The Times of Israel liveblogged Thursday’s events as they unfolded.
The UN Commission of Inquiry investigating rights abuses in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip releases its second report, calling on the Security Council to end Israel’s “permanent occupation,” and calling on individual UN member states to prosecute Israeli officials.
The 28-page report, which will be presented to the General Assembly on October 27, accuses Israel of violating international law by making its control over the West Bank permanent, and by annexing land claimed by the Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank, and Syrian land in the Golan Heights.
“Actions by Israel constituting de facto annexation include expropriating land and natural resources, establishing settlements and outposts, maintaining a restrictive and discriminatory planning and building regime for Palestinians and extending Israeli law extraterritorially to Israeli settlers in the West Bank,” reads the report.
It also accuses Israel of discriminatory policies against Arab citizens, of stealing natural resources, and of gender-based violence against Palestinian women.
The authors request an urgent advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice “on the legal consequences of the continued refusal on the part of Israel to end its occupation,” and an investigation from the International Criminal Court prosecutor.
The report does not mention the words “Hamas,” “rockets,” or “terrorism.”
Israel’s mission to Geneva rejects the report, saying: “Commissioners who made antisemitic comments and who proactively engaged in anti-Israel activism, both before and after their appointment, have no legitimacy nor credibility in addressing the issue at hand.”
The embassy adds that the report damages the UN’s credibility and its human rights mechanisms.
Israel has refused to cooperate with the commission and has not granted it entry into Israel or access to Palestinian-controlled areas in the West Bank and Gaza.
The probe was triggered during a special session of the council in May 2021 — following fighting between Israel and Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip — when the UN Human Rights Council decided to establish a commission of inquiry to investigate “all alleged violations of international humanitarian law and all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law” in Israel, East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
Former United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay heads the open-ended inquiry, joined by Miloon Kothari of India, the first UN special rapporteur on adequate housing, and Australian international human rights law expert Chris Sidoti.
Kothari triggered outrage for using the term “Jewish lobby” and for questioning whether Israel should be a member of the UN, sparking Israeli accusations of antisemitism and calls for his resignation.
International Legal Forum CEO Arsen Ostrovsky calls on the US to defund the commission and deny visa entry to its members next week.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid speaks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, following anger in Kyiv by Jerusalem’s refusal to send weapons for use against invading Russian forces.
Lapid tweets that Kuleba updated him on the war, while the Israeli leader “shared with him our deep concern about the military ties between Iran and Russia.”
“Israel stands with the Ukrainian people,” he adds.
Israel shutters the Salem crossing in the northern West Bank following repeated shooting attacks in the area, the military’s liaison to the Palestinians announces.
Earlier today, Palestinian gunmen opened fire at the crossing, without causing any injuries.
A local wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group claimed responsibility for the attack.
COGAT, the Defense Ministry body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, says the crossing will remain closed until further notice.
Security officials will convene on the matter next week.
Iranian personnel have been on the ground in Russian-occupied Crimea helping Moscow’s forces conduct attacks on Ukraine with Iran-made drones, the White House says.
“We assess that Iranian military personnel were on the ground in Crimea and assisted Russia in these operations,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby tells reporters.
Kirby says that the Iranians in Crimea are trainers and tech support workers, and that the Russians are piloting the drones, which have caused significant damage to Ukrainian infrastructure.
“Tehran is now directly engaged on the ground, and through the provision of weapons that are impacting civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine,” he says. “The United States is going to pursue all means to expose, deter and confront Iran’s provision of these munitions against the Ukrainian people.”
“We’re going to continue to vigorously enforce all US sanctions on both the Russian and Iranian arms trade,” Kirby adds.
Police announce the arrest of another suspect in the settler attack on IDF troops last night in the West Bank town of Huwara.
The attack, in which soldiers were targeted with pepper spray, has been widely condemned from across the political spectrum.
One suspect, a soldier himself, was arrested and remanded earlier today.
A pair of fresh TV surveys predict a deadlock after the upcoming November 1 elections, with both giving the right-wing religious bloc supporting Benjamin Netanyahu 60 seats — one short of a majority — versus 56 for the bloc of parties opposed to him.
A Channel 12 news survey gives Netanyahu’s Likud 31 seats; Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid 24; Religious Zionism, 14; National Unity, 11; Shas 8; United Torah Judaism 7; Yisrael Beytenu 6; Labor 6; Meretz 5; Hadash-Ta’al 4; and Ra’am 4.
