Sept. 24: Anti-Israel protesters hang Netanyahu effigy as Israeli PM speaks at UN

Netanyahu takes off for return flight to Israel after UN General Assembly address

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes off for Israel on Wing of Zion after speaking at the United Nations.

He landed in New York earlier today.

After his address, Netanyahu met with the presidents of Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Panama.

Qatar hits back at Netanyahu, defends ‘critical’ role in region after PM blasted nation in UN address

A senior Qatari diplomat hits back at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the Israeli premier used his UN General Assembly address to blast Qatar for hosting Hamas and spreading disinformation against the Jewish state.

“Speaking to a half-empty room during his UN remarks says plenty about the support for this message,” Qatari deputy ambassador to the US Hamad al-Maftuh writes in a post on X. “Blaming Qatar for a political failures does not change the facts.”

“Qatar’s reported funding of American universities has overwhelmingly supported the operation of US university campuses in Education City (in Doha), bringing American higher education to the Middle East. Those universities maintain academic responsibility for their programs; Qatar does not dictate what happens on their US campuses,” he says

Netanyahu had claimed during his speech that Qatar has worked to “brainwash young minds to hate Israel” massively funding American universities. “This is the same Qatar that hosts the Hamas butchers of October 7,” the prime minister said.

“You also know exactly why Hamas representatives have been based in Doha,” the Qatari diplomat responds.

“Qatar has served as a communications channel and mediator in negotiations involving Israel, Hamas, the United States and Egypt. US officials have repeatedly described Qatar’s mediation role as critical or indispensable.”

“At a moment of profound regional and domestic political turmoil, attacking one of the countries doing the difficult work of mediation does nothing to solve the problem,” al-Muftah adds.

The Qatari deputy envoy attaches to his tweet a photo of Netanyahu sitting in the Oval Office alongside US President Donald Trump, reading out an apology written out for him to the prime minister of Qatar over a failed Israeli strike last year targeting Hamas’s leaders in Doha.

@IsraeliPM speaking to half-empty room during his UN remarks says plenty about the support for this message.

Blaming Qatar for a political failures does not change the facts. Qatar’s reported funding of American universities has overwhelmingly supported the operation of U.S.… pic.twitter.com/r8MXgZE7QC

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— Hamad AlMuftah (@hmmm1983) September 24, 2026

Oklahoma must allow taxpayer-funded Jewish religious charter school, judge rules

A federal judge in Oklahoma clears the way for a Jewish organization to establish the nation’s first taxpayer-funded religious charter school in a case over religious rights in American education that could eventually reach the US Supreme Court.

US District Judge David Russell in Oklahoma City issues a preliminary injunction blocking the state from excluding the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation from Oklahoma’s charter program. State law requires charter schools to be nonsectarian.

Charter schools are considered public schools under Oklahoma law and draw taxpayer funds from the state government.

The judge says the restriction expressly discriminates against otherwise eligible schools solely because of their religious character in violation of the US Constitution’s First Amendment protection for the right to exercise one’s religion freely without government interference, known as the “free exercise clause.”

“A long line of Supreme Court precedent supports plaintiffs’ position,” writes Russell, an appointee of Republican former President Ronald Reagan.

Another provision of the First Amendment, called the “establishment clause,” restricts government officials from establishing or endorsing any particular religion or promoting religion over nonreligion.

Set up as alternatives to traditional public schools, charter schools typically operate under private management and often feature small class sizes, innovative teaching styles or a particular academic focus.

The judge blocks the Republican-led state from enforcing its state law. Several Oklahoma taxpayers and families intervened to defend the law after the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board, which had denied Ben Gamla’s application, opted not to oppose a ruling against the nonsectarian mandate.

Hundreds chant ‘Zionism will fall’ at anti-Netanyahu march to UN

Hundreds of protesters chant “Zionism will fall” at a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the UN.

The protesters, led by the Palestinian Youth Movement, are marching from Bryant Park, in midtown Manhattan, to the UN.

The rally is the largest of the many protests against Netanyahu today.

Protesters hold a huge cardboard cutout showing Netanyahu drenched in red, his hands dripping in blood.

One protester waves the red flag of the PFLP terrorist group. Others hold signs saying, “Zionism is terrorism.”

“Zionism in all its forms will never be welcome in New York City,” a speaker tells the crowd.

Responding to Netanyahu, Mamdani accuses PM of ‘baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide’

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani responds to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the UN General Assembly, in which the premier called the mayor “antisemitic” and accused him of being friendly with Hamas.

Mamdani, a staunch opponent of Israel, has previously called Netanyahu a “war criminal” and urged his arrest on an International Criminal Court warrant for war crimes charges. Netanyahu denies the allegations.

In a statement following Netanyahu’s speech, Mamdani accuses the prime minister of leading a genocide, a charge he has made previously and that Israel rejects.

“As he has done time and again, Prime Minister Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians,” Mamdani says in his statement, according to local media reports. “Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

On social media, meanwhile, Mamdani writes that he planted an olive tree at his residence last night with Gazan Palestinian families, sharing a video of that event.

Last night I planted an olive tree at Gracie Mansion with Palestinian families from Gaza. 

May peace be our future. pic.twitter.com/3snGtcAA0J

— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) September 24, 2026

France to send troops to protect Saudi Arabia on Red Sea oil route, Macron says

France will send troops and defense systems to Saudi Arabia to help protect the Red Sea port city of Yanbu, which is key for energy transport, French President Emmanuel Macron says.

“This is the agreement we have finalized with the Saudis: We are going to send military resources, that is to say, soldiers, radar systems and defense systems, to protect this site — not to get us involved in any conflicts, but to protect this site,” Macron says in an interview with TF1 and France 2 TV.

Gunman shouted ‘You’re going to die for the Jews’ before opening fire outside Ontario synagogue — police

A former Canadian soldier who opened fire on a police officer outside an Ontario synagogue during Yom Kippur shouted, “You’re going to die for the Jews” moments before shooting, police say, declaring that the attack was motivated by hate.

Belleville Police Chief Murray Rodd discloses the alleged words of 29-year-old Sean Ward as police for the first time publicly identify a motive for Sunday’s attack outside the Sons of Jacob Synagogue.

“Make no mistake, this was a targeted attack against the Jewish community,” Rodd says. “The suspect had the means, the motive and the mechanisms to cause a mass casualty.”

Police play audio of the attack at a news conference Thursday that they say captures Ward shouting the antisemitic threat before opening fire on Const. Jeff Smith, who was stationed outside the synagogue.

Rodd said Smith was shot multiple times in the head and body but still got out of his vehicle and confronted the attacker, staying engaged for nearly three minutes despite suffering life-threatening injuries. A second officer arrived and joined the gunfight.

About two dozen people were inside the synagogue marking the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. None was injured.

Ward was critically wounded and died the following day. Smith, a 13-year veteran of the Belleville Police Service, remained hospitalized with serious injuries and is expected to undergo multiple surgeries.

The Department of National Defense has said Ward served as an infantry soldier with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry before leaving the Canadian Armed Forces in 2022 at the rank of corporal. He did not deploy during his service.

The province’s police watchdog previously said as many as 30 shots were fired and nearby vehicles and homes were struck.

Synagogue president Norman Weddum has said bullets pierced a window facing the street and struck the opposite wall.

The attack comes amid a spike in reported antisemitic incidents in Canada.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report. 

Some 60 ships passed through Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, US official says

Some 60 commercial vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, carrying the highest daily volume of crude oil since early July, despite the ongoing war between the US and Iran, a US official tells Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

About 40 of those vessels coordinated with the US military for protection, the US official adds. A total of about 22 million barrels of oil exited the maritime chokepoint.

Reuters could not independently verify the US official’s figures.

Houthis say they attacked Riyadh and Aramco facilities in Yanbu

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis say they had launched missile and drone attacks on what they described as “a sensitive target” in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh and on Saudi Aramco facilities in the Red Sea city of Yanbu.

The statement comes after Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis toward the southern province of Taif and Yanbu area on the Red Sea.

There is no immediate Saudi confirmation of an attack on Riyadh or of damage or casualties in either Taif and Yanbu.

US to hand over diplomatic center at Baghdad airport, Iraqi foreign minister says

The United States will transfer to Iraq a diplomatic and logistics hub at Baghdad airport that was repeatedly targeted by Iran-backed groups during the current war, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry says.

It says an agreement was signed with the US charge d’affaires Steven Fagin “to hand over the diplomatic support center affiliated with the US embassy at Baghdad International Airport to the Iraqi government.”

The move, it adds, is part of efforts to end the US-led coalition’s military presence in Iraq, with the remaining troops set to complete their exit by September 30.

For years, Iran-backed armed groups that have long called for the withdrawal of foreign troops have targeted US facilities and coalition forces in Iraq.

During the Iran war, those groups have targeted US sites more than 600 times, including the Baghdad airport facility.

An Iraqi security official and a diplomatic source told AFP earlier this month that US troops have already evacuated the site.

