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The Times of Israel liveblogged Friday’s events as they unfolded.
Belgium beats Israel 3-1 in soccer game held in Hungary after Brussels refused to host match
Belgium's midfielder Kevin De Bruyne (2ndL) and Israel's midfielder Mohammad Abu Fani (L) shake hands after the UEFA Nations League football match in Debrecen, Hungary, on September 6, 2024. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)
Kevin de Bruyne scored twice as Belgium opened their UEFA Nations League campaign with a 3-1 victory over Israel behind closed doors in Debrecen in Hungary.
The victory left Belgium tied atop Group 2 in the top-tier League A with Italy who beat France by the same score.
The match, a Belgian home fixture, was moved after the city of Brussels deemed it “impossible to organize this very high-risk match” in the city due to tensions linked to the Israeli-Hamas war.
Other Belgian cities also refused to host the match.
De Bruyne gave Belgium a 21st minute lead. Jeremy Doku broke down the left and pulled the ball back to his unmarked Manchester City club-mate.
Israel levelled after 36 minutes when Timothy Castagne deflected a header powerfully off his own crossbar and into the net.
Youri Tielemans ran on to a flick from Lois Openda to put Belgium ahead again in the 48th minute.
Openda, starting after Romelu Lukaku asked to be left out of the Belgium squad, then drew a foul from Raz Shlomo to win a penalty that de Bruyne converted in the 56th minute.
Four minutes later, Openda won another penalty, drawing a foul from Sagiv Jehezkel.
Captain De Bruyne, who had never scored a hat-trick for Belgium, passed the ball to Openda but Yoav Gerafi saved the spot kick with his legs.
IDF says airstrike targets Hamas command center in Gaza school
The IDF says it carried out an airstrike against a group of Hamas operatives at a command room embedded within a former school in Gaza City.
According to the military, Hamas was using the Halima al-Sadia School in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood to plan and carry out attacks against troops and Israel.
Palestinian media report several casualties in the strike.
To mitigate harm to civilians in the strike, the IDF says it carried out “many steps,” including using precision munitions, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence.
“The Hamas terror organization systematically violates international law, brutally exploiting civilian institutions and the population as a human shield for terror activity,” the military adds.
In recent months, dozens of airstrikes have been carried out against Hamas sites embedded within schools and other sites used as shelters for civilians, according to the IDF.
Iran reply to Haniyeh killing will be stronger ‘than anything Netanyahu’s colonial state has ever faced’ – UK’s Galloway
Controversial left-wing firebrand George Galloway says that Iran is yet to respond to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has not spoken yet, and when it speaks, it will speak with far greater volume than anything that Netanyahu’s colonial state has ever faced before by any adversary,” the British lawmaker says in comments carried by Iran’s official Press TV.
He claims that Iran has done “more for the Palestinians” amid the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza “than any other country.”
The Islamic Republic of Iran has not spoken yet, and when it speaks, it will speak with far greater volume than anything that Netanyahu's colonial state has ever faced before by any adversary: @georgegalloway @OutWithGalloway pic.twitter.com/xZ3EZ7ImYP
— Press TV ???? (@PressTV) September 6, 2024
Noting that the US last month sent the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East to protect Israel from a potential Iranian attack, Galloway critiques the move, saying, “An aircraft carrier is just a floating coffin.”
The Scottish-born lawmaker, nicknamed “Gorgeous George,” has had a long and checkered political career in which he has represented several British parties, including Labour.
He sparked controversy in the 1990s when he visited then-Iraq leader Saddam Hussein, telling him: “Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability,” and international notoriety in 2005 when he was called to testify over Iraq in the US Senate. He had earlier been expelled from Labour over his stance on the war.
Agencies contributed to this report.
IDF: More than 15 rocket launchers, Hezbollah sites targeted in south Lebanon airstrikes
More than 15 rocket launchers and sites belonging to Hezbollah were targeted in a series of airstrikes in southern Lebanon this evening, the IDF says.
According to the military, some of the launchers were primed for rocket attacks on Israel.
The IDF says that immediately following the strikes, rockets were seen flying out of some of the targeted launchers, which landed in Lebanese territory.
The military publishes footage of the strikes. According to Lebanese media, the strikes occurred in the Nabatieh Governate.
מטוסי קרב, בהכוונת פיקוד הצפון, תקפו בשעה האחרונה יותר מ-15 משגרים ותשתיות צבאיות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בדרום לבנון.
לאחר תקיפת המשגרים, אשר חלקם היו מוכנים לשיגור מיידי לשטח הארץ, זוהו שיגורים שיצאו מהמשגרים ונפלו בשטח לבנון. pic.twitter.com/DHMTUWq6ne
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) September 6, 2024
Report: Iran delivers close-range ballistic missiles to Russia as Ukraine’s Zelensky calls for air defense support
A man crosses a street as motorists drive past a billboard depicting Iranian ballistic missiles in service in Tehran on April 19, 2024. (AFP)
Iran has delivered close-range ballistic missiles to Russia, according to American and European officials quoted in a US report, despite Western warnings not to supply the weapons to Moscow.
Russia is believed to have signed a contract in December in Tehran with Iranian officials for the Fath-360 and another ballistic missile system built by Iran’s government-owned Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO) called the Ababil.
Western officials quoted by the Wall Street Journal say the shipment involves some 200 short-range missiles, with a range of around 800 kilometers (500 miles).
The report comes as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky makes a fresh appeal for more weapons to counter the threat from advancing Russian forces in the east of the country and Moscow’s devastating missile strikes.
He presses his nation’s case to allies meeting at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where Washington unveils a new $250 million in military aid for Ukraine, and later in the day at an international forum on the Italian Lakes.
“We need more weapons to drive Russian forces off our land,” says Zelensky, who also met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz today and will meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni tomorrow.
“The world has enough air-defense systems to ensure that Russian terror does not have results, and I urge you to be more active in this war with us for the air defense,” Zelensky says.
Former Shin Bet chief calls for Netanyahu’s ‘fanatical’ government to be replaced ‘tomorrow’
Former Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman in a television interview aired September 6, 2024. (Screenshot: Channel 12, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Former Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman expresses concern that Israel is “on the way to a dictatorship,” while calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to be replaced immediately, in an in-depth television news interview.
“The only thing driving Netanyahu right now is the desire to continue being the prime minister of Israel no matter what,” Argaman claims in the interview.
“Hamas kidnapped over 250 civilians and soldiers from the State of Israel. It is our duty to return them home, yesterday. We have been taken hostage by a fanatical government that needs to be replaced tomorrow,” he says.
Argaman, who led the Shin Bet between 2016 and 2021, mostly under Netanyahu, charges that the prime minister’s insistence in recent weeks that Israel must retain control of the Philadelphi Corridor for the foreseeable future serves the goal of keeping the coalition together rather than security concerns.
“The prime minister said that the Philadelphia axis is crucial for [Iran’s] “Axis of Evil,” and I say that the Philadelphia axis is needed for the axis between Bibi, [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir and [Finance Minister Bezalal [Smotrich]. This whole thing is only meant to preserve this government.”
He charges that Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners are “fed by a messianic worldview that, unfortunately, has taken over the State of Israel.”
Netanyahu has said that control of the route, along the Gaza-Egypt border, is crucial to Israel’s future, because of the danger that otherwise Hamas would resume weapons smuggling across the border, and build up forces for more massacres like the terror group’s October 7 onslaught.
“An event of this magnitude requires fresh elections. Anyone who failed as he failed on October 7 can no longer be prime minister in the State of Israel, or anywhere. Therefore, I would expect him ethically not to run, to admit failure, to take responsibility, and to say goodbye to the leadership of the State of Israel.”
