Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Monday’s events as they unfolded.
Hamas urges Arab, Muslim nations to force Israel to stop its ‘aggression’
Hamas calls on Arab and Muslim countries to translate their pledges of support into action and take measures to stop Israeli “aggression.”
“The establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital would require more immediate efforts and practical solutions to force (Israel) to stop its aggression and genocide against our people,” Hamas says in a statement after Arab and Muslim leaders demanded at a summit in Riyadh that Israel withdraw from East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as a precondition for regional peace.
US launches airstrikes on Iran-linked targets in Syria in response to attacks on American forces
The US military says it has carried out strikes against nine targets associated with Iranian groups in Syria.
In a statement, the US military says the strikes were against two locations in Syria and a response to several attacks on US personnel in Syria in the past 24 hours.
The US has occasionally carried out strikes against targets linked to Iran in both Iraq and Syria. In February, the US launched airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against more than 85 targets linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and militias it backs, in retaliation for a deadly attack on US troops.
“These strikes will degrade the Iranian backed groups’ ability to plan and launch future attacks on US and Coalition forces,” the US military says after the most recent strikes.
The US has 900 troops in Syria, and 2,500 more in neighboring Iraq, on a mission to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large swathes of both countries but was later defeated.
The US has sent warships and fighter aircraft to the region since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught to try to deter Iran and Iran-backed groups.
US forces have also helped shoot down projectiles that Iran launched toward Israel this year.
IDF says drone ‘from the east’ downed by air defenses over Arava desert
A drone launched at Israel “from the east,” usually code for Iraq, was intercepted by air defenses in the Arava desert, the IDF says.
No sirens sounded in towns during the incident.
Reports: Arab, North African gangs set tram alight in Amsterdam while chanting antisemitic slogans
Unverified posts on social media claim Arab and North African gangs who were behind mass violence against Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam last week have again taken to the streets of the Dutch capital, lighting fires, smashing windows and shouting antisemitic slogans.
Videos purport to show a fire on a tram on fire with shouts of “Cancer Jews” in the background.
Israeli officials said 10 citizens were injured in the violence Thursday, which followed a Maccabi Tel Aviv-Ajax soccer game. Hundreds more Israelis huddled in their hotels for hours, fearing they could be attacked. Many said that Dutch security forces were nowhere to be found.
There are no reports of injury in today’s incident.
Earlier, Dutch police said they had arrested another five people in connection with the wave of violence on Thursday that has been condemned internationally as antisemitic.
“Cancer Jews” they yell repeatedly before setting a train on fire in Amsterdam.
This comes days after violent mobs attacked Jews in the streets.
Mehdi will be along shortly to tell you the train and the Jews had it coming. pic.twitter.com/6QtfsUKzbf
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) November 11, 2024
Trump names Jewish former GPO lawmaker Lee Zeldin to run EPA
Jewish former GPO congressman Lee Zeldin of New York speaks during the third day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)
WASHINGTON — US President-elect Donald Trump says he will appoint Jewish former GOP lawmaker Lee Zeldin to run the EPA.
“He will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet,” Trump says in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump will likely look to reverse many rules administered by the EPA on the burning of fossil fuels, including one curbing carbon emissions from power plants and another slashing such emissions from vehicles.
“We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI,” Zeldin writes on X.
Two Israelis injured in Palestinian ramming attack at West Bank checkpoint
Illustrative. Israeli soldiers man a checkpoint at the entrance of Jericho in the West Bank, on February 28, 2023. (Ahmad Gharabli/ AFP)
During an IDF operation in the West Bank town of al-Khader, a Palestinian suspect accelerated his vehicle toward troops and breached a checkpoint, the military says.
Medics say two Israelis are being treated at the scene.
The IDF says the suspect fled the scene, and troops have launched a pursuit. The military describes the incident as an intentional ramming attack.
PA responds to Smotrich on West Bank annexation: 2025 will be the year of Palestinian statehood
A view of the West Bank settlement of Eli, on October 30, 2024. (Sharon Aronowicz / AFP)
A spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas is quoted as slamming Foreign Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s assertion that Israel will apply sovereignty to West Bank settlements in 2025, asserting that, in fact, next year will “be the year of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.”
Earlier, the far-right minister claimed that Donald Trump’s election as the 47th president of the United States provides Israel with an “important opportunity” to “apply Israeli sovereignty to the settlements in Judea and Samaria.”
Hebrew media reports that Abbas spokesman and PA Deputy Prime Minister Nabil Abu Rudeineh decried Smotrich’s “dangerous annexation plan” and calls on the international community to “force Israel to abandon these dangerous measures.”
He also calls for countries to break diplomatic ties with Israel and suspend its United Nations membership, according to the reports.
Maccabi Tel Aviv-Besiktas soccer game moved to Hungary, behind closed doors, after Amsterdam violence
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans carry flags as they wait for the arrival of their friends and family members from Amsterdam, at Ben Gurion International Airport on November 8, 2024. (Jack Guez/AFP)
The Europa League match between Besiktas and Maccabi Tel Aviv has been moved from Istanbul to Debrecen in Hungary, UEFA announces.
“The match will be played behind closed doors, following a decision of the local Hungarian authorities,” the governing body of European football says in a statement.
The decision comes after a wave of violence in Amsterdam last week when Maccabi Tel Aviv played Ajax in the Europa League.
Israeli officials said 10 citizens were injured in the attacks after the game, which were apparently committed by local Arab and Muslim gangs. Hundreds more Israelis huddled in their hotels for hours, fearing they could be attacked. Many said that Dutch security forces were nowhere to be found.
Besiktas had already announced that their match against Maccabi on November 28 would be played “in a neutral country” for security reasons, and said in a statement today that the events in Amsterdam were behind the decision to play behind closed doors.
“In light of the recent incidents that occurred between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters, the match will take place without spectators,” the Istanbul club says.
“We kindly ask our supporters to cancel their travel plans for this match to avoid possible inconveniences.”
Dutch police announce 5 new arrests in Amsterdam attacks on Israeli soccer fans
Screenshot from a video showing people with Palestinian flags as they apparently surround a hotel with Israelis, while a man takes down a Palestinian flag posted on the building, Amsterdam, early morning of November 8, 2024. (X screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
THE HAGUE — Dutch police say they have arrested five more people on suspicion of involvement in a wave of violence against Israeli soccer supporters in Amsterdam late last week which authorities have condemned as antisemitic.
The suspects are men aged 18 to 37 and living in the Netherlands, Dutch police say in a statement. Previously, 63 suspects had been arrested.
Earlier today, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof vowed that the Netherlands would focus all its efforts on bringing perpetrators of the violence to justice.
“The images and reports for Amsterdam and what we’ve seen this weekend of antisemitic attacks against Israelis and Jews are nothing short of shocking and reprehensible,” Schoof told a press conference, adding that police and prosecutors are still piecing together the details of what happened.
PMO denies report Shin Bet tried to reach Netanyahu’s chief of staff hours before Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) arrives for a cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, with (R) chief of staff Tzachi Braverman on June 18, 2023. (Ohad Zwigenberg / POOL / AFP / File)
The Prime Minister’s Office firmly denies a TV report that the Shin Bet security agency was unable to reach PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff shortly before Hamas launched its attack on October 7.
Channel 13 reports that the Shin Bet was trying to reach Tzachi Braverman regarding unusual activity in Gaza, including indications of Israeli SIM cards activated by Hamas forces, at 5 a.m., less than two hours before the start of Hamas’s deadly onslaught on southern Israeli communities.
“It absolutely did not happen,” says the PMO.
“As a general rule, an intelligence update from the Shin Bet to the prime minister goes through the prime minister’s military secretary,” continues the statement.
“In the hours before the October 7th massacre, the chief of staff did not receive any phone calls from anyone.”
Fatah official says Amsterdam violence against Israelis proves ‘world sick of Jews’
Fatah official Tayseer Nasrallah justifies the wave of violence against Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam last week, calling the attacks “proof that the world is sick of the Jews,” according to quotes published by Palestinian Media Watch.
“What happened in the Netherlands two or three days ago is the best proof that the world is sick of the Jews, and is sick of the Israeli arrogance, and cannot stand this huge amount of hatred towards people,” the Palestinian Authority official says on state television.
Israeli officials said 10 people were injured in the Thursday violence by local Arab and Muslim gangs against Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans. Hundreds more Israelis huddled in their hotels for hours, fearing they could be attacked. Many said that Dutch security forces were nowhere to be found, as the Israeli tourists were ambushed by gangs of masked assailants who shouted pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans while they hunted, beat, and harassed them.
However instead of decrying the violence, the PA on Friday called on the Dutch government “to investigate the [Israeli] hooligans and defend the Palestinians and Arabs in the Netherlands from these Israeli settlers and soldiers, who came to the Netherlands to transfer their racist ideas and their crimes to the European capitals.”
Report: Shin Bet tried to reach Netanyahu’s chief of staff Braverman at 5 a.m. on Oct. 7
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with Cabinet Secretary Tzachi Braverman (R) during a weekly cabinet meeting in the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on April 30, 2023. (Abir Sultan/ Pool/ AFP)
The Shin Bet security agency reportedly tried to get in touch with Tzachi Braverman, who serves as chief of staff to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at 5.am. on October 7, 2023, less than two hours before the start of Hamas’s deadly onslaught on southern Israeli communities.
Channel 13 reports that the Shin Bet was trying to reach Braverman regarding unusual activity in Gaza, including indications of Israeli SIM cards activated by Hamas forces.
Earlier today, Ynet reported that senior officials in the Prime Minister’s Office tried to make changes to minutes from security meetings regarding warnings received by PMO officials about the SIM card activity.
The Hamas onslaught began at 6:29 a.m. that day, when some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel under the cover of a deluge of thousands of rockets, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
Palestinian terrorists kidnap an Israeli civilian, center, from Kibbutz Nir Oz into the Gaza Strip, on October 7, 2023. (Hatem Ali/ AP)
The allegation that senior PMO officials tried to blackmail an IDF officer in Netanyahu’s office to get him to change records of meetings is one of several scandals that has been swirling in recent weeks.
Netanyahu has insisted that he was only told about the SIMs after the attack began, and his office flatly denies the Ynet report, calling it “another complete fabrication.”
Cabinet secretary to coalition leaders: With Gallant gone, we’ll deliver ‘good law’ on Haredi army service
Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs at a hearing on military service for ultra-Orthodox men, at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, June 2, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)
United Torah Judaism leader Yitzhak Goldknopf again rules out widespread IDF service for ultra-Orthodox males, and tells coalition colleagues that, while he agrees in principle that “those who don’t study [Torah full-time] should serve,” military service “should not be imposed,” but implemented “by agreement.”