Baghdad and Washington agreed in 2024 to end the coalition’s mission against the Islamic State group (ISIS) in Iraq.

Coalition forces are now only present at Erbil airport after having withdrawn from other bases.

The coalition’s presence, especially after the defeat of ISIS, has been a persistent point of friction between Iraqi authorities and Tehran-backed factions in the country.

Since taking office this year, Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has pledged to reinforce the state’s monopoly on arms and ensure that armed factions hand over their arms to the state.

Authorities say that ending the coalition’s mission removes a key justification used by those groups to keep their weapons.

Report: IDF representative views ‘NAZA’ for first time, compiles report on allegations

An IDF representative has viewed the controversial Israeli-made documentary “NAZA” for the first time and compiled an internal report summarizing its allegations, Channel 12 reports.

The film, which is not in wide release and has been seen by few Israelis, alleges that Israel killed civilians in Gaza with AI-powered strikes. Before its representative viewed the film, the IDF denied allegations in its promotional materials.

The military representative watched the film in Bologna, Italy, after its creators declined IDF requests for a screening, according to Channel 12.

The resulting document reportedly details the film’s claims under headings including “mass destruction and the burning of homes,” “the killing of civilians at food distribution sites,” “comparisons to the Nazis in World War II and substantiation of the claim this was a genocide.”

The military is now examining the claims and will determine how to respond, Channel 12 reports.

Earlier this month, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir instructed the military’s top legal official to examine possible legal action against the film and those involved in producing it, accusing them of defaming the military. Zamir also ordered an investigation into the alleged leaking of classified material used in the documentary.

The 80-minute film by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor – whose title is a Hebrew acronym meaning collateral damage – includes testimonies from 24 purported anonymous Israeli intelligence soldiers. The film won a special jury prize earlier this month at the Venice Film Festival, where it debuted.

The film is set to begin screening in cinemas across 56 countries next week and will be released online for free in November.

Netanyahu doesn’t mention Saudi Arabia, expansion of Abraham Accords in UN speech

In his speech at the UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not mention Saudi Arabia or the expansion of the Abraham Accords, a common theme in recent speeches.

Nor did he present any new evidence regarding Iran, as Israel’s UN envoy had said he would earlier today.

Instead, the speech focused on the crimes of the Iranian regime, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, antisemitism, praise of US President Donald Trump, and criticism of Western European leaders.

‘The eternity of Israel will not falter’: Netanyahu ends UN General Assembly speech to applause

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moves toward the end of his speech at the UN by noting that the Jewish people’s story goes back over 3,000 years.

“We speak the same language today that we spoke then. We live in the same land in which our ancestors lived then — David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah,” he says. “That’s our land: The Land of Israel. Our prophets, our purpose and our people are unique in history.”

“Our values have inspired humanity for millennia,” he continues: “The belief in one god. The sanctity of life. The rule of law. Our eternal quest for peace. Our eternal quest for justice. It is these sacred values that propelled us throughout the ages. It is these values that helped us beat the odds of history.”

“Over the centuries, the tyrannies that tried to destroy us failed time and again,” he concludes, “and God willing, they will continue to fail. If we muster our courage, if we steel our resolve, we will continue to win.”

“The eternity of Israel will not falter,” he says, quoting the Bible, “and the reason is simple: “We have no other choice.”

“Happy holidays, and thank you,” he says to a 30-second round of applause from the gallery.

Netanyahu at UN: It’s ‘brotherhood of democracies or Muslim brotherhood’ for Europe

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the UN General Assembly, says leaders in Western Europe are succumbing to antisemitic mobs, and are “afraid to defend freedom.”

He says the choice lies between “the brotherhood of democracies, or the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Israel “does not wait for others to wake up from their moral slumber,” he says, pointing to Israel’s innovations that he says help all of humanity.

He says Israel has never been stronger, and is not afraid of its enemies.

The “tyrants of Tehran,” however, are afraid — of their own people, he says, referring to Iran’s leaders.

Netanyahu holds up a StarLink communications device, the Elon Musk-owned system that provides internet via satellite, which he says allows Iran’s people to exercise freedom of thought and speech. He says he will leave the StarLink device with UN officials to give to the members of the Iranian delegation, so that when they “inevitably defect,” they can tell their story on social media.

He asks protesters, including those outside the building, where they were when Iranian tyrants butchered tens of thousands of their own people at anti-government protests at the beginning of the year.

He calls them “phony human rights protesters,” stressing that they also don’t stand up for Christian minorities. He says that in Israel, Christians are growing and thriving.

He asks why they didn’t protest when Christians left Bethlehem under the Palestinian Authority.

“The power of the people will overcome the people in power,” he says about Iran’s future, predicting that “the murderous regime will be toppled by its lies, by its corruption, by its cruelty.”

Netanyahu claims to UN that settler violence is work of ‘handful of juvenile delinquents’

Speaking to the UN, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the international media focuses on a “handful of juvenile delinquents” responsible for settler violence in the West Bank.

He says “he can’t stand vigilantism” and that he set the Shin Bet intelligence agency on them.

He says that settler violence only leads to 2 or 3 casualties a year.

Settler violence and harassment have surged in recent months, with near-daily incidents. Arrests and convictions are rare, and critics accuse the government of condoning or even encouraging it.

Turning to French President Emmanuel Macron, who claimed from the same UN podium that Hamas “never operated” in the West Bank, he stresses that a French citizen was killed on Sunday, shortly before Yom Kippur, in the territory.

He then turns to the ramming attack that seriously hurt IDF reservist Neria Leiter: “He’s fighting for his life now in a Jerusalem hospital.”

He speaks about the soldier’s father, Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, whose pain Netanyahu says is “immeasurable.”

“Despite the pain, despite the agony, we do not give in,” he says.

He cites a recent post by Neria: “We have no other country. And it’s a privilege to defend it.”

“Your sacrifice will not be in vain. We will continue to fight, and we will continue to win because we have no other choice,” he says.

Netanyahu lauds Israel’s military record since Oct. 7 in speech to UN

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discusses the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, calling it the “darkest day in Israel’s history,” in his speech to the UN General Assembly.

He points out the “glee” with which Hamas terrorists killed neighbors across the border in Gaza, livestreaming as they murdered. “Can you imagine such monstrosity?”

“Our enemies expected us to collapse. Instead, we rose and fought like lions,” he says to applause.

He lauds the heroism of soldiers fighting a seven-front war for three years — Israel’s regional enemies ganged up on Israel, he says, aiming to wipe it off the face of the earth.

But Israel’s enemies failed to destroy it, and with “our great American friends,” Israel hammered Hamas and pummeled Hezbollah.

“Do you remember the beepers? Hezbollah certainly remembers them,” he says, referring to the operation that exploded beepers held by Hezbollah operatives, and that Israel’s warriors took out Iran’s air force, navy, and nuclear program.

He says Hezbollah’s leaders are dead, and their spirits are broken. He lists the terrorist leaders that Israel has killed.

“The remaining terrorists are desperately trying to regroup,” and are trying to murder the Jewish people every day, especially in the West Bank.

“None of this is covered in the international press, or in social media,” he claims.

Netanyahu, recalling brother, says, ‘We’re going to win. We have no other choice’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, blasts the United Kingdom and France for accusing Israel of colonialism, saying, “Give me a break,” and noting those countries’ long histories of colonialism.

He tells Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who has demanded that Israeli soldiers withdraw from a buffer zone they hold in Syria, that the Golan Heights was in Jewish hands at the time of the Bible.

Netanyahu then turns to the lead-up to the 1967 Six Day War, when he saw his brother Yoni, then a 21-year-old paratrooper.

He says he asked Yoni what was going to happen. Yoni answered, “We’re going to win. We have no other choice,” Netanyahu recalls.

Nine years later, he says, Palestinian terrorists hijacked a plane and ordered it to land at Entebbe Airport in Uganda.

He speaks of Yoni leading the rescue mission to rescue the hostages, when he was killed.

Netanyahu thanks Uganda for erecting a statue in the airport where Yoni fell.

“Yoni’s words are as true today as they were half a century ago,” he says. “We’re going to win. We have no other choice.”

Netanyahu: Decision to destroy Iran’s nukes one of easiest calls I’ve ever had to make

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invites any other “moral cowards” to leave the room after a walkout by many Arab diplomats at the United Nations General Assembly in New York as the premier takes the stage.

He starts by discussing Iran’s nuclear program.

He says he stopped Iran from threatening the world.

“Devastating Iran’s nuclear facilities was hard,” he says. “But for me it was one of the easiest decisions I’ve had to make as prime minister. If I hadn’t done it, we’d be dead.”

Netanyahu says Israel defended many of the countries whose diplomats have just walked out, and that many of their leaders privately thanked him.

“It’s hard to imagine more mind-blowing hypocrisy,” he says.

Netanyahu takes podium as supporters cheer, dozens of diplomats walk out

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes to the podium at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Supporters in the gallery give him a standing ovation and chant “Am Yisrael Chai,” while some delegations on the floor below stage a walkout.

