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The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they happened.
As settler attacks rise, police enforcement has plummeted, data shows
A Palestinian man uses a mobile phone to record a burning truck after an Israeli settler attack in the village of Beit Lid, east of Tulkarm, West Bank, on November 11, 2025. (JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)
The number of police investigations into Jewish nationalist violence in the West Bank has sharply declined over the past three years, according to a Channel 12 report, even as settler attacks on Palestinians have reached all-time highs.
There has been a 73% decline in the number of investigations opened since 2023, according to the outlet, under far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. Police have opened only 60 investigations into settler violence this year, compared to 150 cases in 2024 and 235 cases in 2023, despite reports of attacks going up over that period, not down.
The report says just 10% of investigations led to indictments in 2023. It says this number was even lower the next year, though it does not specify the exact percentage and simply notes that the majority of probes have stalled or were closed with no charges filed.
Ben Gvir himself resides in a West Bank settlement, and before entering politics worked as a lawyer representing mostly far-right Jewish Israelis accused of extremist violence.
The decline in the number of investigations goes hand-in-hand with a marked rise in settler violence, with over 704 incidents of “nationalistic crime” recorded by the IDF since the start of the year. In all of 2024, the IDF recorded 675 incidents of nationalistic crime.
Earlier this week, dozens of Israeli settlers launched a major arson attack on Palestinian factories and farmland in the northern West Bank, injuring four Palestinians and causing widespread property damage. Later on, masked Israeli assailants gathered at the Baron Industrial Zone, where they confronted soldiers and vandalized an IDF vehicle.
Four suspects were arrested in relation to the incident, marking a rare instance in which law enforcement has acted against settler violence. Nevertheless, three of the suspects went free within a day, leaving only one still in custody.
IDF chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said yesterday he “strongly condemns” the recent attacks by settlers, which “cross a red line,” and said the IDF “will not tolerate phenomena of a criminal minority that stains a law-abiding public.”
In lengthy statement, PM says attacks on wife and son are an attack on him
Sara Netanyahu, right, and her son Yair watch from the gallery as the new government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not in picture) is swon in at the Knesset in Jerusalem, December 29, 2022. (Amir Cohen/Pool/AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posts a lengthy statement to X in which he defends his wife Sara and son Yair from what he says are relentless media attacks.
“Sara is a woman of valor… She is a true heroine,” Netanyahu writes, saying US President Donald Trump has dubbed her “my secret weapon.”
Netanyahu also defends his son, Yair, saying he “acts vigorously, with great talent and dedication, in the global advocacy for the State of Israel,” while facing persistent attacks simply for being part of the Netanyahu family.
The younger Netanyahu has spent much of the past two years living in Miami, Florida, and is best known for his firebrand social media presence and association with far-right European and American politicians and figures. In recent months, he has denounced the current IDF chief of staff, called Qatar’s leader a modern-day Hitler, blamed the Israeli left for major forest fires, and castigated the president of France. He has also repeatedly accused various security officials of attempting to overthrow his father.
Netanyahu condemns journalists who “join the poisonous chorus” of criticism, adding: “Enough with the slander, defamation, and lies against my family.”
He particularly singles out right-wing commentators Amit Segal and Yinon Magal. The two recently criticized Sara and Yair for allegedly involving themselves in the identity of the next military advocate general and criticizing Defense Minister Israel Katz’s choice of Itai Ofir.
“I want to make it clear: harming my family, who give me the strength and support to continue leading, harms me,” Netanyahu says.
Aviva Siegel tells UN young female hostages in Gaza were repeatedly sexually assaulted
Former hostages Aviva and Keith Siegel appear before the UN Committee against Torture in Geneva and recount their harrowing experiences in captivity — Aviva for 51 days, Keith for 484.
Aviva highlights the multiple instances of sexual assault suffered by young female hostages held with her.
“One of the days, one of the girls went to the bathroom and when she came back she was shaking. I knew I wasn’t allowed to hug her, because we weren’t allowed to, but I got up and I gave her a hug. I felt I have to, she’s young,” Siegel says.
“And then after a while she told us that the Hamas terrorist touched her whole body and did whatever he wanted… She was so scared because he said to her if she ever says anything about that he will kill her, but she told us.”
Siegel adds: “I’m a witness of one of the girls that was with us, that the Hamas terrorist took her into the bathroom, told her to get undressed, came into the shower with her and forced her to do oral sex on him. And she had to smile after that happened too.”
This is a clip from the chilling testimony of captivity survivor Aviva Siegel, who spoke today in front of the UN Committee Against Torture along with her husband and fellow captivity survivor Keith.
The world must know about the atrocities perpetrated against us that happened… pic.twitter.com/NpGIsgXrr2— יוסף חדאד – Yoseph Haddad (@YosephHaddad) November 12, 2025
“I’m a witness of one of the girls that was forced to take a shower — she’s 16 years old, she’s never ever showed anybody her body. The Hamas terrorist just stood there and stared at her and smiled. I remember looking at her while she came out of there. She was shocked, I was shocked.”
Siegel says that “the worst time for me as a human being was seeing how they tortured my husband Keith, what they did to the girls, and I wasn’t even allowed to hug, I wasn’t allowed to help, I wasn’t allowed to cry, I wasn’t allowed to move.”
Israel questioned at UN over torture allegations
Israel was questioned at the United Nations yesterday and today over multiple reports alleging the torture of Palestinian detainees, in particular since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023.
Israel is undergoing its periodic review before the UN Committee against Torture.
“The committee has been deeply appalled by the description we have received, in a large number of alternative reports, of what appears to be systematic and widespread torture and ill-treatment of Palestinians, including children,” the body’s rapporteur Peter Vedel Kessing said.
“It is claimed that torture has become a deliberate and widespread tool of state policy… from arrest to interrogation to imprisonment.”
The Committee against Torture comprises 10 independent experts who monitor the implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by member countries.
Citing reports before the committee, Kessing said that since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza, torture and ill-treatment has escalated, reaching “unprecedented levels” and carried out with impunity. Those reports, he said, came from various UN bodies, Israeli, Palestinian and international non-governmental organizations, and other sources.
“Many of those detained and subsequently released have reportedly been subject to torture and other ill-treatment,” said Kessing. “Severe beatings, including on the genitals; electric shocks; being forced to remain in stress positions in prolonged periods; deliberate inhuman conditions and starvation; waterboarding; and widespread sexual insults and threats of rape,” he said, giving examples.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Daniel Meron, rejected the allegations, branding them “disinformation,” particularly, he said, on the part of the UN-mandated Commission of Inquiry, and Francesca Albanese, the UN’s independent special rapporteur on rights in the Palestinian territories, known for her strong positions against Israel and sometimes accused of antisemitism.
Meron said Israel was “committed to upholding its obligations in line with our moral values and principles, even in the face of the challenges posed by a terrorist organisation.”
Kessing said, “the fact that one of the parties to the armed conflict violates and disregards obligations under these rules cannot be used as an excuse for the other party” to do likewise.
Netanyahu thanks Trump for asking he be pardoned: ‘As usual, you call it like it is’
After US President Donald Trump sends a letter to Isaac Herzog asking the president to pardon Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu thanks Trump for his “incredible support.”
“As usual, you get right to the point and call it like it is,” Netanyahu writes on X.
“I look forward to continuing our partnership to bolster security and expand peace.”
Report: PM’s office asked Likud members to speak out in favor of presidential pardon
President Isaac Herzog speaks at the funeral of Cpt. Daniel Perez in Jerusalem, on October 15, 2025. Perez was killed on Oct. 7, 2023, and his body returned in a ceasefire deal on October 14, 2025. (Haim Zach/GPO)
The Prime Minister’s Office has asked Likud members and ministers to speak out in favor of President Isaac Herzog pardoning the prime minister in his criminal trial, Kan reports, leading several to do so.
The move came after US President Donald Trump sent Herzog a letter urging him to pardon Netanyahu. Herzog responded that the premier must make an official request before he could consider it.