According to quotes from a meeting of Goldknopf and other coalition party leaders leaked to Hebrew media, cabinet secretary Yossi Fuchs told them that Netanyahu’s dismissal last week of former defense minister Yoav Gallant, who opposed planned legislation to enshrine decades of non-service by most of the ultra-Orthodox community, and his replacement by Israel Katz, marks “a new opportunity” to advance “a good law.”
The High Court ruled in June that the ultra-Orthodox must be drafted.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was slated to discuss the ultra-Orthodox enlistment bill with Defense Minister Katz and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein this evening.
Speaking on behalf of Shas leader Aryeh Deri at the meeting of coalition leaders, Shas’s Religious Affairs Minister Michael Malchieli blames Gallant for the currently deadlocked legislation, saying Gallant “torpedoed every effort to enable” a viable solution.
Religious Zionism party leader Bezalel Smotrich notes that his Modern Orthodox community is “sacrificing immensely, with many fallen soldiers, and lots of criticism” over the non-service of Haredim. “There must be a positive declaration from you, the Haredi leadership, about the draft,” he says.
Fellow far-right leader Itamar Ben Gvir of Otzma Yehudit suggests that ultra-Orthodox men “come to the Border Police,” which he oversees as minister of national security. “I know how to draft Haredim,” says Ben Gvir, whom the IDF did not draft when he was a young man because of his criminal record. “We are ready and willing.”
Ben Gvir says he suggested this to Gallant several times, “but he didn’t respond.”
Kibbutz Nir Oz votes to rebuild after Oct. 7 destruction, hoping members’ return will be ‘the real victory’
Houses destroyed by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023. (Jessica Steinberg/ Times of Israel)
Members of Kibbutz Nir Oz overwhelmingly vote to rebuild the southern community, which was destroyed in the Hamas terrorist attack of October 7, 2023.
The community says it believes that the reconstruction of Nir Oz and the return of its members will be “the real, meaningful victory.”
Most of the families in Kibbutz Nir Oz have not returned home yet. The small kibbutz was one of the hardest-hit of the southern communities on October 7: 117 of its 400 residents were either killed or kidnapped. There are still 29 hostages from Nir Oz held captive in Gaza.
Only seven out of 220 homes in Nir Oz were untouched by the violence of October 7.
The kibbutz also calls for the government to take responsibility and to do everything in its power to return the hostages still in captivity, as the members considered those who would not be able to return to live on the kibbutz, given the trauma they experienced on October 7.
In the letter the kibbutz is sending to the government, the members emphasize their expectation for large-scale, generous construction, out of a desire for the community’s resurrection.
After Amsterdam violence, Dutch PM says no excuse for ‘deliberate search and hunting down of Jews’
Netherlands' Prime Minister Dick Schoof denounces what he called an antisemitic attack on Israelis in Amsterdam on November 8, 2024, in a press statement at the end of an EU meeting in Budapest, Hungary. (Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof slams a wave of violence against Israeli fans after a soccer match in Amsterdam last week, calling it “unadulterated antisemitic violence,” while insisting that there is no excuse for the “deliberate hunting down of Jews.”
Israeli officials said 10 people were injured in the overnight violence by local Arab and Muslim gangs against Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans. Hundreds more Israelis huddled in their hotels for hours, fearing they could be attacked. Many said that Dutch security forces were nowhere to be found, as the Israeli tourists were ambushed by gangs of masked assailants who shouted pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans while they hunted, beat, and harassed them.
Screenshot from a video showing assailants running after fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv following a soccer game in Amsterdam on November 8, 2024. (X screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
“Four days after the attacks the shock, shame and anger remain. It was unadulterated antisemitic violence. We need hard action” to deal with those responsible, Schoof says at a press conference, adding that “intolerance cannot be met with tolerance.”
Dutch police are investigating images from CCTV cameras as well as from testimony from witnesses who saw the violence, including the attacks on Maccabi fans as well as the conduct of the Israeli fans themselves, according to Dutch media.
“I also know that there are images about the behavior of the Maccabi supporters. This too is being investigated and it is important that all facts are revealed,” Schoof says.
Unverified video on social media purportedly filmed on Thursday appeared to show Maccabi fans chanting anti-Arab slogans.
In this image taken from video, police escort Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters to the metro in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, November 7, 2024. (AP Photo InterVision)
“But there is a big difference between destroying things and hunting Jews,” Schoof says.
“There is nothing, absolutely nothing to serve as an excuse for the deliberate search and hunting down of Jews,” says the Dutch prime minister, adding: “We have failed our Jewish community.”
Schoof is to meet members of the Jewish community tomorrow to discuss measures to combat antisemitism.
MK Gafni says UTJ will shelve objections to Rabbis Law II despite previous objections
MK Moshe Gafni chairs a meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee, July 2, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni says the Haredi party will shelve its objections to the so-called Rabbis Law II, as long as it is consulted before future readings.
The Shas-backed Rabbis Law is set to go to the Knesset plenum for its first reading today, after being repeatedly blocked by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party.
Demanding to be involved in the controversial legislation, which aims to amend the law that regulates how much the government and municipalities contribute respectively to the budgets of the bodies providing communal religious services at the city and regional council levels, Gafni says, “There are no agreements yet.”
His statement comes as UTJ attempts to advance legislation to circumvent a High Court ruling preventing state-funded daycare subsidies from going to the children of ultra-Orthodox men who do not serve in the military. That bill has been held up due to opposition within the coalition that left it without sufficient support to pass an initial vote in the Knesset.
Satellite images show IDF troops digging trench along UN-patrolled demilitarized zone in Syria
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows Israeli forces digging along the Alpha Line separating the Golan Heights from a demilitarized zone in Syria patrolled by United Nations forces on November 5, 2024. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel has begun a construction project along the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Golan Heights from Syria, apparently laying asphalt for a road right along the frontier, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show.
The United Nations confirms to the AP that Israel Defense Forces troops have entered the demilitarized zone during the work.
Earlier satellite photos show the work began in earnest in late September.
High-resolution images taken on November 5 by Planet Labs PBC for the AP show over 7.5 kilometers (4.6 miles) of construction along the Alpha Line, starting some 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) southeast of the Druze town of Majdal Shams, where a Hezbollah rocket strike killed 12 children playing soccer in July.
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows Israeli work along the Alpha Line separating the Golan Heights from a demilitarized zone in Syria patrolled by United Nations forces on November 5, 2024. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
The images appear to show a trench between two embankments, parts of which appear to have been laid with fresh asphalt. There also appears to be fencing running along it as well toward the Syrian side.
The construction follows a southeast route before heading due south along the Alpha Line, and then again cutting southeast. The images show excavators and other earth-moving equipment actively digging along the route, with more asphalt piled there. The area is also believed to be littered with unexploded ordnance and mines from decades of conflict.
So far, there has been no major violence along the Alpha Line, which delineates the demilitarized zone between Syria and Israel that UN peacekeepers have patrolled since 1974.
The IDF has not responded to requests for comment and Syrian officials in Damascus decline to comment.
Herzog to meet pro-Israel lawmakers Elise Stefanik, Lindsey Graham, and then Biden tomorrow
President Isaac Herzog speaks during a swearing in ceremony for new chief rabbis at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, November 4, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)
President Isaac Herzog will meet US President Joe Biden at the White House at 11:30 a.m. local time, his office says.
His day will start at 9:00 a.m. with a meeting with Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, Donald Trump’s nominee for ambassador to the UN and a firm supporter of Israel.
Herzog will then meet with South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, another vocal backer of Israel who has visited Israel regularly since the October 7 attacks.
ICC confirms external probe into sexual misconduct accusations against top prosecutor Khan
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan at the Cour d'Honneur of the Palais Royal in Paris on February 7, 2024. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP)
The International Criminal Court in The Hague confirms that it will launch an external probe into sexual misconduct accusations against its top prosecutor, keeping alive a case that the court’s internal watchdog had closed within five days.
A statement from the president of the Assembly of States Parties, the world court’s management oversight and legislative body, says that the Independent Oversight Mechanism (IOM) will lead the external investigation.
“I must insist on due respect for the privacy and the rights of all involved parties, as well as the confidentiality of such an investigation. Further information can only be shared once the investigation has concluded,” the statement adds.
The ICC’s top prosecutor Karim Khan announced in May that he was seeking arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his then-defense minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders — all of whom have since been killed — on war crimes charges. A three-judge panel is now weighing that request. Israel has rejected the charges out of hand.
Khan has categorically denied accusations that he tried to coerce a female aide into a sexual relationship.
The decision to launch an external probe came as the court comes under pressure from US senators to not issue warrants over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza until the misconduct claims are investigated.
New defense minister says Iran’s nuclear facilities ‘more exposed than ever’ after Israeli strikes on Oct. 26
Defense Minister Israel Katz (right) meets with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi (left) and members of the General Staff Forum at the Defense Ministry, November 11, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/ Defense Ministry)
During a first meeting with the IDF General Staff Forum, Defense Minister Israel Katz says that Iran’s nuclear sites are more vulnerable than ever, following Israel’s airstrikes on its air defense sites.
“Iran today is more exposed than ever to damage to its nuclear facilities. There is a possibility to achieve the most important goal, to thwart and remove the threat of annihilation from hanging over the State of Israel,” Katz says during the meeting, in remarks provided by his office.
On Lebanon, Katz says that “there will be no ceasefire and there will be no respite [for Hezbollah] until the goals of the war are achieved.”
On the Gaza Strip, the new defense minister says the most important goal is returning the hostages. “We will do everything to bring them home and ensure the defeat of Hamas,” he adds.
Some 30 people said killed in airstrike in northern Lebanon; no comment from IDF
Lebanese media outlets report that some 30 people have been killed in an airstrike on a building in the northern Lebanon village of Ain Yaaqoub, in the Akkar Governorate.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
The location of the strike is unusual. The vast majority of Israeli strikes in Lebanon have been limited to the south of the country, the Beqaa Valley, and Beirut.
خاص "تلفزيون المستقبل": سقوط صاروخ في بلدة عين يعقوب العكارية pic.twitter.com/ykh3ZkzErA
— Future TV :: News (@futuretvnews) November 11, 2024
Iran says ‘world is waiting’ for Trump administration stop to Gaza, Lebanon wars
A handout picture provided by the Saudi Press Agency SPA on November 11, 2024, shows Saudi Deputy Governor of the Riyadh region Prince Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Abdulaziz (CR) welcoming Iran's Vice President Mohammed Reza Aref (CL) upon his arrival in Riyadh ahead of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League joint extraordinary leaders summit. (SPA/AFP)
Iran’s vice president says the “world is waiting” for Donald Trump’s incoming US government to stop Israel’s wars with Hamas and Hezbollah, while also condemning a series of assassinations of terror leaders blamed on Israel as “organized terrorism.”
“The American government is the main supporter of the actions of the Zionist regime (Israel),” Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref tells a joint Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit in Riyadh.
