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Key updates, 18 September 2026:
Russia and China veto US proposal for UN experts to keep monitoring sanctions on Iran
Russia and China veto a United Nations resolution that would have authorized UN experts to keep monitoring sanctions that were reimposed against Iran last year over its nuclear program.
The UN Security Council sanctions are still in effect, which freeze Iran’s assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran and penalize any development of Iran’s ballistic missile program, among other measures.
Using a provision in the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers France, Germany and the United Kingdom triggered the “snapback” mechanism, which reimposed the sanctions on Sept. 27, 2025. It restored the Security Council sanctions committee and authorized a panel of UN experts to monitor implementation.
The United States drafted a resolution to extend the UN expert panel’s mandate for a year, coming as America also pursues a wider campaign to isolate Tehran from its remaining economic partners as the more than six-month-old war in Iran has hit a stalemate.
The proposal is defeated by a vote of 11-2, with Somalia and Pakistan abstaining, because of the Russian and Chinese vetoes.
Settlers filmed blocking Palestinians from entering village in West Bank’s Area B
Israeli settlers are filmed blocking Palestinians from entering their village of Sinjil in the central West Bank on September 17, 2026. (Screen capture/X)
A pair of young Israeli settlers is filmed blocking Palestinian vehicles from entering the central West Bank village of Sinjil on Thursday.
The village is located in Area B, which falls under the civil jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.
The activist group Looking the Occupation in the Eye says the settlers seen in the footage also invaded homes in the village before blocking the entrance.
“Ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, or expulsion—however you look at it, the State of Israel is responsible here, too, for a crime against humanity under international law,” the left-wing group says. “When a film is made about this, you won’t be able to raise an eyebrow in surprise.”
עוד נסיונות אקטיביים לגירוש תושבים מביתם:
סינג׳יל, נפת רמאללה, שטח B.
היום ניסו מתנחלים למנוע ממשפחות להיכנס לבתיהן. בתחילה הם פלשו לבתים, ואז עמדו בפתח וניסו למנוע מהתושבים לחזור ולהיכנס לבתיהם.כמו במקומות אחרים בגדה, גם כאן המתנחלים לא רק מתיישבים בפאתי הכפרים, הם מנסים… pic.twitter.com/o1KnOM50LL
— מסתכלים לכיבוש בעיניים (@Mistaclim) September 17, 2026
IRGC Navy says it struck Togo-flagged oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy says a Togo-flagged oil tanker was struck while attempting to make an “illegal passage” through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media says.
The tanker came to a halt after catching fire, the IRGC Navy adds.
Police internal affairs questions cop who shot and killed Arab man after car chase
The Department of Internal Police Investigations have questioned the Border Police officer who shot and killed an Arab man after a car chase Thursday in Umm al-Fahm.
Following the interrogation, the officer is released to house arrest for five days and ordered to stay away from police stations for two weeks as well as the northern Arab town for 30 days.
Police said Thursday morning that officers pursued a “suspicious vehicle” on Route 65 after the driver failed to comply with their orders to stop.
The chase ended in Umm al-Fahm. According to police, after the cars came to a halt and an officer approached on foot, the driver pounced on the cop, who opened fire.
The driver, identified as Alaa Mahameed, early 50s, was later pronounced dead. The Umm al-Fahm municipality condemned the deadly incident and called for an independent commission to investigate it.
The shooting and alleged assault were caught on a security camera, with sources described as close to the officer quoted by Haaretz as saying the incident was also recorded on his body camera.
The newspaper also reports the DIPI investigation has found Mahameed was unarmed when he was killed.
♦️ תיעוד הירי על הצעיר, עלאא מחמיד, מאום אל-פחם, על ידי אנשי משמר הגבול. המשטרה טענה כי הירי התרחש לאחר שנרדף בכביש 65 ותקף את אחד משוטריה במהלך ניסיון מעצר.
משפחת המנוח: "הריגה ללא משפט"…
לעומת זאת, משפחה ועדי ראייה מקומיים אישרו כי הירי היה ללא כל הצדקה. pic.twitter.com/hsBbhtvnJn
— Asslan Khalil (@KhalilAsslan) September 17, 2026
Yousef Jabareen, head of the Arab-majority Joint List party, says during a condolence visit to the family that the security camera footage “contradicts the police account,” and that the family has heard from eyewitnesses that “Alaa did not pose a threat to the officers and he could have been stopped without being shot.”
Blaming the killing on anti-Arab incitement by the government, Jabareen says the officer should be “suspended immediately” and called for an “independent, transparent and genuine probe.”
