Feb. 15: After call with Biden, PM says Israel won’t be pressured into accepting Palestinian state

White House says VP Harris to meet with Herzog at Munich Security Conference

US Vice President Kamala Harris shakes hands with President Isaac Herzog as they speak to the media prior to a meeting at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, July 19, 2023. (SAUL LOEB / AFP/File)

US Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, the White House says.

After call with Biden, PM says Israel won’t be pressured into accepting Palestinian state

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem on February 7, 2024. (Marc Israel Sellem/Pool/Flash90)

After speaking with US President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu releases a statement in the middle of the night insisting that Israel will not be pressured into accepting a Palestinian state.

“My position can be summarized in the following two sentences,” says Netanyahu in a tweet, “Israel categorically rejects international
dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians. Such an arrangement will be reached only through direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions.”

In addition, says the prime minister, “Israel will continue to oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. Such recognition in the wake of the October 7 massacre would give a huge reward to unprecedented terrorism and prevent any future peace settlement.”

Netanyahu speaks with Biden in 40-minute call after meeting CIA director in Tel Aviv

Amid growing tensions between the two leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden spoke by phone for 40 minutes this evening, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

The conversation took place after Netanyahu met with CIA chief William Burns, the war cabinet and the full national security cabinet tonight.

An official in the Prime Minister’s Office tells The Times of Israel that the two discussed the hostages, Rafah and the next stage in the fight against Hamas, and touched on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

The two leaders last spoke on Sunday.

IAF jets strike Hezbollah targets across south Lebanon

The IDF says fighter jets carried out airstrikes against three buildings used by Hezbollah in the south Lebanon villages of Qantara, Yarine and Taybeh.

The IDF says another site belonging to the terror group in Labbouneh was also targeted.

The strikes come following rocket fire on northern Israel this evening, in attacks claimed by Hezbollah.

US conducted cyberattack on suspected Iranian spy ship — report

The United States conducted a cyberattack recently against an Iranian military ship in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden that had been collecting intelligence on cargo vessels, NBC News reports, citing three US officials.

The cyberattack took place a week ago as part of a government response to the drone attack by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq that killed three US service members in Jordan late last month and wounded dozens of others, the report says.

Israel accuses South Africa of abusing Genocide Convention to protect Hamas

Israel castigates South Africa’s latest attempt to have the International Court of Justice order it to halt its campaign against Hamas in Gaza, and accuses Pretoria of abusing the Genocide Convention to protect the Islamist terrorist group.

Earlier this week, South Africa asked the court to order Israel to desist from staging a military offensive in the Gazan city of Rafah, the last major Hamas stronghold in the coastal enclave.

Israel insists in its submission that there has been no change in the situation in Gaza since the ICJ heard South Africa’s genocide allegations in January. It describes South Africa’s claims of an “unprecedented military operation” in Rafah on February 11 to rescue two Israeli hostages as an “outrageous distortion,” and asserts that it is Hamas that is demonstrating “contempt for the law” by failing to accede to the ICJ’s call for the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining hostages.

Israel’s response also points out that South Africa’s request for ICJ intervention based on supposed concerns of impending genocide actually cited comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments “that makes clear that any potential military operation is intended to target Hamas battalions in Rafah” and also talked of the necessity of evacuating civilians from the city.

“This announcement is in line with Israel’s enduring commitment under international humanitarian law to minimize harm to civilians, even as Hamas – in its utter contempt for life and for the law – continues its abhorrent strategy of seeking to maximize such civilian harm through its ongoing attacks against Israeli civilians and through its use of Palestinian civilians and civilian objects as shields in Gaza itself,” Israel insisted forcefully in its submission.

Israel said that South Africa’s use of Netanyahu’s statement, which clearly stated that the terror group was Israel’s target, “exposes yet again an intention to abuse the Genocide Convention” and was “evidence of a renewed and cynical effort by South Africa to use provisional measures as a sword, rather than a shield, and to manipulate the Court to protect South Africa’s longtime ally Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization, from Israel’s inherent right and obligation to defend itself, in accordance with the law, from the terrorist assault it faces and to pursue the release of over 130 hostages.”

Veteran Democrat hits back at PM: ‘A two-state solution is not a ‘gift”

File: Rep. Jerry Nadler, a Democrat from New York, attends a House Judiciary Committee Field Hearing, in New York, April 17, 2023. (AP/John Minchillo)

A veteran Democratic lawmaker hits back at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the premier’s spokesman claimed that US-led efforts to establish a Palestinian state after October 7 would amount to a “gift” for the Palestinians.

“A two-state solution is not a ‘gift.’ It is the only viable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Rep. Jerry Nadler tweets.

“Israel must be able to defend itself, particularly after the horrors of October 7, but long-run security will only come through an appropriately negotiated solution that involves rebuilding Gaza and establishing a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank with adequate security and governance plans,” he adds.

US reissues plea for Israel to allow massive American shipment of flour into Gaza

The US reissues its plea for Israel to allow a massive American shipment of flour into Gaza amid the ballooning humanitarian catastrophe in the Strip.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to allow the shipment into Gaza one month ago, and the war cabinet approved it as well. However, the delivery has been held up at Ashdod Port for several weeks by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich because it is slated for distribution by UNRWA, which is being investigated over allegations that 12 of its members participated in Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.

An Israeli official claimed earlier this week to The Times of Israel that Jerusalem is looking into having other agencies distribute the flour, but those efforts have yet to bear fruit.

“I wish I could tell you that that flour is moving in, but I can’t do that right now. All I can tell you is that it is absolutely critical as a staple for the Palestinian people, and we’re going to keep working with our Israeli counterparts to see if we can get that port open to that flour,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says in response to a question on the matter during a press briefing.

“They committed to allowing it in. We want to make sure that happens. We’re mindful of the comments made by members of the cabinet about flour in the Ashdod Port, and we are working it very hard,” he adds.

US: Hamas is a terror group ‘pure and simple,’ wants to ‘wipe out Israel’

The US doubles down on its designation of Hamas as a terror organization after the UN’s top humanitarian official asserted that he does not see it as such.

“Hamas is a terrorist organization. We’ve said so. It is. It just is. You don’t have to look any further than what they did on the seventh of October to see it in stark terms,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says in response to a question on Martin Griffiths’ comments during a press briefing.

“Take a look at their manifesto, even the one that was so-called watered down in 2017. There’s no doubt that they just want to wipe out Israel off the face of the map. This is a terrorist organization. Pure and simple. Period,” Kirby adds.

Griffiths told Sky News yesterday that he has worked with many terror groups, and that Hamas is not one of them. Following outcry from Jerusalem, Griffiths said that while he stands by his assertion, given that the UN Security Council has not designated Hamas as a terror group, he does concede that it carried out “terrorist acts” on October 7.

Israel calls out UN on aid to Gaza, says it needs to ‘scale up their operations’

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, known by its acronym COGAT, calls out the United Nations on X for not keeping up with humanitarian aid operations in Gaza.

COGAT posts photos of what it says is “the content of 500 trucks of humanitarian aid on the Gazan side of Kerem Shalom, AFTER Israeli inspection, waiting to be picked up and distributed by UN orgs.”

This is the content of 500 trucks of humanitarian aid on the Gazan side of Kerem Shalom, AFTER Israeli inspection, waiting to be picked up and distributed by @UN orgs.
It is the 3rd day in a row that hundreds of trucks are not picked up. The UN needs to scale up their operations pic.twitter.com/UH5c3OrPoD

— COGAT (@cogatonline) February 15, 2024

“It is the 3rd day in a row that hundreds of trucks are not picked up. The UN needs to scale up their operations,” COGAT writes.

The UN has often complained that Israel is hindering the delivery of aid to Gaza, which Israel has denied.

Kibbutz Nir Oz announces Yair Yaakov, 59, was killed Oct. 7; body held in Gaza

Yair Yaakov was taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. (Courtesy)

Kibbutz Nir Oz announces the death of resident Yair (Yaya) Yaakov, 59, whose body is held by Hamas in Gaza.

Yaakov was taken from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. Yair’s family was told that he was injured in the Hamas attack in his house on October 7 and that the terrorists used brutal force against him. It is now apparent that he died of injuries sustained during the attack.

The kibbutz says Yaakov was killed on October 7 and his body is being held in Gaza.

His partner Meirav Tal, 54, was also taken, but was released in late November as part of a temporary truce deal brokered by Qatar and the United States.

Yaakov’s sons, Or and Yagil, 16 and 12, were also taken captive from their mother’s nearby Nir Oz home and were freed on November 27 as part of the deal.

The kibbutz statement describes Yaakov as “a humble, simple man who loved family, land and music.”

“Yair was a family man with a huge heart, always willing to help everyone. He was energetic and loved enjoying life,” a statement by the hostages forum says.

