Sept. 7: Red Cross to meet with Israeli security officials amid push to renew Palestinian prisoner visits

At least 5 dead after Amazon cargo plane crashes while overshooting runway in Miami

An Amazon cargo plane sits at the Miami International Airport (MIA) after it overshot the runway, in Florida, September 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

CHICAGO, Illinois — At least five people died when an Amazon Prime Air cargo flight overran a runway and crashed while landing at Miami International Airport, prompting the closure of all runways and taxiways, local officials say.

Prime Air Flight 7598 overran the airport’s diagonal runway just before 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) and struck multiple vehicles on the ground, officials say, during a news conference.

Amazon and the Miami-Dade Aviation Department earlier confirmed that an incident occurred as the plane was trying to land.

Five people were also injured in the crash, including three who are in critical condition, officials say.

All runways and taxiways at the Miami airport were closed as of 3 p.m. EDT. Travelers should “expect significant delays and potential cancellations,” US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says in a post on X.

The cargo airline does not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Top US official says there may not be a nuclear deal with Iran, but ability to build bomb may be destroyed

US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright says Washington may not reach a nuclear agreement with Iran, and that it may aim to simply destroy their ability to build a nuclear bomb.

“There may not be a nuclear agreement. It may be simply destroying their capabilities to do it [build a nuclear bomb]. An agreement may await the next administration in Iran. We simply don’t know that,” Wright tells the ABC news outlet.

Iran’s nuclear program, the issue that contributed to the outbreak of the war, was meant to be addressed in negotiations that fell apart soon after the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-June.

Hormuz traffic dips to lowest since May after US, Iranian strikes on ships

The sun sets over commercial vessels anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, with the city’s skyline in the background, September 6, 2026. (AP/Vahid Salemi)

An average of 10 commodity ships transited the Strait of Hormuz per day over the past 10 days, the lowest since May, according to shipping data, after US and Iranian strikes on tankers.

The 10-day moving average was 10 yesterday, down from more than 15 on Friday and nearly 13 on Saturday, data from analytics firm Kpler found.

Only two vessels passed through the strait on Saturday, while six went through yesterday, mostly using the Iranian route.

IDF reportedly strikes southern Lebanon after warning it would target Hezbollah site

The Israeli army demanded that residents of Deir al-Zahrani in southern Lebanon leave a specific zone ahead of strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah.

“Hezbollah’s terrorist activity compels the IDF to act forcefully against it,” the army says, adding that it was targeting a “Hezbollah terrorist facility.”

Lebanese media outlets later report Israeli airstrikes on Deir al-Zahrani.

#عاجل ‼️ إنذار عاجل إلى مواطني لبنان وتحديدًا سكان دير الزهراني

???? في أعقاب الانتهاك الصارخ لاتفاق وقف إطلاق النار من قبل تنظيم حزب الله الإرهابي، بعد إطلاق مسيّرة مفخخة باتجاه قوات جيش الدفاع، فإن نشاط حزب الله الإرهابي يُجبر جيش الدفاع على العمل ضده بقوة. جيش الدفاع لا ينوي… pic.twitter.com/t9oAKC0TRh

— Lieutenant Colonel Ella Waweya | إيلا واوية (@CaptainElla1) September 6, 2026

Wildfires, heatwaves endangering air quality and health, says UN in annual report

French firefighters try to extinguish a wildfire near Saumos and Sainte-Hélène, northwest of Bordeaux. (Handout/SDIS33 - Caporal-chef Damien Rembert/AFP)

Wildfires and heatwaves, which generate microscopic airborne pollutants, risk undermining international efforts to improve air quality, protect human health and safeguard nature, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says.

The United Nations’ weather and climate agency underlines the links between air pollution and climate change, which scientists say is leading to more frequent and more intense heatwaves and wildfires.

“Extreme wildfires are increasing, leading to big health consequences because of the high toxicity of smoke,” the WMO says in a statement accompanying its latest annual Air Quality and Climate Bulletin.

“Whilst regulations in Europe and North America have reduced industrial and transport PM2.5 emissions, exposure to fire-related PM2.5 has increased.”

Particulate matter PM2.5 is composed of microscopic particles and droplets of less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, which is a health hazard because it can penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream.

It is emitted by fossil fuel-driven industrial activities, farming, domestic heating and transport, as well as by wildfires and dust storms.

The report says the world needs to better monitor air pollutants such as aerosol — including black carbon and microplastics –, fine particles and ground-level ozone.

These pollutants “are not sufficiently monitored even though they are widespread and are potentially harmful to ecosystems,” the WMO says.

“(We need) complementary and coordinated policies on air quality and climate because they cannot be dealt with in isolation.”

Rob Reiner wins posthumous Emmy for ‘The Bear’

US director Rob Reiner attends the Human Rights Campaign's 2025 LA Dinner at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles, March 22, 2025. (Michael Tran / AFP)

Rob Reiner posthumously wins an acting Emmy at a ceremony eight days before the main awards show and telecast, nearly nine months after his killing.

At a ceremony that otherwise moved at a blazing-fast clip with a breezy mood, a long, thoughtful ovation comes when Reiner is announced as best guest actor in a comedy for his work on “The Bear.”

Reiner’s friend and fellow “Bear” guest star Jamie Lee Curtis is among those in the crowd paying him tribute.

Reiner was killed along with his wife Michele Singer Reiner in December, and their son, who has pleaded not guilty, has been charged with stabbing them to death.

His win comes about 50 years after winning two Emmy Awards for his acting on “All in the Family.”

Germany to challenge claims at ICJ it is ‘facilitating Gaza genocide’ by arming Israel

A protester with a Palestinian flag at the International Court of Justice, which opens hearings on a United Nations request for an advisory opinion on Israel's obligations to allow humanitarian assistance into Gaza and the West Bank, in The Hague, Netherlands, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Germany will today challenge claims at the United Nations’ top court that it is “facilitating” acts of genocide in Gaza by providing arms and other military support to Israel.

Nicaragua, which launched the case at the International Court of Justice, accuses Berlin of violating the Genocide Convention and international humanitarian law. While the case centers on Germany, it indirectly takes aim at Israel’s campaign in Gaza in response to the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas.

Israel, which isn’t a party in the proceedings, strongly denies that its actions amount to acts of genocide.

11 killed, including 2 children, in IDF strikes in south Lebanon, state news agency says

Lebanese media reports 11 dead and five wounded in Israeli airstrikes overnight in the southern Lebanon town of Kfar Reman.

According to the National News Agency, a strike carried out by Israeli fighter jets on a residential building in the town after midnight killed nine people, including two children, and wounded five others.

A separate drone strike on a car in Kfar Reman killed two paramedics of the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement’s Risala Scouts, according to NNA.

NNA adds that other Israeli strikes overnight hit Nabatieh and the nearby town of Arab Salim. A strike also destroyed a building in Deir al-Zahrani, after the IDF issued an evacuation warning for it.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF on the strikes.

19-year-old from northern Bedouin town charged with pledging allegiance to Islamic State

A young man from the northern Bedouin town of Shibli is set to be charged today with membership in a terrorist organization, after he allegedly pledged allegiance to Islamic State, police and the Shin Bet say.