The officer’s attorney, Moti Azulay, meanwhile tells Haaretz “the entire incident lasted a few seconds” and that the officer “sensed a genuine, immediate threat to his life.”
The officer, who “regrets the difficult way in which the incident ended,” acted out of self defense and had “no other practical option,” the lawyer says.
US sentences ex-head of Syrian prison to 60 years on torture charges
The former head of a notorious Syrian prison has been sentenced by a US federal judge to 60 years in prison for torture and immigration fraud, according to the Department of Justice.
Samir Ousman Alsheikh, 74, who has been in the US since 2020, allegedly ran Damascus Central Prison — known colloquially as Adra Prison — from approximately 2005 to 2008, where detainees were subjected to horrific abuse in the “Punishment Wing.”
A jury found Alsheikh guilty in March of “one count of conspiracy to commit torture, three counts of torture, one count of visa fraud, and one count of attempted naturalization fraud,” the DOJ says.
Three former prisoners testified during the trial about the abuse they suffered at the hands of Alsheikh, as well as the torture inflicted on other prisoners.
“The conviction in this case is a testament to the courage of his victims,” Assistant US Attorney General A. Tysen Duva says in a statement.
In addition to the torture charges, Alsheikh has been found guilty of immigration fraud after he lied about his past to gain entry to the United States in 2020.
“The message is clear: human rights violators who come to the United States will receive no safe harbor here,” Duva adds.
“We will find them, and they will be prosecuted and punished for their heinous crimes.”
A coalition spearheaded by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and its allies toppled Bashar al-Assad’s government in late 2024, and after the collapse, Syrians flocked to prisons searching for missing loved ones.
Police investigating after teen run over and killed in Hadera, and driver hurt by gunfire
A 17-year-old was run over by a car and killed in the northern city of Hadera earlier this morning, in an incident that the police are treating as suspected murder.
The driver of the vehicle was lightly injured by gunfire, police say.
According to the police, the incident began as a confrontation between the two individuals and escalated to violence as the teen was hit and fatally injured by the vehicle.
The driver was then shot and lightly injured, although the police statement doesn’t clarify who is suspected of firing the shots.
He was taken from the scene for medical treatment.
Police clarify that the affair is being treated as a criminal matter, meaning there is currently no suspicion of it being a terror attack.
Tamra resident to be indicted today on suspicion of contact with Hamas, Iranian intel operatives, police say
A resident of the Arab city of Tamra, in northern Israel, will be indicted later today on security offenses, after he was arrested on August 28 on suspicion of contact with the Hamas terror group in Gaza and with Iranian intelligence operatives, the Israel Police say.
According to the police, Sultan Abu al-Haija, 31, is suspected of contacting Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, several times in a bid to offer to assist it with its operations against Israel.
The statement alleges that al-Haija was also in touch with Iranian intelligence operatives, but was arrested before he could carry out any missions on their behalf.
An indictment will be filed against him later today at the Haifa District Court.
IDF bolstering forces on all fronts ahead of Yom Kippur
IDF soldiers are seen during an army raid in the West Bank camp of Al-Ain, near Nablus, September 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
The Israeli military says it is bolstering forces on all fronts ahead of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, at the orders of IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.
Additional companies of troops will be deployed in the Northern, Southern, and Central commands, and a senior officer will be on duty in each sector during the holiday.
At the Home Front Command, a major general will be on duty at the command’s headquarters, and a district commander, normally a colonel, will be on duty in each district.
Meanwhile, the Air Force will be at a heightened level of readiness during Yom Kippur, including an increased number of armed aircraft.
The Navy, similarly, is increasing the number of missile boats at sea and is bolstering border patrol vessels.
Additional standby companies of troops are also being assigned to the various commands and branches of the military, to be deployed if necessary.
Zamir had already ordered a bolstering of troops across all fronts last month for the Jewish holiday season, saying that the entire IDF, “across all its branches, will remain on full, multi-front readiness during the holiday period” and that there will be no reduction in forces.
Key Update
Man arrested on suspicion of security offenses and contact with Lebanese foreign agent
A man from the Arab town of Majd al-Krum in northern Israel has been arrested on suspicion of security offenses and contact with a foreign agent, the Israel Police and Shin Bet say in a joint statement.
The suspect, 32, was arrested recently following a joint investigation by the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit and the Shin Bet security agency, the statement says.
He is suspected of being in contact with a foreign agent from Lebanon and carrying out security-related tasks on her behalf with full knowledge of who he was dealing with.
The statement adds that the Lebanese agent attempted to financially compensate him for his work by purchasing products in Israel and having them sent to him.