Tal spoke to Channel 12 following her return and recalled the attack on their home. The two were in their safe room when they heard “a crazy explosion, my ear drum burst,” she said.

“I couldn’t see anything but smoke. We were both laying on the floor… I felt like my body was on fire,” she said.

Tal said they held hands, and she told Yaakov to “play dead,” adding “I love you.”

She said the terrorists broke into the safe room and were immediately onto the ruse, grabbing both of them and setting them on their feet.

Tal said they grabbed her and she started begging them, telling them she was a mother, in Arabic. “They told me ‘don’t be afraid.'”

Yaakov, she said, showed them his injury and yelled toward her that he was “about to die.”

Yaakov and Tal were then separated.

A video of their capture was taken by terrorists and aired on Channel 12. It shows a smoke-filled room and Tal and Yaakov, dazed, as terrorists pull at them and drag them. In one part of the clip, Yaakov is seen sitting on the floor, appearing to say he’s unable to get up to an armed terrorist beside him.

IDF: Dozens of terror suspects nabbed at Nasser hospital; ambulance driver participated in Oct. 7

Terror suspects nabbed at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in this photo handout by the IDF, February 15, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in an evening press conference says troops have detained dozens of terror suspects at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.

The IDF has been searching the hospital following intelligence information that hostages were previously held there, and that there may be bodies of hostages still hidden in the medical center.

Among those detained at the hospital include a Hamas ambulance driver who participated in the October 7 onslaught, another suspect who admitted to having taken part in the attacks, and a PFLP operative, according to Hagari.

He also says troops found weapons, including explosives and mortars, within the hospital premises. Last month, a rocket was fired from Nasser Hospital at troops in Gaza.

The IDF says Hamas maintains a command room, an intelligence and interrogation complex, and a police station at Nasser Hospital.

The IDF also releases footage from the interrogation of a captured Hamas operative, who says that at least 10 hostages were held at Nasser Hospital.

Released hostages have also testified that they were held at the hospital, according to Hagari.

IDF intel: Hamas will ‘survive as terror group,’ even if IDF dismantles its organized military capabilities

Israel’s military intelligence circulated a document to Israeli leaders this week warning that even if the IDF succeeds in dismantling Hamas as an organized military force in Gaza, it will survive as “a terror group and a guerrilla group,” Channel 12 reports.

The document, drawn up by the research division of IDF military intelligence (Aman), reportedly also states that “authentic support remains” for Hamas among Gazans.

Given that there is currently no practical effort being made to put in place a plan for Gaza on the “day after” the war, the document further warns, “Gaza will become an area in deep crisis.”

The network’s star investigative journalist Ilana Dayan says the document was presented on Monday to Israel’s political echelon, after it was discussed last weekend by senior IDF officers, Shin Bet officials and members of the National Security Council.

The “bottom line” is that the document constitutes a warning from those in military intelligence who carry out such assessments, says Dayan, that “Hamas will survive this [IDF] campaign as a terror group and a guerrilla group.”

“In this regard, at least,” she says, “there won’t be absolute victory” — as predicted and demanded by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The IDF Spokesman declined to comment on the TV report.

Netanyahu meets with visiting CIA director William Burns in Tel Aviv

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets in the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv with CIA director William Burns, along with Mossad head David Barnea, Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Military Secretary Avi Gil.

According to an Israeli official, Netanyahu “demanded to know whether the hostages received the medicines” that were delivered to Gaza last month in a deal that involved France, Qatar and the US.

Israel received assurances that the medicines would reach the hostages but never received confirmation.

The official repeats that only “strong military pressure and firm pressure in negotiations” will force Hamas to change its demands for a hostage deal.

Blinken says deal on hostages ‘possible’ but ‘very hard’ issues remain

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken looks on next to an American flag during a press conference with Albania's prime minister in Tirana on February 15, 2024. (Adnan Beci/AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he believes an agreement on a truce deal in the Israel-Hamas war and the release of hostages taken on October 7 was still “possible,” but that “very hard” issues still need to be resolved.

“So we’re very focused on it and I believe it’s possible,” he tells a joint press conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in Tirana, as negotiations between mediators continue in Cairo.

Yemen’s Houthis fire missiles at British ship in Gulf of Aden

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis fired naval missiles at the British ship ‘LYCAVITOS’ in the Gulf of Aden, the group’s military spokesman Yahya Sarea says in a televised speech.

Amid outcry, UN official says Hamas committed terrorist acts, even if not listed as UNSC-recognized terror group

Amid outcry in Israel over his assertion that Hamas is not a terror organization, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths engages in some damage control.

“Just to clarify: Hamas is not on the list of groups designated as terrorist organizations by the United Nations Security Council,” he tweets.

“This doesn’t make their acts of terror on 7 October any less horrific and reprehensible, as I’ve been saying all along,” Griffiths says.

‘What if they were your kids?’: Freed hostage pleads with PM to secure release of remaining abductees

Freed hostage Moran Stela Yanai, 40, gives a televised address on behalf of the families of hostages, calling for their release, February 15, 2024. (Screenshot/Channel 12)

Moran Stela Yanai, a former hostage in Gaza who was freed in late November, pleads with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to negotiate the release of the remaining hostages in the Palestinian enclave.

She recalls that her time as a hostage for 54 days “felt like years of hell,” and she was freed “one moment before losing all hope.”

“I was there. I still remember the smell, the fear, the terror… I went through hell, now they are going through hell, our brothers, our kids, our parents,” she says in a televised address on behalf of the families of hostages, noting the “shortage of food, water, sleep” and other basic needs.

The statement comes as Netanyahu has ruled out sending an Israeli delegation for further hostage negotiations in Cairo.

“I can’t think of the people who were left behind and are there double the amount of time I spent in captivity,” she says.

“These are our kids, our parents, our lives. Today it’s us, tomorrow it can be any one of you,” she says, struggling to maintain her composure.

“What if they were your kids, your parents? What would you do?” she pleads.

Yanai says she thinks about the hostages constantly, especially the women, whom she says are going through physical and mental torture. “They are destroying their beautiful souls!” she says.

“This is your moment, cabinet members and prime minister… How is it possible that we have an opportunity to end this suffering and… Israel is refusing to send representatives to the negotiating table in Cairo” to negotiate a “release of everyone?”

“If it doesn’t happen now, who knows when the next opportunity will arise,” she adds.

Addressing Netanyahu directly, she says: “The country is behind us, I can feel it. But I need you, I need to feel that you, too, are behind us. This is the time to act,” she says.

“They don’t have time. Please bring them home now!”

Barrage of some 20 rockets fired from Lebanon at Kiryat Shmona in north

A barrage of about 20 rockets was fired from Lebanon at the northern city of Kiryat Shmona a short time ago, Ynet reports.

The rocket fire set off sirens in the city and led to electricity outages in some parts of the city.

There are no immediate reports of injuries.

Bill prohibiting UNRWA from operating on Israeli territory clears preliminary Knesset reading

A bill prohibiting UNRWA from operating on Israeli state-owned land passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset 33-10 on Wednesday, following allegations that members of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees had taken part in Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.

“UNRWA serves as a platform for incitement and education to hatred of Israel and harm of its Jewish residents. In the schools that it operates in Jerusalem, antisemitic content is studied, and the textbooks glorify terrorists who have murdered women and children,” states an explanatory note to bill, which was sponsored by Likud MK Boaz Bismuth.

“The role of UNRWA is to deal with Palestinian refugees only, meaning that there is no room for it to give any services within the territory of the State of Israel,” it continues, adding that “UNRWA’s institutions serve as fertile ground for committing actions and incitement against the State of Israel.”

“The few services provided by UNRWA in Israeli territory are on a low level, and even the few residents who receive these services complain about this.”

To become law, the bill still needs to pass through committee and three additional readings in the plenum.

Earlier this week, Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf ordered the director general of the Israel Land Authority to evict the agency from any state land it is currently occupying.

In a letter, Goldknopf instructed Yaakov Quint to “immediately halt” all agreements between the ILA and UNRWA “and remove them from the territories leased to them” by the state — such as the organization’s offices in Ma’alot Dafna and Kafr Aqab in Jerusalem.

It’s unclear whether Goldknopf has the authority to execute the move.

Israel has accused 12 UNRWA staffers of taking part in Hamas’s attack on October 7, and last week the IDF showed reporters a Hamas data center located directly beneath UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City.

IDF announces death of soldier killed in Gaza fighting today; toll climbs to 233

Staff Sgt. Rotem Sahar Hadar, 20. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF announces the death of a soldier killed during fighting in the southern Gaza Strip today, bringing the toll of slain troops in the ground offensive against Hamas to 233.

He is named as Staff Sgt. Rotem Sahar Hadar, 20, of the Paratroopers Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Kfar Aviv.

Hadar was killed and two soldiers and an officer of the same unit were seriously hurt in the same battle with Hamas operatives.

