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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Friday, December 26, 2025

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Spokesperson Eli Feldstein is seen at an event with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the war against Hamas in Gaza, sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023, massacre. (IDF)

Live updates (closed)

Dec. 26: African Union ‘rejects any recognition of Somaliland’ after Israeli declaration

Somalia, Egypt, Turkey and Djibouti condemn Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, Egypt says * Victims of ramming-stabbing terror attack named as Aviv Maor, 19, and Mordechai Shimshon, 68

10:24 pm

African Union 'rejects any recognition of Somaliland' after Israeli declaration
9:55 pm

Somaliland residents celebrate recognition of sovereignty; Israeli flag projected in capital
8:54 pm

Somalia denounces Israeli recognition of Somaliland

Explainer

Scrutiny around Qatargate and Bild leak may put PM one step closer to hot seat

Explosive interview with ex-spokesman alongside fresh revelations revive suspicions and raise sinister questions regarding influence peddling in Netanyahu’s inner circle

Israelis dressed as a Qatari emir, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his aides put on a protest performance outside the District Court in Tel Aviv on March 31, 2025. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich arrives to the Makor Rishon conference in Jerusalem, December 25, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Smotrich says PM’s aides should ‘sit behind bars’ if they worked for Qatar

By Ariela Karmel and ToI Staff

Qatargate suspect Jonatan Urich attends a hearing at the Lod District Court on May 22, 2025. (Jonathan Shaul/Flash90)

Poll: Most Israelis say PM should stop working with close aide Urich over Qatargate

A settler rams an ATV into a Palestinian man as he prays in the West Bank, December 25, 2025 (Video screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Settler reservist rams ATV into praying Palestinian in West Bank, is detained

By Noam Lehmann, ToI Staff and Agencies

Perpetrator earlier fired gun inside village, has been sent to house arrest; five Israelis arrested for throwing stones at Palestinian house, wounding eight-month-old baby

This photo sent out by an Israel Prison Service spokesperson shows terror convict Mahmoud Atallah laying on the ground after guards stormed his prison cell on December 26, 2025. (Courtesy)

Terrorist accused of raping guards is punished in jail for plan to instigate riot

Promoted ContentMeir Panim

Israel’s soldiers are exhausted and families are breaking. You can help.

Months of war have pushed IDF soldiers and reservist families to the edge. Rising costs, trauma, and long separations are taking a heavy toll. Your support gives them strength to go on.

Romi Gonen speaks to Channel 12's 'Uvda,' in a program aired December 25, 2025. (Video screenshot, Channel 12)

Some of the abusers were medical professionals

‘If you tell anyone, I’ll kill you’: Ex-hostage Romi Gonen recounts captors’ repeated sexual assaults

25-year old, abducted from Nova rave and held in Gaza for 471 days, says Hamas gunman was ‘ecstatic’ as he abused her for 30 minutes while she wept the whole time: ‘I was paralyzed’

Friends and family attend the funeral of Dan Elkayam, who was murdered in a the Sydney Hanukkah terror attack, at a cemetery in Ashdod, December 25, 2025. (Tal Gal/Flash90)

Dan Elkayam, French national killed in Bondi attack, laid to rest in Ashdod

Semi-professional soccer player lived in Sydney suburbs, loved to travel and wanted to teach poor kids abroad; his mother mourns: ‘You are gone because you were Jewish’

Wide lens

As major Egypt gas deal burns through reserves, public will end up paying the price

‘Historic’ $35 billion sale means era of energy independence and cheaper electricity will end about a decade earlier than hoped, experts say, with more large offshore finds unlikely

The Leviathan natural gas platform off the shore of Israel. (Albatross)

View of the Israeli-Egyptian border. September 9, 2025. (Yaniv Nadav/FLASH90)

In first, IAF helicopter gunship downs two arms smuggling drones from Egypt

By Stav Levaton

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, seen after a press conference in Jerusalem, December 4, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Smotrich threatens banks with extra taxes if they go after customers’ benefits

By Sharon Wrobel

Gary Rosenblatt

Bibi on Ben Gvir and Smotrich: ‘I made a mistake’

A prominent American Jewish leader recounts how he shared his concern with Netanyahu, who in turn said he’d fix it. That was in 2023

Moral leadership needs red lines

Much as Judah refused to abandon his brother to Egypt’s court, Ben Shapiro threw strategy to the winds for the sake of truth (Vayigash)

Ziona Greenwald

Zigzagging to Eurovision

What with past winners returning their trophies, I say the contest itself is irrelevant; showing up proud despite the animosity – that’s the victory

Mea culpa – it was me

Antisemitism may well be eternal and so I’ll take responsibility for it, though I do find it driven by the transcendentally stupid

Illustrative: Smoke rises from the site of a series of Israeli airstrikes that targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of al-Katrani on December 18, 2025. (Rabih DAHER / AFP)