Yaqoub Shibli, 19, was arrested on August 16, and his interrogators learned he “expressed identification with the Islamic State terrorist organization, including watching content about the terrorist organization and pledging allegiance to it,” the security agencies say in a joint statement.

The Northern District Attorney’s Office will indict him today at the Nazareth-Nof Hagalil Magistrate’s Court, the statement says.

It adds this is the fourth time in recent days that a resident of northern Israel faces an indictment for allegedly joining Islamic State.

“The Shin Bet and Israel Police act resolutely against any activity that endangers the security of the state and its citizens, and against any activity in which Israeli citizens seek to act against Israelis on behalf of a terrorist organization,” the security agencies say.

Iranian soccer players who sought asylum in Australia say March anthem silence was protest against Tehran

Fatemeh Pasandideh, left, and Atefeh Ramezanisadeh, former members of the Iranian women’s soccer team, stand with Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, after receiving their citizenship in Brisbane, Australia, August 5, 2026. (Department of Home Affairs via AP)

Two members of the Iranian women’s soccer team who claimed asylum in Australia confirm their pivotal refusal to sing the national anthem during the Women’s Asian Cup in March was a protest against Tehran.

The first media interview with Atefeh Ramezanisadeh, 34, and Fatemeh Pasandideh, 22, since they abandoned their team to become refugees is broadcast on Australia’s “60 Minutes” current affairs program.

“We just wanted to stand with our people. I was scared at times, but I just tried to do what was right and say that no one should be killed just for protesting,” Ramezanisadeh tells Nine Network through an interpreter.

The team was criticized in Iran and branded as traitors in the media there for remaining silent when the Iranian national anthem was played ahead of their opening loss against South Korea on March 2.

Some saw it as an act of resistance, while others interpreted it as a show of mourning following the US and Israeli strikes on their homeland which began on February 28. The team offered no public explanation.

The gesture led to demonstrators demanding the team be offered asylum in Australia before leaving Sydney on March 10.

Ramezanisadeh and Pasandideh say they were protesting Tehran’s brutal crackdown on nationwide demonstrations against Iran’s theocratic rule.

Ramezanisadeh says her silence “could have meant any form of torture” for her.

“But at that moment, the only thing that gave me peace and a clear conscience was not singing it. I wanted to sing the anthem with pride and from my heart. But because of the situation in Iran, I really couldn’t do it,” she says.

Pasandideh says through an interpreter of her own silence: “My people put their lives on the line and they were killed. Doing that was the absolute least we could do for them.”

Delta resumes New York-Tel Aviv route after hiatus of over 6 months

A Delta flight takes off at Ben Gurion International Airport, outside of Tel Aviv, October 25, 2021. (Yossi Aloni/FLASH90)

Delta Air Lines resumes its route from New York to Tel Aviv as planned after a hiatus of more than six months since the start of the war with Iran.

The US airline restarts services from New York’s JFK airport with a daily nonstop flight, with the first Airbus A330-900neo aircraft landing at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.

US airlines, including Delta, canceled the route to and from Tel Aviv with the outbreak of the US-Israel war with Iran in late February. United Airlines is scheduled to resume nonstop flight services from New York to Tel Aviv on September 8.

American Airlines has suspended the route through March 27, 2027.

Columbia University protest leader blames Mossad after antisemitic, pro-terror statements surface

Mohsen Mahdawi, center, looks on during a pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University, October 12, 2023, in New York. (AP/Yuki Iwamura, File)

A prominent anti-Israel protest leader at Columbia University, Mohsen Mahdawi, blames the Mossad after a report surfaces his past antisemitic and pro-terror statements.

Mahdawi, a graduate student from the West Bank, was one of the leading campus activists at the New York university when anti-Israel protests rocked the campus after the start of the war.

He gained broader recognition when the Trump administration tried to deport him, leading to an ongoing court battle and support from politicians and leftist organizations, including Jewish groups.

A 101-page report released last week by researchers David Collier and Rachel Feldman found an alleged history of antisemitism and terror support by Mahdawi.

The report said that, in 2010, Mahdawi posted a call to “annihilate the Jews,” in 2013 he said Palestinians had the “capacity” to “kill and to wound,” in 2014, while in the US, he praised Hamas and Islamic Jihad, in 2018 he cursed Palestinian security forces as “traitors” for helping apprehend a Hamas terrorist who killed a rabbi, and in 2024 he praised “armed resistance in the West Bank and Gaza.”

Along with @raychfeldman, I went digging through years of archive material and social media posts.

Let us start long before he came to the U.S.

It is 2010 – his patience is wearing thin – and he promises that "soon, very soon, we will annihilate the Jews" pic.twitter.com/83wlJ3Jqj9

— David Collier (@mishtal) September 2, 2026

Other examples cited in the report included praise for terrorists killed by Israel and evidence of family ties to terror groups.

Mahdawi posts an apparent response on social media, saying, “ISRAELI MOSSAD broke into my Facebook and created chaos in an apparent attempt to fracture the solidarity between me and the Jewish community in the United States.”

“I stand for justice and peace. Palestinian liberation and the fight against antisemitism are inseparable. Z!on!sm is supremacy,” he writes.

“The hacking, fabrications and incitement of doubt and fear is how they control you. Zionism feeds on fear, segregation and trauma,” he says.

Mahdawi is scheduled to speak at Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University on Thursday.

Video of Ben Gvir taunting Palestinian inmates removed after anti-torture NGO appeals to election panel

A video of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir taunting Palestinian women detained at the Damon security prison last month has been removed from social media.

The removal follows an appeal by the Committee Against Torture NGO to the Central Elections Committee claiming the video constituted illegal use of state resources for election propaganda.

A spokesman for Ben Gvir does not immediately respond when asked whether the minister took down the video because of the NGO’s appeal.

Iran war shows strategic alliance with US is ‘important, but not enough,’ Qatari official says

Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari looks on at a press conference during the 2025 Arab-Islamic emergency summit in Doha on September 15, 2025. (Mahmud HAMS / AFP)

The Iran war showed that Gulf Arab countries should not only depend on their strategic partnership with the United States for their security, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari tells a panel at the Hili forum in Abu Dhabi.

“We need to realize in the Gulf that having international forces in the region, having a strategic alliance with the US, is very important but is not enough. Self-sufficiency when it comes to security is the only way forward,” Ansari says.

Man severely wounded in suspected stabbing attack at West Bank farming outpost

An Israeli man was severely wounded in a suspected stabbing attack at a West Bank farming outpost a short while ago, the military and medics say.

The Rescuers Without Borders emergency service says a Palestinian came in a vehicle to the Maoz Yehuda settlement farm, near the village of Usarin, and stabbed a settler before fleeing.

He is being treated in serious condition by medics, the service says.

The IDF says troops were dispatched to the Usarin area following the reported stabbing, and further details are under review.

IDF says manhunt underway for ‘terrorist armed with a knife’ who stabbed settler at outpost

Ambulances at the scene of a suspected stabbing attack at the West Bank farming outpost Maoz Yehuda settlement farm on September 7, 2026 (Magen David Adom)

The IDF says it has launched a manhunt for the Palestinian who stabbed an Israeli settler at a farming outpost in the West Bank a short while ago.

