [Israeli] settlement was established near Umm al-Khair.”
He emphasizes: “We have an Israeli court ruling from 1993 stating that this is private land belonging to the residents who live here.”
Hathaleen adds that if the demolition orders are carried out, about 100 people will be left homeless.
Another villager, Eid Hathaleen, says that the demolition would affect half of the village’s population. Eid notes that, legally, residents have very few options left, and that international pressure on Israel is therefore needed to prevent the demolition.
Khalil Hathaleen stresses: “This is not a demolition — it is an act of expulsion.”
About three months ago, the village made headlines after Awdah Hathaleen was shot dead during a confrontation with a settler, Yinon Levy, amid construction work for a new neighborhood in the Carmel settlement adjacent to the village. Levy was released after a brief detention following a court ruling that he had acted in self-defense.
Avigail, an Israeli activist who assists the residents of Umm al-Khair, adds: “Awdah fought all his life in a nonviolent struggle and was murdered here in cold blood. This demolition will be another crime that will lead to the cleansing of more families.”
Court orders former chief IDF prosecutor freed from custody this evening
Former chief military prosecutor Col. Matan Solomosh will be released from custody tonight at 10 p.m., the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court rules.
The judge reportedly says that there is no difference between him and other suspects in the Sde Teiman leak investigation who were released under restrictive conditions.
Solomosh was arrested earlier this week on suspicion of helping former military advocate general Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi conceal her role in leaking surveillance footage appearing to show soldiers abusing a Gazan detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility.
Man rams car into pedestrians on French island, shouts ‘Allahu Akbar’
A 35-year-old man rammed his car today into pedestrians and cyclists on the French Atlantic island of Oleron, wounding 10 people, including four seriously, a prosecutor says.
The Oleron resident “deliberately hit several pedestrians and cyclists” along a main road on the scenic island off the western city of La Rochelle, prosecutor Arnaud Laraize says.
When he was arrested, he cried “God is the greatest” in Arabic, the magistrate says, an expression that is often used by Islamist extremists.
Police have arrested the man and are investigating him for alleged “attempted murder,” but the man’s motive was not immediately clear, Laraize adds.
A source following the case earlier said the man had “deliberately hit” the victims, across several kilometers (miles).
The prosecutor says the ramming occurred on a road joining the towns of Dolus d’Oleron and Saint-Pierre d’Oleron. The mayor of Dolus d’Oleron confirms the suspect was a resident.
High school student arrested for stabbing 16-year-old classmate, say police
Police have arrested a high school student on suspicion of stabbing his 16-year-old classmate in Ashdod, law enforcement says.
The stabbing victim was moderately wounded and taken for treatment at Ashkelon’s Barzilai Medical Center, says Magen David Adom.
Protest planned in Jerusalem tonight to call for release of Jewish security prisoners
Right-wing Israelis are planning a protest calling for the release of Jewish security prisoners this evening at 7:30 p.m. at the Chords Bridge at the entrance to Jerusalem.
The demonstration is announced in a post on X by Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech. Son Har-Melech recently enlisted 55 coalition lawmakers and ministers to sign a letter to President Isaac Herzog calling on him pardon Jewish security prisoners held in Israeli jails, in the wake of the recent ceasefire deal, which saw hundreds of Palestinian terrorists responsible for dozens of deadly terror attacks freed in return for the release of hostages.
The letter stated that while its signatories do not in any way agree with the actions of those on whose behalf they are advocating, it is wrong that they remain imprisoned while Palestinian terrorists are allowed to return to their families.
Har-Melech does not immediately reply to a request for additional information regarding the event’s organizers or expected speakers.
— לימור סון הר מלך (@limor_sonhrmelh) November 4, 2025
Freed hostage Elizabeth Tsurkov reveals Iraqi captors tortured and sexually assaulted her
Freed captive Elizabeth Tsurkov says she was beaten, tortured, electrocuted and sexually assaulted during the 2.5 years she was held hostage by the Kataib Hezbollah terrorist group in Iraq.
Speaking to The New York Times in her first interview since she was freed in September, Tsurkov says her captors “basically used me as a punching bag.”
Tsurkov, a dual Israeli-Russian national who was studying at Princeton University, says that “I genuinely believe I would have died” if Trump administration officials had not “engaged so consistently and with such incredible determination” to demand her release.
She says that she is missing a tooth due to her beatings and spends much of her days in freedom lying on her back because her injuries make sitting or standing too painful.
Bill stripping voting rights from draft dodgers fails in preliminary reading
Lawmakers vote 27-69 to defeat a bill that would strip voting rights from Israelis who refuse to enlist in military or civilian service, in its preliminary reading in the Knesset.
The bill, sponsored by Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer, was intended to condition voting rights on IDF service, following a 200,000-strong ultra-Orthodox protest against military conscription last week.
Addressing lawmakers ahead of the vote, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman insists that the government and military are not properly enforcing the law against draft evaders and those who incite evasion. Under the law, “we were supposed to see thousands of Haredim either in military service or in prison. So why aren’t we following the existing law?” he asks.
In response, Degel HaTorah chief Moshe Gafni calls Liberman a hypocrite, yelling that when he was defense minister “not only did you not work for the conscription of everyone, but you helped us exempt the yeshiva students.”
The measure was supported by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party but was opposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, the ultra-Orthodox parties and Yair Golan’s The Democrats. Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party abstained from the vote.
Police say associates of ex-military advocate general maintaining ‘bond of silence’
During a hearing on extending the remand of former military advocate general Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, a police representative tells the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court that suspicions against her have strengthened considerably, Hebrew media outlets report.
“At all times, there is this bond of silence in the suspect’s close surroundings regarding the leak investigation, and we are trying to break this bond of silence,” says the representative.
She further reveals that police seized the ex-legal official’s smartwatch during a search of her home and scanned its contents after Tomer-Yerushalmi gave them the password.