An indictment is expected to be filed on Sunday at the Haifa District Court.
Tanker struck by ‘unknown projectile’ in Hormuz, British maritime agency says
A tanker was struck in the Strait of Hormuz earlier, causing a fire that was extinguished, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).
“The CSO of a vessel has reported a tanker being hit by an unknown projectile, causing a fire onboard which has since been extinguished,” the maritime monitor says, adding that the crew is safe, although the environmental impact of the attack is “unconfirmed.”
Earlier, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy says a Togo-flagged oil tanker caught fire after it was struck while attempting to make an “illegal passage” through the Strait of Hormuz.
Voting gets underway in Russia in tightly-controlled parliamentary election
A voter looks on a ballot in the parliamentary election in Moscow, September 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Voting gets underway in a three-day parliamentary election in Russia, which President Vladimir Putin has framed as a barometer of support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
It is the first parliamentary election since Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022, and the vote — which will determine the make-up of the 450-seat lower house of parliament, the State Duma — is widely expected to see the ruling pro-Putin United Russia party retain its dominance in what is a tightly controlled political system.
Most anti-war candidates have been excluded from the ballot after the Supreme Court ruled that the liberal Yabloko party — which wants a ceasefire — had breached electoral rules, although some Yabloko candidates are still running in individual constituencies.
In a televised address to the nation ahead of the vote, Putin said that casting a vote would help secure Russia’s victory in Ukraine and demonstrate national resolve in the face of external pressure. The Kremlin says national unity is vital because of what it says are increasingly dangerous efforts by Ukraine’s intelligence services and other enemies to stir unrest inside Russia.
Voting is taking place at a time when opinion polls show some Russians have become more anxious about how the conflict affects them. The economy is also under strain, and the authorities are expected to use the vote to gauge the depth of society’s war weariness as fuel shortages caused by Ukrainian drone strikes roil some parts of the country, and businesses grapple with high interest rates, a labour crunch and Western sanctions.
Initial and partial results are expected to begin trickling out on Sunday evening, with near-complete results available on Monday.
Thousands attend pro-government rally in Iran, pledging readiness to renew war with US and Israel
Women affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps carry rifles as they march beneath a banner depicting US President Donald Trump in crosshairs and reading “We will kill” during the state-organized “Janfada,” or “Sacrifice for Iran,” military-style parade in Tehran, Iran, September 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians are rallying in a government-organized show of defiance after months of war, pledging their readiness to take up arms in the biggest such demonstration since the United States and Israel attacked in February.
Iran’s government has sought to rally the people and stress national unity, even as the economy worsens under a US naval blockade of Iranian ports and new US sanctions meant to increase Tehran’s economic pain.
Estimates vary as to the number of people volunteering to receive limited military training and defend the country in an effort described as “Janfaday-e Iran,” or the “ones who sacrifice their lives for Iran.” They march through downtown Tehran in combat uniform, carrying flags, as onlookers cheer.
For days, state media have encouraged Iranians to join the campaign, saying training with assault rifles would begin soon. The volunteers would be an additional layer of security to the powerful Revolutionary Guard paramilitary and its all-volunteer arm, the Basij.
Tehran’s Guard chief, Gen. Hassan Hassanzadeh, tells the state broadcaster that over 600,000 people had registered to participate, with over 1 million expected to take part in the training. This morning, the broadcaster estimated over 300,000 people were on the streets.
The new head of the Basij, Hossein Taeb, declares in a speech as the rally begins that the volunteers will be ready for “full-fledged defense” and similar rallies will take place in other cities soon.
The new trainees will make a “nightmare” for Iran’s enemies, Taeb adds, as President Masoud Pezeshkian, military commanders and other senior officials watch the march.
Some participants trample flags of the US and Israel. Others chant “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
“I am here to tell (US President Donald) Trump that we Iranians have no fear of his threats against our homeland,” says Marzieh Afaghi, 24, who is attending the rally with her toddler and husband. “No one in history could invade Iran and remain there.”
The rally is also a chance for Iran to show off military hardware. Anti-aircraft batteries are on display, while female Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members in black headscarves sit with truck-mounted machine guns.
The IRGC displays drones that have been widely used against ships in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has asserted control since the war began, severely affecting the Gulf region’s shipments of oil and natural gas to the rest of the world.
Israeli tourist dies in paragliding accident in Colombia
A 23-year-old Israeli has died in a paragliding accident in Colombia, according to local media reports.
The Israeli tourist was on a paragliding flight with a pilot when they crashed in Medellín, after the pilot apparently lost control of the paraglider due to poor weather, local outlet Blu Radio reports.