Netanyahu’s office dismisses Argaman’s comments off-hand, according to the network, charging that the former Shin Bet chief has” lost all touch with reality, as was reflected in this delusional interview.”
Anti-Israel protesters march through Harvard, chanting ‘long live the intifada’
Anti-Israel protesters march through Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, waving Palestinian flags and chanting antisemitic slogans.
Videos posted to social media show the protesters chanting, “Long live the intifada” and “Globalize the intifada,” a reference to periods of deadly Palestinian terror attacks against Israeli civilians in the late 1980s and early 1990s and again in the early 2000s.
The protest was organized by the pro-Palestinian student group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, The Boston Globe reports.
The pro-terror mob is marching through @Harvard screaming "long live the intifada" and "globalize the intifada."
To be clear, they may as well be screaming "kill the Jews."
If they were screaming for the slaughter of any other minority, you know this would never be tolerated. pic.twitter.com/saHqqTnQuo
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) September 6, 2024
A pro-Israel stand sent up near the protest bears a sign reading, “Hamas Murders Kidnaps Rapes,” according to the Globe report.
Harvard has been the scene of anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protests that spread across US campuses against the background of the ongoing war in Gaza, which erupted after Hamas’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel.
A task force charged with reporting on antisemitism at Harvard concluded in June that Israeli students at the Ivy League university were facing “dire” exclusion on the US campus.
Harvard’s handling of Jewish student concerns has been under intense criticism from Jewish circles after October 7, with President Claudine Gay resigning in January following a congressional hearing at which she did not say whether “calls for the genocide of Jews” violated university conduct.
Additionally, at commencement in May, the Harvard Chabad director publicly confronted an invited speaker over what he believed was an antisemitic comment in her speech.
Lebanese media report series of Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon; no comment from IDF
Lebanese media report a series of Israeli strikes near the towns of Kafr Sir and Froun in the Nabatieh Governate of southern Lebanon.
Videos show smoke and fire rising from a targeted site.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
مشاهد أخرى للغارات الإسرائيلية التي استهدفت الأودية المُقابلة لبلدتي كفرصير وفرون في جنوب لبنان pic.twitter.com/Ux92mLjDxU
— هنا لبنان (@thisislebnews) September 6, 2024
Israel swimmer Ami Dadaon wins fourth medal at 2024 Paris Paralympics
Israeli Paralympian Ami Dadaon swims in the 50m final in the S4 disability at the Paris Games on September 6, 2024. (Lilach Weiss Rosenberg)
Israeli swimmer Ami Dadaon wins bronze in the 50m final in the S4 disability at the 2024 Paris Paralympics with a time of 00:37:11.
Fellow Israeli paralympic swimmer Avi Malyar finishes seventh in the same race with a time of 00:40:53.
It is Dadaon’s fourth medal in Paris, bringing the Israeli total to 10. He also won medals in the 150m individual medley, 200m freestyle, and 100m freestyle events.
The 23-year-old — who won three medals at the Tokyo Games — was born with cerebral palsy and started swimming at age 6.
Channel 12 refutes report Sinwar planned to smuggle himself, hostages out of Gaza via Philadelphi Corridor
Hamas's Gaza Strip leader Yahya Sinwar in a tunnel in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, October 10, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)
Channel 12 news refutes a report that Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar was planning to smuggle himself and other leaders from the terror group, along with some of the remaining Israeli hostages kidnapped on October 7, out of Gaza via the Philadelphi Corridor and thence to Iran.
Citing unnamed intelligence sources, The Jewish Chronicle reported yesterday that Sinwar was planning to slip away through the Philadelphi Corridor in southern Gaza to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and from there to Iran.
But Channel 12 reports that “all of the relevant sources in the security establishment” are unaware of the supposed intelligence.
The Jewish Chronicle report was picked up by some right-wing Hebrew media outlets and shared on social media by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son, Yair.
Netanyahu has in recent weeks insisted that Israel must retain control of the Philadelphi Corridor for the foreseeable future, even during the potential first 42-day phase of a hostage-ceasefire deal in which some 30 living hostages could be freed. He has said that control of the route, along the Gaza-Egypt border, is crucial to Israel’s future, because of the danger that otherwise Hamas would resume weapons smuggling across the border, and build up forces for further October 7 massacres.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and all of Israel’s security chiefs are widely reported to have said that alternative solutions can be found to control the border, and that the IDF could swiftly return after the first phase of the deal, or at any other time, and expressed fears that Netanyahu, in raising the Philadelphi demand, is sabotaging a potential deal in order to satisfy his far-right coalition partners and retain power.
New York judge in Trump’s hush money trial delays sentencing until after November election
Former US president Donald Trump walks to make comments to members of the media after being found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree at Manhattan Criminal Court, May 30, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)
NEW YORK — The New York judge who presided over Donald Trump’s hush money trial has delayed sentencing until after November’s US presidential election.
The Republican White House candidate had been scheduled to be sentenced on September 18 after being convicted of falsifying business records but Judge Juan Merchan postponed it to November 26.
US voters go to the polls on November 5.
IDF, Shin Bet canceled arrests of 9 terror suspects due to lack of space in Israeli prisons — report
Members of the Israel Prison Service stand guard next to Hamas terrorists caught during the October 7 massacre and the ensuing war in Gaza, at a prison in southern Israel, February 14, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The IDF and the Shin Bet security agency have canceled nine arrest operations in the West Bank in the past two days due to a lack of capacity in Israeli prisons to process Palestinian security suspects, Channel 12 reports.
“The failure of Minister [Itamar] Ben Gvir, who is responsible for national security, to deal with the issue of prison space, endangers national security and it won’t be long until it costs human life,” the network cites a security source as saying.
The issue has been ongoing since Hamas’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, with the Shin Bet repeatedly complaining that it has been forced to send prisoners back to the Strip due to a lack of jail space.
The IDF said earlier today that over the past week, troops killed more than 35 gunmen in the West Bank and detained some 45 amid an operation in the Jenin, Tulkarem and Far’a areas. The operation aims to dismantle Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror networks in the northern West Bank.
IDF: Interceptor missile launched over northern town of Ghajar was a ‘false identification’
Illustrative - The Iron Dome air defense system intercepts rockets fired from Lebanon at northern Israel, September 4, 2024. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
The military says an interceptor missile was launched at a “suspicious aerial target” over the northern border community of Ghajar this evening.
The target was later determined to have been a “false identification,” the IDF says, meaning not a threat. Many such “false identifications” have been birds.
Sirens sounded in Ghajar amid the incident.
Austrian investigators seize devices at home of man who fired shots near Israel’s Munich consulate yesterday
Police officers in Munich secure the area after a shooting near the Israeli consulate and the building of the Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism on September 5, 2024. (Lukas Barth-Tuttas/AFP)
VIENNA — Investigators seized electronic devices at the home of a young Austrian who fired shots near Israel’s Munich consulate, but found no weapons or Islamic State group propaganda material, authorities say.
German police shot dead the 18-year-old man yesterday when he fired a vintage rifle at them near the diplomatic building.
They say they are treating it as a “terrorist attack,” apparently timed to coincide with the anniversary of the murders of Israeli athletes in a Palestinian terror attack at the 1972 Olympic Games.
Authorities raided the gunman’s home in the Salzburg region, seizing electronic data carriers, Austria’s top security chief Franz Ruf tells a press conference in Vienna.
During the raid, “no weapons or IS propaganda” material was found, Ruf adds.
Despite being subject to a ban on owning and carrying weapons, the man managed to purchase a vintage carbine rifle fitted with a bayonet with around “fifty rounds of ammunition” for 400 euros ($445) the day before the attack, Ruf says.
At a separate press conference in Munich, prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann says investigators are combing through the gunman’s electronic data but have yet to find conclusive evidence of his motive.
