Haaretz english edition
Huge stretch of ancient Lower Aqueduct into Jerusalem revealed
A 300-meter stretch of the Lower Aqueduct into Jerusalem has been revealed exactly where archaeologists thought it would be – about 5 kilometers south of Temple Mount, near Kibbutz Ramat Rachel. It was unearthed during works to build a new...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘Bloc of change’ can undo the overhaul and probe Oct. 7 – even without a gov’t
Ahead of the election, speculation on the next government’s composition has understandably taken center stage in public discourse. But the next Knesset, which on November 10 will celebrate its first session exactly two weeks after the election, has...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Israelis mark three years since Oct. 7
Families of hostages and victims of the October 7 massacre joined memorial events and protests across Israel on Wednesday, marking three years since the Hamas attack and renewing calls for a state commission of inquiry into the failures that preceded...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Open wound
Three years since that Saturday, Hamas’ attack on the communities and military installations near the Gaza border largely remains unfathomable. The attack itself was extremely unusual in its scale, and its catastrophic results highlighted the extent of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
They ID’d bodies after Oct. 7 and ended up in a psych ward
One after another, the trucks entered the base. The large company logos on them revealed their previous purpose: fresh meat, sausages, ice cream. Finally the food had arrived, someone said. Others were less optimistic. Then the doors opened, and with...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Public pressure led to barring of Arab leader
Legal scholars say the Supreme Court was influenced by public and political pressure when it signaled that it was prepared to disqualify Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh from the Knesset election. They argue that the court’s handling of the case...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Israeli settlers kill Palestinian, 19, wound another in West Bank attack
A Palestinian teenager was killed by Israeli settlers and another was wounded near the West Bank village of Kobar near Ramallah on Friday, amid a wave of settler violence over the weekend. A security source identified the Palestinian as 19-year-old...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Israeli passengers subdue rogue pilot, averting FlyDubai hijacking
After long hours of waiting in trepidation at a Saudi airport, a FlyDubai rescue flight carrying 180 Israeli passengers landed in Israel Wednesday night. Thus ended a drama that began with what appeared to be a terror attack, but was prevented thanks...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
PM’s warning gimmick plays on public’s fears as election approaches
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened the heads of the defense establishment for an urgent meeting in Jerusalem on Tuesday. A few hours earlier, at the end of another electioneering tour to which he had dragged unwilling senior army officers, the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Hostage survivors speak out
Hostage survivor Yocheved Lifshitz at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Monday. “I’m speaking out, even when it’s hard, to ask the entire public to send home the one who headed the country on this horrific day, the one who recevied all the warnings and chose...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
J’lem Palestinian shops closed to make room for Jews to pray
for Muslim visitors and worshippers at the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa compound. “During previous holidays, they asked us not to open until 10 A.M. on the first and last days of the holiday,” one shopkeeper said. “From now on, they’ll tell us to close every...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
What Sami Abu Shehadeh can teach Israel
It’s hard to choose a single killer argument against banning Sami Abu Shehadeh from running for the Knesset. There are simply too many. Abu Shehadeh is the leader of Balad, a party representing largely Palestinian citizens of Israel running with two...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Elections panel votes to bar all Arab parties, 2 Knesset candidates
The Central Elections Committee voted Wednesday to bar two candidates from running in the October election, along with all the Arab parties, prompting appeals to the Supreme Court, and exposing divisions within the opposition over efforts to disqualify...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Palestinian American residents of W. Bank town ask: Where’s Trump?
Samir Juma’a Hazmeh’s four-story house in Turmus Ayya overlooks the fields that surround the town. From his balcony, we can see some of the town’s 18,000 dunams of land (roughly 4,500 acres). The land is lush, perfect for growing olives, figs and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Israeli, father of six, killed in West Bank shooting; Palestinian suspect arrested
An Israeli man in his 30s was killed in a shooting attack at a spring near the West Bank settlement of Neve Tzuf on Sunday, police said. The victim was identified as Netanel Shakron, 36, from Alei Zahav, who was visiting the springs with his son....