The presiding officer calls for order before the prime minister’s speech begins.

Susan Sarandon, Hannah Einbinder, far-left politician Avila Chevalier detained at anti-Israel protest, footage shows

Footage circulating on social media shows that actress Susan Sarandon and Darializa Avila Chevalier, a far-left Democratic nominee for US Congress, are among the dozens detained at an anti-Israel protest outside the UN, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is about to take the podium.

Actress Hannah Einbinder is also reportedly arrested.

🚨NYPD ARRESTS Susan Sarandon.

"That's @SusanSarandon there." –@JordanChariton reacts to NYPD Arresting her at an anti-Netanyahu protest outside the United Nations in NYC pic.twitter.com/nEYZeTusbU

— Status Coup News (@StatusCoup) September 24, 2026

The X account belonging to Avila Chevalier, a staunch opponent of Israel who is heavily favored to win her election, shares a post about her being detained by police for blocking a road.

Darializa Avila Chevalier, NY-13 DSA candidate, is at a Jewish Voice for Peace protest against Benjamin Netanyahu's arrival in NYC

She has been arrested alongside Chi Ossé, Gustavo Gordillo, and Caleb Hearon

(via @RahhalEmily) pic.twitter.com/xsltGZa35A

— Popstonox (@Popstonox) September 24, 2026

WATCH: Netanyahu addresses UN General Assembly

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes the podium at the United Nations General Assembly.

A veteran of UN speeches, Netanyahu is expected to discuss the ongoing conflict with Iran, which was launched in late February with US-Israeli strikes but is now primarily between Washington and Tehran.

He is also expected to address criticism of Israel, which has been a theme of several world leaders’ speeches at the General Assembly this week. He has said he will respond to criticism from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has called Netanyahu a “war criminal,” a charge he denies.

Netanyahu’s speech comes about a month before Israel’s October 27 election. Polls have shown the prime minister and his allies trailing ahead of the vote.

Watch his address live here:

Israel supporters, dignitaries take seats ahead of Netanyahu speech

The gallery above the main floor at the United Nations General Assembly Hall fills up with supporters of Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of his speech.

Among the guests in the audience are pro-Israel attorney Alan Dershowitz and urban warfare expert John Spencer, who has defended Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

80 countries call at UN for full restoration of Gulf maritime navigation

A coalition of 80 countries call at the UN for the full restoration of maritime navigation in the Gulf, disrupted by Tehran after the start of the war with the US.

“We call for the full restoration of navigational rights and principles without delay,” says Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani, reading a joint statement to journalists.

PMO’s official: Netanyahu energized ahead of UN speech, Mamdani can’t silence him

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “energized” ahead of his United Nations speech, an official in the Prime Minister’s Office tells The Times of Israel.

New York City Mayor Zohran “Mamdani tried to silence him,” the official continues. “He will be heard. He is so up for it. The more pressure he faces, the stronger he is.”

The official’s remark refers to statements from Mamdani calling for Netanyahu to be arrested on charges of war crimes at the International Criminal Court, which Israel denies. Because the US is not a party to the court, Mamdani has acknowledged that the NYPD cannot arrest Netanyahu while he’s in town. But Mamdani, an outspoken opponent of Israel, has called the premier a “war criminal” and accused him of spearheading a genocide.

The official says the speech will be “vintage Bibi.”

The official adds that Netanyahu “feels the spirit of his brother,” Yoni, who died rescuing hostages in the Entebbe raid, and that Netanyahu will talk about his brother.

Netanyahu will stress that “Israel must win because we have no other choice,” the official says.

Gaza suffering world’s worst-ever economic crisis, UN agency says

Gaza is suffering the world’s worst economic crisis ever recorded, with nine in 10 businesses destroyed and hundreds of thousands of people unemployed, a top UN development agency warns.

The war in Gaza, sparked by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught, devastated the territory of two million people before a fragile ceasefire was announced in October 2025.

“The collapse of the economy of Gaza is the world’s most severe economic crisis on record,” says Pedro Manuel Moreno, acting secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

“It has wiped out decades of development and generated an acute economic crisis for its people,” he tells reporters in Geneva as the organization releases a new report.

It says 92 percent of Gaza’s “economic establishments have been damaged or destroyed.”

The territory’s daily per capita GDP is $0.58 a day, the report says. Prices are 274 percent higher than in 2022.

Before October 2023, “two out of three Gazans were poor. Today, everyone in Gaza is multidimensionally poor,” says Mutasim Elagraa, UNCTAD’s coordinator for assistance to the Palestinians.

Industrial activity and agricultural production have fallen by 94 percent, with only 1.5 percent of arable land accessible, forcing “total dependence on humanitarian food aid,” Elagraa says.

According to the report, the conflict has destroyed hundreds of thousands of jobs, leaving more than 90 percent of Gaza’s working-age population unemployed.

The report also details an economic and financial crisis in the West Bank, citing “reduced access to land and natural resources linked to [Israeli] settlement expansion.”

The Palestinian Authority government has borrowed heavily from local banks, drawn on the Palestinian pension fund and owes money to private contractors, Elagraa says.

The territories risk a “banking collapse,” he warns. The “political and social and humanitarian consequences will be immense.”

Dozens arrested for blocking street near UN at rally led by anti-Zionist Jews

Dozens of activists are detained by police for blocking a street near the UN at a rally led by the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace.

Police lead a long line of cuffed activists wearing shirts that say “Fund people not bombs” onto a police bus on First Avenue, just south of UN headquarters.

Protesters on the sidelines chant, “None of us are free until all of us are free,” and “Free Palestine.”

Brad Lander, a Democratic nominee for Congress in New York, protests alongside the activists.

Netanyahu meets Slovenia’s PM at UN ahead of speech

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds his second meeting at the United Nations, this one with Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša, who has transformed the country’s approach toward Israel to a friendlier one.

According to the Israeli readout, Netanyahu congratulates Janša on the opening of the Israeli Embassy in Ljubljana and thanks him for his support.

He also invites him to visit Israel.

Netanyahu meets Greek PM at United Nations ahead of speech

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

According to Netanyahu’s office, he emphasized “the importance of the strategic partnership between the two countries for regional stability and welcomed Greece’s decision to acquire Israeli defense systems.”

They also discuss energy cooperation, preparations for another trilateral summit of eastern Mediterranean countries with Cyprus, and “developments in the region,” usually seen as a euphemism for the Iran conflict.

Zamir says Navy reaches ‘new heights’ with sixth submarine’s arrival

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says the military continues to monitor Iran and its proxies, at a ceremony marking the arrival of the Israeli Navy’s sixth submarine, INS Drakon.

“Even these days, our eyes remain open to what is happening in Iran and among its proxies. The Iranian regime is wounded and battered but has failed to change its intentions,” says Zamir at the ceremony.

Zamir says that with the arrival of INS Drakon, “the Navy reaches an improved maritime posture and new heights in its capabilities and operational strength: More covert, farther-reaching, deeper, and more lethal.”

Netanyahu arrives at UN ahead of speech to General Assembly

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the United Nations complex in Manhattan ahead of his address to the General Assembly.

Footage shows him putting on a red tie, shaking hands with police officers, and walking through the UN building, holding the hand of his wife, Sara.

Katz calls arrival of Navy’s sixth submarine a message to Iran

Defense Minister Israel Katz says the arrival of the Israeli Navy’s sixth submarine, INS “Drakon,” this evening, is a message to Iran.

After around 12 years of planning, construction, and testing, INS Drakon made a 3,792-nautical-mile (around 8,000 kilometers) voyage of 23 days from Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems’ shipyard in Kiel, Germany, to the Haifa Naval Base.

“The submarine’s arrival is an important message to all those who seek to threaten us, foremost among them the murderous Ayatollah regime in Tehran,” says Katz at a ceremony for the arrival of INS Drakon.

He says Israel “will continue to build capabilities to thwart threats, while our enemies clearly understand a fundamental principle: Distance does not grant immunity, not in the air, not on land, and not at sea.”

“The Navy has been a full partner in all the achievements across the various combat arenas, as well as in other arenas that cannot be discussed,” Katz says, adding, “One thing is clear to us all: the Navy’s role is growing, and in the future, it will grow significantly more.”

The Times of Israel and other outlets visited the submarine at sea this morning, on the final leg of her maiden journey. A full story from the visit will be published on Sunday evening.

Pro- and anti-Netanyahu Jewish protesters face off outside UN, shout ‘shame’ in different languages

Jewish protesters opposing and supporting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gather in separate groups outside the UN, ahead of his speech to the General Assembly.

The Netanyahu supporters blow whistles to drown out anti-Netanyahu speakers, shout “shame” in English, and chant “Bibi.”

The anti-Netanyahu crowd largely ignores them. They hold signs saying “stop settler terror” and showing images of Palestinian war casualties. They chant “shame” in Hebrew, a common chant of anti-government protesters in Israel.

