UTJ candidate draws outrage for likening situation of Haredim in Israel to Jews in Holocaust
Trump says he doesn't 'trust anybody’ in politics when asked about Netanyahu; says US won’t nuke Iran as he considers dropping ‘Mother of All Bombs’ * Over 700 settlement activists form ‘new community’ near Gaza fence
IDF says it killed Hamas commander who took part in Oct. 7, PIJ member in separate Gaza strikes
A Hamas commander who participated in the October 7, 2023, onslaught and a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative were killed in separate strikes in the Gaza Strip yesterday, the military announces.
One strike in northern Gaza killed Mohammed Mohammed Abd al-Khalek Hala, identified by the IDF as a Hamas commander in the terror group’s weapons production division, who invaded Israel on October 7.
The military says Hala produced various weapons and advanced “the military buildup of the terror group across the Gaza Strip.”
A separate strike in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis killed Ahmad Jabrin Tawfiq Dalha, a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to the IDF.
Both terror operatives had been advancing attacks on troops and Israeli civilians and were attempting to restore the capabilities of the two terror groups, “in systematic violation of the ceasefire,” the IDF says.
צה"ל חיסל מפקד בארגון הטרור חמאס שהשתתף בטבח 7 באוקטובר ומחבל בזרוע הצבאית של ארגון הטרור גא"פ
צה"ל תקף אתמול, בצפון רצועת עזה וחיסל את מחמד מחמד עבד אלחאלק חלה, מפקד בזרוע הצבאית של ארגון הטרור חמאס.
המחבל פשט לשטח מדינת ישראל במהלך טבח 7 באוקטובר.
במסגרת תפקידו, המחבל שימש… pic.twitter.com/DIO9QJgvw0
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 16, 2026
New UTJ candidate: Situation of Haredim in Israel today is ‘close to what was in the Holocaust’
A new candidate for the United Torah Judaism party is quoted by Hebrew media as likening the current situation of the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel to Jews during the Holocaust, drawing condemnation.
Eliakim Stark, No. 6 on UTJ’s list — which has consistently polled at at least 8 seats ahead of the October 27 election — is filmed at an election event in Beit Shemesh talking about the woes of many young Haredi men who cannot fly abroad to meet women as part of the community’s shidduch matchmaking system, since they are under military draft orders and would be arrested at the airport.
“When one wants to do a shidduch abroad, [the bride’s family] needs to come to Israel because he can’t [fly abroad],” Stark says.
“I have taken upon myself not to talk about the Holocaust in the first years, but… I have no other definition. Our situation is close to what was in the Holocaust… It reminds me of stories from our grandparents,” he says.
At another point during the event, Stark slams Central Elections Committee Chairman and Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg, alleging that his worldview is “bash the Haredim to show you’re a man, to show you’re successful.”
He also claims that in Israel, “it is better to be a terrorist — to kill entire families, and then your wife is protected, they won’t take her house, daycare, social security — than to be a Haredi Jew.”
Stark, 34, belongs to the Belz Hasidic group. Born in Belgium, he has lived in Jerusalem for years and served as a behind-the-scenes adviser and political activist seen as close to the community leaders and also to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s circle.
He will replace the Belz sect’s longtime political representative in UTJ, Yisrael Eichler.
At the same event, Eichler charges: “I estimate that this is the last time they let Haredim vote in the election.”
The remarks are slammed by opposition members, as well as by Ofer Winter, the head of the new right-wing People of Israel party that has pledged to join the pro-Netanyahu bloc but has also vowed to pass a law to draft ultra-Orthodox men to the military. Netanyahu has launched a campaign against Winter, claiming he will join forces with the opposition.
“The shocking remark by soon-to-be MK Eliakim Stark is a disgrace to any Israeli and any Jew,” Winter says. “It doesn’t come in a vacuum, but against the backdrop of the silence of the prime minister and senior government officials in the face of shocking calls against the IDF in the Jerusalem Faction protests.”
The Jerusalem Faction is an extremist ultra-Orthodox sect that has been holding regular rallies and riots against military draft for Haredim and against the occasional arrests of draft dodgers.
Winter says the remarks show why the next coalition must not rely on UTJ, and urges Haredi leaders and well as the premier and ministers to denounce them.
Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman of the opposition says: “Horrific. A representative for UTJ, without whom Bibi doesn’t have a government, explains that in Israel, it’s ‘better to be a terrorist.’ And if that’s not enough, he compared the situation of the draft dodgers to Jews in the Holocaust.”
UN Security Council slams ‘escalatory’ Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia
The UN Security Council issues a joint statement condemning the “escalatory” attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabia, including “reckless strikes” on Riyadh’s airport.
The Saudi capital’s international airport has been targeted by strikes 20 times since the beginning of the month, with an attack last weekend killing 13 people and wounding more than 300.
