Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Sunday’s events as they happened.
IDF: Drone from Lebanon shot down by air defenses off coast of Haifa
A drone launched from Lebanon was shot down by air defenses off the coast of Haifa a short while ago, the military says.
No sirens are activated according to protocol, the IDF adds.
Rocket sirens sounding in northern town of Metula near Lebanon border
Sirens are sounding again in the northern community of Metula near the border with Lebanon, warning of incoming rocket fire.
The latest alerts come after sirens blared in nearby towns around an hour ago, with Hebrew media reporting that two rockets landed in open areas.
There were no reports of injuries or damage in that attack.
🚨 Rocket Alert [23:36:06] – 1 Alert:
• Confrontation Line — Metulla
Population: 1,600 pic.twitter.com/5NW2xxfFVN
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) November 23, 2024
Netanyahu ignored warnings over Hamas threat for years, ruled against assassinating terror leaders — TV report
File - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Acigdor Liberman converse in the Knesset plenum, October 24, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
In an in-depth report, Channel 12 news claims that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for years ignored warnings from security chiefs about the growing Hamas threat from Gaza and turned down repeated proposals to kill Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Deif.
Netanyahu’s office flatly denies the allegations.
According to the TV report, Netanyahu received detailed intelligence in 2014 about Hamas’s plans to invade Israel. In the ensuing years, Hamas operatives repeatedly approached the border fence, but the prime minister blocked any significant Israeli response.
Instead, Netanyahu chose a strategy based on defense and paying Hamas off, according to the report. He invested billions of shekels in a new border fence to block tunnels into Israel, only three percent of which was invested in the above-ground portion of the fence that Hamas easily penetrated on October 7.
Hamas terrorists are seen crossing the Israel-Gaza border fence on October 7, 2023. (Kan TV screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
In 2018, according to Channel 12, Netanyahu turned down a proposal from the Shin Bet and then-defense minister Avigdor Liberman to kill senior Hamas leaders — including Sinwar and Deif — instead choosing to send then-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen to Qatar to convince the Gulf emirate to send money to Hamas in exchange for quiet in the south.
According to the report, Netanyahu chose to ignore intelligence that Qatar was also sending funds to Hamas’s military. He even sent the then-head of the IDF Southern Command Herzi Halevi to Qatar in 2020 to convince its leaders to keep funding Hamas after Doha indicated it wanted to stop sending money to the terror group.
Netanyahu also ruled against plans to kill Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders and West Bank Hamas terrorists, along with an opportunity to assassinate the powerful Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps leader Qassem Soleimani, according to the report. Soleimani was assassinated in 2020 in a US drone strike.
After a Hezbollah operative carried out a bombing attack deep inside northern Israel in March 2023, Halevi and Bar warned Netanyahu that chances of a war erupting were high and that he should take offensive action against terror leaders, Channel 12 reports. He once again refused.
The scene of a bombing at Megiddo Junction in northern Israel, March 13, 2023. (Courtesy: Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Six days before the October 7 attack, Bar reportedly presented Netanyahu with a plan to kill Hamas leaders, while Halevi said that Israel must prepare for war with the Palestinian terror group.
Netanyahu demurred, and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi went on the radio to say that Hamas was deterred.
In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office calls the report “a recycling of baseless lies that have been refuted in the past, and which are intended to discredit Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is leading Israel to unprecedented achievements on seven fronts.”
The PMO rejects a claim in the report that Israel didn’t have the capabilities to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities in 2018, along with the claim about Soleimani, again insisting that the prime minister was only presented with intelligence about a Hamas plan for a mass raid into Israel after October 7.
Netanyahu’s office also asserts that he extended Operation Guardian of the Wall in 2021 to try to kill Deif, and that he oversaw the killing of PIJ leader Baha Abu al-Ata in 2019.
The PMO says that the intelligence community agreed that Hamas was deterred, and could be incentivized to agree to long-term ceasefires through economic deals. It also says that there was never any intelligence that Qatari money was being used for terrorism.
The main threat according to Israeli intelligence, says the PMO, was from subterranean tunnels, which was thwarted when Netanyahu built the underground barrier, despite opposition from security chiefs.
“No attempt to rewrite history will change the facts,” says the PMO.
UAE says authorities searching for missing rabbi, without mentioning his Israeli citizenship
Zvi Kogan, a Chabad superviser of Kosher kitchens in the UAE (Facebook, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
The UAE mentions for the first time the disappearance of a dual Israeli-Moldovan citizen with Abu Dhabi’s Chabad chapter who has been missing since Thursday.
A statement from the UAE interior ministry says Abu Dhabi is “implementing extensive measures in its search for” Rabbi Zvi Kogan, without mentioning his Israeli citizenship.
Earlier today, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement confirming Kogan’s disappearance and saying that Israeli authorities were treating the incident as a suspected act of terrorism.
US, UK, France, Germany express ‘serious concern’ over Iranian plans to launch new nuclear centrifuges
The Iranian flag outside the IAEA headquarters during the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors meeting at the agency's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, on November 20, 2024. (Joe Klamar/AFP)
WASHINGTON – The United States, Britain, France and Germany express “serious concern” over Iran’s plans to launch a series of new centrifuges for its nuclear program, urging Tehran to reengage with the UN nuclear watchdog.
Iran’s announcement yesterday came after the four Western powers brought a censure motion targeting the Islamic Republic at the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The resolution was adopted on Thursday.
“We note with serious concern Iran’s announcement… that, instead of responding to the resolution with cooperation, it plans to respond with further expansion of its nuclear program in ways that have no credible peaceful rationale,” the four nations say in a joint statement released by the US State Department.
“We expect Iran to reengage on the path of dialogue and cooperation with the agency.”
Centrifuges are the machines that enrich uranium transformed into gas by rotating it at a very high speed, increasing the proportion of fissile isotope material (U-235).
Feldstein’s lawyer: He was acting in the PM’s name when sending IDF intel document to Bild
Oded Savoray, a lawyer representing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's aide Eli Feldstein in a case of stolen and leaked IDF documnts, speaking to Channel 12 News, November 23, 2024. (Screenshot/Channel 12; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
The lawyer representing Eli Feldstein, who was charged Thursday with offenses regarding harming national security that could carry a life term, says he was hired by the defendant’s family because Feldstein’s father feared, when Feldstein was arrested, that “this good soul” might ‘lay on the fence’ in order not to involve anybody from the Prime Minister’s Office.”
The father wanted a lawyer who would represent Feldstein’s interests, “and not those of anybody else… That’s why they turned to me,” attorney Oded Savoray tells Channel 12.
Feldstein has fully cooperated with the investigators, says Savoray. “He told them everything,” and the text of the indictment shows this. It makes clear, says Savoray, “that Feldstein did not work for himself. He was a media adviser in the Prime Minister’s Office. He worked for the prime minister.”