“The world is waiting for the promise of the new government of this country to immediately stop the war against the innocent people of Gaza and Lebanon.”
Since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks triggered the ongoing war in Gaza, Israel has assassinated several senior terror leaders including Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar and Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s long-time leader.
Israel is also widely believed to have carried out the killing of former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital Tehran.
The “‘targeted killing’ (operations)… are nothing but lawlessness and organized terrorism and turn the security apparatus into a tool to kill leaders and citizens of the countries,” Aref says.
‘Collapsing under burden’: Religious women carry stretchers at Jerusalem rally backing Haredi draft
Religious women protest for the recruitment of ultra-Orthodox Jews into the IDF, at the entrance to Jerusalem, November 11, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)
A group of religious women rally at the entrance to Jerusalem in support of the recruitment of ultra-Orthodox men into the Israeli military and against efforts to pass new legislation regulating exemptions for yeshiva students.
The protesters carry stretchers to symbolize the soldiers who carry the burden of military service, and hold signs with slogans including, “Collapsing under the burden,” “And your brothers will go to war and you will sit here,” and “He who believes (in the Torah) does not dodge the draft.”
A bill seeking to regulate ultra-Orthodox enlistment is currently stuck in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee committee, where Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, who chairs the body, has said it will only pass if lawmakers can reach a “broad consensus” on the matter.
The legislation follows a High Court ruling in June that the government must conscript Haredim in the IDF unless a new bill is passed.
"דרוש חילוף תחת האלונקה": מאות נשים מהמגזר הדתי לאומי בהפגנה בירושלים הקוראת לגיוס חרדים לצבא@hod_barel
(צילום: מאיר אליפור) pic.twitter.com/kshbHGexgk— גלצ (@GLZRadio) November 11, 2024
Democrats chair Yair Golan says government run like a ‘criminal organization’
Labor party leader Yair Golan leads a faction meeting of The Democrats at the Knesset in Jerusalem, November 11, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Israel’s government is run like a “criminal organization,” Yair Golan, chairman of The Democrats, tells reporters in the Knesset during his party’s weekly faction meeting.
In recent weeks, Netanyahu’s aides in the Prime Minister’s Office have faced accusations including mishandling and leaking classified documents to the press, editing meeting transcripts, and blackmailing a senior military officer. He has said the allegations amounted to “a wild and unbridled attack.”
“Alongside the criminal organization led by the prime minister, yesterday we were exposed to another criminal organization,” Golan continues, stating that “we saw how a violent and extremist populist runs the Israel Police. How he cheaply manipulates the prime minister while putting the citizens of Israel at risk. How he is motivated solely by media considerations and likes.”
On Sunday evening, Channel 13 aired an investigative report detailing National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s alleged violations of the law in his activities as minister, after a legal push by the far-right leader to bar it from publication was rejected.
“Ben Gvir and Netanyahu are dangerous to Israel’s security. This government does not want to win the war, it does not want to release hostages; its whole purpose is personal survival and the realization of a Kahanist and fanatical vision,” Golan charges.
Netanyahu to discuss Haredi draft bill with Katz, Edelstein this evening — report
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (right) and committee chair Yuli Edelstein attend a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting on the ultra-Orthodox draft law at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on July 1, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to discuss the ultra-Orthodox enlistment bill with newly appointed Defense Minister Israel Katz and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein this evening at 7 p.m., Channel 13 reports.
A bill seeking to regulate ultra-Orthodox enlistment is currently stuck in Edelstein’s committee, where he said it will only pass if lawmakers can reach a “broad consensus” on the matter.
This will be the first meeting on the issue since former defense minister Yoav Gallant was fired last week. Gallant has said that his ouster was motivated, in part, by his insistence on the need to draft Haredi men to the IDF.
Following Gallant’s termination, Edelstein stated that, regardless of who heads the Defense Ministry, he would not support “any law that attempts to circumvent our ceaseless efforts to expand the conscription base in the State of Israel.”
“Personally, I don’t change my positions according to the person who sits in the Prime Minister’s Office, the person who sits in the Defense Minister’s Bureau or the person who fills any other post,” Edelstein said at the time. “If and when the new defense minister — whom we all wish success in the war effort, as well as the draft effort — will be ready to sit down and talk, I have not changed my position that the [draft] bill should be real.”
Shortly thereafter, coalition whip Ofir Katz took disciplinary action against Edelstein and fellow Likud MK Dan Illouz, who also opposes exemptions for Haredim. Both men were prohibited from submitting private bills for a period of time. Illouz was also removed from his position on two committees, including Edelstein’s.
IDF: Two drones launched from Lebanon at northern Israel shot down by air defenses
Two drones launched at Israel from Lebanon were shot down by air defenses a short while ago, the IDF says.
One of the drones was intercepted over Lebanon, while the second was shot down over the Western Galilee, according to the military.
Official confirms: Far-right minister Wasserlauf joining security cabinet as observer
Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf attends a discussion and vote on the inclusion of MK Gideon Sa'ar as a minister in the government at the plenum hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem on September 30, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf from the far-right Otzma Yehudit party is joining the national security cabinet as an observer, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
The national security cabinet makes decisions on the conduct of the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds smaller consultations on key issues ahead of cabinet meetings.
IDF says bag of ammo discovered in coordinated internal aid convoy in Gaza
A bag of ammunition for firearms found by troops on an aid convoy in the Gaza Strip, November 10, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says it discovered a bag of ammunition on a coordinated internal aid convoy in the Gaza Strip yesterday.
The convoy, between northern and southern Gaza, had been coordinated with the international community and was being monitored by the IDF, the military says.
The IDF says it detected unusual movement during the passage of the convoy along a designated route, and it was halted for inspection.
“During the inspection, IDF troops discovered a bag containing ammunition for firearms,” the military says.
The IDF says that some members of the convoy were detained and taken for further questioning, and “inquiries were also made with the relevant organization.”
“It is important to note that this was an internal convoy traveling inside the Gaza Strip from the north to the south, and not through the crossings designated for bringing humanitarian aid into Gaza,” the IDF adds.
Israel more optimistic for chances of hostage deal with Trump in White House — official
File - US President Donald Trump, right, shaking hands with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, during a bilateral meeting at a hotel in the Saudi capital Riyadh, May 21, 2017. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)
Israel is more optimistic about its chances for a hostage deal with Donald Trump in the White House, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
“We hope Trump will put pressure on Qatar,” says the official, “and he won’t make it hard for us to apply military pressure in Gaza.”
Qatar recently announced that it would suspend its mediation efforts, but left the door open for returning to that role if the sides showed more seriousness about reaching a deal.
Trump won’t block weapons shipments or try to hold Israel back over humanitarian issues, predicts the official.
Currently, talks are “totally stuck,” says the official, blaming Hamas.
That situation can change, says the official, if more pressure is applied on Hamas, which Qatar could do even though the emirate announced it was temporarily withdrawing from talks.
The official says that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not believe that military pressure on Hamas has been exhausted and that Israel “has more options.”
Israel intends “very soon” to start a pilot to start preventing Hamas control over humanitarian aid, says the official. The pilot will take place in a piece of territory in northern Gaza, using a private company. The company will not be US-based Global Delivery Company, whose name was floated last month. “They talk too much,” says the official.
Echoing FM, official says there’s progress towards Lebanon ceasefire
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on November 9, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
There is progress toward a ceasefire in Lebanon, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
“We are now talking to the US about letters to anchor our ability and legitimacy to operate against any threat from Lebanon,” explains the official, echoing remarks made by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar earlier today.
“If there are any attempts to fire at us, to build up their military, to bring in weapons through Syria, we will act,” promises the official.
“We want to see Hezbollah north of the Litani [River], we want to see the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon, we want to see a stop to the flow of weapons through Syria,” continues the official, repeating long-standing Israeli demands.
The official confirms that an Israeli delegation was in Moscow recently to discuss Russia’s role in ensuring that weapons don’t reach Hezbollah through Syria.
Israel expects a ceasefire to be reached during the remaining weeks of the Joe Biden administration, says the official, but that “also depends on the Lebanese side.”
“We have a plan to expand our operations if Lebanon says no.”
Sirens sounding in northern border towns amid suspected drone infiltration
Sirens are sounding in several northern communities near the border with Lebanon, warning of a suspected drone infiltration.
The alerts are sounding in towns including Shlomi, Rosh Hanikra, Hanita, Betzet and Kibbutz Kabri.
???? ✈️ Hostile Aircraft Intrusion [18:13:49] – 14 Alerts:
• Confrontation Line — Lehman, Shlomi (×3), Rosh HaNikra, Hanita, Betzet (×3), Neveh Ziv, Avdon, Metzuba (×2), Cabri
Population: 48,000 pic.twitter.com/J360aUscVy
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) November 11, 2024
Susan Sarandon says she’s blacklisted in Hollywood after saying Jews ‘getting taste’ of what Muslims go through
Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon talks to journalists with demonstrators from Code Pink for Peace while rallying against Israel and in support of Palestinians outside the Capitol Hill offices of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) on February 15, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/ Getty Images/ AFP)
US actress Susan Sarandon says she’s been blacklisted in Hollywood after she said last November at a pro-Palestinian rally that US Jews fearing for their safety amid a spike in antisemitism “are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country.”
Hollywood talent agency UTA cut ties with the Oscar-winning actress as a client a few days after a clip from the rally went viral, despite her issuing an apology.
“I was dropped by my agency, my projects were pulled,” she tells the UK’s Sunday Times. “I’ve been used as an example of what not to do if you want to continue to work.”
“There are so many people out of work right now [since] November of last year … who have lost their jobs as custodians, as writers, as painters, as people working in the cafeteria, substitute teachers who have been fired because they tweeted something, or liked a tweet, or asked for a ceasefire,” Sarandon tells the British newspaper.
The actress has been intensely critical of Israel since the war in Gaza erupted last year after Hamas’s brutal October 7 massacre.
IDF announces death of officer killed in fighting in northern Gaza
Maj. (res.) Itamar Levin Fridman was killed during fighting in northern Gaza, November 11, 2024. (Courtesy)
An IDF officer was killed during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip earlier today, the military announces.
The slain soldier is named as Maj. (res.) Itamar Levin Fridman, 34, from Eilat.
Fridman served as a team commander in the elite LOTAR Eilat unit.
Trump to tap Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff for policy, CNN reports
US President-elect Donald Trump is expected to announce that his immigration adviser Stephen Miller will serve as White House deputy chief of staff for policy, a CNN reporter writes in a post on X citing two sources familiar with the plan.
Miller was a senior adviser for policy during the first Trump administration and a central figure in many of the Republican’s policy decisions.
“President-elect Trump will begin making decisions on who will serve in his second administration soon. Those decisions will be announced when they are made,” Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt tells CNN.
