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Four Israeli hostages were rescued from the Gaza Strip on Shabbos morning in a heroic operation carried out by IDF special forces, Border Police officers and Shin Bet operatives. The hostages were Almog Meir Jan, 21, Noa Argamani, 25, Andrez Kozolov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40. They all were abducted from the Nova music festival on October 7th. They were rescued from two separate areas in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip. The hostages were transferred to Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer, where they were reunited with their families. Baruch Hashem, they are all in good medical condition. Tragically, Border Police commander Arnon Zemora, H’yd, was seriously injured in the operation and his death was later pronounced at the hospital. Zamora, z’l, 36, left behind a wife and two children. IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in a special statement: “They are all healthy, their medical condition is normal, and they are in the hospital where they will undergo medical tests and be reunited with their families. The four were rescued in a daring daylight rescue operation, during which IDF and Shin Bet fighters raided the heart of the Gaza Strip and rescued them under fire.” In the video below, President Herzog speaks with Noa Argamani: The videos below show Noa Argamani being evacuated from the Strip: The IDF’s video of the rescue: (YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)

US Central Command (CENTCOM) has successfully rebuilt a temporary pier in Gaza, enabling the resumption of humanitarian aid deliveries by sea. The pier’s reestablishment ensures the continued supply of essential aid to the people of Gaza, according to a CENTCOM statement. In the coming days, CENTCOM will facilitate the transportation of critical food and emergency supplies in support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The temporary pier, which cost $320 million to assemble, was damaged by bad weather last week, prompting a brief suspension of aid deliveries. The repairs reportedly cost $22 million – a waste of money all around. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The United Nations has added Israel and Hamas to its annual “list of shame” for committing grave rights violations against children in armed conflict. This marks the first time a democratic country has been included on the list, which also features Russia, the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, and other countries with notorious human rights records. The inclusion of Israel and Hamas in the annex of the Secretary-General’s report has sparked outrage from Israel, with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu blasting the move. “Today the UN added itself to the black list of history when it joined those who support the Hamas murderers. The IDF is the most moral army in the world; no delusional UN decision will change that,” Netanyahu said. Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Permanent Representative to the UN, received the formal notification from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s chief of staff and condemned the decision. Erdan stated, “This immoral decision will only aid the terrorists and reward Hamas. The only one who is blacklisted today is the Secretary-General, whose decisions since the war started and even before are rewarding terrorists, incentivizing them to use children for terror acts.” Erdan warned that the decision would embolden Hamas to continue using schools and hospitals for military purposes, prolonging the war and suffering. “Shame on him,” Erdan declared, addressing the UN Secretary-General. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

In a precision airstrike Thursday night, Israeli Air Force fighter jets eliminated two senior Hamas terrorists in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip. The operation, guided by IDF intelligence, targeted Salame Muhammad Abu Ajaj, a leading figure in the Hamas General Security Forces, and Eiad Almaghari, the mayor of North Nuseirat and a seasoned terrorist operative. Abu Ajaj played a crucial role in supporting the Hamas Military Wing, ensuring the organization’s survival, and disrupting IDF operations in Gaza. His efforts focused on strengthening Hamas’s presence in the Rafah area. Almaghari, a veteran Hamas terrorist, had a history of involvement in planning terror attacks in the Judea and Samaria region. He previously served in the Hamas West Bank Headquarters and was known for his extensive experience in terrorist activities. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

U.S. troops and their Israeli counterparts reattached a floating pier to Gaza’s coastline Friday, as the United States prepares to resume a humanitarian operation bedeviled by setbacks thus far.

Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, a senior U.S. military officer overseeing the mission, told reporters that deliveries of food and other supplies will begin again “in coming days” after the structure, having been ripped to pieces by powerful waves late last month, required extensive repairs. The first new shipments will include 500,000 pounds of aid, he said, with thousands of tons more in the pipeline behind it.

Rough seas remain a concern, but officials anticipate a better stretch for a couple of months.

“Weather has always been a factor in military operations,” Cooper said. “As we do around the world every day, we will adjust to the weather as required.”

Aid deliveries over the pier began May 16 under duress and behind schedule due to the bad weather. Sections of the steel pier were damaged May 25 by waves measuring upward of five feet. The mission was suspended days later when the structure broke apart.