When, as the indictment shows, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aide Jonatan Urich wrote to Feldstein after Germany’s Bild published material from a classified document allegedly leaked to it by Feldstein, and told him, “The boss is happy,” Savoray says this “closes the circle. Feldstein knows that he is working for the prime minister.”
Savoray explains: “The prime minister is the person authorized to overrule the [military] censor in Israel,” which had barred domestic publication of the sensitive document. “The prime minister gets all the intelligence material, knows what is permitted for publication, what is barred from publication.”
Asked why Netanyahu is not standing by Feldstein, and making clear that Feldstein was acting on his behalf, Savoray suggests that Channel 12 direct the question to Netanyahu.
When details of the probe were first revealed more than three weeks ago, the PMO said in a statement that nobody employed by the office was under investigation. Earlier this evening, however, Netanyahu spoke in defense of Feldstein and the second defendant in the case, who he said were patriots who would never harm the state, and also claimed that vital classified material was being kept from him and that this is why the suspects in the case passed them from the IDF to the PMO.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in a video statement released on November 23, 2024. (Screenshot: PMO, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Asked if Feldstein feels “betrayed,” Savoray declines to answer, but says his client “didn’t lay on the fence for anyone. He spoke about the workings of the Prime Minister’s Office in this specific matter… It’s completely clear that Feldstein is a minor figure who worked, as he understood in real-time, with permission and authorization.”
When it was put to him that Feldstein knew that the document he leaked to Bild was barred from publication by the censor, and that Feldstein maneuvered to get into the public domain by leaking it to a foreign outlet, Savoray insists he knew and did nothing of the kind.
“Eli Feldstein did not act on his own behalf,” the lawyer repeats. “He provided advisory services in the Prime Minister’s Office.”
“If there are claims, they should be directed to the Prime Minister’s Office. In real time, he was convinced that the figure, to whom he turned and said, ‘I need the prime minister,’ is someone who is trusted by the prime minister and has worked there for a decade. When that figure comes back to him and says, ‘Get [the document] out, get it out,’ and connects him to someone who referred him to Bild, [Feldstein is certain] that he is working on behalf of the prime minister,” Savoray continues.
Asked whether the “figure” to whom he is referring is Urich, Savoray says he won’t name names. The indictment indicates that Urich is indeed the figure to whom Feldstein turned for guidance. Urich has reportedly twice been questioned under caution in the case.
Asked whether Feldstein knew he was committing a serious offense by giving a classified IDF document to a foreign outlet, outflanking a censorship ban, Savoray says, “The answer is no. He did not know why the censor had barred publication of the document.” And as soon as the PMO official told him to get it published, “he was convinced that he was doing so legally.”
He says he hopes Feldstein will be released to house arrest.
Savoray says Feldstein comes from a wonderful ultra-Orthodox family whose parents send their children to serve in the IDF.
Undated photo of Eli Feldstein, a Prime Minister’s Office employee named as a suspect in an investigation of an alleged leak of sensitive information. (Social media; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
“I want to reiterate, this is someone who, as he saw it, worked for the good of the State of Israel and found himself in a brutal arrest in the middle of the night by masked men despatched by the state to his home in a terrible way, has been detained for weeks, and barred from meeting his lawyer for nine days.”
These are methods intended to prevent terrorist attacks, says Savoray, methods used “against people who truly endanger the security of the state. Eli Feldstein does not endanger the security of the state. Feldstein feels that he is a victim of the huge fight between the apparatuses of the Prime Minister’s Office, on one side, and of the defense establishment, on the other.”
Today, he says, those apparatuses are crushing “the Feldsteins of the PMO.” And if things don’t change, tomorrow, it will be the Feldsteins of a different apparatus who will be crushed, he says.
“I urge all the apparatuses to take a breath,” focus on dealing with the external battles Israel is fighting, and handle the internal battles with “more wisdom… and more forgiveness.”
Savoray is asked: Is he saying that Feldstein is a victim of a battle between the PMO and the defense establishment? “That’s exactly what I’m saying,” he replies.
“He was aware that he was acting legally, since he was acting in the name of the prime minister. It was the Prime Minister’s Office that was acting here. It acted by means of Feldstein. And today Feldstein has been left alone, alone, alone.”
Rocket sirens sounding in northern communities near Lebanon border
Sirens are sounding in northern communities in the Upper Galilee near the border with Lebanon, warning of incoming rocket fire.
🚨 Rocket Alert [21:53:39] – 2 Alerts:
• Upper Galilee — Yesud Hama'ala, Yarden Estate Boutique Hotel
Population: 1,500 pic.twitter.com/S2XSYmiZeE
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) November 23, 2024
Canada’s Trudeau condemns violence, antisemitism at anti-NATO in Montreal last night
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned violence and antisemitism at anti-NATO and pro-Palestinian protests in downtown Montreal last night, where NATO delegates are gathered for the alliance’s annual assembly.
Around 300 delegates from NATO members and partner states are meeting in Montreal from Nov. 22-25.
Local media reports that protesters burned an effigy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, lit smoke bombs and set two vehicles on fire.
Police used tear gas and batons to disperse the crowd and three people were arrested for assaulting officers and obstructing police work, according to CTV News.
Videos and pictures posted to social media show masked rioters burning flares and battering storefront windows.
Want to know how many people were arrested for smashing windows, burning cars, and setting off explosions in Montreal?
Three people. That’s it.
Canada’s response to violent, pro-terror mobs makes clear that the mobs can do whatever they like. pic.twitter.com/VMkVyIpOfg
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) November 23, 2024
“What we saw on the streets of Montreal last night was appalling. Acts of antisemitism, intimidation, and violence must be condemned wherever we see them,” Trudeau says in a post on X.
Montreal police says officers carried out a dispersal operation in the downtown area and that the protest was over by 7 p.m. ET.
Syrian media reports Israeli airstrikes at crossing used by Hezbollah to smuggle Iranian weapons into Lebanon
Syrian media reports Israeli airstrikes on the border with Lebanon a short while ago.
The state-run SANA news agency says the strikes targeted the Jusiyah Crossing in the Homs Governorate, close to Lebanon’s northeastern border with Syria.
The IDF does not immediately comment on the strike.
Last month, the military confirmed striking the Jusiyah Crossing after it was being used by Hezbollah to smuggle Iranian weapons into Lebanon.
Israel has struck several other border crossings between Lebanon and Syria in recent months, amid efforts by Iran to supply Hezbollah with weapons.
Man detained at rally outside far-right minister’s home in Tel Aviv, as group at main rally call for civil disobedience
A group that provides legal representation to anti-government protesters says one person was detained while demonstrating outside the home of Negev and Galilee Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf in south Tel Aviv.
