Nov. 19: AG instructs Netanyahu to fill ministerial posts left vacant by Haredi lawmakers

Actor Kevin Spacey performs one-man show in Tel Aviv

Actor Kevin Spacey at his one-man show in Tel Aviv on November 19, 2025. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)

Actor Kevin Spacey performs in Hangar 11, a Tel Aviv performance space, for his one-man show, “Songs & Stories.”

The show opens with a video vignette of his top film moments, including when Spacey received an Academy Award.

Spacey is trying to make a return to public life, following eight years of accusations of sexual misconduct and being shunned by the global film industry.

He jokes about being fired from Netflix’s “House of Cards” and not being legally allowed to mention the characters’ names from the show.

“I’m so excited to be back in Israel,” says Spacey, after first admonishing an audience member who insisted on taking a selfie with him before the show.

“Don’t ever fuck up an entrance like that ever again,” says Spacey.

In a slightly hoarse voice, occasionally sipping from a glass cup of tea, Spacey sings jazzy tunes accompanied by a five-piece band.

The audience of hundreds is full of applause for Spacey.

Spacey talks about his first trip to Israel in 1986 with actor Jack Lemmon to perform the play “A Long Day’s Journey” in Tel Aviv, one of many stories he recounts about his decades in the performing arts.

Ben Gvir signs off on round of senior police promotions

Police Commissioner Danny Levy and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir seen during a ceremony at the National Police Academy in Beit Shemesh, on September 15, 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/ Flash90)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has signed off on a round of promotions in the police’s senior command at the recommendation of police chief Danny Levy, law enforcement announces.

Deputy Commissioner Yair Hetzroni, who until now had been commanding the Central District police forces, is named deputy chief of police, replacing Deputy Commissioner Avshalom Peled.

Peled, a close associate of Ben Gvir whom the minister once sought to appoint as police commissioner, is leaving his post to helm the Jerusalem District forces.

Jerusalem’s current district commander, Deputy Commissioner Amir Arazani, is taking a year of leave from the force to study. He is known as one of the few senior police officers to have put up any resistance to Ben Gvir’s influence over operational police matters.

Arazani’s departure is said to be the result of pressure by Ben Gvir ahead of the month-long Muslim holy month of Ramadan next year, with the goal of implementing major changes to the status quo on the Temple Mount.

According to a Ynet report published earlier this month, the far-right politician had waged a silent campaign to force Arazani’s resignation over the matter.

The role of Jerusalem District commander is a highly sensitive position that carries much significance for Ben Gvir, who has pushed during his term to anchor a Jewish presence atop the hotly contested Temple Mount site.

Deputy Commissioner Amir Cohen will take the place of Hetzroni as Central District commander. Cohen formerly led the Southern District before he was injured during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack and went on temporary leave from the police force.

Assistant Commissioner Maoz Ben-Shabo will be promoted to the rank of Deputy Commissioner and placed in charge of crime in the Arab sector, after having served as deputy commander of the Coastal District.

German minister backs stripping of citizenship from Hamas supporters

Germany’s interior minister backs Berlin’s decision to strip a man of his citizenship for supporting Hamas, saying naturalized citizens should forfeit their nationality when they are found not to uphold German values.

The decision comes as Germany tightens immigration and citizenship rules amid a debate about who belongs in the country and the rise of the far-right.

Many German politicians have voiced concern at the support for Palestinian terror group Hamas and its attack on Israel two years ago among the hundreds of thousands of migrants who arrived in Germany from the Middle East in the last decade.

“People who have acquired German citizenship, including dual nationals, have declared their commitment to our system of values,” Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt says at a news conference.

“If it becomes apparent that this was a deliberate misrepresentation, and that they do not share this system of values … it should be possible to withdraw citizenship.”

German media reports that the Syrian man who came to Berlin as a young child posted a photo on Instagram one day after his naturalization showing two Hamas fighters, with the caption “Heroes of Palestine.”

Berlin’s immigration office became aware of the case through security agencies and believes it was deceived, as he had declared his loyalty to German values, the media reports.

Since the reform of Germany’s nationality law in June 2024, naturalization applicants must declare their commitment to the free democratic basic order and to Germany’s special historical responsibility, in particular for the protection of Jewish life.

The Syrian man had attracted police attention several times at pro-Palestinian demonstrations, German media reports.

Immigration officials have now told the man they are withdrawing his German citizenship, the media reports. The immigration office does not immediately reply to a request for comment, but Mayor Kai Wegner in a post on X thanked it for its quick action on the case.

Former hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal recounts sexual abuse during Hamas captivity in new interview

Released hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal waves as he arrives at Beilinson hospital, October 13, 2025 (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Former hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal reveals new details of the sexual abuse he says he endured during more than two years in Hamas captivity, in an excerpt of an interview aired by Channel 12 ahead of its full broadcast this weekend.

Gilboa-Dalal is among a group of recently released hostages set to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House tomorrow.

In the televised snippet, Gilboa-Dalal describes an incident in which a Hamas operative assaulted him after allowing him to shower.

“When I finish the shower, he drags me from there — from the shower. He doesn’t let me wear my clothes. He takes me back to their room, and then he throws me on one of their armchairs. He starts touching me all over my body,” he recalls. “I froze. I told him, ‘You’re joking, right? This is forbidden in Islam.’ He pointed a gun at my neck and told me that if I told someone, he would kill me.”

Gilboa-Dalal is believed to be the second male former hostage to publicly disclose sexual assault during Hamas captivity, following Rom Braslavski, who has spoken about similar abuse.

Braslavski previously described his ordeal as intended “to humiliate me,” adding: “The goal was to crush my dignity. And that’s exactly what [they] did.”

Several released female hostages have also recounted sexual violence and threats while held in Gaza.

UN chief Guterres says Netanyahu’s ‘very public’ visit to Syria is ‘concerning’

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls the “very public” visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to troops deployed in Syria in a buffer zone intended to separate the two countries “concerning.”

“This very public visit is concerning, to say the least. We call on Israel to respect the 1974 disengagement agreement,” says Guterres’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Trump: I believe MBS will join the Board of Peace overseeing Gaza redevelopment

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump says he believes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will join the Board of Peace responsible for overseeing the redevelopment of Gaza.

“I believe we’re going to be lucky enough to have the crown prince be a very distinguished member of the board,” Trump says in remarks before the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington that lasted over an hour.

The crown prince has yet to confirm his involvement in the yet-to-be-formed, Trump-chaired Board of Peace.

Trump said last night that he hopes MBS will join the panel along with many world leaders. The UN Security Council passed a US-sponsored resolution earlier this week that gave the board a broad mandate to manage postwar Gaza over the next two years.

“In the coming months, the crown prince and I are going to ensure that the ceasefire and everything else that’s going on in the Middle East that’s so positive in the Middle East…” Trump begins, before carrying on with an unrelated thought.

Trump says he will work to end Sudan war at Saudi leader’s request

US President Donald Trump says he will work to help end the war in Sudan after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asked him to get involved in the conflict.

“We’ve already started working on that,” Trump says at a Saudi investment conference a day after he met with Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler at the White House. Trump says he began looking into the issue half an hour after the crown prince explained its importance.

‘Reckless driver’ who killed Jewish mom, 2 daughters in NYC sentenced to 3-9 years

Miriam Yarimi, a Jewish driver who killed a Jewish mother and her two daughters in Brooklyn earlier this year, is sentenced to 3-9 years in prison, the Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez says.

Yarimi, 33, a wigmaker with a suspended license, hit the family while speeding in the Midwood neighborhood of south Brooklyn on a Shabbat afternoon in March.

The deaths were a major tragedy for the Jewish community.

The fatalities were Natasha Saada and her daughters, Diana and Deborah.

Saada’s son was severely injured.

“This defendant is a reckless driver who cared about only herself when she raced in the streets of Brooklyn and wiped away nearly an entire family,” Gonzalez says in a statement. “She should not have been driving a car that day but, instead, she chose to callously ignore all traffic and safety laws when she caused this unspeakable carnage.”

Yarimi pleaded guilty to three counts of reckless manslaughter last month.

The Brooklyn district attorney’s office had recommended the maximum sentence of five to 15 years in prison.

High Court orders government to explain why it is not establishing a state commission of inquiry into Oct. 7

A court hearing on the government’s efforts to draft ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, October 29, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The High Court of Justice issues a preliminary order against the government, instructing it to justify its reasons for not establishing a state commission of inquiry into the events surrounding the catastrophic Hamas invasion and massacres in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

The court demands to know why the government is not exercising its authority to establish such a commission, which could “examine in an independent, professional, and impartial manner” the events surrounding the October 7 attacks.

Preliminary orders switch the burden of proof from the petitioner, in this case several liberal watchdog groups, to the respondent – the government – and indicate that the court is taking the petitions very seriously.

The government has until January 4 to respond.

The government announced earlier this week that it intends to create some form of government-backed commission and formed a ministerial panel to select the topics and timeframes it believes should be probed.