The Israeli tourist was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency services. The pilot suffered serious injuries and was transferred for medical treatment.
The report notes that the cause of the accident has not yet been established, but that the paragliding company which provided the flight is properly registered and legally recognized.
The Foreign Ministry confirms that it is in contact with local authorities in Colombia and is arranging the return of the Israeli tourist’s body for burial in Israel.
US-based Haredi charity raises over $130 million for draft evading yeshiva students
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men protest outside Military Prison near Kfar Yona, central Israel, against the jailing of yeshiva students who failed to comply with an army recruitment order, June 17, 2026. (Tal Gal/Flash90)
An ultra-Orthodox charity has raised over $130 million (just under NIS 400 million) for Haredi yeshiva students in Israel, its website shows, in response to welfare and funding cuts that have been imposed over the past few years in response to draft evasion among military-age Haredi men.
The charity, Keren Olam HaTorah, says on its website that it has raised over $130 million since the High Court of Justice ruled in June 2024 that there was no longer any legal framework for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students to be exempted from military service, and that by extension, there was no legal framework to continue financial benefits granted by the state to such students.
The charity says its goal is to raise $12 million each month, but at present, the monthly donation rate comes in at slightly under $11 million.
The charity appears to primarily receive donations from sympathetic Jews in the United States, although it says it receives funds from 42 countries globally. A UK-based branch of Keren Olam HaTorah said in September 2025 that it had raised more than £10 million (more than NIS 40 million) as well.
On its mission page, the charity says that 120,000 yeshiva students from across 1,489 Haredi institutions and their families — amounting to over 350,000 people total — “rely on us to survive each day.”
The charity offers different one-off options for willing donors, including the option to sponsor an unmarried yeshiva student for $152 a month or $1,824 a year, or a married one for $276 a month or $3,312 a year.
The charity implores sympathetic parties to “stand on the side of Torah. Give any amount to be part of what keeps us, us.”
Key Update
Former PA minister claims he was asked by Hamas’s Sinwar to relay pre-Oct. 7 message to Israel
An undated photo of Sufian Abu Zaida, former Fatah cabinet minister. (Flash90)
A former Palestinian Authority minister revealed on Friday that he served as a mediator between Israel and Hamas in the lead-up to the terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught and said that he will soon reveal details of those talks, including a message that he passed to Israel from then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Shortly after Sufian Abu Zaida posted a video on Facebook making the revelation, Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar identified the former PA minister for prisoner affairs as the source who helped spur an urgent phone call to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed 10 days before October 7, during which the latter warned that Hamas was planning a major offensive against Israel.
Eldar first revealed the call from bin Zayed earlier this month, in a story that sparked massive uproar in Israel, as it alleged that Netanyahu did not act on the information. The prime minister has vehemently denied that any such call took place.
“Over the next few days, I will discuss the nature of the contacts I held over a year and a half between Israel and Hamas, which were aimed at reaching a deal to secure the release of the prisoners held by Hamas,” Abu Zaida says in his video statement, referring to two Israeli civilians who were being held by Hamas after wandering into Gaza, along with the bodies of two IDF soldiers.
Abu Zaida said that in exchange for the four Israelis, the sides had discussed Jerusalem releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, easing its blockade of Gaza, allowing Palestinian workers to enter Israel and resolving the enclave’s electricity and water crises.
“I will also discuss the message that… Sinwar asked me to convey to the Israeli side,” Abu Zaida said, urging viewers to tune in to the Egyptian Al-Ghad TV channel where he would be giving an interview in the coming days.
Key Update
At least 16 killed in suicide attack on police facility in northwest Pakistan
At least 16 people, including five police personnel, have been killed in northwest Pakistan after a suicide attacker rammed an explosives-laden car into a police facility as people were praying inside a mosque, police say.
The incident occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Kohat city, with the vehicle ramming into an outer wall of the police facility and gunmen who accompanied it opening fire, provincial police chief Zulfikar Hameed says.
It was a suicide attack, he adds.
There is no immediate claim of responsibility.
The blast occurred close to a mosque where the police personnel, their family members, and other civilians were offering Friday prayers, a police statement says.
A gun battle is still raging between police and the attackers, and one assailant wearing an explosives-laden vest had been killed, the statement says.
Militancy in Pakistan’s border areas has risen sharply in recent months, targeting mainly the military and police.
Islamabad says the militants use safe havens in Afghanistan to train and plan attacks in Pakistan. Afghanistan’s Taliban government has denied the charge and said militancy is Pakistan’s domestic problem.
