Nov. 11: Herzog condemns settler arson attack in West Bank, calls to eradicate unchecked phenomenon

Top cop, AG slam Ben Gvir for blocking promotion of officer involved in PM’s graft trial

Supt. Rinat Saban speaks on police matters in a video distributed by the Israeli police in late 2021 (Israel Police)

In court filings, Israel Police Commissioner Daniel Levy and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara heavily criticize far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for blocking the promotion of a police officer involved in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial.

The filings are included in a petition to the Jerusalem District Court filed by Supt. Rinat Saban, a high-ranking officer in the police Investigations and Intelligence Division, against Ben Gvir’s decision, which Levy warns “may sow fear among investigators who testify in criminal investigations.”

Baharav-Miara says Ben Gvir’s refusal to promote Saban is “unprecedented and raises serious concerns” that the move “derives from outside political considerations.”

British Muslim commentator Sami Hamdi agrees to leave US after immigration detention

Sami Hamdi in an interview on October 15, 2025 (Screen grab/Sky News)

British political commentator Sami Hamdi is going to voluntarily leave the US after spending more than two weeks in immigration detention over what his supporters say was his criticism of Israel. The Trump administration has accused him of cheering on Hamas.

Hamdi, who is Muslim, was on a speaking tour in the US when he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on October 26. He had just addressed the annual gala for the Sacramento, California, chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, the day before his arrest.

In a statement late Monday, the organization said Hamdi had “chosen to accept an offer to leave the United States voluntarily.”

“It is this simple: Sami never should have spent a single night in an ICE cell. His only real ‘offense’ was speaking clearly about Israel’s genocidal war crimes against Palestinians,” said the CEO of CAIR’s California chapter, Hussam Ayloush, in a statement.

Hamdi’s detention was part of broader efforts by the Trump administration to identify and potentially expel thousands of foreigners in the United States who it says have either fomented or participated in unrest or publicly supported protests against Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

Those enforcement actions have been criticized by civil rights groups as violations of constitutional protections for freedom of speech, which apply to anyone in the United States and not just to American citizens.

Deputy minister storms into university lecture to protest against instructor’s criticism of Israeli actions in Gaza

Far-right MK and deputy minister Almog Cohen stormed into a lecture being given at Ben-Gurion University to protest against the instructor who has criticized the IDF’s actions in Gaza.

Cohen was joined by activists from the ultra-nationalist Im Tirzu organization who filmed the incident and posted it online.

The lecturer targeted was Dr. Sebastian Ben-Daniel, who publishes criticism of Israel under the name John Brown.

The university condemned Cohen’s actions, saying he interrupted a class for IDF reservists who were prevented from making up work they had missed.

“This is an especially regrettable incident — both because it harmed soldiers who returned from the front and are trying to complete their studies and because such conduct is not becoming of an elected official,” the school said in a statement.

“I came this morning to Ben-Gurion University due to the lecturer Sebastian Ben-Daniel’s anti-Semitic remarks, who called the IDF’s heroic soldiers ‘baby murderers, war criminals, neo‑Nazis,’ etc. I will not allow someone who is paid with public funds to express himself this way when many of his students — on the right or the left — are reservists themselves,” Cohen said in his own statement.

Earlier this year, Ben-Gurion University reinstated Ben-Daniel after a brief suspension during a probe of his inflammatory comments, including referring to IDF soldiers as “baby murderers.”

Far-right activists break up town hall featuring Arab lawmaker, attack his car

Far-right activists interrupted a town hall-like gathering at a private home in Pardes Hanna featuring Joint List MK Ayman Odeh.

The activists were filmed banging on Odeh’s car as he made his way out of the event. There were also reports that stones were thrown at the vehicle.

Police were at the scene during the altercation, but didn’t make any arrests.

Responding to the incident, Odeh says in a statement, “We will continue to stand strong — Jews and Arabs together — against the fascism that is raging in this country under the auspices of the current government. Even if they try to suppress us, silence us and attack us, we will multiply, we will strengthen and we will break through.”

“We do not surrender to the fascists. We defeat the fascists. And the only way to do this is through a courageous Jewish-Arab partnership,” he adds.

פעילי ימין קיצוני ניסו לתקוף הערב את יו"ר חד"ש-תע"ל איימן עודה בסיום חוג בית ערבי-יהודי בפרדס חנה pic.twitter.com/SUdnhqx47J

— מוחמד מג'אדלה محمد مجادلة (@mmagadli) November 11, 2025

Pop singer Noa Kirel ties knot with soccer player Daniel Peretz in swanky Jaffa ceremony

Noa Kirel and Daniel Peretz walk down the aisle at their wedding in Jaffa on November 11, 2025. (Eran Beeri)

Pop singer Noa Kirel tied the knot this evening with soccer player Daniel Peretz in a swanky ceremony held in Jaffa.

Kirel represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 with the song “Unicorn.”

A more intimate celebration will be held tomorrow in Jaffa for a smaller group of friends.

Félicitations à celle qui a fait briller Israël sur la scène de l’Eurovision 2023 : Noa Kirel et son époux, le footballeur Daniel Peretz. Longue vie aux mariés. ???????? pic.twitter.com/8aFmQxQT1b

— Chrystopher Barolin (@ChrysBarolin) November 11, 2025

Amy Spiro contributed to this report.

Saudi Arabia to host investment summit in Washington on Nov. 19 — report

Saudi Arabia will host a US-Saudi investment summit in Washington on November 19 during a visit by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, CBS News reports.

Bin Salman will meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House on November 18, a White House official said last week.

France to allow Israeli firms to take part in defense expo after reports ban was weighed

Following Hebrew media reports that the French government intended to prevent eight Israeli companies from taking part in a defense exhibition in Paris next week, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot informs Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar that all Israeli companies will be allowed to participate.

“French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot spoke a short while ago with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and informed him that all Israeli companies will be permitted to participate in the exhibition,” Sa’ar’s office says in a statement.

A French official with knowledge tells The Times of Israel that the decision to allow all the companies to attend “was a French decision and not the result of Israeli pressure.”

Earlier today, Channel 12 reported that after reviewing a list of 45 companies expected to take part in the Milipol Paris exhibition from November 18–25, France notified Israel that it would bar eight Israeli firms from the event, without specifying which ones. The French reportedly said their participation “would pose a problem,” while clarifying that the other Israeli companies would be permitted to attend, causing outrage from Israeli officials. It remains unclear whether the exclusion was related to the companies’ links to Israel’s activities in Gaza or to operations in the West Bank.

French authorities reportedly expressed concern about potential protests and unrest from pro-Palestinian organizations if the Israeli companies were allowed to attend. According to Channel 12, Israeli officials were stunned by the French decision, given the current ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza, warning that it would further damage highly strained ties between the countries and threatening to issue harsh diplomatic and public responses. An Israeli official told the Hebrew network that “Such a move will have dramatic consequences for relations between the two countries.”

Israel and France have clashed multiple times throughout the two-year Gaza war over the participation of Israeli defense firms in arms exhibitions, including over incidents at the Paris Air Show in June

Herzog condemns settler arson attack in West Bank, urges authorities to eradicate unchecked phenomenon

President Isaac Herzog condemns the latest settler attack that took place today in the West Bank, calling the assailants “a handful of violent and dangerous individuals.”

“Such violence against civilians and against IDF soldiers crosses a red line and I condemn it,” Herzog tweets.

“All state authorities must act decisively to eradicate the phenomenon and to strengthen the IDF fighters and security forces who protect us day and night,” he adds.

Four suspects were arrested in the attack, but convictions in such cases are highly rare.

Israeli official denies that deal reached allowing exile of holed-up Hamas fighters

After a Ynet report claiming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Middle East adviser Jared Kushner agreed that the 100-200 Hamas terrorists holed up in tunnels in Rafah would be allowed to go into exile, an Israeli official denies the claim.

“There is no agreed-upon solution regarding the terrorists in Rafah,” says the official.

Visiting DRC, Herzog says world should focus on Africa’s humanitarian crises, not ‘obsessively on Israel’

President Isaac Herzog meets with Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi at the presidential residence in Kinshasa during the former's state visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo on November 11, 2025. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

Following his trip to Zambia yesterday, President Isaac Herzog held a state visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo today, where he met with Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi.

Herzog was welcomed with an official ceremony at the presidential residence in Kinshasa before the two leaders held a diplomatic meeting, according to a statement from his office.

Following their talks, Herzog urged the international community to pay greater attention to Africa’s humanitarian needs, stating: “There are major humanitarian crises in Africa, such as in Sudan, and I hope that the eyes of the world will turn there, rather than focusing obsessively on Israel.”

The president said Israel plans to deepen bilateral ties with the DRC, saying Jerusalem “will now act to upgrade [its] relations” with the Central African country.

He praised the two countries’ “valuable alliance in the pursuit of justice in the international arena,” applauding Kinshasa’s upcoming tenure on the United Nations Security Council, and thanked Tshisekedi for supporting Israel’s standing in the African Union, adding that “there is no reason for African nations to push us aside.”

