Nov. 30 — Bennett: I support pardoning Netanyahu if it’s conditioned on his leaving politics

Police internal affairs division denies allegations investigators assaulted senior cop during probe today

The Department for Internal Police Investigations rejects claims that one of its investigators physically attacked a senior cop under criminal probe during his interrogation earlier today.

The legal counsel for Deputy Commissioner Manny Binyamin, the head of the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit, claims his client was strong-armed into signing off on illicit release conditions after an investigator physically assaulted him and put him briefly under arrest.

“We regret the distortion of facts and the serious allegations published by Deputy Commissioner Binyamin’s legal counsel. The claim of physical assault by a DIPI investigator is entirely unfounded, no violent incident occurred,” the agency says, adding that investigators “provided [him] all the necessary conditions throughout the interrogation, including multiple consultations with his attorney.”

According to the statement, Binyamin was released on restrictive conditions, including a prohibition on contacting those involved in the ongoing criminal probe and that he sign a personal guarantee to ensure compliance with this condition.

“The delay in completing the procedure resulted solely from Deputy Commissioner Binyamin’s prolonged refusal to sign the release conditions, and once he agreed, he was released immediately,” the agency continues.

Head of police major crimes unit briefly arrested after refusing to sign off on release conditions following interrogation

Investigators briefly arrested, and then released, the chief of Israel Police Lahav 433 major crimes unit after he initially refused to sign off on conditions for his release following a lengthy interrogation, his defense attorney says.

Deputy Commissioner Manny Binyamin was questioned for eight hours by investigators in the Department for Internal Police Investigations today, marking the third time he has been interrogated as part of an ongoing criminal probe into suspicions he committed several corruption-related offenses.

Binyamin’s lawyer, Uri Korb, alleges that his client was strong-armed into signing off on release conditions and even assaulted by a DIPI investigator at the end of his interrogation, as he consulted with his attorney over the phone.

Korb says the sudden demand that he sign off on release conditions was illicit and unwarranted, given the fact that he had been free, subject to no limitations, for 10 days. Binyamin nevertheless signed off on the conditions with the exception of one — a prohibition on him “meeting with a subordinate officer who works with him in the same building.”

Investigators at that moment chose to place Binyamin under arrest, which Korb alleges amounts to abuse of authority and breach of trust — the same offenses that Binyamin is suspected of. Under threat of arrest, Binyamin conceded and signed off on the conditions, the lawyer says.

The attorney tells Ynet that Binyamin will nevertheless show up to work tomorrow at his unit’s offices in Lod, after the officer’s return to his post was granted by police chief Danny Levy last week Thursday.

“It appears that in its conduct in this case, the DIPI has crossed all boundaries,” Korb says, urging “immediate intervention by external authorities” to set limits on the agency, subordinate to the State Attorney’s Office.

Dublin City Council halts plans to rename city’s Herzog Park after backlash from Irish government

Dublin councilors have halted plans to rename a park currently honoring a past Israeli president that had drawn criticism from the Irish and Israeli governments, the city council says.

Ireland has been among the most outspoken critics of Israel’s war in Gaza, and the plan to rename the capital’s Herzog Park followed a campaign by pro-Palestinian activists.

The proposal had been scheduled for a city council vote in the near future.

But now, following accusations of antisemitism, Dublin City Council Chief Executive Richard Shakespeare announces he is “proposing to withdraw the report from the Agenda,” citing procedural reasons.

In a statement, Shakespeare says he is referring the matter back to the council committee responsible, without touching on the debate sparked by the renaming plan.

Earlier today, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin had argued in a statement on X that the proposal “should be withdrawn in its entirety.”

“The proposal is a denial of our history and will without any doubt be seen as antisemitic,” Martin said, calling it “overtly divisive and wrong.”

The park, located near Dublin’s sole Jewish school, is named after Ireland-born Chaim Herzog, Israel’s sixth president.

Herzog, who died in 1997, was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and grew up in Dublin before serving as the president of Israel between 1983 and 1993.

His father was the first chief rabbi of Ireland after it gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1922, and his son, Isaac Herzog, is the current Israeli president.

Rubio says US-Ukraine talks ‘productive’ but ‘more work to be done’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hails talks with a Ukrainian delegation in Florida as “very productive,” but cautions that more work is required to halt Russia’s war with its neighbor.

“We had another very productive session, building off Geneva, building off the events of this week,” Rubio tells reporters. “But there’s more work to be done.”

Ukraine’s security council secretary, Rustem Umerov, who led Kyiv’s delegation, also hails the negotiations as “productive and successful.”

IDF commandos arrest prominent arms dealer in the West Bank

A prominent arms dealer was arrested by Israeli commandos in the West Bank today, the IDF says.

Soldiers of the Duvdevan commando unit operated in the West Bank village of Irtah and detained Ahmed Nasrallah, who the military says was a “key weapons smuggler” in a terror network based in the Tulkarem area.

He was handed over to the Shin Bet for further interrogation, the army adds.

IDF facing manpower crisis as fewer soldiers show interest in military careers, new data shows

New statistics aired by Channel 12 news further indicate that the military is facing a major crisis in keeping career servicemembers in the IDF.

According to the network, the IDF is short of about 1,300 officers at the ranks of lieutenant and captain, and another 300 majors.

Channel 12 cites internal surveys conducted by the army, which show that among officers, only 63 percent are interested in staying in the military, compared with 83% in 2018. Among non-commissioned officers, the number this year stood at 37%, compared with 58% in 2018.

This month, senior officers in the IDF’s Personnel Directorate told lawmakers that some 600 career soldiers were seeking early retirement, and junior officers are being promoted early to bridge the gaps.

The IDF has struggled for years 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.

Former Netanyahu lawyer says president cannot pardon PM without an admission of guilt

In an interview with Channel 12, attorney Micha Fettman – who previously represented Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his trial – says President Isaac Herzog cannot legally grant Netanyahu a pardon unless the prime minister admits guilt in his corruption cases.

“A pardon is given to an offender – that’s what the law stipulates,” Fettman says.

Fettman references the 1984 Bus 300 affair as a rare example of someone being pardoned before a trial, making it the closest precedent, but highlights that, in that case, the offenders acknowledged guilt before they were pardoned.

The 1984 Bus 300 affair revolved around an incident in which Shin Bet agents captured and executed a pair of Palestinians following their failed hijacking of an intercity bus that was carrying 41 Israelis, and later lied about what had happened.

The resulting uproar after the full story was uncovered led to resignations and a criminal probe, and then-president Chaim Herzog, father of the current president, issued presidential pardons before the case went to trial.

Even in the Bus 300 case, Fettman emphasizes, the High Court made clear that admissions of guilt were a prerequisite. He adds that “there’s no way on earth” the attorney general or the state prosecution would recommend that Herzog pardon Netanyahu without such an admission.

Historically, he further notes, the few cases in which presidents acted against Justice Ministry advice involved gravely ill individuals, not serving prime ministers.

Fettman’s comments come after Netanyahu submitted a sweeping 111-page pardon request to Herzog, along with a personal letter arguing that a pardon would allow him to devote his full attention to leading Israel “in these critical times,” and “would help mend rifts between different sectors of the public.” The prime minister did not admit guilt or express remorse, instead continuing to contest the charges and to argue that the process by which he was indicted was illegitimate.