Ayelet Shaked’s Jewish Home party fails to cross the 3.25% electoral threshold, getting 1.9%, while the Palestinian nationalist Balad gets 1.3%.
A poll by Channel 13 news gives Likud 32 seats; Yesh Atid 26; Religious Zionism 13; National Unity 11; Shas 8; United Torah Judaism 7; Labor 5; Meretz 5; Yisrael Beytenu 5; Ra’am 4; and Hadash-Ta’al 4.
This survey gives Balad 2.2%, still below the threshold, while Jewish Home gets 1.5%.
The Channel 12 poll was conducted by the Midgam Institute among 507 respondents, with a margin of error of 4.4%.
The Channel 13 poll was conducted among 801 respondents, by Camil Fuchs in the Jewish community and Yousef Makladeh in the Arab community. It has a 3.5% margin of error.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz says he won’t sit in a government with opposition chief Benjamin Netanyahu “under any circumstances,” after the latter said this evening that he won’t form a coalition with Gantz.
The National Camp party leader says there are “parties with an interest to hint I will sit with Netanyahu, because National Camp is the only party that can dismantle the Netanyahu bloc.”
Gantz says he won’t even hold negotiations with Netanyahu’s Likud, and challenges Prime Minister Yair Lapid and other coalition party leaders to follow suit.
New guidelines for entry into the West Bank by foreign nationals, which were recently revised due to some controversial rules, have gone into effect.
Israel reversed clauses requiring visitors to notify Israel if any of them start a relationship with a Palestinian, after coming under pressure from US President Joe Biden’s administration and European governments last month.
The new draft of the rules also allows for the extension of foreigners’ visas from 90 days to 180 days.
In addition, COGAT, the Defense Ministry body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, has removed quotas on visiting lecturers and students at Palestinian universities, originally set at 100 teachers and 150 students.
The rules will be in effect for a two-year trial period, during which further adjustments can be made to the regulations.
President Isaac Herzog pens a letter to party chairs, calling on them to maintain a respectful atmosphere in the lead-up to the November 1 elections, and expressing concern over rising incitement.
Noting a “discernible rise in physical and verbal violence in the streets and on social media,” Herzog appeals to political leaders to “set a personal example” and refrain from using inflammatory language during their campaigns.
“I beseech you to forcefully condemn and rebuke all incitement and violence, if they arise, especially if they come from the ranks of your supporters,” Herzog wrote.
“Let us not forget for a moment that what unites us is greater than what divides us, and that the day after the elections, we will also all need to continue living here together,” he adds.
Political figures from across the political spectrum have claimed to have suffered threats, and have blasted one another over alleged incitement.
In less than two weeks, Israelis head to the polls for the fifth time since 2019.
The UK government imposes sanctions on three Iranian generals and an arms firm over Russia’s use of Iranian drones to bomb Ukraine, matching EU sanctions announced earlier.
The Treasury adds Iranian drone maker Shahed Aviation Industries and three top Iranian military officials to its sanctions list, citing the supply of drones to Russia “for use in their illegal invasion of Ukraine.”
Prime Minister Yair Lapid warns that the military collaboration between Russia and Iran in Ukraine poses a global danger.
“We naturally think that relations between Russia and Iran are a serious problem not only for Israel, but also for Ukraine, Europe and the whole world,” he tells the independent Russian-language TV network RTVi.
“Iran is a dangerous terrorist state, and the fact that Russia does business with it puts the whole world in danger.”
Lapid says it is “absolutely unacceptable” that Tehran has allegedly handed Moscow drones used in its attacks, but also explains that Israel is refraining from giving Kyiv direct military aid while being dependent on Russian influence in Syria.
“On the other hand, Israel’s international relations are a complex issue. I have an obligation to take care of both Israel’s security and our national security, to see to it that our interests are respected, and, in doing so, to make it clear that we support Ukraine in [this conflict].”
Opposition chief Benjamin Netanyahu says at a campaign event that he won’t form a government together with National Camp party leader Benny Gantz, after speculation that he intends to do so has caused his Likud party to drop in opinion polls in favor of the far-right Religious Zionism party.
Earlier this week, Netanyahu refused to share a stage with Religious Zionism’s extremist No. 2, Itamar Ben Gvir, with the latter saying today that he was “offended” by the move.