But the “working hypothesis” was that “the perpetrator acted out of Islamist or antisemitic motivation,” she tells reporters.
IDF: Over 40 terror sites hit, 100 operatives killed in Gaza in the past week
IDF troops with the 401st Armored Brigade are seen operating in the Tel Sultan neighborhood of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip in this handout photo published on September 4, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
In a summary of its activities over the past week, the IDF says it struck more than 40 sites belonging to terror groups in the Gaza Strip, killed over 100 operatives, and located several tunnel shafts.
The sites in Gaza included command and control centers embedded within schools and other civilian sites, according to the IDF.
In the north, the military says some 50 airstrikes were carried out against Hezbollah sites in Lebanon over the past week, including weapon depots. Dozens of rocket launchers in Lebanon were also struck, the IDF says.
In the West Bank, more than 35 gunmen were killed and some 45 were detained amid an operation in the Jenin, Tulkarem and Far’a area, according to the military.
Also in the West Bank, dozens of firearms were seized, dozens of explosive devices were neutralized and three bomb-making labs were destroyed, the IDF adds.
Rocket alert sirens sounding in northern border town of Ghajar
Sirens are sounding on the northern border with Lebanon, warning of incoming rocket fire.
The alerts are sounding in the village of Ghajar, which was once part of Syria and was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War. It was then divided between Israel and Lebanon when Israel withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000, and the IDF moved into the northern section during the Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.
Rocket Alert [19:17:05] (1):
• Confrontation Line — Ghajar
Population: 2,600 pic.twitter.com/iUwOmeS5O9— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) September 6, 2024
ICC terminates proceedings against Haniyeh following his assassination in Tehran
Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh arrives in Tehran for the inauguration of the new Iranian president at the parliament in Tehran, hours before being assassinated, July 30, 2024. (AFP)
The International Criminal Court (ICC) says it has terminated proceedings against late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh following his death in Tehran in late July.
The ICC is currently weighing the request for arrest warrants against Hamas leader Yayha Sinwar and the terror group’s military commander, Muhammad Deif, who has also been killed since.
The court’s top prosecutor has also requested arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in connection with the ongoing war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel.
Reports: 13-year-old Palestinian girl shot dead by Israeli forces after settlers storm West Bank village
Palestinian media reports that a 13-year-old girl died of her wounds after being shot by Israeli forces near Nablus in the West Bank amid a clash between extremist settlers and local villagers.
She was evacuated in serious condition from the village of Qaryut to a hospital in Nablus, according to the PA official news agency Wafa, where doctors pronounced her death.
According to the report, Bana Amjad Bakr was shot in her room at her home in Qaryut.
The Yesh Din rights group says the incident began when dozens of settlers, allegedly guarded by Israeli soldiers, stormed the West Bank village and lit fires in the area.
The shots that killed Bakr were fired during clashes between Palestinian villagers and settlers that ensued.
בהמשך לדיווחים על אירוע בכפר קריות, בנפת שכם, שבו נהרגה הילדה הפלסטינית באנא אמג'ד בכר (13): תושבי קריות דיווחו לתחקירני יש דין שהאירוע החל כאשר עשרות מתנחלים מלווים בחיילים הגיעו לאדמות קריות והציתו בהן אש. בעקבות זאת פרצו עימותים שזלגו לפאתי הכפר ובמהלכם נורתה אש חיה. pic.twitter.com/K9M1f2aSL5
— Yasser Okbi (@OkbiYasser) September 6, 2024
According to the PA health ministry, more than 670 West Bank Palestinians have been killed since war erupted in Gaza after Hamas’s October 7 massacre. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.
Since October 7, troops have arrested some 5,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,000 affiliated with Hamas.
During the same period, 29 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another six members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.
Senior US intelligence official: Russia, China, Iran trying to influence US presidential election
Left: Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, August 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin); Right: Republican presidential nominee former president Donald Trump, August 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Russia is the most active foreign adversary trying to influence the November 5 US presidential election, while China is more focused on influencing down-ballot races, a senior US intelligence official says
The official says Iran is more active than in past cycles, having stepped up its efforts to sway voters leading up to the presidential and congressional elections.
Earlier this week, the US Justice Department alleged that a Russian disinformation campaign sought to exacerbate tensions among Israelis and Jews in the US to influence voters in the 2024 US presidential election and twist public opinion on the Ukraine war.
In a 277-page affidavit publicized by the Justice Department, prosecutors unveiled a widespread Russian operation it has dubbed “Doppelganger,” to “covertly spread Russian government propaganda” through fake social media profiles, fabricated influencers, AI and cybersquatting, to influence public opinion.
One portion of the disinformation campaign, the department revealed, was to “target Jewish communities across the globe, first and foremost in Israel and the US.” The Russian company Social Design Agency (SDA) created detailed guidelines on how to impersonate Israelis online and share fake articles that push a Russian narrative, according to the affidavit.
Military ‘very focused’ on fighting Hezbollah, prepping offensives against terror group in Lebanon — IDF chief
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi meets with officers in the Golan Heights, September 6, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says the military is “very focused” on fighting Hezbollah and is preparing offensive actions against the terror group in Lebanon.
“The IDF is very focused on fighting Hezbollah, I think that the number of attacks in the last month, operatives killed, rockets destroyed, infrastructure destroyed, is very large,” he says during a tour of the Golan Heights earlier today.
“The Northern Command, with all the IDF’s capabilities, is attacking many of Hezbollah’s capabilities inside Lebanon before they attack us, and at the same time we are also preparing offensive moves in the territory [of Lebanon],” Halevi says.
Hostage families call on Red Cross, WHO to decry murder of hostage Carmel Gat, who was an occupational therapist
Carmel Gat was taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 from her parents' home in Kibbutz Be'eri (Courtesy)
The Hostages Families Forum issues an urgent call for international health organizations to address the murder of Carmel Gat, an occupational therapist whose body was recovered from Gaza last weekend along with five others after they were murdered a day or two before the IDF reached them.
“The Forum calls on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and all health organizations to publicly condemn these heinous acts and take immediate action to protect all hostages and healthcare workers still held captive,” reads the appeal from the Hostages Forum signed by leading Israeli medical and academic figures.
“It is imperative that these organizations advocate for the immediate release of all hostages and address this atrocity with the utmost seriousness, as they would for any violations against healthcare workers in conflict zones.”
The statement pays tribute to Gat, who it says was a “dedicated occupational therapist specializing in mental health.”
“Even in captivity, her compassion never wavered. Carmel remained a beacon of hope and support, continuing to care for others and supporting fellow hostages through daily yoga and meditation,” the Hostages Forum says.
It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas during the terror group’s October 7 massacre remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Ankara condemns ‘murder’ of Turkish-American activist in West Bank, accusing Israel of ‘crimes against humanity’
Turkey condemns the killing of an activist who was killed at a protest near the West Bank town of Beita earlier today.
According to foreign media reports, Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi was a dual US-Turkish citizen.
“We condemn this murder committed by the Netanyahu government,” the Turkish foreign minister says in a statement.
“Israel is trying to intimidate all those who come to the aid of the Palestinian people and who fight peacefully against the genocide. This policy of violence will not work,” the statement adds, accusing Israel of “crimes against humanity.”
The IDF is currently investigating the circumstances of the incident.
Turkey has been one of the strongest critics of Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 massacre. In May, Ankara halted all trade with Israel and the country also applied to participate in a genocide case against Israel at an international court.
US State Department offers condolences to family of American activist killed at West Bank protest
The US State Department offers condolences to the family of an American activist who was killed during a protest in the West Bank earlier today.
“We are aware of the tragic death of an American citizen, Aysenur Eygi, today in the West Bank. We offer our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says.
“We are urgently gathering more information about the circumstances of her death and will have more to say as we learn more. We have no higher priority than the safety and security of American citizens.”