The committee is scheduled to report to the cabinet on its recommendations for the format and mandate of that commission by the end of December.

The government has long resisted an independent state commission of inquiry, in which the members of the investigative body are chosen by the Supreme Court president.

Palestinian media: Death toll in Gaza airstrikes rises to 24

The death toll in the Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip since this afternoon has risen to 24, according to Palestinian media.

The IDF said it launched the strikes on Hamas after terror operatives opened fire on troops in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis earlier in the day.

Saudi Arabia will receive F-35 fighter jets ‘very quickly,’ Trump promises

US President Donald Trump and Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman arrive at the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC on November 19, 2025. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP)

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump says Saudi Arabia will be sent US-made F-35 fighter jets “very quickly.”

Addressing the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington, Trump says the US is selling top-notch military equipment to Saudi Arabia, including 300 tanks and “airplanes,” an apparent reference to the F-35s.

“We’re working on getting that approved very quickly. It’s already approved, don’t worry,” Trump quips. “We have to go through a process… the process will take 24 hours, so you’re in good shape.”

Israel had reportedly hoped that the US would condition the F-35 sale on Riyadh joining the Abraham Accords, but Saudi Arabia is conditioning normalization with Jerusalem on the latter establishing a pathway to Palestinian statehood — something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to do.

Trump appeared to dismiss concerns that the F-35 sale would harm Israel’s military advantage, saying both countries deserve top-notch equipment as they are both great allies of the US.

Probe into foiled Hamas plots in Europe revealed they were planned in Qatar, possibly Turkey, Mossad says

Protesters hold Hamas flags during a demonstration organized by the Gaza Solidarity Platform, against Germany's military support for Israel, in front of the German consulate in Istanbul on November 10, 2024. (KEMAL ASLAN / AFP)

Recently foiled Hamas terrorist plots in Europe were planned in Qatar and possibly Turkey, the Mossad intelligence agency says.

The spy agency says in a statement that it carried out a lengthy investigation alongside European counterparts that resulted in the arrest of terror suspects and weapons stockpiles “intended for use by Hamas cells to harm innocent civilians on command.”

Earlier this month, German police seized weapons and arrested a British man suspected of links to alleged Hamas members in Germany who are accused of plotting attacks on Jewish targets.

The man, 39, was arrested in London on a German arrest warrant, German prosecutors said.

His Berlin contact, a German citizen known as Abed Al G., was one of three alleged Hamas “foreign operatives” detained in October on suspicion of attempting to procure weapons for the attacks. Police seized an AK-47 assault rifle, handguns and ammunition during their arrests. Hamas denied any connection to the three.

The suspect had been given five handguns and ammunition, which he transported to Vienna for storage, according to Germany’s Federal Prosecutor.

Austria’s state intelligence agency DSN seized the arms in Vienna after probing “a globally active terrorist organization with close ties” to Hamas, the country’s interior ministry said in a statement. The Mossad said at the time it was involved in the investigation.

According to today’s Mossad statement, the weapons belonged to Hamas operative Muhammad Na’im, whose father is senior Gaza-based Hamas politburo official Basem Na’im.

Na’im, says Israel, met his father in Qatar in September.

“The timing of the meeting suggests possible involvement of Hamas leadership in authorizing and directing terror activity in Europe,” says the Mossad, while qualifying that statement with “the leadership’s sweeping denials may point to a loss of control over its rogue operatives.”

The investigation into Hamas’s European network is looking into the possibility that Hamas members in Turkey were among the planners of the attack, according to Israel. A year ago, suspected Hamas member Burhan al-Khatib was arrested in Germany after having been in Turkey.

Mossad insists that European partnership in the effort to counter the Hamas terror threat “reflects growing international recognition of the increasing danger and their determination to thwart any Hamas activity on their territory.”

Since the October 7, 2023, attacks, says Israel, Hamas has been focused on building its terror network in Europe.

In February, four Hamas members suspected of plotting attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe went on trial in Berlin, in what prosecutors described as the first court case against Hamas terrorists in Germany.

IDF: Hezbollah working to restore infrastructure in southern Lebanon’s Beit Lif, violating ceasefire

Hezbollah has been working to restore its infrastructure in the southern Lebanon village of Beit Lif, in a “blatant” violation of the ceasefire, the Israeli military says.

The IDF says it has located dozens of Hezbollah sites in the village, including command centers and weapon depots.

“The terror organization places these inside civilian homes of village residents and near civilian buildings and facilities,” the military says.

The IDF says Hezbollah activities in Beit Lif are “one of many examples of Hezbollah’s attempts to rebuild its assets throughout Lebanon, with an emphasis on rural areas.”

“The presence of these terror infrastructures and the organization’s activity in these areas constitute a grave violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military says, adding that Hezbollah “continues to endanger the villages and their residents and exploits the civilian environment to advance terror activities.”

The IDF says it reported some of the Hezbollah sites in Beit Lif to the US-led international mechanism overseeing the ceasefire, “but were not addressed.”

“The IDF will continue to monitor these violations and act against them in order to remove any threat and protect the State of Israel,” the army adds.

IDF checking if commander of Hamas’s Zeitoun Battalion, naval chief killed in Gaza strikes

Senior Hamas field commanders were among the targets of Israel’s strikes in the Gaza Strip this evening, in response to an attack by terror operatives on troops earlier today.

Israeli defense officials are assessing where the commander of Hamas’s Zeitoun Battalion and the chief of the terror group’s naval forces were killed in the strikes.

IDF says it has concluded wave of strikes on Hezbollah depots in southern Lebanon

The IDF announces that it has completed a wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah weapon depots in southern Lebanon.

The weapon depots in Deir Kifa, Shehour, Tayr Felsay, and Aynata belonged to Hezbollah’s rocket unit, according to the military.

The IDF says the arms caches were placed in “the heart of a civilian population,” which it says is “another example of the cynical use by the Hezbollah terror organization of Lebanese civilians as human shields.”

“The presence of weapons storage facilities constitutes a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the army adds.

Before the strikes, the IDF issued evacuation warnings for Lebanese civilians in the four villages.

Israeli airstrikes target Hezbollah weapon depots in southern Lebanon, November 19, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Damascus condemns Netanyahu’s visit to IDF troops in southern Syria buffer zone

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits IDF troops in southern Syria, accompanied by Defense Minister Israel Katz, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Shin Bet Director David Zini, Israeli Ambassador to the US Yehiel Leiter, and other senior IDF officers, November 19, 2025. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Damascus condemns the trip by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials to Syria’s south earlier today, where they visited IDF troops deployed in the Israel-held buffer zone.

Syria “condemns in the strongest terms the illegal visit… considering it a serious violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the foreign ministry says in a statement, calling it “a new attempt to impose a fait accompli that contradicts relevant Security Council resolutions.”

IDF confirms launching strikes across Gaza after terror operatives fired on troops in Khan Younis

Tents are set up inside a gutted apartment building in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, November 15, 2025. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The IDF confirms it has launched a wave of airstrikes against Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip after terror operatives opened fire on troops earlier today in the Khan Younis area.

The military says that no soldiers were wounded in the attack, which took place on the eastern side of the Yellow Line, meaning IDF-held territory as part of the ceasefire.

The attack “constitutes a violation of the ceasefire agreement,” the military says.

In response, the IDF says the Israeli Air Force has begun to strike Hamas targets across the Strip. Palestinian media have so far reported at least nine dead in the strikes.

Palestinian media reports at least nine killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza

Palestinian media reports that at least nine people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City’s Zeitoun and Shejaiya neighborhoods and in the Khan Younis area.

The IDF has not yet commented on the strikes, which appear to come as a response to an attack on troops in southern Gaza earlier.

Knesset passes law expanding financial benefits for IDF reservists

The Knesset passes a law expanding financial benefits for IDF reservists, with 26 lawmakers voting in favor, with no opposition or abstentions.

Under the terms of the law, reservists who earn below the income-tax threshold will receive a monthly supplement averaging NIS 3,000 ($936) for each month of reserve duty, topping up their monthly incomes up to NIS 9,800 ($3,000). The bill will be implemented starting in January 2026 and apply to service in 2025.

Those who serve at least 110 days of reserve duty per year will receive the largest tax credit. But the legislation also says that in 2028, when reserve-duty requirements are expected to shrink, the threshold for receiving the highest tier of tax credit will fall proportionally.

“This law, which brings benefits to combat reservists, is a good law, but it is far from repaying the debt that Israeli society owes them,” says Finance Committee chair and Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky.

“The law the Knesset approved today expresses the principle of simple justice: those who contribute more, receive more,” says Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in a statement. “This is a Zionist, moral, and economic policy. This is how you build a state that values its defenders, and this is how you create a real incentive for significant reserve service.”

The bill was stalled in the Finance Committee for several weeks due to disagreements over who would actually benefit from the tax credit, and that reservists who earn less than the tax threshold would see little to no financial gain, while higher-income reservists would receive the full benefit.