Six more soldiers were also wounded, in light and moderate conditions, in the same incident.

Mahmoud Abbas says PA ready to take responsibility for Gaza ‘immediately after’ war

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says the PA is prepared to fulfill its responsibilities towards the Gaza Strip “immediately upon cessation of aggression against our people.”

“We have been and continue to be responsible for Gaza, and we will remain so,” he adds in an interview with the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat.

Commenting on reports that the US administration may be close to a plan to establish a Palestinian state, Abbas says: “We’ve had several meetings with top US officials, including [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken, [National Security Advisor Jake] Sullivan and [CIA Director William] Burns, and they’ve assured us of their commitment to the two-state solution and supporting peace efforts based on international law.”

Abbas claims, however, that US support for Israel hinders tangible progress towards the establishment of a Palestinian state. “What matters most is action on the ground, not just words,” he says.

In response to US pressures to “revitalize” the PA through structural reforms, including the transfer of presidential functions to the prime minister and the reduction of Abbas’s role to a ceremonial one, the leader responds that the Palestinian people are independent in their decision-making.

Abbas laments the absence of an “Israeli partner” for peace, claiming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became a “hindrance” to the peace process.

In Abbas’s words, a Palestinian state comprising the West Bank and Gaza along the 1967 border with East Jerusalem as its capital should first obtain full UN membership through a Security Council resolution, followed by an international peace conference with guarantees and a clear timeline.

According to a Washington Post report citing US and Arab officials, the US could announce a blueprint for a recognition of the State of Palestine with a firm timeline in the next few weeks, though the timing is largely dependent on a deal to pause fighting in Gaza.

Projectile from Lebanon explodes in Kiryat Shmona; sirens sound in northern city

A projectile from Lebanon exploded in the northern town of Kiryat Shmona.

There are no immediate reports of injuries.

A building in the city sustained some damage but the extent is still under review.

Sirens sounded in the city shortly after the reports of the rocket strike.

Channel 12 reports that the projectile was part of a barrage of about four rockets fired from Lebanon at Israel a short time ago.

Hezbollah names two more members killed in Israeli strikes

The Hezbollah terror group names another two members killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” its term for operatives slain in Israeli strikes.

Their deaths bring the terror group’s toll since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip to 201.

The announcement comes following several IDF strikes on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, in response to attacks on northern Israel.

IDF kills Hamas commander who took part in Oct. 7 attack, guarded hostage Noa Marciano who was later killed

Cpl. Noa Marciano (IDF)

The IDF and Shin Bet say that a Hamas commander who participated in the October 7 onslaught was eliminated in an airstrike yesterday.

Ahmed Ghoul was a commander in Hamas’s Shati Battalion, the IDF and Shin Bet say in a joint statement.

The statement says Ghoul, after returning to Gaza following the massacre in southern Israel, was responsible for guarding hostage Cpl. Noa Marciano, who was later killed by Hamas at Shifa Hospital.

Her body was recovered by the IDF.

CIA director makes unannounced visit to Israel for meeting with Netanyahu

CIA Director Willian Burns is in Israel ahead of a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel, confirming a Ynet report earlier

Netanyahu refused to send a delegation to Cairo today to meet with Burns and senior officials from Egypt in Qatar in an attempt to craft a hostage deal with Hamas.

The Israeli official declines to comment on who else will be joining the meeting on the Israeli side.

Later in the evening, Israel’s war cabinet will convene, followed by the security cabinet.

IDF airs new footage of operations in Khan Younis, says troops killed or detained dozens of operatives

Troops of the Commando Brigade operate in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, in a handout image published by the IDF on February 15, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF releases new footage of the elite Maglan and Egoz commando units operating in the western part of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

According to the IDF, the troops have killed many Hamas operatives and detained dozens more, including some who participated in the October 7 onslaught.

The IDF says the commandos also raided the homes of relatives of senior Hamas officials, which had been used by the terror group to fight against Israeli troops.

‘Not the time’ for ‘gifts’ to Palestinians, says government spokesperson amid reports of plan for statehood

In the wake of a Washington Post report that the US and Arab allies are preparing to present a plan that includes a firm timeline for a Palestinian state, Israel says that it is not the time to be discussing plans for the “day after” Hamas.

“Here in Israel, we are still in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre,” says Prime Minister’s Office spokesman Avi Hyman in a briefing.

“Now is not the time to be speaking about gifts for the Palestinian people, at a time when the Palestinian Authority themselves have yet to even condemn the October 7 massacre,” he continues.

“Now is the time for victory, total victory over Hamas,” he insists.

“All discussions of the day after Hamas will be had the day after Hamas,” he says.

Erdan slams UN as ‘terror-excusing, Hamas-promoting’ organization

Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan is the latest official to blast UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths for saying that Hamas “is not a terrorist group,” calling the international body “a terror-excusing, Hamas-promoting, victim-blaming organization.”

“The UN’s pro-Hamas stance is finally exposed on live TV,” says Erdan on X.

“Is the brutal murder of hundreds of civilians, not terror?” Erdan asks. “Is the systematic rape of women not terror? Is attempting Jewish genocide not terror?”

Erdan says that “this is the UN: a terror-excusing, Hamas-promoting, victim-blaming organization that has lost every ounce of credibility. Nothing said by the UN can be trusted or accepted.”

Turning to Griffiths, Erdan writes in his tweet, “You are no ‘humanitarian.’ Sadly, you are a terror collaborator.”

GOP senators submit resolution calling for US military force to rescue hostages in Gaza

Three hawkish Republican senators have submitted a resolution calling on US President Joe Biden to use American military force to rescue the hostages in Gaza.

The purely symbolic initiative, which is understood to have no chance of passing, is being pushed by Sens. Rick Scott, Tom Cotton and Roger Wicker.

“The president has the authority and the responsibility to consider the use of all appropriate tools at his disposal to secure their safe release. It is past time to bring them all home,” Scott says in a statement.

FM Katz, son of Holocaust survivors, to make first trip to Germany for Munich Security Conference

Israel Katz arrives for a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem on December 10, 2023 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Foreign Minister Israel Katz, the son of Holocaust survivors, explains his decision to make his first trip to Germany for the Munich Security Conference.

“All my life I have not been able to set foot on German soil,” says Katz. “I grew up in a house of Holocaust survivors. My late mother Malka survived seven camps and marched on the death march. My late father jumped off the train in Budapest and was captured. I could not bear the thought that the destroyers of my people came from this land. But now, at this time, I see the importance of releasing my vow and going to the security conference in Munich. I will do everything for Israel’s security, securing our future and returning the hostages.”

Katz is slated to meet Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck, and will present to the conference new information on UNRWA’s involvement in terrorism.

He will urge world leaders to provide aid through other organizations, and will speak about antisemitism in his address to the conference.

Gaza postwar reconstruction estimated at $20 billion, says UN trade body

The damage from the conflict in Gaza so far amounts to around $20 billion, a UN trade body official says,

Speaking on the sidelines of a UN meeting in Geneva, Richard Kozul-Wright, a director at trade body UNCTAD, said the damage was already four times that sustained in Gaza during the seven-week war in 2014.

“We are talking about around $20 billion if it stops now,” he says.

Kozul-Wright said earlier that Gaza will need a new “Marshall Plan” to recover from the war, referring to the US plan for Europe’s economic recovery after World War II.

He says the $20 billion estimate is based on satellite images and other information and that a more precise estimate would require researchers to enter Gaza.

UNCTAD already said in a report last month that it could take until the closing years of the century for Gaza’s economy to regain its pre-conflict size if hostilities in the Palestinian enclave were to cease immediately.

IDF confirms senior Hezbollah commander and deputy killed in south Lebanon strike last night

Ali Muhammad al-Debes, 48, a reported Hezbollah commander who was killed in an IDF strike on February 14, 2024 (Hezbollah)

The IDF says it eliminated a senior Hezbollah commander in the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, along with his deputy, in a strike in southern Lebanon yesterday.

Last night, the IDF says fighter jets struck a building used by Hezbollah in Nabatieh, killing Ali Muhammad al-Debes and his deputy Hassan Ibrahim Issa.

The IDF says it struck several Hezbollah positions in the last few hours, in south Lebanon's Blida and Maroun al-Ras. pic.twitter.com/hMirGxvYNl

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) February 15, 2024

According to the IDF, al-Debes, a commander in the Radwan Force, was one of the masterminds behind the bombing attack at Megiddo Junction in northern Israel in March 2023, and planned and carried out other attacks against Israel, including amid the ongoing war.

Media reports say he was responsible for Palestinian affairs in the Hezbollah terror group.

The IDF says it also struck several Hezbollah positions in the last few hours, in south Lebanon’s Blida and Maroun al-Ras.