The IDF is investigating the circumstances of the incident.
IDF probing circumstances of death of American activist in West Bank earlier today
The Israeli military says it is investigating the killing of an American woman in the West Bank earlier today.
According to the IDF, during operations near the town of Beita close to Nablus, troops opened fire at a “main instigator” who was hurling stones at the forces and had “posed a threat.”
“A claim that a foreign citizen was killed by gunfire in the area is being investigated. The details of the incident and the circumstances of her being hit are under investigation,” the IDF adds.
The slain woman was named as Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, an American originally from Turkey. She was reportedly an activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
◾صورة..
الناشطة الأميركية من أصول تركية التي قتلها الاحتلال اليوم برصاصة قناص بالرأس في بلدة بيتا جنوب نابلس. pic.twitter.com/fAXLdiNxmH— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) September 6, 2024
Suspected Islamist threatens German police with machete, shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’
BERLIN — A 29-year-old Albanian man carrying a machete has attacked a German police station, with investigators probing a possible “radical Islamist motive.”
The man entered the station in the western town of Linz am Rhein, shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is Greatest”) and said he wanted to “kill police officers,” Koblenz prosecutors say.
Officers on site locked the entrance door and a door leading to the inner courtyard of the police station, leaving the man trapped.
Diesmal nicht #Mannheim nicht #München nicht #Bonn und auch nicht in #Solingen sondern in Linz am Rhein stürmt ein Macheten-Mann die Polizeiwache und wollte Polizisten umbringen… Durch einen Taser Einsatz des SEK konnte er festgenommen werden. pic.twitter.com/Khh2hEBAeA
— Bünyamin Yilmaz (@YlmzBnym) September 6, 2024
“The accused is said to have tried to open them by force… but was unsuccessful,” prosecutors add.
Special forces were alerted to the situation and neutralized the attacker using a taser.
During a search of his home, investigators find the emblem of the Islamic State group drawn on the wall.
The Albanian suspect remains under arrest and investigations are ongoing, according to prosecutors.
Germany has been hit by several such attacks in recent years, with the most deadly being a truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market in 2016 that killed 12 people. Three people were also killed last month in a suspected Islamist stabbing at a festival.
Yesterday, a man was shot dead by police after opening fire on officers in what was being treated as a suspected “terrorist attack” on the Israeli consulate.
IDF: Jets strike Hezbollah buildings as drones fired from Lebanon spark fire near northern town of Abirim
Israeli fighter jets struck several buildings used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Aitaroun in the past few hours, the military says.
Other infrastructure belonging to the terror group in Beit Lif was also targeted, the IDF adds.
מטוסי קרב תקפו בשעות האחרונות מבנים צבאיים של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב עיתרון שבדרום לבנון.
בנוסף, הותקפה מהאוויר תשתית צבאית של הארגון במרחב בית ליף.כמו כן, כוחות צה"ל תקפו בארטילריה במרחבים שובא וכפר חמאם שבדרום לבנון>> pic.twitter.com/ByuFb2N0yH
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 6, 2024
Meanwhile, several drones launched from Lebanon impacted near the northern community of Abirim, sparking a fire, the IDF says.
There were no injuries in the attack, claimed by Hezbollah.
Additionally, a rocket fired from Lebanon hit the Manara area. There were no injuries in that attack either, the IDF says.
Anti-Israel protesters removed from opening night of Toronto film festival
Anti-Israel protesters disrupt an opening night screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, chanting “Stop the genocide!” during opening remarks.
At the screening for the David Gordon Green comedy “Nutcrackers” Thursday night, four protesters walked down the center aisle of the Princess of Wales Theatre, carrying signs and flashlights while shouting criticism of festival sponsor Royal Bank of Canada.
“Cut ties with RBC,” they yell.
Chaos at tiff night 1 with folks protesting Roger’s funding the war in Israel. After about 4 min they were removed peacefully pic.twitter.com/x95GNSBHTV
— melissa (@cybermelli) September 5, 2024
Cameron Bailey, festival director, tries to maintain order, urging the protesters from the podium, “We are here to start the festival.” Numerous crowd members boo the protesters.
The protest lasts for several minutes before the demonstrators are ushered out by security. Several attendees post videos online of the episode.
Among the films being screened at TIFF this year is “The Bibi Files,” an American documentary about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial.
Hamas document details terror group’s use of psychological warfare to stall hostage talks, up pressure on Israel – report
Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar speaks during a rally marking Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, in Gaza City, April 14, 2023. (Mohammed Abed/AFP)
A recent Hamas document quoted by a German newspaper reveals details about the psychological warfare campaign carried out by the terror group since it kidnapped 251 hostages, mostly civilians, during its October 7 massacre in southern Israel.
Citing the document, the Bild tabloid reports that Hamas is abusing the hostages held in Gaza to improve its position in hostage-ceasefire negotiations with Israel and ultimately recover military capabilities destroyed during the ongoing war.
The Hamas document, reportedly written in the Spring of 2024, was said to have been personally approved by the terror group’s leader, Yahya Sinwar, having been found on his computer. No details are given as to how it was passed to the German publication.
“Continue to exert psychological pressure on the families of the prisoners, both now and during the first phase (of the ceasefire), so that public pressure on the enemy government increases,” the Hamas document reportedly says.
Since October 7, the terror group has regularly released videos of the hostages criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and begging for him to secure their release.
“During the negotiations for the second phase, Hamas will allow the Red Cross to visit some of the prisoners as a gesture of goodwill and to convey messages to their relatives,” the document is quoted as saying.
Hebrew media reported earlier this week that Eden Yerushalmi, whose body was recovered from Gaza last weekend along with five others after they were murdered a day or two before the army reached them, appeared to have been starved and had lost 10 kilos in captivity, weighing only 36 kilos (79 lbs) when she was recovered.
This combination of six undated photos shows hostages, from top left, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi; from bottom left, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Carmel Gat. (The Hostages Families Forum via AP)
The Bild report notes that the document does not mention the so-called Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt, which is understood to be one of the current sticking points in ongoing indirect negotiations.
The report says that Hamas is not seeking a fast end to the war in Gaza, but rather purposely drawing out hostage-ceasefire negotiations to increase pressure on the government and “exhaust” the military.
Woman throws sand at Ben Gvir on Tel Aviv beach; police arrest her for questioning
A 27-year-old woman is being held for questioning after she threw a handful of sand at National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on a Tel Aviv beach, according to a police statement.
The minister was at the beach with his family, according to the statement, which adds that the police take the crime of “assaulting a public servant” seriously and will work to bring the suspect to justice.
Ben Gvir, the leader of the far-right Oztma Yehudit party, is responsible for the police. He has often been the target of public protest, for issues including inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and endorsing public Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.
Videos posted to social media show Ben Gvir and his family at the seashore surrounded by a handful of police officers and security forces, as several beach-goers shout at the minister.
“Go, you’re not wanted here,” one man shouts.
תל אביב, היום.
בתחילת המלחמה בכל פעם ששר יצא החוצה, נשפך עליו דלי של בוז וגועל וזעם.בחלוף החודשים חזרנו לכבוד בלתי-ישראלי דווקא כלפי מי שמשמיד את עתידנו.
גנץ פינק השבוע את בן גביר בלחיצת יד מלבינה, אבל האזרחים שהוא מתיימר להנהיג התעוררו מהגזלייט. רק שיישאר ככה
????@tomermeiri pic.twitter.com/kvvF8cF1bf— Reut Inbar (@papanyula) September 6, 2024
In another video, a man shouts at that Ben Gvir is a murderer and his children should know this.
