The Times of Israel liveblogged Sunday’s events as they happened.
The High Court of Justice has ordered a temporary halt to the extradition of a Russian hacker to the United States.
The ruling comes after Aleksey Burkov submitted a petition to the High Court against the extradition, which was approved last week by Justice Minister Amir Ohana.
The family of Naama Issachar, an Israeli woman being held in Russia on drug charges, also submitted a petition against Burkov’s extradition.
Israeli officials reportedly the case of Issachar, who received a 7.5 year prison sentence this month after some 10 grams of marijuana were found in her bag during a stopover in Moscow, is linked to that of Burkov.
Burkov, an IT specialist, was arrested in Israel in 2015 at the request of Israel. He is wanted in the US on embezzlement charges in a massive credit card scheme that saw him allegedly steal millions of dollars from American consumers.
According to Channel 13 news, Burkov’s lawyer proposed that the Russian national be extradited to the US on condition that if convicted, he would serve any prison time in Russia.
BEIRUT — Thousands of people are marching to show their support for Lebanon’s president and his proposed political reforms.
The demonstration near Michel Aoun’s presidential palace in southeastern Beirut comes after more than two weeks of widespread anti-government demonstrations.
Another such anti-government protest is scheduled for later today in central Beirut. These demonstrations have united people from the country’s many religious sects and factions against the political class.
Those leaders have ruled Lebanon since the 1975-1990 civil war, and are widely seen as having tanked the economy.
Aoun, one of the main targets of the protesters’ anger, gave a speech late Thursday proposing that Lebanon should move away from the decades-old sectarian political system. He said the country is at a “dangerous crossroads.”
— AP
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s supreme leader says his country has outmaneuvered the United States in the four decades since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Iran has “trapped the other party in the corner of the ring in many cases.”
He says US aggression toward Iran has only grown “wilder and more flagrant” over the years.
Khamenei’s official website publishes his remarks to thousands of students today, a day before the 40th anniversary of the US Embassy takeover in Tehran.
Tensions have been high between Washington and Tehran after US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal.
The US has sought to roll back Iran’s influence across the region by imposing sanctions and providing military and other aid to its adversaries.
— AP
BERLIN — NATO’s secretary general says the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is a “milestone” in the fight against the extremist group but is cautioning that the struggle is far from over.
NATO Jens Stoltenberg tells Germany’s Bild newspaper today that IS once controlled a vast area in Syria and Iraq and the international anti-IS coalition, of which NATO is a part, needs to “ensure that it doesn’t return.”
Stoltenberg says “the Islamic State doesn’t have any territory any more, but it still lives. IS maintains sleeper cells, secret networks and is working to come back. Our mission is not yet entirely fulfilled.”
Baghdadi was killed last week in a US raid in Syria. The group has named Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi Al-Qurayshi as its new leader.
— AP
New Right MK Ayelet Shaked has submitted a bill for the annexation of parts of the West Bank.
The proposed legislation would see Israel annex the Jordan Valley, the Ma’ale Adumim settlement and the Gush Etzion settlement bloc.
“There is window of opportunity at the moment and readiness from the US for an annexation move like this, which won’t return. Therefore [we] can’t hesitate or wait and immediately take advantage of this opportunity to begin a process of apply sovereignty to these areas,” Shaked says in a statement quoted by Hebrew media.
“This is another reason that the State of Israel cannot be dragged into further elections.”
While the Knesset could take up the bill, it appears unlikely to do so in the absence of a government, with the political establishment’s focus on the formation of a new coalition.
The Trump administration has said it will release its peace proposal when Israel has a new government. It has kept the details of its plan under wraps, though the US ambassador in Jerusalem said earlier this year Israel has a “right” to retains parts of the West Bank, without specifying
.
The Justice Ministry says it will soon decide whether to file charges against a former policewoman who shot an unarmed Palestinian in the back with a sponge-tipped bullet.
The ministry says today it has completed a criminal investigation after holding four hearings into last year’s incident. It does not say when it will announce its decision.
Channel 13 news aired a video of the incident yesterday, saying the man was stopped as he tried to enter Israel from the West Bank. He is ordered to leave and walks away. He is shot nearly 20 seconds later, screaming in pain as he collapses.
