UK’s Green Party adopts ‘Zionism is racism’ resolution; calls for Palestinian state in place of Israel
Jerusalem says vote legitimizes violence against Israel * Yemen's presidency announces military drive to retake all Houthi territory * Reports: 6-year-old girl killed by IDF fire in Gaza
US execution survivor critically ill, on ventilator, lawyer says
The woman who survived a botched execution attempt in a US prison is still hospitalized in critical condition and on a ventilator, her lawyer says as he calls for her death sentence to be commuted to life in prison.
Tennessee’s prison chief resigned Saturday after convicted murderer Christa Pike, 50, survived two lethal injections of pentobarbital, a drug that suppresses nervous system activity.
The case gained national attention and raised questions about capital punishment in the United States and the methods used to carry it out.
“She’s still in the hospital on a ventilator, critically ill,” Pike’s attorney Stephen Ferrell says on CNN. “We don’t really know the prognosis yet, and may not know for several days.”
Ferrell, who has been unable to see his client, says doctors are still trying to rid her body of the drug while she remains under guard at the hospital.
He urges Governor Bill Lee to show leniency.
“I think, at the very least, the governor should commute Ms. Pike’s death sentence to a life sentence,” Ferrell says. “We don’t know what her physical state will be, but it is clear that she has endured a torturous attempt at executing her.”
Pike’s case sparked debate over the death penalty for young offenders, as she was 18 when she and her boyfriend beat and killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer at a job training camp in 1995.
At conference 3 years after Oct. 7, IDF chief says military drawing lessons from disaster
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir convenes senior officers for a conference on the lessons learned from the October 7 onslaught, three years after Hamas’s massacre.
During the conference, Zamir presents a certificate of appreciation to Chief Warrant Officer “Vav,” a member of the signals intelligence Unit 8200, who warned before October 7, 2023, that Hamas had a clear plan in place to attack Israel. Senior intelligence officers dismissed her warnings.
At the conference, Zamir says that the army is concluding its investigations into October 7, “out of an understanding of the magnitude of the disaster, alongside the understanding that we must not become mired in them, but rather learn, draw lessons, implement them and move forward.”
“One of our greatest lessons from October 7 is the need to expand the security margin. We need to build the IDF’s force structure to meet challenges and threats across multiple arenas. The size of the IDF is our strategic depth,” he says.
Zamir also says that the military is building its strategy “with our reference scenario being readiness for a surprise war, including thwarting severe threats while they are taking shape.”
The conference at the Glilot Base in central Israel is attended by officers ranked brigadier general and above, from all branches, directorates, and commands of the military.
The IDF’s October 7 investigations “were summarized and the main lessons that emerged from them were presented,” the military says, adding that top officers “presented the processes for implementing the lessons and the mechanisms for monitoring their implementation.”
The military says the conference also constitutes the first stage in a series of investigations into the entire war, including probes into the recent war with Iran.
Those probes will be split into various subjects and investigated by different teams, similar to the October 7 investigations. In the coming months, meetings on the investigation process will be held by Zamir.
Lessons from the entire war are being divided into four main topics: systemic-strategic preparedness for surprise attacks, operational readiness based on updated reference scenarios, force buildup across the entire military, and intelligence.
UK’s Green Party adopts ‘Zionism is racism’ resolution; calls for Palestinian state in place of Israel
The Green Party of England and Wales adopts a resolution equating Zionism with racism at the party’s annual convention in Brighton.
The move, which calls for Zionism to be “treated as any other form of racism,” passes 1,022 to 813.
The motion claims that Zionism “privileges one ethnic group on the basis of the subjugation of others.”
“This motion is aimed at the political ideology and practice of Zionism, as defined, and not at the religious or ethnic background of those who may identify as Zionists. Not all Jews are Zionists and not all Zionists are Jews,” it says.
“Zionism, as defined above, will be treated as any other form of racism, and this motion will be implemented by the anti-racism policy working group as appropriate and in accordance with its ordinary practice,” reads the motion.
The Greens also call for a Palestinian state in place of Israel “with equal rights for all.”
Green Party chief Zack Polanski, who is Jewish, did not take part in the vote.
In response, Israel says the party is now “a body that gives legitimacy to terrorism.”
“The Greens have adopted not only the green of Hamas, but also its ideology: the elimination of the State of Israel through armed struggle,” the Foreign Ministry retorts.
In a statement, the ministry says that the resolution “legitimizes armed struggle, calls for a Palestinian state ‘from the river to the sea’ — meaning the destruction of the State of Israel — and labels as ‘racist’ the aspiration of the Jewish people for self-determination.”
The Foreign Ministry calls for every party in Britain, especially the ruling Labour Party, to reject the resolution.
Elections panel orders PM to take down social media speeches for violating propaganda laws
Central Election Committee Chairman Noam Sohlberg rules that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu violated laws against election propaganda on five occasions in recent months, and must therefore remove or partially remove videos of speeches he made using public resources from official and political social media channels.
Petitions were filed against six such incidents by government watchdog groups, in which Netanyahu gave speeches including election content for his campaign, either on state property such as the press room in the Prime Minister’s Office, or during IDF ceremonies or situation assessments with the military.
Sohlberg rules in two cases that all content from the speeches be removed from official social media accounts and from Netanyahu’s personal accounts.
In three cases, Netanyahu must remove all or part of the content from official accounts, Sohlberg rules, and in one case Sohlberg determines that the speech is not propaganda and so declines to order the content removed.
Sohlberg orders that Netanyahu personally pay NIS 29,000 ($9,500) in total expenses to the three watchdog groups that filed the petitions, and to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office.
Netanyahu: Israel to become ‘world leader’ in naval warfare as maritime threats grow
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will expand its naval capabilities, warning that threats to the country’s maritime domain have increased, during a visit to Israel’s navy base in Ashdod.