הזעקת רוצח בחוף בננה ביץ pic.twitter.com/xVDNAPabKJ
— Ami Dror ???????? עמי דרור (@AmiDror) September 6, 2024
Sirens in northern border towns warn of suspected drone attack
Sirens sound in a number of communities along the northern border, warning of a suspected drone attack.
Palestinian media: US activist shot dead by Israeli troops at West Bank protest
Palestinian media report that a foreign activist with American citizenship was shot dead by Israeli troops during a protest in the West Bank town of Beita, near Nablus.
The reports name her as Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, an American woman originally from Turkey.
The IDF has not yet commented on the incident.
◾صورة..
الناشطة الأميركية من أصول تركية التي قتلها الاحتلال اليوم برصاصة قناص بالرأس في بلدة بيتا جنوب نابلس. pic.twitter.com/fAXLdiNxmH— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) September 6, 2024
Report: Israel envoy to US didn’t attend vigil for murdered hostages after request to speak denied
Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog speaks during Israel's Independence Day reception, hosted by the Israeli embassy to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, June 6, 2023. (SAUL LOEB / AFP)
Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog did not attend a Washington vigil on Tuesday memorializing the six hostages killed by Hamas last week after his request to speak at the event was denied, the Axios news site reports.
A subsequent offer for the deputy ambassador to give a speech at the Adas Israel synagogue event was also rebuffed, Axios says.
The report says organizers told the embassy that the ambassador and deputy were welcome to attend the event, and their presence would be recognized by the individual hosting the memorial.
The embassy was reportedly angered by the decision, with deputy ambassador Eliav Benjamin said to tell organizers that he and Herzog would not attend “under these conditions.”
The report cites four sources with direct knowledge of the situation, and notes that the incident came amid growing anger toward the government from many relatives of hostages.
While the Israeli embassy confirms to the outlet that the ambassador and his deputy didn’t attend the event, it denies that the move amounted to a boycott.
“The Israeli embassy, from the ambassador down, deals intensively with the issue of the hostages, including hosting, coordinating meetings and providing professional and personal assistance,” a spokesperson for the Israeli embassy tells Axios. “The ambassador and his staff are in close contact with the families and the hostage families forum and have never boycotted events related to the families of the hostages.”
Several representatives of the embassy attended the memorial, where Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff spoke, as well as a number of relatives of hostages.
The bodies of six murdered hostages were recovered last weekend from a tunnel in south Gaza’s Rafah: Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lobanov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27.
An Israeli autopsy found that all six hostages were shot multiple times from close range, indicating they were executed by their terrorist guards shortly before their bodies were found.
IDF brigade carries out drill simulating fighting in Lebanon
Troops of the Yiftah Brigade carry out a drill in northern Israel, in a handout photo published September 6, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
This past week, reservists of the IDF’s Yiftah Brigade carried out a drill simulating fighting in Lebanon, which the military says is part of its efforts to increase readiness amid heightened tensions on the northern border.
The drill included fighting and maneuvering in complex terrain, advancing along a “mountainous route,” and using firepower in various scenarios, the IDF says.
The military says members of the reserve infantry brigade also practiced extracting wounded troops under fire, and cooperation with the combat support headquarters.
The drill was the latest in a series carried out by the IDF for a potential war in Lebanon.
Israel has warned for months it can no longer tolerate Hezbollah’s presence along its border following the October 7 atrocities, and has said that should a diplomatic solution not be reached, it will turn to military action to push Hezbollah northward.
AG says decision to allow PM to choose civil service commissioner is illegal
Left: Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara at her welcome ceremony in Jerusalem on February 8, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90). Right: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, on January 11, 2023. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara says a controversial measure allowing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to directly nominate the next civil service commissioner, rather than using a search committee, is illegal.
“The government’s decision creates a new situation whereby the prime minister will be able to choose a person he wishes to be appointed to the position, who does not have to meet minimum professional threshold conditions of experience, skills or suitability,” the attorney general says in a statement alongside her response to High Court petitions on the matter.
“For this reason, the government’s decision, deviating from the method of appointing the commissioner in the past, is illegal,” the statement says.
“This is a significant step in the transformation of the professional public service into a political one,” the statement concludes.
After last month’s vote, Netanyahu will be authorized to nominate a candidate who will then be examined by the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee to the Civil Service.
In remarks released by the Prime Minister’s Office following the vote, Netanyahu asserted that the responsibility to choose a civil service commissioner lies with “the nation,” represented by the elected government, and there is no reason to grant civil service professionals a say in the matter.
Last month, the Kan public broadcaster reported that Justice Minister Yariv Levin and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir discussed their desire to fire Baharav-Miara, after the government approved allowing Netanyahu to directly nominate the next civil service commissioner, despite the attorney general’s opposition.
Current commissioner Daniel Hershkowitz is set to complete his term in October. His appointment was approved by the government in 2018 after a committee, headed by retired judge Hanan Efrati, at the time rejected Netanyahu’s first choice for the job.
Several missiles fired at Israel from Lebanon; jets hit Hezbollah target in Matmoura
Israeli fighter jets struck a building in southern Lebanon’s Matmoura, where a group of Hezbollah operatives were spotted, the IDF says.
It publishes footage of the strike.
כוח צה"ל מאוגדה 146 זיהה לפני זמן קצר מחבל מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה פועל במבנה צבאי של הארגון במרחב אל-מטמורה.
בסגירת מעגל מהאוויר, מטוסי קרב תקפו את המבנה בו פעלו מספר מחבלים מהארגון>> pic.twitter.com/D4altRbEDV— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 6, 2024
Meanwhile, several missiles were launched from Lebanon at the Upper Galilee in the past few hours.
A building in Metula was struck in one of the attacks, claimed by Hezbollah.
The IDF says firefighters are working to extinguish a blaze at the home that was hit and other impact sites in the area.
There were no injuries in the attacks.
Swimmers Ami Dadaon, Ariel Malyar qualify for finals at Paris Paralympics
Israeli swimmer Ariel Malyar dives into the water at the start of the men's 50m freestyle S4 at the 2024 Paris Paralympics on September 6, 2024. (Keren Isaacson)
Two Israeli swimmers qualify for finals at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, while the country’s two para-canoe athletes compete in their first qualifying races.
Ami Dadaon, who has already won three medals in Paris, finishes third overall in the heats of the 50m freestyle in the S4 disability class in 37.61 seconds, making it to the final. Dadaon’s Paralympic record of 37.21, however, was overturned today by Canada’s Sebastian Massabie, who finished in 36.95.
Dadaon still holds the world record of 36.25, which he set in 2022.
Fellow Israeli Ariel Malyar finishes 8th in the heats of the same event with a time of 40.61 and clinches the last spot in tonight’s final.
Meanwhile, his twin brother, Mark Malyar, finishes ninth in the heats of the men’s 100m freestyle in the S8 category, just missing out on a place in the final. Malyar, who was moved to a lighter disability class since Tokyo, won a bronze earlier in the Paris Games.
In the canoe events, Irina Shafir and Talia Eilat take to the water for their first qualifying heats.
Eilat finishes fifth overall in the heats of the women’s 200m kayak KL2, and will compete in Sunday’s semifinal, aiming for one of the spots in the final. Shafir finishes last in the heats of the women’s 200m Va’a VL2 race, but still gets another shot in tomorrow’s semifinal.
Israeli canoer Irina Shafir races in the women’s 200m Va’a VL2 at the 2024 Paris Paralympics on September 6, 2024. (Lilach Weiss Rosenberg)
Meeting Katz, German FM says ‘purely military approach’ not the solution to Gaza war
Foreign Minister Israel Katz, left, arrives with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, for a meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says that a military approach alone is not the solution to Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“The past weekend has dramatically demonstrated that a purely military approach is no solution to the situation in Gaza,” she tells reporters after meeting with Foreign Minister Israel Katz in Tel Aviv.