Trump expected to announce Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff for policyhttps://t.co/lVShv801YL
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 11, 2024
After suspension, MK Cassif defends criticism of IDF as ‘well-founded statements’
MK Ofer Cassif attends a committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, October 29, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
MK Ofer Cassif defends comments he made about the IDF and Israel’s war in Gaza over which the Knesset Ethics Committee voted today to suspend him for six months.
“My political statements against the occupation, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and genocide committed by the Israeli government in Gaza – witnessed by the entire world – are well-founded statements protected under the freedom of political expression,” Cassif says in a statement.
“My punishment is a continuation of the political persecution of opponents of the war and critics of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s bloody rule,” Cassif asserts, adding that he is “proud to be a partner of the good people who are persecuted by this evil government.”
“I will not be silent and will continue to fight for the end of the war, the return of the hostages, the end of the occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel — for peace, equality and justice for both nations,” he adds.
Cassif had declined to appear before the Ethics Committee when invited to do so to defend himself.
Knesset committee suspends far-left MK for 6 months over comments on IDF, Gaza war
Far-left lawmaker MK Ofer Cassif speaks during a protest against the war in Gaza at Tel Aviv's Habima Square, November 2, 2024. (Noam Lehmann/The Times of Israel)
The Knesset Ethics Committee unanimously votes to suspend MK Ofer Cassif from the Knesset for six months over comments he made regarding the IDF and Israel’s war in Gaza.
In addition, Cassif, the only Jewish member of the Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al party, will have his pay withheld for two weeks.
Citing what it called a “systematic pattern of action” for which Cassif has repeatedly failed to show regret, the committee cites several incidents for which the far-left lawmaker has drawn criticism in recent years, such as a tweet in which he described Palestinians fighting against the IDF in the West Bank city of Jenin as “freedom fighter[s].” It also cited his public support for a South African motion accusing Israel of genocide before the International Court of Justice.
Earlier this year, Cassif signed a petition of support for South Africa’s case and publicly accused Israeli leaders of advocating for crimes against humanity against the Palestinians.
“The Ethics Committee rejects Knesset member Cassif’s interpretation that signing the petition is only a call to examine the hard evidence, and considers his action to support the claims made in South Africa’s claim that the state of Israel is committing the crime of genocide,” the committee states. It adds that while free speech must be protected in wartime, there is a difference between legitimate criticism and “encouraging bloodshed against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel while undermining the state’s ability to deal” with legal challenges abroad.
According to the Ethics Committee, Cassif will not be allowed to enter the Knesset plenum or committee meetings except in order to vote. He will not be allowed to take part in debates or address parliament.
An effort led by Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer to impeach Cassif for his support of the South African case failed in the plenum in February when only 85 lawmakers voted in favor, five short of the required three-fourths support in the 120-seat body.
In a statement, Forer calls Cassif’s suspension “too little and too late,” arguing that “an MK who slanders the IDF and the State of Israel does not and will not have a place in the Knesset.”
“The terror supporter Ofer Cassif should be permanently expelled from the Israeli Knesset and deported to Syria,” declares far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. “Six months is not enough.”
Cassif was previously disqualified from running for the Knesset by the Central Elections Committee in 2019 over his provocative comments, including calling then-justice minister Ayelet Shaked “neo-Nazi scum.” That decision was later overturned by the Supreme Court.
He has also stated that “an attack on soldiers is not terrorism,” compared Israel and the IDF to the Nazi regime, and voiced support for changing the national anthem.
Rocket sirens sounding again in northern Israel near Rosh Pina
Sirens are sounding again in the Upper Galilee, as Hezbollah fires a series of barrages from Lebanon.
The latest rocket alerts are sounding in communities near Rosh Pina.
https://twitter.com/ILRedAlert/status/1855996508002263532
Herzog slated to meet Biden tomorrow morning at the White House; VP Harris not expected to join
President Isaac Herzog is slated to meet US President Joe Biden at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, his office tells The Times of Israel.
Vice President Kamala Harris is not expected to join. Herzog is not meeting US President-elect Donald Trump on the trip.
IDF: Drone strike destroys Hezbollah rocket launcher used to attack Israel a short while ago
A Hezbollah rocket launcher used in an attack on northern Israel a short while ago was destroyed in a drone strike, the IDF says.
The military releases footage of the strike in southern Lebanon.
Lufthansa group, including Swiss Air, Austrian Airlines, extends suspension of Israel flights; Virgin delays restart
Lufthansa aircrafts parked at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, September 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Probst,file)
BERLIN – German airline group Lufthansa says it’s extending the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv up to and including December 15, due to the ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
The extension applies to all airlines within the group, which includes SWISS, Austrian Airlines and Eurowings.
In addition, flights to Tel Aviv from Frankfurt and Munich with flagship airline Lufthansa will also now be suspended to the end of the year, the group says.
Previously, all of the group’s flights had been suspended up to and including November 25.
Its flights to the Iranian capital have also already been suspended until the end of January next year, while services to the Lebanese capital Beirut have been suspended until the end of February.
Yesterday, meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic Airways said it has delayed the restart of its services to Israel due to hold-ups in the delivery of engines from Rolls-Royce, according to Bloomberg. Channel 12 reported earlier today that Virgin Atlantic would not return to Israel before October 2025.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Rate of IDF reservists showing up for duty has dropped significantly — defense sources
IDF troops operate in northern Gaza's Jabalia, in a handout photo published November 5, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
There has been a significant decline in the rate of reserve soldiers showing up for duty in recent weeks compared to the start of the war, The Times of Israel has learned.
At the start of the war, the IDF reported that more than 100 percent of reservists called up for duty had shown up. In some units, the turnout rate reached even 150%, with many reservists showing up for duty despite not receiving formal orders.
In recent weeks, the turnout rate in the reservist units currently fighting in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip has ranged between 75% and 85%, according to defense sources.
The decline has been attributed by senior officers to burnout among reservists after fighting for over a year of war, along with them being away from their families for extended periods, losing jobs, or missing academic studies.
It has also been attributed to resentment over the failure of the country to draft masses of the ultra-Orthodox community, while the national religious and secular communities serve at high rates.
The IDF has been seeking to expand its ranks and lengthen the mandatory military service time to relieve the reservists from extended duty, as many of them have already been serving for most of the war and are expected to be called up for over 100 days of duty next year as well.
Another man hurt by glass shards in recent rocket barrage on Haifa area — MDA
Another man, 75, was lightly hurt by glass shards following a rocket impact in the Haifa area, Magen David Adom says.
In all, four people were wounded in the Hezbollah barrage of some 90 rockets on Haifa, according to MDA.
Smotrich: Trump’s victory gives Israel ‘opportunity’ to apply sovereignty to West Bank settlements
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting of his Religious Zionism party at the Knesset in Jerusalem, November 11, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Donald Trump’s election as the 47th president of the United States provides Israel with an “important opportunity” to “apply Israeli sovereignty to the settlements in Judea and Samaria,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declares.
Addressing the press ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Smotrich welcomes Trump’s victory over incumbent Joe Biden, whose administration he complains “unfortunately chose to intervene in Israeli democracy and personally not to cooperate with me.”
The Republican politician’s first term in 2017-2021 was positive for Israel, Smotrich states, citing the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem, the recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, and the Trump White House’s decision to declare that Israel’s West Bank settlements were consistent with international law.
“We were a step away from applying sovereignty to the settlements in Judea and Samaria, and now is the time to do it,” Smotrich declares, adding: “The year 2025 will, with God’s help, be the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.”
“The only way to remove the danger of a Palestinian terror state from the agenda is to apply Israeli sovereignty to Jewish settlement in the entire Judea and Samaria,” the far-right minister continues, calling such a course of action the proper response to Hamas, Hezbollah and the rest of the Iranian-backed terrorist axis.
Revealing that he had instructed the Settlement Directorate of the Defense Ministry and the Civil Administration to begin preparing the groundwork for applying sovereignty, Smotrich insists that while Israel’s enemies saw October 7 as “the first step in [its] destruction…the new Nazis have to pay a price in the territory that will be taken from them forever both in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria.”
While there will be criticism, the Abraham Accords prove that when Israel stands up for what is right “in the end it receives support and appreciation from the US and the neighboring Arab countries.”
“I have no doubt that President Trump, who showed courage and determination in his decisions in the first term, will support the State of Israel in this move,” he adds.
Addressing a gathering in Jerusalem late last month, shortly before the US elections, Smotrich made similar comments, calling for Israel to effectively annex the West Bank and Gaza Strip, calling for the establishment of new settlements deep inside Palestinian areas and the departure of Arabs harboring nationalist aspirations.
During a speech at the Middle East Summit, a conference in Jerusalem organized by Israel 365, an Israeli media outlet aimed at American evangelicals, he also called for Israeli sovereignty to be extended to the Gaza Strip because otherwise Israel’s war gains would dissipate without troops, and civilians, being posted there on a more permanent basis.
In his remarks, Smotrich envisioned Palestinians being given limited local self-rule “devoid of national characteristics,” saying those who continued to support Palestinian statehood would be unwelcome.
“Those who do not want or are unable to put aside their national ambitions will receive assistance from us to emigrate to one of the many Arab countries where the Arabs can realize their national ambitions, or to any other destination in the world,” he said.
Rocket sirens sounding in Safed area after massive barrage on Haifa
Sirens are sounding again in northern Israel, less than an hour after some 90 rockets were fired at the Haifa area in a massive barrage.
The fresh rocket alerts are sounding in the northern city of Safed and surrounding communities.
???? Rocket Alert [16:39:50] – 13 Alerts:
• Upper Galilee — Safed – City (×2), Rosh Pinna, Kahal, Safed – 'Akbara, Elifelet, Korazim Vered HaGalil, Hatzor HaGlilit, Amuka, Safed – Nof ha-Kinneret (×2), Amiad, Biriyeh
Population: 206,000 pic.twitter.com/bDfhqsKqg2
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) November 11, 2024
Man moderately wounded by shrapnel in Krayot area in massive Hezbollah barrage; 2 others lightly hurt — medics say
A man was moderately wounded by shrapnel in one of the impacts in the Krayot area in the Hezbollah barrage of over 90 rockets, medics say.
The 52-year-old is being taken to Rambam Hospital in Haifa after being hit in the back by shrapnel, Magen David Adom says.
A teenager was slightly hurt by glass shards, and another man, 55, was hurt when he fell while running to shelter, MDA adds.
IDF: Over 90 rockets fired at Haifa area in two barrages; homes, cars damaged in multiple impacts
Emergency services survey the damage in Kiryat Ata after a major barrage of rockets was fired at the Haifa Bay area, November 11, 2024.
More than 90 rockets were launched from Lebanon at the Haifa Bay area a short while ago, the IDF says.
In the first barrage of 80 rockets, the IDF says that most were shot down by air defenses, but several struck inside towns.