“Conflicts are not confined to the Middle East,” he continued. “I hope that Africa, too, will receive the world’s attention and assistance in resolving its conflicts and crises,” he said, hailing US President Donald Trump’s efforts “to achieve a peace agreement between [the DRC] and Rwanda.”

Herzog’s visits this week to the DRC and Zambia — where Israel opened an embassy in August — are part of ongoing efforts by the Foreign Ministry and Israel’s political leadership to expand and deepen ties with African countries.

Netanyahu confidant Ron Dermer resigns from ministerial post

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer (R) speak with US envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff (L), during the premier's visit to Washington, DC on July 7, 2025. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer has submitted his letter of resignation to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Times of Israel revealed last week that Dermer would be resigning this week, handing over some of his responsibilities to Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter.

In his letter of resignation, Dermer notes that he had promised his family upon entering the government in December 2022 that he would only serve as minister for two years.

He says he extended his tenure twice with his family’s blessing: “The first time to work with you [Netanyahu] to remove the existential threat posed by Iran’s nuclear military capabilities and the second time to end the war in Gaza on the terms set by Israel and to bring our hostages home.”

Dermer thanks Netanyahu for giving him the opportunity to serve.

“This government will be remembered both for the October 7 attack and for its management of the two-year, seven-front war that followed,” Dermer says.

“What the future holds for me I do not know, but one thing I know for sure: in everything I do, I will continue to do my part to secure the future of the Jewish people,” he writes.

The US-born Dermer is seen as Netanyahu’s closest adviser and has been handling a wide range of diplomatic issues, including ties with the US, the hostage negotiations during the Gaza war and Israel’s relations with its Arab neighbors.

While stepping down from the government, Dermer will remain involved on certain issues, such as efforts to expand the Abraham Accords, and he will operate as a special envoy for Netanyahu, according to the source familiar with the matter.

However, additional responsibilities regarding ties with the Trump administration will be transferred to Leiter, who will stay on as ambassador in Washington.

The source familiar with the matter likened Dermer’s new role to the one held by Jared Kushner, who did not formally rejoin the government for US President Donald Trump’s second term, but has played a central role in the brokering and implementation of the ceasefire in Gaza on behalf of the American administration.

Report: Israel proposes disarmed Rafah operatives be allowed to leave tunnels under US-backed deal

Israel has reportedly offered a proposal to end the ongoing standoff in Rafah by allowing 100-200 Hamas operatives holed up in underground tunnels on the Israeli-controlled side of the Gaza Yellow Line to emerge and relocate, provided they surrender their weapons and pledge not to return to terrorism, Channel 12 reports.

Channel 12 says the US — with envoy Jared Kushner, who is currently in Israel — is urging Israel to swiftly resolve the situation to avoid derailing wider negotiations over Gaza’s future.

US officials have reportedly told Israel that the standoff over 200 operatives in Rafah should not overshadow the larger challenge of dealing with an estimated 20,000 armed operatives still active in Hamas-controlled areas.

Turkey is said to be playing a central mediating role in talks coordinated through Washington, though the report noted that no third country has yet agreed to accept the fighters should they be expelled from Gaza.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a meeting yesterday in Washington with visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan “to discuss the ceasefire in Gaza and next steps to ensure stability in the region” — the latest demonstration of the country’s prominent role in monitoring and implementing the Gaza ceasefire deal.

France raises concern with PA about illicit payments to security prisoners revealed by ToI

France's President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas (centre L) at The Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on November 11, 2025. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

France raised its concern with the Palestinian Authority about recent illicit payments Ramallah made to Palestinian security prisoners ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron’s meeting today with PA President Mahmoud Abbas at the Elysee Palace, a senior French official tells The Times of Israel.

Abbas ousted PA Finance Minister Omar Bitar on Monday for signing off on payments to Palestinian security prisoners through an old mechanism that awarded them based on the length of their sentence, a Palestinian official and a second source familiar with the matter revealed to The Times of Israel on Monday.

The payments amounted to an apparent violation of Ramallah’s pledge to France and other key backers in the international community that the PA would reform its prisoner payment system, which critics have dubbed “pay-to-slay.”

While Abbas signed legislation in February to end the old system, the new mechanism that conditions welfare payments strictly on a recipient’s financial need has not yet been fully rolled out. Bitar’s firing also highlighted the domestic pushback that the PA is facing for the move.

After their meeting at the Elysee Palace, Macron tells reporters that Abbas committed to launching an audit by an American company to certify that pay-to-slay is no longer in place.

It’s unclear whether Macron is referring to the audit that Ramallah invited the Trump administration to carry out in order to certify that the reform is being implemented.

Ramallah is hoping that a US team will come to the West Bank at the beginning of 2026 to carry out the audit, a Palestinian official told The Times of Israel on Monday.

Macron also tells reporters that a joint French-Palestinian committee will be created to work towards drawing up a Palestinian constitution, which was also pledged by Abbas earlier this year.

“We decided together to establish a joint committee for the consolidation of the state of Palestine,” Macron says, adding that it would “contribute to drawing up a new constitution, a draft of which President Abbas presented to me.”

Abbas says he agreed “to the swift establishment of the constitutional committee.”

Macron warns that any Israeli plans for annexation in the West Bank would be a “red line” and would provoke a European reaction.

“Plans for partial or total annexation, whether legal or de facto, constitute a red line to which we will respond strongly with our European partners,” he says.

“The violence of the settlers and the acceleration of settlement projects are reaching new heights, threatening the stability of the West Bank and constituting violations of international law,” Macron adds.

IDF detains several settlers in arson attack; 4 Palestinians injured amid widespread property damage

Footage posted on X shows the aftermath of an alleged settler attack near Tulkarem on November 11, 2025. (Screen capture/social media: used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

The IDF says it detained several Israeli settlers who participated in an attack on Palestinians in two West Bank villages close to Nablus a short while ago.

Troops were dispatched to Bayt Lid and Dayr Sharaf following reports of dozens of masked Israelis attacking Palestinians in the villages and setting fire to property, the army says.

Israeli authorities say that four Palestinians were injured in the attack and that 10 vehicles, a barn, a plastics factory and a large warehouse were set on fire in the attack.

“Security forces worked to disperse the [suspects] using riot dispersal means, and detained and arrested several Israeli civilians,” the IDF says, adding that the suspects were handed over to the police.

רעולי פנים מציתים כלי רכב ורכוש | תיעוד ממצלמות האבטחה @HGoldich pic.twitter.com/1OPG4rYsbP

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) November 11, 2025

The IDF says that a short while later, dozens of Israelis gathered at the nearby Baron Industrial Zone, where many of the masked Israeli assailants had fled to.

“IDF troops rushed to the scene, where Israeli civilians attacked the troops and vandalized a military vehicle,” the military says.

The army says that it “strongly condemns all forms of violence that divert the attention of commanders and soldiers from their missions of defense and counterterrorism.”

Palestinian media reports that Israeli troops prevented Palestinians from being able to reach some of the fires sparked by settlers in the attack.

Arrests in such incidents of settler violence are rare and convictions are even less common.

The Israel Police later says that four Israeli suspects have been taken for questioning. The investigation into the settler attack is being led by the police’s West Bank district, alongside the Shin Bet security agency.

Report: Israel agrees to compromise allowing exile of Hamas fighters, but host country still needed

US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed on a compromise that would allow for the exile of the 100-200 Hamas terrorists holed up in Rafah tunnels on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line, a member of the security cabinet tells Ynet.

However, the plan is not moving forward because no country has agreed to take them in, according to the report.

The Prime Minister’s Office does not respond to a request for comment.

For weeks, Netanyahu’s office has asserted that it would not grant safe passage to the holed-up Hamas fighters.

Gaza families still without electricity despite ceasefire

Illustrative: A telephone with a flashlight is a placed next to a baby lying on a mattress on the floor, after a partial power cut at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah on May 23, 2024. (Bashar TALEB / AFP)

Palestinian mother Hanan al-Joujou, 31, has to feed her three children in the dark with a flashlight as there is no electricity in Gaza even after last month’s Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

When they cannot afford to charge the flashlight, they go without food.

“We stay in the darkness — once the sun sets and the Maghrib prayer is called,” al-Joujou says, referring to the Muslim sunset devotion. “If the light of the flashlight is available, we light it. If not, we go to sleep without dinner or light.”

Her family has been without electricity since war broke out more than two years ago, relying on candles when first displaced to the city of Rafah in the south of the Palestinian enclave.

Eventually they gave up even that, fearing a fire hazard in their tent. “We tried a simple LED light, but it broke. We do not have the money to fix it. We tried to get a battery, but it’s expensive and unavailable,” al-Joujou says.

Before the war, Gaza mainly depended on imported electricity from Israel, though supplies were shaky. It received 120 megawatts from Israel while the enclave’s lone power plant supplied another 60 MW, according to Gaza officials.

Now in a displacement camp in central Gaza’s Nuseirat neighborhood, most family activities end when the sun goes down. Al-Joujou’s children also use a flashlight for homework when possible to charge it.