Baerbock was referring to the recovery of the bodies of six murdered hostages, announced on Sunday.
The meeting came a day after German police shot dead a man who opened fire on them in what they treated as a foiled terrorist attack on Munich’s Israeli consulate on the anniversary of the 1972 Olympic Games massacre.
Baerbock says she “expressed my deepest and full solidarity” with Katz.
“This is a terrible situation. This is a terrible moment for us, especially on the very anniversary of Munich 1972,” she says.
New London bus links Golders Green, Stamford Hill to help Jews feel safe amid rising antisemitism
Transport authorities in London introduce a new public bus service linking two areas of the capital with large Jewish populations, as antisemitic incidents hit record levels.
London mayor Sadiq Khan says he had been struck by the fear felt by Jews who told him they had received abuse when changing buses to travel between the two areas.
The new 310 service, which began this week, provides a direct link between Golders Green and Stamford Hill, removing the need for passengers to change buses.
The new service is welcomed by Jewish groups.
“In a period where our community is encountering unprecedented anti-Semitism, any measure that bolsters the confidence of Jewish individuals in using public transport is immensely valued,” say co-chairs of the London Jewish Forum Andrew Gilbert and Adrian Cohen.
Khan says the Jewish community has been campaigning for a direct transport link for 16 years.
The Jewish community is “frightened because of a mass increase in antisemitism since October 7 last year” when Hamas attacked southern Israel, he tells BBC radio.
“I was told stories by families who, when they changed buses from Stamford Hill to Golders Green at Finsbury Park, were frightened about the abuse they had received,” he says.
Antisemitic incidents in the UK hit record levels in the first half of this year, according to one Jewish charity.
I promised to introduce the 310 bus route to directly connect Golders Green and Stamford Hill if re-elected—I'm really pleased to have fulfilled that promise. pic.twitter.com/BlzdxPKfpr
— Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (@MayorofLondon) September 5, 2024
High school teachers’ strike to continue into a 2nd week on Sunday
Secondary School Teachers Association chair Ran Erez attends a Education, Culture, and Sports Committee meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on June 26, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The open-ended high school teachers’ strike will continue on Sunday, union head Ran Erez says in a message to members.
The strike began on Sunday, September 1, the first day of the school year, and each subsequent day Erez has sent a notification that the action would continue for another day.
On Wednesday, Erez, who has been head of the Secondary Schools Teachers Association for decades, admitted in a Ynet interview that the strike could continue until after the October Jewish holiday season.
In anticipation of a lengthy strike, this week Education Minister Yoav Kisch said that the ministry would work with local authorities and youth groups to open “alternative frameworks” on Sunday for non-academic activities for high school students.
The union and the education and finance ministries have been in deadlocked negotiations for weeks. The main sticking point is the government’s push to allow individual contracts for teachers, which they say will allow for more hiring flexibility and provide wages based on results or ability, instead of seniority.
The union has remained steadfast against this move, saying that individual agreements will turn teachers into “contract workers” without the benefits or job security that teachers enjoy, allow for the hiring of unqualified teachers, and lead to lower wages, increased staff turnover and reduced quality of education.
The instructors are also demanding retroactive wage increases and other bonuses that were agreed upon before the last school year began, but which were deferred due to Hamas’s devastating October 7 attack and the outbreak of war.
According to reports, the Education Ministry has offered to provide at least some of the wage increases and bonuses the teachers are seeking.
Dozens of students at Australia’s Monash University refuse to stand to honor murdered hostages
Video circulating on social media shows dozens of students at Melbourne’s Monash University refusing to stand for a moment of silence to honor the six hostages murdered by Hamas last week.
The moment of silence is introduced with a call for people to stand “out of respect for our common humanity.”
While a small number of students stand up to memorialize the six dead, the vast majority of people in the room remain seated, with a number calling out for people to stop filming.
At one stage of the proceedings, apparently after the moment of silence, a large number of students chant “free, free Palestine.”
It was unclear who organized the meeting or when exactly it was held.
SHOCKING – Monash University students refuse to pay respects to murdered Jewish hostages.
'Free Palestine' was always about hating Jews. pic.twitter.com/0DXSLE2ULd
— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) September 4, 2024
The IDF announced on Sunday that it had recovered the bodies of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Carmel Gat, Alex Lobanov and Almog Sarusi from a tunnel in the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli autopsy found that all six hostages were shot multiple times from close range, indicating they were executed by their terrorist guards.
Sweltering temperatures mean Earth breaks yet another record for hottest summer
Margarita Salazar, 82, wipes the sweat off with a tissue inside her home in Veracruz, Mexico on June 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez, File)
Summer 2024 sweltered to Earth’s hottest on record, making it even more likely that this year will end up as the warmest humanity has measured, European climate service Copernicus reports.
And if this sounds familiar, that’s because the records the globe shattered were set just last year as human-caused climate change, with a temporary boost from an El Nino, keeps dialing up temperatures and extreme weather, scientists say.
The northern meteorological summer — June, July and August — averaged 16.8 degrees Celsius (62.24 degrees Fahrenheit), according to Copernicus. That’s 0.03 degrees Celsius (0.05 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the old record in 2023. Copernicus records go back to 1940, but American, British and Japanese records, which start in the mid-19th century, show the last decade has been the hottest since regular measurements were taken and likely in about 120,000 years, according to some scientists.
The Augusts of both 2024 and 2023 tied for the hottest Augusts globally at 16.82 degrees Celsius (62.27 degrees Fahrenheit).
July was the first time in more than a year that the world did not set a record, a tad behind 2023, but because June 2024 was so much hotter than June 2023, this summer as a whole was the hottest, Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo says.
IDF says troops will continue to operate in Jenin ‘until objectives are achieved’
Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian man as others walk by with their hands up during a military operation in Jenin, West Bank, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Despite Palestinian media reporting that Israeli forces have withdrawn from Jenin, the IDF says that “troops are continuing with the operation until its objectives are achieved.”
So far, the IDF says that in the past 10 days, it has killed 14 Palestinian gunmen in Jenin, among them the commander of Hamas in the city, and detained more than 30 wanted Palestinians.
Four drone strikes have been carried out in Jenin amid the operation, and the IDF says over 30 explosive devices planted under roads in the city were also neutralized.
Car set alight, ‘revenge’ graffitied in Hebrew on wall in Palestinian West Bank village
A car was set alight and the word “revenge” graffitied in Hebrew along with a Star of David in a West Bank village overnight, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
The attack was in Khirbet Abu Falah, near Ramallah.
Arrests of perpetrators in such so-called “price tag attacks” on Palestinians by settlers are exceedingly rare and rights groups lament that convictions are even more unusual, with the majority of charges in such cases being dropped.
דיווח פלסטיני: מכונית הוצתה בכפר הפלסטיני אבו פלאח ליד רמאללה. על קיר בכפר רוססה כתובת גרפיטי בעברית – "נקמה"@nurityohanan pic.twitter.com/SDmeJyQyVC
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) September 6, 2024
Trump says he’ll appoint Musk to lead government efficiency commission if elected
This combination of photos shows former President Donald Trump during rally in Nevada, October 2022, and Elon Musk in Wilmington, Delaware, July 2021. (AP Photo)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he will establish a government efficiency commission headed by billionaire supporter Elon Musk if he wins the Nov. 5 election, during a wide-ranging speech in which he laid out his economic vision for the country.
Speaking at the New York Economic Club, the former president also pledges to slash corporate tax rates for companies that manufacture domestically, establish “low-tax” zones on federal lands where construction companies would be encouraged to build new homes, and start a sovereign wealth fund.
Trump had been discussing the idea of an efficiency commission with aides for weeks, people with knowledge of those conversations have told Reuters. This speech, however, was the first time he publicly endorsed the idea.