Footage on social media shows about 50 people outside the minister’s building, with police pushing some protesters behind a safety perimeter.
הפגנה סוערת אצל וסרלאוף עכשיו השוטרים מונעים מהמפגינים להפגין pic.twitter.com/q5ra3BqPvY
— לירי בורק שביט (@lirishavit) November 23, 2024
In central Tel Aviv, meanwhile, in front of the Begin Road entrance to the IDF headquarters, hundreds of anti-government protesters chant slogans demanding an end to the war in Gaza and a deal to release the hostages.
On either side of the protesters, anti-government groups sell merchandise and try to enlist activists to their cause.
One group promotes “civil disobedience” — refusal to go to work or send children to school, whether or not the Histadrut labor federation declares a strike.
A fundraising page for the group shows it is affiliated with “The Front,” a coalition of groups demanding the hostages’ release and the ouster of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A block away at so-called Hostages Square, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum holds its central rally. Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai stands in the audience.
Israelis attend a rally calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, November 23, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Settlers from illegal outpost in southern West Bank attacked several Palestinians as IDF soldiers looked on — reports
Israeli settlers from the illegal outpost of Havat Maon in the southern West Bank descended on the nearby village of At-Tuwani and assaulted several Palestinians as IDF soldiers looked on without intervening, Palestinian media reports.
Two Palestinians were injured in the attack on activist Hafez al-Harini, who was subsequently detained by Israeli security forces.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
Another terror attack. Today, settler from Maon terror outpost descended to al-Tuwani, Masafer Yatta. The settlers, protected by soldiers, injured two & escaped without being held accountable. The attacks are systematic and are clearly supported by the occupation government. pic.twitter.com/VgXmamwwl8
— Mohammad_Hesham_Huraini (@MHureini) November 23, 2024
Parents of slain hostage Hersh give twin sermons at Tel Aviv rally: ‘We’ve lost too many cherished souls’
Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son Hersh Goldberg-Polin was murdered by Hamas terrorists in Gaza after being kidnapped on October 7, 2023, address a rally calling for the release of Israelis still held by Hamas, Tel Aviv, November 23, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, parents of slain hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, promise the other hostage families they will stick with them until all the captives return.
Both say they are not making a political statement, but are advocating for the remaining 101 hostages.
In twin sermons in English and Hebrew, the two speak about the weekly Torah portion, Hayei Sarah, in which the eponymous matriarch dies at the age of 127, leaving the hundreds-strong crowd at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square entranced.
Jon Polin, in Hebrew, describes the new widower, Abraham, at 137: with one son childless and the other estranged, he is a far cry from God’s promise that he will beget a great nation.
“Does Abraham expect miracles? No” Polin asks. “He proceeds to act,” buying a gravesite and sending his manservant to find a wife for his son Isaac.
“I call on all decision-makers: be like Abraham in the weekly Torah portion,” says Polin.
“Focus on the most important mission. Bring the hostages home,” he says. “Don’t accuse, don’t point fingers. Be human beings.”
Rachel Goldberg, in English, notes the traditional opinion of “our biblical commentators, our meforshim,” was that Sarah died when she heard her only son Isaac had been sacrificed.
"My name is Rachel, and I will always be the mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin"
Hostages Square, October 414 🎗️#BringThemHomeNow #TurnTheHorrorIntoHope pic.twitter.com/jMSVLKmka9
— Bring Them Home Now (@bringhomenow) November 23, 2024
A silence sweeps over the crowd as Goldberg slowly utters the words.
“We have lost too many cherished souls,” she says. “There are too many parents like us who have lost their children.”
Addressing the hostages, she says: “Everyone here loves you.”
“Stay strong. Survive,” she adds.
Report: Missing rabbi’s car found abandoned near Abu Dhabi
The car of a missing Chabad rabbi has been found abandoned in Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates, Ynet news reports.
The Ynet report adds that three Uzbeks are suspected of kidnapping Rabbi Zvi Kogan and fleeing to Turkey.
Al Ain is around 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Abu Dhabi, where Kogan is based.
Israeli authorities are investigating Kogan’s disappearance together with the Emirates’ security services, amid growing concern that he was kidnapped and murdered. The incident is being treated as a suspected act of terrorism.
Kogan is a dual Israeli-Moldovan citizen and has been part of the Abu Dhabi Chabad chapter since Israel normalized ties with the UAE in 2020.
‘Bring them home from hell’: Jerusalem protesters urge hostage deal; man detained for blocking Karkur junction
Protesters call for a hostage deal during a rally in Jerusalem, November 23, 2024. (Orna Kupferman/Pro-Democracy Movement)
Hundreds of protesters march through central Jerusalem, joining thousands of others at locations around Israel demanding that the government close a deal to free hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
Some protesters bang drums as they march, while others hold signs reading, “The war is over. Bring them home!” and, “Bring them home from hell.”
At Karkur Junction in the Sharon region, anti-government protesters say one activist has been detained for blocking the road.
Alongside the main rally in Tel Aviv this evening, smaller protests are also being held in cities and towns, including Beersheba, Modi’in, Haifa and Rehovot.
A man is detained while blocking the Karkur junction near Pardes Hanna during an anti-government protest calling for a hostage deal, November 23, 2024. (Dany Sternfeld/Pro-Democracy Movement)
PM specifies 5 sensitive security leaks that have not been probed, claims vital material is kept from him
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in a video statement released on November 23, 2024. (Screenshot: PMO, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
In his video statement alleging selective prosecution of leaked sensitive security material, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cites five specific cases of leaked material that he says endangered the state and were not investigated, despite his repeated requests that they be probed.
This “flood of leaks,” which he says endanger the lives of IDF soldiers and hostages held by Hamas, and help Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas, have come from the discussions in various cabinet forums, hostage negotiating teams and the most intimate, high-level security deliberations, he says.
He cites, first, a leak from the Israeli security “pit” on October 11, 2023, of “strategic information” on IDF capabilities — a leak he calls “one of the gravest in Israeli history.”
Second, he says nobody has investigated the leaking of footage from the IDF’s Sde Teiman detention center purporting to show IDF soldiers as criminals.
Third, he cites the leak of material from an August 2, 2024 discussion on the hostages and strategies for a potential deal and concessions, a leak which he says helped to harden its positions.
Fourth, he cites what he says was material leaked to The New York Times and local media exposing consideration being weighed by Israel with regards to Iran’s ballistic missile fire at Israel.
And finally, he cites the leak to Channel 12’s “Uvda” investigative documentary program of the Jericho Wall document that detailed Hamas’s plans for what became the October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre.
Nobody was investigated in any of these cases, he says, adding that he could detail many other cases such as these of documents being stolen and given to others without authorization. He says most of these leaks were aimed to harm him and serve a narrative of capitulation to the enemy, and that is therefore “easy to understand” why they are not investigated.