“We barely have enough money to get by in our daily lives,” adds Hanan’s husband Ahmed, 35.

Some residents run charging points, supplied by solar power or private generators given how the war has destroyed Gaza’s electrical grid and cables.

Mohammed al-Hor’s family has run one such charging business using solar power. They set it up at their own home, which was hit by an Israeli strike. “The charging point was also bombed, and my brother was martyred inside,” the 32-year-old says.

Turkish military plane crashes in Georgia with at least 20 on board

A Turkish C-130 military cargo plane with at least 20 personnel on board crashed in Georgia earlier Tuesday after taking off from Azerbaijan, but the number of casualties and the cause of the incident were not immediately clear.

Initial video from the scene near the Azerbaijan border showed chunks of twisted metal strewn across a grassy knoll, with parts of the fuselage still ablaze and dark smoke rising into a clear sky. Fire engines stood nearby and a helicopter whirred overhead.

Footage circulating on social media appears to show the plane corkscrewing towards the earth and then bursting into flames. Reuters could not immediately verify that footage.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan interrupts a speech in Ankara to offer condolences for “our martyrs” — a term he regularly uses to describe not only combat deaths but also service personnel killed in the course of their general duties.

Erdogan, his office and the ministry did not say what caused the crash, and they did not provide a death toll. Local media said there were both Turkish and Azeri personnel on board the US-made aircraft but gave no numbers.

State Attorney’s Office probing arrest of teacher who shouted insults at Ben Gvir

L: National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir attends a graduation ceremony at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; R: Police arrest a student who heckled Ben-Gvir at the ceremony; both taken November 6, 2025. (Screen captures via X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Investigators in the State Attorney’s Office are probing police officers who arrested a civics teacher last week after he shouted at National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir during a Hebrew University graduation ceremony.

Alec Yefremov was escorted out of the event Thursday by campus security guards after he yelled at the far-right minister, calling him a “racist” and “Kahanist” who is “responsible for so much death.”

He was detained after being removed from the event by campus security. Police who accompanied Ben Gvir to the ceremony allegedly cuffed his hands and feet, took him into custody and subjected him to a strip search for no clear reason.

Yefremov, who lives in Tel Aviv, has been summoned to give testimony tomorrow before investigators in the Department for Internal Police Investigations, which probes officers suspected of criminal offenses.

A spokesman for the agency tells The Times of Israel that investigators are waiting on Yefremov’s testimony before naming the exact suspicions or number of suspects involved in the case.

US denies report that Kushner met in Israel with leader of Gaza militia opposed to Hamas

The US State Department flatly dismisses as “fake news” a report in the Saudi al-Hadath network claiming that Yasser Abu Shabab, who heads an anti-Hamas militia in Gaza, recently held a secret meeting with US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner at the US-led Gaza ceasefire monitoring hub in Kiryat Gat.

The pair discussed Abu Shabab’s militia potentially playing a role in securing the exit of Hamas fighters currently holed up on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line in Rafah, the report claimed.

No exact date for the meeting was given. Kushner arrived in Israel yesterday.

Abu Shabab’s militia was formed about six months ago and is based in eastern Rafah — in territory under IDF control — and provides patronage to several thousand Gazan residents with Israeli military and economic assistance. The militia presents itself as fighting Hamas and seeking to overthrow it.

The unconfirmed report also claimed that Abu Shabab has representatives present daily at the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat.

This report is false – never happened. https://t.co/4cslJ4s3rG

— U.S. State Dept – Near Eastern Affairs (@StateDept_NEA) November 11, 2025

Gal Gadot wins 2026 Genesis Prize, says she’ll donate $1 million proceeds to help Israelis heal

Vin Diesel, from left, Gal Gadot, and Patty Jenkins pose atop Gadot's new star at a ceremony on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 18, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

The 2026 Genesis Prize will be awarded to actress Gal Gadot, who says she will donate her $1 million prize to organizations that help Israelis heal, rebuild and recover after October 7.

Gadot says in a statement that she is humbled to receive the award.

“I am a proud Jew and a proud Israeli,” says Gadot. “I love my country and dedicate this award to the organizations who will help Israel heal and to those incredible people who serve on the front lines of compassion. Israel has endured unimaginable pain. Now we must begin to heal – to rebuild hearts, families, and communities.”

The Genesis Prize Foundation calls the actress “a hero on screen and an even greater hero in real life.”

Previous laureates of the prize dubbed the “Jewish Nobel” by Time magazine include Argentina’s President Javier Milei in 2025, the late US Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg, singer Barbra Streisand, and filmmaker Steven Spielberg.

Hezbollah chief on Israeli strikes in Lebanon: The current situation cannot continue

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem delivers a televised speech on October 30, 2024. (Screenshot)

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem warns that the ongoing trend of near-daily Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon “cannot continue.”

“Everything has a limit,” Qassem says in a televised address.

He claims that the fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon only applies to southern Lebanon, suggesting that disarming Hezbollah and other enforcement mechanisms should not apply to areas north of the Litani River.

He reiterates that Hezbollah will not disarm, defying the Lebanese government’s efforts to collect the terror group’s weapons, which Qassem says are needed for self-defense.

G7 foreign ministers to tackle Ukraine, Middle East peace at meeting in Canada

Group of Seven foreign ministers will meet in Canada on Tuesday, with Ukraine and the Middle East set to be high on the agenda as US President Donald Trump’s efforts to broker peace face headwinds.

Washington’s top diplomat, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will travel to Canada’s Niagara region for the meeting, where he is likely to face questions from partners over Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine as well as the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

The gathering is taking place after efforts to organize a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump were put on ice last month, as Moscow’s rejection of an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine cast a cloud over attempts at negotiations.

Documents said to indicate US unease about Gaza ceasefire’s durability

Politico obtains a series of documents that have been circulated at the US-led Gaza ceasefire monitoring hub that the news site claims reveal doubts in Washington about the ability to maintain the ceasefire.

A slide deck obtained by Politico includes a question mark between phases one and two of the ceasefire, in what the site says underscores US uncertainty about the prospects of establishing an International Stabilization Force and disarming Hamas.

A State Department spokesperson dismisses the story’s claims, saying it “demonstrates a complete ignorance of the workings of the Gaza effort. Everyone wants to be a part of President Trump’s historic Middle East peace effort.”

“From the moment President Trump announced his 20 Point Plan, there has been an avalanche of ideas, suggestions, and proposals from dozens of countries and NGOs on an array of issues. We couldn’t possibly comment on the contents of the thousands of ideas and proposals that may or may not have been reviewed. The Trump administration will continue to uphold the ceasefire and effectively implement President Trump’s 20 Point Plan,” the spokesperson adds.

Settlers launch major arson attack against Palestinian land in central West Bank — reports

Dozens of Israeli settlers launched a large-scale arson attack on Palestinian lands east of Tulkarem in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority’s official Wafa news site reports.

A factory building in an industrial zone, surrounding agricultural lands, and a number of tractors were torched in the attack, footage from the scene shows.

מתנחלים תקפו את אזור התעשייה בין העיירות בית ליד ודיר דרף ליד שכם. בתיעודים נראים עשרות מתנחלים רעולי פנים נסוגים כשעשן מיתמר במרחב – כפי הנראה ממספר מוקדים שונים.

מספר רכבים ומבנים הוצתו ביניהם עפ"י דיווחים מפעל 'אל-ג'וניידי'. מספר פלסטיניים נפצעו והיקף הנזק והנפגעים עדיין… pic.twitter.com/ZSxzQymehC

— Matan Golan (@MatanGolanPhoto) November 11, 2025

Wafa says the settlers proceeded to attack a Bedouin gathering in the area, as residents were working to put out the fires.

The Palestinian news outlet said IDF troops arrived at the scene and prevented Palestinians from putting out some of the fires.

#فيديو| مستوطنون يضرمون النار في أراضي المزارعين بين بلدتي كفر قدوم شرق قلقيلية وبيت ليد بطولكرم pic.twitter.com/0XiZxyiUWW

— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) November 11, 2025

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

Footage shows medics arriving at the scene and treating several injured Palestinians.

The clips also catch masked Israeli settlers watching from a distance as smoke expands across the impacted West Bank hilltops.

#متابعة | مستوطنون يحرقون مركبات ومساكن البدو الفلسطينيين، قرب قرية بيت ليد، شرق طولكرم. pic.twitter.com/yDFOiFxGFB

— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) November 11, 2025

There are no reports of arrests, which are highly rare in incidents of settler violence.

The attacks have been taking place on a near-daily basis across the West Bank with near-total impunity. Critics say extremist settlers receive backing from the government.

المستوطنون يضرمون النيران في منشأة وممتلكات للفلسطينيين بمنطقة اللدائن بين قريتي كفر قدوم (شرق قلقيلية) وبيت ليد (شرق طولكرم). pic.twitter.com/g3cFqV8Ckm

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) November 11, 2025

British comedian John Cleese denies Israel show cancellations had anything to do with BDS

John Cleese in a May 2023 interview about King Charles' coronation (Screenshot: GBNews/YouTube)

British comedian and actor John Cleese pushes back on his Israeli production company’s claim that he canceled upcoming performances in Israel due to threats from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against the Jewish state.