It is also the first time Trump says Musk agreed to head the body. Trump does not detail how such a commission would operate, besides saying it would develop a plan to eliminate “fraud and improper payments” within six months of being formed.
Musk said on an Aug. 19 podcast that he had held conversations with the former president about the commission and that he would be interested in serving on it.
Lebanese media reports Israeli airstrike on Aitaroun
Lebanese media reports that Israel has carried out an airstrike in Aitaroun in south Lebanon a short time ago.
No further details are immediately available.
Walz urges hostage deal; says ‘we can’t allow what’s happened in Gaza’; Michigan protests ‘for right reasons’
Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks to a gathered crowd of supporters during a campaign rally at the Highmark Amphitheater on September 5, 2024 in Erie, Pennsylvania (JEFF SWENSEN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
Democratic US vice presidential nominee Tim Walz reiterates that Israel has the right to defend itself in the wake of October 7, calling for a hostage-ceasefire deal followed by a move toward a two-state solution.
In an interview with Michigan outlet WCMU, Walz also says that people in that state are speaking out about the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip “for all the right reasons,” adding that the situation cannot continue.
“Well, I think first and foremost what we saw on October 7 was a horrific act of violence against the people of Israel. They have certainly, and the vice president said it, I’ve said it, have the right to defend themselves and the United States will always stand by that,” the Minnesota governor says.
“But we can’t allow what’s happened in Gaza to happen. The Palestinian people have every right to life and liberty themselves. We need to continue, I think to put the leverage on to make sure we move towards a two-state solution,” Walz says. “I think we’re at a critical point right now. We need the Netanyahu government to start moving in that direction.”
Walz says that people in Michigan are speaking out “for all the right reasons. It’s a humanitarian crisis. It can’t stand the way it is.”
“We need to find a way that people can live together in this and we’ve said it and continue to say it, getting a ceasefire with the return of the hostages and then moving towards a sustainable two-state solution is the only way forward,” Walz says.
The 100,000-strong Arab-American community in Michigan is in the spotlight, due to concerns that voters who previously supported US President Joe Biden in 2020 will stay home for the November vote as a protest against the administration’s support for Israel in its war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.
Palestinian media reports IDF has withdrawn from Jenin after 10-day operation
An Israeli military bulldozer tears up a road littered with rubble during an army raid in Jenin, West Bank, Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Israel Defense Force troops have withdrawn from the West Bank city of Jenin following a 10-day operation, the longest raid carried out by the military in the West Bank in history, Palestinian media reports.
The Palestinian Authority’s official Wafa news agency says the troops pulled out of the city at dawn.
Twenty-one Palestinians were killed over the course of the operation, the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry says in a statement.
Jenin and its adjacent refugee camp — where army bulldozers destroyed infrastructure — have long been strongholds of Palestinian terror groups.
The IDF has been carrying out a major operation in the northern West Bank since August 28. The operation — internally dubbed “Summer Camps” by the army — began with simultaneous raids on Jenin, Tulkarem and the Far’a camp near Tubas, with the goal of dismantling Iran-backed Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror networks in the three areas of the northern West Bank.
So far, according to the IDF, more than 30 gunmen have been killed in the operation, among them the head of Hamas in Jenin and the head of Islamic Jihad in the Tulkarem area.
Violence in the West Bank has surged in the past year, following the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught in southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were massacred and 251 were taken hostage.
Since that date, Israeli troops have arrested some 5,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,000 affiliated with Hamas.
According to the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry, more than 670 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.
During the same period, 29 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another six members of the security forces have been killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.
Emanuel Fabian and Reuters contributed to this report.
Report: US sent message that Gallant shouldn’t be fired, aircraft carriers can’t stay indefinitely
Washington has sent a message to Israel that they “oppose the [potential] firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant,” and said that they are “satisfied with the cooperation” with him, Channel 13 news reports.
The outlet says the message was “polite, but clear.”
Additionally, with regards to a potential wider all-out regional war and Iranian attack, a message was sent that tensions need to be reduced at some stage because “the [US] aircraft carriers will not be able to stay in the area forever.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gallant have a tense relationship that has at times led to slanging matches in cabinet meetings and via press statements.
Netanyahu reportedly wanted to can Gallant when he returned from his visit to the United States earlier this year, but the planned dismissal was paused after Hezbollah’s deadly attack on Majdal Shams and the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and top Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.
Netanyahu fired Gallant in March 2023, after the defense minister warned about the danger to national security of rifts that he said were extending into the military over the government’s judicial overhaul plans. Amid public protests, Gallant was reinstated two weeks later.
Some members of the government have called on Netanyahu to fire Gallant again, criticizing his conduct in the ongoing war.
IDF: Jets struck Hezbollah weapons depot in south Lebanon overnight
Overnight, a Hezbollah weapons depot in southern Lebanon’s Blida was struck by Israel fighter jets, the IDF says.
Buildings used by the terror group in Ayta ash-Shab and Yarine were also struck, the military adds.
במהלך הלילה, מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו מחסן אמצעי לחימה של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב בליידא שבדרום לבנון.
בנוסף הותקפו מבנים צבאיים של הארגון במרחבים עייתא א-שעב ויארין שבדרום לבנון.
במהלך היממה האחרונה, צה"ל ירה באמצעות ארטילריה לעבר מספר מרחבים בדרום לבנון pic.twitter.com/UCqlweTqRC
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 6, 2024
Addressing GOP Jewish confab, parents of American-Israeli hostage thank Biden, Trump for leadership and support
Addressing the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference in Las Vegas, the parents of American-Israeli hostage Omer Neutra lament that they and other hostage families have been forced to remind leaders in Israel and the US of central Jewish teachings.
“‘All Jews are responsible for one another,’ ‘anyone who saves a life is as if he saved an entire world,’ ‘You will not stand for your neighbor’s blood,’ ‘Redemption of captives,’ and I can go on and on,” says Orna Neutra.
“These values have always been at the core of Israeli society, but somehow, as hostage families, we find ourselves fighting not only for our loved ones but to remind our leaders here and in Israel how critical these values are to our Jewish soul, to our healing, to our future as a people,” she laments.
“We realize we are speaking today and that this is a political gathering, but this is not a political issue. It is a dire humanitarian issue, and we need all hands on deck,” says Ronen Neutra.
“As proud Americans who love Israel, we need to unify in a way that supports and allows Israel to get the hostages back and most effectively fight Hamas and other enemies in the region who are a threat to democracy and American interests in the region and around the world,” he continues.
“We are grateful to all the strong leaders who stand with us as we fight to bring our son home. To President Biden for his leadership and President Trump, whom we know stands with hostages and hostage families,” says the father of the 22-year-old hostage.
Ronen and Orna Neutra, parents of American-Israeli hostage Omer Neutra, who was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023. #BringThemHomeNow #RJCSummit pic.twitter.com/ExPCS2SdkR
— RJC (@RJC) September 6, 2024
Far-left, anti-Israel activists target Jewish CNN anchor at DC event
CNN reporter Dana Bash (L) is heckled by an anti-Israel protester during an event at a bookstore in Washington on September 5, 2024. (Screen capture/X)
Several anti-Israel protesters are filmed disrupting an event featuring Jewish CNN anchor Dana Bash at a bookstore in Washington.
As they heckled Bash and accused her of being “complicit in genocide,” one of the people in the audience can be heard telling the protesters to take their masks off.
Anti-Israel protesters commonly wear face masks while demonstrating to shield their identities, ostensibly trying to lower the social risk of their disruptive conduct.
BREAKING: CNN's Dana Bash had her event, America's Deadliest Election, at DC Bookstore, Politics and Prose, interrupted multiple times by pro-Palestine protesters who accused her of being complicit in genocide.