The Kan report says Netanyahu’s inner circle hopes Herzog might speak with the attorney general and urge her to cancel the charge of bribery faced by the premier.
Kan’s Yaara Shapira posits that the PMO is also preparing the public for the possibility that Netanyahu will indeed submit a request for a pardon from Herzog.
US Treasury issues Iran-related missile and drone sanctions
The US sanctions individuals and entities in several countries related to their support of Iran’s ballistic missile and drone production, in the latest attempt to pressure Tehran.
A total of 32 individuals and entities based in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, China, Hong Kong, India, Germany and Ukraine that operate multiple procurement networks are being targeted in Wednesday’s designations, the Treasury Department says in a statement.
“These networks pose a threat to US and allied personnel in the Middle East and to commercial shipping in the Red Sea,” the department says in a statement.
US intel revealed Israeli officials discussing use of human shields in Gaza, sources tell Reuters
IDF troops of the Givati Brigade stand over a tunnel shaft in northern Gaza's Beit Hanoun, July 30, 2025. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)
The US gathered intelligence last year of Israeli officials discussing how their soldiers had sent Palestinians into Gaza tunnels the Israelis believed were potentially lined with explosives, according to two former US officials familiar with the matter.
The information was shared with the White House and analyzed by the intelligence community in the final weeks of former President Joe Biden’s administration, the officials say.
International law prohibits the use of civilians as shields during military activity.
Officials inside the Biden administration had long raised concerns about news reports that indicated Israeli soldiers were using Palestinians to potentially protect themselves in Gaza. Washington’s collection of its own evidence on the subject has not been previously reported.
The US intelligence gathered in the final months of 2024 raised questions inside the White House and the intelligence community about how widely the tactic was being used and whether Israel’s soldiers were acting on guidance issued by military leaders, the US officials say.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national security information, do not provide details on whether the Palestinians referenced in the intelligence were prisoners or civilians. Reuters could not determine whether the Biden administration discussed the intelligence with the Israeli government.
Former Biden White House officials did not respond to requests for comment. The CIA did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces says it “prohibits the use of civilians as human shields or coercing them in any way to participate in military operations.” The Military Police Criminal Investigation Division is investigating “suspicions involving Palestinians in military missions,” the statement says.
Report: Months before Oct 7, PM rejected Shin Bet chief’s call for proactive measures against Hamas
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, on April 4, 2023. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
Three months before Hamas’s October 7 massacre, then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar sent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a classified document urging policy changes toward Gaza and outlining a proposed new strategic approach to Hamas and other threats, Channel 12 reports.
The report says Bar urged proactive measures against Hamas leaders in Gaza and proposed operational plans to separate Israel’s various security arenas, which were increasingly converging.
Netanyahu, reportedly angered by what he viewed as the Shin Bet head’s intrusion into policy matters, did not convene any discussions on the document.
According to the network, the document is likely to serve as key evidence in any future state commission of inquiry into the failures leading up to the attack.
Polls have consistently indicated a clear majority of Israelis support a state commission of inquiry, and Netanyahu himself backed an inquiry of this sort into the conduct of the previous government in 2022, but he has refused to establish such a commission to investigate the failures leading up to October 7, claiming such a commission, appointed by the judiciary, would be biased against his government.
Attorney general says High Court should reject petitions against new Shin Bet chief Zini
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds his first meeting with new Shin Bet chief David Zini on October 5, 2025. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
In a position paper filed with the High Court, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara calls to reject petitions urging the court to cancel David Zini’s appointment as Shin Bet chief.
Petitioners, including government watchdog groups, argue that Zini’s appointment was flawed due to a conflict of interest owing to the Qatargate and Bild investigations into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close aides, as well as concerns over Zini’s conduct.
“The claims raised in the petitions were examined by the advisory committee,” that examined Zini’s appointment, Baharav-Miara says, “and its conclusions on the matter were detailed in its opinion as submitted to the government. In light of the fact that this is a senior and independent committee, chaired by a retired Supreme Court justice and including the Civil Service Commissioner as a member, and considering the broad discretion granted to it… There is no ground to intervene in its conclusion.”
She adds that according to the court’s own rulings, “only in exceptional and extreme cases will the court deem it appropriate to intervene in the government’s discretion where it exercises its authority.”
“This case does not fall within those exceptional and extreme cases, not even approximately.”
White House denies report US planning to establish large military base near Gaza
The White House flatly denies a report that 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.
“This article was based on a single piece of paper — an inquiry that somebody in the Department of Navy made about an idea that may happen in the future, and this reporter deemed that as an official plan,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says in response to a question about yesterday’s Ynet report.
“I checked with the highest levels of the United States federal government. This is not something the United States is interested in being engaged in,” she continues. “Sometimes we see reporters take a piece of paper like this and just deem it as official policy, and sometimes that misleads people a little bit.”
IDF facing major internal crisis as thousands of servicemen seek early release — report
Israeli soldiers stand at attention during a Memorial Day ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, April 29, 2025, as Israel commemorates its fallen soldiers and victims of terror. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The IDF is contending with one of its most severe internal crises in recent years, as thousands of career servicemen — including officers from the rank of captain to lieutenant colonel — have requested early release and expressed unwillingness to continue serving, Channel 12 reports.
The phenomenon reportedly spans across all branches of the military and affects key ranks considered the backbone of the IDF’s future leadership.
According to the report, contributing factors include fallout from the recent war, worsening service conditions, political delegitimization and discontent over recent appointments within IDF leadership.
The IDF’s top brass, including Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and the head of the Personnel Directorate Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, are said to be working on plans to address the growing crisis and prevent legislation that could further harm conditions for career soldiers.
Report: Mossad chief Barnea to step down next June; PM begins search for successor
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Mossad Director David Barnea at the Prime Minister's Award ceremony in Jerusalem, September 17, 2025. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
Mossad Director David Barnea will step down from his position in June 2026, Channel 12 reports, citing a decision reached jointly by Barnea and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the end of their most recent meeting.
Barnea, the last senior defense official still in his post from the time of the October 7 Hamas attacks, is expected to conclude his term after nearly five years at the helm of Israel’s intelligence agency.
Among those who have already stepped down are former IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Unlike those officials, Barnea was not seen as bearing significant responsibility for the Oct. 7 disaster, as it was the IDF and the Shin Bet, and not Mossad, who oversaw intelligence on Gaza.
According to the report, three candidates are currently being considered to succeed Barnea: Mossad’s current deputy chief, known only as “Alef”; a senior official referred to as “Chet,” who has held a central operational role in the agency for the past two years; and Netanyahu’s military secretary, Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman.
Senior cop detained, questioned on suspicions of breach of trust, abuse of authority
Investigators have detained one of Israel’s most senior police officers for interrogation on suspicions of breach of trust and abuse of authority. The suspected officer bears the rank of deputy commissioner.
The Department for Internal Police Investigations issues a statement saying that the officer in question allegedly “interfered in a matter in which he had a conflict of interest, without reporting it, and even acted in various ways to influence how the matter was handled in his unit.”
Hebrew outlets report that the senior officer is suspected thus helping an associate in a sensitive investigation.
The Jerusalem District Court has issued a gag order forbidding the publication of the suspected officer’s name, as well as most details of the investigation.
Knesset gives preliminary okay to tax benefits for settlers ‘under security threat’
The Knesset has approved in a preliminary reading a bill to grant tax benefits to settlers living in communities deemed to be under a security threat, similar to those offered to residents of Israeli border towns.
The bill was passed with 57 votes in favor and 28 against, and will now head to the Finance Committee for further review.
Eligible settlements will get a 25% boost in tax benefit points, according to the bill.
Kushner, IDF said working on separate contingency plans for Gaza in case Trump’s fails
A Palestinian child runs past buildings destroyed in the Gaza war, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, November 6, 2025. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
Both White House Middle East adviser Jared Kushner and the IDF are working on contingency plans for Gaza in case Donald Trump’s 20-point plan stalls, Israel Hayom reports.