France says ICC warrant posed no obstacle to Netanyahu overflight

France defends its decision to let Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plane cross its airspace en route to the United Nations, saying international law did not require action despite an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against him over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Israel has denounced the charges and denied the accusations. Former defense minister Yoav Gallant also faces an arrest warrant.

France is a signatory of the ICC’s founding Rome Statute and is formally bound to cooperate with the court, including arresting suspects who enter its territory. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux tells reporters the clearance was “in full conformity with international law.”

“The Rome Statute does not impose any obligations regarding overflights of its territory by a state plane which has a passenger who is targeted by an arrest warrant,” Confavreux says.

Netanyahu is unable to travel to many countries because of the International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued against him and Gallant, as well as the then-military commander of Hamas in 2024.

Flight-tracking app Flightradar24 shows Netanyahu’s plane flew over Greece, Italy and France. A spokesperson for Italy’s Foreign Ministry says they cannot immediately answer whether Israeli authorities had sought permission for an overflight.

Last year Netanyahu flew a circuitous route to New York to skirt the airspace of several European countries, including France, media reported at the time.

Netanyahu arrived in New York this morning, local time, and is due to address the UN later today.

UAE confirms it suspends Iranian airlines’ flights until further notice

The United Arab Emirates’ General Civil Aviation Authority says it suspended flights by Iranian airlines to and from the country until further notice.

The authority says in a statement carried by the state news agency that the decision was based on US sanctions imposed on Iranian airlines over the use of airports around the world.

IDF says troops detained several Israelis trying to cross into Gaza

The Israeli military says troops detained several Israeli civilians who attempted to cross into the Gaza Strip earlier today.

Their motive is not immediately clear.

According to the IDF, the civilians crossed a security barrier and entered a buffer zone inside Israeli territory on the border.

Troops dispatched to the scene detained them and brought them back through the fence.

The IDF’s Gaza border fence is built several dozen meters inside Israeli territory, and the military says the Israeli civilians never entered the Strip itself.

“The IDF is focused on its defensive mission in the Gaza Strip and emphasizes that the area adjacent to the barrier is designated as a closed military zone, and entry into it is strictly prohibited. Arriving at this area endangers the safety of civilians and IDF troops operating in the area,” the military says.

Erdogan says he’s ‘confident’ Turkey will get US F-35 jets

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expresses confidence that Ankara will regain access to the US F-35 fighter jet program, saying he expects “concrete” steps from Washington to that end.

US President Donald Trump “expressed a positive willingness regarding Turkey’s return to the F-35 program,” he tells reporters on the plane back from the UN General Assembly in New York.

UK-made film featuring IDF testimonies about Gaza nominated for International Emmy

The 2025 British film “Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War,” initially broadcast on the British ITV network, is one of four nominees for the International Emmy Award in the current affairs category.

The documentary, made by British-Iranian filmmaker Ben Zand, presents testimonies from soldiers who served in Gaza, raising allegations of harm to civilians and the use of Palestinians as human shields. Zand’s co-director, Matan Cohen, is based in Israel and interviewed the soldiers.

“Breaking Ranks” is currently available online on YouTube and Apple TV in the UK.

The film’s nomination follows the ongoing storm over the Israeli-directed documentary “NAZA,” which alleges that Israel killed civilians in Gaza with AI-powered strikes. “NAZA” is also based on testimonies from purported anonymous military personnel, and won a Special Jury prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Other International Emmy nominees dealing with Israel include Louis Theroux’s “The Settlers,” a BBC documentary about Jewish settlers in the West Bank. In the news category, Al Jazeera’s “Missing in Gaza,” a documentary project focusing on the search for missing individuals in the Gaza Strip, was nominated as well.

The winners will be announced on November 23 in New York.

The International Emmys are an extension of the US Emmy Awards and honor TV programs initially produced and aired outside the United States.

Danon says Netanyahu’s UN speech to feature ‘vision on how to confront Iran’ amid ‘tough period for Israel’

UNITED NATIONS — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will “present his vision on how to confront Iran, and what actions should be taken,” UN Ambassador Danny Danon tells The Times of Israel.

Netanyahu, says Danon, “will prove his case” on Iran, and that the “surprises” Netanyahu touted ahead of the speech will include new evidence of Iran’s misbehavior.

Danon, referring to ongoing US-Iran fighting, stresses that confronting Iran is ” not only the White House’s responsibility, it should be the responsibility of the entire Western civilization.”

Danon acknowledges that Netanyahu will try to get his message through in a very difficult environment for Israel. Polls show public opinion of the country sinking to historic lows amid the war in Gaza and fighting on other fronts.

“It’s a tough period for Israel after three years of war,” he says, adding, “the hostility is not about Netanyahu. It’s about Israel.”

Danon denies there is any significance to Netanyahu not meeting with US President Donald Trump or any other senior US officials on his brief trip: “Netanyahu has met with him eight times since he returned to office, more than any other world leader. They met two months ago, and they speak all the time.”

He says he has been in touch with his fellow diplomat, Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, since hearing about Leiter’s son Neria being seriously injured yesterday in a ramming attack.

“He was supposed to be here with me,” says Danon. “We are all praying for Neria’s recovery.”

Danon says the attack underscores the inflammatory nature of French President Emmanuel Macron’s remark in his UN speech yesterday that Hamas does not operate in the West Bank.

PA’s Abbas tells UN Palestinians ‘will not disappear,’ calls for Palestinian state alongside Israel

NEW YORK — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking to the UN General Assembly, insists that Palestinians “will remain on their land” amid calls from members of Israel’s government for “voluntary migration” from Gaza.

“They will not accept displacement, and they will not disappear. Neither military occupation, nor settlements and annexation, nor settler terrorism can constitute a solution or create lasting security,” Abbas asserts in a prerecorded video speech.

“At the same time, we will not continue waiting, and we will not accept what the governments of the Israeli occupying state decide for us. No lasting security can be built on the occupation of another people and the denial of their legitimate rights,” he says.

“Our vision for peace is clear… a Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel; and Palestinian-Israeli peace that opens the way toward peace, regional integration, cooperation, prosperity and security for all,” Abbas says.

He stresses his rejection of terrorism and antisemitism during his prerecorded speech to the UN General Assembly.

“On behalf of the State of Palestine, I renew the commitments in which we believe: We want security and peace for all. We reject attacks against civilians by any party. We reject terrorism and extremism in all their forms. We combat antisemitism, racism and hatred. And we believe in a culture of peace, dialogue and coexistence,” Abbas says.

“We want a democratic Palestinian state that respects the rule of law and human rights, a non-militarized state that lives in security and peace alongside the State of Israel,” he continues.

Abbas, during his decades helming the PA, has coordinated on security in the West Bank with Israel. During that time, he has also made antisemitic remarks in public speeches, including a 2018 speech blaming the Holocaust on Jewish behavior, which was widely decried.

Abbas claims to UN that PA ‘completed’ its pledged reforms, slams Israel withholding tax revenue

NEW YORK — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas claims the PA has “completed” the reforms it pledged to make a year ago.

“We have completed the national reform program to which we committed before our people and the international community, strengthening institutional governance, public finances, transparency, accountability, combating corruption and the rule of law,” Abbas says in his remarks to the UN General Assembly, delivered via video because the US denied him a visa.

He highlights the reform of its controversial welfare system that critics dubbed “pay-to-slay” because it granted stipends to the families of slain attackers and Palestinian security prisoners based on the length of their prison sentence, which critics called a reward for terrorism. The PA has scrapped that system in favor of one that is strictly need-based, but Israel and the US claim that payments to terrorists have continued.

Abbas also points to the PA’s reform of its education system, which has included the development of curricula in cooperation with UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. A PA official has told The Times of Israel that Ramallah has been unable to print many of the new textbooks due to its financial crisis sparked by Israel, but that the virtual versions of the textbooks have been updated online.

Abbas notes the upcoming legislative elections that have been scheduled for November 28 followed by presidential elections, though, he doesn’t provide a date for the latter.

Neither election has been held for two decades.

He also notes Israel’s withholding of over $6 billion in Palestinian tax revenues, which Jerusalem collects on Ramallah’s behalf and is supposed to transfer to the PA each month.

The clearance revenues make up the majority of the PA’s budget and Israel’s refusal to issue those transfers for over a year has prevented Ramallah from paying salaries to tens of thousands of public employees and has significantly restricted the basic services it has been able to provide to Palestinians.

Israel used to withhold only a portion of the tax revenues, corresponding to what it said the PA paid to security prisoners and the families of slain attackers.

But since spring 2025, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich—who has called for collapsing the PA—has refused to sign off on any of the monthly transfers.

Government reblurs maps showing military sites in Gaza

The Israeli government’s public mapping site, govmap, has partially re-blurred the sections of the northern Gaza Strip that were uncensored recently.

The imagery in northern Gaza on govmap.gov.il, revealing military sites, still appears to be the same high-resolution aerial footage as before. However, upon zooming in, a blur is now applied to the imagery.