Bash's response: "Take off your mask." pic.twitter.com/mSPk4MFAbK
— Stu (@thestustustudio) September 6, 2024
Hitting back at Trump, Harris campaign says he’ll turn on Israel when it suits his personal interests
Left: Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, August 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin); Right: Republican presidential nominee former president Donald Trump, August 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
US Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign hits back at former president Donald Trump after the Republican nominee claimed Israel will be destroyed if he is not elected in November and repeated his assertion that Jewish Democrats need to “get their heads examined.”
“Donald Trump openly demeans Jewish Americans, proudly dined with a neo-Nazi and reportedly thinks Adolf Hitler ‘did some good things.’ He has said the only people he wants counting his money are ‘short guys wearing yarmulkes,’ and praised neo-Nazis who chanted ‘Jews will not replace us’ as ‘very fine people,’” says Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein.
“Donald Trump has made it obvious he would turn on Israel in a moment if it suited his personal interests; and, in fact, he has done so in the past,” she continues.
“Meanwhile, the vice president has been incredibly clear: she has been a lifelong supporter of the State of Israel as a secure, democratic homeland for the Jewish people. She has an unwavering commitment to the security of Israel and will always stand up for its right to defend itself. She also stands steadfastly against antisemitism both at home and abroad and will do the same as president,” Finkelstein adds.
Blinken: With Gaza ceasefire, Saudi normalization deal possible before Biden’s term ends
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken waves before boarding his airplane at the end of his one day visit to Haiti at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port Au Prince on September 05, 2024. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT / POOL / AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken insists that an Israel-Saudi normalization deal is still possible before the end of US President Joe Biden’s time in office.
He acknowledges that a deal will first require a ceasefire in Gaza along with an Israeli agreement to a “credible pathway for a Palestinian state” — something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has flatly rejected. “A lot of work would have to go into that,” Blinken admits during a press conference in Haiti.
However, he stresses that both Israel and Saudi Arabia have made clear that they’re interested in such an agreement.
“I think if we can get the ceasefire in Gaza, there remains an opportunity through the balance of this administration to move forward on normalization,” Blinken says.
A pair of senior Congressional sources from opposing parties told The Times of Israel in July that the window for a deal before the November election had shut, though, a faint chance for securing an agreement during the lame-duck period remains.
Blinken indicates mediators will present updated hostage deal offer to Israel, Hamas ‘in coming days’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference at the end of his one day visit to Haiti at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port Au Prince on September 5, 2024. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT / POOL / AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hints that the mediators in the ongoing hostage negotiations will present an updated ceasefire proposal to Israel and Hamas in the coming days amid reports that it will be framed as a “take it or leave it” offer.
“In the coming days we will share with Israel, and [Qatar and Egypt] will share with Hamas, our thoughts — the three [mediators] — on exactly how to resolve the remaining outstanding questions, and then it will be time for the parties to decide yes or no, and then we’ll see,” Blinken says during a press conference in Haiti.
He reiterates, on the record, what a senior Biden administration official told reporters yesterday — that Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement on 90 percent of the issues, while the main remaining obstacles are Israel’s deployment in the Philadelphi Corridor and the release of Palestinian security prisoners.
Blinken acknowledges that each day that goes by without a deal allows for “an intervening event, which simply pushes things off and runs the risk of derailing what is a pretty fragile apple cart.”
Court puts kibosh on promoting cop accused of attacking protesters, in loss for Ben Gvir
The Jerusalem District Court has frozen the promotion of a cop accused of throwing a stun grenade into a crowd of protesters last year, in a blow to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
The injunction against the decision to appoint Meir Suissa the south Tel Aviv police chief was widely anticipated after the state responded to a petition against his appointment by calling for the court to cancel the promotion.
Ben Gvir promoted Suissa to chief superintendent and appointed him as commander of the South Tel Aviv Police Station at the end of August, despite the Attorney General’s Office instructing the minister that the promotion was impermissible. Suissa is under indictment over an incident in which he allegedly threw a stun grenade into a crowd of anti-government demonstrators in Tel Aviv in March 2023, injuring a woman and traumatizing her.
In its response yesterday, the state argued that the appointment had been rife with procedural issues.
Ben Gvir calls the court’s decision “terrible,” accusing it of judicial overreach and lashing out at Attorney General Gali Baharav-Meira for not allowing him to independently defend the promotion.
“The promotion was completely in line with the law and directives, while the one acting against the law is the attorney general, who intervened in the appointment while clearly outside her mandate, and even tried to stop my position from being heard,” he says on X, adding that he plans to keep fighting for Suissa’s promotion, calling him an “excellent officer.”
Anti-government protest in Tel Aviv ends with minor scuffles
Mounted police block Israelis protesters outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, September 5, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
A Tel Aviv anti-government protest centered on calls for a hostage deal ends after some minor clashes with police.
An organization representing people arrested at anti-government demonstrations says six people were detained. There is no comment from police.
As the protest wound down, cops on horseback rebuffed some 100 protesters who attempted to march outside the demonstration area on Begin Street. Central Tel Aviv police chief Micah Gafni is seen pushing one protester out of the crowd and snatching his megaphone.
A column of officers later marched into the crowd and confiscated a protester’s drum, eliciting sarcastic applause.
Thursday night also saw protests in Rehovot, Eilat and outside the Jerusalem home of Shas party leader Aryeh Deri, according to reports.
Police clash with protesters attempting to reach Tel Aviv highway
In Tel Aviv, clashes have broken out between police and protesters attempting to march southward toward the Ayalon freeway.
Mounted officers push the marchers back, stopping them from reaching the major traffic artery and driving them back toward the main rally where thousands are protesting against the government and for a hostage deal in Gaza.
Amid the scuffles, one officer snatches an Israeli flag from a protester who was waving it in his face.
עימותים בין המשטרה למוחים בבגין, מספר מפגינים נפצעו pic.twitter.com/sDVn6UdRle
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) September 5, 2024
Police have come under scrutiny in recent days amid accusations of officers using excessive force against demonstrators.
The crowd chants against National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who is largely seen as a driving force behind police violence as well as a prominent proponent of a deal releasing hostages and stopping fighting in Gaza.
“Ben Gvir is a terrorist,” protesters shout.
‘Last chance’: Thousands in Tel Aviv rally for hostage deal for fifth straight night
Israelis protest for the release of hostages held in Gaza, outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, September 5, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
A protest outside the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv calling for the release of hostages held in Gaza has swelled to around 2,000 people, who chant slogans against the government and in favor of a ceasefire deal.
“We are all hostages of the government of blood!” protesters yell. “A deal that isn’t signed murders everyone!”
The rally begins in earnest when marching hostage families and others arrive from Habima Square bearing 27 mock coffins, in a symbolic funeral for 27 hostages killed in captivity in Gaza.
Activists hold a mock funeral procession for 27 hostages killed in Gaza, at a demonstration demanding a ceasefire to bring remaining captives home, in front of Tel Aviv's IDF headquarters. pic.twitter.com/4AxD32B1W7
— Noam Lehmann (@noamlehmann) September 5, 2024
A bonfire is lit on Begin Street, but is quickly put out by police.
“If there isn’t a deal, we’ll burn down the country — this is the last chance!” the crowd chants.
The protest marks the fifth night in a row of major demonstrations shutting down Begin Street, a locus of the protest movement, since the remains of the six executed hostages were recovered from Gaza on Sunday.
Israelis protest for the release of hostages held in Gaza, outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, September 5, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
On one side of the crowd, the road is graffitied with the names of hostages. On the other side, cardboard planks spell out: “Here lie our hostages.”
Inside the crowd, a man in Hasidic garb draws attention and applause as he delivers a philippic against Netanyahu.
“Redeeming the hostages is the entire Torah!” he shouts into a megaphone.
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