Fettman, who resigned from the prime minister’s legal team five years ago, adds that if Netanyahu frames his pardon request as being “for the good of the country,” the president could conclude that Netanyahu himself must accept conditions to serve that goal – including potentially stepping aside from political life.

Earlier this month, Netanyahu insisted that he would not request a pardon for his corruption trial if it meant admitting guilt in the case.

Netanyahu is charged with one count of bribery, as well as three counts each of fraud and breach of trust, in three separate cases relating to corruption allegations against him. His trial began in 2020 and is still far from reaching an end. He denies any wrongdoing.

Alon Ohel says fellow hostage Eli Sharabi ‘was like a father to me’

In a preview of an interview set to air tomorrow on Channel 12, released hostage Alon Ohel speaks about his time in Hamas captivity and his bond with fellow hostage Eli Sharabi.

Ohel says Sharabi spent much of their time in captivity speaking about his family.

Unknown to both of them, Sharabi’s wife, Lianne, and their daughters, Noiya and Yahel, were killed on October 7. He only learned of their deaths after his release.

“He was like a father to me,” Ohel says in the interview, becoming visibly emotional. “What an amazing father they had.”

Herzog may offer Netanyahu a plea deal or a conditional pardon, reports say; president dismisses reports, says he’s first seeking legal opinion

President Isaac Herzog may present Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a proposal for a plea deal or a conditional bargain that will end his ongoing corruption trial, Hebrew-language media reports, after receiving the premier’s request for a pardon earlier today.

Rather than accepting or rejecting Netanyahu’s request outright, Channel 12 reports that Herzog is leaning toward responding with, “Yes, but–” and offering the premier a conditional deal — potentially involving acknowledgments of wrongdoing, limitations on Netanyahu’s future political activity, or other terms.

The shift comes during what sources describe as a recent softening in Herzog’s stance toward the idea of ending the long-running corruption trial through an agreed framework.

The report notes that it is difficult to enforce retirement from politics when it is part of a plea deal, as was proven in recent years when Shas leader Aryeh Deri took a deal in 2021 that required him to admit to tax offenses and pledge his resignation from the Knesset.

After the High Court of Justice later ruled that Deri could not hold a position in Netanyahu’s cabinet due to giving the impression to the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court in the plea bargain that he was permanently stepping down from public life, the Shas leader claimed that he had never done so.

To avoid a similar problem in the future, Channel 12 says Herzog may consider issuing a conditional pardon, or one that is invalidated should the premier breach its terms.

Similarly, the Kan public broadcaster reports that even as Herzog examines Netanyahu’s request, he will also be working to revive negotiations for a plea deal.

Any such deal would require the prime minister to plead guilty, which he did not indicate he was willing to do in his request to Herzog.

Kan also quotes unnamed people close to Herzog saying Netanyahu will not get a pardon without paying a “significant” price.

It is expected to take several weeks for Herzog to submit his response to Netanyahu on the matter.

A statement published by the Office of the President denies the reports, saying that Herzog has not yet discussed the issue. It says Herzog is first seeking a legal opinion on the request, apparently from the Justice Ministry, though the statement does not specify.

Bennett: I support pardoning Netanyahu if it’s conditioned on his leaving politics

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett says he will support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon if it is conditioned on the premier’s retirement from politics.

“In recent years, the State of Israel has been led into chaos and to the brink of a civil war that threatens the very existence of the state,” Bennett writes on X.

“In order to rescue Israel from the chaos, I will support a binding arrangement that includes a respectful retirement from political life alongside the end of the trial,” he says. “That way, we can let it go, unite, and rebuild the state together.”

A Bennett- and Yair Lapid-led coalition unseated Netanyahu as prime minister for 18 months from mid-2021, before a Netanyahu-led bloc won the elections in November 2022. Opinion polls consistently indicate that a Bennett-led party and bloc would be best-placed to defeat Netanyahu and his allies in the next elections, which must be held by next October.

OECD economist: Israel needs to cut carbon emissions by 40% if it hopes to reach net zero by 2050

Israel needs to cut its global warming gas emissions by 40 percent to have any hope of reaching its target of net zero by 2050, a senior OECD economist tells the annual meeting of the President’s Climate Forum at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.

Daniel Nachtigall, who is responsible at the OECD’s Environment Directorate for a database on the carbon emission reduction policies of 50 countries, says that these emissions, which drive climate change, are still rising.

The 50 nations, including Israel, are behind the carbon-cutting targets they themselves set for 2030 and submitted to the United Nations, he explains.

Net zero is achieved when actual emissions are offset by the amount of gases removed from the atmosphere.

Nachtigall says that between 2010 and 2021, the adoption and stringency of climate policies rose across the 50 nations responsible for some 80% of global emissions, but then slowed down.

While climate action in Israel increased between 2010 and 2023, it has always been below the OECD average, he says, and the gap has increased under the current Netanyahu-led government, especially in the areas of decarbonizing electricity and transportation.

Of all the policies Israel should be enacting, he singles out two: a climate law with legally binding targets for reducing emissions and increasing renewable energy, and a carbon tax on natural gas that matches those set for oil, diesel, and other fuels.

Several attempts to pass a climate law have failed in recent years as the Finance Ministry has attempted to avoid any obligation and retain flexibility over targets.

Israel’s carbon tax is being collected in a staged manner through excise taxes. But while the tax framework for fuels such as oil and diesel will increase to around 70 Euros per ton of CO2 equivalent by 2030, the government has capped it at 18 Euros per ton for natural gas by the end of the decade.

A carbon dioxide equivalent is a metric used to compare emissions from various greenhouse gases based on their global warming potential compared to CO2.

Nachtigall says that, contrary to popular perception, research shows that carbon taxes bring emissions down without negatively affecting jobs or the economy.

‘Collection of toothless threats’: Likud MK demands changes to proposed Haredi conscription bill

Likud MK Dan Illouz writes to Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth, also of Likud, to demand multiple changes to his proposed bill regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment, saying that he is unable to support the legislation as currently written.

“Unfortunately, the proposed law not only fails to create change but may even undermine the progress already achieved on the ground,” he writes, arguing that “in such a situation, it is better to leave the current situation than to pass a law that will lead to long years of non-conscription.”

“I cannot support a law that does not really bring positive change on an issue of an existential security need,” writes Illouz, who is one of the more outspoken critics of the legislation within the coalition.

Bismuth released the text of the long-awaited bill on Thursday, prompting criticism from within coalition ranks, opposition figures and legal advisers, including FADC committee legal adviser Miri Frenkel Shor.

The legislation, as currently laid out, would continue to grant military service exemptions to full-time yeshiva students while ostensibly increasing conscription among graduates of Haredi educational institutions.

Calling Bismuth’s bill “a collection of toothless threats” rather than effective sanctions against draft evaders, Illouz argues that it harms the socioeconomic integration of the Haredi public while not creating any real incentive to enlist.

Illouz demands the retention and strengthening of current sanctions rather than the imposition of “weak” sanctions in their stead, and calls for narrowing the definition of Haredi so as to prevent the “artificial inflation” of Haredi enlistment numbers.

He also argues that the law should set a minimum quota for how many Haredi recruits enter combat tracks and calls for the bill to recognize Haredi “hesder” yeshivas, which combine Torah study with a shortened military service.

“If these amendments are not made, the current situation is better than passing the current draft. The reality on the ground is already showing an increase in recruitment since real sanctions were imposed,” Illouz writes to Bismuth. “We must not enact a law that will set us back.”