U.S. troops transported its pieces to the nearby Israeli port of Ashdod, north of Gaza, and have spent more than a week reassembling it. The Pentagon assessed that the pier suffered at least $22 million in damage, defense officials said.

Cooper declined to specify what U.S. forces will do if rough seas again present a threat, saying obliquely that the units involved “have a series of contingency plans.” The floating pier is connected to land with a steel causeway. Such missions have had an enduring limitation of operating in seas that are no more than two to three feet high, according to several past assessment in U.S. military journals.

Days before the mission was halted, four U.S. Army vessels supporting the mission ran aground, and a separate accident at sea – which the Pentagon has yet to fully explain – left a U.S. service member badly injured. The service member remained in critical condition as of Friday at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas, Cooper said.

About 1,000 tons of aid were delivered over the pier before the mission was paused.

Critics say President Biden’s embrace of this approach – and the challenges that go with it – underscore how he and his top advisers have failed to exert enough pressure on Israel to enable more aid deliveries by opening additional land crossings into Gaza.

Some Democrats in Congress, aghast at the death and suffering wrought by eight months of war, have urged Biden to take more aggressive measures – such as withholding U.S. arms transfers to the Israeli government – to force an end to the crisis.

Other critics have charged that the pier mission puts U.S. personnel at risk of attack by Hamas or other militant groups.

Sen. Roger Wicker (Miss.), the Senate Armed Services Committee’s top Republican, said it is “astonishing that President Biden is doubling down on this bad idea.” The operation, he said in a statement Friday, “continues to put U.S. troops in harm’s way without any plan for ensuring that aid is delivered successfully to Gazans in need.”

“This irresponsible and expensive experiment defies all logic except the obvious political explanation: to appease the President’s far-left flank,” Wicker said. “This needs to end immediately.”

Cooper said Friday that a U.S. policy remains in effect prohibiting American personnel from operating in Gaza, and the protection of U.S. service members is a top priority. It was Israeli forces on the beach who reconnected the pier, and the aid is trucked over the structure by contract employees and distributed on land by United Nations’ local affiliate.

Administration officials have agreed that more land crossings need to be opened, but said they are pursuing every option available to help civilians caught in the crossfire, including the pier and airdrops by U.S. cargo planes.

“Why wouldn’t we try this?” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said last week. “If we had this capability, and it was available to us, we have the know-how and the expertise to do it, why would we leave that on the sidelines?”

The U.S. Agency for International Development, which has partnered on the project with the Pentagon, said in a statement late Thursday that it remains in close contact with colleagues from across the U.S. government and humanitarian partners to ensure aid deliveries can safely and effectively resume from the pier.

“Additionally, USAID continues to work with partners to get aid into and across Gaza through existing land routes,” the statement said. “We continue to push for crossings into Gaza to remain predictably, consistently functional at maximum capacity, and that internal access be improved so that aid can reach people in desperate need.”

(c) Washington Post

In a move that could potentially shake up Israel’s political landscape, War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz is set to announce his party’s withdrawal from the government on . Motzei Shabbos. The National Unity leader’s decision comes after he issued an ultimatum to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month, demanding a clear plan for the Gaza Strip after the war with Hamas. According to Gantz’s office, the press statement is scheduled for 8:40 p.m. tomorrow night, and is expected to confirm his party’s exit from the coalition. This would fulfill his ultimatum to Netanyahu, which called for a commitment to an agreed-upon vision for the Gaza conflict, including stipulating who would rule the territory once Hamas has been defeated. Hebrew media reports indicate that there have been no ongoing negotiations or efforts by coalition parties to address Gantz’s demands, and that the government has not accepted or seriously discussed his proposals. In a twist, the Kan public broadcaster reported on Thursday that the US government has tried to convince Gantz to delay his planned departure amid ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas in Gaza. However, it remains to be seen whether any last-minute surprises could change the course of events. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

On Friday, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit announced that, over the past day, the IDF Intelligence Directorate and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) confirmed the identities of eight more terrorists who were killed in the precise strike on their base inside an UNRWA school in Nuseirat on Thursday morning.

One of the identified and now eliminated terrorists took part in the October 7 attacks.

The IDF stated: “Since the targeted strike the IDF has confirmed the identity of 17 terrorists that were operating from the school. The investigation is ongoing,”.