Smotrich, who heads the far-right Religious Zionism party, announced that his faction would refuse to vote with the coalition until the bill was brought for approval, causing a nearly weeklong legislative boycott until he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a compromise last week.

AG instructs Netanyahu to fill ministerial posts left vacant by Haredi lawmakers

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) at a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, November 1, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO); Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara at a farewell ceremony for retiring acting Supreme Court president Uzi Vogelman, at the Supreme Court, in Jerusalem, October 1, 2024. (Oren Ben Hakoon/ POOL/ File)

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has written to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him to fill ministerial posts in his cabinet that were vacated by ultra-Orthodox lawmakers earlier this year.

Members from the Shas and United Torah Judaism parties resigned from their posts in July to protest against a bill regulating Haredi military conscription.

Following their resignation, the health, interior, labor, welfare and religious services portfolios were transferred on a temporary basis to other members of Netanyahu’s coalition.

The temporary arrangement expired last month, however, and no permanent appointments have been made since, leaving the positions empty.

Continued failure to appoint new ministers will cause “serious harm to the functioning of government ministries and the public,” Baharav-Miara warns, noting that the issue is magnified “because we are dealing with many significant government ministries.”

“There is an urgent and vital need to immediately advance ministerial appointments in order to reduce the significant harm to public interests,” she adds.

After IDF troops in Gaza come under fire, Palestinians report airstrikes across the Strip

People walk by a gutted apartment building where residents used fabric to replace the walls at the Al-Shati camp in Gaza City, November 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israeli forces operating in IDF-held territory in the southern Gaza Strip came under fire by terror operatives today.

No injuries were reported in the incident.

In what appears to be a response, Palestinian media reports several airstrikes in the Strip a short while ago.

One strike in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood killed three people and injured others, and another strike in the Mawasi area near Khan Younis caused several injuries, the reports say.

The IDF has not yet commented.

High Court declines to delay Levin’s pending appointment of Sde Teiman investigation supervisor

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit at a court hearing on petitions against the appointment of David Zini as head of the Shin Bet, at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, November 18, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The High Court of Justice declines to delay the implementation of its ruling allowing Justice Minister Yariv Levin to appoint a supervisor for the criminal investigation into the Sde Teiman video leak affair.

The liberal Israel Democracy Guard organization filed the request for a delay as part of a petition seeking an additional hearing on the matter in front of an expanded panel of justices, arguing that the ruling earlier this week set an unprecedented principle enabling political involvement in a criminal process. The organization argued this requires greater judicial scrutiny.

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit writes in response that there is no reason to accept the request at present, since Levin has yet to formally appoint a supervisor.

He says, however, that the request may be evaluated once a supervisor has been appointed, and asks the government for its response to the request for an additional hearing with an expanded panel.

Levin announced on Tuesday his intention to appoint retired District Court judge Yosef Ben-Hamo, in a letter to Acting Civil Service Commissioner Daniel Hershkowitz.

If Hershkowitz responds favorably, Levin will make the appointment formal.

Separately, Haaretz reports that Levin submitted the candidacy of Ben-Hamo’s son, Tomer Shlomo Ben-Hamo, to be a traffic court judge to the Judicial Selection Committee, which Levin chairs, in July 2024.

The report says that the justice minister worked to get Ben-Hamo junior’s candidacy approved, and the Judicial Selection Committee made the appointment unanimously.

Bill aimed at blocking provision of electricity, water to UNRWA facilities passes first reading in Knesset

The entrance to a UNRWA boys school in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi al-Joz, November 7, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

A government-backed bill to prohibit the provision of electricity or water to facilities owned by or operated on behalf of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, passes its first reading in the Knesset 28-8.

UNRWA — the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East — provides education, health care and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

Israel has alleged that more than 10 percent of UNRWA’s staff in Gaza have ties to terrorist factions, and that educational facilities under the organization’s auspices consistently incite hatred of Israel and glorify terror.

The new amendment would formalize a process requiring electricity and water providers to withhold or disconnect service from any property whose registered consumer name is UNRWA, unless the registered party submits a sworn declaration that they do not represent or act on behalf of the agency.

The legislation also proposes to allow the government to seize properties in Ma’alot Dafna and Kafr Aqab in Jerusalem, which had been leased to UNRWA by the state and used as the agency’s offices, “without the need to initiate legal or administrative proceedings.”

The bill will now proceed to committee, where it will be prepared for additional readings before becoming law.

The measure is an amendment to a bill passed by lawmakers in October 2024, barring the agency from operating in Israeli territory and curtailing its activities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by banning state authorities from having any contact with the agency.

The agency continued to operate for some time after the bills’ passage, but its facilities in East Jerusalem were eventually shuttered.

The new bill aims to clarify that the provision of electrical and water services should be considered “contact” under the law.

IDF says Gaza terror operative killed after crossing Yellow Line

The IDF says it killed a terror operative who crossed the Yellow Line demarcating the military’s withdrawal and approached troops in the northern Gaza Strip today.

The military says several operatives had been spotted crossing the line and approaching reservists of the Carmeli Brigade.

The operatives “posed an immediate threat” to the troops, who then opened fire and “eliminated a terrorist to remove the threat,” the military says. The other operatives apparently managed to flee.

The IDF says it remains deployed in Gaza “in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat.”

Masked assailants attack vehicle of Israeli activists aiding Palestinians in the West Bank

Masked assailants attacked activists helping Palestinians in the village of Mukhmas, north of Jerusalem, today.

In a video, the assailants can be seen spraying pepper spray at one of the activists and smashing the vehicle’s windows. An activist who requested to remain anonymous tells The Times of Israel that no one was injured in the incident.

Construction was carried out in the area yesterday, apparently aimed at establishing a new illegal settler outpost there, close to where Bedouins reside on the outskirts of the village.

The location was recently declared a closed military zone by the IDF after repeated attempts, reportedly by settlers, to set fire to the Bedouins’ homes.

They keep going, cause why wouldn't they?

The settler terrorist attack Palestinian residents of Khalet A-Sidra Mukhmas Bedouin and Israeli activists in broad daylight, pepper spraying and breaking windows.

This is State-sponsored terrorism, don't let anyone fool you pic.twitter.com/tB6qxR1o9q

— Herd of Justice (@JustHerds) November 19, 2025

Israel’s presence in Syria of ‘immense importance,’ Netanyahu tells troops

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits IDF troops in Syria, joined by Defense Minister Israel Katz, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Shin Bet Director David Zini, Israeli Ambassador to the US Yehiel Leiter, and other senior IDF officers, November 19, 2025 (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Israel’s presence inside of Syria is of “immense importance,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells troops during a visit to an outpost in the IDF-held buffer zone there.

“We attach immense importance to our capability here, both defensive and offensive, safeguarding our Druze allies, and especially safeguarding Israel and its northern border opposite the Golan Heights,” he says. “This is a mission that can develop at any moment, but we are counting on you.”

Netanyahu’s visit was meant to thank the troops serving there, the Prime Minister’s Office tells The Times of Israel.

“They really appreciated the visit,” says a PMO official. “There are soldiers there on their sixth round. They said they want to continue, and they want to continue getting all the borders safe.”

Netanyahu “met with active-duty and reserve soldiers, praised their actions during the war and their efforts to maintain security in the area, and answered their questions,” says the PMO.

Defense Minister Israel Katz, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, and Shin Bet head David Zini also joined Netanyahu for the visit to the IDF post.

They were also joined by acting National Security Council chief Gil Reich, Israeli Ambassador to the US Yehiel Leiter, Northern Command head Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, and 210th Division Commander Brig. Gen. Yair Peli.

Israel and Syria won’t sign security agreement any time soon, Israeli official says

Israeli security forces stand guard at the Israeli border fence with Syria, near the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, July 19, 2025. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)

A security agreement between Israel and Syria is not going to be signed in the near future, a senior Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.

“We’re not close yet,” says the official. “It’s not in the cards right now.”

A central sticking point is Syria’s demand that the IDF pull out of areas it seized inside Syrian territory following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime last year.

A Kan report this week said that Jerusalem is refusing to take such a step in exchange for less than a full peace deal with Damascus, which currently is not under discussion.

Despite promising change, Palestinian Authority still teaching antisemitism in school, study finds

Palestinian schoolchildren attend a school in the Khalet al-Daba'a village, in Masafer Yatta in the southern West Bank, on February 13, 2025. (Hazem Bader/AFP)

A new study examining Palestinian Authority textbooks for the first time in four years finds that no changes have been made to them, despite the PA promising reforms.

The PA had previously reassured the US and the European Union that it would revise the educational materials taught in the Palestinian territories to remove content that promotes hatred and violence. However, a new study by the IMPACT-SE institute — which examines the textbooks used in the current school year — finds that no changes have been made.

According to the study, passages in the textbooks portray Jews as manipulative, inherently corrupt, or as enemies of Islam. This also includes imagery and terminology related to global conspiracy theories — of Jewish greed and control over the media and financial institutions.

In one instance, an 11th-grade history textbook contains antisemitic imagery of Jews controlling the world.