Kushner told an Israeli source this week that he is working on a plan B for Gaza, according to the report, pointing at the complexity of disarming Hamas and finding countries willing to send troops ready to confront Hamas militarily.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said at last week’s security cabinet meeting that the military is also preparing an alternative plan to Trump’s, and that he will present it soon to the ministers, the Hebrew-language daily reports.
Likud MK: Meir Kahane ‘was right about many things, today he’d get the Israel Prize’
MK Nissim Vaturi attends a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting at the Knesset, August 11, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
A Likud lawmaker says at the plenum that late extremist rabbi Meir Kahane “was right about many things” and that “today he’d be seen as holy, he’d get the Israel Prize.”
MK Nissim Vaturi made the comments as the Knesset debated a bill to provide tax benefits to settlers in dangerous areas.
Kahane spoke out against Jewish coexistence with Arabs, whom he claimed were a “cancer” and called for them to be expelled from the State of Israel. He was elected to the Knesset in 1984, but Knesset members across the spectrum would leave when he spoke, and his Kach party was subsequently banned by the Knesset as racist. He was barred from running for re-election in 1988 and was assassinated in 1990 in New York by an Egyptian-born American.
For years, far-right activists have used the slogan “Kahane was right” as a rallying call, but such rhetoric was never embraced or accepted by Likud.
“Believe me, Kahane was right about many things that the Israeli people were wrong about, and Likud was wrong to exclude him. We should have looked into things,” Vaturi tells Yesh Atid MK Yorai Lahav-Hertzanu.
“This government will continue to lead and we know exactly what needs to be fixed — people’s heads need to be fixed,” he adds.
When Lahav-Hertzanu says Kahane was “a terrorist,” Vaturi shoots back: “He wasn’t a terrorist, believe me, today he’d be seen as holy, he’d get the Israel Prize.”
מתוך המליאה – ח״כ יוראי להב טען שהליכוד הפך לסניף של ״כהנא חי״, ח״כ ניסים ואטורי השיב – כהנא צדק בהרבה דברים, מנהיגי הליכוד טעו שהדירו אותו pic.twitter.com/RKWsuD5y66
— דפנה ליאל (@DaphnaLiel) November 12, 2025
Lahav-Hertzanu later tells Likud: “You’ve turned from a national liberal movement into a pathetic branch of Kach.”
Asked for a response to Vaturi’s comments and the Likud’s official position on Kahanism, a party spokesman does not immediately reply.
Hadash-Ta’al MK Ofir Cassif tells The Times of Israel: “Forty years ago, it was a member of the Likud party at the Knesset, Michael Eitan, who compared Kahane and the platform of his party to the Nazis and the Nuremberg Laws. I wonder what he would have said today about his successors at the Knesset in Likud.”
MK Tally Gotliv of Likud defends Vaturi, saying: “Every member of Knesset is entitled to their opinion, and in my assessment, MK Nissim Vaturi was referring in his remarks to the fact that there are certain perceptions regarding terrorists…who indeed are unimaginably cruel. Look at October 7.”
Iranian Hebrew-language propaganda film claims to present ‘truth’ of war to Israelis
Iran has created a Hebrew-language propaganda film boasting of supposed significant achievements and victories over Israel during June’s 12-day war.
The 26-minute video, titled “Missiles over Bazan,” a reference to a successful ballistic missile strike on an oil refinery in Haifa during the war, was produced by Iran’s Tasnim news agency and includes somewhat stilted and heavily accented Hebrew narration.
Israel said it launched the campaign to end the threats posed by Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missile capabilities. The film claims the goal was “to disrupt the lives of the Iranian people, to cause unrest and to send them to the streets to bring down the regime, an old goal that quickly failed.”
Hamidreza Moghaddamfar, a media adviser to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, says in the video: “It became clear that their calculations regarding our country were wrong.”
He alleges that “Heavy and significant damage was caused” to Israel by Iran’s missile attack on the refinery.
A man identified as Mehdi Bakhtiari, “a security expert,” adds: “The attack seriously disrupted Israeli industry.”
הסרט התיעודי "טילים מעל בזן" הוא הסרט החדשותי הראשון שמופק באיראן בשפה העברית, ומציג תיעוד של תקיפת בית הזיקוק "בזן" בחיפה על־ידי טילים איראניים.
צפה בסרט התיעודי הזה ב:
@tehrancast_farsi#טילים_מעל_בזן#טיליםמע_בזן pic.twitter.com/w5znUGvWc6— חדשות טסנים (@Tasnimnews_he) November 11, 2025
Tasnim says that in the film, “the viewer is exposed to new dimensions of intelligence control and decision-making capabilities in warfare at the highest levels — where strategic wisdom and iron determination portray an accurate and realistic depiction of Iran’s power on the battlefield.”
It adds: “The purpose of producing this documentary is to speak to the Israeli public from a position of strength and realism, and to attempt to present a picture that has remained hidden for years from Hebrew-speaking audiences. Through professional interviews, intelligence materials, and visual reenactments, the film seeks to present the truth of the battlefield — in contrast to the images shaped by Western and Israeli media.”
Germany arrests another alleged member of Hamas cell
Illustrative: German police officers at Herrmannplatz, Berlin, on October 11, 2023. (John MACDOUGALL / AFP)
German prosecutors say police arrested another alleged member of a Hamas cell plotting attacks on Israeli or Jewish institutions.
The man, identified as Lebanon-born Borhan El-K. was arrested late yesterday while entering Germany from the Czech Republic, the federal prosecutor’s office says.
Prosecutors allege that in August, “he procured an automatic rifle, eight Glock pistols and more than 600 rounds of ammunition in Germany” and had them transferred to another suspect, Wael F. The latter was one of three men who were arrested in Berlin last month on suspicion of procuring firearms and ammunition.
Danish police also searched addresses in and around Copenhagen connected to Borhan El-K. and another suspect.
A further suspect was arrested last week in London at the request of German authorities.
Hamas has denied any connection to the alleged plot.
IDF says it killed another terror operative who crossed Yellow Line in south Gaza
The IDF says it killed another terror operative who crossed the Yellow Line demarcating the military’s withdrawal and approached troops in the Khan Younis area of the southern Gaza Strip a short while ago.
The military says the operative “posed an immediate threat” to the troops, who then opened fire “to remove the threat.”
White House says Democrats leaked Epstein emails to ‘smear’ Trump
The White House accuses Democrats of pushing a “fake narrative” after they released emails in which Jeffrey Epstein suggested that President Donald Trump was aware of the financier’s sexual abuse.
“The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says in a statement.
She adds that the release of the mails was a “hoax” designed to take the shine off an upcoming vote to end the longest-ever US government shutdown, which Trump has claimed as a victory for Republicans.
“These stories are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments,” Leavitt says.
“Any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again.”
IDF chief says army ‘will not tolerate’ extremist settler attacks in West Bank
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (right) speaks with Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth during a military drill in the West Bank, November 12, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
During a visit to a major military drill in the West Bank earlier today, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says he “strongly condemns” the recent attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.
“We are aware of the recent violent incidents in which Israeli civilians attacked Palestinians and Israelis. I strongly condemn them. The IDF will not tolerate phenomena of a criminal minority that stains a law-abiding public,” Zamir says in remarks provided by the IDF.
“These are acts that contradict our values. They cross a red line and divert the attention of our forces from fulfilling their mission, defending the communities, and conducting offensive operations. We are determined to stop this phenomenon and will act on this matter severely until justice is done,” he says.
Zamir also says the exercise involving both of the Central Command’s regional divisions for the first time is “unprecedented.”
“One of our lessons from October 7 is the responsibility for defense and the change in our security concept. We are thwarting threats as they develop. We are doing that here as well,” he says. “The scenarios we have practiced in recent days are ones we must not reach. We need to act and thwart the threat before it reaches our doorstep. That is our duty.”
Video of Tuesday West Bank attack shows dozens of settlers set vehicles on fire
In new footage from yesterday’s attack on an industrial zone near the village of Beit Lid in the western West Bank, dozens of settlers, some masked and some carrying clubs, are seen setting fire to trucks and vehicles in the area.
The footage was published by Palestinian media outlets.