Speaking with The Times of Israel last week, former Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein, another critic, warned that the coalition is set to exert significant pressure on the few lawmakers from its own ranks who are “strongly opposed” to the controversial legislation.

Asked if he has been subject to such treatment, Illouz tells The Times of Israel that “I haven’t been pressured.”

Dozens protest outside Herzog’s home in Tel Aviv against PM’s request for a pardon

Dozens of people, including Democrats MK Naama Lazimi, are protesting outside of President Isaac Herzog’s home in Tel Aviv, calling for him to deny Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon.

“You are the leader, you are guilty,” the group sings, led by a protester wearing a mask of Herzog’s face and waving an Israeli flag.

Another protester is wearing a mask of Netanyahu’s face and an orange prison-style jumpsuit.

The protest is being held under the slogan “Pardon = Banana Republic,” and attendees stand behind a large pile of bananas topped by a sign with the word “pardon” on it.

המוקד: הפגנה מול בית הנשיא: תחפושת של הרצוג ו"חנינה = רפובליקת בננות" (טוביה יגלניק) pic.twitter.com/RlrKVPab9r

— חדשות המוקד (@hamoked_il) November 30, 2025

Court extends remand of anti-government activist alleged to have incited violence against PM

The Haifa Magistrate’s Court decides to keep anti-government activist Yolanda Yavor, a Tel Aviv University lecturer, in custody till tomorrow at noon after she was detained over social media posts allegedly inciting violence against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others.

She was arrested following a complaint from the right-wing Im Tirzu organization over a post she published on Facebook last week in which she derided the premier as a “traitor.”

“The only choice is to be — that is, to fight the traitor, the mouthpieces, the damned collaborators and his bargain-bin Freikorps militias with all the strength and all means — or not to be,” she wrote. “Make the right choice, my brothers and sisters… There won’t be another round.”

The professor’s attorney, Oshrat Kirma, calls the decision to extend her detention a “mistake” and denies her posts represent actual calls for violence against elected officials.

“We are talking about an interpretation [of the posts], rather than a post that actually calls for a violent act. Many posts, from a variety of groups, exist on the web that call for actual, literal physical violence and none of them are investigated,” she tells reporters after her client’s hearing.

She adds that the interpretations of the prosecution require extensive extrapolation in order to make sense of them.

“To say that there is a connection between the post and an act is simply baseless,” she says.

Pope says two-state solution is ‘only solution’ to Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Pope Leo XIV doubled down earlier today on the Holy See’s insistence on a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying in his first airborne news conference that it was the “only solution” that could guarantee justice for both sides.

“We all know that at this time Israel still does not accept that solution, but we see it as the only solution,” he said, as he flew from Istanbul to Beirut for the second and final leg of his maiden voyage as pope.

“We are also friends with Israel and we are seeking to be a mediating voice between the two parties that might help them close in on a solution with justice for everyone,” added the pope, speaking in Italian.

Though Leo has been fielding journalists’ questions at informal gatherings at his country house, the brief encounter marked his first news conference as pope and followed the tradition of his predecessors of using his trips to engage with the media.

But it was limited to two questions from Turkish journalists.

The American pope was asked by a Turkish journalist about his private talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and whether they discussed the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

Leo confirmed they had, and said that Turkey had an “important role to play” in both conflicts, noting that Erdogan’s government had already helped facilitate low-level negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to end the war.

Ukrainian delegation meeting with Rubio, Witkoff in Florida on ending war with Russia

A Ukrainian delegation begins a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff in Florida.

Rubio says the talks are aimed at securing not just an end to the killing but “an end to the war that leaves Ukraine sovereign and independent and with an opportunity at real prosperity.”

Four foreign activists said wounded by settlers near Jericho, one seriously

Four foreign pro-Palestinian activists — three Italians and one Canadian — have been wounded, one of them seriously, in a settler attack near Jericho, the Palestinian Authority’s WAFA news agency reports.

Medical and security sources cited by WAFA say that at dawn, some 10 masked settlers stormed the house where the activists were staying, beat them and stole their property, including passports and cellphones.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani confirms to Italian media that three Italians were wounded, but not seriously, in the attack on the Palestinian community of Ein al-Duyuk.

Al Jazeera airs photos of the Italian activists — two women and one man — with bruises on their faces. The man appears to have a cut lip.

According to Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper, the activists reported the incident to the Palestinian police and were assisted by the mayor of Jericho.

مستوطنون يعتدون بالضرب على متضامنين أجانب، ويرشون غازا ساما في وجوههم بقرية عين الديوك شمالي مدينة أريحا في الضفة الغربية#الأخبار pic.twitter.com/gyTYPfCGF3

— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) November 30, 2025

Hamas-affiliated news confirms son of Hamas official Ghazi Hamad killed trying to flee Rafah tunnel

Local sources cited by Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network and other Arabic news outlets confirm that Abdullah Hamad, son of senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad, is one of the Hamas operatives killed by the IDF while trying to flee a Rafah-area tunnel this morning.

مصادر محلية: استشهاد المقاوم عبد الله حمد، نجل القيادي بحركة حـــماس غازي حمد، بعد حصاره في مدينة رفح، جنوب قطاع غزة. pic.twitter.com/kBV6xla40M

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) November 30, 2025

The operatives were spotted emerging from the tunnels in eastern Rafah, an IDF-held area where dozens of Hamas fighters were believed to be trapped underground.

In a video circulating online, the commander of the IDF’s Nahal Brigade, Col. Arik Moyal, said his forces, with support from the Israeli Air Force, killed the local Hamas battalion commander, his deputy, a company commander, and a fourth operative he identified as Hamad’s son, without naming him.

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.

Pope Leo XIV arrives in Lebanon for two-day visit

Pope Leo XIV has arrived in Lebanon for a two-day trip where he is expected to bring a message of peace, an AFP journalist aboard the plane says.

The American pontiff lands in Beirut from Turkey and is set to meet Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, the Arab world’s only Christian head of state, and deliver a speech to authorities and diplomats at the presidential palace this afternoon.

Gantz: Netanyahu using pardon request to distract from Haredi draft exemption law

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of using his request for a pardon from President Isaac Herzog to divert public attention from his effort to pass contentious legislation widely exempting Haredi men from military conscription.

“Netanyahu knows that this request for a pardon, which does not align with the accepted process in Israel, is a complete fake meant to divert the public’s attention from the draft-exemption law he is promoting at the expense of our children,” Gantz writes on X.

“He’s behaving like a firefighter who starts a fire and then demands protection money to put it out.

“Netanyahu: Instead of fanning the flames, put out the fire you created in Israeli society, stop harming democracy, go to elections, and only then request a plea deal or a pardon.”

Dror Or buried at Kibbutz Be’eri alongside wife Yonat, also killed on October 7

Dror Or, the hostage whose body was released to Israel last week, is buried in Kibbutz Be’eri and eulogized by his family and friends.

He is buried next to his wife, Yonat Or, who was killed on October 7, 2023. Her body was discovered several days after the Hamas terrorist attack. Two of their three teenage children were taken captive that day and released in November 2023.

Dror Or was considered a living hostage until May 2, 2024, when intelligence revealed that he was killed on October 7 and his body taken captive to Gaza.

Or’s brother, Elad Or, one of the family members at the front of the struggle to bring the hostages home, says that he will never truly understand how this tragedy could have happened to his brother and sister-in-law, how they were attacked, how his brother managed to tell his children Alma and Noam to run, and how his brother was caught by the terrorists.