Under the words “cultural colonialism” — which, according to the textbook, is “the most dangerous form of colonialism” — there is a small black-and-white drawing of two arms holding the globe: one bearing an American flag, and the other an Israeli flag.

In an 11th-grade Islamic education textbook, Quranic verses are used to teach that the “Children of Israel” are corrupt, destined for destruction, and will be punished.

This is also reflected in the fact that the name “Israel” does not appear on the maps in the textbooks; instead, only “Palestine” is shown as the entity between the Jordan River and the sea, including in a 6th-grade social studies book that presents the “borders of Palestine” and in a civics and nationalism textbook for another grade. In addition, according to the study, Israel is frequently referred to in the textbooks as “the Zionist entity” or “the Zionist occupier.”

There are also instances of incitement to terrorism within the textbooks.

Dalal al-Mughrabi, a Fatah member who carried out the 1978 Coastal Road massacre, in which 38 Israelis — including 13 children — were murdered, features as a main figure in a fifth-grade Arabic language text.

The ten-page text praises the attack as an act of “heroism” and lauds al-Mughrabi. Separately, in an 11th-grade history book, the deadly attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics is presented as a legitimate method of Palestinian struggle.

The report covers textbooks published for the 2025–2026 school year for grades one through twelve. These are the books used by the PA’s public-school system in the West Bank, as well as in the Gaza Strip, and also by UNRWA, which teaches the textbooks issued by the Palestinian Authority in both the West Bank and Gaza.

The full study presents 210 examples, drawn from a total of 290 textbooks and 71 teachers’ guides examined. The books reviewed are used to teach history, Christian education, Islamic education, Arabic, science, mathematics, social studies, civics, and geography.

IDF issues additional evacuation warnings for villages in southern Lebanon

The IDF issues evacuation warnings ahead of airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in two more villages in southern Lebanon.

Residents of Tayr Felsay and Aynata should evacuate from two buildings and the surrounding area by at least 300 meters, says Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, attaching a map of the sites.

The warning comes as the IDF launches a wave of strikes on Hezbollah targets in two other villages ib southern Lebanon, following similar evacuation warnings.

Footage shows Israeli airstrike on building in southern Lebanon’s Shehour

Footage posted by Lebanese media shows an Israeli airstrike on a building in the southern town of Shehour, after the IDF issued an evacuation warning.

The military says it has begun a wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets.

Netanyahu, Zamir and top officials visit IDF position in southern Syria

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, and Shin Bet head David Zini visited an Israeli army position in southern Syria today.

Their offices have not yet issued a statement on the visit.

An image posted to social media shows Netanyahu and Sa’ar at the IDF post alongside troops.

IDF announces wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon

The IDF announces that it has begun a wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

The strikes come after the IDF issued evacuation warnings for several sites in two villages.

The IDF says it will provide further details on the strikes later.

Defense Ministry: 1,000 planes carrying military equipment have landed in Israel since start of war

Military equipment arriving at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel on November 19, 2025. (Defense Ministry)

One thousand transport planes and 150 ships have delivered more than 120,000 tons of armaments and military equipment to Israel since the start of the war, the Defense Ministry says.

Earlier today, the 1,000th plane landed at Ben Gurion Airport and was received by Defense Ministry Director General Amir Baram.

The military equipment delivered to Israel since the beginning of the war, mostly from the United States, has included armored vehicles, munitions, ammunition, personal protection gear, and medical equipment, according to the ministry.

It says the deliveries are a “critical component” in ensuring the IDF can continue operations, as well as to replenish “full stockpiles for emergencies,” and ensuring “rapid and precise responses to the needs of combat units in various theaters.”

The logistical effort has been carried out by the ministry’s Directorate of Production and Procurement, the ministry’s mission to the US, the IDF’s Planning Directorate, and the Israeli Air Force.

Gaza water provider resumes services after Hamas frees employee

A car drives along a muddy road amid destroyed buildings in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP/Jehad Alshrafi)

A Gaza company that operates water desalination plants serving nearly half of the enclave’s population says it has resumed operations after Hamas-led security agents freed a staff member they detained on Monday.

A statement issued by the Abdul Salam Yassin Company, whose services reach more than 1 million people, says the decision to resume operations came after the issue was resolved, adding that the staff member is “fine and in good health.”

The company apologizes for what it says was a “misunderstanding” that led to the detention of its employee and affirms its respect for the Hamas-led government in Gaza.

Hamas government officials declined comment on the arrest, but a source confirms the employee was freed, without elaborating on the reasons for his detention.

The Palestinian terror group has been gradually reasserting control in areas of Gaza from which Israeli forces have withdrawn under an October 10 ceasefire deal as talks over the war-devastated territory’s future grind on.

IDF confirms earlier drone strike in south Lebanon, says it killed Hezbollah operative

The IDF confirms carrying out a drone strike in southern Lebanon today, saying it killed a Hezbollah operative.

The target of the strike in the town of at-Tiri was involved in efforts to “reestablish Hezbollah’s readiness in the area,” the military says.

The IDF says the operative’s actions “constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”

According to Lebanese media, a school bus passed by the area at the time of the strike, resulting in the injury of the driver and several students.

Yair Golan on Haredi conscription: ‘Instead of drafting ultra-Orthodox, they draft excuses’

The High Court’s ruling obliging the government to draw up criminal and economic sanctions against Haredi draft dodgers “once again reminds the government that there is law in the country, and the government once again reminds us that it has no intention of respecting it,” says The Democrats chairman Yair Golan.

“Instead of drafting the ultra-Orthodox, they draft excuses, and instead of enforcement, they produce yet another workaround,” he posts on X, pledging, if elected to govern, to cut funding from yeshivas that encourage evasion and to transfer billions of shekels from Haredi causes to IDF reservists.

Draft evasion “must not be at our expense,” he declares.

French court reduces sentence of teen convicted in antisemitic gang rape of 12-year-old Jewish girl

A French court has reduced the sentence of a teenager convicted in the antisemitic gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl outside Paris in 2024.

Three boys convicted in the rape dragged the girl into a shed where they beat her and forced her to have sex while uttering death threats and antisemitic remarks, according to the charges.

The teen rapist, who was 13 at the time of crime, had his sentence reduced by the Versailles Court of Appeal from nine to seven years, according to French outlets.

“The court took into account the entire case, as required by law: the facts, their seriousness, but also the minor’s personality and the need to prepare for his future reintegration,” his lawyer, Melody Blanc says in a statement carried by Le Monde. She argues the shorter punishment was “fair, proportionate, and in accordance with fundamental legal principles.”

Two others were convicted in the rape case: another 13-year-old, who was handed seven years in the original sentencing; and the girl’s ex-boyfriend, who was 12 at the time and could not be sentenced to jail due to his age. He was placed in closed foster care for five years, according to reports.

Neither of them appealed their sentences.

The victim’s lawyers, Muriel Ouaknine-Melki and Oudy Bloch, lauded her “courage” in a statement, and said: “The most important thing is that she succeeded in bringing the perpetrators of her assault to justice and that two of them are incarcerated.”

Shin Bet says it uncovered smuggling ring bringing weapons from Syria to Israel

Weapons found by Israeli forces following an attempted smuggling from Syria into Israel, in a handout photo issued on November 19, 2025. (Shin Bet)

The Shin Bet security agency says it has uncovered a weapons smuggling ring in northern Israel, arresting 12 suspects — five IDF soldiers in the standing army and reserves, four Israeli civilians, and three Syrian nationals.

The suspects were detained in the past month following an investigation carried out by the Shin Bet, Israel Police and IDF, over suspicions of involvement in a network smuggling various weapons from Syria into Israel, a joint statement says.

The security agency says that the five soldiers crossed the border into Syria near the Druze town of Hader on several occasions and brought back to Israel weapons, which were then handed over to criminal elements in northern Israel.

Among the soldiers is Master Sgt. Iyad Halabi, 45, a resident of the northern Druze village of Yarka and a member of a regional brigade in northern Israel.

The other soldiers detained in the case are named as Suheil Maadi, 21, a reservist from Maghar; Salah Hanfis, 23, a standing army soldier from Shefa-Amr; Amal Aslim, 26, a reservist from Yarka; and Yazen Salah, 21, a noncommissioned officer from Maghar.

The Shin Bet and police say their investigation revealed that several days before the suspects were detained, the smuggling ring “worked to bring in an unusually large and exceptional cache of weapons, including explosives, RPGs, assault rifles, and a large quantity of additional ammunition.”

Last month, during an overnight operation in the Hader area of southern Syria, IDF troops located dozens of weapons and detained three Syrian nationals involved in the smuggling attempts, the statement says.

The weapons and suspects were handed over to the Shin Bet, and an investigation revealed that the arms were intended to be smuggled into Israel, the agency says.

The Shin Bet says those weapons were supposed to reach Rami Abu Shaah, 49, a resident of Shefa-Amr, who was in frequent contact with Ruad Albaser, 25, one of the detained Syrian smugglers from Hader.

Tomorrow, indictments are set to be filed against all of the suspects in the case.