“Contrary to the claims made by Alon Yurik Productions last night – which were subsequently reported – I am having to reschedule my shows in Israel planned for later this month following advice about safety. At 86, that is obviously all important,” Cleese writes on X.

“I will rearrange these shows as soon as it’s possible – and I would be happy to perform without receiving any fee,” he continues. “I am hugely fond of Israeli audiences and send my sincere apologies to all the people who bought tickets.”

Plurality of Israelis think US has more influence over Israel’s security than Netanyahu government — poll

A plurality of Israelis think the Trump administration has more influence over Israel’s security than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, according to a new poll.

Forty-four percent of Israelis said the US has greater influence, 23% said Israel does, and 28% said they both have equal influence, according to the Israel Democracy Institute’s October 2025 Israeli Voice Index.

The poll is conducted against the backdrop of the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, which has been overwhelmingly led by the Trump administration.

Respondents were also asked about potential Israeli annexation of the West Bank, which was recently ruled out by US President Donald Trump.

Thirty-five percent support the annexation of the West Bank, 33% support reaching a diplomatic agreement with the Palestinians, and 18% support leaving things as they are now.

Fifty-one percent of respondents said that it is not correct to resume the government’s stalled judicial overhaul legislation, while 33% take the opposite view.

A separate poll conducted by the Jewish People Policy Institute indicated that there is no consensus among Israelis on the appropriate name for the war.

Forty-two percent of respondents preferred “October 7 War,” 16% preferred the “War of Revival” as recently chosen by the government, 13% preferred the original name given by the IDF, “Swords of Iron,” 12% support “Simchat Torah War,” 7% think none of the options fit, and 10% did not know how to answer.

Far-right MK questioned by police for breaking into base holding reservists accused of abusing Gaza detainee

MK Zvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism) pictured after breaking into the IDF's Sde Teiman detention center, July 29, 2024. (X screenshot, used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)

Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot is questioned under caution by police over his role in last year’s break-in to the IDF’s Sde Teiman military base.

The far-right lawmaker was summoned in October by the Southern District police’s fraud division and agreed to present himself to investigators, over his participation in a mob that rioted outside the base in July 2024.

The riot erupted after Military Police sparked outrage on the right after detaining several reservists on suspicion of abusing a Gazan detainee held there.

Upon reaching the station in Beersheba today, Sukkot rails against his interrogation as a political stunt to distract attention from police’s other Sde Teiman-related probe — into the leaking of footage said to document the soldiers’ abuse.

The far-right lawmaker tells reporters that the summons he received is an attempt by law enforcement to “obscure the crimes committed in the prosecutor’s office,” referring to the leak probe, whose prime suspect is former military advocate general Maj. Gen Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who confessed she leaked the footage to the media.

“I came to Sde Teiman to defend our soldiers against a large and powerful system. I have said more than once that I would not have done so had I known civilians would enter the base,” he tells reporters. “But as an MK I am allowed to enter, and that is also the position of my lawyers.”

Knesset panel told of widespread marital, financial strain among reservists’ families

One third of IDF reservists’ wives have considered getting divorced or separated since the beginning of the Gaza war in October 2023, lawmakers on the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality are told.

According to figures provided by the Central Bureau of Statistics, 58 percent of divorced women and 48% of single mothers who share children with a reservist reported experiencing financial hardship.

Five percent of reservists’ spouses who are employed and 73% of those who are self-employed reported suffering economic harm, and among partners of reservists who were self-employed before October 7, 12% are now salaried employees while 8% are out of work.

“The war may have ended in its current form, but its consequences are far from over. The harm to the wives and families of reservists, as reflected in the Central Bureau of Statistics survey, indicates a broad and deep crisis that requires systemic, focused and long-term treatment,” says committee chair Meirav Cohen (Yesh Atid). “This is an unfortunate — but unfortunately not surprising — result of a reality in which approximately 300,000 reservist servicemen and women have been drafted for extended periods since the beginning of the war, some… for hundreds of days.”

She adds: “The CBS survey data shows that approximately half of the women reported harm to their marital relationship, and a third stated that the harm even led to thoughts of separation or divorce. In addition, a significant proportion of the women reported a negative change in the mental state of their children, or that they themselves sought psychological help.”

While an official at the Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Ministry told lawmakers that funding has been allocated to appoint designated coordinators to deal with compensation issues at 90 local authorities, an official from the Finance Ministry says that “there is no budgetary source from the Treasury for the government’s decision” and that “the government’s decision does not specify an additional budget.”

Multiple women testify that they felt the government’s assistance has been insufficient.

IDF says it killed terror operative who crossed Gaza’s Yellow Line

The IDF says it killed a terror operative who crossed the Yellow Line demarcating the area under the military’s control after its partial withdrawal and approached troops in the southern Gaza Strip today.

The military says the operative posed an immediate threat to the troops, who opened fire to remove the threat.

High Court implores justice minister and AG to reach compromise on Sde Teiman leak probe

Supreme Court Justice Yael Willner at a court hearing on the Sde Teiman leak probe, at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. November 11, 2025 (Yonatan SIndel/Flash90)

High Court Justice Yael Willner say she “implores” the opposing sides of the petitions over the investigation into the Sde Teiman video leak to come to a compromise agreement over who will oversee the criminal probe into the scandal.

It appears, therefore, that the court is neither inclined to allow the appointment by Justice Minister Yariv Levin of State Ombudsman for Judges Asher Kula to oversee the investigation, nor to back the attorney general’s position that the state attorney should be given the task.

Willner says that one option for compromise would be for the opposing sides to empower the court to appoint either a serving or retired district court judge, or a retired Supreme Court judge, to do the job.

Another option, Willner says, is to empower the Israel Securities Authority or the Israel Competition Authority to conduct the investigation.

“We are implore you, from the public’s perspective, to reach an agreement,” says Willner, in reference to how politically and societally charged the Sde Teiman leak affair has become.

“Deliberate on it until white smoke comes out,” she says, a reference to the often hard-fought agreement on appointing a new pope. “We will wait for you here until five o’clock, until six o’clock, seven o’clock and even later. Just reach an agreement.”

UNICEF says Israel blocking over a million syringes needed to vaccinate Gazan children

UNICEF says essential items including syringes to vaccinate children and bottles for baby formula are being denied entry into Gaza by Israel, preventing aid agencies from reaching those in need in the war-devastated territory.

As UNICEF undertakes a mass children’s vaccination campaign with a fragile ceasefire in place, it says it faces serious challenges getting 1.6 million syringes and solar-powered fridges to store vaccine vials into Gaza. The syringes have awaited customs clearance since August, UNICEF says.

“Both the syringes and the… refrigerators are considered dual-use by Israel and these items we’re finding very hard to get them through clearances and inspections, yet they are urgent,” UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires says.

“Dual-use” refers to items Israel deems to have possible military as well as civilian applications.

COGAT, the arm of the Israeli military that oversees aid flows into Gaza, does not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has previously said it is not limiting the entry of food, water, medical supplies and shelter items. It has also accused Hamas of stealing humanitarian supplies, accusations the terror group denies.

Turkish prosecutor seeks 2,000-year jail term for Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu in graft case

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu of the main center-left opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) receives official mandate to serve five more years in Istanbul on April 3, 2024. (Yasin Akgul/ AFP/ File)

A Turkish prosecutor has demanded a potential prison sentence of more than 2,000 years for Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who has been jailed since March pending trial on corruption charges that he and his main opposition party deny.

The indictment, presented by the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor, accuses Imamoglu and 401 others of involvement in a graft network that allegedly caused 160 billion lira ($3.81 billion) in damages to the state over a 10-year period.

Hundreds of members and elected leaders of Imamoglu’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) face an array of corruption-related charges in a crackdown the party calls politicized and anti-democratic.

IDF says it demolished tunnel used to abduct Hadar Goldin 11 years ago

Hours after the body of Lt. Hadar Goldin was returned to Israel by Hamas on Sunday, the IDF demolished the tunnel to which he was abducted 11 years ago, the army says.

At 9:05 a.m. on August 1, 2014, just over an hour after the start of a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire during the 2014 Gaza War, Hamas gunmen emerged from a tunnel in the southeastern part of Rafah and attacked troops of the Givati Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, killing three soldiers, including Goldin, whose body was dragged by the terror operatives into their tunnel.

The military says that over 11 years later, just after his body was returned, troops of the Nahal Brigade razed the tunnel opening.

The tunnel to which Lt. Hadar Goldin was abducted on August 1, 2014, in southern Gaza’s Rafah is demolished on November 9, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson to retire after 20 years

Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF's Arabic-language spokesman, during a Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee meeting at the Knesset, March 2, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Col. Avichay Adraee, who has been the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson for the past 20 years, is set to soon retire from the military.