“I never want to understand it,” said Or.

He relates memories from their 38 years of brotherhood — playing basketball, listening to Ehud Banai, and visiting the kibbutz with his own family.

Banai performs two songs during the funeral.

Elad Or says he will never forget or forgive “the terribly long time in which we had to beg for help and rescue from the ongoing terror of your captivity.” He thanks the civilians and soldiers who helped, and notes that the country deserves leadership that will take better care of its people and make sure that what happened to his brother’s family will never happen again.

Yuval Or, Dror Or’s father, expresses the family’s deep sadness and pain over Dror’s murder, and the family’s losses.

He says the struggle is not over, given the government’s refusal to independently investigate the disaster of October 7 and what led to it.

Dorit Or, Dror’s mother, describes his birth and upbringing in Kibbutz Re’im, his place as the middle brother, his love of basketball, and his path to becoming a chef, meeting his wife Yonat and moving to Be’eri.

She calls her son and daughter-in-law “people of freedom and light, of spirit and creativity, who knew how to dream and turn dreams into reality.”

Pope Leo heads to Lebanon after wrapping up Turkey visit

Pope Leo XIV heads to Lebanon with a message of peace for the crisis-hit nation after wrapping up a four-day trip to Turkey’s tiny Christian community that focused on unity within the Church.

Ending the first part of his maiden overseas tour since being elected leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, Leo boards the papal plane which left Istanbul for Beirut, where he was expected to arrive around 3:45 p.m. (1345 GMT).

The two-nation tour is the first major international test for the first American pope, who was elected in May and whose understated style contrasts with that of his charismatic and impulsive predecessor, Francis.

Although Leo’s visit drew little attention in Turkey, a Muslim-majority nation whose Christian community numbers only around 100,000, his 48-hour stopover is eagerly awaited in Lebanon, a religiously diverse country of 5.8 million inhabitants.

Israel Democracy Institute: Pardon can be granted during trial; request is not an admission of guilt

A request for a pardon is not an admission of guilt, and President Isaac Herzog can theoretically pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even during the course of his trial, according to an analysis from the Israel Democracy Institute.

“In general, a pardon is an act of compassion and justice granted based on the individual with consideration of their unique personal circumstances,” wrote IDI in an analysis earlier this month, before Netanyahu submitted his official request. “Therefore, there are no preconditions for a pardon, and the law does not specify what the president’s considerations must be when reviewing a pardon request.”

“No law requires an admission of guilt as a condition for a pardon. A pardon may be granted even to someone who maintains their innocence, and it is meant to allow forgiveness, correction, or rehabilitation, not to determine guilt or innocence,” according to IDI’s Dana Blander.

The issue of pardoning someone before a ruling has been issued is more problematic.

“The general rule is that the president pardons those who have been convicted, or in the language of the law, ‘offenders,'” wrote Blander.

A pardon during legal proceeding is possible, according to the analysis, but is “rare and exceptional.”

During the 1984 Bus 300 affair, in which a pair of bound Palestinian terrorists were captured and executed following their failed hijacking of an intercity bus carrying 41 Israelis, President Chaim Herzog pardoned senior Shin Bet officials before their trial.

The Supreme Court said it was legal but warned it was an “exceptional authority that must be exercised only as a safety valve.”

Wrote Blander, “Following the ruling, the attorney general’s directives established that ‘as a rule, the president deals only with requests concerning someone who has been convicted. Handling requests before conviction will occur only in rare cases.'”

“It should be noted that during a trial, the authority to stay criminal proceedings in exceptional circumstances lies with the attorney general,” wrote IDI. “Similarly, the authority to withdraw an indictment lies with the prosecution. Therefore, a pardon during trial, which would effectively terminate ongoing proceedings, constitutes interference in the independence of criminal prosecution.”

Irish PM urges Dublin to reverse plan to remove Chaim Herzog’s name from city park

Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheál Martin joins other senior Irish officials urging Dublin’s City Council to reverse plans to rename a park named after Israel’s sixth president Chaim Herzog, an Irish native.

“The proposal to rename Herzog Park should be withdrawn in its entirety and not proceeded with,” says Martin on X.

“The proposal would erase the distinctive and rich contribution to Irish life of the Jewish communities over many decades, including active participation in the Irish War of Independence and the emerging State,” he continues.

He calls the proposal “a denial of our history” that “will without any doubt be seen as antisemitic.”

“It is overtly divisive and wrong,” he says. “Our Irish Jewish communities’ contribution to our country’s evolution in its many forms should always be cherished and generously acknowledged.”

His deputy, Tánaiste Simon Harris, called the proposal “offensive,” and the foreign minster also decried the plans.

Ireland has been among the most outspoken critics of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, and the move to rename the park followed a campaign by anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian activists, but official council documents did not disclose a reason for the proposal.

Herzog, who died in 1997, was born in Belfast in Northern Ireland and grew up in Dublin before serving as Israeli president between 1983 and 1993. His father was the first chief rabbi of Ireland after it gained independence from Britain in 1922.

Ministers say Herzog pardon would heal national divisions, will continue push for judicial overhaul

Defense Minister Israel Katz calls on President Isaac Herzog to accede to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon, arguing in a statement that such a move would “bring an end to the legal charges that were born in sin and have created a severe division that splits the nation.”

“Israel is facing a more complex security reality today than ever before: old enemies are trying to rebuild their strength, while new forces in the region are attempting to rise with the goal of threatening the security of Israeli citizens. At this time, unified leadership focused on the strategic threat before us is required,” Katz argues.

“Granting a pardon, as also noted by the president of the United States, is the only way to end the deep rift that has accompanied Israeli society for about a decade and allow the country to unite again in the face of the challenges and opportunities ahead of us. Benjamin Netanyahu has earned the trust of the people time and again, and he must be allowed to continue leading the State of Israel in the face of all the challenges it faces. I call on President Herzog to support the decision that will allow the State of Israel to continue forward united.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich joins the chorus of voices calling for Herzog to pardon Netanyahu, saying his party will continue the push for the government’s contentious judicial overhaul.

“The commitment of Religious Zionism to reforming the judicial system will continue in a substantive manner, regardless of Netanyahu’s pardon,” Smotrich says of his far-right party.

“Separate from the necessary reform in the law enforcement system, it is clear to any reasonable person that Netanyahu has been persecuted for years by a corrupt judicial system that fabricated political cases against him, and therefore I call on the president to grant the pardon request,” he adds.

Education Minister Yoav Kisch voices an appeal for unity, declaring that Netanyahu’s trial had been motivated by a goal of “political obstruction” and “has created division in the nation and boycotts between camps.”

“The cost of continuing the trial is serious harm to the prime minister’s ability to realize political opportunities with President Trump following the military achievements in the War of Revival,” he says, referring to the war against Hamas in Gaza, adding that “for the sake of the State of Israel and for the sake of justice it is appropriate for the president to end the trial.”

Herzog must pardon Netanyahu “to prove that he is not part of the political game,” argues Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth (Likud).

“After years of political persecution under the guise of legal proceedings, it’s time to put an end to the long performance carried out at the expense of the country.”

Opposition leaders call on Herzog to reject PM’s pardon request, say it harms rule of law

Members of the political opposition call on President Isaac Herzog to reject Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a formal pardon, arguing that ending the premier’s long-running corruption trial would harm the rule of law and allow the premier to evade responsibility for his alleged actions.