Kerem Shalom crossing on Gaza border to be closed Sunday, Monday for Yom Kippur
The Kerem Shalom border crossing with the Gaza Strip will be closed on Sunday and Monday due to Yom Kippur, Israeli authorities announce.
“Beyond these two days, crossings continue to operate at a stable volume to meet the needs identified by the international community, with hundreds of aid trucks entering Gaza daily,” says the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories in a statement.
Settler filmed beating Palestinian woman in southern West Bank
A masked settler was filmed beating a Palestinian woman with a stick while he was herding sheep in the South Hebron Hills in the southern West Bank earlier today.
There are currently no known arrests in connection with the incident.
مستوطنون يعتدون على سيدة في مسافر يطا جنوب الخليل pic.twitter.com/D8BawnoWGF
— وكالة سند للأنباء – Snd News Agency (@Snd_pal) September 18, 2026
Thousands of Dutch Christians rally for Israel in center of Amsterdam; 45 pro-Palestinian counterprotesters said arrested
Thousands of Dutch Christian pro-Israel demonstrators rallied for a “Stand Up for Israel” solidarity rally in the center of Amsterdam yesterday.
Dutch Chief Rabbi Binyamin Jacobs spoke at the rally, as did conservative Reformed Political Party leader Chris Stoffer.
According to Dutch media, 45 pro-Palestinian activists were arrested at the event after appearing despite a municipal ban on their counterprotest.
In Dam Square, where the pro-Israel demonstration was held, several participants pulled down a Palestinian flag that was hung over the H&M building nearby.
The counter-rally was shifted to a location 500 meters away, according to Dutch media.
A huge Palestinian flag was unfurled from a building above an H&M store in Amsterdam during a pro-Israel demonstration
The action took place on Dam Square, where several thousand people had gathered for the “Stand Up for Israel” rally.
Pro-Palestinian activists lowered the…
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) September 18, 2026
Key Update
Hunter Biden: Israel knew of Hamas’s Oct. 7 plans, ‘allowed it to happen’ so it could carry out its own plans
Hunter Biden, former US president Joe Biden’s son, says that Israel knew of Hamas’s plans to carry out an onslaught before October 7, 2023, but did nothing to prevent it so that they could carry out its own plans in Gaza they would have never been allowed to do.
Biden tells Lonodn’s LBC radio that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warned about Hamas’s plans and “did absolutely nothing about it,” referencing a Haaretz report that Netanyahu was personally warned by the leader of the United Arab Emirates on Gaza’s Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s intentions.
Netanyahu has denied the report and has threatened to sue the daily.
Biden says Israel “knew what was coming” and “allowed it to happen for the purposes of being able to execute on a plan that no one would have ever given them a green light” for, while acknowledging “Hamas is horrific.”
While stating the term is “very loaded,” he characterizes the resulting war in Gaza as “akin to genocide.”
Israel has denied accusations of genocide, saying it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Biden has criticized Israel constantly on recent podcast appearances.
Several anti-Israel activists and commentators have accused Jerusalem of letting Hamas carry out its massacre to justify launching a destructive war in Gaza.
While reports suggest that many signs that Hamas was preparing the attack were ignored by Israel’s security establishment and political echelon, there is no evidence to suggest such a wider conspiracy.
ABD eski Başkanı Biden’ın oğlu Hunter Biden:
“Netanyahu’nun 7 Ekim için bir saldırı planlandığından tamamen haberdar olduğu ve bu konuda kesinlikle hiçbir şey yapmadığı görülüyor.”
“Biliyorlardı. Neyin geleceğini çok iyi biliyorlardı. Normalde hiç kimsenin onay vermeyeceği bir… pic.twitter.com/oanY751iwv
— Conflict (@ConflictTR) September 17, 2026
Writer Phil Klay tapped as president of PEN America, free speech group split over Israel-Hamas war
Phil Klay attends the PEN America 2026 Spring Literary Gala at American Museum of Natural History on May 14, 2026, in New York City. (Joy Malone/Getty Images/AFP)
NEW YORK (AP) — Prize-winning author Phil Klay has been named the new president of PEN America, taking on the role as the literary and free expression organization continues to be torn by disagreements stemming from the Israel-Hamas war.
Klay succeeds Dinaw Mengestu, who resigned in July in the wake of a PEN report that drew upon interviews with dozens of Jewish and Israeli writers about the “widening cultural isolation” they had faced since the war began, when Hamas-led terrorists carried out a massacre of southern communities on October 7, 2023.
Mengestu, who had been president for less than a year, posted on Instagram that the report’s emphasis showed a continued trend of bias against Palestinians and undermined his belief that PEN was capable of changing.