The document from an IDF database allegedly leaked to his aide Eli Feldstein and by Feldstein to Germany’s Bild, “should have been on my desk,” he says.
“It’s a top-secret document,” he notes. “Why did it not come to me? I have to make decisions on the basis of that material.”
The material was kept from him, and “this is not the first time” that has happened, he says, apparently endorsing explanations provided by suspects in the case that they took the IDF material in order to bring it to his attention.
He says he has read the indictment published on Thursday and that it is clear that the NCO indicted in the case was worried that “relevant documents were not reaching me.”
Feldstein is alleged to have obtained the document that he leaked to Bild in June, and to have leaked it more than two months later, immediately after six hostages were murdered by their Hamas captors in Gaza and public anger at Netanyahu for failing to finalize a hostage deal was at its height.
The State Prosecution on Friday took the highly unusual step of posting a document debunking “widespread misinformation propagated by those with vested interests” regarding the case of the stolen and leaked IDF intel.
IDF: Golani Brigade soldier seriously wounded in battle in southern Lebanon
A soldier with the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion was seriously wounded during fighting in southern Lebanon earlier today, the military says.
He was taken to a hospital in Israel for treatment.
Report: Rabbi missing in Abu Dhabi is nephew of rabbi who was murdered in 2008 attack on Mumbai Chabad House
Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg (Chabad)
A rabbi from Abu Dhabi’s Chabad chapter who is missing and reportedly feared kidnapped or murdered is the nephew of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was murdered along with his wife in a terror attack at the Nariman Chabad House in Mumbai in 2008, Channel 12 news reports.
Rabbi Zvi Kogan has been missing since Thursday, with Israeli authorities treating the incident as a suspected act of terrorism.
The Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement earlier this evening that the Mossad intelligence agency has launched an “extensive” investigation into the incident alongside Emirati authorities.
Kogan is a dual Israeli-Moldovan citizen and has been part of the Abu Dhabi Chabad chapter since Israel normalized ties with the UAE in late 2020.
Zvi Kogan, a Chabad superviser of Kosher kitchens in the UAE, June 29, 2021. (Lazar Berman/Times of Israel)
IDF says third wave on strikes in southern Beirut today targeted Hezbollah command centers
The IDF says it carried out a third wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs today.
The latest strikes targeted Hezbollah command centers, according to the military.
Before the strikes, the IDF issued evacuation warnings to civilians in the area.
חיל-האוויר השלים את גל התקיפות השלישי היום נגד מטרות טרור בדאחייה שבביירות: הותקפו מפקדות צבאיות של חזבאללה
מטוסי קרב של חיל-האוויר, בהכוונת אגף המודיעין, תקפו מוקדם יותר היום מספר מפקדות צבאיות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב הדאחייה שבביירות.
במהלך השבוע תקפו מטוסי קרב של חיל… pic.twitter.com/6jATdz3MEV
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) November 23, 2024
Trump taps far-right commentator Sebastian Gorka as White House senior director for counterterrorism
Former Trump White House advisor Sebastian Gorka (R) watches as former-US president and then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to the press during a break in his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City, on May 21, 2024. (Justin Lane/Pool/AFP)
US President-elect Donald Trump announces that Sebastian Gorka will serve as his White House senior director for counterterrorism, citing his 30-plus years of national security experience.
A far-right commentator, Gorka worked in Trump’s first administration for six months as an adviser on counterterrorism, although he lacked the security clearance necessary for employment on the National Security Council.
He left after several controversies, including flaunting his associations with Vitez Rend, a movement founded by the antisemitic Hungarian leader Miklos Horthy, who headed the country from 1920 to 1944. Gorka said he was celebrating his father’s postwar association with the group when it was known more for its anti-communist resistance than its World War II-era activities.
Several Democrats in Congress had raised concerns during Gorka’s brief White House tenure about his purported associations with Vitez Rend and a far-right group in present-day Hungary with a similar name.
Netanyahu decries ‘witch hunt’ against him, insists aide Feldstein wouldn’t knowingly harm Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in a video statement released on November 23, 2024. (Screenshot: PMO, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
In a nearly nine-minute video statement that represents his most strident criticism of the ongoing investigation into the theft and leak of stolen IDF documents involving his office, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there is a “witch hunt” against him and his advisers, and against his unofficial spokesman Eli Feldstein, whom he insists would never knowingly harm Israel.
“This reality, in which young people are held like the worst terrorists, handcuffed for days, days in which they are prevented from accessing their lawyers, and violating their basic rights as citizens, deeply shocks me,” he says in the video statement.
Feldstein was charged on Thursday with transferring classified information with the intent to harm the state, for allegedly leaking a document to a German newspaper. This charge can carry a sentence of life in prison, as well as illicit possession of classified information and obstruction of justice.
“It hurts that they are using your sons as a tool to harm me and an entire political camp,” he says to the families of Feldstein and an IDF non-commissioned officer, who was also charged in the case on Thursday.
Netanyahu says that the charges that they tried to harm Israel’s security are “despicable” and “ridiculous.”
“I know Eli Feldstein,” he says. “We are talking about an Israeli patriot, a passionate Zionist.”
“There is no chance that he would do something to intentionally harm the country’s security.”
The premier also denies allegations of blackmail against an officer in his military secretariat and argues that the “witch hunt” against his aides also targets Israelis who support him.
Spokesperson Eli Feldstein is seen at an event with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the war against Hamas in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre. (IDF)
He says that the conditions of Feldstein’s arrest and ongoing detention for more than three weeks could break anyone and force them to admit to crimes they didn’t commit. “If masked men come to you in the night, place you under arrest, isolate and handcuff you and threaten you with live imprisonment if you don’t give them what they want, a man can break and admit to the murder of Arlosoroff,” he says.
He says Feldstein and the second suspect have been held “like the worst terrorists,” denied access to lawyers for part of the time, with basic rights breached.
When someone who has done more than 200 days in the reserves is so broken as to say, “‘It’s better that I die than live’, it shocks me and I’m sure it shocks you,” Netanyahu says.
Netanyahu also claims that vital classified documents weren’t getting to him, which is why the suspects passed them from the IDF to the PMO: “I am the prime minister. I need to receive important classified documents, and indeed sometimes important information doesn’t reach me.”
As he has in the past, Netanyahu laments severe leaks that were not investigated, claiming that these leaks from sensitive cabinet meetings endangered soldiers and the lives of hostages.
Turning to the Israeli public — who say is not about to be fooled by the selective prosecution of leaks — he says that the country “is fighting on seven fronts. And we are also fighting on this front.”
IDF can neither confirm nor deny Hamas claim female hostage was killed recently in northern Gaza
The IDF says it can neither confirm nor deny claims made by the military wing of the Hamas terror group this evening that a female hostage was recently killed in the northern Gaza Strip.