תיעוד נוסף מהמתקפה מאתמול על אזור התעשייה ליד בית ליד: עשרות מתנחלים, רעולי פנים וחלקם עם אלות, מציתים את המשאיות והרכבים pic.twitter.com/a1jeN4MGU5
— Nurit Yohanan (@nurityohanan) November 12, 2025
During the incident, 10 vehicles were torched, along with a warehouse and a plastic factory. Four Palestinians were injured in beatings and by stones thrown by the settlers.
India says Delhi blast was a ‘terrorist incident’
Police and security personnel stand behind the safety cordons delimiting the blast site, as they inspect charred vehicles following an explosion near the Red Fort, in the old quarters of Delhi, on November 10, 2025. (Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP)
India says a car explosion near Delhi’s Red Fort that killed at least 12 people this week was a “terrorist incident.”
“The country has witnessed a heinous terror incident, perpetrated by anti-national forces,” says a cabinet statement, formally designating the nature of Monday’s blast for the first time.
IDF says soldiers shot, killed terror operatives in Rafah
The IDF says troops operating in southern Gaza’s Rafah to demolish Hamas tunnels on the Israel-controlled side of the Yellow Line opened fire on four terror operatives who were spotted near them.
“Immediately upon detection, the troops on the ground opened fire at the terrorists,” the military says, adding that no soldiers were hurt.
The IDF says three of the four armed terror operatives were confirmed to have been killed. The condition of the fourth gunman is unknown.
The IDF says it continues to operate in Israeli-held areas of Gaza to “kill the terrorists and demolish terror infrastructure.”
Some 100-200 Hamas terrorists are estimated to be holed up in tunnels in southern Gaza on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line. The US has pressured Israel to allow them safe passage back to Hamas-held areas of Gaza, though Israel has not agreed as of yet.
Police chief distances himself from court filing against Ben Gvir
File: Police chief Danny Levy at the Jerusalem Pride Parade, June 6, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
In a letter to the attorney general, Police Commissioner Danny Levy partially distances himself from court filings signed in his name against National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s refusal to promote a policewoman involved in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial, Hebrew outlets report.
The national security minister has for months been blocking the promotion of Supt. Rinat Saban, a high-ranking investigator, against the wishes of police brass and the attorney general.
The affidavit submitted last night to the Jerusalem District Court is signed jointly by Levy and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. It requests that a judge order Ben Gvir to sign off on Saban’s promotion, and if he refuses, that Levy be permitted to appoint her without the minister’s signature. It also states that Ben Gvir’s refusal could sow fear among police officers who testify in criminal investigations, and discourage them from probing public figures.
Levy, who was chosen by Ben Gvir to helm the police, is said to take issue with claims made in the affidavit that the far-right minister is motivated by political considerations in his refusal to promote Saban.
In the letter, Levy reportedly “rejects out of hand” any attempt to attribute to him statements that seek to interpret Ben Gvir’s considerations or suggest that he violated a judge’s order.
Levy also claims that he requested to file his own affidavit separate from the attorney general, but was denied.
Shin Bet chief asks court to reject petition against his appointment
David Zini at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City on August 6, 2025 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
New Shin Bet chief David Zini has asked the High Court of Justice to reject a petition against his appointment filed by three former heads of the intelligence agency. Zini accuses them of seeking to “police opinions” and undermining Israel’s democracy.
Former Shin Bet chiefs Nadav Argaman, Karmi Gilon and Ami Ayalon, along with several NGOS, petitioned the High Court in October against Zini’s appointment, claiming he lacked relevant experience and that he was “messianic” in his religious and political beliefs.
In response to the petitions, Zini writes that the petitioners sought to to “wrap up” their accusations “in so-called democratic righteousness,” but insisted that “anyone reading the petitions can easily see that the attempt to police opinions as sought in the petitions is what undermines the democratic and Jewish values of the State of Israel.”
Zini says the accusation that he is “messianic” is “the same derogatory term stuck to anyone who dares to be proud of their Judaism, and to anyone whose starting point is subordination to… that same Judaism.”
A hearing on the petition is scheduled for next week. The court rejected requests by the petitioners for an interim order to freeze his appointment, which enabled Zini to take office in October.
UK’s Starmer says BBC should ‘correct errors’ as Trump mulls lawsuit
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warns that the BBC should “get their house in order” after US President Donald Trump said he had an “obligation” to sue the corporation for $1 billion over a misleading speech edit.
Speaking in parliament, Starmer says that while he supports a “strong and independent BBC, he also believes it should “uphold the highest standards to be accountable and correct errors quickly.”
“Where mistakes are made, they do need to get their house in order,” he says in response to a question calling for him to urge Trump to abandon his legal threat.
Trump’s lawyers threatened the British broadcaster with a billion-dollar lawsuit on Monday, according to a letter seen by AFP, as the BBC apologized for giving the impression the president had urged “violent action” ahead of the 2021 assault on the US Capitol.
Later, in a Fox News interview, which was recorded Monday, Trump was asked if he planned to sue the BBC. “I guess I have to, why not?” said the president in his first public comments on the potential for legal action. “I think I have an obligation to do it because you can’t allow people to do that,” Trump said, without confirming whether he had officially begun proceedings to file a defamation lawsuit.
Starmer’s Labour government has been performing a tightrope act between backing the broadcaster’s independence without seeming to take a side against Trump.
The BBC’s director general and head of news resigned on Sunday, following mounting accusations of editorial bias, including in regards to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Court-ordered disclosure details exorbitant cost of Minister Regev’s many trips abroad
Transportation Minister Miri Regev attends a ceremony marking the beginning of construction of the Israel Railways line from Kiryat Shmona, in the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, August 18, 2025. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
Information published by the Transportation Ministry shows Transportation Minister Miri Regev’s frequent trips abroad in recent years have cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars, Channel 12 says.
The information was provided in response to a request by the Movement for Freedom of Information.
In August Regev and her entourage spent some two weeks in the US, a visit that took in both coasts and that her office asserted was intended to advance “strategic” cooperation with American officials. The trip cost some NIS 850,000 ($265,000).
The documents detail Regev’s further trips to Morocco, Cyprus, Germany and Azerbaijan in the past two years, with costs often in the NIS 100,000-150,000 range ($30,000-$45,000) per trip. She has taken at least 12 trips abroad since entering office in January 2023, spending over 80 days out of the country.
Regev has come under criticism for her trips and their exorbitant costs during a time of war and economic hardship.
“Unfortunately, this is the third time we have had to petition the court to have the Transportation Ministry provide basic information about the minister’s trips, instead of such information being accessible and transparent to the public from the outset,” Or Sadan, an attorney from the Movement for Freedom of Information, says.
“Reviewing the data, it is hard not to wonder why the transportation minister who is a security cabinet member needs to spend dozens of days abroad during a time of war, severe economic difficulties, and deadly traffic accidents.”
5.2 magnitude earthquake near Cyprus felt in Israel, the day’s second tremor
An earthquake was felt in Israel at 4:24 p.m., the day’s second, the Geological Survey of Israel says.
The 5.2 magnitude quake occurred in the area of Cyprus, similarly to the one felt this morning.
There are no immediate reports of injuries.
In emails, Epstein alleged Trump ‘knew about the girls’ — Democrats
This photo provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, March 28, 2017. (New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP)
Democrats release emails in which Jeffrey Epstein suggests that Donald Trump was aware of the financier’s sexual abuse and definitely “knew about the girls.”
Trump has denied any involvement in or knowledge of the sex-trafficking activities of his former friend, who died by suicide in federal prison in 2019 as he was awaiting trial.
But Democrats on the House Oversight Committee say the emails “raise serious questions about Donald Trump and his knowledge of Epstein’s horrific crimes.”
The furor around the disgraced financier is still roiling Trump’s administration four months after his Justice Department effectively closed the case, announcing there was no more information to share.
Democrats in the House — keen to capitalize on the simmering controversy — have been trying to force a vote that would compel publication of the full Epstein case files.
The newly released emails were written to longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking after Epstein’s death, and the author Michael Wolff.