In a public video appeal addressed to Herzog, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declares that the president “cannot pardon Netanyahu without an admission of guilt, an expression of remorse and an immediate retirement from political life.”

The Democrats chair Yair Golan insists that “only the guilty seek a pardon.”

“The only path to unity in the nation is by stopping the machine of hatred and poison, by halting the dismantling of the legal and democratic systems. And this path begins with your resignation and leaving public life in Israel,” Golan says, addressing Netanyahu.

“After six years of trial, after a decade of claiming ‘there is nothing and there will be nothing,’ it now turns out that you are afraid of the truth. The only possible deal is for you to take responsibility, admit guilt, and free the country to breathe and recover,” he argues.

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman accuses Netanyahu of trying to distract the public from pressing issues facing the nation.

“Remember that just five minutes ago there was a war here, a [Haredi draft] evasion law, two hostages who still haven’t returned, a collapsing economy, and skyrocketing food prices? And what about the cover-up committee they’re setting up? Has it all just vanished? We must not let him control the public discourse,” Liberman writes. “Eyes on the goal!”

“Netanyahu is not legally seeking a pardon; he is seeking to end the trial. Therefore, he does not admit guilt and does not express remorse,” says Hadash-Ta’al MK Ahmad Tibi.

The Movement for Quality Government asserts that granting Netanyahu a pardon in the middle of the legal proceedings against him would constitute “a deadly blow to the rule of law and to the principle of equality before the law, the very soul of Israeli democracy.”

“Granting a pardon to a prime minister accused of serious offenses of fraud and breach of trust would send a clear message that some citizens are above the law,” the watchdog group states, calling on Herzog to “stand firm against the pressures and defend Israeli democracy.”

No apology or admission of guilt in Netanyahu’s letter to Herzog asking for a pardon

In his signed one-page letter to President Isaac Herzog asking for a pardon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not admit guilt or apologize for any wrongdoing, but acknowledges instead “broad public and ethical responsibility” for the tension caused by his corruption trial.

“In recent years, tensions and disputes have increased between different segments of the nation and between the various branches of the state,” he writes. ” I am aware that the proceedings being conducted in my case have become a focal point for confrontations.”

“I bear broad public and ethical responsibility, with an understanding of the consequences of all these events,” Netanyahu continues.

“Therefore, despite my personal interest in going through with the trial and proving my innocence until full acquittal, I believe that the public interest dictates otherwise,” says Netanyahu.

He says he has public responsibility to bring about reconciliation within the country, and that closing down the trial will lower the flames of political disagreement.

“Given the security challenges and the diplomatic opportunities currently facing Israel, I am committed to doing everything in my power to mend divisions, achieve unity among the people, and restore trust in the state institutions — as I expect from the branches of the state,” he concludes.

Netanyahu does not give any indication that he accepted a deal in which Herzog would grant a pardon in exchange for the prime minister stepping away from public life.

Though the letter is dated November 27, the President’s Office tells The Times of Israel that it received the request today.

Coalition members praise Netanyahu’s decision to request pardon in corruption trial

Senior members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition praise his decision to seek a formal pardon from President Isaac Herzog, potentially ending his long-running corruption trial.

In a statement, coalition whip MK Ofir Katz of Netanyahu’s Likud party says while it was “clear to everyone that the most political trial is collapsing” and Netanyahu “could easily have proven his innocence in this corrupt persecution,” he instead chose another path “for the sake of healing the country and reconciliation.”

“A true leader who always puts the good of the state before his personal good,” Katz declares.

Granting Netanyahu a pardon is “critical for the security of the state,” argues National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, emphasizing what he describes as the “critical necessity” to enact changes to the judicial system, “especially reform of the corrupt and despicable state prosecution which fabricated the Netanyahu cases.”

“It’s time to free Israel from the Netanyahu trial saga that is tearing the nation apart,” says Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar. “The right thing to do is to grant the pardon request for the sake of the country’s future.”

However, not every Netanyahu partisan agrees with his choice, with firebrand Likud MK Tally Gotliv asking why the prime minister would make such a request and arguing that she feels “pain and humiliation in light of the pardon submission.”

“Your trial is bigger than you and all of us. You have demonstrated the persecution against you and the right wing in ways that cannot be described. Only in recent weeks has the full extent of the persecution and lies been revealed in all their horror,” she writes on X.

Netanyahu says a pardon for him in corruption trial would be in ‘national interest’

In a video statement released shortly after submitting his pardon request to President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says it is in Israel’s national interest that his six-year-long corruption trial end.

“Nearly a decade has passed since the investigations against me began,” says Netanyahu. “The trial in these matters has been ongoing for almost six years, and it is expected to continue for many more years.”

Netanyahu alleges that it is becoming increasingly clear that “serious crimes” were committed in building the case against him, and stresses that his own interest remains seeing the legal process through until he is cleared of all charges.

“But the security and diplomatic reality — the national interest — demand otherwise,” says Netanyahu.

“Israel is facing enormous challenges, and alongside them great opportunities. To repel the threats and realize the opportunities, national unity is required,” he argues, contending that the trial’s continuation “tears us apart from within. It stirs divisions and deepens rifts. I am certain, as are many others in the nation, that an immediate end to the trial would greatly help lower the flames and promote broad reconciliation — something our country desperately needs.”

He says that he decided to move ahead with the request because he was recently required by the judges to testify three times a week.

US President Donald Trump’s recent letter to Herzog requesting a pardon was another factor, says Netanyahu.

“President Trump called for an immediate end to the trial so that, together with him, I could advance even more vigorously the vital interests shared by Israel and the United States, within a time window that may never return,” he says.

“I have been elected time after time in democratic elections, and I have received your trust to continue serving as Israel’s prime minister,” he says, “first and foremost to fulfill these historic goals. For these reasons, my attorneys have today submitted a request for a pardon to the president. I expect that all those who have the good of the country in mind will support this step.”

Condition of 2 soldiers wounded in Syria clash, one shot in the heart, has stabilized

Two of the soldiers wounded in a clash in Beit Jann in southern Syria last week are now in stable condition in the intensive care unit, Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center says.

The two arrived by military helicopter directly from the field, in critical condition.

They had were operated on for life-threatening gunshot wounds. One of them was shot in the chest, and the bullet penetrated his vest and stopped inside the heart.

“The surgery was complex and challenging, and included opening the chest both from the side and from the center in order to stop the source of the bleeding,” says Prof. Gil Bolotin, director of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Department at the hospital.

The bullet passed between the heart’s septa, the walls of tissue that separate the heart into different chambers. The doctors “unanimously” decided to leave the bullet in place.

“We may need to operate again to remove the bullet from the heart, we may choose to remove it by catheterization, and there is definitely a possibility that the bullet will remain where it is,” Bolotin says. “Today he is already recovering and communicating with those around him.”

Freed hostage Yosef-Haim Ohana heads home from rehab, 6 weeks after leaving Gaza

Freed hostage Yosef-Haim Ohana is officially released home to Kiryat Malachi from rehabilitation at Kfar Hamaccabiah in Ramat Gan.

Ohana, who was taken captive on October 7, 2023, from the Nova desert rave, was one of the 20 final living hostages released on October 13, six weeks ago.

Ohana has left Kfar Hamaccabiah several times during the last six weeks, including traveling with other released hostages to Washington, DC, to meet with US President Donald Trump.