Earlier on Thursday, IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari revealed the identities of nine Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who were killed in the IAF strike on the UNRWA school in Nuseirat. Hagari noted the terrorists were planning more attacks against Israelis and that the strike “stopped a ticking time-bomb.”

Hagari also emphasized the IDF took additional measures to avoid civilian casualties, stating: “We delayed our strike twice, because we identified civilians in the area. We had aerial surveillance that had been monitoring the Hamas compound for a few days. We conducted the strike once our intelligence and surveillance indicated that there were no women or children inside the Hamas compound, inside those classrooms. Despite the complex operational conditions, our Air Force used precise munitions to target the three specific classrooms that the terrorists were hiding inside.”

“Sadly, we saw some media outlets fall for Hamas’s tactics yet again, before checking the facts. While Hamas abuses international law, the IDF will continue operating according to international law. The systematic abuse of UN facilities is a war crime and it must be stopped by the world,” he added.

Hamas claimed that dozens of Gazans who were sheltering in the school after fleeing their homes were killed in the strike.

The IDF’s Arabic language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, exposed their claims, writing on social media:”The classrooms that were attacked were a shelter for ISIS, Hamas and Jihad. This liar has been spreading lies since the beginning of the war, fabricating massacres and covering up ISIS-Hamas crimes from October 7 until today.”

“A large number of terrorists, including elite members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, including those who participated in the massacre on October 7, lived in the classrooms inside the school compound in Nuseirat,” he concluded.

{Matzav.com}

Houthi terrorists are reportedly holding at least nine Yemen-based employees of the United Nations “under unclear circumstances,” the Associated Press reported on Friday, citing local authorities.

The Houthis “face increasing financial pressure and airstrikes from a U.S.-led coalition,” per the AP. “Others working for aid groups also likely have been taken.”

Houthi terrorists have targeted ships in the Red Sea, claiming that they are responding to Israel’s war against the Hamas terror organization.

Per the AP, “regional officials” say that “staff from the U.N. human-rights agency, its development program, the World Food Program and one working for the office of its special envoy” are being held. “The wife of one of those held is also detained.”

The Mayyun Organization for Human Rights based in Aden, Yemen, condemned “in the strongest terms this dangerous escalation, which constitutes a violation of the privileges and immunities of United Nations employees granted to them under international law.”

The Aden-based group, which said that 18 people had been detained, added that “we consider it to be oppressive, totalitarian, blackmailing practices to obtain political and economic gains.”

The group said that international aid organization employees’ “homes were raided, they were interrogated inside and their mobile phones and computers were confiscated before they were taken aboard military vehicles to an unknown destination.”

{Matzav.com}

More than 3,500 Israelis gathered at Park HaAsor in Efrat on Thursday to celebrate the completion of a Sefer Torah in memory of 48-year-old Lucy Dee, and two of her daughters: Maia, 20, and Rina, 15. The girls were murdered by a Hamas terrorist on April 7, 2023, while their mother succumbed to her wounds three days later, on April 10.

Since the beginning of the year, youth at educational institutions in Efrat attended a Safrus workshop, with more than 5,000 children partaking in writing the Torah’s 304,805 letters.

In addition, Yehuda Elon, an Israel Defense Forces reservist and ritual scribe affiliated with the “Sign of Love” organization, took the new Sefer Torah into the Gaza Strip, where soldiers helped write letters, Arutz 7 reported.

“The Torah is a Torah of life,” Rabbi Leo Dee, Lucy’s husband and the father of the girls (the Dees have two other daughters and a son), told attendees at Thursday’s event. “Each letter in the Torah corresponds with an individual of the people of Israel, and if one [letter] is missing, the Torah scroll is invalid.”

“This is why we need absolute unity among our people. Am Yisrael chai!” added the bereaved husband and father.

In his speech, Efrat Mayor Dovi Shefler praised the Dee family for being a leading example of “how to grow out of a massive crisis.”

The new Torah scroll was placed in the town’s Orot Etzion Boys School, where Lucy Dee worked as an English teacher.

Lucy Dee, 48, and daughters Maia, 20, and Rina, 15, were ambushed last year as they traveled on Route 57 to Tiverya to celebrate the second half of Pesach with family from overseas. Maia and Rina were killed instantly, while their mother was hospitalized and died days later.