The second barrage consisted of 10 rockets, all of which the IDF says were either intercepted or hit open areas.
Damage was caused to homes and cars in Kiryat Ata, and a teenager was slightly hurt by glass shards.
It marks one of the largest rocket attacks on the port city amid the fighting with Hezbollah. On October 8, 2024, Hezbollah launched over 100 rockets at Haifa in two barrages.
New FM Sa’ar: Stopping Iran from getting nukes ‘the most important question’ for the future of the Mideast
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar speaks during a handover ceremony at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on November 10, 2024. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)
Speaking to international press in Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says that “the most important question by far, for the future of this region, for the security of the State of Israel, is to avoid Iran getting a nuclear weapon.”
He says the issue is the most important topic of discussion in meetings between the Israeli prime minister and the American president-elect.
“President Trump made it clear during the time of his electoral campaign that he understands very well the dangers of that nuclear Iranian project,” says Sa’ar. “I’m sure that we will be able to work together to stabilize the region, in order to guarantee the future of the region.”
Rocket from Lebanon causes damage to building in Haifa area; 17-year-old lightly injured
Damage was caused in a direct rocket impact in Kiryat Ata amid a major Hezbollah barrage on the Haifa area a short while ago.
Magen David Adom reports that a 17-year-old boy was lightly hurt by glass shards while running to a bomber shelter amid the attack.
https://twitter.com/manniefabian/status/1855975326196564126
Saudi crown prince calls on international community to stop Israel from attacking Iran
File - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman looks on as he meets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, not pictured, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 23, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Pool via AP)
RIYADH – Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler calls on Israel to respect Iran’s sovereignty and refrain from attacking Iranian soil, highlighting warming ties between the Middle East rivals.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tells a summit of Arab and Muslim leaders that the international community should oblige Israel “to respect the sovereignty of the sisterly Islamic Republic of Iran and not to violate its lands.”
In March 2023, Shiite Muslim-dominated Iran and Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia resumed relations under a surprise China-brokered deal.
Tehran and Riyadh had severed ties in 2016 after Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran were attacked during protests over Riyadh’s execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
They have long backed opposing sides in conflict zones across the region, most notably in Syria and Yemen.
In October, Saudi Arabia announced that it had held war games with Iran and other countries in the Sea of Oman.
Yesterday, Saudi Arabia’s top military official, Fayyad al-Ruwaili, arrived in Tehran for talks with Iranian officials.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Lapid urges Katz to issue 7,000 draft orders for Haredim as announced by Gallant last week
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid speaks during a Yesh Atid faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, November 11, 2024. (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls on newly appointed Defense Minister Israel Katz not to start his term in office with a “complete surrender to politics and the complete neglect of the IDF fighters,” demanding that he issue the 7,000 enlistment orders to members of the ultra-Orthodox community announced last week under his predecessor Yoav Gallant.
If Katz fails to issue the orders and announce his opposition to legislation to exempt the Haredim from military service then “he will go down from the stage of history as someone who had the opportunity to be the minister of security [but] preferred to be the minister of evasion.”
“If these orders stop, or disappear, or evaporate or dissolve, then Israel Katz is not the defense minister…he’s a petty politician who received a political appointment because [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu said to himself that ‘there is no problem pushing him around, he has no backbone.'”
Asked by The Times of Israel about reports that Netanyahu told his cabinet that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s support for the removal of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is “the fastest way to a constitutional crisis,” Lapid says that the far-right minister poses a danger to the State of Israel.
“I don’t know what [Netanyahu] said in the cabinet. The question is if Ben Gvir can or can’t — I think he can’t — live up to his position. He is a danger to the nation of Israel,” Lapid replies.
“But that decision is the decision of the High Court and if that is the decision of the court, it needs to be obeyed because that is the law. I’m not convinced that the government will disobey the court, because that’s beyond the pale and the end of the State of Israel as we know it as a democracy.”
Smotrich announces MK Ohad Tal as new Knesset chair for Religious Zionism faction
MK Ohad Tal attends a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on July 30, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Religious Zionism chairman Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announces that MK Ohad Tal will replace Simcha Rothman as manager of the party’s Knesset faction due to Rothman’s “heavy load” as chairman of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.
“I would like to thank MK Simcha Rothman for two years of intense and successful activity in his dual role, both as chairman of the Constitution Committee, one of the most demanding positions in the Israeli Knesset, and as my righthand man in the position of chairman of the Religious Zionist faction in the Knesset. MK Rothman filled the position in a stormy and challenging time and I am grateful to him for that,” writes Smotrich in a statement.
“MK Ohad Tal will replace him in the management of the faction in the second half of the term and I am confident that he will do so professionally, with dedication and in cooperation with the members of the entire faction and with all the factions of the coalition,” he adds.
“The State of Israel faces great challenges, but also historic opportunities,” says Tal. “In the future, I will work with my colleagues to lead the faction forward so that we continue to influence the state’s leadership.”
New Hope lawmaker Mishel Buskila is also tapped as his party’s faction chairman, replacing Ze’ev Elkin, who was recently appointed a minister in the Finance Ministry.
Sirens sounding in several northern communities including Haifa Bay area, Acre, Nahariya
Sirens are blaring again in several cities and towns across northern Israel, warning of incoming rocket fire.
The latest alerts are sounding in northern communities including the Haifa Bay area, Nahariya and Acre.
???? Rocket Alert [15:40:42] – 54 Alerts ????:
• Confrontation Line — Lehman, Gesher HaZiv, Milouot Industrial Zone North, Nahariya, Betzet, Ga'aton, Manot, Shlomi, Betzet Beach, Rosh HaNikra, Yechiam, Sa'ar
• Upper Galilee — Tal-El (×2), Kfar Masaryk (×2), Oshrat, Yanuh-Jat,… pic.twitter.com/HOreu3iKYZ— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) November 11, 2024
Likud MK orders hostage relative kicked out of Knesset meeting because she was ‘repeating herself’
David Bitan, chairman of the Knesset Economics Committee (c) at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on November 11, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Likud MK David Bitan orders a relative of a dead hostage held in Gaza kicked out of a Knesset Economics Committee after she refused to stop speaking over her allotted time.
During the meeting Bitan chided Hannah Cohen, the aunt of Inbar Haiman, for speaking too long, saying she was “repeating herself” and that others needed to speak.
When she continued talking and yelling at him, telling him that he would “hear me again another 1,000 times,” he ordered her ejected.
“Bring the girl home and you won’t see me here again,” Cohen tells him.
Bitan eventually relents under pressure from other committee members and lets her remain.
תקצרי – חלק ב': דוד ביטן ביקש להוציא מהדיון בוועדת הכנסת את דודתה של ענבר היימן ז"ל, אשר גופתה מוחזקת בידי חמאס.
קרדיט @KnessetT pic.twitter.com/CMisl4yyoU— ישראל היום (@IsraelHayomHeb) November 11, 2024
Haiman, 27, was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023. She has since been declared dead by the military and her body remains in Gaza.
It’s not the first time Bitan has clashed with hostage relatives.
Several weeks ago he interrupted the testimony of Sari Gat, aunt of Carmel Gat, a hostage who executed killed in Hamas captivity, and told her to “be quick.”
Sa’ar appoints Eden Bar Tal as Foreign Ministry director general
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar appoints Eden Bar Tal as the ministry’s director general.
Bar Tal previously served as director general of the Communications Ministry under Moshe Kahlon, and as director general of the Regional Cooperation Ministry under Ofir Akunis, both Likudniks.
Eden Bar Tal, then-Communications Ministry director general, Oct 12, 2009. (Kobi Gideon / FLASH90)
He is trained as a lawyer, and founded a medical cannabis startup. For the past two years, Bar Tal served as director general of the Second Authority for Television and Radio.
“I have no doubt that Mr. Bar Tal, endowed with rich professional knowledge and diverse skills, with experience in both the public and private sectors, including his experience as director general of the Communications Ministry, is the right candidate to lead the Foreign Ministry in the face of the tremendous challenges ahead,” says Sa’ar in a statement.
Current Director-General Jacob Blitshtein was brought into the ministry with Israel Katz — who this week moved from the Foreign Ministry to Defense — at the beginning of the year, and will leave once Bar Tal takes his post.
Bar Tal has to be confirmed by the Knesset.
France says new round of sanctions against violent settlers could happen soon
France’s foreign minister says that a new round of sanctions targeting violent Israeli settlers could happen soon.
“We were instrumental in setting up the [EU] sanctions regime that was already activated two times, and that might be activated a third time soon,” Jean-Noel Barrot tells the Paris Peace Forum.
“We believe that those violent settlers and these intensive settlement activities are illegal, that it should stop in the interest of Israel and its security.”
As much of the world’s attention has focused on the war in Gaza, growing violence by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank have raised concern among some of Israel’s Western allies.
At Arab summit, Saudi crown prince demands immediate Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire, slams Israeli ‘genocide’ in Gaza
File - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman looks on as he meets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, not pictured, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 23, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Pool via AP)
Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler calls for immediate ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon at a joint Arab League and Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says the international community must “immediately halt the Israeli actions against our brothers in Palestine and Lebanon,” condemning Israel’s campaign in Gaza as “genocide.”
In first confirmation, spokesperson says Netanyahu approved Hezbollah pager attack
A photo taken on September 18, 2024, in Beirut's southern suburbs shows the remains of exploded pagers on display at an undisclosed location. The pagers were used by Hezbollah and the attack has been blamed on Israel. (AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved pager attacks that dealt a deadly blow to the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah in September, Omer Dostri, spokesperson for his office, says.
The statement marks the first official confirmation that Israel was behind the attack, although it has been widely blamed for it by Hezbollah and others.
On Sept. 17, thousands of pagers simultaneously exploded in the southern suburbs of Beirut and other Hezbollah strongholds, in most cases after the devices beeped, indicating an incoming message.
A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the incident was the “biggest security breach” for the group in nearly a year of conflict with Israel.
Among the victims rushed to hospital, many had eye injuries, missing fingers or gaping holes in their abdomens, Reuters witnesses saw, indicating their proximity to the devices at the time of detonation.
Hezbollah members carry the coffin of four fallen comrades who were killed Monday after their handheld pagers exploded, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. The attack was blamed on Israel (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
In total, the pager attack, and a second on the following day that activated weaponized walkie-talkies, killed 39 people and wounded more than 3,400.
Israeli media reported that Netanyahu claimed responsibility for the attack during a closed-door cabinet meeting, telling ministers that senior defense officials and political figures were opposed to the detonation of the pagers but that he went ahead with the operation.
Hezbollah operatives have been using pagers instead of phones as a low-tech means of communication in an attempt to evade Israeli location-tracking, two sources familiar with the group’s operations told Reuters this year. A pager is a wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays messages.
Israel followed up the pager detonations with the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike and incursions in south Lebanon.
Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel on October 8, 2023, a day after the Hamas massacre that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and saw 251 taken hostage.
Israel stepped up its assault on Hezbollah in September in a bid to get tens of thousands of evacuated Israelis safely back to their homes in northern Israel.
Church of England head Justin Welby under pressure to resign amid abuse scandal
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby speaks during a visit to the tomb of Oscar Arnulfo Romero in San Salvador on June 4, 2024. (Photo by Marvin RECINOS / AFP)
The head of the Church of England, spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, is under pressure to resign after an investigation found that he failed to inform police about serial physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps as soon as he became aware of it.
Some members of the General Synod, the church’s national assembly, have started a petition calling on Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby to step down, saying he had “lost the confidence of his clergy.” The petition had garnered more than 1,800 signatures on Change.org by late this morning London time.
Calls for Welby’s resignation have grown since Thursday, when the church released the results of an independent review into John Smyth, who sexually, psychologically and physically abused about 30 boys and young men in the United Kingdom and 85 in Africa over five decades.
The 251-page report concluded that Welby failed to report Smyth to authorities when he was informed of the abuse in August 2013, soon after he became Archbishop of Canterbury.
Welby last week took responsibility for not ensuring that the allegations were pursued as “energetically” as they should have been after he learned of the abuse, but said he had decided not to resign.
Defense Ministry director general Zamir submits resignation request
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (left) and Defense Ministry Director General Eyal Zamir (right) are seen during the launch of the Ofek-13 reconnaissance satellite, March 29, 2023. (Defense Ministry)
Defense Ministry Director General Eyal Zamir has requested to resign.
The ministry says that Zamir met with new Defense Minister Israel Katz this morning for a first work meeting. During the meeting, Zamir requested to leave his post in the near future.
“At the request of the defense minister, it was agreed that at this time the director general will continue in his position,” the ministry says.
Zamir was appointed by former defense minister Yoav Gallant last year. Gallant was controversially fired last week by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump picks Elise Stefanik as US ambassador to UN
Republican presidential candidate former US president Donald Trump (right) and Rep. Elise Stefanik at a campaign event in Concord, New Hampshire, Jan. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
US President-elect Donald Trump confirms he will nominate pro-Israel New York Rep. Elise Stefanik to be US ambassador to the United Nations.
“I am honored to nominate Chairwoman Elise Stefanik to serve in my Cabinet as US Ambassador to the United Nations. Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,” Trump, says in a statement to The New York Post.
Stefanik confirms she will accept the post.
“I am truly honored to earn President Trump’s nomination to serve in his Cabinet as US Ambassador to the United Nations,” Stefanik tells The Post.
“During my conversation with President Trump, I shared how deeply humbled I am to accept his nomination and that I look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the United States Senate.”
“President Trump’s historic landslide election has given hope to the American people and is a reminder that brighter days are ahead — both at home and abroad,” she tells The Post.
“America continues to be the beacon of the world, but we expect and must demand that our friends and allies be strong partners in the peace we seek.”
Stefanik, a high-ranking Republican in Congress, has been a leading pro-Israel lawmaker and led efforts to counter antisemitism on US campuses.
Her tough questioning last fall led to the departure of presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania who equivocated when she asked them if they would condemn calls for genocide against Jews.
And during a meeting of the Knesset Caucus for Jewish and Pro-Israel Students on Campuses Around the World this year she slammed US President Joe Biden’s decision to pause a shipment of thousands of bombs to Israel, warning that unless Israel is supplied with the weapons necessary to “achieve total victory,” America could face its own October 7.
Sa’ar says Palestinian state not a ‘realistic’ goal during Gaza war
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar speaks during a handover ceremony at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on November 10, 2024. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state as a “realistic” goal, amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
“I don’t think this position is realistic today and we must be realistic,” the newly appointed minister said in response to a question over the creation of a Palestinian state in exchange for a normalization of ties between Israel and Arab countries.
A Palestinian state would be “a Hamas state,” Saar adds, referring to the Palestinian terror group in Gaza with which Israel has been at war for more than a year, following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, shock assault on southern Israel.
The normalization drive was a part of the 2020 Abraham Accords overseen by Donald Trump and the process could resume after he returns to the White House following last week’s US presidential election.
While Sa’ar spoke in Jerusalem, Arab and Muslim leaders gathered in Saudi Arabia for a summit addressing the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, where Israel is also fighting Hamas ally the terror group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah says it has not received an official ceasefire proposal, has weapons to wage a long war
Hezbollah's chief spokesman Mohammed Afif speaks during a press conference in Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif says the terror group has not received any official ceasefire proposal and has enough weapons and supplies to fight a long war with Israel.
He says Israeli forces had failed to hold territory six weeks into their ground invasion, pointing to what he claimed was a failed Israeli attempt last week to enter the southern town of Khiam.
“As long as you are not able to control areas in the field you will not achieve your political goals,” Afif said.
Despite Hezbollah’s claims, the IDF has captured numerous villages close to the border during its ground offensive in southern Lebanon. The Times of Israel has been able to visit several of these villages with an IDF escort.
Israel says it has no plans to occupy the Lebanese villages for lengthy periods or push much deeper into Lebanon.
The stated goal of the IDF’s ground offensive in Lebanon is to remove the threat of a Hezbollah invasion by demolishing the terror group’s infrastructure in the border villages.
Once the IDF has completed clearing a village of Hezbollah assets, troops are withdrawn.
Afif also denies claims by Israeli officials that Hezbollah has lost most of its missile capabilities, pointing to the fact that it is still launching dozens of projectiles a day and targeting areas in central Israel.
Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel, and drawing retaliatory strikes, the day after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. All-out war with Hezbollah erupted in September, when Israel carried out a wave of heavy airstrikes and killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders.
Israel aims to push Hezbollah away from the border so that tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated from their homes in northern Israel can safely return.
Anti-Israel protests at opening of UN climate talks
Anti-Israel activists protest at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Dozens of people protest against Israel as United Nations annual climate talks begin in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Climate activists at the conference — many of them wearing Palestinian keffiyehs — held up banners calling for climate justice and for nations to “stop fueling genocide.”
“All these struggles are intersectional,” says Lise Masson, a protester from Friends of the Earth International. “It’s the same systems of oppression and discrimination that are putting people on the frontlines of climate change and putting people on the front lines of conflict in Palestine.”
She slams the United States, the UK and the EU for not spending more on climate finance while also supplying arms to Israel.
Mohammed Ursof, a climate activist from Gaza, calls for demonstrators at the talks to “get power back to the Indigenous, power back to the people.”
Israel launched its war in Gaza after the Hamas-led October 7 assault on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 abducted to Gaza.
Drone from Lebanon intercepted over northern Israel
A drone launched from Lebanon was intercepted by air defenses over the northern town of Malkia a short while ago, the IDF says.
The military releases footage of the interception.
A drone launched from Lebanon was intercepted by air defenses over the northern town of Malkia a short while ago, the IDF says. pic.twitter.com/2uH5HNtp1v
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 11, 2024
Friends of observation soldiers taken hostage set up mock surveillance post at Knesset
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid sits at an installation in the Knesset emulating the displays used by IDF surveillance soldiers tasked with monitoring the Gaza border on November 11, 2024. (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)
Friends of the IDF observation soldiers tasked with monitoring the Gaza border who were kidnapped on October 7 set up a mock surveillance station in the Knesset, complete with screens showing footage of the Hamas attack.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and MK Shelly Tal Meron of his Yesh Atid party sit at the stations, watching the videos, drawing a crowd.
“All of us know the videos and what happened, but to sit down at this station and see it almost like the surveillance soldiers, you understand the weight of the responsibility they had in their hands,” Tal Meron tells The Times of Israel.
“Unfortunately we didn’t listen to them,” she says, noting that her own daughter is due to join the IDF soon and that her daughter’s best friend had already enlisted as an observation soldier.
Lapid agrees, adding, “We have to do something about this aside from having all sorts of exhibitions in the Knesset. The government needs to something about it, which is bringing them back home. This is the most important thing.”
Medics say 3 wounded in rocket attack on north
Three people were wounded by shrapnel following a rocket impact in the northern Arab town of Bi’ina, medics say.
Magen David Adom says it is taking a 27-year-old woman in moderate condition, and two others, a man aged 35 and a 1-year-old girl. in good condition, to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.
Hezbollah takes responsibility for the barrage of 50 rockets, claiming to have targeted “a training base for the Paratroopers Brigade in the Karmiel settlement.”
FM Sa’ar says there has been ‘certain progress’ on a ceasefire in Lebanon
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar says there had been “certain progress” on a ceasefire in Lebanon.
“There is certain progress,” Saar said in response to a question about a possible ceasefire. “We are working with the Americans on the issue,” he tells reporters in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu warns efforts by AG to fire Ben Gvir will lead to ‘a constitutional crisis’
Left: Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara at her welcome ceremony in Jerusalem on February 8, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90); Right: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, on January 11, 2023. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s support for the removal of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is “the fastest way to a constitutional crisis,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told ministers during a cabinet meeting on Sunday evening.
According to Hebrew press accounts of the meeting, Ben Gvir complained that Baharav-Miara “wants to bring down the government.”
“There is only one answer: fire her,” Amsalem Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem interjected, reiterating his recent call to dismiss the attorney general.
“You can’t just talk all the time. It’s time for action,” Ben Gvir shot back, warning that “today it’s me, tomorrow it’s you – they want to take over the government.”
In response, Netanyahu pledged not to fire the far-right minister, adding that he didn’t know “a faster way to bring about a constitutional crisis than trying to fire a minister without an indictment.”
Baharav-Miara is set to tell Netanyahu that he must fire Ben Gvir for repeatedly violating the law while in office unless he changes his mode of conduct, Channel 13 reported on Sunday evening.
Baharav-Miara is formulating the state’s response to a petition filed in September to the High Court of Justice demanding that Ben Gvir be removed from office for repeatedly intervening in the functioning of the police in a manner the court has prohibited.
Ben Gvir called for Baharav-Miara’s firing in reaction to the Channel 13 news report, which came amid revelations by several outlets regarding the minister’s political consultations with his advisers and politically driven moves that were ostensibly purely professional.
Woman wounded by rocket shrapnel in Karmiel area after salvo of 50 rockets at Galilee
The scene of a rocket impact in the northern town of Bi'ina, November 11, 2024. (Magen David Adom)
A woman in her 40s was wounded by shrapnel following a rocket impact in the Karmiel area, medics say.
Magen David Adom says the woman is conscious.
According to the IDF, some 50 rockets were launched at the Galilee in the attack, some of which were intercepted by air defenses.
Several impacts were identified in the Karmiel area and nearby towns.
מטחים כבדים יש נפילות:
תיעוד היירוטים של כיפת-ברזל באזור כרמיאל.