IDF strikes elite Hezbollah unit’s training site in northeastern Lebanon

By ToI Staff and AFP

Radwan Force has been tasked with invading Israel in operation similar to Oct. 7 attacks; strikes come as US-imposed New Year’s deadline for Hezbollah’s disarmament looms

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun speaks during a ceremony marking Army Day at the country's Defense Ministry in Yarzeh, near Beirut, Lebanon, July 31, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)

Lebanese president says diplomacy with Israel is pushing back ‘specter of war’

By Lazar Berman and ToI Staff

Illustrative: Smoke rises from the site of a series of Israeli airstrikes that targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of al-Katrani on December 18, 2025. (Rabih DAHER / AFP)

Israel says top commander in Iran’s Quds Force killed in Lebanon strike

By ToI Staff and AFP

'It's like buying a rare jewel'

Demand rising for iconic Jerusalem homes as ‘ultra-luxury’ market takes off

As more wealthy Jews from the Diaspora look to make Israel their home, interest in ‘historic’ properties such as Talbieh’s Villa Sherover is soaring, agents say

Housing snapshot: Home sales and rentals across Israel in December 2025

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends a hearing of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee in Jerusalem, September 30, 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/ Flash90)

Attorney general warns Knesset committees abusing power, threatening civil servants

By Ariela Karmel

Gali Baharav-Miara urges Knesset legal advisor to address issues, after incidents of committees being misused to discuss active legal cases, amid escalating rhetoric to judicial reps

Brig. Gen. Roman Gofman in an undated photo. (Israel Defense Forces)

Key panel said set to probe Netanyahu’s Mossad chief pick over social media op

By Stav Levaton

Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar attends a plenum session at the assembly hall of the Knesset, in Jerusalem, November 26, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Culture minister says October 7 probe wouldn’t point to Netanyahu as ‘main, only culprit’

ToI podcast

Lazar Focus: Eran Ortal on where does the IDF go after October 7?

By Lazar Berman

The brigadier-general (res.), a leading military theorist, says Israel needs a new strategy that employs cutting-edge technology to achieve decisive victory

The headstone of Sgt. Gur Kehati, placed in the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, December 25, 2025. (Screenshot from Kan)

Fallen soldier’s family takes military headstone to IDF headquarters in protest

By ToI Staff and Emanuel Fabian

Illustrative. A mezuzah. (Zeevveez/Flickr)

Mezuzahs stolen from Toronto apartment building for second time in weeks

One of the 3 mezuzahs belonged to Holocaust survivor; incident comes after 20 mezuzahs were stolen in same area earlier this month

A 1400-year-old limestone mold to craft flasks decorated with a cross and bearing the inscription ‘Lord’s blessing from the holy places’ was found at the site of Hyrcania in the Judean Desert in the West Bank. (Michal Haber/Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

‘Lord’s blessing from the holy places’

Forget keychains, Byzantine pilgrims took home ‘souvenir’ flasks, newly found mold shows

By Rossella Tercatin

Judean Desert finds dated 1,400 years ago bear witness to ‘flourishing Christian pilgrimage industry’ as travelers from around Roman Empire sought mementos of visits to Jesus-linked sites

US Army honor guard members begin to settle the casket of Morton Sher into a grave at a cemetery in Greenville, South Carolina, Dec. 14, 2025. (Air Force Senior Airman Savannah Carpenter/US Department of War)

82 years after his death in China, Jewish WWII pilot returned to US for burial

DNA testing helped identify the body of Lt. Morton Sher, a member of the Flying Tigers, killed in action in 1943 during a combat mission over China

Heavy traffic on the Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv, January 23, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

European traffic safety watchdog suspends Israel due to ‘recent government actions’

Unclear whether suspension brought about by Israel’s traffic policies or war in Gaza; 2025 has been the deadliest year on Israeli roads in two decades

More Headlines

An illustrative photo of a security camera. (Oliver Peters via Pixabay)

Knesset passes law allowing IDF, Shin Bet to hack into civilian security cameras

US President Donald Trump calls service members on Christmas Eve at the Mar-a-Lago resort on December 24, 2025, in Palm Beach, Florida. (TASOS KATOPODIS / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Trump says US struck ISIS targets in Nigeria after group targeted Christians

By Will Weissert

A fighter from the Christian Syriac militia that battles the Islamic State group under the banner of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, burns an ISIS flag on the front line on the western side of Raqqa, northeast Syria, July 17, 2017. (AP/Hussein Malla, File)

Syria says its forces killed senior ISIS leader, nabbed operative near Damascus

By AFP

People attend a Catholic Christmas Eve mass in St. Antoine Church, in Istanbul, Turkey, December 24, 2025. (AP/Khalil Hamra)

Turkey nabs 115 suspected ISIS members allegedly plotting Christmas attacks

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