Haaretz english edition
Court ruling brings clash between Haredim and state to a head over draft exemption
The pressure cooker that is the Haredi draft issue, and the relationship between Haredim and the state, reached a boiling point this week that could perhaps be defined as historic. It could force the state and the Haredi community to finally make...
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Soldiers in southern Lebanon: There’s no defense against drones
The threat of drones in southern Lebanon has in recent weeks become one of the most significant challenges the Israel Defense Forces faces. On Tuesday, the IDF announced that a Defense Ministry employee working for an engineering company on behalf of...
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The problem with Naftali Bennett
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s merger with Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, the current leader of the opposition, has solidified Bennett’s position as the leading candidate for prime minister in this year’s elections – for now. Bennett...
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Ex-PMs Bennett, Lapid announce joint run in Knesset election
Former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid announced that they will merge their parties and run together in the 2026 election in a bid to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The new party is to be called Beyahad, which means “together”...
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Seven teens ages 13-17 arrested for killing pizza shop employee in Petah Tikva
A 21-year-old pizza shop worker from Petah Tikva died Thursday overnight after he was stabbed on Independence Day by several teens, after asking them not to spray party foam into the restaurant. A 19-yearold was stabbed to death on Friday in Be’er...
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Today’s Israel in a single absurd ceremony
After Abraham Zarbiv’s moment, I left. I couldn’t take any more. The combination of national recognition being accorded to an inciter and perpetrator of war crimes in a fedora, hypothermia from the unbearble Jerusalem cold and an overdose of kitsch and...
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Trump: Vance headed to talks; Tehran to join
Amid vague confirmations by U.S. and Iran sources that delegations would attend another round of talks in Pakistan’s capital, U.S. President Donald Trump warned that if a deal isn’t reached by the end of the cease-fire, set to expire at 8:00 P.M. EST...
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174 soldiers, 79 civilians killed since last Memorial Day
Between last Memorial Day and this year’s, which starts Monday evening, 174 soldiers and 79 civilians have been killed, while 54 disabled veterans died, the Defense Ministry said on Sunday. Altogether, 25,648 members of the security services Jewish...
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As with Gaza, Trump’s actions bring a shaky cease-fire to Beirut
On Friday, less than 24 hours after he had imposed a cease-fire in Lebanon, U.S. President Donald Trump took one step further – an extreme and almost unprecedented step. He announced that he had forbidden Israel to continue airstrikes there. “Israel...
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Justices hear petitions to remove Ben-Gvir over politicized police
The High Court of Justice heard petitions on Wednesday seeking to compel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to remove Itamar Ben-Gvir from his position as national security minister, citing alleged interference in police work and harm to democratic...
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‘Historic’ Israel-Lebanon talks start; sources: PM buying time
Israel began direct negotiations with Lebanon on Tuesday in what sources said could be an attempt to buy time for its ongoing fight with Hezbollah. Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, met with his Lebanese counterpart, Nada...
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U.S. blockades Strait of Hormuz, softens nuclear freeze demand
The United States blockaded the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, following a threat by U.S. President Donald Trump after an initial round of cease-fire talks in Islamabad, Pakistan failed to produce results. Any Iranian ship approaching the U.S. blockade...
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As talks stumble, Trump declares blockade of Strait of Hormuz
U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that the United States would immediately impose a naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, a day after 21 hours of talks failed to produce an agreement. Trump warned that any Iranian forces firing on U.S. or...
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U.S., Iran start direct talks amid doubts over Lebanon, sanctions
Three-way cease-fire negotiations between U.S. officials Steve Witkoff, JD Vance and Jared Kushner, Iran’s Mohammad Ghalibaf and Abbas Araghchi, and Pakistan’s army chief were “face to face,” according to a Pakistani source. According to the plan, the...
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Serbia poised to make drones with Israeli arms giant Elbit Systems
A month ago Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced the imminent opening of a new drone manufacturing plant. “For serious drones – the most serious in the world,” he said. The president added that the facility could be ready as early as April and...