Some released hostages are still at the Ramat Gan hotel while continuing treatments at nearby hospitals.

As Ohana leaves Kfar Hamaccabiah for the last time, local high students and drummers from nearby Scouts groups accompany him on his exit from the hotel.

PM submits pardon request to Herzog, says it would allow him to concentrate on affairs of state

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu submits a formal pardon request to President Isaac Herzog, according to the President’s Residence.

The documents included an 111-page request from Netanyahu’s lawyer Amit Hadad, and a letter signed by Netanyahu. Herzog’s office releases the full text of the request.

“Granting this request will allow the prime minister to devote all of his time, abilities, and energy to advancing Israel in these critical times,” writes Hadad, “and to dealing with the challenges and opportunities that lie before it. In addition, granting the request will help mend rifts between different sectors of the public, open the door to lowering the intensity of tensions, all for the purpose of strengthening the country’s national resilience.”

According to Herzog’s office, Hadad submitted the request to the President’s Residence Legal Department.

The Justice Ministry Pardons Department “will gather the opinions of all the relevant authorities in the ministry,” says Herzog’s office, then will send their recommendations to Herzog’s legal adviser.

“The Office of the President is aware that this is an extraordinary request which carries with it significant implications,” says Herzog’s office in a statement. “After receiving all of the relevant opinions, the president will responsibly and sincerely consider the request.”

The president of the state is empowered to grant pardons to those convicted in court and — on very rare occasions, even before legal proceedings have concluded, if it is deemed to be in the public interest.

Earlier this month, Netanyahu insisted he will not request a pardon for his corruption trial if it means admitting guilt in the case.

US President Donald Trump also wrote to Herzog to ask him to pardon Netanyahu.

Netanyahu is charged with one count of bribery, as well as three counts each of fraud and breach of trust, in three separate cases relating to corruption allegations against him. His trial began in 2020 and is still far from reaching an end.

Responding to Qatar, Hostages Forum says Doha should focus on getting Hamas to release final 2 bodies

The Hostages Forum responds to comments made by a senior Qatari official who said that Israel should not delay the move to next phase of Gaza deal over the two remaining hostage bodies, saying that Doha should be focusing its efforts on ensuring the remains are released.

“We remind the mediators, primarily Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, that the return of the hostages is the core of this agreement. The deal was signed to bring home 48 hostages: 20 living survivors on the first day and 28 deceased hostages within 72 hours,” the forum says.

“Nearly two months have passed since the agreement was signed, yet two hostages remain in captivity. Instead of pressuring Israel not to ‘use delays as an excuse,’ the mediators should direct their full efforts and leverage all available pressure toward Hamas, the terrorist organization that has failed to meet its commitments under the agreement,” the forum says.

“Hamas has proven it knows exactly where all the hostages are located. When it chooses to, it directs recovery teams to recover them,” the organization says.

Two deceased hostages abducted on October 7, 2023, remain in Gaza: police officer Ran Gvili, killed fending off the Hamas invasion at Kibbutz Alumim; and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak, who was taken from Kibbutz Be’eri, where he worked in agriculture.

Head of police’s major crimes unit summoned for interrogation for 3rd time amid corruption probe

The head of police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit is summoned for interrogation for a third time this morning, Hebrew outlets report, on the day he is supposed to return to work.

Deputy Commissioner Manny Binyamin is suspected in an ongoing criminal probe of several corruption-related offenses.

Investigators in the Department for Internal Police Investigations suspect he interfered in a case based on a conflict of interest and worked to illicitly promote a relative in the high-profile investigative unit he helms.

On Thursday, police announced Binyamin would return to his role as the unit’s head, after receiving clearance from Israel Police Chief Danny Levy.

Binyamin is one of the most senior officers on the force, after being twice promoted during National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s time in office.

Levy, other senior officers and coalition lawmakers have been backing Binyamin’s return to work since news of the probe broke.

After the end of his first interrogation, Binyamin was banned from police facilities for nine days. He later took a weeklong leave from his post, but is set to return today to the unit.

Netanyahu’s Likud denies reaching out to Ra’am to shore up support for Haredi draft exemption bill

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party denies that it has initiated contacts with Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am party in the opposition in order to convince the Islamist party to vote in favor of its controversial draft exemption bill regulating ultra-Orthodox conscription.

“The report on Channel 12 claiming that there were contacts or ‘feelers’ between Likud or anyone on our behalf and the Ra’am party regarding the conscription law is completely fake,” says Likud spokesman Guy Levy. “This is yet another baseless invention, part of the campaign being waged against the new conscription law: a historic law that will, for the first time since the establishment of the state, lead to the enlistment of about 23,000 Haredim over three and a half years.”

Citing sources within Ra’am, the network reported over the weekend that Likud had reached out in an effort to compensate for resistance to the bill within the Likud itself. Although Ra’am party officials were quoted as saying that they hadn’t ruled out talks on the matter, they said they were not interested in taking steps to “save this coalition.”

Abbas last week accused Netanyahu of “trying to steal the election,” after the premier appeared to threaten to outlaw the Arab political party on the grounds that it is apparently connected to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Counterterror police detain 5 members of West Bank cell planning ‘imminent’ attack

Officers of the police’s elite Yamam unit detained a cell of five terror operatives in the northern West Bank that was planning an “imminent” attack, security forces say.

The police, IDF, and Shin Bet say that the members of the cell were nabbed in the village of Barta’a, which straddles the Green Line.

The arrest comes as the military says it continues to carry out a major counterterrorism operation in several northern West Bank towns.

Local Hamas commander among those killed trying to flee Rafah tunnel; slain soldier’s rifle recovered

The commander of Hamas’s East Rafah Battalion, his deputy, and two other terror operatives are confirmed by the military to have been killed early this morning after attempting to flee a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip.

In a video circulating online, the commander of the IDF’s Nahal Brigade, Col. Arik Moyal, says his forces, with support from the Israeli Air Force, killed the local Hamas battalion commander, his deputy, a company commander, and a fourth operative whom he identifies as the son of senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad.

Moyal in the video holds a Tavor assault rifle recovered from the slain terror operatives, which he says belonged to Staff Sgt. Or Mizrahi, a Nahal soldier who was killed while battling terrorists on the Gaza border during the October 7, 2023, onslaught.

Hamas and Red Cross searching for hostage body in Beit Lahiya — report

Teams from the Red Cross and from the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, are conducting a search for the remains of an “Israeli prisoner” in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, Al Jazeera reports.

Beit Lahiya lies on the Hamas-controlled side of the Gaza ceasefire line.

The remains of two hostages killed on October 7, 2023, are still in Gaza: Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, killed fending off the Hamas invasion at Kibbutz Alumim; and Sudthisak Rinthalak, a Thai national killed in Kibbutz Be’eri, where he worked in agriculture.

Green light for industrial park set to create 5,000 jobs in southern Israel

A new industrial park expected to provide around 5,000 jobs in southern Israel is given the green light, the Economy Ministry and the Tekuma Directorate announce.

Sapirim Park B, a continuation of the existing Sapirim A industrial site in the southeast Sderot, will combine industry, logistics and knowledge-intensive industries on a site of around 628 dunams (155 acres).

A tender to clear brine pools there is expected to be published in early 2026.

The Tekuma Directorate, the state body tasked with rehabilitating the Gaza border area, will allocate NIS 70 million ($21.5 million) to the Economy Ministry, with the latter adding more than NIS 200 million ($61.5 million) in 2026–2027 for the site’s development.