Adraee became a familiar face during the ongoing war, especially over the military’s use of his social media pages to issue evacuation warnings ahead of strikes in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iran.

With millions of followers across his social media accounts and hundreds of interviews on Arabic-language media channels, Adraee became the IDF’s face in the Arab world.

Adraee began his service in the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 8200. In 2005, toward the end of his mandatory service, he was offered the chance to head the Arabic media department in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, a position he has held since.

Adraee received numerous threats to his life over the years. Last year, a Palestinian terrorist who carried out a deadly car-ramming spree in the central city of Ra’anana initially sought to target Adraee, according to police.

IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin is set to select a new Arabic-language spokesperson soon.

UK’s Corbyn says new party committed to ‘absolute opposition to Zionism’

Member of Parliament (MP) Jeremy Corbyn takes part in a Pro-Palestinian march in central London, on February 15, 2025 (BENJAMIN CREMEL / AFP)

Former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said the new Your Party, which he leads, will be committed to “absolute opposition to Zionism,” according to Jewish News.

Speaking at a meeting of the new party in London on Sunday, Corbyn told an activist who asked him about policy: “The whole Zionist project was about expanding Israel forevermore, which is exactly what [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is doing with the Greater Israel project. So, yes — absolute opposition to Zionism, and absolute solidarity with the people of Palestine.

“And now we have the genocide, and it is a genocide in Gaza. We in Your Party are absolutely in solidarity with the people of Palestine, and will be guided by them on the policies we develop and the direction we take going forward.”

High Court judges note legal problems with Levin’s pick to oversee Sde Teiman probe

Judge Asher Kula at the Nazareth District Court, June 7, 2022. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Judges at the High Court of Justice raise a significant difficulty with Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s appointment of State Ombudsman for Judges Asher Kula to oversee the criminal investigation into the Sde Teiman video leak affair, pointing out that the law for the ombudsman for judges explicitly bars him from any other role or job.

“The problem is that as ombudsman there is a clause in the law which says he can’t do any other job, either directly or indirectly,” points out Judge Yael Wilner.

Judge Alex Stein backs up his colleague, saying that whereas the law allows for other officeholders having another role, “in our situation… the legislature did not allow the ombudsman for judges to deal with anything else.”

Wilner also asserts that the ombudsman for judges has an apparent conflict of interest in overseeing a criminal investigation and prosecution, since he could potentially file an indictment that would be dealt with by judges over whom he has authority as ombudsman.

Zion Amir, representing Levin, nevertheless tells the judges that “any decision you make against the appointment of Asher Kula will undermine trust in the law enforcement system,” and receives applause from sections of the audience in the courtroom.

Singer Idan Amedi blasts government handling of hostages, at Goldin funeral

Idan Amedi, an Israeli singer-songwriter, actor and reserve soldier who was seriously injured while fighting in Gaza, eulogizes fallen soldier Hadar Goldin at his funeral.

Amedi describes meeting Hadar’s father Simcha nearly 10 years ago, and joining the family’s struggle to bring Hadar’s body home.

“We thought [official] people were sitting in a room, figuring out how to bring back hostages. We learned we were wrong,” says Amedi.

He says the family thought that the Israeli government saw the return of captives as an Israeli and Jewish value, but learned that it did not.

“They looked at us with empty eyes,” says Amedi. “Some said it’s important but not strategic, some said the bigger picture is more complex, some said we don’t go to war over dead bodies.”

He laments that aid and money were given to the Gazans with Goldin’s body still held hostage.

“Hamas opened its hands for everything, and prepared for a massacre, and we put the foot on the gas,” says Amedi.

He said that the Goldins, months before October 7, told members of the government that the taking of the next hostages wasn’t a question of “if” but “when.”

“October 7 was a failure,” says Amedi. “It wasn’t a disaster. A car accident is a disaster. All the signs were written on the wall.”

הדקה הזאת של עידן עמדי מדבר צריכה להיות העדות הראשונה בוועדת החקירה הממלכתית שתקום כאן. צפו: pic.twitter.com/j031sgeWCb

— רואי ????️ (@Roi_) November 11, 2025

He says that rehabilitation can happen when the trauma and crisis are recognized, when mistakes aren’t swept under the rug, when the internal errors are investigated and fixed.

At the end of his eulogy, Amedi sings “It’s Over,” which he wrote six years ago and which he says he has sung with the Goldins many times over the years.

High Court rejects Rabbinate request for another hearing on women taking rabbinical tests

The High Court of Justice has rejected the Chief Rabbinate’s request to hold an additional hearing on opening rabbinical tests to women, a spokesperson for the ITIM religious rights group, one of the petitioners, tells The Times of Israel.

The rabbinate administers tests in the major areas of halacha (Jewish law). Candidates wishing to be recognized as rabbis must pass a minimum of six tests. The rabbinate also grants other types of certificates to those who pass the tests, with significant economic and social implications.

In 2019, ITIM and some other groups and individuals petitioned the court, arguing that women should be able to take the tests to receive the same benefits (they did not ask for women to receive rabbinical ordination, which in mainstream Orthodox Judaism is reserved for men).

After a lengthy legal battle, in July, the court instructed the rabbinate to allow women to take the tests. Subsequently, the rabbinate never opened the registration for the following round of testing, which was set to take place this month.

Last month, the rabbinate declared its willingness to allow women to take some of the tests, requesting an additional hearing and the possibility of administering the November tests only to men.

The court rarely grants additional hearings after a ruling, and the rabbinate’s request has been denied.

Defense Ministry chief says Treasury ‘delaying dozens of critical deals’ in clash over budget

Defense Ministry Director General Amir Baram speaks at a Finance Ministry conference, September 15, 2025. (Defense Ministry)

Defense Ministry director Amir Baram slams the Treasury for “delaying the signing of dozens of critical deals that affect fundamental security,” as the two bodies continue to clash over Israel’s budget.

Last week, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich harshly criticized the defense establishment for inefficiently managing its spending, as he unveiled the principles of the 2026 state budget following two years of ballooning war costs.

This morning, Baram convened the ministry’s management for a discussion on “managing the defense budget against the backdrop of developing security threats.”

“After two years of an intense and unprecedented multifront war, which included intensive activity by the defense system on seven fronts, the Finance Ministry is diverting attention and focusing on issues whose impact is minimal compared to the severe security threats emerging from Iran and other nearby and distant arenas,” Baram says at the meeting, according to remarks published by the ministry.

“In light of the focus of our enemies’ efforts, the State of Israel is obligated to invest now in massive procurement, in an emergency format. We must act in every way to restore worn-out combat units to full operational readiness,” he continues.

“Instead, the Finance Ministry is holding back the Defense Ministry and delaying the signing of dozens of critical deals worth billions of shekels, including munitions, spare parts for tanks, drone acquisitions for combat units, protection for communities along the Lebanon and Gaza borders, and more. The Finance Ministry is also refusing to sign contracts for the construction of the barrier on the eastern [Jordanian] border, contrary to the decision of the Defense Procurement Ministerial Committee and despite the clear emergence of threats,” Baram says.

He adds that the defense establishment is “committed to drawing lessons and improving efficiency, but while the Finance Ministry claims that we are repeating past mistakes from after the Yom Kippur War, when the defense budget stood at 35% of GDP, now, after a year of intense war, the defense budget stands at 6.7% of GDP, and our budgetary request would set it at only 5% of GDP in two years.”

To date, the two-year war has cost the economy NIS 250 billion ($76 billion), out of which NIS 180 billion were direct costs for defense and security needs, according to Smotrich. This year’s defense budget has already reached NIS 163 billion, and in 2026, it is projected to be around NIS 90 billion or 4.5% of GDP, according to the finance minister.

According to the timetable presented by the Finance Ministry, the 2026 budget will be submitted for government approval on December 4. The budget will then be submitted to the Knesset for approval in its first reading in early January, and in second and third readings in March. By law, the budget needs to be passed by the end of March, or new elections will be triggered.

Sharon Wrobel contributed to this report.

Reservist who fired in the air near West Bank olive harvesters dismissed from duty

An IDF reservist member of the emergency response team in the settlement of Revava in the West Bank was dismissed from reserve service after firing into the air last Tuesday near Palestinians and Israeli activists harvesting olives near the village of Deir Istiya, The Times of Israel has learned.

During the same incident, a drone apparently operated by the settlement team struck and injured an Israeli activist. Later, as a confrontation broke out between the harvesters and two reservists from Revava’s response unit who arrived at the scene, one of the soldiers fired into the air. The second soldier involved received a reprimand.

The disciplinary measures were taken following an investigation that found the troops had acted irresponsibly and disproportionately to the level of threat.

Ending leadership saga, Rabbi Doron Perez and Yaakov Hagoel to lead WZO; no job for Yair Netanyahu

After a dramatic negotiation process with several surprise turns, the next leadership of the World Zionist Organization has been selected.

Rabbi Doron Perez, chairman of the religious Zionist World Mizrachi movement and father of Cpt. Daniel Perez, who was killed in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, will split the five-year term with the incumbent chairman of the WZO, Yaakov Hagoel.