Israeli police said the woman, a member of the paramilitary Border Police, was removed from service after the incident was discovered. Other officers who were there were re-assigned.
— AP
AMMAN, Jordan — Thousands of workers with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees have launched an open-ended strike in Jordan.
UNRWA spokesman Amjad Obeid says the agency’s more than 6,000 workers began the strike today, paralyzing its schools, health care and garbage-collection services in refugee camps. He says classes were canceled for some 120,000 students.
The UN Relief and Works Agency, known as UNRWA, is dealing with a budget crunch after an unprecedented loss of all funding from the United States, its largest donor.
Obeid says that workers are demanding raises of about $140 a month. He says the Jordanian government is trying to broker a settlement.
The strike doesn’t appear to affect the cash-strapped agency’s operations in the Palestinian territories or elsewhere in the region.
— AP
The Krayot Magistrate’s Court extends the remand of a suspect in the assault of a reporter in northern Israel.
Michael Ben Shoshan of Kiryat Ata will now remain in custody for another three days.
Ben Shoshan is suspected of being part of a group of men who attacked Israel Hayom reporter Daniel Siryoti in Kiryat Ata while he was covering a story.
Siryoti said he lost six teeth in the attack and sustained a concussion, while managing to protect his stomach from a serious stab wound. He also said the group started up with him after realizing he was a journalist.
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s president calls on citizens to unite behind reforms, after more than two weeks of nationwide anti-graft protests that brought down the government.
Embattled President Michel Aoun addresses thousands of his supporters thronging the road outside the presidential palace, ahead of more mass anti-government protests planned in Beirut in the afternoon.
Unprecedented cross-sectarian demonstrations have gripped Lebanon since October 17, demanding a complete overhaul of a political system deemed inefficient and corrupt.
The cabinet stepped down last week, but protesters have said this was not enough and pledged to meet for another demonstration Sunday afternoon in Beirut.
In a live televised address beamed to his fans and around the nation, Aoun calls on supporters and protesters alike to rally behind a plan for reforms.
“I call on you all to unite,” the Maronite Christian state leader says, warning against having “one protest against another.”
The 84-year-old president says a roadmap had been drawn up to tackle corruption, redress the economy, and put together a civil government.
“It won’t be easy, and we want your efforts,” he says, leaning on a pulpit inside the palace in the town of Baabda outside Beirut.
Protesters have called for an end to Aoun’s tenure, as well as drastic change to a political system dominated by the same figures and families since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
“All of them means all of them,” has become a popular chant calling for all political leaders to step down.
— AFP
Likud campaign manager Ofer Golan, who is under investigation for witness harassment, is requesting that police open an investigation into other cases of harassment against the same witness.
Golan submits to police over 50 examples of alleged harassment of Shlomo Filber, a former confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is now a state’s witness in a case implicating the premier.
Besides Golan, who is also spokesman for the Netanyahu family, Likud spokesman Jonatan Urich is being investigated for allegedly harassing Filber .
Golan and Urich have asked Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to drop the investigation over the “illegal” search of their phones.
The first test flight of the Israeli Air Force One is declared a success.
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which overhauled the Boeing 767-300ER plane that will ferry the prime minister and president overseas, says the test flight lasted over four hours and the aircraft’s control system worked properly.
The leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip says there are currently no negotiations with Israel on a prisoner swap, citing the Jewish state’s lack of a government.
“They [Israel] don’t have an active government and they don’t have a cabinet that can deliberate big issues like the Iranian threat. They can’t make crucial and fateful decisions at this state,” Yahya Sinwar is quoted saying by Channel 13 news.
Israel has had a caretaker government since December, when the Knesset voted to dissolve and call early elections for April. Prime Minister Netanyahu was unable to form a government after that vote and repeat elections last month have so far failed to yield a new government.
Sinwar’s comments come after Netanyahu referred to the issue of Israelis being held by Hamas at the start of today’s cabinet meeting
“We will continue our efforts to return our captives and MIAs. I want to say on this issue that I have full confidence in Yaron Bloom who is doing his work in a credible, serious and professional manner,” the premier said.