The Israeli man aged around 20 was stabbed multiple times at the Maoz Yehuda settlement farm and is listed in moderate-to-serious condition, the Magen David Adom ambulance service says.

The military says the “terrorist armed with a knife” who attacked the Israeli man near the Palestinian village of Usarin fled the scene.

“Numerous IDF troops” were dispatched to the area to search for the attacker, the army says, adding that it has imposed closures on nearby Palestinian towns.

Pacific island nation Nauru opens its first Israel embassy in Jerusalem

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, right, and Nauru’s Vice President and Foreign Minister Lionel Rouwen Aingimea inaugurate Nauru’s embassy in Jerusalem, September 7, 2026. (Shlomi Amselam/GPO)

The Pacific island nation of Nauru inaugurates its first embassy in Israel in Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announces alongside visiting Nauruan Foreign Minister Lionel Aingimea.

“Israel’s relations with the nations of the South Pacific are advancing tremendously,” Sa’ar says in a readout from the Foreign Ministry.

He adds that through MASHAV, the Foreign Ministry’s international development cooperation program, Israeli emergency-care doctors will work to strengthen local medical capabilities in Nauru, and Israel will provide the nation with “medical equipment, including cardiac ultrasound equipment, as well as water-purification systems capable of producing tens of thousands of liters of clean water each day.”

Aingimea asserts Nauru’s “unwavering” support for the Jewish state, saying it is “one of Israel’s most reliable and consistent diplomatic allies at the United Nations,” voting with Jerusalem 71% of the time — a number he says “will increase very quickly.”

Israel has previously thanked Nauru – among the smallest nations in the world, with a population of about 12,000 – for its support in the UN and other forums, where Jerusalem has faced increasing isolation in the aftermath of its war against Hamas in Gaza.

Sa’ar and Aingimea agreed on the embassy opening during a June 2025 meeting in Fiji. Israel is currently represented in Nauru by a non-resident ambassador based in Fiji.

The move reflects efforts by the Foreign Ministry “to strengthen Jerusalem’s international standing and encourage additional countries to expand their diplomatic presence in the capital,” according to a ministry statement.

Eight other countries have opened or relocated their embassies to Jerusalem in recent years, including the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Paraguay and Somaliland, as well as Pacific countries Papua New Guinea and Fiji. Colombia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo announced plans last month to move their embassies to Jerusalem.

Most countries do not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and base their embassies in Tel Aviv, often opening smaller consulates in Jerusalem.

Adidas apologizes for any ‘offense’ over promotion featuring ex-IDF soldier who lost leg in 2021

Screen capture from video of amputee Israeli athlete Shalev Biton from a video promoting a single-shoe order service from Adidas, August 2026. (Shalev Biton)

Sportswear giant Adidas apologizes for any “offense” as it faces backlash and boycott calls over its inclusion of a former Israeli soldier to promote a service that enables amputee athletes to buy just one running shoe.

Pro-Palestinian activists panned the company for working with Shalev Biton, injured in Gaza in 2021, citing the high number of amputees in the Strip, and in particular children, as a result of the recent war there.

“We recognize that an image used in a recent local activation by the local team has raised concerns and strong reactions. It was never our intent to cause offense and we apologize for anyone affected,” the company says in a statement from its global headquarters, apparently distancing itself from the campaign by Adidas in Israel.

Adidas stresses that its Single Shoe service is a campaign aimed at promoting inclusion that was initially introduced in Europe, but that the “service continues to expand across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, including the UAE, Palestine, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Egypt.”

The company says it will “continue to listen, learn and work to ensure that our actions reflect the inclusive values we stand for.”

Biton, along with 10 other disabled athletes, was featured in a series of posters displayed in local Adidas outlets across Israel. The posters were only used in Israel and not as part of a global campaign.

Biton was formerly a soldier serving in the IDF’s Nahal infantry brigade. On May 12, 2021, during a conflict with Hamas in Gaza dubbed Operation Guardian of the Walls, he was injured when an anti-tank missile fired from inside Gaza hit the military vehicle he was in on the Israeli side of the border. Biton was seriously injured, and fellow soldier Staff Sgt. Omer Tabib was killed.

As a result of his injuries, Biton’s left leg was amputated. After rehabilitation, he now runs with a prosthetic limb.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis accuse Saudi Arabia of air raids, missile strikes

Yemen’s Houthis accuse Saudi Arabia of carrying out airstrikes on various areas of Yemen as the rebels push on with an offensive to seize territory bordering the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait.

“The Saudi enemy targeted the provinces of Jawf, al-Bayda, Marib and Taiz with several airstrikes and cruise missiles,” says the Saba news agency, which is affiliated with the Iran-backed Houthi movement.

IDF troops kill Palestinian who stabbed, wounded Israeli man in West Bank attack

The scene of a suspected stabbing attack at the West Bank farming outpost Maoz Yehuda settlement farm on September 7, 2026 (Magen David Adom)

The Palestinian terrorist who stabbed an Israeli man in the West Bank earlier and fled was shot dead by Israeli troops a short while ago, the military says.

The IDF says troops located the terrorist in a nearby village next to his vehicle.

After the Palestinian tried to stab the soldiers, a company commander of the 411th Artillery Battalion shot him dead, the army adds.

The Israeli man is in moderate-to-serious condition.

Netanyahu in response to West Bank stabbing attack: ‘No terrorist has a safe haven’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserts that “no terrorist has a safe haven” after IDF troops shot dead the Palestinian terrorist who stabbed an Israeli man at a farming outpost in the West Bank earlier today.

“We will continue to eliminate terrorists, pursue those who send them, and destroy the terrorist infrastructure in Judea and Samaria,” Netanyahu vows, using the biblical term for the West Bank.

“Anyone who tries to threaten Israel and its citizens will pay a heavy price,” he says.

Iran warns South Korea against involvement in US security efforts in Hormuz

The sun sets over commercial vessels anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, with the city’s skyline in the background, September 6, 2026. (AP/Vahid Salemi)

Iran’s foreign ministry warns South Korea against military deployment or involvement in US operations in the Strait of Hormuz, saying such a move would have “serious consequences.”

On Friday, Seoul said it was considering “contributions” to US security efforts in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has largely controlled since the outbreak of war against the United States on February 28.

South Korea said it would consider the move provided that its own military readiness was not compromised, but added that no decision had been made.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei warns South Korea against succumbing to what he called “US pressure and intimidation.”

“Any military deployment or participation in operations by other countries in the Persian Gulf or the Strait of Hormuz can only be regarded as direct support for the party responsible for that aggression and will have serious consequences,” he says in a post on X.

IDF says troops fired at Palestinian who threw stones during settler raid; reports say man was killed

The military says troops opened fire on a Palestinian who hurled stones at them in Haje last night, while trying to disperse Israeli settlers who entered the West Bank village.

Palestinian health authorities reported that a man was killed.

Troops were dispatched to Haje following reports of a “confrontation” between Palestinian residents and settlers. The settlers reportedly entered the village to retrieve a drone of theirs that crashed there.

“The troops acted to disperse the confrontation and to take the Israeli civilians out of the village,” the army says.

“Later, a violent disturbance developed, including stone-throwing at the forces by Palestinian rioters,” the IDF says, adding that the troops carried out a “suspect arrest procedure” that included “firing into the air and then firing at key instigators.”