“I argued that the organization would defend free expression equitably and equally,” he wrote. “This report makes clear that will not happen.”
Two years ago, so many writers were unhappy with PEN’s response to the war — alleging that the leadership was slow to criticize the deaths of Palestinian writers and journalists — that the organization was called off its annual awards ceremony and “World Voices” festival because of participants dropping out. The CEO at the time, Suzanne Nossel, has since left, replaced by co-CEOs Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf and Summer Lopez.
Klay is an Iraq War veteran whose debut book, the story collection “Redeployment,” won the National Book Award for fiction in 2014. He has expressed support for the PEN study on Israeli and Jewish writers, but has criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The “violence is unchecked, indiscriminate and targets innocent civilians,” he wrote on X in August, quoting a New York Times story. In March 2024, he wrote a piece for The Atlantic headlined “US Support for Israel’s War Has Become Indefensible.”
In a statement released by PEN yesterday, Klay said he held a “broad faith in cultural exchange, in sustained efforts to understand other people, other cultures, and other ideas, including uncomfortable ones, and to the creation of a more open and egalitarian public square.”
Mother of slain Nova partygoer blasts ex-IDF intel chief in chance meeting: ‘My daughter was buried because of you’
The mother of Libby Cohen Meguri, who was murdered on October 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorists while trying to flee the Supernova music festival, rips into former IDF intelligence chief Aharon Haliva during a chance meeting at a park for not personally taking responsibility for her daughter’s death.
“You live a kilometer from our house, and you never came. You know her father, and you didn’t come. Don’t lie,” says Shelly Meshel-Yogev in a video uploaded to her Instagram.
“Where are you? Where were you? My daughter was buried because of you! You should feel humiliated and carry responsibility, and not breathe and say, ‘I want to come to you, I want to cry with you, because I am also suffering.’ You should say you are suffering like me! You don’t understand this?” she says.
“You didn’t bother to talk to us once — unlike [former IDF chief of staff] Herzi Halevi, who called and said I want to come. Where are you? Where have you been?”
Haliva stepped down in April 2024 over his role in the failures that led to the Hamas terror group’s October 7 onslaught.
שלי משל יוגב, אמא של ליבי כהן מגורי שנרצחה במסיבת הנובה, העלתה כעת לחשבון האינסטגרם שלה תיעוד ממפגש מקרי שלה ושל אהרון חליווה. במפגש היא הטיחה בחליווה מילים קשות: pic.twitter.com/jfE4fQkh0H
— מיכאל האוזר טוב (@HauserTov) September 18, 2026
Robert Kraft held 40-minute call with Ed Sheeran over why he would not host pro-Palestinian rapper Macklemore — report
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft arrives before an NFL football owners meeting on August 26, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
In a 40-minute phone call, Billionaire Robert Kraft explained to musician Ed Sheeran that he believed Macklemore’s accusation that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza was hate speech, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Pro-Palestinian rapper Macklemore had been slated to open for Sheeran on September 25 and 26 at Gillette Stadium, a Boston-area venue owned by Kraft.
But during the rapper’s opening set at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey earlier this month, he called for a “Free Palestine” from the stage and said that part of his reason for joining the tour was to repeat that message before large audiences across the US.
Kraft, a billionaire who supports pro-Israel and Jewish causes, has taken credit for Macklemore’s removal from the Sheeran tour earlier in the week, though the move sparked controversy.
During a phone call, the billionaire explained he would not host Macklemore at his stadium, the Journal says. While expressing sympathy for the Palestinian people, Kraft told Sheeran Hamas was the real problem in the conflict, and that Macklemore’s remarks amounted to hate speech.
Other NFL owners were also prepared to cancel Sheeran’s concerts as long as he remained as an opening act, the report says.
Costa Rica’s Grynspan leads third straw poll in UN chief race
Then-Ibero-American Secretary Rebeca Grynspan speaks in Antigua, Guatemala, November 16, 2018. (AP/Oliver de Ros)
UNITED NATIONS — A third informal poll by the United Nations Security Council placed former Costa Rican vice president Rebeca Grynspan as the narrow frontrunner in the contest to become the next UN secretary-general, diplomats and other sources close to the process say.
If elected, Grynspan would be the first Jewish UN chief.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Artists paint mural of anti-Israel rapper Macklemore in ruins of Gaza City
Artists in Gaza have painted a mural of Macklemore wrapped in a Palestinian flag on a huge slab of concrete in the ruins of Gaza City, after the US rapper was kicked off Ed Sheeran’s upcoming tour for calling for a “Free Palestine” and singing an anti-Israel protest song.