A representative of govmap told The Times of Israel yesterday that all of the site’s imagery is published “in accordance with relevant guidelines and approvals,” but that the site will “examine it with the authorized authorities” following the inquiry.

Abbas laments stagnation of Gaza rebuild, says it must be joined into Palestinian state

NEW YORK — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas laments the stagnation of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war.

Abbas recalls that the PA backed the plan, which kept his West Bank-based body from governing the Strip until it carries out comprehensive reforms.

“Unfortunately, we have not seen [the plan to rebuild Gaza] materialize on the ground. Israeli killing and aggression continue to claim the lives of men, women and children in Gaza,” he says.

Abbas notes that the mandate granted by the UN Security Council for Trump’s Board of Peace to oversee the postwar management of Gaza expires at the end of next year.

“The transitional period must not turn into a permanent or open-ended situation without a clear political and time horizon,” he says. “Rather, it must lead to the reunification of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, under the jurisdiction of the State of Palestine and its legitimate institutions, according to the principle of: one state, one government, one law, and one legitimate weapon.”

He goes on to call out what he says have been attacks by Jewish extremists against Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and the West Bank as well as Israel’s efforts to shutter the UN Agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. Jerusalem argues that the agency, which is responsible for providing education, healthcare and vocational training to Palestinians, is irredeemably infiltrated by Hamas.

Abbas requests that the international community urgently intervene to prevent Israel’s ongoing advancement of the controversial E1 settlement project in the West Bank, “which aims to separate the northern West Bank from the south and isolate East Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings, preventing the realization of a geographically contiguous Palestinian state.”

The PA president thanks the UK and 11 other Western countries that recently announced plans to sanction Israeli settlements and calls on Trump to fulfill his commitment to Arab leaders last year to prevent Israel from annexing the West Bank.

While Jerusalem has refrained from formally doing so, critics argue that its host of steps aimed at expanding its grip and settlement presence throughout the West Bank amount to de facto annexation.

Israel’s consul general in NY greets Netanyahu on tarmac

Footage released by the Prime Minister’s Office shows Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara descending the stairs from his official plane, Wing of Zion, after it landed at Stewart International Airport north of New York City.

They are met by Israel’s Consul General in New York Ofir Akunis and IDF and US military personnel.

Israel’s Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter is back in Israel after his son Neria was seriously injured in a Palestinian ramming attack in the West Bank yesterday.

Netanyahu is expected to arrive at the United Nations shortly ahead of his address, scheduled for 2 p.m. local time (9 p.m. Israel time).

PA’s Abbas tells UN Israel trying to force Palestinians out, accuses it of ‘genocidal war,’ ‘settler terrorism’

NEW YORK — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accuses Israel of launching a “genocidal war” against Palestinians in Gaza, and of protecting “settler terrorism” in the West Bank, where his body is based.

He says Israel hopes to “forcibly drive” Palestinians out of their land.

While Abbas has previously condemned Hamas’s October 7 onslaught that sparked the war three years ago, he has made no mention of the terror group in his speech at the UN General Assembly.

He also calls out Israeli policies in the West Bank where “settlement expansion is accelerating, the West Bank is being fragmented… and settler terrorism is escalating under the protection of the occupation forces.”

“The theft of land, home demolitions, checkpoints and raids continue amid a system of laws, measures and practices based on racial discrimination, ethnic cleansing and state terrorism,” Abbas claims.

He also laments that “Jerusalem is being isolated and Judaized,” an apparent reference to the growth of Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, which Israel considers part of its undivided capital but Palestinians widely see as the capital of a future state.

“The danger is no longer limited to undermining the two-state solution and preventing the realization of a Palestinian state. It now threatens the very life and existence of the Palestinian people on their homeland,” Abbas says, accusing Israel of advancing “a malicious colonial plan whose goal is to make Palestinian life more difficult on their homeland and forcibly drive them to leave it.”

“Do not allow another Nakba and massacres like those that took place in 1948,” he tells UN members, referencing the year of Israel’s War of Independence and using a term referring to the mass displacement of Palestinians during the war.

Abbas, speaking to UN via video, slams US for barring him from entry, says PA shuns terrorism

NEW YORK — Addressing the UN General Assembly virtually, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas knocks US President Donald Trump’s administration for preventing him from attending the forum in person for the second year in a row.

Last week, the US announced that it was extending last year’s ban on Palestinian officials, arguing that Ramallah had violated US legislation that penalizes the West Bank-based PA if it targets Israel in international organizations, advances the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, pays stipends to terrorists or glorifies violence.

“We reject these unlawful punitive measures, and we reject the accusations and justifications on which they were based,” Abbas says.

“We affirm that we have fulfilled our obligations, carried out a comprehensive national reform program, and upheld our commitment to international law, to shunning violence and terrorism,” the PA leader argues.

“The Palestinian people and its leadership should not be punished for… turning to the UN, the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court,” he says.

“Our choice to invoke international law and its institutions is a peaceful and civilized choice, and not an act that runs counter to peace. Denying the Palestinian delegation access to the UN headquarters is a violation of the United States’ obligations as the host country,” he argues, calling on the US to lift its sanctions against the PA and resume dialogue with Ramallah, “rather than punishing the side that has chosen the path of international law and political and diplomatic action in order to guarantee its rights.”

Neria Leiter’s life won’t be out of danger for at least 24 hours — hospital trauma chief

Dr. Alon Schwartz, head of the trauma unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, estimates that Neria Leiter’s life will not be out of danger for at least 24 hours.

Schwartz, providing an update to Channel 12 on the condition of Leiter, the IDF reservist seriously injured in a car-ramming attack yesterday, says his condition is stable but his life is still in danger. He is currently in the ICU, where he will stay for the coming hours, with no more surgeries needed immediately, the doctor says.

Leiter is the son of Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the US.

“We had a long night of surgeries,” Schwartz tells the network, adding that Leiter still “has a very severe wound.”

Schwartz says Leiter’s life will not be out of danger for a full day, at minimum.

“I estimate that in the coming days, at the moment when we can say the brain bleed has stopped, when overall he is starting to stabilize in terms of blood pressure, we can say he’s out of danger,” he says. “It will take at least another full day.”

Knife-wielding man shouting ‘Heil f***ing Hitler’ chases Jewish Brooklyn resident

A knife-wielding man chased a Jewish man into his home in Brooklyn yesterday while shouting, “Heil fucking Hitler,” video shows.

Video released by the Crown Heights Shmira neighborhood watch group shows the Jewish man running up the stairs to his home, followed by the assailant.

The man shouts, “Now I know where you live,” while brandishing his knife after the Jewish man goes inside, the video shows.

Knife-wielding man chases a yeshivah in Crown Heights, shouting "Heil F*cking Hitler."

As the student runs into his home, the many shouts "Now I know where you live." pic.twitter.com/WNWlIbHKLC

— Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone (@Mottel) September 24, 2026

The NYPD says the suspect was arrested, and charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime and harassment.

The incident took place early yesterday morning.

Separately, the Boro Park Shomrim neighborhood watch group releases video showing a man beating a Jewish man with his fists.

This vicious assault on a Rabbi happened on Dahill Road a short time ago. Thanks to the quick action by @NYPD66Pct Q-Team officers Baptiste and Hua, the perpetrator was arrested. #SaferStreets pic.twitter.com/vHXRgO42WZ

— 𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐨 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐫𝐢𝐦 (@BPShomrim) September 24, 2026

The victim was a rabbi and the assailant was arrested, Boro Park Shomrim says.

Police say the victim is a 66-year-old man who was taken to Maimonides Medical Center in stable condition.

The suspect was arrested and charged with assault, obstruction of breathing and harassment.

Crown Heights and Boro Park both have large ultra-Orthodox populations. Jews are targeted in hate crimes in New York City more than all other groups combined.

WATCH: Palestinian Authority President Abbas addresses UN General Assembly via video

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speaks via prerecorded video at the UN General Assembly.

He speaks via video because he was not allowed by the US to travel to the UN General Assembly.

His speech comes amid an uptick in violence in the West Bank, where the PA is based, with multiple recent violent Palestinian attacks on Israelis, including a car-ramming yesterday that seriously injured IDF reservist Neria Leiter, the son of Israel’s envoy to the US.

There have also been near-daily incidents of settler violence and harassment in the territory.

This is Abbas’s first address to the UN since a ceasefire was announced in Gaza last October. Gaza is now split between Israeli and Hamas control.

Watch the address here:

IDF issues rare contradiction of police after they reported finding tunnel route in West Bank

The Israeli military accuses the Israel Police of publishing “irresponsible statements” after police said they had found a tunnel route in the West Bank city of Qalqilya yesterday.

Yesterday, police announced that they had located a 25-meter (82 feet) deep tunnel in Qalqilya, with weapons inside, along with “the start of an excavation of another tunnel.”

During the operation, four suspects were detained, police said, without mentioning any involvement of the IDF in the raid.