Gallant says IDF has stepped up attacks against Hezbollah after intense fighting in north

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (center) attends a war simulation meeting, February 15, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says the military has stepped up its attacks against Hezbollah by one level out of ten, warning that “the Air Force planes flying currently in the skies of Lebanon have heavier bombs for more distant targets.”

Speaking during a war simulation carried out by the so-called emergency preparedness committee, Gallant says they are gathered after “an intense day in the north” following a deadly rocket barrage on the IDF Northern Command headquarters.

He says Hezbollah went up half a step, while Israel went up a full one with its response against the terror group, “but it’s one step out of ten.”

“We can attack not only at 20 kilometers [from the border], but also at 50 kilometers, and in Beirut and anywhere else,” Gallant says.

“We do not want to reach this situation, we do not want to enter into a war, but rather are interested in reaching an agreement that will allow the safe return of residents of the north to their homes, under an agreement process,” he says, referring to 80,000 displaced Israelis by Hezbollah’s daily attacks.

“But if there is no choice, we will act to bring [the residents] back and create the appropriate security for them. This should be clear to both our enemies and our friends. And as the State of Israel, the defense establishment, and the IDF have proven in recent months, when we say we mean it,” he adds.

The meeting, attended by several government ministers, defense officials, and other civilian officials, simulated a war scenario in northern Israel with potential damage to power lines, issues with transporting food, and complex medical evacuations, according to the Defense Ministry.

Netanyahu, Gantz to address annual Conference of Presidents events in Jerusalem

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz will be speaking at the annual Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations event in Jerusalem on Sunday.

US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew will also be addressing the event, amid growing criticism of Netanyahu from the White House.

Israel tones down criticism of Vatican’s Gaza remarks

Pope Francis speaks during a mass at St Peter's basilica for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord on February 2, 2024 in The Vatican. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP)

Israel tones down its criticism of the Vatican, saying that remarks by Pope Francis’ deputy on the killings in Gaza were “regrettable” rather than “deplorable.”

Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin had said on Tuesday that Israel’s military response to the Hamas massacre was disproportionate and caused “carnage.”

A day later, Israel’s embassy to the Holy See lashed out at Parolin’s “deplorable statement” and said the Palestinian terror group Hamas bore all the blame for the death and destruction in the enclave.

But today, the embassy said it should have used the word “regrettable,” and that the mix-up was the result of an imprecise translation.

Pope Francis has regularly condemned violence across the Middle East and beyond. But any comments involving Israel have particular historical and cultural sensitivities, built up over centuries.

Relations between the Vatican and Israel have grown increasingly tense since the start of the war in Gaza, with Jewish groups accusing Pope Francis of failing to describe the invasion of the Palestinian enclave as an act of self-defense after the October 7 Hamas attacks.

The Israeli embassy says the original English text of its statement had used the word “regrettable” and its staff had translated that into “deplorevole” in the Italian version they released.

“A more precise” Italian translation would have been “sfortunata,” the embassy says, a word that means something more like unfortunate.

Arab League warns against ‘crazy’ Rafah offensive

Palestinians fleeing Khan Younis arrive in Rafah with their belongings in a damaged car on February 15, 2024 (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

The head of the Arab League warns that an Israeli ground offensive into Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah would lead to “a humanitarian disaster” and threaten stability in the region.

“We are calling on all parties that understand the gravity of the situation to act immediately in order to stop these crazy plans,” Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit says in a statement. Over half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have sought refuge in Rafah after fleeing elsewhere in the coastal enclave.

“What is the meaning of justice and international organizations if they remain unable to enforce a ceasefire and to put an end to these daily gruesome massacres?” he says.

Israel says Rafah is a key remaining Hamas stronghold.

The statement came a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his negotiating team to pull out of talks in Cairo to broker a ceasefire with Hamas. Netanyahu had accused Hamas of making “delusional” demands.

Hezbollah-affiliated website publishes details of reported Israeli truce offer

People demonstrate near the International Criminal Court in The Hague after hostages' families filed a complaint, Feb. 14, 2024 (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Al Mayadeen, a Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese news website, publishes what it claims are the details of an Israeli truce offer for the Gaza Strip.

According to an article published on Wednesday and citing Hamas sources, the Israeli proposal would include three stages. The first would last 35 days, with an optional one-week extension, and would see an IDF withdrawal from “densely populated” areas inside the Strip – but not from all inhabited areas – and a “rehabilitation” of hospitals under Israeli supervision – but not their reconstruction.

IAF warplanes and surveillance aircraft would refrain from flying over Gaza for six hours a day, and 500 aid trucks would enter the Strip daily. Fifty wounded Palestinians above the age of 50 would be allowed to leave Gaza each day for treatment.

In the first phase, Israel would release three Palestinian prisoners, including some serving long sentences, in exchange for each of an unspecified number of Israeli hostage, chosen from civilians and female soldiers.

The second stage, according to the Hamas sources quoted by al Mayadeen, would last 30 days and would see an exchange of an undetermined number of Palestinian detainees in return for hostages. Israeli forces would not withdraw from Gaza at this stage, but Israel would be willing to “consider” the return of displaced civilians to their place of residence, according to the Lebanese outlet.

No details are reported on the time frame or the terms for the third stage. The guarantors of the agreement proposed by Israel, according to al Mayadeen, would be the US, Egypt and Qatar, but not Turkey and Russia, which had been requested by Hamas.

The latest round of negotiations in Cairo, attended by the US, Egypt, Israel and Qatar, ended on Tuesday without a breakthrough. Israel denied that it presented a new offer, with officials in the Prime Minister’s Office saying that the Israeli delegation, led by Mossad head David Barnea and Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, was merely “there to listen.”

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly ruled out sending an Israeli delegation back to Cairo for further hostage negotiations.

On the same day, senior Hamas official Muhammad Nazzal accused Netanyahu of thwarting the Cairo talks in an interview with Al Jazeera, and of trying to achieve the release of the hostages without paying a price. The terror group bigwig said, however, that negotiations are not at a dead end.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement today that any agreement between Israel and Hamas should secure a ceasefire and an Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza in addition to achieving a serious prisoner swap deal.

WATCH: Hezbollah rocket explodes at entrance to Safed’s Ziv hospital

An Israeli policeman inspects the impact crater left by a rocket fired from southern Lebanon where it landed near the entrance of Ziv hospital in Israel's northern city of Safed on February 14, 2024 (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

Ziv Medical Center in Safed announces that one of the rockets in the barrage launched from Lebanon that slammed into the city yesterday landed at the hospital’s entrance.

Security video from the hospital shows people getting out of cars and disembarking from buses to take cover shortly before the rocket hit extremely close by. A security guard is seen instructing everyone to quickly go to a secure area and helps a mother and baby exit their car. They are seen running toward shelter after the impact.

“It was a miracle that no one was injured,” says a hospital spokesperson.

A soldier, Staff Sgt. Omer Sarah Benjo, was killed in the attack and 10 wounded people were brought to Ziv Medical Center for treatment. One, a reserve solder, was transferred to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa for neurosurgery for a severe head injury.

UN says Gaza needs ‘Marshall Plan’ for postwar reconstruction

Israeli soldiers operate inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, February 13, 2024. The army is battling Palestinian terrorists across Gaza in the war ignited by Hamas's October 7 attack into Israel. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Gaza will need a new “Marshall Plan” to recover from the conflict between Israel and Hamas, a UN trade body official says.

“This will need a new Marshall Plan,” Richard Kozul-Wright, a director at the UN trade body (UNCTAD), tells a UN meeting in Geneva, referring to a plan for Europe’s economic recovery after World War II.

He says that the damage was already four times the damage endured in Gaza during the seven-week war in 2014.

Hezbollah commander said among 10 dead in Israeli strike in Lebanon

Ali Muhammad al-Debes, 48, a reported Hezbollah commander who was killed in an IDF strike on February 14, 2024 (Hezbollah)

A Hezbollah commander, two other terror group members, and seven civilians were killed in an Israeli strike in south Lebanon, a security source said Thursday, clarifying the death toll from a raid a day earlier.

The same Hezbollah commander had previously been targeted and wounded in an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanon town of Nabatiyeh a week earlier, the security source says, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

At the time of the initial strike, he was identified by media reports as Abbas al-Debes. Hezbollah’s announcement today identifies him as Ali Muhammad al-Debes, 48.

Media reports say he was responsible for Palestinian affairs in the Hezbollah terror group.

Hospital: Soldier seriously wounded in Hezbollah attack now stable after surgery

Injured people arrive to Ziv Medical Center in Safed after a rocket attack on February 14, 2024. (David Cohen/Flash90)

The soldier who suffered a serious head injury during a major rocket and missile attack on a military base near Safed yesterday is in stable condition after undergoing surgery overnight at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.

The reservist, from the Computer Service Directorate, was transferred to Rambam from Ziv Medical Center in Safed when it was determined that he would need neurosurgery as part of his treatment.