In them, Epstein asserts Trump spent significant time with a woman whom Oversight Democrats describe as a victim of Epstein’s sex trafficking.
In one email to Wolff shared by Democrats and dated January 31, 2019, Epstein allegedly wrote: “Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever… of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”
In another message from April 2011, Epstein told Maxwell: “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump.” He added that an unnamed victim “spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned.”
Maxwell replied: “I have been thinking about that…”
Verifying Iran’s enriched uranium stock is ‘long overdue,’ IAEA report says
Iran still has not let inspectors into the nuclear sites Israel and the United States bombed in June, the UN atomic watchdog says in a confidential report, adding that verifying Iran’s enriched uranium stock is “long overdue.”
“The Agency’s lack of access to this nuclear material in Iran for five months means that its verification… is long overdue,” the International Atomic Energy Agency says in the report to member states seen by Reuters, adding that it is “critical” it be able to do so as soon as possible.
Ex-cop with PTSD dies of wounds after self-immolating outside top defense official’s home last month
The scene where a former police officer suffering from PTSD set himself on fire outside the home of a senior official from the Ministry of Defense’s Rehabilitation Department, in the community of Neve Ilan, October 31, 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)
A former policeman who set himself on fire outside the home of a senior official in the Defense Ministry’s rehabilitation department last month has died of his injuries, Hebrew outlets report.
Vital Mishayev, a 46-year-old divorcee and father of three, was left with post-traumatic stress disorder and a physical disability after a mentally unstable man hit him with a rock while on patrol.
Mishayev was recognized as disabled by the Defense Ministry’s rehabilitation department due to mild-to-moderate PTSD alongside a physical disability, according to Army Radio.
For the past two years, he had reportedly demanded that the department recognize him as fully disabled, which would entitle him to housing.
The Ynet news site reported that he had been homeless and sleeping outside the defense official’s home for several months. Efforts to find him assistance and housing had failed.
מת מפצעיו ויטל מישייב, השוטר לשעבר שהצית עצמו מול ביתה של מנהלת אגף השיקוםhttps://t.co/Rq3qW28K7P pic.twitter.com/GAsSAZuIMf
— ynet עדכוני (@ynetalerts) November 12, 2025
IDF completes major West Bank drill, simulating ‘extreme’ scenarios based on October 7 lessons
IDF troops carry out a drill in the West Bank, in a handout photo issued on November 12, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF has wrapped up a major drill held this week in the West Bank, involving both the Judea and Samaria Division and the newly established 96th “Gilad” Division, the latter of which is tasked with securing the Jordanian border.
The three-day exercise simulated some 40 “extreme” scenarios and also involved the Israeli Air Force with some 180 aircraft, the Technological and Logistics Directorate, other IDF units, as well as the Israel Police and Magen David Adom ambulance service, the military says.
It was the first-ever drill involving both of the Central Command’s regional divisions.
The IDF says that the scenarios practiced during the drill included attacks on army posts; terrorist infiltration into settlements at multiple locations simultaneously; terror attacks during the mobilization of the 96th Division’s volunteer reservist brigades; fighting in urban areas; rescuing trapped individuals; and responding to mass-causality incidents.
The drill also examined the implementation of the Central Command’s updated defensive and offensive plans, according to the IDF.
The military says the scenarios were practiced “based on the lessons learned from October 7,” including carrying out airstrikes to disrupt attacks at the earliest stages possible, based on the “importance of impact in the initial hours,” as well as activating standby troops, deploying special forces, and “readying the entire IDF system.”
2 Swedes on trial in Denmark for throwing grenades at Israeli embassy in Copenhagen
A police vehicle is seen as police officers investigate two blasts near the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, October 2, 2024. (Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)
A Danish court puts two Swedes on trial on terrorism charges for having thrown two hand grenades at the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen last year.
The two men, aged 18 and 21, have also been charged with aggravated assault and attempted murder.
“My client pleads not guilty to the charge of terrorism,” Jakob Buch-Jepsen, the lawyer for the 18-year-old, tells the court. The defendant pleads guilty to the lesser charge of aggravated assault.
“He admits to throwing two grenades… but he did not throw them at the embassy,” Buch-Jepsen says, while his client, dressed in a white T-shirt, looks on.
According to Swedish media, the young man was recruited by Swedish criminal network Foxtrot while he was in high school.
The same teenager is also being prosecuted in Sweden for a shooting at the Israeli embassy in Stockholm on October 1, 2024.
The second defendant, wearing a black puffer jacket, pleads not guilty to all charges.
Two explosions were reported near the Israeli embassy in the area of Hellerup in Copenhagen in the middle of the night on October 2, 2024.
According to prosecutors, the men had transported five hand grenades to the area near the embassy.
They then threw two of the hand grenades in the direction of the embassy, but they hit a nearby residential building and exploded.
Police identified the DNA of the 18-year-old man on one of the grenades, which was found in a garden, says prosecutor Soren Harbo.
The two men were arrested at Copenhagen’s train station as they prepared to travel to Amsterdam.
A six-day trial has been scheduled, with the days spread out and it is expected to end on February 3.
The embassy attack came hours after the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, in neighboring Sweden, had been hit by shots.
A trial for that incident has still not taken place.
In May 2024, Swedish intelligence services claimed that Iran was recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs to carry out attacks against Israeli institutions, which Tehran has denied.
Dozens of Haredi men block road outside Jerusalem IDF recruitment center, set dumpster alight
Haredi men block the road outside the IDF recruitment center in Jerusalem on November 12, 2025 (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)
Dozens of ultra-Orthodox men block the road outside of the Jerusalem recruitment office, setting fire to a dumpster and lying down in the road.
They sing and chant that they would rather die than enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. Protesters also distribute flyers accusing Shas party chairman Aryeh Deri of selling them out by agreeing to the conscription of those who do not learn full-time in yeshiva.
Police clear the street using a truck with a roof-mounted water cannon, although they do not fire it. They use the truck to plow aside the burning dumpster.
An officer on the scene estimates around 100-120 protesters.
They were dispersed by the threat of the use of skunk spray and a police truck with a plow, pushed the garbage bin out of the road pic.twitter.com/2IIEiAIweK
— Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) November 12, 2025
Protesters also hold a simultaneous demonstration outside the Bakum, the massive military induction base in central Israel, blocking the road in order to prevent Haredi recruits from enlisting, Israel Hayom reports.
Just 1 suspect still in custody over attacks on Palestinian villages that involved dozens
Palestinians and journalists survey damage in an industrial zone following an attack by Israeli settlers the previous day in the West Bank village of Beit Lid, near Tulkarm, Nov. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Three of the four Israeli suspects who were arrested over yesterday’s attack by dozens of settlers on two Palestinian villages in the West Bank have been released from police custody.
IDF officials criticize police for the fact that only one of the alleged attackers who were detained by troops remains held.
Perpetrators of settler attacks on Palestinians are rarely prosecuted.
Yesterday, the IDF dispatched troops to Bayt Lid and Dayr Sharaf following reports of dozens of masked Israelis attacking Palestinians in the villages and setting fire to property. The troops detained the four suspects there and handed them over to the police.
Military officials say that the IDF lacks the proper tools to handle the increasing number of extremist, violent settlers in the West Bank and the rise in attacks against Palestinians, especially since Defense Minister Israel Katz stopped the use of administrative detentions against Israelis earlier this year.
The chief of the Central Command has the authority to sign “restraining orders” against such suspects, barring them from being in the West Bank, as well as house arrest orders for residents of settlements.
Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth recently signed 30 such orders and plans to increase their use; however, military officials say that the IDF needs additional powers to address the issue.
There has been a rise in settler violence this year, especially coinciding with the annual olive harvest, which began in October.
During October, the IDF recorded 86 incidents of “nationalistic crime,” compared with 25 in the same period last year.
And since the beginning of the year, 704 incidents of “nationalistic crime” have been recorded by Israeli defense authorities, compared with 675 in all of 2024.