Man wounded in yesterday’s terror attack released home; teen still hospitalized

Shaare Zedek Medical Center says that a man wounded in yesterday’s terror attack in Gush Etzion has been released from the hospital in good condition.

Another victim, a 15-year-old boy, is still hospitalized in stable, moderate condition.

Shas hints at support for Bismuth’s bill regulating Haredi conscription

Shas party chief Aryeh Deri at the scene of suspected arson at a Jerusalem synagogue on June 8, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The rabbinic leadership of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party appears to strongly imply that it may support a government-backed bill regulating the conscription of Haredim.

In a front-page letter published in party mouthpiece HaDerech, Shas’s Council of Torah Sages bemoans what it describes as the shameful persecution of yeshiva students — which it says mainly affects members of the Sephardic community — and calls for a day of prayer on Thursday.

The council argues that rather than arresting draft dodgers, a Jewish state should pass legislation “that anyone who has the privilege of dedicating their lives to studying Torah, for the sake of all of Israel, will certainly be assisted suitably in whatever they need.”

Lashing out at those reporting “lies and deceit” regarding divisions within the party, the council says it backs the party’s MKs, “emissaries who faithfully do holy work, in full obedience to… our instructions,” as well as party chairman Aryeh Deri, “the valiant and active chairman of the holy movement.”

The members of Shas’s ruling Council of Torah Sages have reportedly been deeply divided over the legislation, while there have also been reports of significant differences of opinion between the rabbis and Deri.

In recordings recently published by Channel 12, senior members of the council, which ostensibly controls the party and has the final say over policy issues, were heard complaining that Deri had packed the panel with people outside the inner circle who maintain a more accommodationist approach than hardliners like Rabbi Moshe Maya or former chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef.

In an interview with the Knesset Channel last Tuesday, Shas MK Yaakov Margi asserted that his party supported the bill — which he said had been drafted in collaboration with Shas negotiator Ariel Attias — prompting pushback within the ultra-Orthodox faction and leading him to issue a clarification that the matter was still being considered by Shas’s rabbinic leadership, without whom no final decision will be made.

Speaking with The Times of Israel on Wednesday, a senior Shas figure stated that the party had “signaled a long time ago that it is in favor” of the bill.

Report: Iranian scientists visited Russia secretly last year, possibly to acquire nuke technology

Iranian scientists with ties to the regime made a secret trip to Russia late last year, where they met with military experts and may have sought to advance nuclear weapons work, The Financial Times reports.

Citing various documents it had obtained, the paper said the visiting scientists were tied to institutions previously implicated in nuclear work, and that the visit, on November 7 to 11, 2024, was arranged by an organization serving as a front for Iran’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), the military organization Western officials believe is behind Iran’s nuclear weapons research efforts.

FT says the visit was the second last year, and included meetings with sanctioned Russian company Laser Systems.

Former CIA analyst Jim Lamson, now a senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, tells FT it appears that the group was “seeking laser technology and expertise that could help them validate a nuclear weapon design without conducting a nuclear explosive test.”

Among the reasons cited by Israeli officials for the June 2025 war with Iran was concrete steps they said Tehran had recently taken toward weaponization.

TV network’s offices vandalized: ‘The blood of the traitors will be cleared for publication’

View of graffiti sprayed overnight outside the Channel 13 offices in Tel Aviv, November 19, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Threatening graffiti was found spraypainted outside the offices of the Channel 13 news network in Tel Aviv this morning. The outlet has filed a complaint with police.

The spraypainted message reads: “The blood of the traitors will be cleared for publication,” paraphrasing a term generally used by the army when it announces the deaths of soldiers in battle.

Channel 13 announces it has filed a complaint with the police, saying it “unequivocally condemns” the vandalism.

“There is no place in society for violence and threats. Differences of opinion must be resolved through dialogue and understanding,” says the outlet.

Incitement against journalists has escalated recently. A week ago, right-wing activists attacked Channel 12 correspondent Guy Peleg during a speaking gig. The journalist, who has come under fire from the right over his airing of leaked footage from the Sde Teiman holding facility last year depicting soldiers’ alleged abuse of a Gazan detainee, required a police escort to return safely to his car.

IDF warns two towns in south Lebanon ahead of airstrikes against Hezbollah

The IDF issues a warning to residents of two towns in southern Lebanon ahead of airstrikes against Hezbollah infrastructure.

“The IDF will attack military infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terror organization throughout southern Lebanon, in response to its prohibited attempts to rebuild its activities in the area,” says Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman.

With the announcement, the IDF publishes maps showing the locations of sites that are going to be targeted in the towns of Deir Kifa and Shehour.

“For your own safety, you must evacuate [the sites] immediately,” Adraee says.

Elbit seals contracts worth $210 million to upgrade IDF’s Merkava tanks

An Israeli army soldier signals for the driver of a Merkava battle tank attempting to park at a position in southern Israel along the northern Gaza Strip on March 18, 2025. (Menahem Kahana / AFP)

The Elbit defense firm announces that it has been awarded several contracts from the Defense Ministry, worth approximately $210 million (NIS 685 million), for upgrading the IDF’s Merkava tanks.

Under the contracts, which will be carried out over a period of six years, Elbit will “carry out an extensive renewal of the electronic assemblies of the tanks to extend their operational service life, as well as the upgrade and enhancement of multiple onboard systems,” the company says.

“Among these are high‑performance, lightweight, AI‑enhanced electro‑optical sights that provide panoramic day‑ and night‑time observation, along with advanced target detection, acquisition, and tracking capabilities,” Elbit says.

The company says the contracts also include the “supply of spare parts and the provision of comprehensive maintenance and support services.”

During the course of the war, the Armored Corps has been at the front of the IDF’s ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza, against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and on other fronts. As a result, many tanks are in need of servicing to replace damaged and worn-out systems.

EU eyes training 3,000 police officers in Gaza — EU official

Children play near shelters and tents in the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip, on November 18, 2025. (Eyad Baba / AFP)

The European Union wants to train up to 3,000 Palestinian police officers in the Gaza Strip under a program similar to one it already runs in the West Bank, an EU official says.

There will be a “need to stabilize Gaza with an important police force” if the current ceasefire endures, says the official, who was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

The UN Security Council voted Monday in favor of a US-drafted resolution bolstering US President Donald Trump’s plan for the Gaza Strip — which has allowed a fragile ceasefire to hold between Israel and Hamas since October 10.

The peace plan notably authorizes the creation of an international force that would work with Israel and Egypt and newly trained Palestinian police to help secure border areas and demilitarize Gaza.

The EU has struggled to exert influence during the two-year war in Gaza due to splits within the bloc between countries supporting Israel and those closer to the Palestinians.

Keen to reclaim a role in the region, the EU will propose training Palestinian police officers — who are not affiliated with Gaza’s Hamas rulers — as part of efforts to restore long-term security in the territory.

Around 7,000 police in Gaza are still on the payroll of the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, the official says. Many have retired or are unable to work, but about 3,000 could be trained, he adds.

The training would take place outside of the Gaza Strip, he says.

The EU has financed a police training mission in the West Bank since 2006, with a budget of around 13 million euros ($15 million).

Haredi MK: Court’s ‘evil regime’ trying to drag the country into civil war

MK Yisrael Eichler attends a United Torah Judaism faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on October 28, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

By ordering the government to draw up criminal and economic sanctions against Haredi draft dodgers, the “evil regime” of the High Court of Justice is “trying to drag the country into a civil war against the Haredim,” charges Agudat Yisrael MK Yisrael Eichler.

“Today, the dictatorship imposed a decree on all authorities to forcibly arrest Torah students en masse,” he says, claiming that the court is holding Israeli democracy hostage and that it has “staged an anti-Jewish coup d’état.”

However, “as long as the Knesset has not yet been locked shut, we will continue trying to save the Torah students from their enemies,” he continues, promising to once again advance legislation to resume the payment of taxpayer-funded childcare subsidies for the the children of draft evaders.

Lapid: Those obligated to enlist must go either to the army or to prison

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid welcomes the High Court of Justice’s ruling that the state must draw up criminal and economic sanctions against Haredi draft dodgers within 45 days.

“The High Court of Justice has announced: The mass draft-dodging operation funded by the coalition is illegal and prohibited by law. We will fight by every means to ensure that not a single shekel is transferred through back channels to draft-dodging Haredim. We will not allow any under-the-table schemes,” declares Lapid.

“Those obligated to enlist must be sent either to the army or to prison.”

UK says ‘military options ready’ as Russian ship uses lasers against RAF pilots

British defense minister John Healey says that “military options” are ready should the Russian spy ship Yantar become a threat, after the vessel directed lasers at British pilots sent to monitor it.

Britain’s Royal Navy and Royal Air Force (RAF) routinely shadow potential threats to national security, and such missions to monitor Russian vessels and submarines have become more frequent since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The Yantar, designed for intelligence gathering and mapping underseas cables, is currently on the edge of British waters, north of Scotland, he said.