According to Dr. Roy Ilan, deputy director of Rambam’s general ICU unit, the soldier also suffered an abdominal wound. He was operated on by neurosurgical and general surgery teams. He is now being cared for in the intensive care unit. The doctors have taken him out of the induced coma they had put him in and he is now awake and breathing on his own.

“He appears to be in stable condition in all regards. He will have a long recovery, but we think he is moving in the right direction and we are very pleased,” Ilan says.

Hezbollah names three members killed in Israeli strikes

The Hezbollah terror group names three members killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” its term for operatives slain in Israeli strikes.

They are named as Ali Muhammad al-Debes, 48, from Zebdine, Hassan Ibrahim Issa, 27, from Houmine el-Tahta, and Hussein Ahmad Aqeel, 36, from Jebbayn.

Their deaths bring the terror group’s toll since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip to 199.

The announcement comes following several IDF strikes on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, in response to attacks on northern Israel.

The Hezbollah terror group names three members killed "on the road to Jerusalem," its term for operatives slain in Israeli strikes.

They are named as Ali Muhammad al-Debes, 48, from Zebdine, Hassan Ibrahim Issa, 27, from Houmine el-Tahta, and Hussein Ahmad Aqeel, 36, from… pic.twitter.com/yhT63XeYmy

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) February 15, 2024

Eurovision rejects call to ban Israel over Gaza war

Singer Noa Kirel performs on behalf of Israel during the final of the Eurovision Song contest 2023 on May 13, 2023 at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, northern England. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)

Israel can compete in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, organizers say, despite calls for it to be excluded over the Gaza war like Russia was after invading Ukraine.

Petitions have been circulating calling for Israel to be kicked out of the world’s biggest live music event, which is being held in Malmo, Sweden, in May.

The European Broadcasting Union says it had conducted a review and decided Israel could participate in the kitsch annual pop extravaganza.

“The Eurovision Song Contest is a non-political music event and a competition between public service broadcasters who are members of the EBU. It is not a contest between governments,” EBU director general Noel Curran says in a statement.

“Our governing bodies… did review the participants list for the 2024 contest and agreed that the Israeli public broadcaster KAN met all the competition rules for this year and can participate, as it has for the past 50 years.”

Israel is to take part in the second semifinal on May 9, from which 10 of the 16 contenders will progress to the grand final on May 11.

Eden Golan, 20, who grew up in Russia, will represent Israel after winning a domestic contest. Her song has yet to be announced.

In Egypt, Brazil’s Lula says ‘no explanation’ for Israel’s actions in Gaza

This handout photo taken and released on February 14, 2024, by the Brazilian Presidency shows President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (R) and his wife Janja da Silva posing for pictures during their visit to the Giza Pyramids plateau on the outskirts of Cairo.  (Photo by Ricardo STUCKERT / Brazilian Presidency / AFP)

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says that multilateral institutions are failing to resolve international conflicts and criticized Israeli actions in Gaza.

“Israel’s behavior has no explanation: with the pretext of fighting Hamas, it is killing women and children,” he says after a meeting with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

Lula said there would not be peace without the establishment of a Palestinian state and called for an immediate ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Israel launched its offensive against Hamas in Gaza after the terror group stormed across the Gaza border on October 7, killing some 1,200 people, most of them civilians in their homes and at a music festival and taking another 253 hostages.

Israel says it does everything it can to avoid civilian casualties but blames Hamas, which has built heavily fortified terror tunnels under homes, hospitals and schools, for using Gaza’s civilian population as human shields.

Drone infiltration alert sounds in northern Israel

Suspected drone infiltration alarms are activated in several communities in the Upper Galilee, close to the Lebanon border.

The sirens sound in Yir’on, Malkia, Dishon, Ramot Naftali, Baram, Yiftah, Avivim, Alma, Jish, Rehaniya, Kerem Ben Zimra, Dalton, and the Ramat Dalton Industrial Zone.

The Hezbollah terror group has carried out several attacks on northern Israel using explosive-laden drones, though there have also been numerous false alarms.

The alert comes after a series of large-scale Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, which Hezbollah has vowed to avenge.

✈️ ???? Hostile Aircraft Infiltration Alert in northern Israel.

• Confrontation Line — Yir'on, Avivim, Baram, Iftach, Mevuot Hermon Regional Council, Alma, Ramot Naftali, Dalton, Kerem Ben Zimra, Malkia, Dishon, Jish (Gush Halav), Ramat Dalton Industrial Zone, Rehaniya pic.twitter.com/rjkQ2E1PGr

— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) February 15, 2024

Moments after the sirens sound, the IDF Home Front Command says the incident is over, without elaborating further.

US Centcom says its forces seized Iranian arms shipment bound for Houthis

US forces seized advanced conventional weapons and other lethal aid from Iran that were bound for Houthi-held areas of Yemen on a vessel in the Arabian Sea on Jan. 28, the US Central Command says.

Houthi rebels in Yemen have repeatedly launched drones and missiles against international commercial shipping since mid-November, saying they are acting in support of Hamas in Gaza.

CENTCOM Intercepts Iranian Weapons Shipment Intended for Houthis

TAMPA, Fla. – A U.S. Coast Guard cutter, forward deployed to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility, seized advanced conventional weapons and other lethal aid originating in Iran and bound to… pic.twitter.com/inkw4ihq1I

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 15, 2024

Hamas says 87 Palestinians killed in last 24 hours, bringing Gaza toll to 28,663

This picture taken from Rafah shows smoke billowing over Khan Younis in the distance following Israeli strike on the southern Gaza Strip on February 14, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (Said Khatib / AFP)

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says 87 Palestinians were killed in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll in the latest conflict to 28,663.

These figures cannot be independently verified, and are believed to include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, including as a consequence of terror groups’ own rocket misfires. The IDF says it has killed over 10,000 operatives in Gaza, in addition to some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

Herzog and former hostages to head to Germany for Munich Security Conference

Families and supporters of Israelis held kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in Gaza attend a rally calling for the release of the captives, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, February 10, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/ Flash90)

President Isaac Herzog will fly to Germany tomorrow to participate in the 60th Munich Security Conference and to meet with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the President’s Office announces.

Herzog — who will be joined by freed hostages Raz Ben Ami, Adi Shoham and Aviva Siegel, as well as families of hostages — will discuss ongoing efforts to free the remaining hostages in Gaza.

The president will hold working meetings with other world leaders and speak on the conference main stage.

The purpose of the trip, according to Herzog’s office, is to build “intense political pressure” to help achieve a hostage deal, and to make clear to world leaders the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7.

He will also stress Israel’s efforts to protect Gazan civilians in the face of the threat posed by Hamas.

First Lady Michal Herzog will participate in a panel on the use of sexual violence as a weapon.

Gal Hirsch, the government point man on hostages, and Foreign Minister Israel Katz are also making the trip.

Ireland to donate €20 million to UNRWA

UNRWA's headquarters in Gaza City, February 8, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

During a visit by UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, Ireland announces that it will provide €20 million to the embattled UN agency.

“In Gaza, we are bearing witness to a humanitarian catastrophe,” says Ireland’s Tánaiste and Foreign Minister Micheál Martin. “People are in dire need of the most basic lifesaving provisions – food, water, shelter. In these most harrowing conditions, facing the prospect of further military escalation, UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response.”

Last year, Ireland provided €18 million.

Israel last month accused 12 staff with the UN Palestinian refugee agency of taking part in the October 7 massacre by Hamas-led terrorists, who killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in the murderous rampage.

Since the allegations became public late last month, UNRWA has seen many of its top donor countries announce funding freezes, leading to concerns that the agency could stop operating in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East within weeks.

The IDF also found a large Hamas server farm in tunnels under UNRWA headquarters in Gaza, which the agency says it was not aware of.

Hezbollah says Israel will pay ‘the price’ for strike that killed civilians

A man checks the destruction following an Israeli airstrike the previous day on the village of Taybeh near the border with Israel in southern Lebanon, on February 15, 2024. -(Photo by HASSAN FNEICH / AFP)

Hezbollah says Israel would pay “the price” for killing at least 10 people including five children in southern Lebanon, the deadliest day for Lebanese civilians in four months of hostilities across the Lebanese-Israeli border.

“The enemy will pay the price for these crimes,” Hezbollah politician Hassan Fadlallah tells Reuters. “The resistance will continue to practice its legitimate right to defend its people.”

Senior Hezbollah official Sheikh Nabil Kaouk says at an event in southern Lebanon that the terror group was “prepared for the possibility of expanding the war” and would meet “escalation with escalation, displacement with displacement, and destruction with destruction.”

Several of the Lebanese terror group’s fighters were also killed in separate strikes on Wednesday, including on Nabatieh, according to the group and security sources.