The IDF says that “contrary to official and irresponsible statements that emerged on the matter, following an examination of the shafts, the presence of a tunnel route was ruled out.”

The military says the two shafts were approximately 12 meters deep, not 25, and that “it was also determined that the shafts were not located in proximity to the area of the security barrier” near the West Bank border.

The weapons found by the forces, including IDF troops, were located “near the shafts,” the army adds, and not in them.

In Morocco, centrist party tops parliament vote; Islamists make gains

A liberal-centrist party founded by an adviser to Morocco’s king came out on top in parliamentary elections after a late boost from the man credited with leading the national soccer team to global fame, early results show.

The vote is not expected to fundamentally change the political balance in the country, a constitutional monarchy where the king retains sweeping powers over foreign policy, defense and other key portfolios.

But the incoming parliament will shape the government overseeing the last stages of a $20-billion push to get ready for the 2030 World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Portugal and Spain.

It will also implement economic policies aimed at addressing widespread youth discontent, an issue highlighted by a mass border rush on the Spanish exclave of Ceuta this summer and deadly Gen-Z-led protests last year.

The Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) — which was the second-largest member in the outgoing coalition — moved up to the top spot, bolstered by the recruitment of Fouzi Lekjaa, Morocco’s soccer federation chief and two-time government budget manager, who joined weeks before the vote.

He is now seen as a strong potential candidate for prime minister, who is selected by the king from the winning party.

PAM was created in 2008 by an adviser to the king and has since positioned itself as a counterweight to the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) by advocating social modernization and secular-leaning views.

The party’s coalition partners in the current government, the National Rally of Independents (RNI), lost its leading position and came second in the vote, according to the provisional tally.

PAM took 97 seats in the 395-seat parliament — up from the 87 it secured in the last vote in 2021 — ahead of the RNI with 66, while the conservative nationalist Istiqlal Party secured 65 seats, according to the results.

The Islamist PJD rebounded to 54 seats, from only 13 in the previous election, buoyed by the return of its former prime minister Abdelilah Benkirane. One of its candidates who won a seat, according to Ynet, is Aziz Hanawi, an anti-Israel activist who opposes Morocco having established diplomatic relations with Israel. He was once pictured standing on the Israeli flag, according to the outlet.

The Islamist party headed Morocco’s government for two five-year terms after a new constitution was adopted in 2011 in the wake of the “Arab Spring” protests, but lost heavily in the last election.

Three leftist parties took smaller shares of the seats.

CNN, MS NOW, Politico say reporters still barred from White House

CNN, MS NOW and Politico say their reporters are barred from entering the White House despite a court order that their access be restored.

The three media outlets say their reporters were turned away by the Secret Service when they tried to enter the White House today.

Netanyahu lands at airport north of NYC, set to return shortly after speech

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lands at Stewart International Airport in the Hudson Valley, 60 miles (some 100 kilometers) north of Manhattan, according to flight tracker information.

He will then head south to the United Nations in New York City, where he is scheduled to give an address to the General Assembly at 2 p.m. local time (9 p.m. Israel time).

Netanyahu will meet with world leaders during his time in New York, but unlike previous trips to speak at the UN, this one will not include an itinerary of appearances in the United States or a meeting with US President Donald Trump.

The prime minister, who is due to face protests in New York City, is set to return to Israel shortly after his speech.

Tankers of Iranian oil that were seized by US are in Atlantic, tracker shows

Three Iran-linked oil tankers seized by the United States and carrying nearly six million barrels of Iranian crude oil were in the Atlantic Ocean today, tracking data indicates.

They did not have their destination marked on their transponders, but specialist website TankerTrackers said yesterday on X that they were heading toward the United States.

“Nearly six million barrels (valued at nearly $600 million) of seized Iranian crude oil are quietly crossing the Atlantic Ocean towards the United States of America,” the post says.

One of the tankers, the Majestic X, briefly listed the US as its destination from July 31 to August 2, as it began heading toward the Atlantic from waters off Malaysia, according to tracking data from maritime platform Kpler.

The three tankers are sanctioned by the United States under programs aimed at limiting Iran’s oil exports.

They were seized after the US started a blockade of Iranian ports in retaliation for Iran’s obstruction of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for oil exports from Gulf countries, after the start of the Iran war.

Two of the tankers, the Majestic X and the Tifani, are currently off Brazil’s northern coast, Kpler data shows.

Both vessels were seized by the US in April after loading oil in Iran, according to Kpler.

The US Department of War described the seizures as an effort to “disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran,” in X posts in April.

Iranian and Ukrainian foreign ministers meet in New York — Mehr news agency

The Iranian and Ukrainian foreign ministers held a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly today, the semi-official Mehr news agency reports, the first such meeting since tensions rose in July following a Ukrainian attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea.

Boy with rare brain-eating amoeba dies after Sea of Galilee swim

Baruch Neriya, 9, from Pardes Hanna, who was hospitalized at the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, has died after contracting encephalitis as a result of a rare amoeba of the Naegleria fowleri type.

The boy swam at Kursi Beach at the Sea of Galilee about a week before his hospitalization in early September.

The amoeba causes an extremely rare but highly fatal infection of the central nervous system. Fewer than 500 cases have been reported worldwide, including two in the US over the past year. Israel has seen three recorded cases in recent years.

Symptoms begin with a high temperature, headaches, vomiting, nausea, and neurological symptoms, usually affecting consciousness.

Committee to Protect Journalists erases 22 people from list of media workers killed in Gaza war, after they are identified as combatants

NEW YORK — The Committee to Protect Journalists says it has removed 22 people from its list of media workers killed in the Gaza war after a review triggered by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad obituaries identified some as combatants, although it still named Israel the world’s leading killer of journalists.

With the reclassifications, the committee now concludes that Israel is responsible for the deaths of 191 journalists or other media workers in Israel or the Palestinian territories since the start of the war, sparked by Hamas’s bloody October 7, 2023, massacre on southern Israel.

“The accuracy and credibility of CPJ’s research are fundamental to our mission and to efforts to seek accountability and justice for journalists and media workers around the world,” the group’s CEO Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement.

The CPJ says it has continuously revisited tallies as new evidence emerges since it began tracking the killings of media workers in 1992.

“We base the determinations we make solely on whether individuals meet our definitions of who we consider to be a journalist, not an individual’s affiliation or views, nor in response to pressure or intimidation from any government or interest group,” Ginsburg says.

Israeli forces “remain responsible for by far the majority of killings of journalists and media workers worldwide since 2023,” the CPJ says in a statement.

The group says it was taking 22 people off its list of slain media workers in the conflict, bringing to 36 the net total removed.

The committee also reinstates four people it says had been wrongly removed from the tally. It separately also reclassifies two Israelis killed in the Hamas massacre on October 7 as journalists.

Earlier this year, the watchdog said its board voted to reaffirm its existing definition of who is a journalist after facing public backlash over its decision to launch a “full review” of its Gaza casualty database.

The review was announced following a Times of Israel investigation that identified multiple Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives previously reported as slain journalists.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

‘Roo the Jew?’: Ex-British soccer star Wayne Rooney reveals Jewish ancestry

Former British soccer striker Wayne Rooney reveals that he is Jewish in a new documentary series on Disney+.

The former Manchester United star tells the camera in the fourth episode of “The Real Rooneys,” a series about his family, that his maternal grandmother was Jewish and that her family came from Poland.

“Technically, if that’s true, you’re actually Jewish,” a producer notes.

“I’m Catholic. But then I’ve always asked questions like, why aren’t we Jewish?” he responds.

Joking about a spin-off in which he would investigate his ancestry, Rooney quips: “Roo the Jew?”

Anti-Zionist Haredi sect reportedly to pay Israelis $200 if they don’t vote in election

The anti-Zionist, ultra-Orthodox Satmar religious sect is planning to pay Israelis $200 if they commit to not voting in the upcoming October 27 election, Channel 12 reports.

Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, who has tens of thousands of followers in the US, will use his HaShekel HaTahor fund to pay people who sign up, Channel 12 says.

The payouts will begin tonight, according to the report.

Saudi coalition says it shot down six ballistic missiles fired by Houthis at Taif and Yanbu

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen’s Houthis says that its forces intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by the Iran-backed group, thwarting attacks on the Saudi cities of Taif and Yanbu.

“Escalations and violations by the terrorist Houthi militia will be dealt with firmly,” says coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki in a series of posts on X.

Another round of strikes on Iran ‘matter of time,’ Israeli source tells Saudi outlet

An additional round of strikes against Iran is “a matter of time,” an unnamed Israeli source tells the Al-Hadath Saudi news channel.

The source says Iran is increasingly moving components of its nuclear program to Pickaxe Mountain, which was not bombed in the war that began in February, nor in last year’s war.

After Israel and the US struck Iran’s nuclear sites during the 12-day war in June 2025, Iran hasn’t given IAEA inspectors access to nuclear sites that were affected by the strikes. The IAEA also has been unable to verify the status of Iran’s stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium since the June bombing.