The maritime domain has become “an international battlefield,” Netanyahu says in a Hebrew-language video released by his office, pointing to the recent threats in the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb by Iran and the Houthis, respectively.
“Our enemies want to threaten our maritime domain in the Mediterranean Sea, our seaports and maritime traffic. Of course, we will not allow that to happen,” says Netanyahu, after touring the base alongside Defense Minister Israel Katz.
Security officials are seeking additional submarines, vessels and other capabilities, he continues, saying “a sixth submarine has arrived in Israel; they want more — more vessels and other capabilities that I do not intend to detail here,” adding he intends for Israel to become “one of the world leaders” in both surface and undersea warfare.
Israel’s navy has often been described as something of a forgotten service in the IDF, less central than the ground or air forces to Israeli security. Turning Israel into a leading naval force would represent a revolution in Israeli military thinking.
Netanyahu, Smotrich announce another NIS 0.5 reduction in gas tax
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich say they have agreed on an executive order to lower the price of gas by NIS 0.50 by reducing the excise tax on fuel.
The order will take effect tonight, lowering the cost of a liter of 95 octane gasoline from NIS 8.27 to NIS 7.77.
It joins a previous temporary order that had reduced the cost of fuel by NIS 0.52. That reduction was swallowed up in recent days after soaring prices worldwide forced the Energy Ministry to raise the price of gas, from NIS 7.75 to NIS 8.27.
The first tax reduction is set to expire at the end of October. It is unknown at this point whether it will be extended further.
Gas prices have climbed worldwide since the beginning of the Iran war in late February, as Tehran’s obstruction of the Strait of Hormuz has choked off a key pathway for the global supply of oil and gas. Ongoing tensions between the US and Iran over control of the strait have also fueled uncertainty in the oil market.
Israeli team to wear black ‘7.10’ armbands at tonight’s 2nd match against Ireland
Israel’s national soccer team will wear black armbands with the date “7.10” written on them at tonight’s match against Ireland, the Israel Football Association (IFA) says in a statement.
The move is a reaction to the Irish team’s behavior during the last match between the two, on September 27. The Irish team wore black armbands to honor “all lives lost in the conflict” in Gaza, refused to shake hands with the Israelis and bowed their heads during the playing of Israel’s national anthem, sparking outrage in Israel.
Israel’s captain Manor Solomon said after the game that some of the Irish players had said unpleasant things to their Israeli opponents during the game. “I don’t want to talk about [the Irish players]. If I say what I think of them, I’d likely be suspended for a few matches… Obviously they hate us. We don’t like them.”
On X, the IFA says: “UEFA has approved the Israel Football Association’s request for the national team to wear black armbands in tonight’s match against in memory of those murdered in the October 7 massacre. May their memory be a blessing.”
@UEFA has approved the Israel Football Association’s request for the national team to wear black armbands in tonight’s match against @IrelandFootball in memory of those murdered in the October 7 massacre.
May their memory be a blessing. pic.twitter.com/nWyl32B4oP
— ISRAEL FA (@ISRAELFA) October 4, 2026
Report: UAE wants flydubai’s terrorist pilot to face death penalty
The Ynet news site quotes a senior Emirati source as saying the copilot who tried to crash a flydubai flight to Israel is expected to face the death penalty.
The report says Abu Dhabi wants to impose the harshest possible penalty on Hamam al-Hammami, the terrorist who tried to kill all on board the aircraft.
It also says Israel intelligence officials are now in the United Arab Emirates to take part in the investigation of Hammami.
Up to 500 French schools to be totally or partly closed Monday due to protests
Up to 500 schools across France will be totally or partly closed on Monday due to the protests by teenage students that have shaken the country, the education minister says.
Lessons will be “totally or partly suspended” in some “400-500” high schools as the security conditions “have not been fulfilled,” says Education Minister Edouard Geffray, adding that 24 schools have been “burned or ransacked” since the start of the movement.
The teens at French high schools, known as lycees, say that their studies are being ruined by high teacher absences, overlong school days and dilapidated facilities, as well as other grievances.
Geffray says the number of schools affected tomorrow will be comparable to the figure from Friday but vows there will be a “partial, progressive return to lessons.”
The movement began at a Paris school on September 17 but grew last week into nationwide protests marked in places by outbursts of violence involving teenagers and security forces, which sometimes used tear gas and batons to disperse the children.
Yemen presidency announces military drive to retake all Houthi territory
The leader of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government announces the beginning of a major military operation against the Iran-backed Houthis, aimed at seizing the territory under their control.
Regional and western officials previously told Reuters that Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies were planning to launch an assault on the Houthis, with the Saudis leading aerial combat and Yemeni forces fighting on the ground.
“Today, I announce the start of military operations to retake the remaining territory of the republic and extend the authority of the state and its institutions across the entire national territory,” Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi says in a televised address.
Saudi Arabia entered neighboring Yemen’s civil war in 2015 at the head of an Arab coalition in support of the internationally recognized government, which the Houthis had driven out of the capital Sanaa. A truce agreed to between the warring parties in 2022 largely held until this year, when the Houthis launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi shipping and oil infrastructure in a spillover from the Iran war.
Despite the preparations for a counteroffensive, the Houthis have so far maintained the initiative on the ground, weeks after seizing the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait in a lightning offensive down the coast that saw government forces collapse.
Bab el-Mandeb is the southern exit passage of the Red Sea, a key shipping route between the Mediterranean and Asia that has assumed even more importance this year as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed by the Iran conflict.
In the last 48 hours, the Houthis have made gains against government and local forces on strategic hilltops near Yemen’s Taiz, military sources said, advancing on the last road between the city and Aden, where the Saudi-backed Yemeni government is based.