Asked about the Nabatieh strike, a spokesperson for the Israeli army says it was waiting for further information “on this event but we will update when we know further details.”

The conflict between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel has played out in parallel to the Gaza war, fueling concern about the risk of an all-out confrontation between the heavily armed adversaries.

Both sides have said they do not seek all-out war, and the conflict has largely been contained to areas near the border.

A source familiar with Hezbollah thinking says the attack on Nabatieh marked an Israeli escalation but was still within unwritten “rules of engagement.”

Israel said on Wednesday it had responded to cross-border rocket fire from Lebanon that had killed one of its soldiers and hospitalized eight others in the city of Safed, about 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the Lebanese border.

IDF says fighter jets hit dozens of Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon

Civil defense and rescue workers remove rubbles from a building that was hit Wednesday night by an Israeli airstrike, in Nabatiyeh town, south Lebanon, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

The IDF says it struck dozens of Hezbollah sites in south Lebanon in the past few hours.

Targets hit by fighter jets included rocket launching positions, buildings, and other infrastructure used by the terror group in the Wadi Saluki area, according to the IDF.

Earlier this morning, the IDF says it also struck Hezbollah infrastructure in Labbouneh, and last night hit a building used by the terror group in Taybeh.

Israel slams top UN aid official who said Hamas not a terror group

Foreign Minister Israel Katz blasts UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths for saying in a Sky News interview that “Hamas is not a terrorist group. For us, of course, as you know, it’s a political movement.”

Griffiths made the comments in response to a question about whether Israel’s insistence that Hamas never be part of future government is realistic.

“Shame on him,” Katz tweets in English.

In Hebrew, Katz tweets a sharper message. “The United Nations reaches a new low every day,” he writes, pointing to statements from Griffiths and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

“We will eliminate Hamas with or without them,” he pledges. “Jewish blood is not cheap.”

The @UNReliefChief denies that the Nazi organization Hamas is a terrorist organization and calls it a "political movement". Shame on him. pic.twitter.com/piK1paMiRK

— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) February 15, 2024

IDF says it wrapped up two-week operation in Gaza’s Shati camp

Troops operate in central Gaza's Shati Camp, in an image released by the IDF on February 15, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says it has wrapped up a two-week-long raid in Gaza City’s Shati camp, during which the 162nd Division killed numerous Hamas operatives and destroyed the terror group’s sites.

The division’s 401st Armored Brigade, Nahal Infantry Brigade, 5th Reserve Infantry Brigade, and other special forces took part in the operation

The IDF says that within two hours, troops reached the Shati area, where the military had previously operated but withdrawn from, and established “operational control” within several more hours, which it says indicated Hamas’s weakened control in the area.

“The operation constitutes a new method of operating, of offensive raids to target terror,” the IDF says.

According to the IDF, troops raided many Hamas sites over the past 14 days, seizing intelligence materials and killing dozens of Hamas gunmen in the process.

During the raids, the troops located and destroyed the Hamas data center hidden under UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood.

Amid the raids, the IDF says some 150 strikes were carried out by the Israeli Air Force, Navy, and 215th Artillery Regiment.

Hamas says Israel raid on Gaza hospital a ‘massive incursion,’ many wounded

IDF troops operate in the Gaza Strip, in a handout image published February 15, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra says Israel has launched a “massive incursion” on Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital with heavy shooting that wounded many of the displaced people who had sheltered there.

He says the military had ordered medics to move all patients into an older building that was not properly equipped for their treatment.

The IDF said it had “credible intelligence” that Hamas had held hostages at the hospital and that the remains of hostages might still be inside. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesperson, said forces were conducting a “precise and limited” operation there and would not forcibly evacuate medics or patients. Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals and other civilian structures to shield its fighters.

Earlier, hospital officials said at least seven patients were hit by Israeli fire, killing one and wounding six others.

The IDF had no immediate comment.

IDF: Credible evidence Hamas held hostages at Khan Younis’s Nasser hospital; bodies may still be there

Illustrative: Palestinians dig graves at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says the military has “credible intelligence” that Hamas held hostages at Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, and there may be bodies of hostages currently hidden there. The military is conducting a “precise and limited” operation inside the hospital, he says.

“Since the Hamas massacre of October 7th, the IDF has been operating to fulfill its mission of dismantling Hamas and bringing our hostages home,” Hagari says in an English-language video statement.

“Sadly, we know that some hostages are no longer alive. We are committed to finding and returning the bodies of those hostages in Gaza,” he says.

The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 31 hostages held by the terror group, including the bodies of two soldiers held since 2014.

“We conduct precise rescue operations — as we have in the past — where our intelligence indicates that the bodies of hostages may be held,” Hagari says.

He says the IDF has “credible intelligence from a number of sources, including from released hostages, indicating that Hamas held hostages at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis and that there may be bodies of our hostages in the Nasser hospital facility.”

“As was proven with the Shifa Hospital, Rantisi Hospital, Al Amal Hospital, and many other hospitals across Gaza, Hamas systematically uses hospitals as terror hubs,” Hagari says.

He says that according to the IDF’s intelligence assessments, over 85% of “major medical facilities” in Gaza have been used by Hamas for terror activity.

“Because Hamas terrorists are likely hiding behind injured civilians inside Nasser Hospital right now and appear to have used the hospital to hide our hostages there too, the IDF is conducting a precise and limited operation inside Nasser Hospital,” he says.

“This sensitive operation was prepared with precision and is being conducted by IDF special forces who underwent specified training,” Hagari says.

“A key objective as defined by our military mission is to ensure that Nasser Hospital continues its important function of treating Gazan patients. We communicated this in a number of conversations we had with the hospital staff over the last few days. We emphasized that there is no obligation for patients or staff to evacuate the hospital. However, we have been urging other Gazans, in Arabic, on the phone and via loudspeakers, to move away from the danger that Hamas puts them in — via a humanitarian corridor we opened for this purpose. For the purpose of protecting uninvolved civilians in Gaza,” he says.

Hagari says the IDF also facilitated the transfer of medical supplies, oxygen tanks and fuel for electricity to the hospital in recent days, “to ensure its essential functions continue uninterrupted.”

“We have doctors and Arabic-speaking IDF officers on the ground to communicate to the staff and patients inside the Nasser Hospital. Our message to them is clear: We seek no harm to innocent civilians. We seek to find our hostages and bring them home. We seek to hunt down Hamas terrorists wherever they may be hiding,” he adds.

The IDF in a separate statement says that it has so far detained several suspects at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

It also adds that troops are looking for Hamas terrorists at the hospital, including those who participated in the October 7 onslaught.

US Congress condemns Hamas use of sexual violence; Tlaib abstains

File: Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, speaks during a pro-Palestinian rally at the National Mall in Washington, October 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The US Congress passes a bipartisan resolution on Hamas’s use of rape and sexual violence in the October 7 onslaught and afterward against hostages held by the terror group.

The bill passes by a vote of 418 to 0, with only Palestinian-American lawmaker Rashida Tlaib voting “present.”

“Our bipartisan resolution says it loud and clear — rape and sexual violence are crimes against humanity and should never be used or accepted as weapons of war,” says Democrat Lois Frankel of Florida who introduced the resolution.

“Hamas’s actions on October 7 and continuing is almost too difficult to speak about, raping, mutilating and burning to inflict psychological pain and unleashing trauma that continues to plague a grieving Israel,” Frankel says.

Tlaib said she condemned all forms of sexual violence, but could not support the resolution because it “completely ignores and erases any sexual violence and abuse committed by the Israeli forces against Palestinians, especially children.”

While the evidence and testimony of horrific sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 has been widely documented, there have been no credible reports of sexual violence perpetrated by the IDF in Gaza as Tlaib claims.

We all have a responsibility to denounce sexual violence in all forms, regardless of who is responsible. War crimes cannot justify more war crimes. This resolution falls well short of also acknowledging the sexual abuse of Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/T4kdm1WXxk

— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) February 14, 2024

Rambam hospital suffers massive power failure; no patients affected

Medical staff prepare the the Sammy Ofer Fortified Underground Emergency Hospital at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa following the outbreak of war, October 11, 2023. (Courtesy of Rambam)

Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, the only level 1 trauma center and tertiary care hospital in Israel’s north, experiences an extensive power outage in the early morning hours. Some equipment may have been damaged, but no patients were affected.

A hospital spokesperson tells The Times of Israel that the incident was due to an infrastructure failure and not a cyberattack. The power outage occurs as Rambam is on high alert as fighting intensifies with Hezbollah and other terror groups along the northern border.

Shortly after 2 a.m., the main electrical line from the Israel Electric Corporation feeding the hospital stopped working properly. The medical center’s generators kicked in immediately and logistics administrators and hospital electricians arrived to ascertain that all critical systems were online and that immediate backup systems were working.