US President Donald Trump has said he may order a strike on Pickaxe ​Mountain.

Election panel rejects bid to disqualify Democrats, concluding hearings on election bans

The Central Elections Committee votes 14-2 against disqualifying Yair Golan’s Democrats party from running in the October 27 election, concluding the committee’s hearings on petitions seeking to disqualify parties and candidates from running.

The petition, filed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party, sought to bar the Democrats under provisions of Basic Law: The Knesset, which prohibits parties that negate Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state or incite racism.

Two committee members voted in favor of the petition and 14 against, with no abstentions.

The CEC earlier today also rejected a petition filed by the Democrats seeking to disqualify Otzma Yehudit. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara previously said there is no legal basis for barring either party from the election.

Saudi authorities warn of attacks targeting Mecca, Red Sea cities

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Civil Defense issues a series of alerts, including for Mecca City, home to Islam’s holiest site, in warnings that usually indicate a potential missile threat.

“A warning has been issued by the National Early Warning Platform in Mecca City to alert of a potential danger,” it says, with separate warnings for the Red Sea governorate of Yanbu as well as the Taef, Jeddah and Tabuk regions.

Yuval Abraham says ‘NAZA’ will be put online for people to view for free in November

Yuval Abraham says his controversial documentary “NAZA” about civilian deaths in Gaza will be published online for people to freely view sometime in November.

The film alleges that Israel used AI to systematically target civilians in Gaza, a charge the IDF has denied.

“Until then, we approached cinemas in Israel and offered them the film at no cost, in the hope that it will be screened in the country already now, in parallel with its distribution in cinemas around the world,” he writes on X.

Abraham notes “many incorrect things” have been said about his film, and backs the “three years of comprehensive journalistic investigation” he and colleague Rachel Szor put into the work.

“We made the film to spark a public discussion about the government’s actions in Gaza, the killing of more than 73,000 people, most of them civilians, the normalization of a war of extermination, of the notion that ‘there’s no uninvolved,'” he writes. “Twenty-four male and female soldiers took a step and spoke in front of a camera about what an entire society doesn’t want to talk about.”

Abraham says he and Szor will return to Israel “and continue to struggle for the future of this place together with our many partners.”

Mordechai David, a pro-government provocateur, has vowed that when Szor and Abraham get back to Israel, they will be hounded by protesters.

Election panel rejects bid to disqualify Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party

The Central Elections Committee votes 21-3 against disqualifying Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, which is running on a joint slate with Moshe Feiglin’s Zehut, from participating in the October 27 election.

The petition, filed by the Zulat Institute for Equality and Human Rights, sought to bar the Religious Zionism-Zehut slate under provisions of Basic Law: The Knesset, a quasi-constitutional law prohibiting parties that negate Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state or incite racism.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has said there is no legal basis for barring the slate from the election.

Three committee members voted in favor of the petition and 21 against, with no abstentions. The CEC is headed by a Supreme Court justice but is composed of representatives of Knesset factions, with the coalition holding a majority, making its decisions highly political.

UAE said to halt flights by Iranian airlines to comply with US sanctions

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian media says that the United Arab Emirates has suspended flights operated by Iran’s airlines to comply with US sanctions.

“All flights by Iranian airlines to the United Arab Emirates have been cancelled since midnight,” the ISNA news agency says.

An Iran Airtour flight from Tehran to Dubai was canceled shortly before its scheduled departure in the morning, after tickets had been issued, one passenger tells AFP.

Court ups man’s sentence to 7.5 years for stealing cars from Kibbutz Be’eri closed military zone after Oct. 7

The Beersheba District Court extends to 7.5 years the jail sentence of a man convicted of using his status as a volunteer car-tow provider to steal five civilian vehicles left in Kibbutz Be’eri days after it was ravaged in the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023.

The man, Guy Haddad, ran a car-towing company out of Rishon Lezion that volunteered its services to security forces, giving it unique access to the closed military zone that the IDF declared in the kibbutz.

The Beersheba Magistrate’s Court last year found Haddad guilty of conspiracy to commit a crime and five counts of car theft, and sentenced him to 5.5 years behind bars based on a legal precedent of about one year for each count of car theft.

The Southern District Attorney’s Office and Haddad both appealed the ruling, with prosecutors saying the punishment did not match the seriousness of the offense, and Haddad challenging the testimony of a key witness. The higher court accepts prosecutors’ arguments and rejected Haddad’s.

The District Court says Haddad’s offenses “are not ‘regular’ car theft offenses” and “cannot be divorced from the circumstances of their execution.”

“In our case, just days after the events of October 7, 2023, when the entire country was shell-shocked, grieving and traumatized,” Haddad “chose to conceive an unthinkable plan to make money at the expense of border residents, some of whom were cruelly murdered, some of whom were abducted and some of whom were wounded in spirit and forced to evacuate their homes and leave their property behind,” the court says.

The higher court otherwise upholds the Magistrate’s Court findings, including its ruling that Haddad pay a NIS 25,000 ($8,195) fine and NIS 5,000 ($1,640) to each of the car owners.

According to the conviction, Haddad had instructed other volunteers who were operating his tow truck on kibbutz grounds to transfer the five cars to his parking lot — three on October 18 and two on October 19 — falsely claiming on both occasions that the orders had come from the military.

Also on October 19, according to the conviction, Haddad produced a “fictitious transfer of ownership” to himself for one of the cars stolen the previous day.

One of the cars picked up on October 19 was immediately returned to the closed military zone after the owner asked Haddad why the vehicle was being towed, and another car was returned at a later date, according to the District Court.

Two of the other cars were transferred to Palestinian Authority territory on October 22, making it impossible to bring them back, the District Court says.

Yemen’s government says it repelled Houthi attack on key supply route to Aden

Yemen’s Saudi-backed government forces repelled overnight attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis on a key supply route to the southern port city of Aden, where the internationally recognized administration is based, government sources say.

The steep, winding mountain pass, known as Hejat al-Abd, is a lifeline for forces fighting on behalf of Yemen’s government, which has been hemmed in by a lightning Houthi advance this month linked to the Iran war.

The road is also critical for goods entering Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, and its southern and western rural areas. It is the only route for residents seeking to travel abroad, with no commercial flights operating from Houthi-controlled areas.

The Houthis have kept up pressure on government forces as they seek to consolidate gains made nearly two weeks ago, when their offensive along Yemen’s western coast brought them to the shores of the Red Sea’s strategic Bab el-Mandeb waterway.

Germany probing 105-year-old man over possible war crimes at Nazi POW camp

BERLIN, Germany — A 105-year-old man is being investigated for possible crimes committed at a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, German prosecutors say.

“The 105-year-old suspect is thought to have been a guard at the prisoner-of-war camp Stalag 326 VI K” in the Senne region of western Germany, prosecutors tell AFP in a statement.

The man is “accused of being an accessory to multiple murders through his activities there.”

The case was first reported by the Bild newspaper, which said that another former guard at the same camp had recently been investigated but had died in the interim.

The Senne camp housed between 180,000 and 200,000 Soviet prisoners of war between 1941 and April 1945, when it was liberated by American troops, according to the memorial that now stands there.

“Of the approximately 5.3 to 5.7 million Soviet prisoners of war who were taken into German captivity overall, between 2.3 and three million did not survive,” the memorial says.

Soviet prisoners of war suffered from “malnutrition, inadequate medical care, appalling sanitary conditions, and… forced labour.”

Election panel rejects bid to disqualify Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit

The Central Elections Committee votes 19-10 against disqualifying National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party from running in the October 27 election, rejecting petitions filed by the Democrats and the Zulat Institute for Equality and Human Rights.

The petition sought to bar Otzma Yehudit under provisions of Basic Law: The Knesset, a quasi-constitutional law prohibiting parties that negate Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state or incite racism.

“Ben Gvir is not a right-wing Zionist; he is a racist Kahanist who has been convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organization,” says Democrats MK Gilad Kariv during a hearing on his party’s petition to disqualify the Otzma Yehudit slate.

Ben Gvir was convicted in 2007 of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organization.

Otzma Yehudit has filed a reciprocal petition seeking to disqualify the left-wing Democrats, which will be voted upon later today. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has said there is no legal basis for barring either party from the election.

The CEC is headed by a Supreme Court justice but composed of representatives of Knesset factions, with the coalition holding a majority, making its decisions highly political.

Israel sponsors 500 billboards in NYC highlighting Iranian threat, US partnership as PM visits for General Assembly

Ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly today, his office says it has ramped up its public diplomacy efforts during the confab by plastering trucks and billboards near the UN headquarters in New York City with messages highlighting Iranian threats and hailing the US-Israel partnership.

Five hundred billboards and dozens of trucks with digital screens convey messages focused on “the threat that the Iranian terrorist regime poses to the free world, and the joint efforts of the US and Israel against it,” the National Public Diplomacy Directorate of the Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement.