‘ISIS-inspired’ 18-year-old Arab Israeli indicted on terror charges
An 18-year-old Arab Israeli has been indicted on terror charges, after being arrested last month on suspicion of plotting an attack, police announce.
The defendant allegedly drew inspiration from the ISIS terror group and had been learning how to manufacture explosives, though it is unclear if he succeeded in making a functional bomb. Police also found several weapons in his possession.
Police investigators and Shin Bet agents conducted the investigation with the assistance of officers from the Tira and Taybeh police stations, law enforcement says. The suspect resides in the Triangle, a cluster of Arab locales in central Israel.
He will be tried in a juvenile court, police say, meaning that he was apparently a minor at the time of the offenses. Prosecutors are seeking to extend the suspect’s remand until the end of legal proceedings.
Lapid: Presidential pardon would require Netanyahu to admit guilt in corruption trial
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in court in Tel Aviv, before the start of his testimony in the trial against him, September 16, 2025. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
Responding to US President Donald Trump’s letter to President Isaac Herzog calling on him to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the charges in his ongoing corruption trial, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid states that it would require the premier to admit he broke the law.
“Reminder: Israeli law states that the first condition for receiving a pardon is an admission of guilt and an expression of remorse for the actions,” Lapid says in a statement.
Meanwhile, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calls on Herzog to accede to Trump’s appeal.
“The fabricated and disgraceful indictments against Prime Minister Netanyahu have long since turned into an indictment against the prosecution, whose disgrace and crimes are exposed in the trial every day. A pardon in this case is the right and urgent thing to do. President Herzog, listen to President Trump,” he tweets.
The Democrats chairman Yair Golan says the premier should resign if he is unable to run the country and face the law at the same time.
“Netanyahu claims ‘there was nothing and there will be nothing’ [to the accusations], but at the same time he’s begging Trump to help him get a pardon,” says The Democrats chairman Yair Golan.
“If he’s struggling to run a country and a trial at the same time, he should resign. The law is clear — and everyone is equal before it.”
Golan: Decision to close Army Radio ‘a brutal attack on the institutions of democracy’
Leader of The Democrats party Yair Golan leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, May 26, 2025. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
The Democrats chairman Yair Golan slams Defense Minister Israel’s Katz’s plan to close Army Radio, stating that while he once thought it possible to shutter the IDF-controlled station in order “to streamline and invest the public broadcasting funds differently,” this is not the government’s intent.
“What the Netanyahu government is doing today has nothing to do with streamlining public broadcasting in any way — this is the judicial coup on steroids and a brutal attack on the institutions of democracy, including the media,” Golan tweets.
“Today it’s either Army Radio and a free media or a poison machine and [the right-wing] Channel 14,” he adds, calling to “fight for Israeli democracy and “ensure that there is free media.”
Maxim Herkin, Shlomi Ziv tell military medics how they maintained mental health in Hamas captivity
Released hostages Maxim Herkin, left, and Shlomi Ziv speak at the first national military conference at Bar-Ilan University on November 12, 2025. (Diana Bletter/Times of Israel)
Speaking at the first national military medicine conference at Bar-Ilan University, released hostages Maxim Herkin and Shlomi Ziv describe their efforts to maintain their mental health while in Hamas captivity.
Herkin, who was held captive for two years in Gaza, tells the audience of about 900 people, mostly from the IDF Medical Corps, that he told himself, “Every day, every moment is a gift,” adding that “only faith gave me strength.”
“Sometimes when another captive was depressed, “we told each other, ‘it will be okay,'” Herkin says.
“It was very hard,” says Ziv, who was one of four hostages rescued on June 8, 2024, in a mission in which Yamam officer and team leader Arnon Zamora was killed. Ziv points to a tattoo on his arm and reads it out loud: “PTSD is for life and I live with it.”
Ziv, who was a Border Police squad commander during a terrorist attack in Hebron in 2002 in which 12 Israelis were killed, says that he was treated for PTSD after that incident.
“I got stronger in captivity using the tools I learned for PTSD,” Ziv says. “One was, ‘Manage the situation and don’t let the situation manage you.'”
Ziv stresses that it is “not shameful to ask for help,” and tells the audience to make sure they keep reaching out to soldiers to offer treatment and therapy.
Herkin tells the audience that what they are doing is “holy work.”
“Continue to learn,” Ziv says. “Give what you can to help others. That is the most important thing you can do.”
Suspect detained over stabbing in Lod today, victim seriously wounded
Police nabbed a man in southern Israel on suspicion of stabbing a 32-year-old man in Lod today, law enforcement announces.
After receiving a report of the stabbing this morning, officers launched a manhunt for the suspect and located him near Dimona on Route 25 as he fled south.
Paramedics found the victim conscious but suffering from a serious stab wound. He was taken to Shamir Medical Center in Be’er Ya’akov, Magen David Adom says.
The alleged attacker was detained for questioning and will be brought before the court for a remand hearing tomorrow, police add.
Trump sends letter to Herzog asking him to pardon Netanyahu, says corruption trial ‘unjustified’
US President Donald Trump (left) talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset, October 13, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool via AP)
US President Donald Trump sends a letter to President Isaac Herzog formally asking Israel’s head of state to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption.
“It is my honor to write to you at this historic time, as we have, together, just secured peace that has been sought for at least 3,000 years,” writes Trump in his letter, received this morning by Herzog.
“I hereby call on you to fully pardon Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been a formidable and decisive War Time Prime Minister,” writes Trump, “and is now leading Israel into a time of peace, which includes my continued work with key Middle East leaders to add many additional countries to the world changing Abraham Accords.”
Trump stresses that “I absolutely respect the independence of the Israeli Justice System,” but decries the corruption charges against Netanyahu as a “political, unjustified prosecution.”
“Isaac, we have established a great relationship, one that I am very thankful for and honored by, and we agreed as soon as I was inaugurated in January that the focus had to be centered on finally bringing the hostages home and getting the peace agreement done,” Trump concludes. “Now that we have achieved these unprecedented successes, and are keeping Hamas in check, it is time to let Bibi unite Israel by pardoning him, and ending that lawfare once and for all.”
In his Knesset speech last month, Trump called on Herzog to pardon Netanyahu.
The prime minister is currently on trial and is charged with one count of bribery, as well as fraud and breach of trust, in three separate cases relating to corruption allegations against him. His trial began in 2020 and is still far from reaching an end.
Herzog declines to take a position, saying in a statement from his office that a pardon request must go through the proper channels.
“The president holds great respect for President Trump and repeatedly expresses his appreciation for Trump’s unwavering support of Israel and his tremendous contribution to the return of the hostages, the reshaping of the Middle East and Gaza, and the safeguarding of Israel’s security,” says the President’s Residence.
“Without detracting from the above, as the president has made clear on multiple occasions, anyone seeking a pardon must submit a formal request in accordance with the established procedures.”
The president of the state is empowered to grant pardons to those convicted in court and, on very rare occasions, even before legal proceedings have been concluded if it is deemed to be in the public interest.
The individual seeking the pardon, or an immediate family member, must make the request. Netanyahu and his relatives have yet to do that. But Channel 13 reported last month, citing sources in the Prime Minister’s Office, that there are discussions underway about Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, submitting the request.
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
MK says Shas supports Haredi draft exemption bill, then backtracks and says no decision made
Shas MK Yaakov Margi at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on January 30, 2024 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Shas supports Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth’s Haredi draft exemption bill, MK Yaakov Margi announces, prompting pushback within the ultra-Orthodox party, whose ruling Council of Torah Sages has not yet publicly made a decision on the issue.
“There’s the outline, what they call the Bismuth outline, that we agree to,” he told the Knesset Channel yesterday evening. He pushed back on critics’ claims that the latest draft of the controversial legislation was written by Shas negotiator Ariel Attias, saying it was “actually written through joint discussions, and it’s not an easy outline for anyone familiar with previous enlistment laws.”
According to Margi, Shas is waiting for fellow ultra-Orthodox party Degel HaTorah’s rabbinic leadership to weigh in, stating that one of its two major rabbis has already agreed while another “is supposed to give his answer within a day or two.” This has been interpreted in the Haredi press as referring to Rabbi Dov Lando, the party’s spiritual leader, who has yet to give a definitive ruling on how his MKs should vote.