Problems were identified in the functioning of some equipment in specific areas of the hospital and are being addressed. Hospital administrators are going from department to department to check all sensitive equipment.

The Health Ministry has been notified and will receive a full report in due course.

Zionist Federation of Australia condemns government opposition to Rafah op

Displaced Palestinians stand outside their tents in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 14, 2024, amid the continuing battles between Israel and Hamas. (Said Khatib/AFP)

The  Zionist Federation of Australia condemns a joint statement released by Australia, New Zealand and Canada that urges Israel not to launch an operation against Hamas strongholds in the southern Gaza city of Rafah where more than a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.

“It is extremely disappointing and frankly unreasonable for the Government to call for the removal of Hamas from power as the only pathway to end the war and simultaneously call on Israel to refrain from entering Rafah to remove the last remaining Hamas stronghold,” says ZFA president Jeremy Leibler.

“It places Israel in an impossible position and sets a precedent that terrorist organizations will have immunity by hiding behind civilians,” he says.

“The Hamas-Israel war could end tomorrow, if only Hamas were to surrender and release the hostages. While the Australian Government has rightly reiterated this point, we call on all governments, including Australia, to focus their efforts on applying this pressure on Hamas. This is the only pathway to addressing the significant humanitarian crisis in Gaza and ending the war,” Leibler says.

UNRWA chief says agency cashflows to turn negative next month if funding not resumed

Displaced Palestinian people sit on benches as they wait outside a clinic of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on January 28, 2024 (Photo by AFP)

Cashflows at the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, will turn negative next month and its financial problems will accelerate in April if funding suspended by a number of countries does not resume, the head of the agency says.

“We will hit a negative cashflow as from March and then it will be accelerated in April unless this frozen contribution is unlocked,” UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini tells Irish national broadcaster RTE before a meeting in Dublin with the country’s foreign minister.

Several nations halted funding for the agency amid accusations that at least 12 of the UN agency’s workers actively participated in the Hamas terror group’s October 7 massacre and hostage-taking in Israel.

IDF carries out targeted killings of several Hamas terrorists in northern Gaza

The IDF says it carried out several targeted killings of Hamas terrorists in Gaza City and other areas in the north of the Strip over the past day.

The 215th Artillery Regiment directed and carried out the strikes against some 15 Hamas operatives, including members of its general security services and terrorists who participated in the October 7 onslaught, according to the IDF.

The IDF also says that over the past day, the Israeli Air Force carried out several waves of airstrikes against Hamas infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.

Targets included several tunnels, buildings used by the terror group, and rocket launching sites, according to the IDF.

Meanwhile, in central Gaza, troops of the Nahal Brigade killed several Hamas gunmen over the past day, the IDF says.

In one incident, the IDF says Nahal troops called in an airstrike against a Hamas lookout commander.

In another incident, a Navy ship identified and struck a Hamas cell approaching the troops in central Gaza, the IDF says.

In southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, the IDF says the Commando Brigade continued to raid Hamas sites over the past day, locating dozens of weapons and explosives.

Also in Khan Younis, troops of the 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade spotted two Hamas lookouts in the area, and called in an airstrike against them.

And in western Khan Younis, the IDF says troops of the 7th Armored Brigade killed several Hamas gunmen with tank shelling and sniper fire.

The IDF also releases footage from an incident on Tuesday in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, in which a Hamas operative is seen firing an RPG at troops of the 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade, before an airstrike is called in against the building he fired the rocket from.

Macron to host Jordan’s King Abdullah for talks on Hamas war

French President Emmanuel Macron, right, poses with King Abdullah II of Jordan before a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, March 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

French President Emmanuel Macron will host Jordan’s King Abdullah in Paris on Friday to talk about helping resolve the Gaza conflict, the Elysee palace says.

“Following up on their meeting in Jordan in December, the two heads of state will discuss the urgent need for a ceasefire in Gaza, which would finally ensure the protection of civilians and the massive entry of humanitarian aid,” it says in a statement.

They will also discuss ways to achieve durable peace in the Middle East.

Ben Gvir says no Palestinian state while he is in government

Head of the Otzma Yehudit party and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on February 5, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir joins the government ministers who are responding angrily to a report of a US plan to recognize a Palestinian state in the coming weeks as part of a peace plan.

“The intention of the US, together with the Arab states, to establish a terror state alongside the State of Israel is delusional and part of the misguided conception that there is a partner for peace on the other side,” the Ynet news site quotes Ben Gvir as saying.

“After October 7 it is clearer than ever that it is forbidden to give them a state. While we are in the government, no Palestinian state will be established,” he says.

“1,400 murdered and the world wants to give them a state. It won’t happen,” he also posts on X.

Likud minister on reported US peace plan: We need to resist, threaten unilateral steps

Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli speaks at a Knesset committee meeting, on December 19, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli of the Likud party rejects a reported US plan to recognize a Palestinian state and says Israel needs to “threaten” the Americans with unilateral steps.

“If this is the American vision, we need to resist it and threaten them with our own unilateral steps like canceling the Oslo Accords,” Chikli tells Army Radio, referring to the agreements negotiated in the 1990s that led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority.

Smotrich rejects reported US plan for Palestinian state: ‘A prize for massacring Israelis’

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a Religious Zionism party faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, February 12, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich rejects a reported US plan to present a framework peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians in the next few weeks that would recognize a Palestinian state.

“We will never agree, under any circumstances to this plan that basically says the Palestinians deserve a prize for the terrible massacre they carried out against us: A Palestinian state with a capital in Jerusalem,” Smotrich posts on X with a link to a report on the emerging plan.

“The message is that it pays to slaughter citizens of Israel,” the far-right minister says.

“A Palestinian state is an existential threat to the State of Israel as was proved on October 7. Kfar Saba will not become Kfar Aza,” he says, referencing a central Israeli city that lies just a few miles from the West Bank, and a Gaza border community that was overrun by Hamas.

Smotrich says he will demand that the security cabinet adopt a decision when it meets later today that it is opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian state, and he expects clear support for the move from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Unity party ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot.

Gallant tells Austin Israel will not tolerate attacks from Lebanon

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (L) and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant give a joint press conference in Tel Aviv on December 18, 2023. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says his conversation with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin focused on updating him on the recent Israeli operation to free two of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and on the situation on the northern border.

“Spoke with my friend @SecDef Austin about IDF activities, including the successful operation conducted to release two hostages held in Gaza. Emphasized our commitment to bringing the hostages home, and the importance of military pressure and additional efforts to this end,” Gallant posts on X.

“Also discussed ongoing threats and attacks conducted by Hezbollah. The State of Israel will not tolerate attacks on its citizens. We will ensure security and the safe return of our communities to the north, and are prepared to do so via diplomatic or military means,” he says.

An earlier Pentagon readout of the conversation says Austin stressed that the safety of civilians needs to be ensured before Israel can launch an operation in Rafah.

Spoke with my friend @SecDef Austin about IDF activities, including the successful operation conducted to release two hostages held in Gaza. Emphasized our commitment to bringing the hostages home, and the importance of military pressure and additional efforts to this end.

— יואב גלנט – Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) February 15, 2024

Iran says it will reciprocate if its ships are seized by US

Illustrative: a seized oil tanker Niovi off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran, May 6, 2023. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

Iran will reciprocate if its ships are seized, the legal adviser to Iran’s President tells state media, in response to a statement by the United States Department of Justice.

This month, the Department of Justice issued a statement announcing the seizure of more than 500,000 barrels of Iranian fuel to clamp down on the “Revolutionary Guards’ financing network.”

“If an Iranian ship is seized, we will reciprocate and the legal way is not closed in this regard,” legal adviser Mohammad Dehghan says, adding that he was not able to confirm whether US authorities had seized an Iranian vessel.

Court orders by Iran’s judicial system have often been grounds for the seizure of foreign tankers by the Revolutionary Guards.

Lebanese officials say 11 civilians, 4 Hezbollah men killed in Israeli strikes

Civil defense and rescue workers remove rubble from a building that was hit Wednesday night by an Israeli airstrike, in Nabatiyeh town, south Lebanon, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Eleven civilians, including six children, were killed by Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon yesterday, a hospital director and three Lebanese security sources say, as Israel responded to a Hezbollah rocket attack that killed a soldier.

Four Hezbollah fighters were killed in separate strikes, according to the group and security sources.

Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire along the Israel-Lebanon border for more than four months, after the Lebanese terror group began launching rockets across the frontier in support of Hamas after the October 7 massacre.

A woman and her two children were killed in an Israeli strike on the village of al-Sawana, two security sources say.

A strike on a building in Nabatieh killed four more children, three women and a man, according to the director of the town’s hospital, Hassan Wazni, and three other security sources. Seven people were also wounded, Wazni tells Reuters.