Healey says directing lasers at RAF pilots is “deeply dangerous” and Britain is poised to react depending on the Yantar’s next move.

“We have military options ready should the Yantar change course,” Healey says. “This is the first time we’ve had this action from Yantar directed against the British RAF. We take it extremely seriously.”

“I have changed the navy’s rules of engagement so that we can follow more closely, monitor more closely, the activities of the Yantar when it’s in our wider waters.”

High Court tells government to draw up sanctions for Haredi draft dodgers within 45 days

Deputy President of the Supreme Court Noam Sohlberg presides over a hearing on the government’s enforcement measures against ultra-Orthodox draft evaders, October 29, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The High Court of Justice unanimously orders the government to draw up effective enforcement measures, including criminal sanctions, against ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who have refused to comply with military service conscription orders.

A five-member panel led by Justice Noam Sohlberg accuses the government and state agencies of having almost “totally shirked” their responsibilities to enforce the law on security service for Haredi draft dodgers, which represents “a violation” of the state’s obligation to enforce its laws and even amounts to “selective enforcement,” a summary of the ruling issued by the Judicial Authority says.

The order directs the government to draw up a policy for enforcement within 45 days, including opening criminal proceedings against those legally determined to be draft dodgers from the ultra-Orthodox community, so that the percentage of Haredi draft dodgers against whom criminal proceedings are underway not be lower than that of draft dodgers from other sectors of the population.

The court also orders the government to devise civil and economic sanctions against draft dodgers that have a high likelihood of being effective, and to stop any benefits granted to Haredi yeshiva students who studied in yeshiva in lieu of military service, such as monthly stipends and similar grants.

The court also insists that the fact that the government is trying to legislate a new bill to regulate conscription for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students (and likely allow many to continue avoiding the draft) is irrelevant to the obligation to enforce the law as it currently stands.

The government is seeking to pass new legislation to reinstate blanket military service exemptions for most ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, but is facing significant opposition from the ultra-Orthodox political parties — which insist that the concessions to their community are not deep enough — as well as from members of the coalition in Likud and other parties who argue that the law will not meet the requirements of the IDF for thousands of new combat soldiers.

Army tells MKs 600 career soldiers seeking early retirement amid increasing burnout

Brig. Gen. Lia Shabo, head of the Staff Division in the Personnel Directorate (2nd from left) and Brig. Gen. Amir Vadmani, chief of staff at the Personnel Directorate (2nd from right), during a meeting of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee's IDF Human Resources Subcommittee. (Dani Shem Tov/Knesset Spokesperson)

Senior officers in the IDF’s Personnel Directorate tell lawmakers that some 600 career soldiers are seeking early retirement, and junior officers are being promoted early to bridge the gaps.

“There are gaps. To close some of the gaps, we are promoting young people with less experience to fill the ranks,” Brig. Gen. Amir Vadmani, chief of staff at the Personnel Directorate, tells the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s IDF Human Resources Subcommittee.

“We have a decline in the selection ratio. By 2028, we need to appoint 400 lieutenant colonels out of the 500 candidates currently available, and this will further erode by 2028. We conduct surveys and can see the trends; at all levels, we see an increase in burnout,” Vadmani says.

Vadmani notes that the salary for career officers is “perceived as too low and insufficiently rewarding, certainly relative to the level of responsibility and expectations,” despite various steps the army has taken.

“Career service has unique characteristics, including mobility and relocation throughout the country according to assignments; we do not permit income supplements from private work; 24/7 availability [is often expected]; daily work under operational stress; no right to strike or unionize; the burden on the family, and more,” he says.

The IDF, for years, has struggled to keep career soldiers in the military, as civilian work has been seen as far more lucrative and less stressful. The issue has been exacerbated recently due to burnout from the war, perceived worsening service conditions, political delegitimization, and discontent over recent appointments within IDF leadership.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the head of the Personnel Directorate Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, and other top officers have been working on plans to address the growing crisis and prevent legislation that could further harm conditions for career soldiers.

Lapid: Rabbis’ approval proves conscription bill is draft evasion law

The decision of the Degel HaTorah party’s senior rabbis to allow their MKs to support the advancement of the government’s bill to regulate ultra-Orthodox conscription proves that its real purpose is to facilitate draft evasion, declares Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.

“If there is one thing that definitively confirms that what was presented to the Knesset is a full-blown draft evasion law, it is the rabbis’ approval. They would not have approved it unless they knew it was outright draft evasion,” Lapid tells lawmakers during a speech in the Knesset.

“The people who call themselves ‘the national camp’ are going to the rabbis and getting permission to release tens of thousands of healthy young people from the IDF… It is simply an erosion of the foundations of Zionism. Shame on you,” he tells the coalition.

Bennett attacks Haredi draft exemption bill: ‘We will cancel this despicable anti-Zionist law’

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud as well as the Knesset’s Haredi parties, after the Degel HaTorah faction announced that its rabbinic leadership had given its MKs a “green light” to support the latest draft of the government’s bill regulating Haredi enlistment.

“Likud and the Haredi parties have agreed to advance the ‘Draft Evasion Law.’ In doing so, they are imposing hundreds of additional reserve duty days on the reservists. How dare they?” he posts on X.

“Let me be clear: In the first cabinet meeting under my leadership, we will cancel this despicable anti-Zionist law. Don’t lose hope. Better days are still ahead,” he adds.

Lebanese report: Meeting between Witkoff and Hamas’s al-Hayya canceled due to Israeli pressure

(L-R) Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya and US special envoy Steve Witkoff. (Collage/AP)

The Lebanese channel Al-Mayadeen reports that a planned meeting between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya, which was scheduled to take place today in Turkey, has been canceled. According to the report, this was due to Israeli pressure.

There is no outside confirmation of the report at this stage.

This would have been the second meeting between the two, after they met on October 9 in Egypt, just hours before the announcement of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

Ben Gvir: Arab MKs oppose death penalty bill ‘because it will take many of their friends’

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir speaks at a Knesset faction meeting in the Knesset on October 20, 2025 (Sam Sokol/ Times of Israel)

Following a stormy Knesset committee meeting on the quickly advancing death penalty bill, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir attacks Arab lawmakers, accusing them of terror sympathies over their opposition to the legislation.

“Ahmad Tibi, [Ayman] Odeh, [Mansour] Abbas and Co. are scared to death that this will happen, because it will take many of their friends from this world,” he writes on X. “We, God willing, will make their nightmare come true.”

He pushes back against claims that the bill’s definition of terrorist applies only to someone who murders Jews because they are Jewish, saying the death penalty will apply to “anyone who murders a Jew, or non-Jew, as part of the struggle against the revival of the Jewish people in their land and the State of Israel.”

In its current form, the legislation effectively precludes perpetrators of Jewish nationalist violence from facing the death penalty.

The bill states that it will apply to anyone who intentionally or recklessly causes the death of an Israeli citizen, when the act is committed “with the purpose of harming the State of Israel and the rebirth of the Jewish people in their homeland.”

Religious Zionism: We’ll only pass conscription law ‘that changes current reality’

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a Religious Zionism faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, October 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party slams Degel HaTorah’s announcement that the ultra-Orthodox faction’s rabbinic leaders have given its MKs the “green light” to advance legislation regulating the conscription of yeshiva students.

“Press releases are not a plan of action, neither from Degel nor from coalition officials. Only a law that changes the current reality and enlists Haredim is a law we will pass. The State of Israel needs more soldiers. Period,” the party says.

US, European countries call on Iran to work with UN watchdog

Iran must “cooperate fully” with the UN’s nuclear watchdog, according to a draft resolution submitted to the agency’s board by Britain, France, Germany and the United States, and seen by AFP.

Tensions between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog have repeatedly flared in recent years, with relations being further strained in the wake of a 12-day war in June that saw Israeli and US strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities.

Since the war, agency inspectors have not been granted access to key nuclear sites such as Fordo and Natanz, which were hit in the strikes in June, but they have been able to visit other sites.

The draft, which is expected to be voted on by the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) during its meeting this week, stresses that it is “imperative” for Iran to comply with its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

It also urges Iran to provide “access that the agency requests.”

Last week the IAEA called on Iran to allow it to verify its enriched uranium inventories, especially its sensitive stockpile of highly enriched uranium that was “long overdue,” according to a confidential report seen by AFP.

“Iran has failed over the past five months to provide the IAEA with requested information regarding the status of its enriched uranium stockpiles and safeguarded nuclear facilities,” the resolution reads.

Ben Gvir tells MK Gilad Kariv to ‘send regards to your friend Barghouti’ in Knesset clash

MK Gilad Kariv argues with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir during a committee meeting at the Knesset on November 19, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir clashes with The Democrats MK Gilad Kariv during a Knesset committee debate over the death penalty bill, telling the opposition lawmaker to “send regards to your friend Barghouti,” referring to high-profile Palestinian terror convict Marwan Barghouti.

Legislation that would enact the death penalty for Palestinian terrorists passed its first reading in the Knesset last week, and is now being prepared in the National Security Committee for its second and third readings.