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In Iran, Trump trying to put out fire with fire
The nerve-wracking tension over the ultimatum that U.S. President Donald Trump has given Iran will apparently continue until the last minute, when it is due to expire at 3 A.M. on Wednesday, Israel time. As usual, a last-minute initiative has cropped...
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At least 3 missing, 24 wounded as Iran missile hits building in Haifa
Three or four people are reportedly missing after a building in Haifa was directly struck by an Iranian missile on Sunday evening. In addition, an 82-year-old man was seriously wounded, while 24 people, including a baby, were lightly wounded. Carmel...
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IDF says it can’t disarm Hezbollah despite the government’s promises
Sometimes the truth is optional. A senior IDF officer told military reporters on Friday morning what should have been obvious (and has been stated here repeatedly in recent weeks): The fighting in Lebanon, in its current format, will not result in...
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4 soldiers killed in combat with Hezbollah
Four Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed in close combat with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Monday – Staff Sgt. Maksim Entis of Bat Yam, Staff Sgt. Ben Cohen of Lehavim, Capt. Noam Madmoni of Sderot and Staff Sgt. Gilad Harel of Modi’in....
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Israel passes into law: death penalty for Palestinians convicted of terror
Israel’s Knesset on Monday passed a bill mandating the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of deadly acts of terrorism. The bill stipulates that the death penalty will be imposed on a terrorist who killed a person “with the intent to deny the...
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Interceptor production ramped up as war takes longer than planned
The Israeli defense industry has recently tripled the pace at which it produces interceptor missiles and other aerial munitions, in an attempt to respond to the army’s needs during the war. And the pace is expected to increase further, to four times...
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Israel faces war of attrition as home front and morale hit hard
U.S. President Donald Trump postponed the deadline for his ultimatum to Iran by 10 days – until April 6. If the sides fail to reach a compromise regarding the end of the war by then, Trump threatened to bomb power stations and energy infrastructure...
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U.S. says close to core objectives; Iran demands end to ‘aggression’
Cease-fire talks are reportedly stalling between both the U.S. and Iran, and Israel and Lebanon, as the war passed its 26th day on Wednesday. Israel was preparing to strike as many targets as possible ahead of a possible end to the war. Iran rejected...
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Woman killed in missile attack in north
Iranian and Hezbollah attacks killed one person and wounded at least 18 others on Tuesday, according to medics. Hezbollah launched about 90 rockets and drones at northern Israel throughout Tuesday. A rocket attack from Lebanon killed one woman in...
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Trump: U.S. talking with top Iran official; strikes on hold for 5 days
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday on Truth Social that the United States and Iran have held “very good and productive conversations” over the last two days. In remarks to reporters, he added that the talks involved a “top respected leader,” while...
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Iranian missiles wound several in TA area
Iranian missile barrages wounded several people on Sunday across six impact sites in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, including one in serious condition and three in moderate condition. Reports also indicated damage to a building in Petah Tikva as a...
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Iranian missiles wound dozens in Arad, Dimona
Around 100 people were wounded after Iranian missiles were fired at the country’s south Saturday evening. Nearly 70 people were wounded and several buildings sustained extensive damage in the city of Arad after a direct hit from an Iranian missile,...
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Iranian cluster bombs kill elderly Israeli couple, three Palestinians
Several Iranian cluster munitions struck Israel on Wednesday, killing an elderly couple in their Ramat Gan home overnight and at least three Palestinians near Hebron in the West Bank later Wednesday. Cluster munitions struck in Ramat Gan, Rosh...
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Trump official quits in protest over Iran
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said operations in Iran would soon end and insisted Tehran posed an imminent threat, despite his National Counterterrorism Center chief resigning over what he termed a needless war. “Iran is just a military...
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IDF expands ground offensive in Lebanon
The Israeli army said Monday that it is deepening its ground offensive in southern Lebanon and sending additional troops to the northern border, in a move that could signal a broader campaign against Hezbollah than previously expected. According to...
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Amid war, Al-Aqsa remains closed to worshippers as Ramadan ends
As the final week of Ramadan unfolds, the plaza of Al-Aqsa Mosque – usually filled with tens of thousands of worshipers during the last nights of the holy month – remain closed. For Muslims, the final days of Ramadan are among the most spiritually...
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Iran holds on, Israel may widen Lebanon campaign
The United States escalated its airstrikes on Iran over the weekend, threatening to hit oil infrastructure on Kharg Island, through which most of Iran’s oil exports pass. (Initial strikes focused on military sites on the island). Israel, which is...
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Hezbollah, Iran bombard northern Israel
Sirens sounded nonstop in Haifa and across northern Israel on Wednesday after Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets from Lebanon and Iran fired several ballistic missiles at the area, in Hezbollah’s largest barrage targeting Israel since the Israel-U.S....
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Israel reportedly preparing for end of Iran war within weeks
Israel has been preparing for the chance that the joint U.S. war against Iran could end within weeks, a source told Haaretz as the war nears its two-week mark. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office had not been surprised by U.S. President Donald...
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Mayor of Arab city wounded in suspected criminal shooting
The mayor of the Arab city of Arraba in northern Israel was shot and moderately wounded Sunday evening, police and medical officials said, in an attack authorities believe is linked to criminal activity regarding municipal tenders. Mayor Ahmed Nassar...
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IDF chief: war could ‘take long time’; Iranian cluster bomb wounds five
Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir announced Sunday that the current military campaign “will take considerable time,” and urged the Israeli public to be patient, as five people were wounded in central Israel following missile barrages from Iran, among them...
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IDF officials: Israel bracing for weeks of war
The United States and Israel’s war with Iran is expected to last for at least several more weeks and Iran may ramp up its strikes on Israel, defense officials told Haaretz. Both countries continued their strikes against Iran over the weekend, with...
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Iran, Hezbollah both fire on Israel; IDF orders S. Lebanon to evacuate
Iran and Hezbollah fired on Israel around the same time on Wednesday, the fifth day of the war Israel and the United States launched against Iran, activating sirens around the country. This is the first time that both have fired at Israel...
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Hezbollah fires at Israel in first since 2024; IDF debates ground op
Rocket sirens were activated on Tuesday in the Tel Aviv area following fire from Lebanon, for the first time since 2024. The Israel Defense Forces announced that one of the missiles fell in an open area, causing no injuries. The Israel Defense Forces...
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Hezbollah fires on Israel, joining regional war
At the end of the third day of the war against Iran, it appears that there is still a long way before its objectives are met. The U.S. and Israel chalked up significant gains in the opening salvo, but this has so far not been translated into a rapid...
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9 killed by missile in Beit Shemesh; Khamenei, other top Iranian officials confirmed dead
Nine people were killed on Sunday after an Iranian missile hit a public bomb shelter at a synagogue in Beit Shemesh. The commander of Israel Police’s Jerusalem District said that some of the victims were apparently inside the bomb shelter when they...
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U.S. and Israel strike Iran, Khameini reportedly killed; Iran’s missiles target Israel and Gulf
Iran’s most influential leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed, two Israeli officials said after the United States and Israel launched strikes across Iran on Saturday. The strikes, which killed over 200 people, including several Iranian officials,...
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India’s Modi endorses Trump’s Gaza plan in Knesset address
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi endorsed the United States’ plan for the Gaza Strip in a speech in the Knesset on Wednesday, an event that, for unrelated reasons, had become a flash point between Israel’s coalition and opposition. Modi, who became...
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The multibillion-dollar arms deals driving India’s Modi’s visit to Israel
In July 2017, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first visit to Israel, he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed agreements worth $13 million in satellite development, agriculture and water, along with the creation of a $40...
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U.S. orders partial evacuation of Beirut embassy staff as tensions rise over Iran
The United States Department of State ordered nonessential government personnel and their family members to leave Beirut on Monday, as tensions over Iran rise with the threat of a potentially imminent military strike. Earlier Monday, a senior official...