Following the murder, Leo inaugurated “Dees Day,” which people across the globe mark by sharing photos of themselves draped in Israeli flags on social media. In September, then-foreign minister Eli Cohen appointed Rabbi Dee as Israel’s special envoy for social initiatives.

{Matzav.com}

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu (Likud) and Minister Benny Gantz (National Unity) met following a War Cabinet meeting, in an attempt to preserve the emergency government.

Gantz had given Netanyahu until June 8th to formulate a strategic plan for the war, to bring back the hostages, topple Hamas, among other things.

Per a new report by political analyst Amit Segal, Bibi asked Gantz why he wanted to leave the government, and the latter answered that he felt that National Unity’s influence in the cabinet was decreasing.

“Why are you leaving? The disagreements between us are negligible,” wondered Netanyahu. Gantz answered: “We feel that our influence is decreasing.”

A press conference has been scheduled for 8:40 p.m. on Motzei Shabbos for Gantz. It is expected he will announce his resignation from the government barring any dramatic changes.

{Matzav.com}

George Noll, the head of the U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs in Yerushalayim, last week sat down with a Palestinian Authority official in Hebron who has promoted antisemitic tropes about Jewish control of U.S. foreign policy, JNS has found.

USOPA, whose offices are located at the U.S. embassy to Israel but which is a separate institution, said on Monday that Noll was “pleased” to meet P.A. governor of Hebron Khaled Doudin on May 29.

The tête-à-tête in Yehuda, which was also attended by “other Chevron and Dura representatives,” focused on “challenges Hebronites are facing, including increased movement restrictions and extremist settler attacks over the past eight months,” the office tweeted.

The meeting marked Noll’s first visit to Arab Hebron since Doudin was appointed some three months ago as part of P.A. chief Mahmoud Abbas’s promise to Washington to enact administrative reforms.

However, a glance at some of Doudin’s recent remarks on the war between Israel and Hamas suggests that antisemitism and the glorification of terror are still rampant among Ramallah’s officials.

Only four days before meeting Noll, Doudin told Egypt’s Al-Masry Al-Youm that he believes the Biden administration will never withdraw its support for the Jewish state because “any American president relies on the Jewish-Zionist lobby and is a puppet of Israeli politics.”

Doudin said he could not support Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre of 1,200 people, primarily Jewish civilians, because the “resistance operation” resulted in the deaths of “tens of thousands of martyrs” in Gaza.

“The Israeli occupation government took what happened in the ‘Al Aqsa Flood’ operation [Hamas’s name for the massacre] as justification for the annihilation of the people of the Gaza Strip and the settling of scores by [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu,” said the governor.

“The one who initiated the killing is the occupation,” he charged, adding that Hamas’s murder spree should be viewed against the background of Israel’s 20-year “siege” of the Palestinian coastal enclave.

Meanwhile, in an April 17 speech marking “Palestinian Prisoners Day” in Chevron, Doudin extended his “greetings and respect” to terrorists incarcerated in Israel, denouncing what he described as the “abuse, assault and medical neglect” of captured Oct. 7 terrorists.

According to the local Sada News outlet, diplomats from Jordan, Egypt and France attended the May 29 meeting in Chevron alongside Noll.

The site reported that Noll and French Consul-General in Yerushalayim Nicolas Kassianides stressed to Doudin that Washington and Paris had already imposed sanctions on Israelis in Yehuda and Shomron and that their visit was aimed at “closely examining the conditions in Hebron.”

The group reportedly joined a tour with the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, which the NGO Monitor watchdog group has accused of antisemitism and which has alleged links to U.S.-designated terror groups.

Notably, Sada News said the diplomats met with former P.A. Chevron governor Jibreen al-Bakri, who was fired by Abbas in August 2023 but apparently continues to conduct official business on behalf of the city.

A longtime prominent member of Abbas’s ruling Fatah Party, al-Bakri has been accused by Palestinians of involvement in the murder of anti-corruption activist Nizar Banat in P.A. custody three years ago.

The photo from the May 29 visit posted to X by Noll’s office shows al-Bakri posing with the U.S. diplomat alongside the current governor.

Asked to respond to Doudin’s remarks, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told JNS on Thursday that the Biden administration “rejects the use of antisemitic tropes just as it rejects any hate speech.”