After resigning and admitting that she had leaked a video appearing to show soldiers abusing a Gazan detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility, Tomer-Yerushalmi went missing for hours Sunday, leading police to fear she had attempted suicide. Once she was located, police arrested her on the spot, but were unable to find her phone, raising suspicions that she tried to dispose of digital evidence related to the leaking and its subsequent cover-up.
Dori Klagsbald, the lawyer for Tomer-Yerushalmi, says the leak investigation is being conducted in “an atmosphere of mass hysteria” and warns of incitement against his client.
“There are people from ZAKA diving on the Tel Aviv beach, people that are scanning the beach voluntarily with metal detectors,” he says.
“When Yifat was found, one person in the media tweeted: ‘The lynching can continue,'” Klagsbald adds, referring to Channel 14’s Yinon Magal, who tweeted these words Sunday evening after her arrest.
A judge is currently deliberating whether to extend the detention of former chief military prosecutor Col. Matan Solomosh, who was arrested the same night as Tomer-Yerushalmi on suspicion he assisted her in obstructing the probe. Police are requesting he remain in custody until tomorrow.
Coalition again pulls its bills from Knesset agenda due to lack of majority
For the third week in a row, all private member bills sponsored by coalition lawmakers are removed from the Knesset agenda, leaving only opposition legislation on the agenda.
Private member bills are voted on in their preliminary readings on Wednesdays.
The coalition, which now lacks a majority, has not advanced private member bills for preliminary readings since the beginning of the winter legislative session last month due to ongoing rift with ultra-Orthodox parties, which are maintaining a partial legislative boycott. The boycott started during the previous legislative session.
Shas quit the government in July over increased enforcement against draft dodgers as well as the coalition’s failure to pass legislation regulating draft exemptions for yeshiva students. Its exit from the government followed that of fellow ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism, which, unlike Shas, also left the coalition.
Far-right lawmaker Avi Maoz, the sole MK representing the anti-LGBTQ, misogynistic Noam party, subsequently left the coalition, leaving it with only 60 out of 120 Knesset seats and significantly hobbling its ability to advance its legislative agenda.
“Another day without legislation. Lacking a majority, the minority government has pulled the coalition laws from the agenda and the plenary session is significantly shortened,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party says in a statement.
Asked about the removal of coalition bills from the agenda, a spokeswoman for coalition whip Ofir Katz tells The Times of Israel that “the coalition hasn’t been bringing up draft bills since the beginning of the session because of the Haredim.”
“Hopefully it will be sorted out next week,” the spokeswoman adds, in an apparent reference to efforts by Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth to advance a bill regulating the conscription of yeshiva students.
Israel returns bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza after receiving remains of Itay Chen
Hospital officials in Gaza say they have received the bodies of 15 Palestinians from Israel, following the return last night from Gaza of the remains of IDF Staff Sgt. Itay Chen.
The announcement, made by officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, brings the number of Palestinian bodies returned to Gaza over the past month to 285, in exchange for the remains of 19 Israelis returned by Hamas to Israel. Hamas also turned over the bodies of two foreign nationals, one from Thailand and another from Nepal.
For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians. Fewer than half have been identified, Gazan officials say. Forensic work is complicated by a lack of DNA testing kits in Gaza. The Health Ministry there posts photos of the remains online, in the hope that families will recognize them.
Court extends remand of ex-military advocate general for another 2 days
Former military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi will remain in detention until at least Friday, rules the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court, after suspicions against her alleged obstruction of justice reportedly strengthened.
Tomer-Yerushalmi appears on Zoom for her remand hearing after being arrested this week on suspicion of trying to obstruct an investigation into the leak of a video showing IDF soldiers purportedly abusing a detainee in Sde Teiman.
Police also arrested former chief military prosecutor Col. Matan Solomosh on suspicion he assisted Tomer-Yerushlami in obstructing the probe, and are seeking to keep him in custody until tomorrow. He arrived in person to the hearing.
Wife of soldier detained in Sde Teiman case demands AG be investigated
The wife of one of the soldiers charged with severely abusing a Palestinian detainee in the Sde Teiman detention facility urges “justice and transparency for the fighters” suspected in the affair during a Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice committee meeting.
The committee is convening to discuss alleged conflicts of interest in the probe of the Sde Teiman surveillance footage leak, as coalition lawmakers accuse Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara of helping to cover up the military advocate general’s approval of the leak of a video purporting to show the abuse.
Baharav-Miara declined to appear at the meeting, saying her or other law enforcement officials’ presence could interfere with the investigation into the affair.
“We will expose everyone,” says the wife, who can be identified only by her first name Hila, to lawmakers at the meeting. “Just because she [Baharav-Miara] didn’t show up doesn’t mean we won’t do everything to ensure that she is investigated.”
Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech alleges that the “attorney general is no less guilty than the military advocate general” in the affair.
Before police launched an investigation into the leak, Baharav-Miara oversaw a probe — carried out by the military advocate general’s deputy, Brig. Gen. Gal Asael — that did not implicate Tomer-Yerushalmi in the leak. Coalition lawmakers allege that the unsuccessful investigation is proof of a cover-up by the law enforcement system.
“The basic fact that she doesn’t comprehend is that even if she was not directly involved [in covering up the leak’s source], it is clear she worked alongside the military advocate general, as such that she took testimony from her and that she was going to be used as a witness for the prosecution,” Son Har-Melech claims.
There is no hard proof that Baharav-Miara knew about the leak’s source. Tomer-Yerushalmi told police during her interrogation that she did not inform high-ranking officials in the prosecution of her decision to leak the video, the Kan public broadcaster reported.
Katz says IDF targeting Hamas operatives within Yellow Line ‘without limitation’
Defense Minister Israel Katz says that the IDF will destroy Hamas’s tunnels and kill its terror operatives inside the Israeli-controlled areas of Gaza “without any limitation,” amid reports that Israel is considering allowing gunmen trapped in Rafah to return to Hamas-held areas of the Strip.