The army says the incident is under further investigation.

Board of Peace’s Mladenov: Gaza deadlock, West Bank escalation make two-state solution ‘impossible’

The Board of Peace's High Representative for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov briefs the UN Security Council in New York on August 26, 2026. (Screen capture)

A top official within the US-backed Board of Peace says that a failure to move forward in Gaza paired with rising violence in the West Bank are making a two-state solution “impossible.”

Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under the Board of Peace, tasked with implementing a ceasefire plan, is speaking at the Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi.

“I would say that if Gaza continues the way it is now, or does not move into implementing… the plan that we have under the comprehensive plan, the two-state solution will become practically impossible,” he says.

“Because, with everything that is happening in the West Bank, and with more than 50 percent of Gaza now under the control of the Israeli army and less than 50 percent under the control of Hamas, there is no credible pathway forward to a political resolution of the conflict,” he adds.

Likud minister May Golan won’t join Otzma Yehudit’s slate for election

May Golan, Minister for Social Equality and the Advancement of the Status of Women, speaks during a plenum session at the assembly hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem, May 20, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The far-right Otzma Yehudit party announces that Likud minister May Golan will not be on their slate for the October 27 election, reports say.

The social equality minister is expected to lose her seat after a poor result in the Likud primary, and was in talks to join National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s party instead.

“We greatly appreciate and love minister May Golan. We wish her much success on her future path,” Otzma Yehudit says in a statement, according to the Kan public broadcaster.

Golan, 40, was once a rising star in Likud and was first elected in 2019. She has served continuously in the Knesset for more than six years and has sparked controversy with a number of inflammatory remarks. She has also faced allegations that she created fictitious no-show jobs for her associates.

Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud announced that MK Tally Gotliv would run with Otzma Yehudit. The announcement came after Gotliv’s disappointing result in the Likud primary, which she has blamed on Netanyahu and said could put her “in Shin Bet detention facilities” if she is voted out and loses parliamentary immunity.

Children at Bnei Brak school find gates welded shut; mother: ‘They won’t accept a mixed school for girls and boys’

Children at a school in Bnei Brak arrived this morning to find the gates welded shut, with parents accusing the municipality of indifference toward an educational institution that has boys and girls studying together.

Parents of children at the Afikim school tell the Ynet news site that the school suffers from harassment at the hands of the municipality and residents and that there have been problems ever since the school’s original building was damaged in an Iranian missile attack.

“The most frustrating and infuriating thing was to discover that our original building, the one we begged to be renovated for the children, was finally renovated, but for someone else,” a mother says.

“Only a month ago, after all this back and forth, they finally moved us to a new building, but the harassment just doesn’t stop,” she says.

“It seems that there are people around us who are not willing to accept that we are a mixed school for boys and girls. At first, the municipality didn’t even bother to put a sign at the entrance, and little children on the first day of school didn’t know where to go. Then they put up a sign that was only for girls,” she says.

The mother says that this morning, children arrived to find the gates welded shut, and the police had to be called to break in.

In a statement, the municipality tells Ynet that there are a number of educational institutions at the same site and “out of responsibility and a desire to prevent friction and unpleasantness, the municipality invested resources and prepared designated, separate entrances for the educational institution and the Afikim school within them.”

טוביה יגלניק: אירוע מופרע הבוקר בבני ברק: הכניסה לבית הספר הממלכתי-דתי נחסמה כי אין בו הפרדה מגדרית בין הילדים. קיצונים חרדים הלחימו וריתכו את שער הכניסה לביהס הממלכתי- דתי בשכונת פרדס כ״ץ המעורבת, כדי שהתלמידים, רבים מהם ילדי חינוך מיוחד, לא יוכלו להיכנס. בתמונה: אחרי פריצת השער pic.twitter.com/sM460ENpF9

— listein (@Lihistein) September 7, 2026

Oman says it rescued 16 crew members from Saudi tanker attacked by Iran

Oman says it has evacuated 16 crew members from the Saudi-owned tanker Sidr, after it was attacked by Iran, according to a statement posted on X by its Maritime Security Center.

The Sidr was one of two supertankers carrying Saudi oil that were reported hit while transiting the Strait of Hormuz last Monday.

Saudi Arabia said last Wednesday that the attack on the tanker, owned by national shipping company Bahri, had killed two Filipino seafarers.

The vessel had 25 crew members aboard. The status of the seven not accounted for yet was not immediately clear.

Yemen’s Houthis claim to have downed a Saudi reconnaissance plane

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claim they downed a Saudi armed reconnaissance aircraft in the northern part of Yemen as the escalation with Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces continues.

Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree says in a statement that the aircraft was detected in Jawf province’s airspace. He says the aircraft belonged to neighboring Saudi Arabia and was seeking to carry out “hostile actions.”

The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the claim. There is no immediate Saudi comment.

Saree adds that over the past 24 hours, a total of three reconnaissance drones belonging to Saudi Arabia were downed, including one that was spotted this morning in Bayda province.

The Yemeni government armed forces said on X that they targeted Houthi gatherings in Dahle province and launched 13 airstrikes targeting Houthi positions and a missile launch base in Bayda province. Other airstrikes targeted Houthi fronts in Marib province. The Houthi military didn’t address those claims.

Bennett’s B’Yachad submits final Knesset slate, ruling out joint run with Eisenkot

Members of the B'Yachad party arrive to submit their party list to the Central Elections Committee ahead of the election at the Knesset in Jerusalem, September 7, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Parties have begun submitting their final candidate lists for the October 27 election ahead of tomorrow’s deadline, with former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad formally registering its slate with the Central Elections Committee at the Knesset.

Former Yesh Atid MK Meirav Cohen and B’Yachad director-general Bruria Naim Erman submitted the list on behalf of the party.

The submission puts to rest lingering speculation that Bennett could still reach an agreement on a joint run or merger with Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party. Hebrew-language media reported as recently as the past week that the two prime ministerial hopefuls remained in talks over a possible electoral alliance.

The two parties have also diverged sharply in the polls in recent months, with Yashar emerging as by far the largest opposition party and running neck-and-neck with Likud at around 23-25 seats, while B’Yachad has largely hovered at around 13-15 seats.

Kosovo, Board of Peace officials sign agreement for country’s participation in international Gaza force

Kosovo signs an agreement to participate in the fledgling International Stabilization Force for Gaza, the Board of Peace announces.

The agreement is signed by representatives of the small Balkan nation, the US-backed Board, and the ISF at a ceremony in Pristina, the Board writes on X, saying “Kosovo will provide critical support for the mission of advancing [US] President Trump’s 20-Point Peace Plan in Gaza.”

Kosovo’s parliament approved a government decision to send troops to the force in April, making today’s signing more of a formality.

Five countries have so far committed troops to the ISF, including Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Albania, while Egypt and Jordan have committed to train police. There is no formal timeline for when any troops would be able to deploy.

At a ceremony in Pristina today, representatives of the Republic of Kosovo, the Board of Peace & the International Stabilization Force signed the Participating Country Agreement for the inclusion of Kosovo in the ISF. Kosovo will provide critical support for the mission of… pic.twitter.com/iUwXJ5N1MD

— Board of Peace (@BoardOfPeace) September 7, 2026

Wizz Air expands Israel operations with increased weekly flights to European destinations

A Wizz Air passenger aircraft seen at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv on February 25, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air is expanding its Israel operations with the addition of 46 weekly flights departing from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.

Starting Monday, Wizz Air is resuming flight operations from Ben Gurion to five destinations, including London Gatwick, Venice, Catania, and Cluj.

The budget carrier is also adding flights to existing routes from Tel Aviv to 11 destinations in Europe, including Budapest, Bucharest, Bratislava, Rome, Milan, Naples, Athens, Warsaw and Vilna.

Eisenkot’s Yashar submits Knesset slate, with ex-Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen at No. 2

The first 10 candidates on the slate of the centrist Yashar party. Top row (left to right): Gadi Eisenkot; Yoram Cohen, Orit Farkash-Hacohen, Adi Altschuler, Matan Kahana. Second row: Chili Tropper, Shaul Meridor, Tair Ifergan, Oshrat Gani Gonen, Shira Shapira. (Yahav Trodler/Yashar, Courtesy/Yashar, Yonatan Sindel/Flash90, Bernard Dichek, Yitzhak Kelman, Flash90, Channel 12 screen capture, screenshot/X)

Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party unveils its 40-member slate for the October 27 election and formally submits the list to the Central Elections Committee at the Knesset, ahead of tomorrow’s deadline for parties to register their candidate lists.

Eisenkot will head the slate, followed by former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen, former minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen, and educator and social entrepreneur Adi Altschuler, whom the party has named as its candidate for education minister.

Former religious affairs minister Matan Kahana will take fifth place, followed by former Blue and White MK Chili Tropper, meaning that three of Yashar’s top six candidates — Farkash-Hacohen, Kahana and Tropper — are former members of Benny Gantz’s Blue and White who followed Eisenkot after he left the union to form Yashar.

Gantz’s much-reduced Blue and White has been hovering around the electoral threshold for months.

Other notable candidates include former Yesh Atid MK and minister Elazar Stern in 12th place, former Druze general and Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Kamil Abu Rukun in 13th, former Shin Bet and Mossad official Devorah Sharifian Bachar in 14th, social activist and One Million Lobby founder Alex Rif in 15th, former senior Welfare Ministry official and social policy adviser Inbar Yehezkeli in 16th, and former Kulanu MK Roy Folkman in 17th.

Yashar also announced 11 honorary candidates who will occupy the final spots on its full 120-member slate, though their names were not included in the list formally submitted to the election committee. They include former hostage Ohad Ben Ami as well as other hostage and bereaved families affected by the October 7 attack and ensuing war, alongside former public officials including economist Manuel Trajtenberg, former minister Dan Meridor, the father of Shaul Meridor, who is 7th on the list, and Adina Bar-Shalom, daughter of late Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

The list was submitted on the party’s behalf by Meridor and Inbar Harush Giti, who led the Defense Ministry’s Directorate for promoting the recruitment and integration of Haredim in the IDF, who is placed 11th on the slate.

The party has emerged in recent months as the largest opposition party in the polls and is currently running neck-and-neck with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud at around 23-25 seats.

The top 30 in full:

1. Gadi Eisenkot
2. Yoram Cohen
3. Orit Farkash-Hacohen
4. Adi Altschuler
5. Matan Kahana
6. Chili Tropper
7. Shaul Meridor
8. Tair Ifergan
9. Oshrat Gani Gonen
10. Shira Shapira
11. Inbar Harush Giti
12. Elazar Stern
13. General Kamil Abu Rukun
14. Devorah Sharifian Bachar
15. Alex Rif
16. Inbar Yehezkeli
17. Roy Folkman
18. Israel Zari
19. Tal Ohana Hachmon
20. Elisaf Peretz
21. Yaffa Tabaja
22. Nir Hagbi
23. Ron Barkai
24. Shay Fisher
25. Lian Folk David
26. Roee Cohen
27. Ziv Rosen
28. Jocelyn Bash
29. Alon Futerman
30. Tali Molner

Reporter for Hezbollah-linked Al-Manar wounded in IDF strike in southern Lebanon

Lebanese media outlets publish footage showing a reporter for the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar news outlet being wounded during yesterday’s wave of IDF strikes in southern Lebanon.

The reporter is seen broadcasting when an explosion occurs nearby, cutting off the broadcast.

According to reports in Lebanon, the reporter, Ali Shabib, and a cameraman who was with him were wounded in the strike.

فيديو للحظة تعرّض مراسل قناة المنار علي شبيب والمصور محمد برجاوي لاعتداء اسرائيلي أدى إلى إصابتهم في مدينة النبطية.#وقائع pic.twitter.com/bCtoTkR2c3

— وقائع (@waqa2e3) September 7, 2026

Two IDF soldiers lightly hurt in clash with Hezbollah gunman in southern Lebanon

Two IDF soldiers were lightly wounded in a clash with a Hezbollah operative near Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon earlier today, the military announces.

Troops of the Golani Brigade’s Reconnaissance Unit were carrying out scans in the Beaufort area when a Hezbollah gunman hiding inside a building opened fire on them, according to the army.

Two of the soldiers were lightly hurt and were taken to a hospital for treatment. The IDF says their families were notified.

The soldiers returned fire and carried out artillery shelling toward the building, killing the Hezbollah gunman, according to the military.

The IDF says it struck other Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon in response to the gunfire, including weapon depots and command centers.

IAEA chief Grossi calls on Iran to reengage on nuclear issues as western powers seek UN referral

IAEA head Rafael Grossi says giving the UN nuclear agency access to key nuclear facilities in Iran would have “positive repercussions” for the Islamic Republic, as a draft resolution seen by AFP proposes referring Tehran to the UN Security Council.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has not had access to key nuclear facilities in Iran since Israel, joined by the United States, launched a 12-day conflict in June 2025 that included strikes on nuclear sites.

Nuclear facilities have also been hit in the latest war, which erupted on February 28, and the IAEA has repeatedly urged access.

“The best, shortest way for a positive outcome is for Iran to engage with us,” Grossi tells a press conference after opening the quarterly meeting of the IAEA board of governors.

A resolution drafted by the US, Britain, France and Germany expected to be submitted and voted on this week seeks to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for failing to comply with its nuclear reporting obligations.

The draft, seen by AFP, asks Grossi to “submit this resolution to all members of the agency and to the Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations.”

Asked whether such a referral was the right course of action, Grossi says that “my job with Iran continues, irrespective of the resolution.”

“If Iran engages with us in a serious dialogue, if we can start getting access… I can guarantee to you that this will have very, very positive repercussions,” he says.

In a statement ahead of the meeting, Grossi calls the lack of contact with Iran “regrettable.”

“These issues are not going to disappear until we address them, until we have the necessary access, until we can return,” he says.

Former Labor MK Einat Wilf joins Yoaz Hendel’s Reservists party

Former MK Einat Wilf in Jerusalem, May 29, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Reservists party chair Yoaz Hendel announces the addition of former Labor Party lawmaker Einat Wilf to his electoral slate, ahead of tomorrow’s deadline for parties to submit their finalized candidate lists for the October 27 election.

The announcement comes a day after the collapse of Hendel’s center-right alliance with Chili Tropper’s Zionist Home party, after Tropper split off to merge with frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar.

Instead, Hendel formed a last-minute alliance with economist Yaron Zelekha.

Wilf, who founded the Oz party last year with the intention to run in this year’s election, says of her decision to run under Hendel that she is “happy to join those who, in the country’s most difficult hour, mobilized to defend it.”

IDF: Hamas commander killed in Gaza City airstrike on Sunday

A Hamas commander was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City yesterday, the military announces.

The strike on Sunday killed Yusuf Aqila, a company commander in Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force, according to the IDF.

The military says Aqila was targeted because he had been advancing attacks on troops and Israeli civilians, as well as attempting to restore Hamas capabilities “in a systematic violation of the ceasefire.”

Otzma Yehudit submits 20-member election slate, led by Ben Gvir and Gotliv

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party unveils and submits its 20-member slate for the October 27 election, ahead of tomorrow’s deadline for parties to register their final candidate lists.

Ben Gvir heads the list, followed by firebrand former Likud MK Tally Gotliv, Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, MK Limor Son Har-Melech and MK Yitzhak Kroizer.

Ben Gvir’s longtime chief of staff Hanamel Dorfman is placed seventh, followed by party activist Tzachi Eliyahu, Haredi activist Yossi Goldberger and party director-general Itiel Ne’eman.

Otzma Yehudit does not hold primaries, with Ben Gvir personally selecting its candidates and determining their placement on the slate.

The party has been polling consistently at around seven or eight seats.

Israelis more optimistic about the future this Rosh Hashanah than last year, survey finds

Israeli Jews are more optimistic this year than last year about their country’s future, with the shift driven largely by right-wing voters, according to a survey released ahead of Rosh Hashanah.

The Jewish People Policy Institute’s Israeli Society Index found that 43% of Jewish Israelis believe Israel is improving and will continue to improve, up from 36% last year. Among right-wing respondents, optimism rose to 76%, compared with 68% a year ago.

Overall, 35% of Israelis said the country is improving and will get better, while 30% said Israel is declining and the decline will continue. The latter figure fell from 38% last year.

Overall, the report says, “the right has become more optimistic about the present, while the center-left has become more optimistic about the future.”

Among Arab Israelis, the sentiment was quite different. Only 5% expressed strong optimism, the survey found, while 54% said Israel is declining and will continue to decline, virtually unchanged from last year.

Views of the past year were mixed. Economic assessments improved, with 30% calling the year bad, down from 35%, while 18% called it good, up from 11%.

The social sphere remained the weakest area, with 52% describing the year as bad and only 4% as good. Meanwhile, 49% said the world is declining, virtually unchanged from last year.

The survey was conducted in September with 663 Jewish respondents and 206 Arab respondents.

Palestinian Authority submits US entry applications, testing plan to bar Abbas from UN confab — officials

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly via video at United Nations headquarters, September 25, 2025. (AP/Angelina Katsanis)

The Palestinian Authority has submitted dozens of visa applications for entry into the US, testing Washington’s plan to again bar PA President Mahmoud Abbas from attending the UN General Assembly later this month, a US official and a Palestinian official tell The Times of Israel.

While a US official told ToI last month that President Donald Trump’s administration planned to bar Abbas’s entry for the second year in a row, a Palestinian official says Ramallah was told it could still submit applications for adjudication.

Abbas is scheduled to speak on September 24, the same day as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But last year, Abbas gave his speech via video link due to the entry ban, which Washington said was in response to purported steps taken by the PA to undermine prospects for peace.

Washington didn’t elaborate on its specific grievances with Ramallah at the time, and the move was seen as part of an effort to undermine a conference that France and Saudi Arabia were hosting ahead of the General Assembly’s high-level week that was aimed at promoting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

PA officials are also seeking meetings with American counterparts while stateside later this month, but that will at least partially depend on whether the entry ban is lifted.

Asked for comment on the matter, an aide to Abbas doesn’t respond.

A State Department spokesperson says, “The Trump administration is protecting our nation and its citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process.“

“As a general matter, we have no comment on Department actions with respect to specific cases due to visa record confidentiality,” the spokesperson adds.

The Trump administration has often sought to sideline the PA from its engagement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, frequently accusing it of corruption, while exerting limited political capital in thwarting a host of Israeli measures that have brought Ramallah to the brink of financial collapse.

But the US did seek the PA’s assistance in passing a UN Security Council resolution granting the Board of Peace control over the postwar management of Gaza through the end of Trump’s term.

Hoping to reverse the entry ban, Abbas asked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan if he could speak to Trump about the issue, a Palestinian official told The Times of Israel last month.

Erdogan heeded the request, which Abbas made during his visit to Ankara last month, the Palestinian official said, touting the Turkish leader’s assistance.

Erdogan subsequently held a phone call with Trump, who has repeatedly called the Turkish president his “good friend.”

Report: Likud will only submit Knesset slate tomorrow afternoon, hours before deadline

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party will only submit its Knesset slate tomorrow afternoon, hours before the deadline, according to Hebrew media reports.

Other major parties, including Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar, Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad, and Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit, have already submitted their candidate lists.

According to an earlier Channel 12 report, Likud has been delayed by disagreements over spots on the list reserved for candidates of Netanyahu’s choosing, with some party officials demanding they be pushed lower down.

A final decision on the matter will be made at a meeting at 11 a.m. tomorrow, the report says, meaning that the party is unable to submit its final candidate list before then.

Footage shows Palestinian electric company workers, Border Police officers pelted with stones in South Hebron Hills

Palestinian media outlets have circulated footage from the past several hours showing unidentified individuals throwing stones at Palestinian electric company workers who were repairing power lines in Wadi Rahim in the South Hebron Hills, as well as at Border Police officers standing nearby.

According to the reports, the stone-throwers were settlers. There were no reports of injuries in the incident.

The Border Police and IDF have yet to comment.

תיעוד מהשעות האחרונות מואדי רחים בדרום הר חברון: כעשרה איש מיידים אבנים לעבר עובדי חברת חשמל הפלסטינית שביצעו עבודות ולצידם לוחמי מג"ב שככל הנראה איבטחו אותם. הלוחמים נראים יורים באוויר (עד כמה שניתן לראות). לא ידוע על נפגעים כרגע מהאירוע pic.twitter.com/aQyZNUHBCV

— Nurit Yohanan (@nurityohanan) September 7, 2026

IDF says it diverted munitions in mid-air during Gaza strike after civilians were spotted in area

The IDF says it diverted a munition mid-air while attempting to target a Hamas operative in the Gaza Strip yesterday, after identifying civilians in his surroundings.

“Since it was not possible to abort the munition after it had been released, the munition was diverted from its trajectory in real time in order to prevent it from striking civilians,” the military says.

The IDF says it has committed to “distinguishing between terrorists and civilians and taking all possible precautions to minimize harm to them.”

‼️ WATCH: The IDF intended to carry out a strike targeting a Hamas military wing terrorist in Gaza.

During the strike, a gathering of civilians was identified near the terrorist. Since the munition could not be canceled after it had been released, it was redirected in real time… pic.twitter.com/HAb35iIQ30

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 7, 2026

Many of the IDF’s strikes on terror operatives in Gaza during the war and recently have resulted in civilian casualties. Israel accuses Hamas of embedding itself within the civilian population and using civilian sites for terror activities.

