Tag Archive for: Israel News

News Update

Senior Egyptian officials reportedly told senior U.S. officials that the only way to bring about Hamas’ disarmament would be under Israel’s next government. They said they had no expectation of meaningful progress under Israel’s current government and warned that Hamas would only grow stronger. Following Jared Kushner’s meeting in Egypt with senior Hamas officials, sources told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya that Kushner and Mladenov had rejected a Hamas proposal concerning the storage of its weapons. According to the report, they insisted that Hamas surrender its weapons and dismantle its military infrastructure.

France, Germany, Britain and Italy issued a joint condemnation Thursday evening following a tender published by Israel’s Housing Ministry for the construction of 1,234 housing units in the E1 area between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim. Part of their statement said, “The E1 settlement will undermine the prospect of the two-state solution by driving a wedge through the West Bank and harming the territorial contiguity of the Palestinian Territories. International law is clear that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal.” A European diplomat said: “Israel explicitly promised its friends on the continent that there would be no progress on construction in E1. This therefore crosses a red line and is a very bad development.” According to the diplomat, European countries are now discussing whether to take measures against Israel even before the election. He estimated that Finance Minister Smotrich was behind the move and that “he is doing it for political reasons.” He also warned that, from the perspective of European countries, advancing construction in E1 could justify a significant shift in policy toward Israel.

Israel’s High Court of Justice unanimously overturned the government’s decision to shut down Army Radio, ruling that the move was based on an improper and invalid consideration. Judges wrote that the decision was driven by “the dissatisfaction of the decision-makers with the fact that the broadcasts, in their view, contradicted their positions.” At the same time, the court rejected the argument that the government lacked the authority to decide Army Radio’s future or that closing the station would necessarily require primary legislation. Justice Kasher wrote: “It cannot be accepted that a holder of governmental authority should decide that because a broadcaster’s words are not to his liking, the broadcaster’s ‘microphone should be shut down’. A government that acts in this way acts in a blatantly undemocratic manner, because the cornerstone on which every democratic government rests is the recognition that the government may not use its power to silence those whose opinions are not to its liking.”

Operations at Ben Gurion airport were disrupted for several hours yesterday by a surprise worker’s strike, causing massive delays and chaos. For more, click here.

News Update

Defense Minister Katz visited IDF troops in southern Lebanon yesterday and said that, “the IDF is here to stay in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza. I instructed the IDF to take all necessary steps to prepare for a long-term presence in the area.” He did NOT say “permanent” presence.

Security forces arrived overnight to evacuate the outpost established near Palestinian homes in the village of Qusra in northern Samaria, which had left several Palestinian families trapped in their homes for 4 days. The failure to evacuate the outpost sooner sparked outrage in the international community and even led to a statement in which U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee described those who established the outpost as “Israeli terrorists” and called on the state to “remove them” from the site. One of the besieged homes is owned by an American citizen who lives in Ohio. For further reading, click here.

Twenty-one years after the evacuation of settlements in northern Samaria, and following a Cabinet decision to legalize dozens of settlements, families from the Ganim community moved back to the site Thursday and reestablished the settlement. Dozens of caravans were placed there to house the families and a branch of the Bnei David educational institutions was established at the site. Alongside the return to Ganim and the resettlement of Homesh and Sa-Nur, the Kadim settlement is also expected to be reestablished soon, a move that would complete the reversal of the disengagement from northern Samaria.

News Update

President Trump announced that the Board of Peace had reached an agreement requiring the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza. He wrote, “This agreement is a critical step towards Gaza finally being governed by a new Palestinian government that will work closely with the Board of Peace to help the Palestinian people. At the same time, Israel will have the security it deserves, with Gaza no longer used as a base for terror attacks.This is a major milestone in the implementation of the Trump 20-Point Plan. The agreement will be carried out in carefully structured phases. As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors.” Israeli officials seemed optimistic that Hamas would actually disarm, but how that will happen is still unclear. One possibility is that the arms will be warehoused and kept under the supervision of the governing Palestinian body or Board of Peace. Hamas will also have to provide maps of all its tunnels and arms factories and depots.

In Lebanon, the IDF used 700 tons of explosives to demolish the Hezbollah tunnel network beneath and around Beaufort Castle. Residents of northern Israel were told to open their windows for fear the glass would shatter. Israel said that the operation was in response to a Hezbollah drone attack against an IDF bulldozer earlier this week.

NOTE: We will be on break next week and not be publishing IsraelAM.

News Update

Prime Minister Netanyahu will be heading to Washington to attend the funeral of the late Senator Lyndsey Graham on Tuesday, after which he will meet with President Trump in the White House. With the Iran war on hold for the time being, can you guess what they’ll be discussing?

One of the reasons given for the pause in strikes by the U.S. against Iran is a shortage of interceptor missiles. To read more about this, click here. 

The cabinet has decided to allow the Board of Peace to enter Gaza, starting in Rafah, and to launch a pilot program to restore basic services in Gaza, provide humanitarian aid and establish shelters in areas not controlled by Hamas. The plan includes the construction of temporary structures that will serve as housing for Gaza residents. According to reports, anyone seeking to live in these areas will undergo strict screening procedures to ensure they are not identified with or connected to Hamas. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was the only Cabinet member to vote against the move saying, “Hamas did not meet its obligation to demilitarize the Strip and disarm, and therefore we are not obligated to do so either. I was also against the ‘20-point plan’ from the beginning. The solution in Gaza is to encourage migration.” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said, “This is an international plan. We may not succeed, but we should not be the ones to destroy it.”

The IDF intercepted two drones near the Jordanian border today, before they crossed into Israeli territory. The source of the drones is being investigated.

Discount Bank and Bank Hapoalim have surprised the Ministry of Finance and are expected to halt bank transfers to the Palestinian Authority within two to three months, amid growing estimates that such transfers are financing terrorism. The banks are demanding that the state should take responsibility for the risk of financing terrorism and money laundering by operating a government bank.

News Update

Lebanese army forces entered the southern town of Zawtar al-Gharbiya toay after the IDF vacated the area, marking the first stage of a U.S.-brokered pilot arrangement intended to transfer control of parts of southern Lebanon to the Lebanese military. Under the framework, the Lebanese army is also expected to enter the villages of Froun and Srifa. Those villages lie outside the Yellow Line but remain under Israeli observation and fire control, without a permanent IDF ground presence. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is preparing for a historic White House meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, where he is expected to present a plan for disarming Hezbollah and press for a broader Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

The IDF and Shin Bet announced the elimination of Adham Ibrahim Sha’aban Nasman, a senior Hamas commander who directed the Hamas infiltration from Gaza City during the October 7 massacre and later took part in holding multiple Israeli hostages captive, including Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, Ziv and Gali Berman, Eitan Mor, Matan Angrest and Omri Miran. He was killed in an airstrike in Gaza over the weekend.

According the Wall Street Journal, Israeli intelligence informed the U.S. that Iran transferred thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges into tunnels deep inside the Pickaxe Mountain site last fall after the 12-day war in June. President Trump has said recently that Pickaxe Mountain was a potential target for U.S. forces.

Responding to comments by NYC Mayor Mamdani about potentially having Prime Minister Netanyahu arrested in NYC for war crimes, President Trump wrote, “Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America. He is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors, and has spent the last 47 years killing American soldiers, and others. The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented spiral of death and destruction.”