Hudhaifa Kahlout — known by the nom de guerre Abu Obeida — the spokesman for the al-Qassam Brigades, claimed in a statement issued on Telegram that “one of the enemy’s female prisoners was killed in an area that is under a Zionist aggression in the northern Gaza Strip, while the danger still threatens the life of another female prisoner who was with her.”
Alongside the statement, Hamas published a blurred picture of a body that it claimed belonged to the slain hostage.
The IDF says it’s “checking the information and at this stage, we are unable to verify or refute it.”
“IDF representatives are in contact with her family and are updating them with all the information available to us,” the military says, adding that “Hamas continues to use psychological terror and behave in a brutal manner.”
Israel has dismissed Hamas’s statements on the deaths of hostages as deplorable psychological warfare.
At the beginning of the war, Abu Obeida threatened to execute Israeli hostages and release footage of the killings.
IDF says drone sirens in Western Galilee false alarms
Suspected drone infiltration sirens that sounded a short while in the Western Galilee a short while ago were false alarms, the IDF says in a statement.
The alerts sounded in the northern city of Naharyia and surrounding communities.
Hostage families claim Netanyahu ‘needs war to continue’ to avoid testifying in his criminal trial
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan Zangauker has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023 charges that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “needs the war to continue so he can avoid trial.”
The prime minister will begin giving testimony in his criminal trial next month, weeks after a court denied his request to delay due to the time pressures of managing the current, multi-front conflict.
“The price is paid by 101 kidnapped people,” Zangauker says at the hostage families’ weekly press conference outside the Kirya base in Tel Aviv, ahead of the main anti-government rally at the Begin Road entrance to the IDF headquarters.
"העם מבין שדם החטופים על ידיו של נתניהו, שהוא לא רוצה להחזיר את כל החטופים ולסיים את המלחמה. הוא צריך שהמלחמה תימשך כדי שיוכל להתחמק מהמשפט!"
עינב צנגאוקר, אימו של מתן החטוף בעזה כבר 414 ימים, בהצהרת המשפחות בשער בגין.
🚨🎗️ הצטרפו אלינו הערב | 23.11 | 20:00 | גשר בגין, הקריה pic.twitter.com/LLS70ma19r
— כולנו חטופים (@Kulanu_Hatufim) November 23, 2024
Yifat Calderon, whose cousin of Ofer Calderon has also been held in Gaza for 414 days, says that a $5 million reward for anyone who can assist in the release of Israeli hostages announced by Netanyahu earlier this month is in fact “endangering the captives’ lives” by instigating a “gang war at their expense.”
She calls for the government to secure a single-phase deal to free all of the 97 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 that remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
US, Israeli military chiefs meet in Israel on ‘security-strategic issues,’ especially Lebanon — IDF
United States CENTCOM chief Gen. Michael Kurilla, who arrived in Israel on Friday, held an assessment with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi over the weekend, the Israeli military says.
The IDF says the assessment focused on “security-strategic issues with an emphasis on Lebanon.”
The head of the Operations Directorate, Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk, and Northern Command chief, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin attended the assessment.
“The IDF will continue to deepen its relationship with the US Armed Forces, due to our commitment to strengthening regional stability and the coordination between the militaries,” the IDF adds.
מפקד פיקוד המרכז בצבא ארה"ב (CENTCOM), גנרל (****) מייקל אריק קורילה נחת אתמול בישראל, כאורחו הרשמי של ראש המטה הכללי, רב-אלוף הרצי הלוי.
הרמטכ״ל ומפקד סנטקום קיימו הערכת מצב משותפת עם ראש אגף המבצעים ומפקד פיקוד הצפון, בנושאים ביטחוניים-אסטרטגיים ובדגש על לבנון>> pic.twitter.com/1enklMS6eZ
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 23, 2024
Ahead of main Tel Aviv rally, protesters gather around the country, demanding hostage deal, early elections
Protesters march on the Drorim bridge near Even Yehuda, calling for early elections and for the government to close a deal to free hostages held in Gaza for over a year, November 23, 2024. (Pro-Democracy Movement/Dalit Elan)
Protesters rally around the country, demanding the government close a deal to secure the release of all of the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
Ahead of the main rally in Tel Aviv, at the so-called Hostages Square, protesters are already gathering in towns and cities including Rehovot, Rehovot and the Drorim bridge near Even Yehuda.
Protesters carry Israeli national flags and hold photos of the 97 hostages kidnapped during Hamas’s brutal massacre last year who are believed to be held in Gaza.
At the Hemed interchange near Jerusalem, former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon joins the rally, addressing the demonstration from next to a sign that reads, “Starting over. Elections now!”
Former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon addresses a demonstration at the Hemed interchange near Jerusalem, calling for early elections and for the government to close a deal to free hostages held in Gaza for over a year, November 23, 2024. (Pro-Democracy Movement/Tali Hill)
IDF: Dozens of settlers, some masked, hurled stones at security forces in West Bank earlier today; 5 detained
Dozens of settlers, some of them masked, hurled stones at Israeli troops and Border Police officers near the West Bank settlement of Itamar earlier today, the military says.
The IDF says troops and police officers dispersed the riot and detained five suspects. No injuries are reported.
“The IDF strongly condemns and denounces violence of any kind against the security forces and views incidents of this type very seriously,” the military adds.
אירוע אלימות נוסף נגד כוחות צה"ל: כוח צה"ל זיהה סמוך לשכם רכב פלסטיני שמתיישבים יהודים גנבו, והגיע כדי להחרים אותו. התפרעות אלימה החלה במקום – עשרות מתיישבים יידו אבנים לעבר הלוחמים, מתיישב הכה חייל באגרוף. מג"ב עצרו 5 יהודים@Doron_Kadosh pic.twitter.com/2dBTUEiQLf
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) November 23, 2024
Last night, dozens of Israeli youths chased after the head of the IDF Central Command Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth in Hebron, calling him a “traitor.” Five suspects were also detained by police there.
Both incidents come after Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Friday an end to administrative detention orders for West Bank settlers, meaning Israel will now be using the controversial policy of holding suspects without charge only against Palestinian terror suspects.
Katz says Jewish extremists who tried to attack IDF’s top West Bank commander must be ‘brought to justice’
Incoming IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth attends a ceremony at the IDF Central Command headquarters in Jerusalem, July 8, 2024. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)
Defense Minister Israel Katz condemns an attempted attack by Jewish extremists in Hebron over the weekend on the head of the IDF Central Command Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth.
“Hurting IDF commanders and soldiers, who dedicate their lives to the security of Israel and its citizens, hurts the entire State of Israel,” he writes in a post on X.