“Israel’s policy in Gaza is clear: The IDF is operating to destroy the tunnels and eliminate Hamas terrorists without any limitation within the yellow area under our control,” Katz says in a statement.
“The goal, alongside returning all the fallen hostages, is to disarm Hamas and demilitarize Gaza,” he adds.
According to Israeli estimates, some 200 Hamas gunmen are currently located in the tunnels underneath the IDF-controlled parts of southern Gaza, especially in Rafah, and are unable to retreat to the Hamas-controlled areas without emerging from their tunnels and being spotted by Israeli troops.
The US is reportedly pressuring Israel to permit safe passage for the operatives, part of efforts to advance to the next stage of the emerging ceasefire framework based on Trump’s plan.
However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel will not allow them safe passage. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir reportedly recommended to political officials that Israel should condition the safe passage of the operatives from Rafah on the return of the body of Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed fighting Hamas in Gaza in 2014 and whose body has been held since.
Police seek to keep ex-military advocate general behind bars for another 3 days
Police are requesting to remand former military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi and former chief military prosecutor Col. Matan Solomosh for another three days, after they were arrested this week on suspicion of obstructing a probe into the Sde Teiman leak.
Solomosh shows up to the hearing at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court, but the judge granted Tomer-Yerushalmi’s request to attend via Zoom “due to her situation,” a possible reference to her mental state.
Tomer-Yerushalmi, who resigned from her post and admitted to leaking a video of soldiers appearing to abuse a Gazan detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility, was arrested after going missing for hours on the Tel Aviv coast Sunday, leading law enforcement to speculate that she had taken her own life.
When she was found that evening, police were unable to locate her phone, and began to suspect that she staged the incident to dispose of evidence. Solomosh was detained for questioning that same evening.
As was the case during Monday’s remand hearing, filming is forbidden in the courtroom, at the behest of the suspects’ attorneys.
Deputy FM says election of Zohran Mamdani in NYC is ‘deeply concerning’
Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel slams the election of far-left Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani’s as New York City’s next mayor, calling it “deeply concerning given his history of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric.”
“New York’s Jewish community deserves leaders who protect them — not target them. Israel stands with our brothers and sisters in New York and will continue working with community leaders to ensure their safety and dignity,” she says in a statement.
Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu slams Mamdani’s Jewish supporters, accusing them of having “raised their hands in support of antisemitism in the heart of America.”
“‘Jews who hate Jews’ have existed among us since the dawn of our history” and “we see them also in Israel,” he says in a statement, tying the New York election to the controversy regarding alleged IDF abuse of detainees at the Sde Teiman military base and declaring that “antisemitism that speaks Hebrew is the most dangerous of all.”
Israeli drone strike reported on car in southern Lebanon
Lebanese media reports an Israeli drone strike targeting a car near the southern town of Burj Rahal.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
In recent weeks, the IDF appears to have stepped up its strikes on Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon, who Israel says were violating the terms of a November 2024 ceasefire.
الطيران المسير المعادي اغار مستهدفاً سيارة على طريق برج رحال مفرق قدموس، وعلى الفور توجهت فرق الاسعاف للمكان المستهدف. pic.twitter.com/yciWtocbnF
— موقع النبطية (@Nabatiehorg) November 5, 2025
As internal feud rages, Magnum says Ben & Jerry’s board chair not fit to serve
The Magnum Ice Cream Company has concluded that the chair of its Ben & Jerry’s brand no longer “meets the criteria” to serve as a board member after internal investigations, it says in an SEC filing, as an ongoing internal feud continues.
The Magnum-led ice cream venture, which also incorporates the Wall’s and Cornetto brands, is being spun off from consumer goods conglomerate Unilever in an Amsterdam listing now planned for December 8 after a delay of around one month due to the US government shutdown.
Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s have been at odds since at least 2021 when the Chubby Hubby ice cream maker said it would stop selling in the West Bank. Ben & Jerry’s has sued parent company Unilever over alleged attempts to silence it and called the conflict in Gaza a “genocide,” highly unusual for a major US brand.
Magnum did not name Ben & Jerry’s board chair Anuradha Mittal in its SEC filing published late Monday and provided no details on which criteria it deemed the chair of no longer meeting. Magnum did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mittal could not immediately be reached.
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen warned last month that the corporate conflict with the parent company would become more pronounced once the spin-off is complete, as the brand will account for a larger percentage of Magnum’s business than Unilever’s.
Israeli lawmakers across the spectrum express concern over Mamdani’s election
Coalition and opposition politicians unite in condemning far-left Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani’s win in the New York mayoral race, highlighting his antipathy toward Israel and accusing him of supporting Hamas.
“The election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York will be remembered forever as a moment when antisemitism triumphed over common sense,” declares National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, calling him a “supporter of Hamas, a hater of Israel and an avowed antisemite” and slamming his “false claims that we are ‘committing genocide in Gaza.'”
Avigdor Liberman, chairman of the hawkish Yisrael Beytenu opposition party, likewise bemoans that “the man who supported Hamas, attacked Israel, and blamed the West for all the world’s troubles has been elected mayor of New York.”
“Just three decades after the Twin Towers disaster, New York has elected a racist, populist, and openly Shiite Islamist as its mayor,” Liberman adds. “Mamdani is the poster boy for the silent jihad,” and his election is a “wake-up call for New York Jews who want to immigrate to where they belong – the Land of Israel.”
“The Big Apple has fallen,” Liberman adds in English.
Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs committee chairman Gilad Kariv, of Labor, expresses his confidence that New York’s Jewish leadership will be able to “successfully navigate the new reality following Mamdani’s election” and says that Israel will offer its support and “assist in combating manifestations of antisemitism in the city.”
“Together with the Jewish community in North America, we will continue to oppose any attempt to delegitimize the Jewish people’s right to a national homeland and self-determination, as well as the use of unfair double standards toward the State of Israel,” Kariv says, adding the caveat that “Israeli leaders would do well to remember that the New York elections centered on the internal concerns of the American public, not on foreign policy issues.”
“Israel must consistently work to nurture its relationship with both American political parties, even when faced with challenges and obstacles,” he adds.
Family of slain hostage Itay Chen presses PM to establish commission of inquiry
Ruby and Hagit Chen, the parents of Staff Sgt. Itay Chen, whose body was returned for burial to Israel last night, say they spoke to both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Ruby Chen says that he told the prime minister that Itay’s sacrifice “must not be in vain,” and that Israel must not return to the divisive discourse that was widespread before October 7, 2023.
He notes that he told Netanyahu that a commission of inquiry must be established, that the people of Israel deserve answers about what happened on that terrible day, particularly the 2,000 bereaved families “and the tens of thousands who were wounded in body and soul.”
Chen says they also spoke at length with Witkoff, who expressed his deep respect for the family’s long campaign to bring their son home.
Chen adds that Witkoff said their family helped US President Donald Trump understand the importance of returning both hostages and fallen soldiers, and strengthened the American commitment to continue that effort.
The Chens reiterate that there are still seven hostages whose bodies remain in Gaza, listing them by name: Hadar Goldin, Ran Gvili, Meny Godard, Dror Or, Lior Rudaeff, Joshua Mollel and Sudthisak Rinthalak.
Coalition MKs accuse AG of cover-up in Sde Teiman leak, deride ‘deep state’ at Knesset hearing
Likud MK Moshe Saada derides the law enforcement system as a “criminal organization” guarded over by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara at a Knesset hearing on alleged “conflicts of interest” in the probe into the Sde Teiman video leak scandal.
Speaking to the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, Saada, a former deputy head of the Israel Police’s Department of Internal Police Investigations, alleges that the attorney general knew about former military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi’s role in leaking footage of soldiers appearing to abuse a Gazan detainee held at the Sde Teiman detention facility.
“Everyone together leaks a recording that leads to a blood libel against the State of Israel and the Jewish world, creates antisemitism and hurts heroic soldiers,” he says.
“It’s very much a criminal organization… and who is covering for this criminal organization, who is allowing it? Gali,” he charges, referring to the attorney general.
He calls for everyone involved in the affair to be arrested “from end to end,” and laments that the military advocate general’s deputy, Brig. Gen. Gal Asael, who oversaw an internal investigation into the matter that did not implicate Tomer-Yerushalmi, has not been detained.
Baharav-Miara declined to appear at today’s hearing and sent a letter to committee chairman MK Simcha Rothman saying no law enforcement officials would be able to attend for fear of interfering with investigation into the leak.
The committee also invited the police’s head of investigations and intelligence, Deputy Commissioner Boaz Blatt, who also declined to show up, in line with Baharav-Miara’s letter.
“I don’t know whether I’m happy or sad that the deep state and its representatives in the Knesset decided not to show up,” says Rothman.
Speaking of Blatt’s absence, Rothman charges that the “investigative actors themselves are contaminating the investigation… This is a tragic thing.”
“If Blatt had appeared, we would be able to say: ‘OK, at least this is being investigated as it should be by the head of investigations and intelligence, who wasn’t involved in the affair,’ but the moment he saw the attorney general’s letter, he decided not to show up,” Rothman says.
He further lambasts opposition lawmakers for not appearing at the hearing, accusing them of believing that “Israeli citizens don’t deserve answers.”
High Court orders AG to respond to petition calling for her to be sidelined from Sde Teiman leak probe
The High Court of Justice orders Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Deputy State Attorney Alon Altman to respond to a petition requesting they be barred from participating in the investigation of former military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi’s leak of a video from the Sde Teiman detention center.
The two officials must file their responses by noon tomorrow.
The petition, filed by Likud MK Avichai Boaron and the Lavi conservative legal advocacy organization, alleges that documents submitted by the Attorney General’s Office to the High Court over the affair demonstrate that Baharav-Miara played a key role in recommending that an internal probe into the leak end without a criminal investigation.
The submissions to the High Court were made after the officials from the Military Advocate General’s Office conducting the internal probe relayed the results of their review to the Attorney General’s Office. Baharav-Miara has said that she and her office had no information about the source of the leak until developments in the case last week.
“It is unthinkable that the person who needs to be examined and investigated will conduct the investigation into herself,” says Boaron. “She must state that she will not be involved in the issue, and if she does not do so, the court will do it for her.”
Justice Minister Yariv Levin is also seeking to sideline Baharav-Miara from the investigation for the same reasons, and has designated State Ombudsman for Judges Asher Kula to head the investigation into Tomer-Yerushalmi.
Baharav-Miara has, however, rejected Levin’s efforts to bar her from the investigation, and insisted that she and senior officials in the Attorney General’s Office will oversee the probe.
This clash of authorities now looks likely to be adjudicated by the High Court.
Key Qatargate suspect Urich wiped phone 2 days after arrest of another suspect
Jonatan Urich, a key suspect in the classified documents leak scandal, did a factory reset to his phone a day and a half after Eli Feldstein, who has now been indicted over the affair, was arrested in late October 2024, Kan news reports.
Urich, who the attorney general intends to indict over the case subject to a hearing, reportedly erased all the information on his phone and then switched to a different phone without transferring the data from the old phone.
The police suspect Urich was trying to destroy information related to the classified documents affair, as well as the Qatargate case in which Urich and Felstein, both aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are both also suspects.
Urich claimed during police questioning that he does a factory reset on his phone from time to time in order to prevent the use of spyware against him, and said he was advised to do so by security officials. He also denied having known that Feldstein had been arrested, despite the two of them working together on a daily basis.
Israeli medical delegation heading to assist hurricane-struck Jamaica
The Health Ministry states that a medical delegation is leaving for Jamaica today to provide humanitarian assistance following the hurricane that struck the island last week.
The ministry’s deputy director general, Dr. Sefi Mendelovich, and Shaare Zedek Medical Center director Prof. Ofer Marin will lead approximately 30 doctors, nurses and paramedical staff from hospitals across the country to the island.
Also, the Foreign Affairs Ministry says that it has directed the immediate dispatch of Israeli Ambassador to the Dominican Republic Raslan Abu Rukun and a diplomatic team to Jamaica to coordinate humanitarian assistance activities with the Jamaican government.
Netanyahu speaks to parents of Itay Chen after his body returned from Gaza
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke last night with the family of fallen Staff Sgt. Itay Chen, after his remains were returned to Israel last night from Gaza, his office says.
Chen’s parents, Ruby and Hagit, asked Netanyahu to continue working to bring home the seven slain hostages whose bodies are still being held by Hamas.
Netanyahu expressed his condolences to the family and promised he would continue working to bring everyone else home, his office says.
AG says she can’t attend Knesset hearing on Sde Teiman leak since it will interfere with investigation
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara will not attend a hearing in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee this morning on the Sde Teiman video leak scandal despite being summoned.
In a letter sent by Baharav-Miara’s assistant to committee chairman MK Simcha Rothman, she tells him that no law enforcement officials will be able to attend since it could interfere with the criminal investigation into the affair.
The letter also states that “the law enforcement agencies did not have any information on the source of the leak” before developments in the case last week that led to the resignation and subsequent arrest of military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi.
Rothman summoned Baharav-Miara together with State Attorney Amit Aisman and other senior law enforcement figures to discuss what Rothman has alleged are the “conflicts of interest” in the involvement of the attorney general in the criminal investigation, due to Baharav-Miara’s involvement in the submission of problematic statements to the High Court on the matter on behalf of the Military Advocate General’s Office.
“The law is binding on everyone, including the attorney general. It is not surprising that the person who has a conflict of interests and is working to interfere with the investigation is violating the law and refuses to present herself in Knesset,” responds Rothman sharply.
Germany bans Muslim group and conducts police raids in Berlin, Hamburg
German authorities ban the Muslim Interaktiv association, accusing it of anti-constitutional activities in calling for the establishment of a caliphate, and searches two other Islamic groups on similar grounds early this morning.
Seven properties have been searched in Hamburg since early morning and 12 more in Berlin and the state of Hesse as part of preliminary investigations into the associations Generation Islam and Realitaet Islam, the federal interior ministry says in a statement.
Under the ban, the 2020-founded Muslim Interaktiv, which organizes demonstrations and is active on various social media channels, will be disbanded and its assets will be confiscated.
The group drew national attention in early 2024 over a demonstration in Hamburg with 1,000 attendees that called for the creation of a caliphate in Germany.
“We will respond with the full force of the law to anyone who aggressively calls for a caliphate on our streets, incites hatred against the State of Israel and Jews in an intolerable manner, and despises the rights of women and minorities,” says Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt in the statement.
Election of ‘Hamas supporter’ Mamdani means New York Jews should flee to Israel, says minister
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli laments the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City, calling him a Hamas supporter and urging New York Jews to move to Israel.
“The city that was once a symbol of global freedom has handed over its keys to a Hamas supporter — to someone whose positions are not far from those of the jihadist fanatics who, 25 years ago, murdered 3,000 of its own people,” Chikli writes on X, referencing the 9/11 attacks.
“This is a critical turning point for the city of New York,” he adds. “The choice New York has made shakes the very foundations of the place that gave freedom and the opportunity for success to countless Jewish refugees since the end of the 19th century — a place that became home to the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel.”
Chikli suggests that the changing face of New York “didn’t happen overnight — it began with the anti-Zionist atmosphere on campuses overtaken by Qatari money, continued with the violent demonstrations of Hamas supporters at CUNY, NYU and especially Columbia University, which became the stronghold of Hamas support in the United States — and reached its peak this morning, when the last of the bullies who back Hamas’s rapists and murderers was elected mayor.”
The minister asserts that “New York will never be the same again, especially not for its Jewish community. The city is walking with open eyes into the abyss that London has already plunged into… it’s pointless to waste words claiming that everything will be fine. Nothing will be fine in this city.”
Chikli ends his statement by saying that he invites “the Jews of New York to seriously consider making their new home in the Land of Israel.”
In first, suburb of Boston votes to divest from Israel
A municipal ballot proposal to divest from Israel went before a popular vote in the United States for the first time yesterday — and pulled off a decisive victory.
Question 3 wins more than 55% of the vote in unofficial election results in the Boston suburb of Somerville, Massachusetts.
Local pro-Palestinian activists claim victory, with Somerville for Palestine — the group that gathered the signatures required to put the non-binding resolution on the ballot — posting a celebratory Instagram video alongside the Boston chapter of anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace.
However, as they are celebrating, the mayoral candidate best poised to enact the proposal in Somerville concedes his race to a rival who signaled he was far less likely to do so. Willie Burnley Jr., a democratic socialist who had endorsed Question 3, lost to fellow at-large city council member Jake Wilson, who did not.
‘You’re finally back’: Ex-hostage Matan Angrest pays tribute to fallen comrade Itay Chen
Matan Angrest, the only survivor of his tank crew, who was held captive for two years before being freed last month, eulogizes his slain comrade Staff Sgt. Itay Chen after his remains were returned to Israel last night.
“I never stopped thinking of you,” he writes on Instagram. “You’re finally back, my brother.”
Chen was slain on October 7 alongside Sgt. Tomer Leibovitz and his commander, Cpt. Daniel Perez, and the bodies of Chen and Perez were taken captive to Gaza, while Angrest was kidnapped alive.
Perez’s body was returned to Israel on the same day Angrest was released last month, and the freed captive attended his funeral, vowing at the time that he was ready to return to Gaza to look for Chen.
Ex-military advocate general asks to hold court hearing via Zoom
Former IDF military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi has requested to not appear in person at the court hearing on extending her remand.
According to Hebrew media reports, Tomer-Yerushalmi has asked instead to appear in the court via Zoom “due to her situation,” a possible reference to her mental state.
Israeli envoy says anti-Israel remarks by Mamdani ‘will not deter us’
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon says the election of left-wing anti-Israel candidate Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City “will not deter us.”
“Mamdani’s inflammatory remarks will not deter us,” Danon writes on X. “The Jewish community in New York and across the United States deserves safety and respect. We will continue to strengthen our ties with Jewish community leaders to ensure their security and well-being.”
Rubio ‘honors the life’ of Itay Chen after his remains returned home
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that the US “honors the life” of IDF Staff Sgt. Itay Chen, a dual US-Israeli citizen, after his remains were returned to Israel from Gaza last night.
“The remains of Itay Chen, a young American taken hostage by Hamas at just 19 years old, have finally returned home,” Rubio writes on X. “We honor his life, mourn his loss, and stand with his family.”
Chen was the final hostage with US citizenship still being held by Hamas. His father, New York native Ruby Chen, became a vocal and unflagging activist on the world stage.
IAEA: Iran must ‘seriously improve’ nuclear cooperation to avoid higher tensions
Iran must “seriously improve” cooperation with UN inspectors to avoid heightening tensions with the West, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi tells the Financial Times.
Grossi tells the FT that while the IAEA has carried out about a dozen inspections in Iran since its 12-day war with Israel in June, it has not been given access to nuclear facilities such as Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, which were bombed by the United States.
Mamdani: ‘We will stand steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers, not waver in fight against antisemitism’
Amid concerns among Jewish New Yorkers, Zohran Mamdani states he will “not waver” in combatting antisemitism as New York City mayor.
“We will build a city hill that stands steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers and does not waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism,” Mamdani says in his victory speech. “Where the more than one million Muslims know that they belong — not just in the five boroughs of this city, but in the halls of power. No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election.”
‘Pit in my stomach’: Jewish Cuomo supporters ‘torn apart’ by Mamdani victory
Jewish supporters of Andrew Cuomo express fear and distress as Cuomo concedes to far-left anti-Israel activist Zohran Mamdani at Cuomo’s election night event in midtown Manhattan.
“I was very hopeful until the very end,” says Ariel Kohane, a Modern Orthodox Jew from Manhattan. “It’s like a big empty pit in my stomach.”
Kohane, a Republican, says he was supporting the Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa until a few days ago.
He switched to Cuomo when he saw that Sliwa did not have a path to victory and ran the New York City marathon this weekend carrying a Cuomo placard and wearing a kippah showing US President Donald Trump.
“I said, ‘Well, I have to go to Cuomo because he’s the best shot, the only way to stop Mamdani.’ At least Cuomo is not antisemitic. At least he’s going to allow Jews to live our lives,” Kohane says.
“Even wearing a yarmulke in the street now is probably going to get a lot more dangerous. It’s not something that I ever thought would happen anywhere in the United States of America, let alone New York,” he says.
Moshe Spern, who runs a group to support Jewish teachers in the city and volunteered for the Cuomo campaign, says he fears for education under a Mamdani administration.
“I’m worried about the indoctrination of kids hating Israel, thinking that Israel is a pariah, thinking that Israel commits genocide, something that Zohran has gone around saying for two years,” he says.
“I’m concerned about the education and how the next generation of kids are going to think and vote. I’m worried about the future of this city, and what I’m worried about the future of this country,” Spern says.
“As Jewish people, we have to remember that, while things didn’t turn out the way we wanted it, there’s always a greater plan for all of us and we just have to stick together,” he says.
“I’m absolutely torn apart,” says Barbara Schwartz, a resident of Manhattan’s Upper East Side. “I support the Jews, and I am absolutely frantic. I am frantic about being here in New York City with him as my mayor.”
“I’m frightened about anti-semitism on my street corner. I’m frightened there’s going to be some march or something, and they’re going to strike us. I’ve never had that in my city,” she says.
Conceding to Mamdani, Cuomo condemns ‘flames of antisemitism’
Conceding to Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo vows to continue to oppose antisemitism.
“We will not make the NYPD the enemy,” Cuomo tells a crowd of several hundred supporters, referring to Mamdani’s past opposition to the police.
“We cherish our diversity and we have no tolderance for discrimination of any kind,” he says. “We will not tolerate any behavior that fans the flames of antisemitism.”
The crowd cheers in approval.
Cuomo made combating antisemitism a central plank of his campaign, winning the support of mainstream Jewish groups.
Leading Jewish groups vow to hold Mamdani accountable on antisemitism after election win
American Jewish groups begin reacting to Democrat Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the NYC mayoral election.
The UJA-Federation of New York, in a rare political statement, says it will hold Zohran Mamdani “accountable” after his election victory.
“We recognize that voters are animated by a range of issues, but we cannot ignore that the Mayor-elect holds core beliefs fundamentally at odds with our community’s deepest convictions and most cherished values,” UJA says in a statement.
“We will continue to work across every level of government to ensure that our city remains a place where our Jewish community, and all communities, feel safe and respected,” the statement says. “We call on Mayor-elect Mamdani and all elected officials to govern with humility, inclusivity, and a deep respect for the diversity of views and experiences that define our city.”
“We will hold all elected officials, including Mayor-elect Mamdani, fully accountable for ensuring that New York remains a place where Jewish life and support for Israel are protected and can thrive,” the statement says.
Citing his “disturbing record on issues of deep concern to the Jewish community,” the Anti-Defamation League says it “will approach the next four years with resolve.”
“We expect the mayor of the city with the largest Jewish population in the world to stand unequivocally against antisemitism in all its varied forms and support all of its Jewish residents just as he would all other constituents,” the ADL adds. “In the months ahead, we will hold the Mamdani administration to this basic standard, and ADL will be relentless and unyielding in our work to ensure the safety and security of all Jewish New Yorkers. We will neither compromise nor relent in our pursuit of our core purpose, to protect the Jewish people.”
The Republican Jewish Coalition laments Mamdani’s win as “a deeply distressing result for New Yorkers, particularly Jewish New Yorkers, but in fact this election will affect all of us.”
“Democrats have shamefully endorsed and elected an antisemite to run the largest city in America with the largest number of Jews in the country,” the RJC charges.
Zohran Mamdani declared winner of NYC mayoral race
WASHINGTON — Democrat Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor of New York City.
Mamdani defeats former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. He will replace Mayor Eric Adams, who dropped his reelection bid in September but remained on the ballot.
Mamdani is a far-left anti-Israel activist and 34-year-old state assemblymember who will be the city’s youngest mayor in over a century.
He entered the general election as the favorite following a 12-point victory in the ranked choice Democratic primary earlier this year.
Democrat Mikie Sherrill defeats Trump-backed Jack Ciattarelli in NJ gubernatorial race
WASHINGTON — Democratic US Representative Mikie Sherrill is elected New Jersey governor over Republican Jack Ciattarelli, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump.
Sherrill will succeed term-limited Democratic Governor Phil Murphy, marking the first time since 1961 that one party has won three consecutive terms in the New Jersey governor’s mansion.
The race was closely watched as a potential bellwether for the 2026 midterms.
Sherrill, a Navy veteran who represented a northern New Jersey district in the US House for four terms, will be the state’s second female governor.
Mamdani holds wide lead over Cuomo in early vote count as polls close in NYC
Zohran Mamdani leads the early vote count as the polls close in New York City.
Mamdani has 422,000 votes, 51%, compared to Andrew Cuomo’s 324,914, or 40%, according to the Board of Elections.
The Republican Curtis Sliwa has 8%.
Around 10% of the votes have been counted.
A crowd of several hundred Cuomo supporters gathers at Cuomo’s campaign event in midtown Manhattan to watch the results come in.
The mood is still upbeat as a TV broadcasts the early results, next to a campaign sign reading, “Cuomo: Ready on day one.”
A CNN exit poll shows Cuomo winning 60 percent of Jewish voters, followed Mamdani with 31% of Jewish voters. Sliwa was backed by five percent of Jewish voters, according to the poll, while one percent backed incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who dropped out of the race and endorsed Cuomo but was still listed on the ballot.
Democrat Abigail Spanberger wins Virginia gubernatorial race
Democrat Abigail Spanberger wins the governor’s race in Virginia, defeating Republican Winsome Earle-Sears. Spanberger will succeed Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, who is not allowed to run for a second consecutive term.
Her victory aligns with recent voting patterns in Virginia, which picks its governors the year after a presidential election and tends to elect someone of the opposite party of the president. Spanberger, a former case officer with the CIA, flipped a US House seat in Northern Virginia in 2018 and retired from Congress in 2024 to run for governor. She will be the state’s first female governor.
Trump again taps Jareed Isaacman to head NASA, months after pulling his nomination
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump announces he has decided to nominate Jared Isaacman to serve as his NASA administrator, months after withdrawing the tech billionaire’s nomination because of concerns about his political leanings.
Trump announced in late May that he had decided to withdraw Isaacman after a “thorough review” of his “prior associations.” Weeks after the withdrawal, Trump went further in expressing his concerns about Isaacman’s Republican credentials.
At the time, Trump acknowledged that he thought Isaacman “was very good,” but had become “surprised to learn” that Isaacman was a “ blue blooded Democrat, who had never contributed to a Republican before.”
Isaacman had the endorsement of Trump’s former DOGE adviser and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. The president and Musk had a very public falling out earlier this year but are now on better terms.
Last week, Trump told reporters he and Musk have spoken “on and off” since sitting together at conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s funeral last month in Arizona and that their relationship is “good.”
Trump makes no mention of his previous decision to nominate and then withdraw Isaacman in his announcement of the renomination on his Truth Social platform. And the White House doesn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s decision to reverse course.
“This evening, I am pleased to nominate Jared Isaacman, an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot, and astronaut, as Administrator of NASA,” Trump posts. “Jared’s passion for Space, astronaut experience, and dedication to pushing the boundaries of exploration, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, and advancing the new Space economy, make him ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new Era.”
Isaacman, CEO and founder of credit card-processing company Shift4, has been a close collaborator with Musk ever since buying his first chartered flight with SpaceX.
He also bought a series of spaceflights from SpaceX and conducted the first private spacewalk. SpaceX has extensive contracts with NASA.
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved Isaacman’s nomination in late April and a vote by the full Senate had been expected when Trump announced he was yanking the nomination.
In his own social media post, Isaacman thanks Trump for the nomination and the “space-loving community.” He makes no mention of the earlier turmoil.
French culture minister welcomes Israeli orchestra to Paris amid union criticism
French Culture Minister Rachida Dati throws her support behind a visit to Paris by Israel’s top orchestra, despite a French union criticizing it because of Israel’s “crimes” in Gaza.
“Welcome to Israel’s national orchestra,” Dati writes on X.
“Nothing justifies a boycott call for this moment of culture, sharing and communication. Freedom of creation and programming is a value of our republic. (There is) no pretext for antisemitism,” she says.
The union, CGT Spectacle, representing workers in France’s entertainment sector, on October 29 criticized the concert the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is scheduled to give in Paris on Thursday, without calling for a boycott.