In response to criticism within the party, Margi later clarified that the matter was being considered by Shas’s rabbinic leadership, without whom no final decision will be made.
“I regret statements that were made and that were based on incorrect and misleading information,” he says.
Loaded Kalashnikovs found in Kibbutz Be’eri kindergarten, over 2 years after Hamas-led invasion
Hamas weapons found at Kibbutz Be'eri in an image released on November 12, 2025 (Israel Police)
Civilian reconstruction teams stumbled upon several loaded assault rifles and walkie-talkies in a kindergarten in Be’eri, remnants of the Hamas-led invasion of the kibbutz two years ago, police announce.
The workers reported their discovery to police this morning.
Police say the equipment consists of loaded Kalashnikov rifles and handheld radios that were used by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023.
Southern District police sappers arrived at the scene and neutralized the weapons, police add.
5.1 magnitude earthquake rattles Cyprus; tremor felt in northern Israel
A 5.1 magnitude earthquake in the Paphos region of Cyprus rattled the region, the Geological Survey of Israel says.
Residents of northern Israel report they felt the temblor.
There are no immediate reports of injuries on the Mediterranean island.
Trump claims ‘obligation’ to sue BBC over 2021 US Capitol speech edit
US President Donald Trump speaks during an event to mark Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery, Nov. 11, 2025, in Arlington, Virginia (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
US President Donald Trump says he has an “obligation” to sue the BBC over a misleading speech edit, stopping short of announcing legal action in a Fox News interview.
Trump’s lawyers threatened the British broadcaster with a billion-dollar lawsuit on Monday, according to a letter seen by AFP, as the BBC apologized for giving the impression the US president had urged “violent action” ahead of the 2021 assault on the US Capitol.
In the Fox News interview, which was recorded Monday, Trump was asked if he planned to sue the BBC.
“I guess I have to, why not?” says the president in his first public comments on the potential for legal action.
“I think I have an obligation to do it because you can’t allow people to do that,” Trump says, without confirming whether he had officially begun proceedings to file a defamation lawsuit.
“They defrauded the public and they’ve admitted it.”
Britain “is supposedly one of our great allies,” and “the government has a chunk of that one,” Trump adds, referring to the BBC.
????TRUMP TAKES ON THE @BBC.????
“They DEFRAUDED the public — and they ADMITTED it.”
He told me a lawsuit is coming after the network cut and twisted his Jan. 6 speech. pic.twitter.com/SG1kpC2B2h
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) November 12, 2025
400 killed on Israel’s roads since start of the year
Paramedics arrive to the scene of a fatal car crash that killed a teenage boy and injured three others on Route 90, near Masada in southern Israel on August 5, 2025. (Magen David Adom)
Official figures from the National Road Safety Authority show that 400 people have been killed on the roads in Israel since the start of the year.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev is at the Tel Aviv District Court this morning to observe the proceedings in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial.
According to the Ynet news site, Regev refused to comment when asked about the number of deaths, but her spokesman Dudu Sassi responded by saying “399.”
Ynet says that by the same date last year, 378 people had been killed on the roads.
Closing Army Radio would be ‘illegitimate and illegal,’ says Israel Press Council
Illustrative: The entrance to Army Radio's headquarters in Tel Aviv, June 2, 2023. (Omer Fichman/Flash90)
The Israel Press Council, a representative body for major Israeli media outlets and headed by former Supreme Court Justice Hanan Melcer, describes Defense Minister Israel Katz’s decision to close Army Radio as “illegitimate and illegal,” and says that the station can only be closed via a Knesset move.
“The status of Army Radio is anchored in primary legislation, and only legislation can change the status of the station,” says the organization, in which Army Radio is a member.
“The Israel Press Council will act in every way to prevent the closure of the station, protect freedom of the press, the diversity of the media, and the right of the public to know.”
And the Movement for Quality Government in Israel calls Katz’s decision “the continuation of the attack on the free press,” referring to legislation proposed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi that critics have also warned would threaten freedom of the press.
“The claim that the station ‘harms morale’ is a dismal excuse for a political move aimed at silencing critical voices. Government ministers must not be allowed to close media outlets based on political considerations,” said the organization.
Army Radio chief says Katz’s plan to shut station based on flawed committee report
File: Journalist Tal Lev Ram at the Maariv conference in Herzliya, on December 25, 2019 (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)
Army Radio head Tal Lev Ram says he will work to fight Defense Minister Israel Katz’s decision to shut down the IDF-controlled station.
“We received the defense minister’s announcement with complete surprise, without being given the opportunity to respond to the report submitted by the committee appointed by the minister,” Lev Ram says in a statement, referring to a report submitted to Katz last month that recommended closing the station.
“This comes after numerous flaws were found in the committee’s work, including conflicts of interest, a premeditated and biased selection of its members, and multiple manipulations in the presentation of the information submitted,” he says.
Lev Ram says that “the decision to close the station after two years of unprecedented activity for the benefit of the servicemembers is puzzling and proves that this was not a professional process that puts the soldiers’ needs first.”
“We view this as a real, unfortunate, and dramatic blow to the people’s army, Israeli society, and the freedom of the press in a democratic state,” he says.
“I intend to fight this harsh decision by all possible means. I am proud of the station’s work, especially over the past two years during an ongoing war, and I am convinced that the station will continue to exist for many years to come,” Lev Ram says, adding that “we will not allow the soldiers’ home to be closed.”
Journalists union says it will fight Katz’s decision to close Army Radio
The Union of Journalists in Israel says that it will work against Defense Minister Israel Katz’s decision to close Army Radio by March 2026.
“Israel Katz will not close any media outlet in the State of Israel. The journalists’ union will fight against this bad decision until it is canceled. Army Radio will not be closed,” the statement reads.
Katz said today that he will soon bring the proposal to close the station, which has long been a target of the coalition, to the government for approval.
The decision is likely to be challenged in court.
IDF’s West Bank chief: ‘Intolerable’ settler attacks on Palestinians and troops ‘undermine security stability’
A Palestinian man uses a mobile phone to record a burning truck after an Israeli settler attack in the village of Beit Lid, east of Tulkarm, West Bank, on November 11, 2025. (JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)
The chief of the IDF Central Command, Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, condemns yesterday’s settler attacks against both Palestinians and Israeli troops in the West Bank, saying such acts “undermine security stability.”
“The reality in which anarchist fringe youth act violently against innocents and against security forces is an intolerable and extremely serious situation that must be dealt with firmly,” Bluth says to officers in remarks provided by the military.
“Dealing with this phenomenon requires the combined efforts of all systems of the State of Israel, education, welfare, enforcement, and punishment,” he says.
Bluth says that “the directive to IDF soldiers is clear: Do not stand by, and do everything in your power to prevent any act of nationalist crime.”
“We will do this in full cooperation with our partners in the police and the Shin Bet; only in this way will we eradicate the phenomenon,” he says.
Bluth says troops are “facing an intolerable situation in which significant attention and resources are diverted to dealing with those anarchists,” instead of “continuing to defend the roads, the communities, and conducting offensive operations to thwart terrorism.”
“This violence harms the settlements and harms the State of Israel. We will not accept a situation in which lawbreakers harm property and innocents, undermine stability in Judea and Samaria, and divert the IDF’s attention from its mission of defense and counterterrorism,” he adds.
There has been a rise in settler violence this year, especially coinciding with the annual olive harvest, which began in October.
Israeli defense authorities have recorded 704 incidents of “nationalistic crime” since the beginning of the year, compared with 675 in all of 2024. Perpetrators are rarely detained or prosecuted.
Katz announces imminent closure of Army Radio, claiming many feel it ‘harms the war effort, morale’
Illustrative: The entrance to Army Radio's headquarters in Tel Aviv, June 2, 2023. (Omer Fichman/Flash90)
Defense Minister Israel Katz announces that he has decided to shut down Army Radio and orders broadcasts to cease by March 1, 2026, claiming that there are complaints that the station “harms the war effort and morale.”