“I expect law enforcement to bring those involved in the incident to justice immediately, and call on the settlement leadership to condemn this type of phenomenon strongly,” he adds.
The IDF said Bluth was in the flashpoint West Bank city on Friday to secure the annual pilgrimage that the attackers were attending.
Five suspects were arrested after they chased Bluth and the soldiers accompanying him, calling the IDF commander a “traitor.”
The head of Central Command typically has a fraught relationship with settler extremists, since the army is tasked with trying to keep them in check in the West Bank.
Two drones launched from Lebanon shot down over Western Galilee, IDF says
Two drones launched at Israel from Lebanon were intercepted over the Western Galilee a short while ago, the IDF says.
There are no reports of injuries.
Trump said surprised when Herzog told him half of hostages still alive
(R-L) US First Lady Melania Trump, US President Donald Trump, opposition leader Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal Herzog at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem in 2017. (Haim Zach/GPO)
US President-elect Donald Trump was reportedly caught off guard when President Isaac Herzog told him in a call earlier this month that Israeli intelligence assesses that half of the hostages still in Gaza are alive, given that he has repeatedly claimed that the vast majority are dead.
During a call congratulating Trump on his election victory, Herzog urged him to act to release the remaining 101 hostages, Axios reports. Trump responded that most of them were likely dead, to which Herzog replied by sharing the Israeli intelligence assessment.
“Trump was surprised and said he wasn’t aware of that,” a source familiar with the matter tells Axios.
The outgoing administration is still working on the issue in the meantime and US President Joe Biden met with the families of the seven remaining American hostages in Gaza earlier this month.
“I don’t care if Trump gets all the credit as long as they come back home,” Biden told the families during the meeting, according to Axios.
PMO confirms disappearance of Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan in UAE
The Prime Minister’s Office confirms that the Mossad spy agency is investigating the disappearance of Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan in Abu Dhabi.
Kogan disappeared on Thursday, the PMO says, and the incident is being treated as terrorism.
Kogan is a dual Israeli-Moldovan citizen, and has been part of the Abu Dhabi Chabad chapter since Israel normalized ties with the UAE in late 2020.
The PMO reminds citizens that the National Security Council advises Israelis to only travel to the United Arab Emirates for essential reasons.
GOP Sen. Graham threatens to sanction US allies if they enforce ICC arrest warrants on Netanyahu, Gallant
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham threatens to sanction US allies if they enforce the International Criminal Court’s issuance of arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, as many of them have pledged to do.
“To any ally, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, if you try to help the ICC, we’re going to sanction you,” Graham tells Fox News in an interview.
“If you are going to help the ICC as a nation enforce the arrest warrant against Bibi and Gallant… I will put sanctions on you,” adds Graham, who has turned on the court after backing its decision to issue an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Graham: So to any ally, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, if you try to help the ICC, we're going to sanction you. pic.twitter.com/skSkAWiLp8
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 23, 2024
Austin told Katz he was concerned over end to administrative detention for settlers, US official says
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin raised the Biden administration’s alarm over Defense Minister Israel Katz’s decision to end the practice of administrative detention for Jewish settlers during their call earlier today, a US official tells The Times of Israel.
The administrative detentions against a handful of Jewish extremists have been virtually the only step Israeli authorities have taken to reign in on such suspects, as police arrests in near daily settler attacks on Palestinians are highly rare.
The failure of Israeli authorities to clamp down on the phenomenon has led the US and other Western countries to begin issuing sanctions against extremist settler individuals and entities earlier this year.
Katz’s decision to end the practice of detention without trial against Jews only, while maintaining the practice en masse against Palestinians as well as a handful of Arab Israeli raises significant concerns about discrimination, the US official says, confirming reporting in the Axios news site.
Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan named as individual missing in Abu Dhabi
Rabbi Levi Duchman (R), Chabad rabbi in the UAE, and Zvi Kogan (L), who supervises Kosher kitchens in the UAE, June 29, 2021. (Lazar Berman/Times of Israel)
Hebrew media outlets say Rabbi Zvi Kogan of Chabad Abu Dhabi is the individual missing since Wednesday.
Security officials tell the Ynet news site that suspicions are increasing that he was murdered.
Kogan is a dual Israeli-Moldovan citizen, and has been part of the Abu Dhabi Chabad chapter since Israel normalized ties with the UAE in late 2020.
Abu Dhabi Chabad member reportedly missing since Wednesday, amid fears for his life
A member of Chabad’s Abu Dhabi mission has been missing since Wednesday, and there are fears he may have been kidnapped or murdered, Hebrew media reports.
The Mossad spy agency and United Arab Emirates intelligence services are looking into the matter, the Walla news site reports, citing two unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter.
Israel has information that he was being followed by Iranian intelligence, the sources say.
Israeli strike targeting top Hezbollah leader in Beirut failed, Saudi outlet reports
An Israeli strike targeting a top Hezbollah leader has failed, unnamed Israeli sources tell the Saudi Al Hadath news outlet.
The reported target of the overnight Israeli airstrike in central Beirut was Muhammad Haydar, a member of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council, the terror group’s top military body. His exact position in the terror group these days is unclear.
At least 11 people were reported killed in the strike in Beirut.
Austin holds call with Katz, stresses need to keep Lebanese troops, UNIFIL observers safe
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke today with Defense Minister Israel Katz, the US Defense Department says.
“Secretary Austin emphasized the importance of ensuring the safety and security of the Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL forces in Lebanon,” a Pentagon readout of the call says.
Erdogan praises ‘courageous’ ICC decision to issue arrest warrants for PM, Gallant
File: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a press conference during the G20 Leaders' Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 19, 2024. (Luis ROBAYO / AFP)
ISTANBUL, Turkey — Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan praises the “courageous decision” of the International Criminal Court to seek the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.
“We support the arrest warrant. We consider it important that this courageous decision be carried out by all country members of the accord to renew the trust of humanity in the international system,” Erdogan says in a speech in Istanbul.
The ICC issued the warrants against the Israeli leaders and Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif on Thursday on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza conflict.
IDF footage shows airstrike on Hamas sniper in north Gaza
The IDF releases footage of a strike against a Hamas sniper in northern Gaza’s Jabalia amid an ongoing operation there.
The military says the sniper was spotted by troops of the Givati Brigade, who called in an airstrike.
IDF says two rockets fired from Gaza shot down; no injuries reported
Two rockets launched from the southern Gaza Strip at Israeli border communities were intercepted by air defenses, the IDF says.
The attack set off sirens in Ein Hashlosha and Kissufim.
There are no reports of injuries.
Rocket sirens sound in Gaza border communities
Incoming rocket sirens sound in the Gaza border communities of Kibbutz Kissufim and Ein Hashlosha.