Report: US, Arab partners preparing timeline for Palestinian state, announcement could come in weeks

US President Joe Biden arrives with Jordan's King Abdullah II to speak in the Cross Hall of the White House, February 12, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The US and several Arab partners are preparing a detailed plan for a comprehensive peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians that includes a “firm timeline” for a Palestinian state, the Washington Post reports, saying the announcement could come in the next few weeks.

The report, citing US and Arab officials, says that the key to the plan and its announcement would be the reaching of an initial ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, during which hostages would be released, ideally before the start of Ramadan next month. During this pause, projected to be at least six weeks, the US plans to make the report public, take initial steps towards its implementation, including forming an interim Palestinian government, and try drumming up further support for the move.

However, the report says it is unclear if Israel will go along with such a move.

The proposed plan includes steps that Israel has previously refused and are highly unlikely to be approved by the current hard-right government, including the evacuation of many West Bank settlements, a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem and combined security and governments for the West Bank and Gaza.

The report says that those involved in the plan hope that Israel can be persuaded by security guarantees and normalization with Arab states like Saudi Arabia.

It says the countries involved aim to discuss their ideas with European and other leaders at Friday’s Munich Security Conference.

Israel’s Deni Avdija scores career-best 43 in Wizard’s loss to Pelicans

Washington Wizards forward Deni Avdija (8) grabs a rebound against New Orleans Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado (15) during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Washington Wizards in New Orleans, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

Israel’s Deni Avdija scores a career-best 43 points for the Washington Wizards.

Avdija, a fourth-year player, blew past his previous high of 25 points before the midpoint of the third quarter, finishing with 20 points in that period. He also matched a season high with 14 rebounds, and he helped keep it close until the final minute.

However, Zion Williamson scored 36 points, CJ McCollum added 26 as the New Orleans Pelicans beat Washington 133-126.

“Start to finish, he played a great game, and he did it on both ends of the floor,” Williamson says. “Even when his team was down, his energy was still high. You’ve got to give respect to a player like that.”

Pentagon chief speaks with Gallant, says Israel must safeguard civilians in Rafah

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (L) and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant give a joint press conference in Tel Aviv on December 18, 2023. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP)

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant held another call, the Pentagon says.

A readout from the US Defense Department stresses “the importance of safeguarding civilians and ensuring the movement of and access to humanitarian assistance before any operations against Hamas in Rafah.”

It also says the two discussed the Israeli operation to rescue two hostages in Rafah and the negotiations on a hostage deal, adding that Gallant briefed Austin about Israel’s offensive in Khan Younis.

Canada, Australia and New Zealand demand ceasefire, warn against Israeli op in Rafah

Palestinians fleeing the Israeli offensive against Hamas in Khan Younis arrive at Rafah, Gaza Strip, February 14, 2024. AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

SYDNEY — The leaders of Canada, Australia and New Zealand call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, according to a joint statement released in response to reports about Israel’s planned military operation in Rafah.

“We are gravely concerned by indications that Israel is planning a ground offensive into Rafah. A military operation into Rafah would be catastrophic,” the statement by the prime ministers of the three countries say.

“An immediate humanitarian ceasefire is urgently needed.”

FBI chief makes unannounced trip to Israel, meets counterparts and Tel Aviv-based agents

FBI Director Christopher Wray, testifies during a Congressional committee hearing in Washington, January 31, 2024. (Julia Nikhinson/AFP)

WASHINGTON — The director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation made an unannounced trip to Israel to meet with the country’s law and intelligence agencies as it fights a bloody war in Gaza, the FBI says.

Christopher Wray also met with FBI agents based in Tel Aviv, according to a statement from the bureau, stressing the importance of their work on Palestinian terror group Hamas and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

He reiterates the FBI’s support of Israel in the wake of the October 7 attacks by Hamas.

“The FBI’s partnership with our Israeli counterparts is longstanding, close, and robust, and I’m confident the closeness of our agencies contributed to our ability to move so quickly in response to these attacks, and to ensure our support is as seamless as possible,” Wray is quoted as saying in the statement.

Wray’s “key focus” is the FBI’s efforts against foreign organizations praising the attacks on Israel and threatening to attack the United States, both abroad and at home, the bureau statement says.

It says the FBI “has and will continue to be responsive to requests” from Israel for support.

UK Jewish group records all-time high in antisemitic incidents after October 7

FILE - An Israeli supporter holds up a placard saying 'End Jew Hatred' as she takes part in a protest where placards with the faces and names of people believed taken hostage and held in Gaza were held up during a protest in Trafalgar Square, London, on October 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

LONDON — Britain recorded thousands of antisemitic incidents after the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in October, making 2023 the worst year for UK antisemitism since 1984, when Jewish advisory body CST began recording such data, it says.

The number of antisemitic incidents across the country reached 4,103, more than twice the figure in 2022, amid a surge of threats, hate speech, violence and damage to Jewish institutions and property, the Community Security Trust says.

The CST, which advises Britain’s estimated 280,000 Jews on security matters, says two-thirds of those incidents occurred on or after October 7, when Hamas terrorists rampaged through southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 253 hostage.

That rise appeared, at least initially, to reflect a celebration of Hamas’ attacks rather than anger at Israel’s military response in Gaza, the CST says its data suggested. The conflict has left at least 28,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, which does not provide a breakdown for combatant deaths or civilians killed by terrorists’ misfired rockets.

The surge recorded after October 7 alone exceeded all previous annual totals, says the CST, which has been recording antisemitic incidents in Britain for 40 years.

“British Jews are strong and resilient, but the explosion in hatred against our community is an absolute disgrace,” CST chief executive Mark Gardner says.

He notes the community is being “harassed, intimidated, threatened and attacked by extremists” in Britain’s schools, universities, workplaces and streets, as well as online.

“This is a challenge for everyone and we condemn the stony silence from those sections of society that eagerly call out racism in every other case, except when it comes to Jew hate,” Gardner adds.

GOP speaker says House won’t be ‘rushed’ to approve bill with aid for Israel, Ukraine

US House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana arrives for a closed-door Republican caucus meeting, at the Capitol in Washington, February 14, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON — Republican Speaker Mike Johnson says the US House will not feel “rushed” to pass the $95.3 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other allies, signaling a further stall over sending military hardware and munitions Kyiv badly needs to fight Russia.

Johnson made the remarks behind closed doors at a morning meeting of House Republicans, who are largely aligned with Donald Trump, the party’s presidential front-runner, in opposing the Senate-passed foreign assistance for Ukraine’s fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

The speaker let colleagues know that the House will instead “work its will,” in considering the package, says a person familiar with the private remarks and granted anonymity to discuss them.

“The Republican-led House will not be jammed or forced into passing a foreign aid bill,” Johnson says at a press conference afterward.

Johnson, who rejected a border security compromise that was eventually stripped from the final product, says the Senate’s package “does nothing” to secure the US-Mexico border, which has been the GOP’s priority.

He says he requested a meeting with US President Joe Biden months ago on these issues, and was still waiting for the opportunity to talk one-on-one.

The White House suggests that Johnson is in no position for productive talks after Republicans demanded that border security be attached to the national security aid and then he rejected the bipartisan package approved by the Senate.

MIT suspends anti-Israel student group for holding unauthorized demonstration

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) president Sally Kornbluth speaks during a hearing of the US House Committee on Education on Capitol Hill, December 5, 2023 in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

BOSTON — The president of MIT has suspended a student group that has held demonstrations against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as protests over the war continue to rattle universities around the country.

In a video statement, Sally Kornbluth says the group, Coalition Against Apartheid or CAA, held a demonstration Monday night without going through the university’s permission process required of all groups. The protest was against the Israeli military’s possible ground invasion of Rafah, the city on the southern Gaza border where 1.4 million Palestinians have fled to escape fighting elsewhere in the monthslong war.

As a result, the group received a letter Tuesday advising that its privileges as a student group would be suspended. It will not get any kind of funding that student group’s normally get nor will it be able to use MIT facilities nor hold any demonstrations on campus.

“I want to be clear: suspending the CAA is not related to the content of their speech,” Kornbluth says.

“I fully support the right of everyone on our campus to express their views. However, we have clear, reasonable time, place and manner policies for good reason,” she says. “The point of these policies is to make sure that members of the MIT community can work, learn and do their work on campus without disruption. We also need to keep the community safe.”

The CAA, in a statement, demands that it be reinstated and calls MIT’s move an attack on its right to fight for what it says is “Palestinian liberation.” It also says that 13 student organizers have individually been threatened with permanent suspension from MIT.

The president didn’t address such disciplinary action against student organizers in her video messages.

“For over four months, the MIT administration has continued to silence our voices by applying unjust punitive measures to our actions,” the group says of its response to what it called “genocide perpetrated by the Israeli occupation in Palestine.”

“These attacks on our right to protest are not only suppressive but expose the moral failure and desperation of the administration,” the group adds.