The mural, on a slab that leans against ruined buildings surrounded by rubble, depicts the “Thrift Shop” rapper raising a fist in the air.
“Thank you for using your voice for Palestine,” it reads.
“We wanted to send a message to thank rapper Macklemore in this simple way,” says Anne Redwan, 26, who designed and painted the mural with fellow artist Qusai al-Helo.
“As an artist living under siege here in Gaza, we are waiting for support from anyone who can see (the) persecution we live under,” she tells Reuters. “We can paint murals bigger than this to express our feelings.”
Macklemore, who has long supported Palestinian causes, was cut from British pop star Sheeran’s musical lineup over remarks on stage criticizing Israel’s military assault in Gaza, which was launched after Hamas-led terrorists carried out a massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Sheeran said he was unable to keep Macklemore on the tour after stadium owners refused to let him appear. US billionaire Robert Kraft, owner of Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, where his New England Patriots football team plays, said he had barred Macklemore from appearing there for antisemitism, which the rapper denies.
Palestinian artists in Gaza have painted a mural honoring US rapper Macklemore for his outspoken support for Palestinians, amid the destruction left by Israel’s genocidal war.
Working on the wall of a heavily damaged building at risk of collapse, the artists said they struggled… pic.twitter.com/kOpQRdNpiN
— TRT World (@trtworld) September 17, 2026
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Netanyahu mulling tapping Channel 14 pundit Jacob Bardugo as communications minister — report
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is interested in appointing Jacob Bardugo, a pro-Netanyahu pundit on Channel 14 and a close associate of the prime minister, as communications minister if he forms the next government, the Haaretz daily reports, citing three sources in his Likud party.
In a closed-door meeting, Netanyahu said he wanted an assertive person who would succeed in overhauling Israeli media, appearing to be dissatisfied with incumbent Shlomo Karhi’s work, according to the report.
In July, the High Court of Justice froze implementation of key parts of a sweeping media industry overhaul law passed by the Knesset a week earlier, which petitioners argue specifically benefits pro-government news outlets and will severely harm the political neutrality of broadcast news media.
TV report says election booths will publish voter turnout every four hours to combat misinformation
As part of efforts to combat election interference and misinformation, each voting booth across the country will publish voter turnout percentages every four hours, Channel 12 reports.
The change reportedly aims to combat any attempts to spook the public by claiming that a certain community in the population is rushing to the polls.
After the 2015 election, a notable pollster said Netanyahu’s appeal to his supporters to go out and vote to offset the “droves of Arabs” flowing to the polling stations may have played a decisive role in his victory.
IDF said advancing plans to release film of Hamas Oct. 7 atrocities to combat ‘NAZA’ fallout
Screenshot of Hamas bodycam footage as terrorists approach an Israeli vehicle during the terror organization's October 7, 2023, attack in southern Israel, released by the IDF and Government Press Office. (Screenshot)
The Israel Defense Forces is advancing plans to publish its 47-minute compilation of footage of the Hamas-led October 7 massacre to combat the fallout of “NAZA,” an Israeli-made documentary alleging that the military killed civilians in Gaza using AI-powered strikes, Channel 12 reports.
According to the report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the defense establishment are on board with the plans and are figuring out how to publish the footage.
The Foreign Ministry is considering a number of methods, such as showing the footage through its embassies or publishing it on social media, according to the report.
It is also weighing whether to publish it in full or in three parts, each around 15 minutes long, the report says.
Up until now, the film was only shown in closed-door sessions.
The footage was collected from call recordings, security cameras, Hamas terrorists’ body cameras, victim dashboard cameras, Hamas and victims’ social media accounts, and cellphone videos taken by terrorists, victims, and first responders. Around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were slaughtered by the terrorists, and 251 people were abducted.
The 80-minute film by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor — whose title is a Hebrew acronym meaning collateral damage — claims to explore AI-powered strikes by Israel in the Gaza Strip that it alleges have led to civilian deaths, including testimonies from 24 purported Israeli intelligence soldiers. The film won a special jury prize last week at the Venice Film Festival, where it debuted.
Testimony in the film alleges “mass killing on an industrial scale” in Gaza, one of the officers said in a series of anonymous interviews, describing an AI-assisted system that identified targets using data gathered from thousands of hacked mobile phones. Israel rejects the premise of the film, and says it has gone to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties and that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields in densely populated areas — a claim Hamas denies.
Last Friday — a day after the film’s premiere at the festival and a day before it won the prize — the IDF issued a statement saying that it “categorically rejects” allegations made in the documentary and criticizing the use of anonymous testimonies.