צבע אדום (23/11/2024 13:58): כיסופים, עין השלושה pic.twitter.com/yv2SWsZdT5
— צופר – צבע אדום (@tzevaadom_) November 23, 2024
Trump, NATO chief discuss global security challenges in first meeting since election
This combination of pictures created on November 22, 2024 shows US President-elect Donald Trump (L) on November 13, 2024, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on November 13, 2024. (Saul Loeb and Wojtek Radwanski/AFP)
BRUSSELS, Belgium — US President-elect Donald Trump and the head of NATO have met for talks on global security, the military alliance said Saturday.
In a brief statement, NATO said Trump and its secretary general, Mark Rutte, met on Friday in Palm Beach, Florida.
“They discussed the range of global security issues facing the Alliance,” the statement said without giving details.
It appeared to be Rutte’s first meeting with Trump since his November 5 election as 47th president of the United States.
Rutte and his team also met Trump’s pick as national security adviser, US Rep. Michael Waltz, and other members of the president-elect’s national security team, the NATO statement said.
Rutte took over at the helm of NATO in October.
IDF says it launched additional wave of strikes targeting Hezbollah in Beirut
The IDF says it carried out another wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs this morning.
The sites hit by fighter jets included Hezbollah command rooms, according to the military.
Before the strikes, the IDF issued evacuation warnings to civilians in the area.
The IDF has not yet commented on a strike in central Beirut overnight, which reportedly targeted top Hezbollah commander Muhammad Haydar.
מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר, בהכוונת אגף המודיעין, תקפו מספר מפקדות ותשתית טרור נוספת של חיזבאללה במרחב הדאחייה שבביירות מוקדם יותר הבוקר>> pic.twitter.com/RCTKCXXABz
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 23, 2024
Meanwhile, the IDF issues evacuation warnings for five more buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs ahead of airstrikes on Hezbollah assets.
IDF says it found Iranian-made artillery system in southern Lebanon
An Iranian-made recoilless rifle is found by troops on the Lebanese side of Mount Dov, in a handout photo published on November 23, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Over the past week, the IDF says the elite reserve Alpinist Unit, under the 810th “Mountains” Regional Brigade, led an operation on the Lebanese side of Mount Dov, where they located an Iranian-made recoilless rifle.
At the same Hezbollah site, the military says the forces found rocket launchers and other projectiles.
Lebanese media says death toll rises to 11 in Israeli airstrike in central Beirut
Rescuers sift through the rubble of a leveled building in search of victims or survivors, following an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted Beirut's Basta neighborhood on November 23, 2024.(AFP)
The death toll of the overnight Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, reportedly targeting top Hezbollah commander Muhammad Haydar, has risen to 11, Lebanese media report.
Another 23 people are wounded, according to the reports.
Haydar’s fate is not immediately known.
Report: Top Hezbollah commander, Jihad Council member target of Beirut strike
Hezbollah commander Muhammad Haydar (Social media)
The target of the overnight Israeli airstrike in central Beirut is top Hezbollah commander Muhammad Haydar, the Saudi al-Arabiya outlet reports.
Haydar is a member of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council, the terror group’s top military body. His exact position in the terror group these days is unclear.
At least four people were reported killed in the strike on Beirut. Haydar’s fate is unknown.
Liberman blasts Jewish extremists who attacked IDF’s top West Bank commander yesterday
Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman slams Jewish extremists who attacked the IDF Central Command Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth and other officers yesterday in Hebron, accusing them of joining Israel’s enemies in harming state security.
“Any harm to the soldiers who give their lives for Israel’s citizens must be dealt with harshly and those responsible must be brought to justice,” he says.
Five suspects were arrested by police after they chased Bluth and the soldiers accompanying him during an annual pilgrimage in the West Bank city, calling the IDF commander a “traitor.” The head of Central Command typically has a fraught relationship with settler extremists, since the army is tasked with trying to keep them in check in the West Bank.
The IDF said that the group of young suspects chased Bluth and tried to block an exit that the military needed for operational activity.
IDF says Hezbollah responsible for injuring UNIFIL troops yesterday
The IDF says Hezbollah fired projectiles that injured four Italian UNIFIL observers at an outpost in the area of Shama in southern Lebanon yesterday.
The military says the launches were carried out from the village of Deir Qanoun al-Nahr.
מוצב של יוניפי״ל נפגע במרחב 'שמע' שבדרום לבנון אתמול, בעקבות מספר שיגורים שביצע ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה ממרחב דיר קאנון שבדרום לבנון. כתוצאה מהפגיעה נפצעו מספר חיילי יוניפי"ל ששהו במוצב>> pic.twitter.com/gs9r8gIcUm
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 23, 2024
IDF says it struck several Hezbollah sites in Beirut over past day
Fighter jets struck several Hezbollah command rooms, weapons storehouses, and other terror infrastructure sites in Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighborhood over the past day, the Israel Defense Forces says.
The IDF releases footage of the strikes.
מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר, בהכוונת אגף המודיעין, תקפו מספר מפקדות, מחסן אמצעי לחימה ותשתיות טרור נוספות של חיזבאללה במספר גלי תקיפות במרחב הדאחייה שבביירות ביממה האחרונה>> pic.twitter.com/xjFCgWGitH
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 23, 2024
The military says targets were struck in the heart of civilian areas in Dahiyeh, and that it took steps to limit harm to the population during the strikes.
Strikes reported on southern Beirut after evacuation warning
People watch as smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut, adjacent to the runway of the international airport, on November 23, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. - (Photo by IBRAHIM AMRO / AFP)
Lebanese official media reports an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, about an hour after Israel’s military issued evacuation warnings for two districts of the Hezbollah bastion.
“The enemy carried out a violent strike on (Beirut’s) southern suburbs in the Hadath area, around the Lebanese University,” the official National News Agency says.
IDF issues new evacuation warnings for Beirut sites ahead of strikes
The IDF has issued new evacuation warnings for civilians in the vicinity of three buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs, ahead of airstrikes on Hezbollah assets.
Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, publishes maps alongside the announcement, which call on civilians to distance themselves at least 500 meters from the sites.
#عاجل إلى جميع السكان المتواجدين في منطقة الضاحية الجنوبية وتحديدًا في المباني المحددة في الخرائط المرفقة والمباني المجاورة لها في المناطق التالية:
🔸الحدث
🔸شويفات العمروسية⭕️أنتم تتواجدون بالقرب من منشآت ومصالح تابعة لحزب الله حيث سيعمل ضدها جيش الدفاع على المدى الزمني… pic.twitter.com/8blJGf5wqO
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) November 23, 2024
Rocket from Lebanon said to crash next to factory near Haifa overnight; no injuries reported
At least one rocket fired from Lebanon at the Haifa area overnight impacted northern Israel, according to posts on social media purporting to show a crash site next to a factory in Kiryat Ata.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
Hebrew media reports that five rockets were fired in the barrage. Footage on social media shows air defenses intercepting rockets over Haifa.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF on the attack, which triggered sirens in several communities in the Haifa Bay area around 4 a.m.