At a campaign event in Dimona, Netanyahu says he intends to form a purely right-wing government that includes Likud, Religious Zionism and the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties.
“Gantz is left-wing, he wants a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem, I won’t form a government with him,” he says. “I won’t give up Religious Zionism to receive some article in [left-wing daily] Haaretz.”
Netanyahu and Gantz previously formed a government together, with the Likud leader exploiting a loophole and refusing to pass a state budget to avoid handing his rival the premiership — ultimately causing Gantz’s party to quit the coalition.
Chief Justice Esther Hayut and Justice Uzi Vogelman express reservations about the arguments of the petitioners against the Israel-Lebanon maritime border agreement, during a High Court of Justice hearing on the matter.
An attorney for the Kohelet Forum argues that Israel’s Basic Law: Referendum requires a referendum to approve the agreement since it involves giving up a small part of Israel’s territorial waters.
Hayut points out, though, that even though the deal gives Lebanon gas exploration rights in what might be considered Israel’s territorial waters, the agreement states that the legal status quo regarding the approximately five square kilometers (1.9 square miles) of water in question will be upheld until a subsequent agreement between the two countries is reached on the final maritime border, and therefore it does not constitute a territorial concession requiring a referendum.
Vogelman takes issue with the arguments of the Lavi organization, whose lawyer claims that a caretaker government is obligated to bring such a treaty to the Knesset for approval, based on the precedent of previous international agreements which were brought to a vote in the Knesset.
Vogelman questions whether previous custom obligates future governments and points out that the government is arguing that there are urgent security, diplomatic and economic reasons for expediting the deal’s approval.
More than 200 prominent figures in the entertainment industry have signed a public letter against cultural boycotts of Israel, in response to calls from the BDS movement to boycott the Tel Aviv International LGBTQ+ Film Festival — also known as TLVFest — the biggest of its kind in Israel.
The signatories include actors Neil Patrick Harris, Mayim Bialik, Mila Kunis, Helen Mirren and Zach Quinto, and musicians Sia and Gene Simmons.
“Films have the power to bring people together, transcend boundaries, broaden awareness, and affect positive societal change,” the letter reads.
“In Israel, movies have the unique power to bring together Jews, Arabs, and people of all races, ethnicities, and backgrounds in collaboration under a shared love of the arts, working together towards the common goal of telling their stories, and building bridges of compassion and understanding,” it continues.
“The annual Tel Aviv International LGBTQ Film Festival (TLVFest) embodies this spirit of unity and truth, featuring films from filmmakers of all backgrounds, including Palestinians.
“For this reason, we reject any attempt to boycott TLVFest – Israel’s largest LGBTQ Film Festival — which works to showcase the stories of LGBTQ people globally and create a brighter future for LGBTQ people both inside Israel and around the world.
“We stand united with all the participating filmmakers against the divisive rhetoric espoused by boycott activists who seek to misinform, bully and intimidate artists into removing their films from the festival or shame them for participating in the festival.”
The Israel Defense Forces says troops have shot a Palestinian man allegedly hurling stones at Israeli cars on a main highway in the West Bank.
According to the IDF, troops spotted several Palestinians hurling stones near the West Bank town of Si’ir, “putting motorists at risk.”
Troops opened fire and one target was hit, the IDF says.
Palestinian media reports, citing local sources, say the man is seriously wounded.
Kyiv says that increasingly hostile statements from Belarus and Russia and the deployment of a joint force are signaling a “growing” threat of an offensive to be launched by Moscow from Belarus, north of Ukraine.
“The aggressive rhetoric of the military-political leadership of Russia and Belarus is intensifying… The threat of the resumption of the offensive by the Russian armed forces on the northern front is growing,” Deputy Chief of the Ukrainian General Staff Oleksiy Gromov says during a briefing.
Israel intends to allow the Palestinian Authority to acquire helicopters for flights by its senior officials, for the first time since 2001, according to Haaretz.
The outlet says security chiefs had objected to the prospect over the years, fearing the choppers would be used for smuggling purposes as happened under PA president Yasser Arafat.
But now, they are recommending that the government accept current president Mahmoud Abbas’s request as part of steps aimed at strengthening his position within the Palestinian Authority, according to the report.
Government officials are reportedly willing to approve the step.
The election to replace outgoing UK Prime Minister Liz Truss as leader of the Conservative Party should take place by October 28, the official in charge says.