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Liberate the Western Wall
In response to this surprise move by Netanyahu, the far-right parliamentarian behind the legislation said he planned to bring the bill up for an initial vote in the full Knesset on Wednesday. The Shas, United Torah Judaism and Otzma Yehudit parties...
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Top court orders gov’t to renovate Western Wall egalitarian plaza
Israel’s High Court of Justice ordered the government Thursday to proceed without further delay with its plan to refurbish the Western Wall space designated for egalitarian prayer. An expanded panel of seven justices presided over by President Issac...
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Ex-soldier died in administrative detention, said he feared for his life
A demobilized soldier from the Bedouin city of Rahat who was put under administrative detention nine months ago on suspicion of being a member of the Islamic State died in Gilboa Prison in January. The state is refusing to release his body to his...
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Likud-linked jurists vie for election panel job
Lawyers with links to the Likud party are vying for the job of legal adviser to the Central Elections Commission, even though the Knesset Elections Law and rules for job candidates bar people with personal or business links to any political...
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Three Israelis, including father and son, killed in 24 hours; murder rate climbs to 52
A father and son were shot to death inside a car on Monday in an Arab town in northern Israel, while a third person was fatally shot in a suspected revenge killing hours later, raising Israel’s total homicides this year to 52, including 47 from the...
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Is Israel-Palestine conflict testing very idea of global human rights?
These days, it can feel as if just a shrinking cluster of people in the world still believe in universal human rights, or in the institutions established to implement them. Last week, yet another controversy hit the community as two Israeli and...
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Officials: U.S. readies for Iran strikes
The U.S. military is preparing for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if President Donald Trump orders an attack, two U.S. officials told Reuters, in what could become a far more serious conflict than previously seen...
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Trump, with PM in D.C., says he insisted talks with Iran continue
U.S. President Donald Trump said “nothing definitive” was reached after a three-hour meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that he “insisted that negotiations with Iran continue.” According to the president’s post on Truth Social, if...
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Elbit wins $100m deals to develop next-gen Digital Ground Army
Elbit Systems, led by Bezhalel Machlis, has won contracts totaling $100 million from the Defense Ministry to develop the next generation of a so-called Digital Ground Army. As part of the contracts granted by the ministry’s Directorate of Defense...
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‘Herzog out!’: Protests erupt across Australia over president’s visit
MELBOURNE – Thousands of protesters gathered on Monday to oppose Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia, with leftwing and pro-Palestinian groups planning additional demonstrations nationwide. Protesters chanted slogans denouncing Herzog...
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A 14-year-old bled to death for 45 minutes as soldiers stood nearby
A 14-year-old boy wounded by gunfire lies on his back in an alley in the alFar’a refugee camp in the northeastern West Bank. A large group of soldiers walks around him or stands nearby, sometimes less than a meter away. At times they glance at him, but...
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PM releases selective, redacted security records in bid to shift blame for Oct. 7
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday released excerpts from security cabinet meetings in a document that reiterates the claim that, although the defense establishment failed in its security assessments ahead of the October 7 attack, he had...
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Shin Bet chief’s brother, 11 others charged with smuggling millions in goods into Gaza
Israel’s State Prosecutor’s Office charged 12 people on Wednesday, including IDF reservists, with smuggling goods worth millions into Gaza in an affair that led to the arrest of Shin Bet security service chief David Zini’s brother, Bezalel Zini. The...
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Hard-right activists now harass anti-gov’t protesters in their homes
“Welcome to the new Kaplan – we’ll teach you what democracy is,” the demonstrator announced through a powerful sound system he operated last month on a quiet street in the heart of a residential neighborhood in Modi’in. He was referring to Tel Aviv’s...
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Knesset marks 77th anniversary without opposition, president or chief justice
The Knesset marked its 77th anniversary with an event that was boycotted by the opposition, after Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana did not invite Supreme Court President Isaac Amit to attend. Ohana’s decision to exclude Amit from the event comes amid a...