הירי לעבר חיפה והקריות הלילה: זירת נפילה אותרה הבוקר בכביש סמוך למפעל בקריית אתא. pic.twitter.com/kwLn2eBioP
— Gera. Belik ( גרשון ) (@gershon27) November 23, 2024
Reports: Massive Beirut strike targeted senior Hezbollah officer
Rescue workers and people search for victims at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, early November 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Rumors are swirling on Hebrew news outlets and social media that the target of a massive Israeli strike in central Beirut this morning was either new Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem or senior Hezbollah officer Talal Hamiya.
Qassem was appointed to lead the Iran-backed terror group after his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated in a massive Israeli airstrike on Hezbollah’s underground headquarters in southern Beirut.
Hamiya was appointed to lead the terror group’s operations division after Israel killed Ibrahim Aqil, the head of Hezbollah’s military operations in a Beirut strike on September 20.
Hezbollah’s al-Manar broadcaster reports that at least four people were killed and 23 wounded in the attack in Beirut’s Basta neighborhood, which apparently destroyed an eight-story building and damaged several others around it.
There is no immediate Israeli comment on the strike.
At least 4 arrested as anti-Israel demonstrators protest NATO meeting in Montreal — Canadian media
Violence erupts on the streets of Montreal, as anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian activists gather to protest a NATO meeting being held in the Canadian city.
At least four people have been arrested amid the violence, local media reports.
Canada has globalized the intifada – it is no longer safe to walk the streets as a Jew in Montreal pic.twitter.com/YvdipWOboe
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) November 23, 2024
Unverified footage posted to social media shows demonstrators, many masked and wearing keffiyeh scarves, smashing the windows of the convention center in the Canadian city, where the NATO talks were being held.
Palestinian flags can be seen amid the riots in the footage.
HAPPENING NOW: Complete chaos on the streets of Montreal as Hamas supporters are terrorising the city.
Watch as these domestic terrorist take bats and hammers smashing the windows of the convention center. This is what a global intifada looks like. pic.twitter.com/3xjPlj8g6B
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) November 23, 2024
Lebanese media: At least 4 dead, 23 injured in massive Israeli strike in central Beirut
At least four people have been killed and 23 injured in an apparent Israeli strike in central Beirut a short while ago, according to the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV network, citing Lebanese health authorities.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency says Israeli war planes “completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles” and left a crater in the ground.
AFP journalists report hearing at least three large explosions.
Unverified videos posted to social media show a massive plume of smoke rising from the site of the apparent Israeli attack.
IDF did not issue an evacuation order for civilians before launching the strike, as it has done in recent airstrikes on the Hezbollah terror group’s stronghold in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF on the latest strike, which comes hours after fighter jets carried out two waves of airstrikes on Lebanon’s coastal city of Tyre, and further sorties on the country’s south and Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut last night.
🚨BREAKING: Massive bombardment by the Israeli Air Force right now in Beirut, Lebanon, targeting a senior Hezbollah official.
I don't know who Israel targeted just yet, but holy shit, Israel might just have caught a big fish. pic.twitter.com/gweKyFTyms
— Vivid.🇮🇱 (@VividProwess) November 23, 2024
At least 4 missiles said to target central Beirut as violent explosion rocks city
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike targeting the southern suburbs of Beirut, November 23, 2024. (Ibrahim Amro/AFP)
At least four missiles were fired in an airstrike toward Lebanon’s central Beirut early on Saturday, security sources tell Reuters, as Israel pushed on with its intense military campaign against the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
The strike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighborhood, two sources say.
At least one violent explosion was heard rocking Beirut, Reuters witnesses say.
Rocket sirens activated in Haifa and nearby communities
Shortly before 4:20 a.m., rocket alerts blare in Haifa and a number of suburbs around the northern coastal city.
Trump names hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as his nominee to head US Treasury
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management attends a conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, July 12, 2017. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America/AFP)
WASHINGTON — US President-elect Donald Trump names billionaire Scott Bessent as his Treasury secretary, choosing the hedge fund manager to help execute an agenda promising tax cuts and tariffs.
Bessent, who is chief executive officer of Key Square Group, has called for an extension of tax cuts from Trump’s first term, wants to reassert American energy dominance, and believes it is necessary to deal with the budget deficit.
“Scott is widely respected as one of the world’s foremost international investors and geopolitical and economic strategists,” Trump says in a statement.
“He will help me usher in a new Golden Age for the United States, as we fortify our position as the world’s leading economy,” he says, adding Bessent will also help “reinvigorate the private sector, and help curb the unsustainable path of federal debt.”
The nomination of Bessent — who recently served as an economic advisor to Trump — will put him at the forefront of rolling out the president-elect’s economic plan, from seeing tax cuts through Congress to managing ties with countries like China.
The position carries influence over both domestic and international policy.
Bessent, who is from South Carolina, attended Yale University and served as chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, the macroeconomic investment firm of billionaire George Soros.
In 2015, he raised capital, including $2 billion from Soros, to start his own hedge fund.
IDF says Hezbollah fired some 80 rockets from Lebanon at north on Friday
Hezbollah fired some 80 rockets from Lebanon that crossed into northern Israel on Friday, according to an IDF tally.
Fresh Israeli strikes reported in southern Beirut suburbs after IDF evacuation orders
Lebanese media report fresh IDF strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs, shortly after the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for three buildings in the area.
The IDF struck several Hezbollah sites in Beirut earlier today.
Report: Recent IDF strike in Syria killed senior Hezbollah commander behind deadly 2007 attack on US troops
A recent IDF airstrike in Syria killed a senior Hezbollah commander who helped plan a deadly attack on US soldiers in Iraq in 2007, NBC News reports, citing a senior US defense official.
Ali Mussa Daqduq played a key role in the Karbala raid in which terrorists disguised as an American security team entered a base before opening fire and killing five US soldiers.
He was subsequently captured by US forces but later released by the Iraqi government following the American military withdrawal.
NBC says it’s not clear yet when the IDF strike that killed Daqduq took place.
שלושת הפעילים מחיזבאללה על פי ההערכות נהרגו בתקיפה הישראלית אתמול בקוניטרה בדרום סוריה. אחד מהם הוא חסן עלי דקדוק בנו של עלי מוסא דקדוק, בכיר חיזבאללה ששמו הוזכר בעבר כמי שאחראי על הפעילות של יחידת "תיק הגולן" בדרום סוריה. https://t.co/ZFc994jWxz pic.twitter.com/oGAWmlHP8p
— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) December 9, 2023
read more: