ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 427
The Times of Israel liveblogged Thursday’s events as they unfolded.
Several dozen people take part in what appears to be the first New York City rally this week in support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, next to the Manhattan hotel in which he’s staying this week for the UN General Assembly.
Across the street, a larger protest against Netanyahu is taking place, with Rabbi Rick Jacobs of the Union for Reform Judaism in attendance, a day before he attends a meeting Netanyahu will have with US Jewish community leaders.
Vibe at this larger protest against Netanyahu is way more passionate and energetic pic.twitter.com/xQ3BMsBQow
— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) September 21, 2023
Led by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, the pro-Netanyahu demonstrators sing, hold up Israel flags and signs including “New York loves Bibi,” and chant “Bibi,” after the premier’s nickname.
Shmuley Boteach having fun, holding a ”NY ❤️ BB” t-shirt pic.twitter.com/XdrOn1JRYp
— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) September 21, 2023
Prof. Alan Dershowitz says that while he’s “not a supporter” of most of the Netanyahu government’s proposed judicial overhaul, critics’ charge that it will end democracy “is total nonsense” and is “a blood libel.”
The rally has been promoted by the Zionist Organization of America as aimed at showing “support for Israel’s democratically-elected government and Prime Minister, Bibi Netanyahu.”
ZOA has slammed the anti-Netanyahu protests as “billionaire-funded far-left groups that seek to undermine the results of Israel’s democratic elections (while falsely claiming to be for democracy) and by Palestine/Arab hate groups that seek Israel’s annihilation.”
Democratic Republic of Congo President Félix Tshisekedi tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he will move his country’s embassy to Jerusalem.
Israel will open an embassy to Kinshasa, Netanyahu says alongside Tshisekedi after the two meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Tshisekedi says the two discussed cooperation in investment, security, cybersecurity and more.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan responds to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s UN speech, saying that only weeks ago the PA leader “defended Hitler and blamed the Jews for being massacred during the Holocaust.”
“Today,” Erdan says, “he stood at this podium and called the vicious Palestinian terror attacks ‘peaceful resistance.'”
“President Abbas proved today that he is not a partner for peace,” Erdan says, calling Abbas “irrelevant.”
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid meets with a senior official from the Palestinian Authority, Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee secretary-general Hussein al-Sheikh.
Lapid and al-Sheikh discuss security issues, ties between Israel and the Palestinians, and the potential normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Ynet reports.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says the PA is going through a comprehensive reform process, including the development of the justice sector. He calls for the holding of “democratic, general, elections.”
He blames the Israeli government for the fact the Palestinians have not held elections in over a decade, saying they were obstructing elections by keeping East Jerusalemites from voting. He says he will use international bodies to force Israel to allow Palestinian elections.
He speaks at length of the 1948 Nakba — the Palestinian term for the creation of the State of Israel. He says the Palestinian narrative has been deliberately distorted by “Zionist and Israeli propaganda.”
“My message today to the Israelis is that this hideous occupation imposed on us will not last,” he says.
“The Palestinian people will remain on their land.”
He references the recent UNESCO resolution recognizing an ancient site near Jericho as Palestinian.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas asks for international protection from “terrorist Israeli settlers” and IDF forces.
He says it is necessary to call on member states to recognize the State of Palestine and be admitted as a full UN member.
He also says Israel has not adhered to its conditions for acceptance to the UN, and asks the UN to take “deterrent measures” against Israel until it fulfills UN resolutions.
Abbas says the Palestinians are carrying out a “peaceful, popular resistance” against a colonial occupation that does not believe in peace. “We will continue our peaceful popular resistance.”
Israel is stealing Palestinian natural resources, Abbas charges.
He also says Israel is responsible for the killings inside Arab cities in Israel, which have spiked this year.
Wearing a key symbolizing the Palestinian demand for a “right of return” for Palestinian refugees, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas asks why the UN remains silent about Israel’s violations instead of sanctioning the Jewish state as other countries have been sanctioned.
He accuses the UN of “double standards” in Israel’s favor, treating it as above the law.
He pledges that the PA will continue its campaign in international fora and demands Palestine be admitted as a full state in the UN.
Abbas calls for apologies and reparations from Israel. He also singles out the UK and the US, saying they supported the 1917 Balfour Declaration that recognized a national home for Jews in historic Palestine.
“In light of the deadlock due to Israel’s policies,” Abbas asks the UN secretary-general to convene an international peace conference, which could be the “last opportunity” to salvage the two-state solution.
Having reiterated his demand for full Palestinian statehood, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says there can be no peace in the Middle East without addressing his people’s rights, as Saudi Arabia moves closer to ties with Israel.
“Those who think that peace can prevail in the Middle East without the Palestinian people enjoying their full, legitimate national rights would be mistaken,” Abbas tells the UN General Assembly.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas blasts Israel at the outset of his speech to the United Nations General Assembly, accusing it of “entrenching apartheid.”
“This occupation violates the principles of international law and international legitimacy,” says Abbas, calling on the UN to implement its resolutions and see the birth of a fully independent Palestinian state.
He demands an end to occupation, and an independent Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on the pre-1967 lines, and with the refugee issue resolved in accordance with UN resolutions.
He calls the current Israeli government “racist and right-wing” and accuses it of stealing money and resources, and holding the bodies of 600 Palestinian “martyrs.”
Abbas says Israel is assaulting Christian and Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.
He accuses the “Israel occupation government” of “feverishly digging tunnels under and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque” atop the Temple Mount, which would cause an “explosion of untold consequences.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is addressing the United National General Assembly.
His speech comes amid progress in normalization talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which has seen the important Arab kingdom apparently deviate from its previous demand for a Palestinian state before recognizing the Jewish state.
A security guard has been lightly wounded in a suspected stabbing attack at the Giv’at Hamivtar light rail station in Jerusalem, medics say.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service says its medics are taking the 20-year-old to the Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital for further treatment.
The alleged assailant is reported to have been subdued at the scene. Police say he was shot by security forces. His condition is not immediately clear.
President Isaac Herzog welcomes moves to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia, saying he believes the process will succeed.
“I wholeheartedly welcome the important developments regarding the possibility of a historic agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” he says speaking at an event to mark the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War.
“Saudi Arabia is a very important country, and I believe that a relationship based on partnership and friendship with it can be the foundation for historic benefits for Israel and the entire Middle East. This opportunity, of course, depends on many factors, but I hope and believe with all my heart that it will come true,” he says.
The demands that Saudi Arabia is making on behalf of the Palestinians as part of a normalization deal with Israel are “softer” than previous Palestinian demands, but will still present a major stumbling block for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government, Channel 12 reports.
The unsourced report notes that no formal package has been presented yet to the Israeli side, but still lays out several key demands.
For the first time, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is willing to accept an interim agreement with Israel and not a full statehood, the report says.
In return, the Palestinians are requesting a halt to settlement construction in the West Bank and a transfer of an unspecified amount of Area C, currently under full Israeli control, to Area A, under Palestinian control.
They are also asking for a declaration recognizing the rights of the Palestinians to establish a capital in East Jerusalem in the future.
In addition, they want the US to allow the Palestinian Liberation Organization to reopen its embassy in Washington DC, and have the US reopen its consulate to the Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
They also want Israel to stop withholding Palestinian tax revenue to compensate for payments to security prisoners and the families of those who carried out terror attacks, the report says.
The report says that the Biden administration has told the PA that it will not support full Palestinian membership at the UN.
Netanyahu’s hardline coalition partners have ruled out any concessions to the Palestinians as part of the deal, but the prime minister has vowed that political issues won’t stop the agreement going forward.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says that those who undermine the Declaration of Independence undermine Israel’s moral standing.
Speaking at an Armored Corp ceremony marking 50 years since the Yom Kippur War, Gallant speaks out against positions posited by his own government.
“Whoever undermines the standing of the Declaration of Independence harms the central moral pillar of the State of Israel,” Gallant says.
“Precisely when it seemed that there was nothing left to hold on to, in times of great pain and terrible tragedy, we as a people held on to the good of the country, the flag, the symbols and the Declaration of Independence — this scroll which is the opening chapter of the unwritten constitution of a country without a constitution,” Gallant says.
His comments come after last week the lawyer representing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government sparked an uproar, during a high-stakes High Court of Justice hearing on petitions against the first piece of judicial overhaul legislation, when he dismissed Israel’s foundational Declaration of Independence as a “hasty” document endorsed by unelected signatories that cannot be a source of legal authority.״
But Ilan Bombach, the attorney who is representing the government in the High Court since Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has refused to do so, replied that the signatories of the foundational document were unelected and that it was “unthinkable” to say the declaration must “bind all future generations.”
“Because 37 people were authorized to sign the hasty Declaration of Independence, which was still being drafted until the last moment, this should obligate people who came later?” Bombach responded.
A Palestinian man reported shot and seriously wounded by the Israeli military on the Gaza border earlier had opened fire at troops.
In a statement, Border Police say the armed Palestinian was spotted shooting toward Israeli forces with a handgun.
A Border Police sniper returned fire, hitting the suspect.
The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip says the Palestinian is seriously wounded.
Police publish footage of the exchange of fire. Border Police and the Israel Defense Forces says no soldiers are hurt amid the riots.
Border Police say officers shot a Palestinian who opened fire toward forces on the Gaza border earlier amid riots. pic.twitter.com/QjlQxeisRu
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 21, 2023
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US journalists, including Semafor founder Ben Smith and NBC executives, in his hotel in New York earlier this morning.
He also met with former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Heading back to the UN, Netanyahu will meet with heads of Pacific island states, leaders from the Caribbean, and Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met last night with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt to discuss artificial intelligence, the Prime Minister’s Office reveals.
Netanyahu asked Schmidt, who has advised both Barack Obama and Joe Biden, to serve on his team of AI advisers, and Schmidt accepted, according to the PMO.
Earlier this week Netanyahu met with Netanyahu tech CEO Elon Musk in California for talks that also touched on the possible benefits and dangers of AI.
The Health Ministry announces Thursday it will allow the Assuta Medical Center in Ramat Hahayal in Tel Aviv to increase the number of egg retrieval procedures performed per day at its in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic.
A limit on the number of embryo implantations it does has also been rescinded.
Following a series of disturbing errors at the IVF clinic that came to light earlier this year, the ministry barred it from accepting new patients and imposed a set of restrictions on its operations.
After a hearing, the hospital was ordered to limit the number of procedures (egg retrievals and embryo implantations combined) performed in the IVF department to 25 per day.
The Health Ministry also instructed the hospital to immediately search for and appoint an independent senior adviser to lead efforts to improve organizational culture around treatment safety, including “the proper and timely reporting of exceptional incidents.”
The Health Ministry reported today that Assuta has complied with the restrictions and improved its operations. In recognition of the high demand for IVF treatment, the clinic will now be permitted to perform 25 egg retrieval procedures per day and “as many embryo transfers as needed during the hours the IVF clinic is allowed to operate.”
The ministry said it would continue to closely monitor operations at Assuta “so that patients receive the best and safest treatment possible.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responds to High Court petitions against a recently passed law barring the court or the attorney general from removing a prime minister from office, saying that such a move would contravene the basic foundations of democracy.
Citing Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address, Netanyahu’s attorney insists in his response that a recusal ordered by the High Court of Justice or the attorney general would contravene democracy, and that the legislation approved in March merely codified this principle.
In the response filed by Michael Rabello, Netanyahu’s legal counsel argues that the court has no authority to intervene in the legislation since it is an amendment to one of Israel’s quasi-constitutional Basic Laws which, he contends, can only be reviewed by the Knesset.
Rabello maintains similarly that the court has no authority to “interpret” that the law should come into effect at a later date, as it has indicated it may do, to avoid the problematic manner in which the legislation was ostensibly tailored for Netanyahu specifically.
“Democracy is government of the people, by the people, for the people,” Rabello writes, quoting Lincoln, adding, “in a democracy, the nation chooses who will lead it.”
Rabello also rejects arguments about the custom-tailored nature of the legislation, insisting that despite its timing it is formulated in a general and long-term manner, and therefore does not fit the criteria for the court’s doctrine of “misuse of constituent authority” by which the law might be struck down or re-interpreted.
A hearing on the legislation before an 11-justice panel is scheduled for next Thursday.
In August, the High Court issued an injunction demanding that Netanyahu and the Knesset explain why it should not delay implementation of the law to circumvent the personal aspect of the measure.
A Palestinian has been shot and seriously wounded by Israeli troops during renewed rioting on the Gaza border, Palestinian media outlets say.
There is no immediate comment from health authorities in the Gaza Strip.
The Israel Defense Forces has been responding to the near-daily riots with crowd dispersal means and live fire in some cases.
Palestinians have been detonating explosive devices and setting tires on fire along the border for five days in a row.
There have been several other riots in recent weeks.
مصادر صحفية:"شبان يشعلون الإطارات المطاطية قرب السياج الفاصل شرق قطاع #غزة". pic.twitter.com/oVDphCzMha
— فلسطين بوست (@PalpostN) September 21, 2023
Israel, the United States, India and the United Arab Emirates announce the launching of a new website for their fledgling I2U2 grouping that will enable private companies to submit business proposals for backing from the inter-governmental forum.
The announcement is made on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly by US Undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Jose Fernandez, Israeli Foreign Ministry director Ronen Levi, UAE Minister of State Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh and Indian External Affairs Secretary Dammu Ravi.
Established last year, the I2U2 partnership aims to bolster cooperation between participating countries in the fields of food security, water, energy, transportation, space, health and technology.
It is also seen as part of a US effort to limit China’s influence in the Middle East and Asia. From Israel’s perspective, the forum is another tool to bolster opposition to Iran while also strengthening the Abraham Accords.
“This website will give an opportunity for businesses to interact and collaborate together to do enduring projects and partnerships in various parts of the world,” says India’s Ravi.
“The creation of this website symbolizes another tangible step forward in our partnership to mobilize private sector capital and expertise to modernize infrastructure, decarbonize industries, enhance public health and promote the development of green technologies,” says the UAE’s Sayegh.
The US’s Fernandez also announces the establishment of the I2U2 Private Enterprise Partnership, a new public-private partnership between the US Department of State, the US-UAE Business Council, the UAE-India Business Council and the UAE-Israel Business Council.
The partnership will “work to increase awareness of the I2U2 initiative in business communities and support projects and other efforts that will further I2U2 goals,” Fernandez says.
Representatives from the three business councils join the event virtually and sign a memorandum of understanding establishing the new partnership.
Speaking to The Times of Israel after the website’s rollout, Fernandez said the general objective of I2U2
“is to galvanize investments by the four countries working together to show the benefits of cooperation in the region.”
He reveals that participants are also looking at investments from countries other than the four member nations, including in southern Africa.
“We wanted to create a bigger pipeline of projects, and so the idea of the website is to have projects submitted, and then the four countries will then decide which ones we want to support,” Fernandez says. “It’s a way of streamlining the process and trying to find more investment. We have interest, we have received projects, but we want more.”
The Israel Defense Forces in a rare statement says it carried out tank strikes against two structures in the Syrian Golan Heights that violated a 1974 disengagement line.
The IDF says the temporary structures were used by the Syrian Army and were a violation of the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria.
“The strike was carried out after IDF soldiers identified the two structures in the area of the security zone yesterday,” the military says.
The IDF says the structures were “a clear violation” of the 1974 agreement, and it holds “the Syrian regime responsible for all activities occurring within its territory and will not allow any attempts to violate Israeli sovereignty.”
Earlier, Syrian opposition media reported that an Israeli drone strike killed two people near the southern Syrian town of Beit Jinn, close to the Israeli border.
A Tel Aviv court upholds the city’s decision to bar a gender-segregated public prayer service in the city.
The Magistrate’s Court rules that it is illegal to erect a mechitzah – a physical barrier used during prayers to separate men from women in accordance with halacha, Orthodox Jewish law — in Dizengoff Square, a public place.
The Yom Kippur event was being organized by Rosh Yehudi, a nonprofit that encourages Jews to embrace a religious lifestyle.
The city refused to allow public segregation, saying that those who wanted to pray in gender-segregated areas were welcome to pray in synagogues.
Rosh Yehudi had previously announced that the event would not be held unless the city withdrew its stipulation, because this would violate halachic principles. It sought a court injunction against the city’s decision.
The Defense Ministry says it recently held a joint air defense drill with the United States.
The ministry says the drill aimed to simulate major rocket barrages on Israel. The drill included the use of Israel’s multi-layered air defenses: Arrow, David’s Sling, Iron Dome and Patriot.
The US forces used Patriot, AEGIS and THAAD systems.
All of the Israeli and American air defenses were operated from Elbit’s so-called Israeli Test Bed battle lab, which “presents real-time data that helps with a comprehensive investigation of the drill,” allowing the forces to update various procedures relating to the systems, the ministry says.
The ministry says the joint drill comes as part of “the ongoing cooperation between the armies, is aimed at improving the level of competence of the troops, and increasing the coordination between the forces.”
Rupert Murdoch, the 92-year-old media magnate who created Fox News, is stepping down as leader of both Fox’s parent company and his News Corp. media holdings.
Fox says in an announcement that Murdoch would become chairman emeritus of both companies. His son, Lachlan, will become News Corp. chairman and continue as chief executive officer of Fox Corp.
Lachlan Murdoch says “We are grateful that he will serve as chairman emeritus and know he will continue to provide valued counsel to both companies.”
Speaking at an American Jewish Committee breakfast in New York, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen says that he hopes “we will be able to mark a bigger and more historic event [than the Abraham Accords] in the coming months.”
He says a possible Saudi-Israel agreement will “symbolize reconciliation between the Jewish people and the Muslim world.”
The foreign minister says he expects more Muslim countries to normalize ties with Israel in the wake of a Saudi deal.
“This will lead toward a safer world,” says Cohen.
Ahead of a possible normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Israel’s Channel 12 TV is already touting tourism possibilities in the kingdom.
A segment this afternoon highlights the abundant tourist attractions in Saudi Arabia, which has long been closed off to Israelis, noting archaeology and nature, along with the modern infrastructure of the oil-rich country.
According to the report, travel agencies and airlines are already gearing up for the possibility of Saudi Arabia being accessible to Israelis, with the approximately 2-hour flight from Tel Aviv to Jeddah expected to cost $350.
It notes the explosive rise of Israeli tourism to the UAE following the signing of the Abraham Accords and predicts a similar trend with the Saudis.
A German study on growing rightwing extremist views in the country finds a comparable rise in antisemitic views, including 16.5% of the population who accuse Jewish people of wanting to “take advantage” of the Nazi past, the Guardian reports.
The biannual study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation found that 8% of the population had a distinctly right-wing extremist view of the world.
The study finds that that those who want a single-party and authoritarian-led state (the word used in the study was führer), rose from 2% to 4% in 2014-2021, to 6% now.
Several leading singers announce that they are canceling their participation in an 80th birthday concert with singer Ariel Zilber after he publicly expressed support and donated money to a Jewish extremist convicted of killing three members of a Palestinian family.
Shalom Hanoch and Aviv Geffen both announce they were pulling out of the concert, while Arkadi Duchin tells Ynet he is also considering withdrawing.
“I am completely opposed to his support for this issue,” Duchin says.
There are also calls on social media to boycott Zilber’s music.
Zilber has publicly spoken out in support of Amiram Ben Uliel and donated to a fundraising campaign aimed at freeing him from prison.
Ben Uliel was found guilty in 2020 of three counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, arson, and conspiring to commit a racially motivated crime, as part of a “terrorist act.”
He is serving three life sentences plus 20 years for the 2015 firebombing in the West Bank village of Duma, in which Riham and Saad Dawabsha were killed along with their 18-month-old son, Ali Saad. Only the couple’s 5-year-old son, Ahmed, survived the terror attack, with extensive burns.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid says that while he welcomes a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, it can’t enable Riyadh to gain a path to acquiring nuclear weapons.
“A normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia is a welcome thing. But not at the cost of allowing the Saudis to develop nuclear weapons. Not at the cost of a nuclear arms race throughout the Middle East,” Lapid says in a statement.
“The Saudi crown prince already spoke yesterday about the possibility of Saudi Arabia having nuclear weapons. All his life, Netanyahu fought precisely against such moves. These are the foundations of our nuclear strategy,” Lapid says.
“Strong democracies do not sacrifice their security interests for politics,” he warns. “It is dangerous and irresponsible. Israel must not agree to any type of uranium enrichment in Saudi Arabia.”
An Iranian court has given two death sentences to a Tajik man convicted of carrying out a gun attack that killed two people at a major Shiite shrine in the southern city of Shiraz, the judiciary website reports.
The website Mizan Online says the Iranian Revolutionary Court in Fars province gave Rahmatollah Norouzof two death sentences because of the seriousness of the crime at the Shah Cheragh mosque. Norouzof, described as a member of the Islamic State group, was convicted of sedition and waging war against God for killing two people and wounding seven in the August attack.
Shah Cheragh is one of Iran’s top five Shiite shrines. It draws pilgrims to Shiraz, about 675 kilometers (420 miles) south of Iran’s capital, Tehran.
An earlier shooting at the shrine in October 2022 killed 13 people and injured 30 others. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack.
The Kimberly Clark company announces a recall of their Huggies Daily Care Baby wipes after an infection was found in the factory.
The company calls on customers not to use the infected batch number 2/144955/21 of unscented wipes.
It also says that out of caution, batches ending in 1896, 1911, 1915, 1919, 1926, 1940, 1949, 1956 should also be returned for a refund.
The company says it is working with the Health Ministry to correct the issue.
זהירות שימו ⛔️⛔️❤️❤️
*החברה המפיצה של "האגיס" הודיעה על ריקול במגבונים ללא בישום לתינוק בשל זיהום*שתפו מדובר בסכנת נפשות pic.twitter.com/2tW2jyatnJ
— משה לורבר Moshe Lorber (@lwrbr) September 21, 2023
Final details on a potential normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia could be worked out as soon as early 2024, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen says
“The gaps can be bridged,” Cohen tells Army Radio. “It will take time. But there is progress.”
“I think there is certainly a likelihood that in the first quarter of 2024, in four or five months, we could be at a point where the details are finalized,” he says of the potential agreement.
Charges are filed in a Haifa court against Shlomo Kartoziya on suspicion he killed his father and attempted to kill his mother.
Kartoziya was arrested at the scene of the crime last month in Hadera.
According to police, they were called to an apartment in the northern city following a report of an incident of violence. Upon arrival, they said, they discovered the body of an 80-year-old man.
Hebrew media reports said neighbors heard screams coming from the apartment and called police. Officers who arrived at the scene witnessed the son trying to stab and strangle his mother, and rescued her.
Reports said that police tased the suspect four times before he could be subdued and arrested.
A pro-opposition reporter in the Syrian Golan Heights reports that the Israeli military carried out a drone strike near the town of Beit Jinn, killing two people.
Beit Jinn is located close to the Israeli border.
The report says the two men were riding on a motorcycle when they were struck by a missile.
There is no immediate comment from Syrian authorities or pro-government media outlets.
#ريف_دمشق
انفجار داخل بلدة #بيت_جن في ريف #دمشق الغربي ناجم عن قيام طائرة مسيرة #إسرائيلية باستهداف علي عكاشة أبو جراح ، زاهر السعدي أبو علاء على دراجة نارية مما أدى لمقتلهما على الفور pic.twitter.com/SMN5StJhz1— Nour Golan (@nourabohsn) September 21, 2023