In another blow to Gantz, MK Michael Biton resigns from Blue and White, says he may form his own party

MK Michael Biton speaks during a press conference outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 31, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

In a blow to Blue and White chair Benny Gantz, MK Michael Biton announces that he will not run with the party in the upcoming election.

Instead, Biton says in a post on Facebook that he has been “examining the possibility of establishing a social, national, traditional party based on the values of Judaism, Zionism, and democracy.”

He says he will decide on his next steps in the coming hours.

Parties that wish to run in the October 27 election have until tomorrow night to submit their finalized candidate lists to the Central Election Committee.

Biton stresses that he is parting from Gantz as “friends and partners in this journey,” and says that he is “proud of what we have done together for the country in the last seven years.”

His resignation is the latest in a wave of defections from the party in recent months, as opinion polls continue to show it hovering around the electoral threshold.

Several former Blue and White lawmakers, including Chili Tropper and Matan Kahana, have since joined Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar, which he founded after ending his own alliance with Gantz.

Likud court orders Netanyahu to present his candidates for party slate in next two hours

The internal Likud court has ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to present his list of handpicked candidates for the party’s 2026 Knesset slate within the next two hours, Hebrew media reports.

Netanyahu received eight slots on the Likud list for candidates of his choosing, as well as an additional spot reserved for Defense Minister Israel Katz.

As of Monday evening, Netanyahu has only confirmed three of the eight reserved spots, having previously selected entrepreneur Oren Dobronsky, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, and Likud Central Committee chair Haim Katz to fill them.

The Likud court has therefore informed Netanyahu that if he doesn’t fill the remaining five spots in the next two hours, the party will be forced to hold a secret ballot to approve the candidates once he finally submits their names due to time constraints.

The order comes as Likud delays submitting its candidates list to the Central Election Committee ahead of the deadline tomorrow night.

IDF says two more terror operatives killed in recent Gaza strikes

The IDF announces the killing of two more terror operatives in the Gaza Strip in recent strikes.

A strike on Sunday in Gaza City’s Shati camp killed Sabhi Khader al-Hashem al-Batrihi, a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad who took part in planting bombs against Israeli troops, the military says.

A separate strike in Gaza last week killed Ahmad Fuad Khalil Khalas, identified by the IDF as a member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force who also planted explosive devices against Israeli troops.

The IDF says both terror operatives had “posed a threat” after they were advancing attacks “in systematic violation of the ceasefire.”

In the past week, at least 14 terror operatives were killed in Israeli strikes in the Strip, including five company commanders in Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force and five Nukhba platoon commanders, according to the military.

In first for Israel, ultra-Orthodox party appoints a woman to run on its Knesset slate

Dr. Nechumi Yaffe. (Yifat Golan)

For the first time in Israel’s history, an ultra-Orthodox political party has selected a woman to run on its Knesset slate for the upcoming election.

The newly formed Haredi Public party, chaired by Moti Leitner, announces that Dr. Nechumi Yaffe, an ultra-Orthodox political psychology researcher, has joined the party, a day before the deadline for parties to submit their final candidate lists to the Central Election Committee.

In a statement, The Haredi Public says Yaffe has worked with Harvard University on a research project focused on the ultra-Orthodox community and is a senior faculty member and researcher at Tel Aviv University.

In 2020, she was appointed special advisor on Haredi affairs to the National Security Council, with a focus on poverty within the ultra-Orthodox community, the statement says. It adds that in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, she coordinated an emergency response center that assigned volunteers to support families from the Gaza border community.

Leitner welcomes Yaffe to the party, saying that “over 30 years of an educational and academic career, Yaffe has worked to advance our Haredi brothers and sisters.”

Poised for battle, Yashar projects image of government-in-waiting at slate launch

Candidates for Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party at the presentation of the party's Knesset slate ahead of the upcoming election, in Rosh Haayin, September 7, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party presents its 40-person electoral slate before hundreds of supporters in Rosh Haayin, in a tightly orchestrated event that projects the image of a government-in-waiting.

The slate appears carefully constructed to underscore the defining impact of the October 7 attack and ensuing war on Israeli public life, with prominent places given to reservists, bereaved family members and others shaped by the events.

At the same time, it seeks to project governing competence through experienced civil servants and regional and municipal leaders, while established politicians make up a minority of the roster.

The event feels less like a celebratory campaign rally than a war room, with a battle-ready political operation preparing for an election that those in the hall appear to view in existential terms.

Loud applause and raucous cheers greet Eisenkot throughout his address, in which the former IDF chief promises that Yashar’s roster will bring new, unifying leadership.

Among the slate’s prominent political newcomers are former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen, educator and social entrepreneur Adi Altschuler, former Finance Ministry budget chief Shaul Meridor, former Labor Ministry director-general Tair Ifergan and former South Sharon Regional Council head Oshrat Gani Gonen.

They are joined by bereaved mother Shira Shapira, whose son Aner was killed while fighting Hamas terrorists on October 7, and Elisaf Peretz, whose brothers Uriel and Eliraz were both killed during their military service, as well as numerous active reservists.

The smaller group of political veterans includes former ministers Orit Farkash-Hacohen, Matan Kahana, Chili Tropper and Elazar Stern, alongside former Kulanu MK Roy Folkman. Farkash-Hacohen, Kahana, Tropper and Stern were all previously members of Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party.

Eisenkot describes the slate as an “all-Israeli mosaic” representing “every field and every part of the country,” including secular, religious and traditional Israelis, Jews and Druze, and native-born Israelis and immigrants.

“The slate includes experienced lawmakers and ministers, as well as new blood that represents everything we have endured and continue to endure,” he says.

Agriculture ministry presents first 25-year national food security plan

Agricultural workers plant crops in a field in Moshav Pedaya, central Israel, March 25, 2026. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter and his ministry’s director-general Oren Lavi unveil the final version of the country’s first 25-year national food security plan.

Embracing long-term planning against the backdrop of climate change, and taking account of population growth and supply chain disruptions, the blueprint calls for a 33 percent increase in Israeli agricultural production by 2035, rising to 65% by 2050.

“Whatever we can produce in Israel, we will produce here, and whatever we cannot produce, we will import,” Dichter tells a National Food Security Conference.

Work to develop a food security policy began in 2022 at the initiative of Victor Weiss, then climate adviser to the National Security Council.

It was turbocharged by the war against Hamas in Gaza, which exposed the limits of the state’s growing reliance on food imports over recent years.

The plan — developed with researchers, farmers, and industry leaders — focuses on reducing food waste, encouraging agricultural innovation, and diversifying import sources to avoid reliance on single trade routes.

A ministry spokesman confirmed that there is no budget to implement the plan at this time.

Energy Ministry publishes plan proposing to move Haifa oil refineries down south instead of closing them

The Energy Ministry publishes a strategic plan for Israel’s fuel economy through 2040 that includes moving the Bazan oil refineries from the northern city of Haifa to the south of the country, contrary to a 2022 government decision to close them down and end domestic refining.

Conducted by the BDO consulting firm, the study emphasizes that relying solely on imported refined products poses excessive national security risks during wartime or global crises.