In a joint statement shared by the Security Council’s president, Greece’s Evangelos Sekeris, the 15-member UN body “condemned in the strongest terms continued and escalatory Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” as well as “continued Houthi attacks and threats against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb [Strait].”
The statement also “affirmed the inherent right of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to self-defense in accordance with international law.”
Yemen’s civil war — in which Saudi Arabia has led a military coalition supporting the government since 2015 — reignited in September after the collapse of a years-long truce.
Over 700 settlement activists form ‘new community’ near Gaza fence, demand it be moved into Strip
The Nachala settlement group says it has formed a “new community” next to the border with the Gaza Strip, overlooking the ruins of Gaza City.
It publishes footage from the overnight operation.
בזמן שישנתם: הקמנו הלילה ישוב חדש אל מול פני העיר עזה
במבצע חסר תקדים, יחד עם למעלה מ-700 איש, משפחות שכולות, פצועי מלחמה, רבנים ואישי ציבור – הקמנו הלילה את היישוב 'חלוצי עזה' הכולל תשתיות ומבנים סמוך לגדר אל מול פני העיר עזה.
אנו דורשים מהממשלה לעמוד איתן כנגד הלחצים ולהורות… pic.twitter.com/nXphhQWYjY
— נחלה – תנועה להתיישבות ???? (@T_Nachala) October 16, 2026
In a statement, Nachala says: “In an unprecedented operation, together with over 700 people, bereaved families, injured from the war, rabbis and public figures, tonight we formed the ‘Pioneers of Gaza’ community, which includes infrastructure and buildings next to the [border] fence, overlooking Gaza City.”
The group demands that the government “withstand the pressure” and immediately authorize the transfer of the community into the northern part of the Strip, where Israeli settlements stood until their evacuation in 2005.
“Gaza is an inseparable part of the Land of Israel, and only the taking of territory and settlement will instill in the enemy a clear sense of defeat,” it says.
‘In politics I don’t trust anybody,’ Trump says when asked if he trusts Netanyahu
US President Donald Trump is asked by right-wing cable news outlet Newsmax if he trusts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I don’t trust anybody, honestly,” Trump responds. “In the world of politics I don’t trust anybody.”
The question comes as Trump has recently been pressed several times on whether he will make an endorsement ahead of Israel’s October 27 election, which he has declined to say if he’ll do. Netanyahu has long touted his close ties with Trump in electoral campaigns.
NEWSMAX: Do you trust Netanyahu?
TRUMP: I don't trust anybody pic.twitter.com/WeKHfNUj4l
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 16, 2026
The US president also tells Newsmax that Israeli officials want him him to be involved in Netanyahu’s reelection campaign.
“Well, they’d like me to be. Yeah, they’d like me to be,” Trump says when asked if he plans to involve himself in the election.
He adds that he and Netanyahu have “a very good relationship” and hails their “very successful… military partnership” against Iran.
China says FM told Herzog that Israel should stop ‘forced establishment’ of West Bank settlements
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told President Isaac Herzog that Israel should stop and reverse its “forced establishment” of West Bank settlements, China’s foreign ministry says in a statement.
China has consistently held that the Palestinian question is the greatest historical injustice of this century, Wang told Herzog during a meeting in Azerbaijan, the ministry adds.
Trump stresses US won’t nuke Iran as he considers dropping ‘Mother of All Bombs’
US President Donald Trump specifies he isn’t considering nuking Iran, as he is asked about potentially dropping massive conventional ordnance on the Islamic Republic.
Trump says he may employ a munition known as the MOAB, short for Massive Ordnance Air Blast but is often referred to as the ‘Mother of All Bombs,” which he describes as “an extremely large bomb. It’s like a tiny nuclear bomb.”
“I wouldn’t use nuclear, we don’t have to,” he stresses in an interview with Newsmax. “We are the greatest nuclear power in the world.”
He also says that he doesn’t foresee the deployment of US ground forces in Iran.
Trump on Iran:
I wouldn't use nuclear on Iran. We don't have to.
Mother of All Bombs is not a nuclear bomb. pic.twitter.com/5jIKDveXSN
— Clash Report (@clashreport) October 16, 2026
Four people, including three children, reported killed in Oregon elementary school schooting
Four people including three children have been killed in a shooting at an elementary school in the northwestern US state of Oregon, US networks report, citing unnamed law enforcement sources.
CBS News says at least three children and one adult were killed at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend. CNN also reports a death toll of three children and one adult.
Police earlier told reporters that there were “multiple victims” including children, and that the shooter was also killed.
IDF says it fired interceptor after ‘false identification’ in area of south Lebanon where troops are operating
The IDF says it launched an interceptor missile a short while ago toward a “false identification” over an area of southern Lebanon where troops are operating.
No sirens sounded in any towns, as no threat was posed to Israeli civilians.
There have been several such incidents in recent weeks.