Both are associated with the right-wing coalition of parties involved in the WZO. Yizhar Hess, a senior representative of the Mercaz slate for the Conservative/Masorti Movement, has been elected deputy and acting chairman.

These positions, alongside the leadership of the Jewish National Fund-KKL, collectively command budgets of more than a billion dollars a year to be used for Jewish causes, including education and promoting Jewish immigration.

The incoming KKL leadership, not yet announced, is expected to split the five-year term between representatives from the right-wing and left-wing blocs.

The leadership appointments don’t usually get so much attention, but a series of controversial events in recent weeks has brought them to the forefront.

Two weeks ago, at the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, a previous leadership agreement was torn up at the last minute when it was revealed that Likud MK and Netanyahu loyalist Miki Zohar had snuck in a cushy job for the prime minister’s son, Yair Netanyahu.

In the end, the younger Netanyahu will not get any position in the WZO.

Last week, as a revised agreement was being prepared, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid announced that his party would no longer take part in any of the negotiations, decrying a system steeped in “a culture of corruption and political appointments” even as he had become a major power broker within the WZO.

In Estonia, FM Sa’ar says Israel won’t be deterred by Iranian efforts to target Israeli missions

Visiting Estonia to open a new Israeli embassy in Tallinn, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar vows that Jerusalem will “not be deterred” by Iranian efforts to target Israeli diplomatic bodies around the world.

Commenting on the thwarting of a plot by Iran to assassinate the Israeli ambassador to Mexico, Sa’ar says that “Iran constantly targets Israel’s embassies, ambassadors, and diplomats.”

“I want to send a message that will be heard from Tallinn to Tehran,” the minister continues, speaking at a joint conference alongside his Estonian counterpart, Margus Tsahkna. “We will not be deterred. On the contrary, we will continue to expand Israel’s relations around the world,” he says, adding, “We will invest more efforts in friendly countries like Estonia.”

Sa’ar announced the opening of the new embassy in Tallinn in July and is set to officially open it today. He says that “the opening of the embassy is a manifestation of our determination to strengthen relations between our countries at all levels, political, economic, and people-to-people ties.”

This is the third new Israeli embassy Sa’ar has opened since taking office, following those in Moldova and Zambia.

Hadar Goldin’s fiancée: ‘A moment of light and truth, that things are finally in their place’

Edna Sarusi, who was Hadar Goldin’s fiancée at the time he was killed, speaks about his spirit, which she says always pushed away the darkness.

She says seeing his body yesterday at the Shura army base was “a moment of light and truth, that things are finally in their place.”

“This struggle was so just, because you don’t leave soldiers behind, and now that you’re home, it’s so holy to bring you here,” says Sarusi. “That’s just how it should be.”

Sarusi speaks of how she has become part of his family, how she has gotten to know Hadar’s parents, siblings and all those around them.

“I didn’t get to marry you,” says Sarusi. But, she says, she learned “how to fight for things that are important to us.”

Goldin’s sister thanks IDF: ‘You brought back my little brother. Not Hamas — you’

Hadar Goldin’s older sister, Ayelet, thanks the soldiers who served with her brother, his comrades who tried to rescue him in the tunnels in 2014, and the IDF for bringing him home.

“You brought [back] my own little brother. Not Hamas — you. I saw him coming out of hell in your arms… You brought him the honor he deserved,” she says.

“‘Thank you’ is insufficient,” she adds.

Addressing her brother, Ayelet says, “I stand here feeling that these are historic moments — moments that symbolize the light. Over the past two days, I’ve seen you everywhere; the whole country was cloaked in Hadar,” a play on her brother’s name, the Hebrew word for glory.

“I could feel you with us all the way to the cemetery, and I was privileged to stand by your side yesterday.”

She adds: “You, who went out to protect us and gave everything. Just look how many have fought for you. With determination, without distinction of religion or politics, in every possible way.”

איילת, אחותו של סגן הדר גולדין: "כל הדרך לחמת יחד איתנו. ביומיים האחרונים הארץ לבשה הדר. הבנתי שאתה לא פרטי שלי – אלא של כולם. אתה שיצאת להגן עלינו ולחמת ונתת הכל – תראה כמה נלחמנו עליך. זה מסע היסטורי של תנועה שקמה מלמטה ומשנה את המציאות ובונה את ההיסטוריה של מדינת ישראל"

לכתבה… pic.twitter.com/V72C1A7MOj

— C14 (@C14_news) November 11, 2025

Hadar Goldin’s twin: ‘Our victory is that we all, all of Israel, are here for each other’

Tzur Goldin, Hadar Goldin’s twin brother, says the terror of Hamas is meant to break Israel, to make Israelis think about who’s worth more and who’s worth less, “to break us from inside.”

“Our victory in this war is that we all, all of Israel, are here for each other,” says Tzur. “We don’t give up on one another. No one is left behind.”

Goldin suggests that in a sense, his brother had been waiting to come back until all the hostages were released home — but stresses that this includes the remaining four bodies still held in Gaza.

“There is no Tzur without Hadar,” says Tzur. “Rest in peace. Your story isn’t over, an entire nation brought you home.”

Hadar Goldin’s brother: ‘This nation standing here, this family — you shouldn’t mess with this family’

Chemi Goldin, Hadar Goldin’s older brother, rails against the government during his eulogy for his brother. He says Israeli politicians chased money, elections and power in the years since his brother’s body was taken captive.

He tells his brother that a new generation has grown up, “a generation that didn’t need uniforms to go out to battle, or an order to go to the helicopters, or anything in order to fight for one another.”

He addresses Hamas terrorists in Gaza, whom he calls “the villains who aren’t Jews or Christians or Muslims, who are made of just mud and filth.”

חמי גולדין, אחיו של הדר גולדין ז"ל, במסר לארגון הטרור חמאס: "תסתכלו היטב על העם הזה שעומד כאן, על המשפחה הזו, כי עם משפחת עם ישראל לא מתעסקים. אם אתם חושבים לרגע שאתם מחזיקים עוד כמה מהחטופים – תחשבו שוב, כי אנחנו מחזירים את כולם"#משדר_מיוחד pic.twitter.com/sAg0kUW5xi

— C14 (@C14_news) November 11, 2025

“Look at this nation standing here, this family,” he says, “because you shouldn’t mess with this family, the family of Israel. If you think you still have a few more hostages, think again, because we’ll bring everyone back.”

European officials: Partition of Gaza increasingly likely as Trump plan stalls

A Palestinian child runs past buildings destroyed in the Gaza war, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, November 6, 2025. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

A de facto partition of Gaza between an area controlled by Israel and another ruled by Hamas is increasingly likely, multiple sources tell Reuters, with efforts to advance US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war beyond a ceasefire faltering.

Six European officials with direct knowledge of the efforts to implement the next phase of the plan say it is effectively stalled and that reconstruction now appears likely to be limited to the Israel-controlled area.

That could lead to years of separation, they warn.

Under the first stage of the plan, which took effect on October 10, the Israeli military currently controls 53% of the Mediterranean territory, including much of its farmland, along with Rafah in the south, parts of Gaza City and other urban areas.

Nearly all Gaza’s 2 million people are crammed into tent camps and the rubble of shattered cities across the rest of Gaza, which is under Hamas control.

The next stage of the plan foresees Israel withdrawing further from the so-called Yellow Line agreed to under Trump’s plan, alongside the establishment of a transitional authority to govern Gaza, the deployment of a multinational security force meant to take over from the Israeli military, the disarmament of Hamas, and the start of reconstruction.

But the plan provides no timelines or mechanisms for implementation. Meanwhile, Hamas has failed to hand over all hostages’ bodies and refuses to disarm, Israel rejects any involvement by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, and uncertainty persists over the multinational force.

Without a major push by the United States to break the impasse, the Yellow Line looks set to become the de facto border indefinitely dividing Gaza, according to 18 sources, among them the six European officials and a former US official familiar with the talks.

Source close to PM denies he promised to grant trapped Hamas operatives safe passage

After allegations from Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman this morning that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised the White House he would grant Hamas terror operatives holed up in Rafah safe passage back to Hamas territory, a “source close to Netanyahu” denies the charge.

“The prime minister did not commit to the Americans to release the terrorists from Rafah,” says the source.

Notably, the source does not say anything about what Netanyahu might agree to in the coming days.

Some 100-200 Hamas terrorists are in tunnels inside Israeli-controlled territory in the southern Gaza Strip, with the Trump administration reportedly pushing for a deal that would grant them clemency in exchange for disarming.

Givati Brigade commander eulogizes Hadar Goldin: ‘You were the best of the best’

The commander of the Givati Brigade recalls at Lt. Hadar Goldin’s funeral that even at the beginning of the slain officer’s military service, he was identified as outstanding.

“About 14 years ago, I was given the task of commanding the brigade’s preparation for the squad commanders’ course. More than a hundred of the brigade’s troops began the preparation. I sat down with the entire team of commanders to summarize and choose the outstanding trainees. I asked each commander to write on a note the name of the trainee he recommended for excellence. The trainee that everyone chose was you, our brother Hadar,” Col. Netanel Shamaka says.