“It will be possible to conduct a ballot and conclude a leadership election by Friday the 28th of October. So we should have a new leader in place before the fiscal statement which will take place on (October) the 31st,” Graham Brady, chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of backbench MPs, tells reporters.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong admits the timing of her announcement this week, in which Canberra reversed the previous government’s recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, was “deeply regrettable.”
In an article published in the Australian Jewish News, Wong acknowledges that the move shouldn’t have been made on the Jewish festival of Simchat Torah, and expresses regret that “the shift away from Australia’s longstanding position, and the shift back this week, have been distressing for communities that have a deep-rooted and keenly felt stake in the cessation of conflict, particularly the Australian Jewish community.”
But Wong defends the move itself, saying former prime minister Scott Morrison’s recognition was made not out of “conviction” but out of “cynicism.”
“As a responsible international actor, Australia will not impose its view of the final borders and boundaries, which should be the result of peace negotiations,” she writes.
“Reasonable people can disagree, as many readers will disagree with me. But I will always be straight with you, and I won’t use this issue to score points.”
Defense Minister Benny Gantz is slated to travel to Turkey next week for an official trip, his office says.
Gantz’s office says he is expected to meet with his Turkish counterpart, Hulusi Akar, during the trip which will begin on Wednesday.
Further details about Gantz’s schedule are to be published at a later date, his office adds.
The planned trip comes two months after Dror Shalom, who heads the ministry’s Political-Military Bureau, met Turkish defense officials to “renew the lines of security relations between the countries” after a decade, the ministry says.
During Shalom’s meetings in Turkey, issues that would be discussed between Gantz and Akar were agreed upon, the ministry adds.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff holds a virtual meeting with leaders of Jewish organizations and prominent Russian-speaking Israelis, asking them to push Jerusalem to provide Kyiv with air defense systems.
“I think no one has any doubts that we are dealing with a terrorist state,” says Andriy Yermak, whose father is Jewish. “Russia is a terrorist state that today uses Iran in its fight against the US and its allies, including Israel. Russia is the European Hezbollah.”
Yermak stresses that Israel must become an active supporter of the effort against Russia, and that Jewish organizations have the power to influence Israel’s stance.
“Today, the voice of each of you, your organizations is critical in the issue of air defense, in which Israel really has extensive experience, and most importantly, it has these systems,” he says.
Zelensky’s office adds that Natan Sharansky, former Israeli cabinet minister and former chairman of the Jewish Agency, has joined Yermak, saying that the war in Ukraine is a struggle over the future of the free world.
“Therefore, I, like everyone present here, believe that being together with Ukraine at this moment is not just a moral obligation, it is in the interests of Israel,” the former prisoner of Zion says.
“Our duty is to do everything for Israel to do it,” Sharansky argues. “The people of Ukraine need this, but we also need it as part of the free world, because [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has encroached on the foundations of the free world and wants to deprive us of this freedom.”
As Russia relies increasingly on Iranian-made drones in recent weeks, Kyiv has amplified its calls for Israel to share air defense expertise and technology.
In the conversation, Yermak reveals that Ukraine is investing in the renovation and expansion of the Babyn Yar memorial.
A phone call planned for today between Defense Minister Benny Gantz and his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksii Reznikov, has been postponed.
Gantz’s office says the delay comes due to requests from Ukraine. It is not clear when the call will take place.
British Prime Minister Liz Truss resigns — bowing to the inevitable after a tumultuous six-week term in which her policies triggered turmoil in financial markets and a rebellion in her party obliterated her authority.
She says, “I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected.”
Just yesterday, Truss vowed to stay in power, saying she is “a fighter and not a quitter.”
But Truss was forced to abandon many of her economic policies and lost control of Conservative Party discipline.
Her departure leaves a divided party seeking a leader who can unify its warring factions.
Far-right MK Itamar Ben Gvir says he was “offended” by opposition chief Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistance not to share a stage with him during a Simchat Torah event in Kfar Chabad earlier this week.
Speaking at a conference organized by Channel 12, the extremist member of the Religious Zionism party was reminded by interviewer Mohammad Magadli that throughout his career, Netanyahu has been photographed alongside Palestinian leaders whom he despises, such as Mahmoud Abbas and Yasser Arafat, yet he refused to be in the same frame with Ben Gvir and even sent security guards to get him off the stage.