The two politicians start trading barbs after Kariv asserts that the far-right minister has “destroyed the national security of the State of Israel.”

“Murders, killings, car accidents, protection. Where is the ‘governance’?” Kariv shouts, using the minister’s frequent buzzword. “Parents are afraid of going outside with their children all across the country!”

He calls Ben Gvir and his associates “a bunch of clowns,” telling him to “go open a community theater in Kiryat Arba,” the West Bank settlement where Ben Gvir resides, before being booted from the meeting.

As security guards escort Kariv from the meeting room, Ben Gvir accuses him of supporting terrorism. “Go on opposing — [the bill] will pass, God willing. Send regards to your friend Barghouti,” he says.

Ben Gvir also levels accusations of terror sympathizing against Hadash-Ta’al MK Aida Touma-Sliman, after she tries to interrupt his comments to the committee.

“I know you are afraid that this law will be applied to your friends,” Ben Gvir says, to which Touma-Sliman retorts: “You support terrorism.”

MK Limor Son Har-Melech, a member of Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party and sponsor of the death penalty bill, charges the Arab lawmaker with supporting terrorism herself, telling her to “go to the terrorists’ funerals, your martyrs.”

Touma-Sliman is also escorted out of the meeting as Ben Gvir taunts her by repeating the word barra, meaning “out” in Arabic. “Go to your terrorist friends,” he says.

The Public Defender’s Office, in a letter presented to the committee, opposes the death penalty bill, claiming the law will not deter terrorism.

“Many studies conducted around the world have not found that the death penalty has a deterrent effect, especially when we are talking about acts of murder against an ideological-terrorist backdrop,” the letter reads.

Watchdog vows to petition High Court over any attempt to pass draft-dodging bill

The Movement for Quality Government watchdog organization says the Degel HaTorah faction “will meet us at the High Court,” after the ultra-Orthodox faction announced that its rabbinic leadership had given its MKs a “green light” to support the latest draft of the government’s bill regulating Haredi enlistment.

“The High Court has already unanimously ruled, in a panel of nine justices, that there is no legal basis for avoiding the enlistment of yeshiva students. Any attempt to circumvent the court ruling and approve, through legislation, the mass exemption of tens of thousands of Haredi youth — while the IDF needs more than 12,000 additional soldiers and reservists are collapsing under the burden — is a serious violation of the rule of law and equality,” the group says in a statement.

“The Movement for Quality Government will continue the legal battle in the High Court and will not allow the government to breach the court’s rulings and harm national security.”

UTJ’s Agudat Yisrael stresses no endorsement yet for Haredi enlistment bill

Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf arrives at a United Torah Judaism party meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on May 19, 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

The United Torah Judaism party’s Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction emphasizes that it has not endorsed the government’s Haredi enlistment bill, after the party’s other faction, Degel Hatorah, announced it had been given the green light by its rabbinic leadership to support the bill’s advancement.

“The chairman of Agudat Yisrael, MK Rabbi Yitzhak Goldknopf, has not yet received the draft of the Conscription Law… and therefore it has not yet been brought before the Council of Torah Sages,” a spokesman for Goldknopf announces.

“To make it absolutely clear: Agudat Yisrael will not support any bill that includes sanctions or any harm to the status and rights of Torah students in the Land of Israel, as has been the practice until now.”

Fellow ultra-Orthodox party Shas has not responded to Degel HaTorah’s announcement but has reportedly been waiting on Degel HaTorah spiritual leader Rabbi Dov Lando to express an opinion before following suit.

Opposition leaders blast conscription bill: ‘No green light for mass draft-dodging’

MK Benny Gantz leads a faction meeting at the Knesset on July 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Opposition politicians slam the ultra-Orthodox Degel HaTorah faction after it announces that it has received the “green light” from its rabbinic leaders to back the advancement of a controversial bill that would exempt many Haredim from military enlistment.

“You do not have a green light,” tweets Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz. “No matter what you tell yourselves, you do not have a green light to continue abandoning our fighters and Israel’s security. You do not have a green light to allow mass draft-dodging for political survival. Those days are over.”

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman says: “The army is short thousands of combat soldiers, and just this morning it was revealed that hundreds of career officers are seeking to leave the IDF. At the same time, [Haredi leaders’] draft-dodging law is getting the green light. Israel’s security is being abandoned by weaklings clinging to their seats and the comforts of power.”

Liberman has repeatedly called for legislation mandating universal service and preventing draft evaders from voting.

Woman accidentally shot by troops during Gush Etzion terror attack remains in serious condition

Hadassah Medical Center says the 55-year-old woman who was injured during yesterday’s terror attack in Gush Etzion is still in serious condition.

She underwent operations by experts in vascular surgery, orthopedics and general surgery, and is intubated and sedated in the intensive care unit at Hadassah Ein Kerem.

The woman was mistakenly hit by Israeli soldiers’ gunfire as they responded to the attack by two terrorists, and sustained gunshot wounds to her lower body.

UTJ’s Degel HaTorah faction says it will back latest version of IDF conscription bill

Rabbi Dov Lando in Bnei Brak, August 21, 2025. (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)

The United Torah Judaism party’s Degel HaTorah faction announces that it has received a “green light” from its senior spiritual leaders, rabbis Dov Lando and Moshe Hirsch, to support the advancement of the government’s bill regulating Haredi conscription in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee “as soon as possible.”

In a statement, the ultra-Orthodox faction says that according to the directive, “after the full bill is submitted, and before the vote in the Knesset, the proposal will be placed on the table of the great Torah leaders… where a final decision will be made regarding how to vote on the law.”

For the past year, the Haredi leadership has pushed to pass a law largely keeping its constituency out of the IDF, after the High Court ruled that decades-long blanket exemptions from army duty traditionally afforded to full-time Haredi yeshiva students were illegal.

Despite chairman Boaz Bismuth announcing in October that he would soon submit a revised draft of the bill to the committee, with the intention of bringing it to a final plenum vote in December, the legislation’s progress since then has been marked by repeated delays caused by ultra-Orthodox intransigence and internal opposition to the bill within the coalition.

Asked what developments had prompted Lando and Hirsch’s new instructions, a spokesman for Lando tells The Times of Israel that it was due to what he called “practical considerations for saving the world of Torah.”

“In the end, the great rabbis have two main considerations. The primary consideration is that those who want to learn can continue to study and the second is that those who enlist will have a suitable framework in the IDF. They will do what is needed to safeguard yeshiva students,” he says.

Several days ago, Bismuth appeared to confirm that his revised draft of the bill would continue to exempt full-time yeshiva students from IDF service for the foreseeable future.

Despite Degel HaTorah’s support, Agudat Yisrael, UTJ’s other faction, still opposes the bill. Fellow ultra-Orthodox party Shas is understood to support it, but internal divisions have kept the party from officially endorsing the legislation at this time.

Pushback against Haredi parties’ support for the bill has led to violence and protests against ultra-Orthodox MKs in recent days.

Head of police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit summoned for further questioning

Deputy Commissioner Manny Binyamin, the chief of police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit, has once again been summoned for interrogation today, Hebrew outlets report.

He is being probed by the Department for Internal Police Investigations on suspicion of breach of trust and abuse of authority, over his alleged interference in one of the agency’s investigations motivated by a conflict of interest.

He was interrogated last week by DIPI investigators and released home, but was forbidden from entering police facilities for nine days. Now, a day before the restrictions were set to be lifted, he is called back for questioning.

A police source tells Ynet that Binyamin is nevertheless expected to return to his post, and that there will be a meeting held on the matter this afternoon with Commissioner Danny Levy.

Uri Corb, Binyamin’s lawyer, says that his client “cooperated fully from the first moment and continues to do so,” while denying allegations he interfered in a case based on a personal conflict of interest. He does not comment on Binyamin’s reported summons to DIPI’s offices for questioning today.

Ukraine’s Zelensky says Russian attack killed nine, damaged infrastructure

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says an overnight Russian attack killed nine people, wounded dozens more and damaged energy and transport infrastructure.

“Every brazen attack against ordinary life shows that the pressure on Russia is insufficient. Effective sanctions and assistance to Ukraine can change this,” he says, calling for air defense missiles aid from allies.

Russia used more than 470 drones and 48 missiles in the attack, Zelensky adds.

IDF confirms killing 2 Hezbollah operatives in drone strikes yesterday

The IDF confirms killing two Hezbollah operatives in separate drone strikes in southern Lebanon yesterday.

According to the military, the first strike in the Bint Jbeil area killed a member of the terror group who was involved in restoring Hezbollah infrastructure.

The second strike, in Blida, killed a Hezbollah operative who was identified collecting intelligence on Israeli forces, the IDF says.

The military says the actions of both operatives “constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”

Israeli airstrikes target Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon, November 18, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Lebanese media says schoolchildren hurt by nearby Israeli strike

Lebanese media reports that an Israeli drone strike targeted a car in the southern town of at-Tiri this morning.