“You were the best of the best. Even then, we saw in you those very special qualities of yours. Every task you were given, you carried out with excellence,” he says.

Since the day of Goldin’s killing and abduction on August 1, 2014, Shamaka says, “We have educated an entire generation of fighters and commanders in your spirit.”

“In every command course, in every training program, we told your story, we told of the spirit, the sense of responsibility, the integrity, and the professionalism,” he says.

During the ongoing war in Gaza, Shamaka says that everywhere the Givati Brigade operated, “we thought of bringing you back.”

“In this war… with all its painful costs and the heavy price we have borne as a people, as an army, and as a brigade, we have closed the chapter of Operation Protective Edge, a chapter that waited 11 years to be closed,” he adds.

Hadar Goldin’s mother: ‘We waited for you 11 years’

Leah Goldin, mother of fallen soldier Hadar Goldin, speaks at her son’s funeral.

She thanks everyone who brought back her son.

“Hadar, we waited for you 11 years, it’s a long time,” she says. “A long time.”

She says she doesn’t have an explanation for how the family was able to struggle for so long. Whenever they felt weak from the effort, someone would say, “But what would Hadar say?”

“Still, I kept waiting for you to suddenly appear and say, ‘Everything’s okay,'” she says.

בדרכו האחרונה | לאה גולדין סופדת בדמעות לבנה, סגן הדר גולדין: "חיכינו לך 11 שנים, זה המון זמן. אנחנו פה בגלל כל הוראות ההפעלה שהשארת לנו ובגלל מי שאתה. חיכיתי שתקפוץ ותגיד שהכל בסדר. תדע שתמיד אהבתי אותך"

לכתבה – https://t.co/DOSqJXXeUF#משדר_מיוחד pic.twitter.com/rHMpuS4OnB

— C14 (@C14_news) November 11, 2025

“I always loved you, Hadar. May you rest in peace.”

Simcha Goldin: Israel ‘abandoned’ Hadar for 11 years, ‘became addicted to money, honor, power’

Simcha Goldin, the father of fallen soldier Hadar Goldin, eulogizes his son at his funeral.

Goldin describes the way his sone was able to connect with people. He says Hadar didn’t swear and didn’t allow his soldiers to use foul language. He saw it as a weakness, and Goldin asks the audience to take that upon themselves.

“Through all our tears, always remember Hadar’s smile — we have no choice but to continue his path. I ask you to act like Hadar, and gain a little more Hadar,” he says, a play on the name which in Hebrew means splendor.

“In Hadar’s prayer book, he would recite a daily prayer: ‘Grant our hearts to see the virtues of our friends and not their flaws,’” he says. “Accept Hadar’s words, and apply them to yourselves.”

Goldin says that over the past 11 years, “we abandoned him in the enemy’s captivity.” The nation, he says, “became addicted to money, honor, and power.”

שמחה גולדין והרמטכ״ל אייל זמיר pic.twitter.com/sG8UJJFdSG

— ישראל כהן (@Israelcohen911) November 11, 2025

“We, the Goldin family, saw the great moral decline through Hadar’s abandonment. We failed to convince Israeli society — until Simchat Torah, October 7,” he says. “Hadar said that to win, one must have understanding, ability, and will — and that is exactly what the fighters, men and women, have shown in the past two years.”

“They brought Hadar back to Israel and now there are no more empty graves in the Kfar Saba cemetery,” says Goldin.

With tears, he salutes his son.

Goldin calls for building what he says is the kind of army Israel needs, made up of every kind of Israeli — Jewish and Druze and Bedouin and religious and secular “and of course Haredim.”

“We’re behind you, good luck to you and to us.”

IDF chief at Hadar Goldin’s funeral: With fallen soldier’s return, 2014 war has come to an end

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir embraces Simcha Goldin, father of Lt. Hadar Goldin, at Goldin's funeral at the Kfar Saba military cemetery, November 11, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Speaking at the funeral of Lt. Hadar Goldin, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says the 2014 Gaza War has ended with the return of the officer’s body, 11 years after his killing and abduction by Hamas.

“Fighters of the Givati Brigade, comrades of Goldin, you fought alongside him in Operation Protective Edge. You enlisted and fought in the current campaign with bravery. For you, for the entire IDF, and for the country, things have come full circle. Operation Protective Edge has ended,” Zamir says.

“Today we accompany Hadar on his final journey, which he has long deserved, after a period in which you, dear family, have become a compass and a conscience for the entire people of Israel, a compass that we in the IDF will continue to carry forever,” he says.

Zamir says that the IDF, like Goldin’s family, “never gave up for a moment” on trying to return his body. “The return of Hadar is thanks to the operational strength of the IDF and its achievements throughout the campaign,” he adds.

Thousands at funeral of Lt. Hadar Goldin in Kfar Saba

Thousands attend the funeral of Lt. Hadar Goldin, the fallen soldier whose body was released to Israel Sunday after 11 years of captivity.

Goldin is being buried in the Kfar Saba military cemetery, in the town where he was born and raised and where his parents live.

סגן הדר גולדין מובא למנוחות pic.twitter.com/XXo3z6vGLs

— חזקי ברוך (@HezkeiB) November 11, 2025

IDF Chief of staff Eyal Zamir, family members and others cover Goldin’s coffin with soil ahead of the eulogies.

Simcha Goldin recites the Kaddish over his son, his white shirt ripped as a sign of mourning.

This is the second funeral for Goldin, who was killed in August 2014. At the time, the IDF Rabbinate declared him deceased for the purposes of Jewish burial and grieving rituals. His family held a funeral then in Kfar Saba, attended by thousands, and observed the traditional seven-day Jewish mourning period (shiva).

El Al posts another record quarterly profit as effects of war linger

Israel’s flagship carrier El Al posts another quarterly record profit, benefiting from strong demand, raking in returns as many foreign airlines repeatedly suspended flight services to and from Tel Aviv during the war in Gaza.

The airline reports earnings of $203 million in the July-September period, up more than 8 percent from $187 million during the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose over 7% to $1.07 billion from $1 billion in the corresponding quarter last year. El Al says its planes were 95.3% full, on average, during the quarter, up from 93.8% during the same period last year.

Major foreign airlines have repeatedly halted services to Israel following the outbreak of war in October 2023, ceding the market to El Al, some smaller Israeli carriers, and a handful of other airlines, mostly from the Persian Gulf and Eastern Europe. Some major US and European airlines have recently started to resume flight services to and from Israel, albeit on a limited basis.

El Al’s record profits have led some to accuse it of price-gouging and war profiteering, which the carrier denies.

WATCH: High Court begins hearing on who will have authority over Sde Teiman leak probe

The High Court of Justice begins a highly charged hearing on the latest clash between Justice Minister Yariv Levin and the legal system, in this case over the Sde Teiman video leak scandal, which has stirred political passions and divisions in the country in recent weeks.

Following the admission by former military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi at the end of October that she herself had leaked a video purportedly showing abuse by IDF soldiers of a Palestinian security detainee, Levin said he was removing Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara from oversight over the investigation and appointing State Ombudsman for Judges Asher Kula in her stead.

Levin justified his move due to the fact that the attorney general had had ultimate oversight over an earlier internal investigation by the military advocate general’s office into the leak, which recommended not opening a criminal investigation into the matter and was likely compromised.

Baharav-Miara refused to give up supervision of the case, rejecting Levin’s claim that she had a conflict of interest and insisting that Levin had no authority to appoint a different prosecutor. Petitions were subsequently filed to the High Court, with one requesting the court order the attorney general to recuse herself due to the alleged conflict of interest, and several others requesting the court countermand Levin’s appointment of Kula, alleging political interference in a criminal investigation.

In the meantime, the legal adviser to the Justice Ministry determined that Baharav-Miara does have a conflict of interest due to her involvement in the internal probe, and recommended she not be involved in the investigation. Baharav-Miara then sought to hand off supervision of the case to State Attorney Amit Aisman, but Levin argues that he is subject to the attorney general’s authority and therefore must also be excluded from the probe.

Baharav-Miara, for her part, has argued that Levin’s appointment of Kula constitutes a “dangerous precedent” for political interference in criminal investigations, and violates “basic principles regarding the independence of the law enforcement system… from the justice minister or any other member of the government.”

Yemen’s Houthis signal they’ve stopped attacks on Israel and Red Sea shipping

Yemen’s Houthi rebels signal they’ve stopped their attacks against Israel and shipping in the Red Sea as a shaky ceasefire holds in the Gaza Strip.

In an undated letter to Hamas’s Qassam Brigades published online by the group, the Houthis offered their clearest signal that their attacks have halted.

“We are closely monitoring developments and declare that if the enemy resumes its aggression against Gaza, we will return to our military operations deep inside the Zionist entity, and we will reinstate the ban on Israeli navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas,” the letter from Maj. Gen. Yusuf Hassan al-Madani, the Houthi military’s chief of staff, reads.