Bloom, who is tasked with securing the Israelis’ return, said in a radio interview earlier that an Israeli citizen being held in Gaza had previously crossed into the Palestinian enclave and was then returned. He later apologized for the remarks.
Hamas is believed to be holding Israeli citizens Avera Avraham Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, as well as the bodies of IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, who were killed in the 2014 Gaza war.
An appeals court nixes the planned deportation of two Filipino workers and their Israeli-born children.
The court in Tel Aviv faults the Population and Immigration Authority (PIBA) for not holding a hearing for the children or taking into consideration their well-being.
The judge instructs PIBA to reassess the cases in accordance with Justice Ministry regulations requiring a hearing be held for minors over 12 years old who face deportation, according to the Haaretz daily.
Gena Antigo, 13, and Ralph Harel, 10, were arrested last week along with their mothers before they were all released several days later on bail.
The remand of a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is extended until November 11, the Walla news site reports.
Khalida Jarrar, a former PFLP lawmaker in the Palestinian Authority parliament, was arrested last week at her home in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
She has previously served time in Israeli prison after being convicted of incitement to violence and “promoting terror activities,” charges she denied. In February was released from Israeli custody after being held in administrative detention since July 2017.
The PFLP, one of several parties in the Palestinian Liberation Organization, is considered a terror group by Israel, the Untied States and the European Union.
A Likud ally of Prime Minister Netanyahu warns that Israel may have no choice but to launch a major military operation in the Gaza Strip, after terrorists in the Palestinian enclave fired a number of rockets into Israeli territory over the weekend.
“As it looks now, it appears we will be forced to embark on a large military operation, and only afterwards an arrangement [with Hamas]. If there is no choice, we’ll also embark on a ground operation to eliminate Hamas rule,” Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, a member of the security cabinet, tells Army Radio.
His comments come after the security cabinet convened today, following the weekend’s violence.
In response to Friday night’s rocket fire, Israel struck a number of targets linked to Hamas, the terror group that rules Gaza.
No group has claimed responsibility for the rocket launches but Hebrew media reports have said that the belief in Israel’s security establishment is that the Islamic Jihad terror group was responsible.
A majority of Israelis would support legislation outlawing the sale of single use dishes and silverware, according to a new poll.
Overall, 58 percent of respondents to the Israel Democratic Institute survey say they would support such a ban, as compared to 35% who would oppose it.
When broken down by religious affiliation, those who identity as religious or ultra-Orthodox are the only groups in which a majority of respondents oppose prohibiting single use products.
AMMAN, Jordan — An agreement was reached to end a strike in Jordan by employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, hours after the walkout began today, Amman’s top diplomat and a trade union leader say.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi announces the deal with UNRWA employees, involving salary rises of between 70 and 100 Jordanian dinars (88 to 126 euros) per month from January, at a late afternoon news conference with union representatives.
“Consequently, it has been decided to put an end to the strike,” says Riyadh Zyghan, leader of the UNRWA employees’ union in Jordan.
More than two million Palestinians are registered in Jordan as refugees with UNRWA, which provides everything from healthcare to schooling.
Around 7,000 workers had joined the strike, forcing a shutdown of agency facilities, according to UNRWA spokesman in Jordan Sami Mshamsha.
Mshamsha says the union demanded a salary increase of 200 Jordanian dinars, but agreed to ask for half that amount following negotiations with UNRWA.
The union of UNRWA workers had said the action would be “open-ended” and had told pupils and students that they should stay at home.
— AFP
A woman in her 50s was shot to death in southern Israel in a suspected murder.
Police are searching for the woman’s husband, a resident of Moshav Talmei Eliyahu, who has a gun license.
Prime Minister Netanyahu says he was surprised by the manner in which police seized his aides’ phones over suspicions that they harassed a state witness in a corruption case against the prime minister.
“Many feel that something here is not okay,” he says at the Christian media summit in Jerusalem.
— Raphael Ahren
Shlomo Filber, a former confidante of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned state’s witness in a corruption case into the premier, has no regrets about testifying, Channel 12 news quotes police sources saying.
“I’m not changing my mind or changing the testimony in Case 4000,” Filber is quoted saying.