A school bus passed by the area at the time of the strike, resulting in the injury of the driver and several students, the reports say.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

Reports: IDF arrests dozens from village of Gush Etzion terrorist

According to Palestinian media, overnight the IDF arrested dozens of Palestinians in the village of Beit Omar, north of Hebron, from which one of the perpetrators of yesterday’s deadly attack in Gush Etzion came.

The terrorist, who was killed yesterday after murdering an Israeli in the attack at the Gush Junction Junction, has been named as Walid Sabarneh from Beit Omar. It was reported yesterday that the IDF had arrested his mother and sealed the family home, apparently ahead of its demolition.

The second attacker has been identified as Imran al-Atrash from Hebron.

Anti-Zionist groups announce protest outside Manhattan synagogue

The Star of David stands atop the Park East Synagogue, March 3, 2017 in New York City. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP)

Anti-Zionist groups announce a protest for tomorrow at New York City’s Park East Synagogue.

The protesters are demonstrating against an event at the synagogue hosted by Nefesh B’nefesh, an organization that helps Jews immigrate to Israel.

“No settlers on stolen land,” say advertisements for the protest on social media, branding the event a “settler recruiting fair.”

Nefesh B’nefesh does not direct immigrants to settlements; anti-Zionist activists often brand all Jewish Israelis as “settlers.”

The protest is led by the Pal-Awda activist group and is shared by other anti-Zionist organizations such as the city’s branch of Jewish Voice for Peace, Writers Against the War on Gaza, student groups from around the city and individual activists with large followings.

The National Lawyers Guild, a nonprofit, sent an email to its members asking for volunteer legal observers to attend the event. The observers serve to provide legal defense for protesters against police. The guild is anti-Israel and put out a statement in support of the October 2023 Hamas invasion of Israel, the day after it happened.

There have been thousands of anti-Israel protests in New York City since the Hamas attack, the NYPD has said.

Demonstrations outside synagogues and in heavily Jewish neighborhoods are rare, but tend to be especially vitriolic. Park East is a prominent synagogue in an area with a large Jewish population.

Some right-wing Jewish activists have circulated calls to show up to counter-protest.

Several protests in the region have targeted other Israel-related events at synagogues in the past several years.

Protests at synagogues in the US have also sparked several lawsuits against the protesters alleging infringement on the right to freedom of worship.

Jewish New Yorkers have repeatedly expressed concern over how mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will respond to protests at synagogues and in Jewish neighborhoods.

Trump says most major world leaders will be on US-led Board of Peace overseeing Gaza

US President Donald Trump speaks during a dinner with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the East Room of the White House, November 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

US President Donald Trump says the yet-to-be-filled Board of Peace overseeing the management of Gaza for the next two years will include the heads of many major countries

“I hope your highness will be on the board,” Trump says to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a dinner the president is hosting for him at the White House.

“Everybody wants to be on the board, and it’ll end up being quite a large board because it’ll be the heads of every major country,” Trump says, a day after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution giving the US-led Board of Peace a broad mandate to manage Gaza until the end of 2027.

Trump thanks MBS for the role he played in securing last month’s Gaza ceasefire, without elaborating.

“While it looks a little bit messy… [Gaza] is getting very close to being perfected,” Trump says.

He touts the return of the hostages as part of his deal to end the war, but incorrectly states Hamas has two bodies left to return, when the figure is three.

“A lot of work has been done by Hamas, and a lot of a lot of people said they wouldn’t be doing that,” Trump says.

“We also want to thank all of the people living in Gaza… They’ve begun to move back to their homes… [They have] a lot more safety than they’ve ever had before,” Trump claims.

The vast majority of Gaza is in ruins and a large portion of the population of roughly two million is living in tents.

Trump designates Saudi Arabia as ‘major non-NATO ally’ of US

US President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during an official dinner in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on November 18, 2025. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP)

US President Donald Trump says he is designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally, as he hosts Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for a gala dinner at the White House.

“Tonight, I’m pleased to announce that we’re taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally, which is something that is very important to them,” Trump says.

“And I’m just telling you now for the first time, because they wanted to keep a little secret for tonight,” Trump says of the designation, which only 19 other countries have previously received.

White House says Trump and MBS signed deals on civil nuclear energy, sale of F-35s

US President Donald Trump welcomes Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White House, November 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

The United States and Saudi Arabia have signed agreements on civil nuclear energy and the sale of cutting-edge US F-35 warplanes during a visit by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the White House says.

The two countries ratified a “joint declaration” on civil nuclear energy that “builds the legal foundation for a decades-long, multi-billion-dollar nuclear energy partnership” in line with “strong nonproliferation standards,” the White House says in a statement.

In addition, President Donald Trump approved a “major defense sale package,” which includes future deliveries of F-35 advanced American fighter jets.

US Senate approves bill to release Epstein files by unanimous consent

WASHINGTON — The US Senate approves a House-passed bill ordering the release of federal files on Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier whose extensive alleged sex trafficking network fueled one of the country’s most incendiary scandals.

The upper chamber of Congress agrees by unanimous consent — meaning no vote was required — to consider the bill passed when it arrives from the House and to send it without debate to President Donald Trump, who has pledged to sign it into law.

After IDF strike, Hamas claims it has no military installations in Lebanon

Hamas claims it has no military installations in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, dismissing Israel’s announcement of having hit a Hamas training compound on Tuesday as “lies.”

Blaming Israel for a “brutal assault” on the Ain al-Hilweh camp, Hamas says in a statement that “claims that the targeted location was a ‘training compound affiliated with the movement’ are pure fabrications and lies,” as it insists: “There are no military installations in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon.”

The IDF released a video of a strike hitting a building, but Hamas claims that “the targeted site was an open sports field frequented by the youth of the camp,” and that “those targeted were a group of young boys” on the field at the time.

Witkoff to meet Wednesday in Istanbul with senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya

Hamas's Khalil al-Hayya during an interview in Istanbul, April 24, 2024. (AP/ Khalil Hamra, File)

US special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Wednesday in Istanbul with senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya to discuss efforts to maintain the ceasefire in Gaza, an Arab diplomat tells The Times of Israel.

It will be Witkoff’s second meeting with Hayya, after the US envoy met with senior members of Hamas’s ceasefire negotiating team, along with fellow Trump adviser Jared Kushner, hours before an agreement was inked in Egypt on October 9.

Witkoff has claimed that Hamas leaders committed during that meeting to disarm — something the terror group has publicly insisted it will not do.

The planned meeting highlights Washington’s desire to maintain a direct line of communication with the terror group after it long used intermediaries, such as Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.

Plans to hold the meeting were first reported by the New York Times on Friday, while the date and location were first reported by Channel 12 news.

Levin appoints retired judge to oversee Sde Teiman leak investigation

Justice Minister Yariv Levin speaks during a Knesset plenum session, June 23, 2025. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset Spokesperson)

Justice Minister Yariv Levin picks retired district court judge Josefh Ben-Hamo to oversee the criminal investigation into the Sde Teiman video leak, following a ruling by the High Court of Justice on Sunday allowing him to make the appointment.

Levin had chosen State Ombudsman for Judges Asher Kula to oversee the investigation, but the court ruled that pick invalid since the law explicitly bans the ombudsman from serving in any other position, or carrying out any other function, while in office.

Ben-Hamo, who was born in Morocco, served as a judge on the Nazareth District Court for six years from 2014 until 2020 before taking early retirement at the age of 65. Before that, he served as deputy president of the Northern District Magistrate’s Court, and as a family court judge in the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court.

In a letter to Acting Civil Service Commissioner Daniel Hershkowitz, Levin writes that Ben-Hamo dealt with many criminal cases during his time on the bench and that the retired judge fulfills the other, stringent requirements the High Court laid out for Levin in making the appointment.

The court’s ruling stipulated that the supervisor have no political affiliation, be an expert in legal affairs, and have a job closely connected to criminal investigations or prosecutions.

Ben-Hamo will now have the authority to “oversee and inspect” the criminal investigation of the Sde Teiman leak affair, as the High Court stated in its ruling.

In the case, former military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi has admitted that she authorized the leak of a video last year purporting to show the abuse of a Palestinian security detainee by IDF soldiers at the Sde Teiman military facility. She then lied about the matter while ostensibly leading the investigation to find the leaker.

Such an investigation would usually be overseen by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. The court’s decision said explicitly, however, that the conflict of interest that blocked Baharav-Miara from overseeing the investigation applied only to the oversight and inspection of the investigative phase of the case.

It appears, therefore, from the wording of the ruling, that the authority to decide on whether or not to issue indictments over the case could remain with the attorney general.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, which petitioned the High Court against Levin’s appointment of Kula, strongly criticizes the appointment of Ben-Hamo, arguing that he does not fit the court’s criteria.

The organization points out that the High Court ruling stipulated the supervisor be a “senior public servant,” which Ben-Hamo is not, and claims that he did not deal with criminal investigations “in recent years.”

“It is clear that this is another attempt by Levin to find someone who will serve his agenda,” the group alleges, saying it will work “with all available legal tools to thwart this appointment.”