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Iran FM confident of nuke deal as Khamenei warns U.S. not to strike
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with CNN on Sunday that he is confident the Islamic Republic can reach “achieve a deal” with the United States on Tehran’s nuclear program. Araghchi said that although Iran has “lost trust”...
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As killings mount, Arab leaders take protest to Tel Aviv
Thousands of people demonstrated at Tel Aviv’s Habima Square to protest police inaction as violence rages in the Arab community. The protest, a joint ArabJewish venture, was called by the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee and coordinated by a...
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‘Our lives can go on’: Ran Gvili laid to rest
Hundreds of Israelis attended the funeral on Wednesday of Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage whose body was returned from Gaza on Monday, 843 days after he was killed on October 7, 2023. At the funeral in Gvili’s hometown of Meitar in southern...
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For Gazans, this is just the beginning
The return of the body of Ran Gvili brings closure to Israel in the matter regarding the hostages. For the first time since 2014, there are no hostages or missing persons in the Gaza Strip, a landmark that carries political and symbolic...
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Body of last hostage Ran Gvili returned home
The military has found the remains of Ran Gvili, Israel’s last remaining hostage in Gaza, 843 days after he was killed on October 7. The Israel Defense Forces said that Gvili’s body was found and identified in a mass grave in a Gaza City cemetery,...
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IDF conducting ‘large-scale’ search for body of Ran Gvili in northern Gaza
Israel has begun conducting a “large-scale operation” to find the remains of Ran Gvili, the last hostage in Gaza, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Sunday. Following new intelligence on its location, the operation, which began over...
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Witkoff, Kushner and Mladenov in Israel to make sure Rafah opens, more aid arrives
Not everything went as planned for the Americans at Thursday’s signing ceremony of the Board of Peace in Davos, Switzerland. The large number of leaders from former Warsaw Pact countries generated jabs that the absence of Russian President Vladimir...
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Netanyahu to join Board of Peace; won’t attend Davos ceremony due to ICC warrant
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Wednesday that he will join U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. However, Netanyahu will not be attending the inauguration ceremony on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos after...
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Police used unapproved spyware for years to collect data illegally
The Israel Police have used intrusive technology for years, hacked into private devices without permission and extracted information from them unlawfully, according to a state comptroller report released on Tuesday. Among the report’s findings, the...
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Two infants dead, 53 others injured in Jerusalem daycare as police probe cause
Two infants died on Monday in a private, unlicensed daycare center in an ultraOrthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem, Israeli emergency services reported. An additional 53 infants were evacuated to hospitals for examination, with many experiencing...
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Gov’t: High Court can’t rule on nature of Oct. 7 inquiry Settlers raid, torch tents in Bedouin village in West Bank
Israeli settlers raided a Bedouin community near the Palestinian village of Mukhmas in the central West Bank on Saturday, setting fire to vehicles and buildings. “There was arson, there are casualties and some are missing,” a local resident told...
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Court slams police over mishandling of BibiLeaks case
The judge presiding over the case involving leaked classified documents to a German newspaper slammed the police on Wednesday over its apparent failure to act on relevant information. Consequently, it may have enabled suspects to engage in obstruction...
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AG: Gov’t ignoring court ruling on Haredi military service is danger to democracy
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said on Monday that the government was seriously endangering Israeli democracy by violating a High Court ruling, in what her office had called a constitutional crisis. The attorney general submitted her position as...
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Set on regime change in Iran, Trump could curb Israel’s actions
It’s difficult, if not impossible, to predict how successful a public protest will be. There is no intelligence agency or algorithm that can foretell how a large group of civilians will act when on one hand there is an attempted coup from the...
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Three men shot dead in suspected conflict between crime gangs
Three men were shot dead on Wednesday morning in the northern city of ShefaAmr. Police suspect that they were murdered over a conflict between two local criminal organizations. One of the men, Yasser Hujirat, 53, is a resident of Democrats party...
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