Katz says he will soon bring the proposal to the government for approval.
Katz says he will form a professional team within the Defense Ministry to oversee the station’s closure, assist civilian employees with fair termination arrangements, and preserve civilian sister station Galgalatz, which focuses on music.
Calling the operation of a civilian-style broadcaster by the military “an anomaly unheard of in any democratic country in the world,” Katz says the move is necessary to protect the IDF’s nonpartisan status.
“What was will no longer be,” he declares. “Army Radio was established by the Israeli government as a military station to serve as a voice and ear for IDF soldiers and their families — not as a platform for opinions, many of which attack the IDF and its soldiers.”
“In recent years, particularly during the war, many soldiers and civilians — including bereaved families — have repeatedly complained that the station does not represent them and even harms the war effort and morale,” Katz adds. “Worse still, our enemies interpret these messages as if they are being conveyed by the IDF itself.”
The announcement marks a dramatic turning point in a lengthy controversy surrounding the military-run radio network, which has long been viewed as a cultural and political institution in Israel.
In September 2023, then-defense minister Yoav Gallant reversed earlier plans to privatize or shut down the station, instead pledging reforms and the appointment of a permanent commander with a military background.
But in March 2025, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi — echoing criticism from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — urged Katz to shutter the station, claiming it had strayed from its founding purpose as a morale-building outlet for soldiers and had instead become “a political stronghold.”
Successive governments and IDF chiefs have debated whether the broadcaster should remain under military control, be transferred to civilian oversight or be closed altogether.
North Gaza border crossing reopens for entry of humanitarian aid
Illustrative: Armed Palestinians sit on trucks carrying humanitarian aid near the Zikim border crossing between Israel and Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, June 25, 2025. (Ali Qariqa/Flash90)
The Zikim crossing has been reopened for the entry of humanitarian aid into the northern Gaza Strip, two months after it was closed amid an Israel Defense Forces operation.
The move means that there are now three operational crossings into the Strip.
In a statement from the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), it is noted that the crossing was opened with the approval of the political echelon, and that the aid will be transferred by the UN and international organizations following security inspections by the Crossings Authority.
The Zikim crossing was closed for aid entry about two months ago, on September 12 amid the “Gideon Chariots B” operation to seize control of Gaza City.
London police say 5 arrested at dueling protests outside Bob Vylan concert
To the backdrop of a Palestinian flag, Bobby Vylan of British duo Bob Vylan performs on the West Holts Stage on the fourth day of the Glastonbury festival at Worthy Farm in the village of Pilton in Somerset, southwest England, on June 28, 2025. (Oli SCARFF / AFP)
London police say five people were arrested during a protest and counter-demonstration outside a concert by contentious duo Bob Vylan last night, including one individual held over chants against the Israel Defense Forces.
The concert took place in northwest London, home to Britain’s largest Jewish community.
“One man from the pro-Palestine protest was arrested in relation to chants referencing the IDF,” police say.
“One person from the Stop the Hate protest was arrested on suspicion of common assault following an altercation involving another protester,”the Metropolitan Police say, referring to the group that organized a protest against the concert.
“A further three people, two from the Stop the Hate protest and one from the pro-Palestine protest, were arrested on suspicion of breaching Public Order Act conditions.”
In video shared on social media, a woman wearing an IDF t-shirt said she was detained “just for standing in the street.”
British police said yesterday that they were continuing to investigate comments made on stage by Bob Vylan during a performance at the Glastonbury music festival in June.
The performance by Bob Vylan included chants of “Death, death to the IDF,” and a tirade about working for “fucking Zionists” in the music industry.
A woman wearing an IDF shirt was also arrested at the Bob Vylan gig in Kentish Town, “just for standing in the street,” she told media.
“They asked me if I was part of the protest and I said no… I’ve not broken any laws” pic.twitter.com/DnHd8ixybV
— Jack Hadfield ???????? (@JackHadders) November 11, 2025
Family of Meny Godard, whose body is held in Gaza, told uncertainty could continue for months
Meny Godard (Courtesy)
The daughter of Meny Godard, whose body is held in the Gaza Strip, says the family has been told that the uncertainty may continue for a long time.
“We understand that this could go on for months. I spoke with [government hostage pointman] Gal Hirsch, and I understood that there is no concrete information they can give us,” Bar tells Army Radio.
Godard and his wife Ayelet were murdered when Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists invaded their home in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7.
Besides Godard’s, the bodies of three other hostages remain held in Gaza: Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, Dror Or, and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.
Kennedy grandson Jack Schlossberg set to enter US Congress race for Nadler’s NY seat
Jack Schlossberg arrives at the JFK Library, on May 4, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
Jack Schlossberg, grandson of the 35th US President, John F. Kennedy, plans to run for Congress next year, The New York Times reports, continuing the legacy of one of America’s most storied and tragedy-stricken political families.
Schlossberg, 32, son of JFK’s daughter and former diplomat Caroline Kennedy and the designer-artist Edwin Schlossberg, shared the news of his first bid for public office in an email to supporters, the Times says.
He will be seeking the Democratic Party nomination for the Manhattan seat in the US House of Representatives being vacated by retiring New York Democrat Jerrold Nadler, according to the newspaper.
A political commentator and writer whose work has been published in such news outlets as The Washington Post, Politico and Time magazine, Schlossberg joins a crowded field of contenders already vying for the 12th congressional district seat.
Nadler, 78, announced in September that he was retiring next year after more than 30 years in House, acknowledging a widespread clamor within the party to make way for a younger generation of leaders.
Sharaa: Trump supports Damascus’s position on Israeli withdrawal from Syria, will push for it
In this photo released by the Syrian Presidency press office, President Donald Trump, right, speaks with Syria's President Ahmad al-Sharaa, at the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (Syrian Presidency press office via AP)
There is a “good distance to go” before his country can reach an agreement with Israel, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa tells The Washington Post after becoming the first Syrian leader to meet the US president in Washington.
“To reach a final agreement, Israel should withdraw to their pre-Dec. 8 borders,” he says, referring to the date of the fall of the Bashar Assad regime and the simultaneous Israeli advance into the buffer zone between the two countries, and beyond, confirming that the two sides are involved in “direct negotiations.”
Sharaa argues that Israel’s invasion of Syria comes from “expansionist ambitions” and not security concerns.
Sharaa claims that US President Donald Trump indicated yesterday that he supports the Syrian position on Israel’s withdrawal, and “he will push as quickly as possible in order to reach a solution for this.”
“Israel has always claimed that it has concerns about Syria because it is afraid of the threats that the Iranian militias and Hezbollah represent,” he says. “We are the ones who expelled those forces out of Syria.”
Sharaa says Israeli demands that the territory south of Damascus be demilitarized are unreasonable, since it will cause chaos.
“If this demilitarized zone was used by some parties as a launching pad for hitting Israel, who is going to be responsible for that?” he says.
“Israel occupied the Golan Heights in order to protect Israel, and now they are imposing conditions in the south of Syria in order to protect the Golan Heights,” he says sardonically. “So after a few years, maybe they will occupy the center of Syria in order to protect the south of Syria. They will reach Munich on that pathway.”
Turkey says 20 dead in military plane crash in Georgia
Debris is seen at a crash site of a Turkish military cargo plane in Georgia's Sighnaghi municipality, close to the Azerbaijani border on Nov. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)
All 20 personnel on board a military cargo plane that crashed in Georgia were killed, Turkey’s defense minister announces.
The C-130 plane had taken off from Azerbaijan and was on its way back to Turkey when it crashed yesterday in Georgia’s Sighnaghi municipality, close to the Azerbaijani border.
“Our heroic comrades-in-arms were martyred on November 11, 2025, when our C-130 military cargo plane, which had taken off from Azerbaijan en route to our country, crashed near the Georgia-Azerbaijan border,” Defense Minister Yasar Guler says on a message posted on X, together with photographs of the military personnel that were killed.
The cause of the crash is being investigated.
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 Hadash-Ta’al 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
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