Pope Leo prays at Armenian cathedral in Istanbul in show of support for reconciliation efforts

Pope Leo XIV holds prayers at the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral in Istanbul in a gesture of support for Christian unity and Christian minorities in Turkey.

Beyond its ecumenical symbolism, the visit signals quiet support of ongoing efforts to heal century-old wounds between Turkey and Armenia, long scarred by mass killings and decades of mistrust, observers note.

An estimated 1.5 million Armenians died in massacres, deportations and forced marches that began in 1915 in Ottoman Turkey. Historians widely view the event as genocide.

Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated and those killed were victims of civil war and unrest. It has lobbied to prevent countries from officially recognizing the massacres as genocide.

IDF says 4 terror operatives killed in strike; defense officials suspect high-ranking Hamas commander among them

The IDF says four terror operatives who emerged from tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip were killed early this morning.

The operatives were spotted emerging from the tunnels in eastern Rafah, an IDF-held area where dozens of Hamas fighters were believed to be trapped underground.

According to the military, the four operatives were killed by troops and the Israeli Air Force.

The IDF is working to determine their identities, as defense officials suspect that among the members of the cell was the commander of Hamas’s East Rafah Battalion and his deputy.

People line route of funeral procession as Dror Or brought for burial in Kibbutz Be’eri

People are standing along Route 232 in the Gaza border region, holding Israeli flags — some with the symbol of a yellow hostage ribbon intertwined with the blue star, others with the gray flag of the Eshkol region — as they await the funeral procession of Dror Or, a Kibbutz Be’eri resident whose body was released by Palestinian terrorists from Gaza last week.

Or was killed on October 7, 2023, and his body was taken captive from Kibbutz Be’eri to Gaza as his wife Yonat was killed and two of his three children taken captive. The children were released in the first hostage-ceasefire deal in November 2023.

Or was born and raised on Kibbutz Re’im, and the funeral procession departed from Re’im before heading to the burial in Be’eri, a short drive away.

IDF hits terror operatives who emerged from Rafah terror tunnel

Early this morning, the Israeli Air Force struck a group of terror operatives who emerged from tunnels in eastern Rafah — an IDF-held area in the southern Gaza Strip where dozens of Hamas fighters were believed to be trapped in tunnels.

The IDF is currently working to determine their identities, as defense officials suspect that among the members of the cell was the commander of Hamas’s East Rafah Battalion and his deputy.

In recent weeks, the IDF has reported killing over 30 terror operatives and capturing a further eight, after they tried to flee from the tunnels in Rafah.

Police investigating anti-Israel graffiti at Sydney’s North Bondi Beach

Police in Sydney are investigating anti-Israel graffiti sprayed on buildings and bollards at North Bondi Beach over the weekend, local media reports.

Messages saying “Fuck the IDF” and “Free Palestine” were scrawled along the popular beachfront. The targets are not believed to be Jewish-owned.

New South Wales police have cordoned off the area to investigate, The Sydney Morning Herald says. No suspects have been identified.

Anti-Jewish activity has skyrocketed in Australia amid the Gaza war sparked by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. Some 2,062 incidents were recorded between October 2023 and September 2024, compared to 495 incidents a year earlier, according to data from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.

Bondi Beach hit by wave of antisemitic graffiti.

NSW police are hunting for suspects.

These guys just want to vandalise everything. pic.twitter.com/SygOLrd0Ec

— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) November 29, 2025

Man wounded in Manchester synagogue terror attack considering move to Israel amid antisemitism

Yoni Finlay, who was shot and seriously injured during the deadly Yom Kippur terror attack at a Manchester synagogue, says he is thinking of moving to Israel due to antisemitism in the United Kingdom.

Finlay tells London’s Sunday Times that he and his ex-wife have been discussing if they should make the move with their four children.

“It would be really upsetting to leave Manchester. This is my hometown. I am Mancunian. But I can’t bring my kids up in this environment,” he says, noting that his children have experienced antisemitism.

“There is so much anger and so much hate,” he says. “It’s become hard to recognize the UK any more, with the [anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian] hate marches and the chanting.

“It’s very difficult. People being angry at Israel shouldn’t turn that into hatred of Jews. I have said this again and again: Words have impact, and actions have consequences. And this sort of terrorist attack is the consequence,” he says.

“I believe there is light and there is darkness, and there was a huge amount of darkness that day,” Finlay says.

“I have never been that close to evil. You could feel it radiating off him,” he says of Jihad Al-Shamie, who was shot dead by police on October 2 outside the Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue in Manchester after he rammed a car into pedestrians, attacked them with a knife and tried to force his way into the building.

Congregation members Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, were killed in the attack.

Finlay says Shamie yelled “This is for the kids you have killed,” presumably a reference to the actions of the IDF during the war against Hamas in Gaza.

“I remember the crack of the guns going off,” says Finlay. A bullet fired by police is believed to have traveled through Shamie and the door of the synagogue before hitting Finlay, who was helping to barricade the entrance.

“I was putting pressure myself on the wound, like you see in the films,” Finlay says.

Finlay says his father, who was at the synagogue and is a retired doctor, has told him that he had felt helpless and unable to help his son.

“He didn’t have the training for a gunshot wound. That was a difficult thing for a son to hear their father say, because they are always there to help and support you,” Finlay says.

Finlay says he does not want the police officer who fired the bullet that hit him to lose his job.

“I wouldn’t want anybody to lose their job over what happened,” he says. “Ultimately, the police ran towards danger to protect us. They were doing everything they could to try to stop a terrorist trying to kill us. That’s what they were doing.”

Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear kippahs.

Yoni Finlay stopped Jihad al-Shamie at the doors of Heaton Park Synagogue and saved lives.

Remember his name ???????? pic.twitter.com/2fYOSfSS1K

— ZIONS OF ISRAEL (@Israeli_Sniper) October 3, 2025

Scarlett Johansson: Movie backer asked if character could lie about something other than Holocaust

Scarlett Johansson says she was asked by a financial backer to her directorial debut “Eleanor the Great,” if the main character could be caught in a lie about something other than the Holocaust.

“I mean, if they’d said ‘I’ll only back this if you shoot in New Jersey,’ or ‘We need to get this done by the spring,’ then that would have been one thing,” she tells The Telegraph.

“But they were objecting to what the film actually was. It had to be about what happens when someone gets caught in the worst lie imaginable; if not the Holocaust, then what could it be? They offered no alternative. It was just, ‘This is an issue.’”

Johansson says the backer pulled out, taking a significant chunk of the budget.

“We’d been talking about the film for so many months, and then this was the outcome?” she tells the British newspaper. “It was really shocking, and I was so disappointed.” Johansson says Sony Pictures Classics came on board as distributors, and the studio made up the shortfall.

“If I wasn’t Jewish, would I have known how to do this [movie]?” she says. “I don’t know. But that was a factor in me wanting to do it: I knew this world, and I knew versions of Eleanor.”

“Eleanor the Great,” stars 95-year-old Jewish actress June Squibb as she seeks connection in New York City following the death of her best friend Bessie.

Feeling isolated, Squibb’s character, Eleanor Morgenstein, winds up joining a support group for Holocaust survivors at the local Jewish community center.

There, when pressed by the group’s members to share her story, Morgenstein tells Bessie’s story as her own.

JTA contributed to this report.