Filber is considered a key witness in Case 4000, which involves suspicions Netanyahu advanced regulations benefiting Bezeq controlling shareholder Shaul Elovitch in exchange for positive coverage from Bezeq’s Walla news site.
Last month, police seized and searched the phones of a number of Likud officials on suspicion of harassing Filber, among them campaign manager Ofer Golan and spokesman Jonatan Urich.
Channel 12 cites the police sources saying there are indications Golan and Urich were the initiators of the suspected harassment of Filber.
The two have denied wrongdoing and called on the attorney general to close the probe over the “illegal” search of their phones.
WASHINGTON — A lawyer for the whistleblower who raised alarms about US President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine says his client is willing to answer written questions submitted by House Republicans.
The surprise offer, made to Representative Devin Nunes of California, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, would allow Republicans to ask questions of the whistleblower, who spurred the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry, without having to go through the committee’s chairman, Representative Adam Schiff of California.
Attorney Mark Zaid tweets that the whistleblower would answer questions directly from Republican members “in writing, under oath & penalty of perjury,” part of a bid to stem efforts by Trump and his GOP allies to unmask the person’s identity. Only queries seeking the person’s identity won’t be answered, he says.
“Being a whistleblower is not a partisan job nor is impeachment an objective. That is not our role,” Zaid tweets. “So we have offered to @DevinNunes.”
“We will ensure timely answers,” he says.
Nunes’ office doesn’t have immediate comment.
The offer comes as Trump has repeatedly demanded the release of the whistleblower’s identity, tweeting today that the person “must come forward.” The whistleblower raised concerns about Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in which he pressed Zelenskiy to investigate Trump’s political rivals. That call became the catalyst for the impeachment inquiry.
“Reveal the Whistleblower and end the Impeachment Hoax!” Trump writes.
— AP
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s prime minister calls on anti-government protesters to reopen roads saying “it’s time for life to return to normal,” after a month of massive rallies demanding wide-ranging political change.
In a statement, Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi calls for markets, factories, schools and universities to reopen after days of protests in the capital and across the mostly Shiite south. He says the threat to oil facilities and the closure of roads had cost the country “billions” of dollars and contributed to price increases that affect everyone.
Tens of thousands of protesters have gathered in Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square and across southern Iraq in recent days, calling for the overhaul of the political system established after the 2003 US-led invasion. Protesters have also taken over a large tower in the square that was abandoned after it was damaged in the war.
Thousands of students have skipped classes to take part in the street rallies, blaming the political elite for widespread corruption, high unemployment and poor public services.
Earlier today, protesters blocked roads around their main protest site with burning tires and barbed wire, unfurling a banner at one roadblock reading: “Roads closed by order of the people.” They appeared to be borrowing a tactic from Lebanon, where similar anti-government demonstrations have been underway since October 17, and have repeatedly blocked major roads in order to ramp up pressure on authorities.
Security forces have fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition at the protesters, killing at least 256 people in two waves of demonstrations since early October. Since the protests restarted on October 25 after a brief hiatus, there have been near-continuous clashes on two bridges leading to the heavily fortified Green Zone, the headquarters of the government and home to several foreign embassies.
— AP
The principal and a teacher at an elementary school in Utah has been placed on paid administrative leave after a student dressed in an Adolf Hitler costume and participated in the schools Halloween parade.
The student at the Creekside Elementary School in Kaysville, Utah wore a brown long-sleeve shirt with a red swastika armband on the sleeve in photos that circulated Friday on social media. He also appeared to be wearing a Hitler mustache.
The Davis School District apologized for the incident in a statement, the local Fox affiliate reports.
“The Davis School District apologizes for what took place yesterday. It does not tolerate speech, images or conduct that portray or promote hate in any form. The district is taking the matter very seriously and is investigating every aspect of the situation,” the statement says. “It does not tolerate speech, images or conduct that portray or promote hate in any form.”
— JTA
United Jewish Federation of Utah calls this pic of a Creekside Elementary student dressed as Hitler at a school Halloween parade ‘intolerably offensive.’
.@KUTV2News
MORE |https://t.co/vGLSOgwe33 pic.twitter.com/tIiNGmDJMV— Jim Spiewak (@JimSpiewak) November 2, 2019