(אזעקה ברקע) pic.twitter.com/0yNSYhfM1z— מה חדש. What's new❓ (@Gloz111) November 11, 2024
Medics responding to report of rocket impact in Karmiel
Medics are responding to reports of rocket impacts in the Karmiel area following the latest Hezbollah barrage from Lebanon.
Sirens had sounded in a wide area in the Galilee amid the attack.
???? Rocket Alert [12:07:24] – 4 Alerts:
• Upper Galilee — Majd al-Krum, Bi'ina, Deir al-Asad, Karmiel
Population: 83,000 pic.twitter.com/LUw2XNqO3M
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) November 11, 2024
Report: Probe into doctored PM’s office protocols centers on warnings Hamas activated Israeli SIM cards ahead of Oct. 7
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (seated) speaks with Cabinet Secretary Tzachi Braverman (R) during a weekly cabinet meeting in the Prime Miinister's Office in Jerusalem on May 7, 2023. (Ronen Zvulun/Pool/AFP)
The protocols from security meetings that senior officials in the Prime Minister’s Office allegedly sought to change had to do — at least in part — with warnings received by PMO officials about Israeli SIM cards activated by Hamas forces in the lead-up to the October 7, 2023, attack, Ynet reports.
The allegation that senior PMO officials tried to blackmail an IDF officer in the PMO to get him to change records of meetings is one of several scandals swirling around the PMO in recent weeks.
The IDF said earlier this year that “several indicative signs accumulated” in the hours before the early morning onslaught, “which included, among other things, the activation of only dozens of SIMs, which had been activated in previous events in the past.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that he was only told about the SIMs after the attack had begun.
Citing officials familiar with the details, Ynet reports that law enforcement is checking whether senior officials in the PMO tried to blackmail a military intelligence officer in Netanyahu’s office who received a warning about the SIMs ahead of time, in an attempt to force him to change the protocols in order to show less responsibility borne by Netanyahu for the October 7 failure.
The officer, Col. S., received an update hours before the attack about Hamas units in both northern and southern Gaza activating SIM cards, according to Ynet.
Months after October 7, Netanyahu’s then-military secretary Avi Gil “was surprised to discover, when the transcripts and logs [from that night] were brought to him, that important details in the logs, and some essential topics in the content of the transcripts, had been changed in a way that created the impression, apparently, that the PMO knew much less about the SIMs,” Ynet reports.
“When he approached the clerk who compiled the record and asked her the meaning of the incident, she answered that she had done so on the orders of the same senior official in the bureau and that she could not disobey his instructions for fear that he would mistreat her.”
Netanyahu’s office firmly denies the report, calling it “another complete fabrication that is also part of an unprecedented media witch hunt against the Prime Minister’s Office in wartime, designed to whitewash the serious failures of others on the night of October 7.”
Israel concerned about paucity of arrests after Amsterdam attacks
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans who flew on El Al rescue flight from Amsterdam arrive at Ben Gurion international airport, near Tel Aviv, November 8, 2024. (Jonathan Shaul/Flash90)
Newly appointed Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar tells reporters in Jerusalem that Israel deemed the number of arrests over the apparently premeditated attacks on Israeli soccer fans by Muslim groups in Amsterdam last week “very low.”
“I was informed by the mayor of Amsterdam that they formed a special inquiry team, but I can tell that until now, the number of arrests is very low,” Saar says, adding that Israel offered its help in the investigation into the rampages in Amsterdam on Friday following a match between an Israeli team and a Dutch one.
Over the weekend, Amsterdam police said that only four of the more than 60 people detained remain in custody.
At least 10 Israelis were wounded.
Syrian media reports Israeli airstrike near Homs
Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reports an Israeli airstrike near the village of Shinshar on the outskirts of Homs.
No further details are given.
BREAKING – Israeli airstrikes target a weapons depot and military sites linked to Iran, in the vicinity of the city of Hasiya in the countryside of Homs, Syria. pic.twitter.com/OSwcLMtsgq
— Fared Al Mahlool | فريد المحلول (@FARED_ALHOR) November 11, 2024
Investigators say Taiwan individuals or firms not involved in Lebanon device blasts
An undated file catalog image of an Apollo pager, similar to the ones that exploded on September 17, 2024, in various cities of Lebanon and Syria, in an unprecedented attack on Hezbollah personnel. (Balkis Press / ABACAPRESS.COM / Reuters)
Taiwan investigators say there was no evidence that Taiwanese individuals or firms were involved in a deadly September attack targeting Hezbollah communications devices that exploded in Lebanon.
“Our investigation has verified that no nationals or domestic companies were involved in Lebanon’s high-profile pager detonation incidents,” Taiwan prosecutors say in a statement.
The pagers that exploded, in an attack blamed on Israel, appeared to have been made by Taiwan’s Gold Apollo.
Gold Apollo denied producing the devices and instead pointed the finger at its Budapest-based partner BAC Consulting KFT.
Kremlin denies reports Putin spoke with Trump, says no plans to do so
File - Then-US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
The Kremlin denies reports that US President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and casts the media reports as pure fiction.
The Washington Post first reported that the call took place on Thursday. Reuters also reported that the call took place.
Putin has no specific plans to speak to Trump at present, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Iran calls on Trump to stop the ‘genocide’ in Gaza
Then-Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event, Wednesday, September 25, 2024, in Mint Hill, North Carolina. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Iran says US President-elect Donald Trump must end the war in Gaza, where Israel, which the Islamic Republic has sworn to destroy, has been battling the Hamas terror group for more than a year.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei says during a news conference in Tehran that the incoming American president should “stop the continued genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
National Security Council says it had no warnings of violence ahead of Amsterdam attacks
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans who flew on El Al rescue flight from Amsterdam arrive at Ben Gurion international airport, near Tel Aviv, November 8, 2024. (Jonathan Shaul/Flash90)
Amid claims that there was a lack of coordination between intelligence bodies and the National Security Council in the lead-up to the attacks on Israelis in Amsterdam last week, the NSC defends the absence of a travel warning ahead of the violence.
“Prior to the disturbances in Amsterdam, the NSC did not receive any information or recommendation from the various bodies to raise travel warnings,” says the NSC in a statement.
“Once the NSC was connected to the situation on the ground, the NSC was a partner in formulating the message to the public as it was distributed later.”
Jerusalem court sets hearing for Wednesday on PM’s request for delay in criminal trial
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the Jerusalem District Court for a hearing on his corruption trial, June 26, 2023. (Alex Kolomoisky/Pool)
The Jerusalem District Court says it will hold a hearing on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request to postpone his testimony in his criminal trial on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman orders the prosecution to file its response to the request by noon tomorrow.
Last night, Netanyahu’s legal team filed a request with the Jerusalem District Court to delay his testimony in his corruption trial for two and a half months, claiming that a series of security incidents had made it “impossible” for him to prepare for his testimony, according to Hebrew media outlets.
Netanyahu is scheduled to begin testifying on December 2 as the defense portion of the trial kicks off after the prosecution rested earlier this year. This testimony is expected to last several hours a day and take weeks to complete.
Netanyahu previously asserted in a conflict of interest agreement signed in 2020, which allowed him to serve as prime minister while under indictment, that he would be capable of standing trial while fulfilling his duties as premier. The new request for a delay may therefore prompt petitions by government watchdog groups to the High Court of Justice to compel the prime minister to recuse himself from office.
IDF expands Gaza humanitarian zone amid ongoing Jabalia offensive
This map released by the IDF on November 11, 2024, shows the location of an Israeli-designated 'humanitarian zone' in the southern Gaza Strip. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says it has expanded the designated “humanitarian zone” in southern Gaza, where the vast majority of the Palestinian population in the Strip currently resides.
The zone is where most humanitarian aid is directed, and where several field hospitals have been established.
The size of the zone has changed multiple times, amid evolving IDF operations against the Hamas terror group.
The expansion of the zone comes as the IDF operates against Hamas in northern Gaza’s Jabalia and nearby towns, during which over 55,000 Palestinian civilians have been displaced. The evacuated civilians have so far mostly headed to Gaza City, and not to the Strip’s south.
Houthis claim missile fire, say they were targeting IDF base in central Israel
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree speaks during a rally against the US and Israel in Sanaa, Yemen, September 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen take responsibility for this morning’s ballistic missile launch at Israel.
In a statement, the group claims to have targeted the IDF’s Nahal Sorek base in central Israel.
The base is located approximately halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It is home to the army’s Ammunition Center, which is responsible for purchasing, collecting, storing, fixing and supplying weaponry, including everything from simple bullets to advanced missiles.
The IDF says the missile was successfully intercepted by air defenses.
Ultra-Orthodox parties UTJ and Shas feud over Rabbis Law as it goes up for vote
MK Moshe Gafni, left, speaks with MK Aryeh Deri at the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 13, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
United Torah Judaism slams the coalition’s decision to bring the so-called Rabbis Law II, backed by fellow ultra-Orthodox party Shas, to the plenum for a vote today.
“The coalition must coordinate with us regarding the city rabbis law and the timing of when it is brought up,” UTJ Knesset member Gafni tells the party-aligned Yated Ne’eman newspaper. “There is no such thing as the finance minister and the religious services minister bringing up something like this without coordinating with us as if we did not exist.”
The Shas-backed Rabbis Law is set to go to the Knesset plenum for its first reading on Monday, after being repeatedly blocked by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party.
It aims to amend the Religious Services Law, which regulates how much the government and municipalities contribute respectively to the budgets of the bodies providing communal religious services at the city and regional council levels.
Gafni’s statement comes as his party attempts to advance its own legislation to circumvent a High Court ruling preventing state-funded daycare subsidies from going to the children of ultra-Orthodox men who do not serve in the military. That bill has been held up due to opposition within the coalition that left it without sufficient support to pass an initial vote in the Knesset.
In response, Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli of Shas accuses Gafni of joining the “chorus of haters of religion who fight against everything related to Judaism,” adding that his objections were “puzzling” given that their two parties had coordinated their positions on the law prior to Ben Gvir’s efforts to torpedo it in recent months.
Suspected drone from Lebanon crashes in northern Israel, sparks brush fire
The scene of an apparent drone impact near Liman in northern Israel, November 11, 2024. (Fire and Rescue Service)
An apparent drone from Lebanon crashed in an open area near the Western Galilee town of Liman a short while ago, authorities say.
The impact sparked a small brush fire.
The Fire and Rescue Service says the incident is under control. There are no reports of injuries.
Senior UAE diplomat calls for de-escalation of Israel-Iran tensions, ‘drastic reform’ in Palestinian areas and Lebanon
Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash speaks to journalists in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, June 18, 2018. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)
A senior diplomat for the United Arab Emirates calls on the world to focus on the plight of civilians and de-escalate the ongoing Mideast wars.
Anwar Gargash’s remarks, made at the Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate, followed the pattern of comments made by the UAE amid the Mideast wars. The UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms home to Dubai, diplomatically recognized Israel in 2020.
“The complexities of the region require a steady hand and a clear and consistent vision,” Gargash said. “The recent cycle of escalation between Israel and Iran cannot become a permanent feature of the strategic landscape of our region. This must be addressed through a political framework.”
He calls for “pragmatism” and a “serious political horizon” to resolve the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict and reach a two-state solution. He described the war in the Gaza Strip as being “driven by extremists on both sides, from the Israeli and Arab side.” The war began with the Hamas terror group’s devastating onslaught in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
Yet he also called the “systemic violence” faced by Palestinians in Gaza “criminal and unacceptable.” Israel maintains it seeks to avoid harming civilians while fighting an enemy that has embedded itself among noncombatants and uses them as human shields
He adds: “At the present time, it is vital to identify that not all crises stem from the Palestinian issue, yet it undeniably remains central to the conflict in our region.”
The UAE has provided aid for both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon in the wars, while maintaining its diplomatic ties with Israel. The UAE has, however, strenuously criticized Israel’s conduct at times in public in the wars.
Gargash also offered criticism of governance in both the Palestinian territories and Lebanon.
“In both Palestine and Lebanon, a drastic reform is essential for the world to step in and provide considerable support,” Gargash says.
Yair Netanyahu accuses Shin Bet of trying to overthrow his father, torturing IDF officers
Yair Netanyahu, son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, arrives for a court hearing in a lawsuit filed by former MK Stav Shafir in Tel Aviv, on November 29, 2022. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Yair Netanyahu, the outspoken son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accuses the Shin Bet security service of trying to overthrow his father’s government and accuses the agency of torturing IDF soldiers.
His series of posts to X comes amid a flurry of probes into the Prime Minister’s Office relating to leaks of classified intelligence documents and accusations that the minutes of meetings from the start of the war were doctored.
Several IDF officers have been detained.
“Is this the same Shin Bet that is arresting and torturing IDF officers over complete nonsense, the same Shin Bet that a few months ago released the Gazan Dr. Mengele — the director of the Shifa hospital — together with dozens of terrorists, with the excuse there was no room in the prisons,” he posts.
In another post he accuses the Shin Bet of trying to overthrow his father.
“We have had a coup against the democratic choice of the people by the prosecutors, the media and the courts,” he says, referring to the corruption charges for which the prime minister is on trial. “But we have not yet had a coup against the democratic choice of the people by all the above and the Shin Bet and the military.”
“A banana republic like South America in the 60s,” writes Netanyahu, who has been living in Miami for the past year.
In another post, he calls the probes into the PMO a “blood libel and gaslighting designed to hide from the public the deliberations of the junta on the night of October 7 that excluded the prime minister.”
Security forces remove buildings from West Bank settlement outpost
Security forces overnight removed five buildings that had been set up in the Oz Zion settlement outpost in the West Bank.
Video from the scene showed Border Police scuffling with residents and taking some of them away.
The evacuation is the first since Defense Minister Israel Katz took up his new post this week.
Oz Zion has been demolished by the government and rebuilt by settlers numerous times in recent years.
A security source tells the Ynet news site that the five structures were erected on privately owned Palestinian land and had been a base for “criminal activity.”
לפנות בוקר: פינוי של חמישה מבנים בגבעת צור הראל (עוז ציון). לטענת התושבים לוותה באלימות. הם מאשימים את שר הביטחון החדש ואומרים "ביום הולדתו של הראל שרביט הי"ד ישראל כ"ץ הורה להרוס את הגבעה הקרויה על שמו".
במנהל האזרחי אומרים כי הפינוי התבצע "בהחלטת מפקד פיקוד מרכז, אלוף אבי בלוט… pic.twitter.com/kkn8KjmWxQ
— חנן גרינווד (@hanan_green) November 11, 2024
IDF downs 4 drones fired from Iraq
Overnight, the IDF says it shot down four drones launched at Israel from “the east,” usually code for Iraq.
Two of the drone were intercepted before entering Israeli airspace, the military says.
The Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq takes responsibility for launching the drones.
Trump said to offer UN ambassador post to New York Rep. Elise Stefanik
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
US President-elect Donald Trump has offered New York Rep. Elise Stefanik the position of US ambassador to the United Nations in his new administration, CNN reports.
Stefanik, a high-ranking Republican in Congress, has been a leading pro-Israel lawmaker and led efforts to counter antisemitism on US campuses.
Her tough questioning last fall led to the departure of presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania who equivocated when she asked them if they would condemn calls for genocide against Jews.
And during a meeting of the Knesset Caucus for Jewish and Pro-Israel Students on Campuses Around the World this year she slammed US President Joe Biden’s decision to pause a shipment of thousands of bombs to Israel, warning that unless Israel is supplied with the weapons necessary to “achieve total victory,” America could face its own October 7.
Trump said Saturday that he “will not be inviting” back Nikki Haley, who served as UN ambassador under his first administration and later ran against him for the Republican nomination.
IDF intercepts missile fired from Yemen that set off sirens near Jerusalem
Houthi supporters raise their machine guns during an anti-US and -Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, November 1, 2024. (Osamah Abdulrahman/AP)
A ballistic missile launched at Israel from Yemen this morning was successfully intercepted by air defenses, the IDF says.
The military adds that the missile shot down outside of Israeli airspace.
Sirens sounded near Jerusalem amid the incident.
Shrapnel from an interceptor missile landed in Beit Shemesh, sparking a small fire, according to police, fire services, and the military.
Rocket sirens sound in Shfela region, including Beit Shemesh, after launch ‘from east’
Rocket alarms blare in the southern West Bank as well as in the Shfela region, including in the city of Beit Shemesh.
The IDF says they were activated by a launch “from the east” — usually code for Iraq — without immediately providing more details.
Biden will meet Herzog on Tuesday, White House confirms
US President Joe Biden will separately meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in Washington on Tuesday, the White House says in a statement.
Herzog’s office announced the planned meeting earlier.
Herzog is in the United States for the Jewish Federations of North America’s annual General Assembly. The confab kicked off tonight with a pro-Israel rally at the Nationals Park baseball stadium in Washington.
US, UK airstrikes target two Yemeni governorates, Houthi-backed outlet reports
Al-Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, says a series of airstrikes have targeted the Amran and Saada governorates, which they say have been carried out by the US and Britain.
A few thousand attend pro-Israel rally in Washington, DC
A few thousand demonstrators convene in Washington, DC’s Nationals Park baseball stadium for a pro-Israel rally.
“The energy in the air is palpable,” Michael Herzog, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, tells the crowd. “All of us, all of you, are a clear expression of the unity, solidarity and resilience of the Jewish people.”
Organized by the Jewish Federations of North America, which represents over 350 Jewish communities, the evening’s “Stand Together” event comes around one year after the umbrella organization’s massive, nearly 300,000 person rally on the National Mall last year – a powerful show of support for Israel in wake of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.
Dozens of pro-Palestinians rally outside NY hotel where Herzog is staying
Dozens of pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters are demonstrating outside a New York hotel where President Isaac Herzog is staying.
עשרות צעירים פרו פלסטינים מפגינים בניו יורק נגד הנשיא הרצוג שנמצא כעת בביקור בארה"ב@yanircozin pic.twitter.com/HZw8DzjZxS
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) November 11, 2024
Herzog is in the United States for the Jewish Federations of North America’s annual General Assembly. The confab kicks off tonight with a mass rally at the Nationals Park baseball stadium in Washington, DC.
Herzog is set to meet US President Jor Biden on Tuesday.
GOP Senator Tom Cotton: ‘Kangaroo court’ ICC has no right to target Israeli officials
US Senator Tom Cotton speaks with reporters at the Senate Subway on Capitol Hill, March 20, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Mariam Zuhaib)
Senior Republican US Senator Tom Cotton issues a blistering critique of efforts by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against Israeli leaders over the war in Gaza.
In a statement, Cotton argues that the court “has no jurisdiction in Israel and its legal pursuit of Israeli officials in built on a lie.”
He calls the ICC a “kangaroo court” and says any attempt by its prosecutor Karim Khan to “threaten the United States and its allies should be seen as an act of aggression and face swift retaliation.”
Cotton touts a House-approved bill to sanction Khan and anyone else involved in potential international arrest warrants targeting Americans or US allies, and calls for it to be brought for a vote in the Senate.
Despite widely being expected to take a senior role in the upcoming Donald Trump administration, Axios has reported that Cotton has declined to take such a position and said he’ll stay in the Senate.
My statement on the ICC’s continued threats against Israeli officials. pic.twitter.com/4sleb9P14S
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) November 10, 2024
Trump, Scholz speak and agree to ‘work for return to peace in Europe’
US President-elect Donald Trump has spoken with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz by phone, Berlin says, adding that they “agreed to work together towards a return to peace in Europe.”
“Both exchanged views on the German-American relationship and the current geopolitical challenges,” adds the chancellor’s spokesman Steffen Hebestreit.
Netanyahu asks court to delay his testimony in his graft trial, saying war has made it impossible to prepare
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen at the Jerusalem District Court arriving to listen to testimony by businessman Arnon Milchan, as part of Netanyahu's corruption trial, June 28, 2023. (Marc Israel Sellem/POOL)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s legal team has filed a request with the Jerusalem District Court to delay his testimony in his corruption trial by two-and-a-half months, claiming that a series of security incidents that happened during the time given to prepare him for the testimony has made the task “impossible,” Hebrew media outlets report.
The request reportedly cites several major developments in the war in recent months, adding that they “caused most of the time slots meant to prepare the prime minister to give his testimony to be canceled due to urgent security or diplomatic needs.”
It contends that “this small delay will enable the defense to properly prepare for his testimony and won’t harm the public interest.”
The request has been widely expected, on grounds that the ongoing war prevents him from adequately preparing for his testimony, as well as that the prime minister cannot stand trial in the court at this time since it does not have a safe room or bomb shelter.
Netanyahu’s private home was targeted in a Hezbollah drone attack last month, reportedly prompting new security protocols that have seen him work primarily from changing, secure locations.
Netanyahu is scheduled to begin testifying on December 2 with the beginning of his legal team’s defense after the prosecution rested earlier this year. This testimony is expected to last several hours a day and take weeks to complete.
In July this year, Netanyahu’s legal team requested that the court postpone his testimony from November until March 2025 due to his need to manage the war, but the court rejected the request and set the date for December.
The prime minister has been charged with fraud and breach of trust in two cases and bribery, fraud and breach of trust in a third. He was indicted almost five years ago, in January 2020, and the trial began in May of that year. He denies all the allegations against him.
Netanyahu previously argued that he would be able to stand trial while also serving as prime minister. The new development may be met by fresh petitions by government watchdog groups to the High Court of Justice to have the prime minister recused from office, after previous petitions demanding this were rejected.
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