Various billboards emphasizing the Iranian nuclear and terror threats and displaying American and Israeli flags bear messages including “Freedom doesn’t defend itself,” “A nuclear Iran can’t become a reality,” and “Who do you stand with?” Another billboard targets the Iranian delegates by calling out the dire economic situation of Iran’s civilians.

Israel has sponsored similar campaigns ahead of previous assemblies, with last year’s messages centered on highlighting Hamas atrocities during the October 7, 2023, massacre and the hostages still held by terror groups in Gaza at the time.

British tourist goes viral for video complaining about high prices and poor quality of Auschwitz Museum cafe

A British tourist has gone viral for a TikTok video of her complaining about the high prices and low quality of drinks at the cafe at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum, the museum on the site of the former Nazi concentration camp where over one million people were murdered.

The video, posted by user FreeSpirit666 on September 14 and captioned “Prices at auschwitz,” has racked up four million views and over 202,000 likes.

“We fancied a coffee, so there is a restaurant there because we were early, so we thought we would get a coffee, but they don’t do decaffeinated and they don’t do any other milk other than real milk,” the tourist, Lynne, says.

So, she got a “strawberry smoothie, which tasted very watered down.”

Her daughter, Kerry, had a lemonade, which tasted like “Dettol,” an antiseptic cleaning product. Lynne takes a sniff of the bottle and says it smells like “toilet cleaner.”

Together, their drinks cost 9 pounds, Lynne complains.

“When you come to Auschwitz, bring some food and drink,” she says.

The video drew a range of responses, some appearing to crack jokes over the post, while others saying she was disrespectful and should be “ashamed.”

A spokesperson for the museum tells the UK’s The Times that the cafe is run independently.

“For us, the essential point remains that people come to the Auschwitz Memorial to learn about the history of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, to confront the fate of its victims and to commemorate them,” he tells the paper.

Alex Hearn, the co-director for the UK’s Labour Against Antisemitism, says, “This highlights how some people have become disconnected from the true horror of the Holocaust and the death camp,” according to The Times.

3 Border Police officers questioned on suspicion of stealing car while on duty, internal watchdog says

Three Border Police officers were questioned under warning yesterday on charges of car theft and abuse of power after they allegedly stole a vehicle while on patrol in the Jerusalem area, the Department of Internal Police Investigations says.

The three allegedly noticed the parked car with its keys inside and “drove it while causing damage to adjacent cars until they abandoned it without informing superiors,” DIPI says in a statement, adding that the vehicle has not yet been found. The statement does not specify when the offense allegedly took place.

The officers have been ordered to stay away from police facilities for 15 days, DIPI says.

NYPD appears unfazed after mystery men pop out of sewer near hotel set to host Netanyahu

After several mystery men emerged from a sewer near a New York City hotel where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to stay, the NYPD says there have been several such incidents over the past few months.

“We have seen a number of incidents over the past few months of individuals going into the sewer system to look for valuables and other scrap metal after a storm,” the NYPD says in a statement carried by US media outlets.

“This incident fits that same criteria, but out of an abundance of caution given the UN General Assembly and the sensitivity of the location, the NYPD is conducting additional security sweeps with our federal partners,” it says.

According to footage, the men exited the sewer at around 4:30 a.m. New York time yesterday.

The men are believed to have been seen emerging from sewers elsewhere in the city earlier in the year, according to NBC news.

Netanyahu took off this morning to New York City for the annual UN General Assembly meeting.

Khamenei adviser says Iran may take war to Indian Ocean if Israel or US strikes again

TEHRAN, Iran — An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei warns that Tehran may expand the Middle East war to the Indian Ocean if the US or Israel attacks again.

“Since the conflict has spread from the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea, it is possible that, in response to more war, the front will expand even further, reaching the Indian Ocean and perhaps beyond,” says Yahya Rahim Safavi in a video released by Iran’s Fars news agency.

Settlers reportedly set fire to two vehicles in West Bank village

Settlers set fire to two vehicles in the village of Atara, in the Ramallah area, Palestinian media outlets report.

According to the reports, settlers also spray-painted graffiti in Hebrew in the area, reading: “Revenge,” “Transfer only,” and “Qusra (a village south of Nablus), wait until Thursday.”

No injuries have been reported.

🔵 متابعة شهاب | مستوطنون يحرقون مركبتين ويخطون شعارات معادية خلال هجومهم على قرية عطارة شمال رام الله pic.twitter.com/ArlgwvWYF6

— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) September 24, 2026

UN report: Rise in reported incidents of violence against women within Gazan society

A report by the UN Population Fund finds that the number of reported incidents of gender-based violence against women and girls within Gazan society rose by 27 percent between April and June 2026, compared to the January-March period.

The most commonly reported form of violence was the denial of resources and opportunities to women (32% of reported cases), followed closely by emotional violence (30.9%) and physical assault (30.5%), the UNFPA finds.

Additionally, according to the report, there has been an increase in reported incidents of early and forced marriage in Gaza, with girls aged 12-17 accounting for 16% of such cases.

The report is based on data from 10 organizations operating in Gaza under the UN umbrella and covers only reported incidents.

According to the report, the increase in reported incidents can be linked to the expansion of service delivery points for survivors of gender-based violence in the Gaza Strip, which rose from 64 to 74 during the reporting quarter.

Katz decries Erdogan’s ‘antisemitic’ UN speech, calls him ‘paper sultan’

Defense Minister Israel Katz slams what he calls Turkish President Erdogan’s “antisemitic and inciting” speech at the UN General Assembly earlier this week.

Katz refers to Erdogan’s claim that Israel was responsible for “the most inhumane and shameful concentration camp of our time,” in Gaza.

“The man who embraces and funds the Hamas murderers and rapists accuses Israel of acting in its own defense against a terrorist organization,” Katz writes on X.

“Erdogan knows how to speak and fantasize about the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, but when he needs to act he is just a paper sultan,” Katz says.

Federal judge orders Trump to restore White House access to banned news outlets

A federal judge orders US President Donald Trump to restore White House access for journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico, saying his ban on the three media outlets was likely unconstitutional.

In a major setback for Trump in one of his biggest battles with the media, US District Judge Tim Kelly issues his order in a lawsuit that the news organizations filed contesting the ban that the Republican president announced on September 18.

Trump had said on social media that the three outlets “shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES,” and Justice Department lawyers had sought to justify the ban on national security grounds.

10 ships crossed Hormuz yesterday, remaining below 10-day average, data shows

SINGAPORE — Ten commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, up from seven a day earlier and below the 10-day moving average of about 17, preliminary shipping data shows.

The figures could change as some ships switch off their transponders during the voyage.

Netanyahu departs for New York City to address UN General Assembly

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes off from Israel on Wing of Zion ahead of his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on Thursday afternoon.

His plane took off from an airbase in southern Israel for security reasons.

Morocco reports 38% turnout in parliamentary elections, a low of nearly two decades

Morocco’s parliamentary election drew a turnout of 38 percent, authorities say, marking the lowest level in almost two decades as the kingdom struggles with voter apathy amid social crises.

Nearly 16 million people are registered to vote, with many voicing frustrations about unemployment and inequality ahead of the polls.

Wednesday’s turnout fell short of 2021’s 50 percent, and is the lowest since 2007 when the figure was 36.8 percent.

EU’s Costa urges Iran to cooperate with IAEA, halt strikes on neighbors and allow free navigation in Hormuz

European Council President Antonio Costa says he spoke with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and urges Iran to resume its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Costa also calls for an end to Iran’s strikes against its neighbors and the full restoration of freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

Hundreds rally against antisemitism outside UN headquarters in New York

Hundreds gather at a rally against antisemitism near the United Nations in midtown Manhattan.

The protest, led by leading Jewish organizations, calls on world leaders to address antisemitism during the annual UN General Assembly.

Eric Goldstein, the head of the UJA-Federation of New York, says that, while world leaders are gathered in the city to discuss global challenges, “We know they are not addressing the rampant proliferation of antisemitism around the world.”

“The United Nations, created out of the ashes of the Holocaust,” he says, “has allowed its sacred mission to be hijacked by a singular focus on condemning Israel. This must end.”

He demands global leaders condemn antisemitism, without any equivocations, and create “serious national action plans” to oppose discrimination against Jews.”

Neria Leiter’s life ‘still in danger’ after emergency brain surgery, hospital says

Neria Leiter, the IDF reservist seriously injured in a car-ramming attack in the West Bank, underwent emergency brain surgery at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, but his life is still in danger, according to a statement from Dr. Alon Schwartz, the head of the hospital’s trauma unit.

Schwartz indicates that the surgery lasted for hours, and says that Leiter’s condition has stabilized, though he is still seriously injured.

“He was taken urgently to emergency surgery that has essentially continued almost until this moment,” Schwartz says in a video statement published around 11 p.m. “His condition has stabilized, but his life is still in danger. It’s impossible to say that his life is not in danger.”

Schwartz adds that multiple medical teams are working on improving Leiter’s condition. He says Leiter’s head injury was the most severe and dangerous wound he received.

Leiter is the son of Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the US.