The IDF also said decisions on the selection and approval of strikes were made “by human personnel only… and not by artificial intelligence.”
F-35 parts lost after rerouted to Hong Kong, raising prospect China has hands on key tech — report
Illustrative: An Israeli Air Force F-35I fighter jet prepares to take off for strikes in Iran, in a handout photo published on March 19, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)
Sensitive F-35 parts went missing after being suddenly diverted to Hong Kong on their journey from Australia to the United States, raising the prospect that China may have obtained highly classified fighter jet technology, Politico reports, citing three people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss the private discussions.
Politico says the Pentagon confirmed the disappearance, which occurred during the summer, saying it is “aware of a shipment issue of unserviceable F-35 Lightning II components” and is working to retrieve them.
One of the missing parts includes one of the jet’s canopies, which benefits from unique stealth technology available only to the US and its allies (among them Israel), two of the sources tell Politico. A rival could reverse-engineer the part if they obtained it.
According to Politico, it is unclear why the components, which were being transported by an intermediary on behalf of F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin, were diverted to Hong Kong.
Key Congressional national security committees and State and Defense Department officials were briefed on the matter in June, with additional meetings to be held in the upcoming weeks, sources tell Politico.
Key Update
UN chief ‘deeply regrets’ Washington’s decision to bar PA’s Abbas from speaking at General Assembly
UNITED NATIONS — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “deeply regrets” Washington’s decision to deny a visa to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for a second consecutive year, preventing him from attending next week’s UN General Assembly, his spokesman says.
“The Secretary-General is concerned about the impact of this decision on the ability of the State of Palestine to participate fully in the work of the United Nations,” Stephane Dujarric says in a statement.
More US troops killed in Iran war than Pentagon has announced — report
An Army carry team moves a flag-draped transfer case with the remains of US Army Reserve soldier Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, of White Bear Lake, Minn., who was killed in a drone strike at a command center in Kuwait after the US and Israel launched its military campaign against Iran, past US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump during a casualty return, March 7, 2026, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
More US troops have died during the war with Iran than the Pentagon has publicly disclosed, The Washington Post reports, citing six US officials familiar with the Defense Department’s internal casualty accounting data.
There have been at least 22 military fatalities, four more than the data available in the Pentagon’s public database, the newspaper cites five of the officials as saying.
Key Update
Yemen’s Houthis say Saudis have launched 26 strikes on their territory over past day
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Yemen’s Houthis say that Saudi Arabia has launched 26 strikes against areas under their control in the past 24 hours, as the pro-Iran group and Yemen’s Riyadh-backed government clash in the country’s revived civil war.
The group says that the number of Saudi strikes on its positions had reached 300 over the last week, saying they targeted areas across Houthi-held Yemen.
Trump announces ban on CNN, MSNOW and Politico from White House, accusing them of ‘fake news’
US President Donald Trump departs after speaking with reporters during a news conference in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, April 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump says he is banning news outlets CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, accusing them without specifics of reporting “fiction and lies.”
“I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW… and Politico… from the White House as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” Trump says on his Truth Social network.
Police nab East Jerusalem resident suspected of murdering missing woman; body found and sent for identificaton
Police investigate the disappearance of Fatima Rajbi, in an image published on September 18, 2026. (Israel Police)
Police say they arrested an East Jerusalem resident suspected of being involved in the disappearance and murder of Fatima Rajbi, who went missing from her home at the beginning of the week.
Police also say they have located a woman’s body, which has been sent to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute to be identified and to have her cause of death determined.
The suspect, in his 60s, will appear tomorrow before the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court as police request to extend his custody.
Details of the case remain under a gag order.
IDF probing gunfire at Israeli motorist near West Bank village today
Israeli security forces are investigating reports of gunfire at an Israeli motorist near the West Bank village of al-Mughayyir earlier today.
The IDF says it received a report of sounds of gunfire in the area and bullet impacts on a car belonging to an Israeli civilian, with no injuries caused.
Security forces were dispatched to the scene to conduct scans and collect evidence as part of the investigation.
The military says it also set up roadblocks in the area around the Palestinian village.
Saudi Civil Defense gives all-clear after alerts warned of potential Houthi attacks
The Saudi Civil Defense sends an all-clear after issuing alerts for potential danger in several areas of the kingdom, including Jeddah, Taif in the Mecca province, Khamis Mushait, and the Al Ula province, amid an uptick in attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis.
The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen and much of the north, have been launching attacks towards Saudi Arabia since declaring a naval blockade against Riyadh in July, with strikes targeting Saudi vessels in the Red Sea.
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