The proposed “clear-and-build” initiative, estimated to cost $5 to $6 billion, would involve establishing a hybrid refinery in southern Israel that could eventually also make products such as sustainable aviation fuel and biodiesel.

Rather than compensating Bazan for closure, the plan suggests using state revenues from carbon taxes to move the facility.

The plan also includes expanding emergency fuel stores, upgrading port and storage infrastructure, and establishing additional fuel entry points.

An inter-ministerial team will examine creating a dedicated fuel authority to oversee implementation of the plan.

Defying Likud court, Netanyahu says he’ll present his candidates for Knesset slate tomorrow morning

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defies an internal Likud court ruling and says he will only present his list of candidates for the reserved slots on the party’s Knesset slate tomorrow morning.

The court had ordered Netanyahu earlier this evening to present his list of candidates for approval within two hours.

In his response to the court — filed only after the two-hour time limit was up — Netanyahu decries the order as “unreasonable.”

High Court schedules Wednesday hearing for petitions seeking ban on election-day use of voter data

The High Court of Justice schedules a hearing for petitions requesting a ban on the use of voting data on election day by party-appointed polling station workers for Wednesday morning.

The Central Election Committee, which reflects the balance of parties in the Knesset, voted to uphold the practice of using voter data on Sunday, but activist Shahar Ben Meir and head of the Miluimnikim party Yoaz Hendel petitioned the High Court to overturn the decision.

In setting the hearing for Wednesday, the court also issues a conditional order against the Central Elections Committee on the matter, something which usually indicates that the court believes a petition to have merit, but which, in this current case, the court says is merely to expedite the case given the proximity of the upcoming elections.

For several election cycles, party-appointed polling station workers have sent data on who has voted to party campaign headquarters on election day, which is used to track who has not yet voted and enables parties to encourage their likely voters who have not yet cast ballots to do so.

Last month, Central Elections Committee Chairman and Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg banned the practice, saying it violated Israel’s privacy laws.

But the Likud party petitioned the High Court against the decision, arguing that Sohlberg did not have the authority to take such decision.

Without issuing a definitive ruling, the court said that the issue of whether Sohlberg had such authority was “difficult” and ordered the full Central Elections Committee to decide on the issue. The committee ultimately voted to reverse Sohlberg’s decision and reinstate the use of the voting data.

The justices stated during the hearing, however, that they believed the practice violates Israel’s privacy laws, and asserted that there was no law allowing the use of the data.

Such a stance indicates the court may view the substance of the petitions favorably, although it may still decline to ban the practice so close to an election, when several parties, including the Likud, will argue that their election-day get-out-the-vote campaign relies largely on the use of voter data.

Ben Gvir accuses High Court of ‘direct harm’ to security as Red Cross pushes to renew visits to prisoners

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir accuses the High Court of Justice of harming the deterrence capability of Israel’s security forces, after reports that the International Committee of the Red Cross will meet with Israeli security officials this week as part of efforts to resume visits to Palestinian prisoners.

The planned meeting comes after the High Court unanimously ruled to annul the government’s blanket policy prohibiting the ICRC from visiting Palestinian security prisoners and halting the sharing of information about them following October 7.

“The High Court’s directive to allow visits to the Nukhba terrorists, for the first time since October 7, constitutes direct harm to the State of Israel’s security deterrent,” Ben Gvir writes on X, referring to Hamas’s elite fighting force.

The minister also refers to human rights groups as the “enemy,” and misrepresents a quote from Supreme Court President Isaac Amit to claim that the court is biased in their favor.

“Unfortunately, the High Court consistently serves as an address for the appeals of the enemy, and as Justice Amit said to petitioners on the issue of bringing goods into Gaza, ‘this court makes itself available to you’,” Ben Gvir writes.

Amit had, on June 10, 2024, challenged petitioners demanding more aid for the Strip to specify how they would distribute aid more effectively than the IDF has. He said “this court is available to you, makes itself available to you,” to hear those suggestions. The court ultimately rejected the petitions.

Ben Gvir further claims that there are fewer terror attacks because of the worsening he has championed in Palestinian security prisoners’ living conditions.

“The security reality is clear: a decrease of about 75% in terror attacks. And that, according to the Shin Bet, is, among other things, because of the reform in terrorists’ jail conditions,” Ben Gvir claims.

The Shin Bet in January published an annual report for 2025 that indicated a roughly 77% decrease relative to 2024 in the number of “serious terror attacks” by Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank. The report did not mention the worsened jailing conditions.

A similar report by the IDF cited a roughly 78% decrease from 2024 to 2025 in the number of Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis in the West Bank and Israel, but attributed that decrease to the military’s own counter-terror operations rather than the worsening of prisoners’ living conditions.

The same report also recorded a more than 50% spike in 2024 in severe attacks by settlers against Palestinians.

Police: Haredi protesters trying to damage Jerusalem light rail line, officers working to disperse them

Police say they have declared an ultra-Orthodox demonstration on Jerusalem’s Bar Ilan Street illegal after protesters tried to block traffic and damage a light rail construction site.

Footage published by police shows dozens of Haredi men protesting in the area as officers try to clear them off the road.

Officers are using force to disperse protesters who have refused to clear the road, police say.

Bar Ilan Street, which passes through several Haredi neighborhoods, has drawn regular Haredi protests against the planned expansion of Jerusalem’s light rail to the area.

Haredi officials have expressed opposition to the expansion out of concern that it will harm the area’s ultra-Orthodox character.

ירושלים – בר אילן: המשטרה מנסה לפנות חרדים קיצוניים שמפגינים נגד עבודות הרכבת הקלה. pic.twitter.com/8kSwXF9HrF

— זירת החדשות (@ZiratNews) September 7, 2026

Report: UK may impose trade embargo on settlements tomorrow; Smotrich, Ben Gvir urge far-reaching responses

The New York Times reports that the UK could implement a widely reported ban on trade with Israeli West Bank settlements as early as tomorrow.

Reports last month indicated that British Prime Minister Andy Burnham was preparing to announce a full trade embargo on all settlements in response to Jerusalem’s plans for a major, controversial settlement expansion in the hot-button E1 area of the West Bank, which would block territorial contiguity between major Palestinian population centers.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband later told lawmakers that he was planning a “comprehensive set of measures” against Israel in response to the E1 plan, but stopped short of announcing a complete trade ban on settlement goods.

Now, however, the New York Times reports that the trade embargo is indeed still on the table and is expected to be announced on Tuesday.

Citing anonymous officials, the report says that sanctions may also be imposed on companies that work on settlement construction.

In response to the report, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calls to expel the British ambassador from Israel.

“We will not be a doormat for an antisemitic government in a country occupied by radical Islam that is trying to escape economic and social collapse by attacking Jews and the State of Israel,” the Religious Zionism chair fumes on X. “The British Mandate in Israel is over.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir writes on X in Spanish that Israel should recognize Argentina’s sovereignty over the disputed Falkland Islands, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “recognize Argentina’s sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands and to impose sanctions on Great Britain as long as the occupation continues.”

Ben Gvir accuses London of “violently stealing” the islands and “stealing the money from the Argentine people.”

Argentine President Javier Milei retweets Ben Gvir’s post.