The Houthis have not offered any formal acknowledgment their campaign in the region has halted. Israel’s military, which has launched attacks killing senior Houthi leaders, has not immediately responded to a request for comment.

IDF troops raid Lebanon border town overnight, destroy buildings used by Hezbollah

IDF troops conducted an overnight raid in southern Lebanon and destroyed several buildings that were being used by Hezbollah, the military says.

Soldiers of the 769th “Hiram” Regional Brigade operated in the southern Lebanon border town of Houla late Monday to destroy the buildings, according to the IDF.

In a separate ground operation last month, the IDF says it located and neutralized several explosive devices that had been stored in the same buildings.

במסגרת פעילות לילית של כוחות חטיבה 769 בדרום לבנון: הושמדו מספר מבנים ששימשו כתשתיות טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה

כוחות חטיבה 769 השמידו במהלך הלילה (ב׳), מספר מבנים ששימשו כתשתיות טרור בכפר חולא שבדרום לבנון.

כמו כן, בפעילות שהתבצעה בחודש שעבר באותו המרחב, הכוחות איתרו ונטרלו… pic.twitter.com/dNPCUv108d

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 11, 2025

Report: IDF officers call for urgent action against West Bank settler violence

An Israeli settler attacks a journalist during the olive-picking season in the village of Beita, south of Nablus in the West Bank, November 8, 2025. (Nasser Ishtayeh/ Flash90)

Top IDF officers are calling for urgent measures to combat escalating settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, Ynet reports.

In a recent meeting, brigade commanders in the region urged Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir to take immediate action to stem a growing wave of violent attacks, with one source telling the outlet that “all red lines have been crossed.”

Ynet says military officials believe the violence and extremism is receiving a tailwind from some government ministers, who have personally appeared to support illegal activities such as the construction of unauthorized outposts.

Army officers describe the police, under far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, as reluctant to enforce the law, failing to deploy adequately to contain violence and rarely arresting suspects in violent incidents.

“The police are not really with us in this fight,” one senior officer says. “That’s why we’re seeing a surge in both the frequency and severity of these violent incidents.”

US said planning to build major base near Gaza for international forces

A displaced Palestinian stands on the rubble of buildings destroyed in the Gaza war, as the sun sets over the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip on November 10, 2025 (Eyad Baba / AFP)

The US is planning to establish a large military base in Israel near the Gaza border for use by international forces that would operate inside the Strip to maintain the ceasefire there, Ynet and Shomrim report.

The joint reports says the facility is expected to house several thousand troops, at a cost estimated at around $500 million.

A security official tells the outlets the move constitutes a significant shift for Israel, which has traditionally sought to minimize international involvement in territories under its control, and highlights Washington’s determination to take an active role in Gaza and the conflict.

Michael Milshtein, a senior researcher at Tel Aviv University’s Dayan Center and former head of Palestinian affairs in Israeli military intelligence, says the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) in Kiryat Gat, where the Gaza ceasefire is being monitored, “will be responsible for most operations in Gaza, and Israel’s status as the central player in the Strip is about to change.”

Signs of this shift are already apparent at the CMCC.

Funeral procession begins for returned soldier Hadar Goldin, 11 years after death and abduction

Lt. Hadar Goldin, killed in Gaza on August 1, 2014. (Courtesy)

Thousands of people are expected to take part in the funeral of Hadar Goldin, the slain soldier whose body was handed over to Israel on Sunday, 11 years after his killing and abduction in the Gaza Strip.

Goldin’s funeral will be held at 10 a.m. in Kfar Saba. A funeral procession is now starting from the IDF’s Shura Base near Rehovot to Kfar Saba. Many people are expected to line roads along the way to honor Goldin.

France’s Macron to meet Palestinian leader Abbas

French President Emmanuel Macron will meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris today to discuss the “full implementation” of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, the Elysee says.

The meeting comes a month into a fragile truce between Hamas and Israel, following two years of war triggered by the Palestinian terror group’s October 7, 2023 attack against Israel.

Abbas, 89, is the longtime head of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited control over parts of the West Bank and is being considered to assume governance in Gaza under the deal.

The two leaders “will discuss the next steps in the peace plan, particularly in the areas of security, governance and reconstruction,” says the French presidency.

Trump said last week he expected an International Stabilisation Force tasked with monitoring the ceasefire to be in Gaza “very soon.”

US Senate approves bill to end government shutdown, sending it to the House

WASHINGTON — The US Senate passes legislation to reopen the government, bringing the longest shutdown in history closer to an end as a small group of Democrats ratified a deal with Republicans despite searing criticism from within their party.

The 41-day shutdown could last a few more days as members of the House, which has been on recess since mid-September, return to Washington to vote on the legislation. US President Donald Trump has signaled support for the bill, saying Monday that “we’re going to be opening up our country very quickly.”

The final Senate vote, 60-40, breaks a grueling stalemate that lasted more than six weeks as Democrats demanded that Republicans negotiate with them to extend health care tax credits that expire Jan. 1. The Republicans never did, and five moderate Democrats eventually switched their votes as federal food aid was delayed, airport delays worsened and hundreds of thousands of federal workers continued to go unpaid.

House Speaker Mike Johnson urges lawmakers to start returning to Washington “right now” given shutdown-related travel delays. “We have to do this as quickly as possible,” says Johnson, who has kept the House out of session since mid-September, when the House passed a bill to continue government funding.

Trump says GOP’s Taylor Greene, who accused Israel of ‘genocide,’ has ‘lost her way’

President Donald Trump greets Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., after addressing a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump says that Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has “lost her way” after her criticism that Trump needs to focus less on foreign policy and more on the home front.

Greene, a member of the House of Representatives from Georgia, has long been a reliable ally and fierce defender of Trump until recent weeks when she has taken positions at odds with the White House and her fellow Republicans.

On Monday, Greene said in a social media post that Trump was meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, “a former Al Qaeda terrorist,” and that instead she would like to see “nonstop meetings at the WH on domestic policy not foreign policy and foreign country’s leaders.”

Greene’s increasingly vocal criticism has been noteworthy because most Republican lawmakers express deep loyalty to Trump to avoid drawing fire from him. Greene has largely tried to avoid criticizing Trump directly and says she still supports him.

Trump, asked about her criticism by reporters in the Oval Office, makes clear he’s aware of it.

“I don’t know what happened to Marjorie,” Trump says. “Nice woman, but I don’t know what happened. She’s lost her way, I think.”

As for her criticism of Trump’s focus on foreign policy, the president says he was working on problems abroad for a reason.

“I have to view the presidency as a worldwide situation, not locally. I mean, we could have a world that’s on fire, where wars come to our shores very easily,” Trump says.

Greene has called the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza a “genocide,” and has praised former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, for an “incredible career.” Trump has deemed Pelosi “evil.”

US says Rubio and Turkish FM discussed Gaza ceasefire, ‘next steps to ensure regional stability’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a meeting earlier Monday in Washington with visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan “to discuss the ceasefire in Gaza and next steps to ensure stability in the region,” the State Department says in a readout.

The meeting is the latest demonstration of Turkey’s prominent role in the monitoring and implementing the Gaza ceasefire deal.

The US is relying heavily on Turkey in mediating an agreement between Israel and Hamas that would see Jerusalem grant safe passage to 100 to 200 Hamas fighters holed up on the Israeli-side of the Yellow Line in Gaza in exchange for those operatives giving up their weapons, US and Arab officials have told The Times of Israel.

AG: Levin appointing prosecutor for Sde Teiman affair sets ‘dangerous precedent’

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends a hearing of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee at the parliament in Jerusalem, September 30, 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/ Flash90)

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells the High Court of Justice that Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s appointment of an external prosecutor for the Sde Teiman video leak affair constitutes a “dangerous precedent” for political interference in criminal investigations.

Following the arrest of the former military advocate general for allegedly leaking the video, then lying about probing it, Levin has sought to appoint State Ombudsman for Judges Asher Kula to oversee the investigation, alleging that Baharav-Miara has a conflict of interest since she had ultimate oversight over the army probe.

Writing on behalf of the attorney general in response to petitions to the High Court over the matter, the State Attorney’s Office says there is no precedent in Israeli legal history of a justice minister appointing a specific prosecutor for a specific crime in an ongoing investigation.

“In the State of Israel, the officials that conduct criminal proceedings are the investigative and prosecutorial authorities, and not investigators or prosecutors appointed ad hoc by a decision of the political ranks to handle a concrete case,” writes the State Attorney’s Office.

As well as “illegitimate political intervention,” Levin’s appointment also constitutes an “unauthorized transfer of authority,” and an attempt to “draw the target around the arrow,” the response contends.

The State Attorney’s Office also asserts that Kula himself has a conflict of interest, since he would be involved in a criminal prosecution while at the same time having disciplinary power over the judges who hear the case, owing to his role as ombudsman for judges.

“This decision, which is flawed through many fundamental legal flaws, contradicts basic principles regarding the independence of the law enforcement system and its independence from the justice minister or any other member of the government,” the response declares.