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Atonement remains burning issue almost three years after October 7
The approaching election and the preparations for the third anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack have reignited the media and public discourse on the massacre and the failures that made it possible. This is a fundamental, moral discussion about...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Gaza building collapse kills 20; IDF kills top Hamas commander
A building housing half a dozen displaced families collapsed in Gaza City overnight into Wednesday, killing 20 people as they slept and leaving rescuers digging through rubble for dozens more. The sudden collapse of the building, which was known to be...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Top Israeli advisers had planned to lead a boycott of Qatar after Oct. 7
It was the sixth day of the war sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Israel and, at a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pledged that the Biden administration stood with...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
IDF denies ‘NAZA’ claim it OK’d death of 500 Gazans; Zamir mulls legal response
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir instructed the army’s top legal adviser on Monday to examine possible legal action against the filmmakers behind the Israeli-directed documentary “NAZA,” despite not having seen the film in...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trump lets Saudis fend alone as Houthis disrupt Red Sea oil flow
Two phone calls from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday offered a glimpse of the strategic shift taking shape across the Middle East. According to the Axios news website, Crown Prince Mohammed sought...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Prison guards’ texts expose routine abuse of Palestinian inmates
Only the spilled blood bore witness to what happened in Cell 6 of Wing 24 at Ketziot Prison in November 2023. Those involved that night maintained the prison’s usual code of silence. But WhatsApp messages the guards exchanged as events unfolded, later...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Likud, Shas unveil slates ahead of elections
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and the ultra-Orthodox Shas party submitted its Knesset election slate Tuesday ahead of the 10 P.M. deadline to submit slates for the Oct. 27 election. The list submission marked the deadline for lastminute...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
IGNORED WARNINGS:
Netanyahu was told explicitly about Sinwar’s intentions a week and a half before October 7 – but didn’t inform the defense establishment.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Tropper joins Yashar; Hendel joins Zelekha
As the 9 P.M. Tuesday deadline for submitting party lists looms, struggling candidates are shaking up alliances or, in some cases, dropping out of the race. Chili Tropper and Yoaz Hendel announced the end Sunday of their Zionist Home-Reservists party....
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Ben-Gvir reserves Otzma Yehudit’s No. 2 spot for Tally Gotliv
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Friday that lawmaker Tally Gotliv will be No. 2 on his Otzma Yehudit party’s candidate slate. The announcement came after Likud cleared her to leave the party without being declared a defector, allowing...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A week before deadline, Together officials call for Eisenkot merger
With former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett failing to establish himself as the leader of the anti-Netanyahu bloc as Together trails in the polls, party officials are increasingly calling for a merger with Yashar, Gadi Eisenkot’s party. The coming week...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Hamas official’s arrest may be valuable, but goal remains elusive
Haaretz published an extensive investigative report last week about Palestinian militias operating in the Gaza Strip in service of Israel. Soldiers told Haaretz that they followed militias on missions that involved war crimes. On Tuesday, another...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Segalovich, ex-Yesh Atid MK and senior police officer, joins United Arab List slate
Former MK Yoav Segalovich announced Monday that he is joining the United Arab List party, insisting that political partnership between Jews and Arabs remains possible despite the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. The announcement came after the party, led...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
What European, U.S. leftists could learn from Germany
The streets of Berlin are covered these days with campaign posters, as are the walls and roadsides of the two East German states of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The scene has been set for the three state elections slated to take...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
State moves to end widespread abuse of disabled parking permits
Israel is getting ready to overhaul the way disabled parking permits are issued, after their numbers surged to cover roughly one in six cars in the country. “It has become very chaotic over the past few years,” says Yuval Wagner, founder and chairman...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
The Israeli group opening a medical clinic in southern Gaza
The Israeli humanitarian organization Natan Worldwide Disaster Relief will open a clinic next week in a displacement camp in the al-Qarara area of Muwasi, in the southern Gaza Strip. The clinic, which will be established at a cost of $200,000, will...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Succot’s destructive sledgehammer has the full force of the Israeli military behind it
Religious Zionism MK Tzvi Succot’s childish campaign stunt, in which he entered a Palestinian village with a military escort and destroyed a memorial, allowed the government and the army to publicly distance themselves from the lawless Knesset member’s...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Can Kibbutz Nir Oz rebuild without families with children?