Suspect arrested over vandalism at synagogue in which holy books were ripped apart

A suspect has been arrested over vandalism at a synagogue in the central town of Kadima earlier this month, police say.

A 29-year-old resident of nearby Even Yehuda was detained last night and will appear in court for a hearing on his remand, police say.

Members of the Mishkan Shalom Synagogue found prayer books torn up and Torah scrolls lying on the floor when they arrived for a Friday service on November 22.

Footage and images showed the floor of the synagogue covered with pages of books strewn about.

תיעוד מזעזע מפוגרום בבית כנסת בישוב קדימה צורן בית הכנסת של העדה התימנית, שנמצא במקלט.

בערב שבת הגיעו המתפללים לבית הכנסת ולתדהמתם נתקלו בפריצה בתוך בית הכנסת, נקרעו הסידורים נזרקו ספרי תורה על הריצפה, שברו והרסו את כל תכולת בית הכנסת. pic.twitter.com/eI9H61b2PE

— מה חדש. What's new❓ (@Gloz111) November 22, 2025

IDF: Troops thwarted attempt to smuggle weapons into Israel from Egypt by drone

Another attempt to smuggle weapons into Israel from Egypt using a drone was foiled yesterday, the IDF says.

The drone had been identified crossing the border by soldiers monitoring surveillance cameras and the Israeli Air Force’s air traffic control array.

The IDF says that after the drone was spotted, troops of the Paran Regional Brigade downed the device. It was found to be ferrying two assault rifles.

During separate scans of the area yesterday, the army says troops located drugs and ammunition that had been smuggled over the border.

The contraband was handed over to the police, the IDF adds.

Person hit by train after going onto tracks south of Tel Aviv’s HaHagana station

An individual was hit by a train after they went onto the tracks south of Tel Aviv’s HaHagana Station, Hebrew-language media reports.

Train traffic has been halted between the station and Ben Gurion Airport, causing widespread disruption.

Qatar: Israel ‘shouldn’t obstruct’ move to next phase of Gaza deal over 2 remaining hostage bodies

A spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry says that Israel should not be able to delay the move to the next stage of the ceasefire plan on the grounds that the bodies of two hostages are still held in Gaza.

In an interview with an Al-Araby Al-Jadeed podcast, Majed al-Ansari says the fact that the two remaining bodies is potentially delaying the next phase of the deal “is the most important” thing to be dealt with right now.

“We don’t believe Israel should be allowed to obstruct the implementation of the agreement over these two bodies. At the same time, of course, the Palestinian side is working to retrieve the bodies and preempt any Israeli pretexts,” he says.

“The current endeavor for Qatar and its partners in the region is to move from the first phase to the second [of the plan], and thus achieve a sustainable peace that can comprehensively end the state of war in the Gaza Strip,” he says. “There are significant challenges in reaching this stage of truce, but the focus now is on maintaining it long enough to reach a political solution in which all parties in the region, along with the international community and the United States, work together to make this plan a success and end the war.”

Ansari additionally says that any potential normalization between Doha and Israel will only occur within the framework of a solution to the Palestinian issue.

Two deceased hostages abducted on October 7, 2023, remain in Gaza: police officer Ran Gvili, killed fending off the Hamas invasion at Kibbutz Alumim; and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak, who was taken from Kibbutz Be’eri, where he worked in agriculture.

Yesterday, Ran’s father, Itzik Gvili, addressed the weekly rally in Tel Aviv, saying that there must “no next phase” to the current Gaza ceasefire, and “no ‘day after’ in Gaza,” until Hamas returns the last two bodies.

The first phase of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan formed the basis of Israel and Hamas’s October 9 truce-hostage deal.

In the next stage of the plan, Israel is meant to withdraw further from the Yellow Line, alongside the establishment of a transitional authority to govern Gaza, the deployment of a multinational security force meant to take over from the Israeli military, the disarmament of Hamas, and the start of reconstruction.

In addition to still holding two bodies, Hamas has so far refused to agree on the matter of demilitarization. Israel insists the Strip must be demilitarized before Trump’s plan can advance.

Siren sounds in Gaza border town; IDF says it’s ‘false identification’

Incoming rocket sirens sounded a while ago in the community of Kerem Shalom near the Gaza border.

The IDF said minutes later that it was a “false identification.”

Border cops suspected of killing 2 terror suspects who surrendered in Jenin: We feared they’d harm us

Border Police officers who are under investigation over the fatal shooting on Thursday of two Palestinian terror suspects in the West Bank’s Jenin, after the latter had surrendered and exited a building with their hands raised, have argued that they had feared the Palestinians would try to harm them, Channel 13 news reports.

The incident was caught on camera and later confirmed by officials, prompting international condemnation.

The Justice Ministry’s Department for Internal Police Investigations has opened a criminal investigation into three Border Police officers involved in the incident.

The deceased, identified by Palestinian media as 26-year-old Mahmoud Qassem Abdallah and 37-year-old Youssef Asasa, were wanted by Israel on suspicion of involvement in bombing and shooting attacks against troops. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group confirmed Friday that the two were members of its military wing.

After previously claiming that the suspects had not followed their instructions, Channel 13 reports that in their questioning by the Department for Internal Police Investigations, the officers said the terror suspects’ home contained weapons and explosives, and they therefore ordered them to go to a specific area.

At a certain point, due to fear of friendly fire, the officers ordered the suspects to move, according to the unsourced report. One of the Israeli officers suspected that one of the Palestinians was trying to escape back into the home, and shot toward his legs.

Other troops heard the gunfire and believed it came from terror operatives, with one declaring: “There’s gunfire toward us.” It was then that officers shot and killed the two suspects, who were later found to be unarmed, the report says.

“We feared that the terrorists were armed. We saw them fiddling with equipment inside the building. We feared they would try harming the forces,” it quotes them as saying.

‘I survived by miracle,’ says Israeli woman who was in car hit with metal rod in West Bank

An Israeli woman who was in the car that was struck with a metal object this evening in the West Bank says she survived “by miracle.”

The car was hit while driving on the Route 5 highway, near the Palestinian village of Mas’ha. Photos showed the metal object, apparently thrown by Palestinian assailants, embedded in the windshield.

“We headed out from [the settlement of] Kedumim toward Petah Tikva [in central Israel]… and we heard a boom,” Merav Ben Avraham, 23, is quoted as saying by Hebrew media outlets. “We saw the rod in the car, we really panicked and thought it was a terror attack.”

Ben Avraham, who was not driving, says the car had two women as well as a female hitchhiker when it was hit.

“We continued the drive and kept our cool, and called the emergency hotline. We were afraid to stop. Now I feel like I survived by miracle and like it could have easily ended differently,” she says.

Ben Avraham, who like the driver was treated at the scene for acute anxiety but did not require hospitalization, voices hope that the perpetrators and any accomplices will be caught.

The IDF has sent troops to search for suspects behind the attack.

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.

Metal object strikes vehicle of Israeli motorist in the West Bank, driver unharmed

A metal object struck the vehicle of an Israeli motorist in the West Bank this evening, with medics saying she was physically unharmed.

The car was hit while driving on the Route 5 highway, near the Palestinian village of Mas’ha.

Photos show the metal object, apparently thrown by Palestinian assailants, embedded in the windshield.

First responders say the driver was treated at the scene for acute anxiety, but did not require hospitalization.

The IDF says troops were dispatched to the scene to search for suspects behind the attack.