“As we have said repeatedly, the administration continues to work tirelessly to secure a ceasefire and release of hostages, to ensure Palestinians in Gaza are protected and have their humanitarian needs met, and to identify a vision for the post-conflict period where Palestinians and Israelis can live with equal security, prosperity and freedom,” the spokesperson added.

{Matzav.com}

Two Likud Knesset members and a Likud minister are threatening to dodge party discipline on the Charedi enlistment issue.

Knesset members Dan Illouz and Moshe Saada, and Economy Minister Nir Barkat, sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, who heads Likud, stating, “If the current draft recruitment bill for Charedi yeshivah students is brought to a vote, we will oppose it.”

“We know that this bill needs to be improved; also, the Supreme Court will disqualify it,” Saada told JNS. The draft law specifies that about 2,000 Charedi men will be recruited in the first stage.

There are 63,000 Charedi men eligible for the draft.

Israel’s Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, is currently hearing a case in which the petitioners argue that the state must start recruiting Charedi yeshivah students because the law exempting them from mandatory service expired last year. The government representative requested that the court reject the petitions and instead allow the Knesset to continue the legislative process toward a solution.

Saada continued, “We need a law that is more realistic and more equal that also solves the heavy burden placed on so many [who serve in the IDF]. It is impossible to continue like this. We need a change in the way of thinking.”

The three Likud dissenters have a simple solution: Instead of specifying how many Charedim should be recruited, they are in favor of a cap on how many won’t be recruited.

“We believe that only a limited number of yeshivah students should be recognized every year as eligible for exemption from military service,” Illouz told JNS.

“Define those who shouldn’t be drafted, then all the others must be drafted. If those eligible evade the draft, then there should be repercussions against them personally. Under the proposed government law, the repercussions aren’t against them, but rather against their yeshivahs.”

Their plan also envisages benefits for those who do serve in the military. “We have submitted a draft bill that proposes, “You serve, you get—you don’t serve, you don’t get.” We intend to give priority to those who enlist, in projects such as discounts in buying homes,” Saada said.

“If you were to conduct a secret vote in the Likud Party on our proposal, the result would be 90% in favor. I think the entire Likud Party understands, every sane Zionist person understands, that this is what needs to be done now. We are in an existential war and to win it we need a large army. In the past, the concept was a small, smart army—this has changed,” said Saada.

The current government enlistment bill reflects Netanyahu’s attempt to find an agreed formula with the Charedi parties (Shas and UTJ), which threatened to quit the government if the mass of Charedi yeshivah students were recruited. So, the question is, why should they agree to the bill suggested by the Likud dissenters?

Ilouz said, “We believe that there is a possibility to find a tenable solution that will initiate a historical process of the Charedim joining the army. I think that now is also the time when Charedi society itself is ready for that. I’m in very close contact with a lot of Charedi elected officials and with people in the community itself and I think there is an understanding that those who don’t actually study Torah need to serve.

“If I weren’t a member of Knesset, who is not allowed to do army reserve duty, I would be together with my comrades serving in the reserves,” added Illouz.

The big question is how far will the dissenting MKs go, especially since the recruitment bill is a life-and-death issue for the coalition.

“Will you go ahead even if it leads to the downfall of the government?” JNS asked the dissenters.

“If there are no soldiers, it will lead to the downfall of the nation,” replied Saada.

“It’s not a game. We are at war, and reservists do periods of 150 days in Gaza, return home, and then go for another round. I think this is our ethical and moral duty. Even if not everyone is saying it out loud, it is clear to everyone in the Likud Party that this is what should be,” he said.

Illouz added, “I said very, very clearly that if the bill that’s currently presented is brought to a vote without significant changes, I don’t see myself voting for such a law because I won’t be able to look at all the reserve soldiers fighting right now in Gaza or on the northern border in the eyes.

“And we hope that the haredi parties will be able to be more flexible for us to get to some solution,” he said.

{Matzav.com}

UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan last month called the leadership of the Palestinian Authority “Ali Baba and the forty thieves,” speaking during a meeting of Arab countries that was attended by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Axios, citing five sources with knowledge of the incident, reported on Thursday that a shouting match erupted during the April 29 meeting in Riyadh that also included the top diplomats of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, as well as top P.A. official Hussein al-Sheikh.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum and was called to discuss a joint post-war strategy for the Gaza Strip.