“The Paris Philharmonic Hall cannot host the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra without reminding the public of the extremely serious accusations weighing on the leaders of that country (Israel) or the nature of the crime committed in Gaza,” the union said.
It added that it viewed the concert as an attempt to bring about the “normalization” of Israel in international settings.
On Monday, the Paris Philharmonic Hall issued a statement saying it hoped the Israeli concert would take place “in the best possible conditions.”
It noted that it never demanded visiting musicians to “take a position… on the issue of ongoing conflicts or on sensitive political stakes.”
Body returned from Gaza identified as slain soldier Itay Chen, the last US citizen held by Hamas
The Prime Minister’s Office announces that the body returned from Gaza tonight has been identified as Staff Sgt. Itay Chen, 19, who was killed and abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Chen was the last remaining slain hostage held in the Gaza Strip with American citizenship. With his return, the bodies of seven dead captives remain in Gaza, including the remains of a soldier killed in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war.
Chuck Schumer declines to say who he voted for in NYC mayoral race
US Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer declines to say who he voted for in New York City’s mayoral election, telling reporters only, “I voted, and I look forward to working with the next mayor to help New York City.”
The powerful New York Democrat has largely stayed out of the contentious race to lead America’s biggest city, choosing not to endorse Mamdani or Cuomo.
Mamdani has slowly picked up a slew of endorsements from many of the state’s Democratic leaders, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Governor Kathy Hochul.
Saudi Arabia’s request to buy F-35 jets clears key Pentagon hurdle, sources say
The Trump administration is considering a Saudi Arabian request to buy as many as 48 F-35 fighter jets, a potential multi-billion-dollar deal that has cleared a key Pentagon hurdle ahead of a visit by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, two sources familiar with the matter say.
A sale would mark a significant policy shift, potentially altering the military balance in the Middle East and testing Washington’s definition of maintaining Israel’s “qualitative military edge.”
Saudi Arabia made a direct appeal earlier this year to US President Donald Trump and has long been interested in Lockheed Martin’s fighter, one of the people and a US official say. The Pentagon is now weighing a potential sale of 48 of the advanced aircraft, the US official and the person familiar with the talks tell Reuters. The size of the request and its status have not been previously reported.
The US official and a second US official, who acknowledges the weapons deal is moving through the system, says no final decision has been made and several more steps are needed before the ultimate nod, including further approvals at the cabinet level, sign-off from Trump and notification of Congress.
The Pentagon’s policy department worked on the potential transaction for months, and the case has now progressed to the secretary level within the Defense Department, according to one of the officials, who speaks on condition of anonymity.
The Pentagon, White House and State Department have not immediately responded to requests for comment. A Lockheed Martin spokesperson says military sales are government-to-government transactions and the matter is best addressed by Washington.
Washington weighs weapons sales to the Middle East in a way that ensures Israel maintains a “qualitative military edge.” This guarantees that Israel gets more advanced US weapons than regional Arab states.
The F-35, built with stealth technology that allows it to evade enemy detection, is considered the world’s most advanced fighter jet. Israel has operated the aircraft for nearly a decade, building multiple squadrons, and remains the only Middle Eastern country to possess the weapons system.
Saudi Arabia, the largest customer for US arms, has sought the fighter for years as it looks to modernize its air force and counter regional threats, particularly from Iran. The kingdom’s renewed push for what would constitute two squadrons comes as the Trump administration has signaled openness to deepening defense cooperation with Riyadh.
Trump to host Syrian president al-Sharaa at White House next week
US press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirms that US President Donald Trump will host Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House on Monday, November 10.
Over the weekend, Trump’s envoy for Syria Tom Barrack first revealed the news of the visit without giving a specific date.
During the visit, Syria will “hopefully” join the US-led coalition to defeat the Islamic State group, known as ISIS, Barrack told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Bahrain.
Trump met with Sharaa in Saudi Arabia in May in what was the first encounter between the two nations’ leaders in 25 years — since Hafez Assad met Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000. Syria continues to struggle to emerge from decades of international isolation.
Senior Hamas official says agreement reached with PA on formation of committee to manage Gaza
Mousa Abu Marzouk says in an interview with Al Jazeera that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have come to an agreement regarding the establishment of a temporary committee that will manage the Gaza Strip on behalf of the PA.
The committee’s responsibilities will include overseeing the border crossings and the security forces in the Strip, Abu Marzouk says, adding that it will be headed by a PA minister.
Abu Marzouk doesn’t clarify whether this decision was approved by the US as well as the PA, meaning it is unclear whether there is any weight to the agreement.
In recent weeks, Hamas has refrained from publicly addressing the composition of the committee that will oversee Gaza’s civilian affairs, in line with the White House’s plan to end the war in Gaza.
According to Arabic media reports, one of the proposed candidates to head the committee is Palestinian Authority Health Minister Majed Abu Ramadan. However, there are reports that Israel has rejected his candidacy.
Abu Marzouk says that Israel still refuses to allow UN forces to operate in areas currently under its control in the Strip, something he said contradicts the draft proposal the United States submitted to the UN Security Council, which centers on the deployment of an international stabilization force in Gaza.
He clarifies that disagreements remain over the operational details of the international force — such as where it would operate and what its mandate would be — and says that “a long discussion is still required on this matter.”
Avoiding a definitive answer on whether Hamas will disarm as required by President Donald Trump’s broad Gaza peace plan, Abu Marzouk says in the interview that “Hamas is the force that controls the ground [in Gaza]. If it is disarmed, there will be other weapons and other groups. Just as in Iraq, when the Iraqi army was disbanded, chaos followed — al-Qaeda and ISIS emerged.”
He adds that such a move “would not contribute to stability or to the implementation of agreements (such as the ceasefire).”
“There is no vacuum — any replacement force must be Palestinian and agreed upon by Palestinians, so there will be no rejection or internal conflict.”