On an especially hot day last week, grass was planted around Gadi Mozes’ new home in Nir Oz, a Gazaborder kibbutz where about a third of its residents were killed or abducted on October 7. At first, the grass seemed to be drying out, but a few days...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Eisenkot vows no Palestinian state if he’s elected, after UAL head Abbas calls for one
Gadi Eisenkot, a leading opposition candidate, pledged that no Palestinian state would be established if his party wins October’s Knesset election, after United Arab List chairman Mansour Abbas called Saturday for an end to Israel’s occupation of the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Israel insists it warned Syria before strikes
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel warned Syria before bombing the Abu alDuhur air base over intelligence reports about Turkey’s “intention” to carry out activities that would “endanger Israel’s security.” According to Katz, after Syria failed...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Israel doesn’t want the world to see the besieged Palestinians of Qusra
It isn’t easy to visit the families of Qusra, in the northern West Bank, whose homes have been besieged by settlers since last week. Instead of chasing away the settlers, the IDF extracted up to 20 Palestinian families, then let some back, but not all....
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Negev town foreshadows what another Bibi win might look like
Standing outside the sandcolored brick home in Arad where he grew up, Yochay Shochat points to the small, one-story building down the road and across the street. “That was the day care center where my two little sisters went,” he recalls...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
U.S. envoys, Mideast mediators, Hamas officials meet to save Gaza cease-fire plan
Chairman of Hamas’ political bureau, Khalil alHayya, arrived in Cairo on Sunday as part of a delegation of the organization’s senior officials in an attempt to save U.S. President Donald Trump’s cease-fire plan. It was his first visit to Egypt since...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Discovering the story of an extinct cicada cousin nicknamed ‘Noo-noo’
About 99 million years ago, a planthopper died on a tree in what is today Myanmar. This insect was a member of the suborder of Neazoniidae, now extinct, and its body was preserved forever more by becoming trapped in resin, which would fossilize over...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
IDF leaves settlers in Palestinians’ yard after failing to clear outpost
Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir ordered the army to deploy more soldiers around the West Bank village of Qusra, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Wednesday, after soldiers seemingly tried and failed to evacuate settlers who had besieged a Palestinian...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
How ancient Rome invented the architecture of alienation
For our ancestors, separation from the tribe often carried fatal consequences. A lone individual faced constant threats from predators, starvation and exposure to the elements. Through natural selection, loneliness evolved as a vital internal alarm, a...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Settlers attack Haaretz crew, block them from reaching Palestinian home in W. Bank
Israeli settlers blocked Haaretz journalists from reaching a Palestinian home in the West Bank village of Qusra on Sunday night, attacking a reporter and photographer as they tried to get to the isolated property. Soldiers at the scene refused to...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
PM: Israel rejects U.S. Gaza plan, IDF won’t withdraw until Hamas disarms
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuffed on Sunday the 15-point road map for Gaza unveiled by U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, saying the Israel Defense Forces will not withdraw from the enclave until Hamas is disarmed. “I wish to be...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Iran says Hormuz deal with Oman is ‘very close’ – but isn’t enough to reopen the strait
Iran said Saturday that a deal with Oman on control of the Strait of Hormuz is close but would not be enough to free up the waterway, and the United Arab Emirates said Iran hit another ship there. Agreement between Iran and Oman over the strait is...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Lessons for Democrats as El-Sayed prevails
MICHIGAN — Abdul ElSayed, the insurgent who combined a progressive economic agenda with opposition to AIPAC and Israel’s war in Gaza, narrowly won the Michigan Democratic Senate primary, defeating AIPAC-backed Congresswoman Haley Stevens in the most...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
IDF took 600 sq. km of Lebanon, razed villages and built new bases
The Israel Defense Forces is entrenching itself deep in south Lebanon, according to information obtained by Haaretz, tours on the ground and recent satellite images. During the war, the IDF captured an area of about 600 square kilometers (230 square...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Documents reveal how Elbit armed the UAE following Houthi attacks
On January 17, 2022, the Houthis in Yemen launched an attack on the United Arab Emirates. The attack included a barrage of ballistic missiles and drones, some of which struck oil facilities and Abu Dhabi International Airport. Three people were killed....
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Israel seeks right to strike across all Gaza
Israel is demanding a prospective U.S.-backed deal on the Gaza Strip allow it to strike targets in areas set to be handed over to a temporary international stabilization force, a source familiar with the matter told Haaretz. This comes as at least 15...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
In Dearborn, beating AIPAC may be real prize in Mich. Dem primary
DEARBORN, Michigan – Between handshakes at the Dearborn Democratic Club’s annual summer picnic, Layla Elabed argued that the politics of her hometown no longer belong to Dearborn alone. Two years after helping lead Michigan’s Uncommitted movement over...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
As Netanyhau visits Trump, official says ‘list of Iran options’ were discussed
WASHINGTON – A senior Israeli official said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump shared a “genuine consultation” on the list of options at their disposal concerning Iran, rejecting any claims that the meeting was...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Netanyahu meets with Trump in closed-door White House meeting
WASHINGTON – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. President Donald Trump behind closed doors at the White House on Tuesday morning. The meeting – the eighth between the leaders since Trump returned to office last year – was closed to the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Medical groups say IDF lockdown of Nablus is blocking access to emergency healthcare
Palestinian medical organizations and Physicians for Human Rights warned on Sunday that blockades imposed on the West Bank city of Nablus by the Israeli military are significantly restricting residents’ access to healthcare and emergency medical...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Will this Netanyahu stronghold near Gaza go further right?
Throughout the day, a steady procession of buses pulls up at the former site of the Sderot police station, dropping off visitors. They include a delegation of police cadets, a group of ultra-Orthodox schoolteachers, a busload of Birthright participants...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Gov’t sees opportunity in W. Bank violence
As the security establishment remains on high alert over the possibility of a U.S. – and perhaps Israeli – strike on Iran, another long-simmering front has already erupted: the West Bank. Four Palestinians and two Israelis were killed Friday morning...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Border Police block Haaretz journalists from Palestinian home under settler seige
A Border Police force prevented two Haaretz journalists on Wednesday from reaching the home of a Palestinian family south of Nablus that has been under siege by Israeli settlers for more than two weeks. The force, accompanied by several IDF soldiers,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Aoun visits U.S.; Trump: ‘I would speak to Hezbollah’
U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House on Tuesday, in the two leaders’ first meeting and the first visit by a Lebanese head of state in Washington since 2009. Aoun’s main goals in the meeting – the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
The Democrats primary results: The candidates who will run behind Yair Golan
The Democrats party announced the results of its primary on Monday, with incumbent MKs Naama Lazimi, Gilad Kariv and Efrat Rayten securing the top three spots after party chairman Yair Golan. Rounding out the top ten are protest leader Yaya Fink;...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trapped in Gaza, doctor records life between survival and death
The moment that broke Dr. Ezzideen Shehab came after the cease-fire. “There are moments in Gaza when suffering becomes so ordinary that people stop asking for solutions. They begin asking only for the smallest relief,” he recently posted on X, in...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Iran strikes across region after U.S. attacks
U.S. airstrikes on Iran and Iranian retaliatory strikes against countries in the region continued on Saturday. The United States sent additional refueling tanker aircrafts to Israel over the weekend, Israeli military officials said, as U.S. President...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Knesset passes contentious bill to weaken attorney general’s role
The Knesset on Wednesday passed a law significantly reducing the attorney general’s powers and responsibilities. Sixty-five lawmakers voted in favor, and 51 against. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was absent from the vote, as he was from Tuesday’s...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trump drops planned Hormuz transit fee
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he has abandoned plans to impose a 20 percent fee on cargo transiting the Strait of Hormuz after Gulf leaders proposed expanding trade and investment ties with the United States instead. Speaking from the Oval...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Knesset passes contentious Basic Law promoting Torah study
The Knesset approved the Basic Law on Torah Study in a 63-52 vote on Monday, a move that promotes Jewish religious studies but has unclear implications due to its vague wording. The law, sponsored by United Torah Judaism and Shas, includes only one...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
U.S. antisemitism czar worked to remove NSO from blacklist
A month before U.S. President Donald Trump announced the appointment of Yehuda Kaploun, an Israeliborn ultra-Orthodox activist and rabbi, as his special envoy for monitoring and combating antisemitism, a group of consultants approached the Israeli...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Lying about timing? Shin Bet says Zini decided to probe leak before meeting far-right pundit
The Shin Bet security service claimed that its director, David Zini, had decided to launch an investigation into major television news network “long before” he held a meeting with a pundit close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from a competing...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Arms designed in Israel, made in Kurdistan, smuggled via Jordan
Deep in Iraqi Kurdistan, near the Iranian border, a weapons factory was established a decade ago. The initiative came from the region’s ruling political party, while the financing was provided by the Faruk Investment Group, one of Iraq’s largest...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trump to consider selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, despite Netanyahu’s objections
U.S. President Donald Trump said that selling F35s to Turkey is “certainly something we will consider” while speaking at the NATO summit in Ankara, Tuesday, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said they were “promised five jets.” Prime Minister...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
The West Bank settlers drifting away from Israel’s far right
In Israel’s last election, nearly 48 percent of the voters in the West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut cast their ballots for Religious Zionism – the far right, ultra-nationalist party led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, which merged with the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Netanyahu wants Trump as his reelection campaigner, but both know ‘who’s the boss’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump are expected to meet in the United States in the coming weeks, officials from both sides said over the weekend. Netanyahu’s visit would be the two leaders’ first meeting since they...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Khamenei’s legacy: Destruction and an ambitious vision for Iran
“Death is ostensibly the end. But in politics, it is often the beginning of something else. First, it’s a rewriting of the past, a struggle over memory and a renewed effort to preserve or rebuild legitimacy.” That’s how Iranian publicist Ali Reza...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trump sticks to diplomacy in Iran talks; IDF strikes Gaza
Thursday will mark 1,000 days since the massacre on October 7, 2023, and will feature two minutes of national silence and several memorial events. Protests across Israel are being planned for the day, to demand a state investigation into the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Shin Bet trying to recruit antigov’t activists
The Shin Bet security service has ramped up efforts in recent weeks to recruit activists involved in protests against the government, offering financial incentives and other benefits in exchange for information on planned demonstrations and right-wing...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Judges call to drop bribery charge in one of Netanyahu’s criminal trials
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday accused law enforcement and the judiciary of using his criminal trial as political persecution aimed at forcing him from office. Netanyahu made the remarks during a hearing at the Jerusalem District Court...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Car explosion, shootings kill five Arab citizens in separate incidents
A 38-year-old man was killed Sunday morning and a 6-year-old moderately wounded in a car explosion in downtown Jaffa. Three other people were fatally shot in Taibeh and Kalansua, bringing the total number of people killed in Israel since the start of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
The U.S.-brokered deal is great for Israel, but it will tax Lebanon
Suffice it to listen to Hezbollah’s furious reaction to conclude that the deal, unexpectedly signed by Israel and Lebanon in Washington on Friday, harbors good tidings from an Israeli perspective. The very willingness of Lebanon to take full...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Nationwide Haredi protest disrupts traffic
Hundreds of vehicles across the country slowly drove toward the Beit Lid military prison on Wednesday in a four-hour protest against the arrest of ultra-Orthodox men for evading the military draft. The Haredi protest convoys exited multiple cities in...
Read Full Story (Page 1)