The latter answers: “I was really offended, after I’ve been tirelessly working for him to form a government, I would expect to be allowed to speak and then leave. But I don’t need a selfie with Netanyahu. I’m not an admirer. I want to form a right-wing government with him.”
Ben Gvir also says that while he “doesn’t have a problem” with Arabs, he would like “to deport in ships and planes those who harm IDF soldiers,” including Hadash-Ta’al party leader Ayman Odeh.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid reiterates that he will never sit in the same government as former premier Benjamin Netanyahu, unless the latter is acquitted in his ongoing corruption trial, but that he has “no problem” with Netanyahu’s Likud party under a different leader.
Speaking at a conference organized by Channel 12, Lapid says he would “gladly” take part in a televised pre-election debate with Netanyahu, but adds that the latter has been refusing to participate in such debates for 15 years.
Lapid dodges questions about who he aims to include in the next government — specifically whether he will rely on the support of the predominantly Arab Hadash-Ta’al party — and acknowledges it will be “very hard” to form a coalition. “But look who was the last one to form a government in tough circumstances,” he adds.
In response to criticism by smaller left-wing parties that Lapid is campaigning at their expense and potentially causing them to fall below the electoral threshold, Lapid says that “both Labor and Meretz are far from the threshold. I’m not worried. Had I been worried — I would be careful.”
The EU has agreed to sanction three individuals and one entity supplying Iranian drones to Russia that have been used to bomb Ukraine, the EU’s Czech presidency says.
“After 3 days of talks, EU ambassadors agreed on measures against entities supplying Iranian drones that hit Ukraine,” the presidency says on Twitter.
The sanctions will come into force today.
“EU states decided to freeze the assets of 3 individuals and 1 entity responsible for drone deliveries,” the presidency says. “The EU is also prepared to extend sanctions to 4 more Iranian entities that already featured in a previous sanctions list.”
Ukraine has accused Russia of using four Iranian-made drones to bomb Kyiv and said its air defenses have shot down 223 Iranian drones since mid-September.
The Kremlin says it has no knowledge of its army using Iranian drones in Ukraine and Tehran has said the claims that it is providing Russia with weapons are “baseless.”
European Council chief Charles Michel welcomes the move as he prepares to host the 27 EU leaders at a summit in Brussels this week.
“We take swift action against Iran who supports Russia’s war in Ukraine,” he says.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala says the sanctions are “aimed at the persons and entities that manufacture and supply the drones.”
“This is our clear response to the Iranian regime providing Russia with drones, which it uses to murder innocent Ukrainian citizens,” he says.
A Jerusalem court extends the remand of an Israeli settler suspected of assaulting troops in the West Bank town of Huwara last night.
Police say the settler, who is a soldier himself, will remain held until tomorrow at least.
The military has said settlers maced four soldiers, including the commanding officer of the 202nd Paratrooper Battalion, as the troops attempted to stop them from hurling stones at Palestinian cars in the area.
The incident has drawn outrage from many lawmakers and officials across the political spectrum.
Three men from northern Israel have been indicted for allegedly sending a large volume of sensitive security-related material to the Hamas terror group in Turkey, according to a joint statement by the Israel Police, the State Prosecutor’s Office and the Shin Bet security agency.
The charge sheet, filed today, alleges that the trio committed “grave security offenses” and rendered the infrastructure of one of the country’s largest telecommunications companies vulnerable to a potential cyber-attack during a future war.
One of the defendants — identified only by the Hebrew initials of his first and last names, Resh Ayin — has worked for Cellcom since 2004 as a software engineer, the indictment says.
In 2017, out of “ideological identification with Hamas and its goals,” he met officials from the Palestinian terror group while visiting Turkey. He is accused of handing them sensitive information on communications infrastructure in Israel, which he had come across as part of his work.
In 2020 and 2021, at Hamas’s request, the employee asked another defendant — a freelance adviser to Cellcom on computer and communications networks, identified by his initials Shin Ayin — to hand him information on the infrastructure’s weak points, while noting this was for use by Hamas.
The two employees had also conspired since 2015 to try to paralyze Cellcom’s networks in wartime, being aware the networks are used by military and police forces.
They are indicted in the case along with Resh Ayin’s brother, who met Hamas officials on his behalf at least three times.
They “endangered national security in a concrete and grave way,” the statement says, but their plans have now been foiled by the security services.
The defendants’ full names and many other details are barred from publication by a court order.
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