Al-Sheikh was said to have complained that while Ramallah has instituted reforms and created a new government as Washington and Arab countries requested, it isn’t getting adequate political and financial support.

Towards the end of the meeting, Sheikh Abdullah pushed back and told al-Sheikh he had yet to see any significant reform inside the P.A.

The Emirati diplomat then denounced the P.A. leadership as “Ali Baba and the forty thieves” and claimed officials in Ramallah are “useless” and “replacing them with one another will only lead to the same result.

“Why would the UAE give assistance to the Palestinian Authority without real reforms?” asked Abdullah.

The sources said al-Sheikh yelled back at the UAE diplomat and stated that nobody will dictate to the P.A. how to conduct reforms.

According to Axios, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud tried to calm the two men down. However, the meeting had already gotten out of control, with Abdullah leaving the room angrily.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi then left the meeting and came back several minutes later with the Emirati foreign minister, who apologized to Blinken that he had to witness the fight.

‘You should reform yourselves’

In March, new P.A. Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa claimed his government aims to enact wide-ranging reforms and hold the first election since 2006. However, he did not provide a timetable for the vote, saying it would depend on “realities on the ground.”

Mustafa’s predecessor, Mohammad Shtayyeh, submitted his government’s resignation on Feb. 26, saying new “arrangements” were needed to take account of the “emerging reality in the Gaza Strip.”

The United States wants Ramallah to take control of the Strip after the war against Hamas ends, a move that Israel vehemently rejects because of Ramallah’s overt support for terrorism. Blinken has insisted that an “effective and revitalized” P.A. should ultimately govern the Strip.

During a Jan. 10 meeting, Blinken urged P.A. chief Mahmoud Abbas to implement “reforms, which, if implemented, would benefit the Palestinian people.” Sky News described the exchange as “tense.”

Responding to the demand that Abbas reform the P.A. leadership, Palestinian officials told America’s top diplomat, “You should reform yourselves and your policy towards the Palestinian issue.”

On April 1, Blinken conveyed to Abbas the Biden administration’s eagerness to begin working with the new P.A. government, which includes several antisemitic supporters of terrorism.

During a call with Abbas, Blinken “reiterated that the United States looks forward to working with the new P.A. Cabinet to promote peace, security and prosperity, and urged the implementation of necessary reforms,” according to U.S. State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller.

{Matzav.com}

Some 40 arson attacks occurred in the Shomron last month—a nearly 100% increase over the 21 recorded acts of criminal fire setting in May 2023, according to data the Shomron Regional Council published.

The Mount Kabir Nature Reserve northeast of Shechem has been set afire twice, with flames almost reaching a 700-year-old tree on the site.

Fire attacks were also recorded in Nachal Shiloh, Yitzhar and Itamar Heights, according to reports.

“I demand that the security establishment create deterrence and apprehend the perpetrators,” said Yossi Dagan, head of the council. “Create a situation where this is not legitimate, just like any other terrorism. The security system must treat this as a war in every respect. We need deterrence.”

Israeli authorities arrested a Palestinian man on Thursday suspected of trying to start a fire near a military post in the Binyamin region.

On May 27, Israeli firefighters battled some 70 blazes across Yehuda and Shomron. Some of those fires appeared to be arson.

{Matzav.com}

According to a report in the New York Post, a labor organizer at The New York Times has defended Hamas and smeared liberals who reject her radical views.

Nastaran Mohit, organizing director of the NewsGuild of New York, wrote on X that “all these Zionist Butchers know how to kill. Children. Families. The next generation. Depraved monsters who will meet their fate one day.”

Mohit also attacked the Times and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for failing to embrace her far-left views on the conflict.

Clinton said in a comment shared on social media, “I think it’s fair to say Hamas cares nothing about the civilians who are being murdered or killed, both by Hamas still in Gaza or through military operations by Israel.

“If Hamas would agree to a ceasefire there would be a ceasefire,” she continued.

Mohit blasted back with a reposting of the statement on Feb. 8, calling the former first lady’s claim “an objective lie, you bloodthirsty savage of a human being. Rot in hell.”

Following the Times award of a Pulitzer Prize for articles about Israel’s efforts to defeat Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Mohit called the publication a “decrepit institution” and said that the win was “utterly reprehensible.”

A spokesperson for the Times told the Post that the publication would not comment on “internal union matters.”

Mohit has made her X postings protected. She describes herself on the platform as “Labor organizer. Iranian-American. Queens girl for life #FreePalestine Views are my own,” and features a watermelon emoji in her name. With its red and green colors, the fruit has evolved into a symbol of the pro-Hamas protest movement.

{Matzav.com}

The four terrorists who tried to infiltrate Israel early Thursday morning from the southern Gaza Strip came through a tunnel that the IDF had known about for a decade.

As reported by Doron Kadosh on Galai Tzahal (IDF Radio), the tunnel shaft used by the terrorists to get within 200 meters of the border is linked to a tunnel identified by Israel 10 years ago during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

Kadosh noted that this tunnel, which reached near Israeli territory, had not been destroyed since the war started. Despite the IDF’s operations in the “buffer zone”—an area extending from hundreds of meters to a kilometer wide along the border—over the past eight months, the tunnel remained intact.

The report suggests that the IDF did not conduct a thorough investigation of the tunnel’s route or destroy its branches approaching the fence. As a result, the terrorists were able to emerge 200 meters from the border using this tunnel.

Additionally, the terrorists accessed the first fence through an opening left for IDF forces, which had not been closed.

Security officials severely criticized the Gaza Division in a discussion with the Israel Defense Forces, stating that the incident could have been prevented both by taking preemptive action against the tunnel and ensuring the fence openings were closed.

On Thursday morning, terrorists attempted to cross the border near Rafah in Gaza, opposite the area between Kerem Shalom and Holit in southern Israel.

Soldiers from the Bedouin surveillance battalion were dispatched to the scene and engaged in a firefight with the terrorists. The skirmish took place just north of Kerem Shalom and lasted several minutes.

During the confrontation, Warrant Officer Zeed Mazarib was killed.

{Matzav.com}

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has notified IDF Attaché in Washington, Major General Hedi Silberman, of his decision to add Israel to the blacklist of countries and organizations that harm children in conflict zones. This list already includes Russia and terrorist groups such as ISIS, al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram.

Despite Israel’s extensive efforts to dissuade Guterres, the decision stands, and Israel will be listed in the report scheduled for release next week.

Insiders familiar with the situation described it as a foregone conclusion. “The current Secretary-General hates Israel – and it is impossible to influence him. Israel’s inclusion in the blacklist is very problematic and may cause countries in the world to impose an arms embargo on Israel.”

It is anticipated that the report will not directly name the State of Israel but will state that “Israeli security forces” are to blame for the situation.

{Matzav.com}

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu will deliver a speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, July 24, as announced by House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

In their announcement, Johnson and McConnell highlighted, “The bipartisan, bicameral meeting symbolizes the US and Israel’s enduring relationship and will offer Prime Minister Netanyahu the opportunity to share the Israeli government’s vision for defending their democracy, combatting terror, and establishing just and lasting peace in the region.”

Netanyahu expressed his feelings in a statement, saying, “I am very moved to have the privilege of representing Israel before both Houses of Congress and to present the truth about our just war against those who seek to destroy us to the representatives of the American people and the entire world.”

Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News first reported the July 24 date earlier on Thursday.

Sherman initially reported that Netanyahu’s address would be on June 13, but this coincides with the second day of Shavuos.

The Prime Minister’s Office clarified that “a date has not yet been set for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to Congress. In any case, the speech will not take place on June 13 due to the second day of the holiday of Shavuos.”

Netanyahu received an official invitation last Friday to address Congress.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) extended a formal invitation to Netanyahu to speak at a joint session of Congress. The invitation was signed by all four Congressional leaders: Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).

The invitation letter reads, “We join the State of Israel in your struggle against terror, especially as Hamas continues to hold American and Israeli citizens captive and its leaders jeopardize regional stability. For this reason, on behalf of the bipartisan leadership of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, we would like to invite you to address a Joint Meeting of Congress.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated his sentiments, “I am very moved to have the privilege of representing Israel before both Houses of Congress and to present the truth about our just war against those who seek to destroy us to the representatives of the American people and the entire world.”

The formal invitation followed Johnson’s remarks at a Washington event, where he mentioned Schumer’s agreement to invite Netanyahu to speak before Congress.

Netanyahu previously addressed Congress in March 2015.

{Matzav.com}