Oct. 14: Families of Americans killed on Oct. 7 demand justice at State Dept. memorial in DC

Flydubai’s return date up in the air as Israel, UAE said to spar over security, attack investigation

A flydubai plane takes off from Ben Gurion airport on September 30, 2026. (Yossi Aloni/FLASH90)

It is unclear when flydubai will resume service to Tel Aviv, as Israel and the UAE are locked in a dispute over security measures as well as the investigation into the attempted terror attack last month on flydubai Flight 1073, Channel 12 news reports.

During the attack, an Omani copilot assaulted the captain and tried to crash the plane, almost all of whose passengers were Israeli. The copilot was thwarted by the captain and several Israeli passengers who subdued him.

Israel is demanding a security upgrade at the airport in Dubai, the TV network reports, including better machinery and having Shin Bet agents present on the ground. Emirati officials reportedly reject those terms.

“We won’t do what you want. You’re hurting our honor,” the report quotes unnamed Emirati sources as saying.

The dispute has led an Israeli government delegation that was set to depart for Dubai to delay its trip. In response, the UAE has said it will withhold from Israel the details of its full investigation into the attack.

Israeli sources told the Emirates that a delegation wouldn’t act as a “rubber stamp,” and expects full participation in the probe, according to Channel 12.

Saudi Arabia reports 4 wounded in Riyadh by debris from intercepted Houthi missiles

Four people have been wounded in Riyadh by debris from two intercepted Houthi missiles, the Saudi civil defense agency says.

“Four people, two women, a man and a child” were injured and 15 homes were damaged, the civil defense says on X, adding the missiles were launched by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.

Another Delta flight from NY to Israel reportedly inspected after bomb threat

A bomb threat was called into another Delta flight from New York to Israel, the Kan public broadcaster reports, but was given the all-clear to depart after the plane was inspected by US security officials.

During NY gubernatorial debate, GOP’s Blakeman attacks incumbent Hochul over antisemitism, ties to Mamdani

Governor Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman face off in the only scheduled debate ahead of the November New York gubernatorial election on October 13, 2026, in New York. (Anna Connors/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate for New York State governor, attacks incumbent Kathy Hochul for antisemitism, anti-Israel protests and her relationship with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani during a campaign debate.

Blakeman, the Jewish executive of Nassau County on Long Island, is trailing Hochul in polls and has courted Jewish voters.

Tonight’s debate, hosted by the NY1 news outlet, is the only debate of the campaign.

The moderators ask Blakeman about comments he reportedly made to Hasidic leaders during a private meeting when he warned that rioters in the city could burn down yeshivas and synagogues and rape women under Mamdani and Hochul.

Blakeman is asked who were the rioters he was referring to.

“They are the professional protesters that took over Columbia University, that blocked our bridges and our roadways, and the lawlessness that took place while Kathy Hochul wouldn’t protect Jewish students,” he says.

“Zohran Mamdani is an antisemite,” he adds, faulting Mamdani for scrapping the city’s use of the IHRA definition of antisemitism on his first day in office.

Hochul is a moderate, while Mamdani is further left, but the two have formed a political alliance.

“If you want to campaign with him, that’s fine, but I will tell you right now — I think Zohran Mamdani is an antisemite,” Blakeman tells Hochul. “Antisemitism is on the rise and it’s occurred under your watch and Zohran Mamdani is fueling it.”

Hochul, who is supportive of the Jewish mainstream, says that Blakeman’s warning about riots reflects a lack of confidence in the NYPD.

“I stand with the men and women in blue every day of the week,” Hochul says.

Hochul and Blakeman both express support for the police and the NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who is Jewish.

Far-left protesters and political groups, including from the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani’s home base, have attacked the police in recent days and called on Mamdani to fire Tisch.

The turmoil came after federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shot a man in the city last week.

The exchange is the only Jewish issue to come up during the hourlong debate.

Hochul mostly seeks to highlight Blakeman’s support for US President Donald Trump, while Blakeman repeatedly blames Hochul for illegal immigration and crime.

Trump threatens that US ‘going to do a number’ on Iran

US President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center, October 13, 2026, in Wasilla, Alaska. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

US President Donald Trump issues a fresh threat against Iran while campaigning in Alaska.

“Wait until you see what we do to Iran. We’re going to do a number,” he says. “We sort of had it. You know, we’ve had it.”

Trump: Oh, wait until you see what we do to Iran. We're going to do a number. We sort of had it. You know we've had it. pic.twitter.com/iCeLL3AyjU

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 14, 2026

He also says: “If you want to see trouble, let [Iran] have a nuclear weapon… That’ll be real trouble.”

He adds that increased oil prices due to the war with Iran are “a small price to pay for stopping them from having a nuclear weapon.”

IMF chief says Saudi attacks could have negative spillover ‘everywhere’

The head of the International Monetary Fund says that recent attacks on Saudi Arabia could impact people “everywhere,” as energy costs rise globally and multiple conflicts rage in the crude-rich region.

“The Saudi economy is important for the region and the world, and in that sense, these developments have potentially negative spillovers for everybody, everywhere,” Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva says at a news conference during the Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Bangkok.

Tel Aviv University reverses decision to expel student from dorm over Palestinian right of return sticker

Tel Aviv University has overturned a decision by a dorm director to expel a student from the residences over a sticker promoting the right of return of Palestinian refugees, Haaretz reports.

Palestinians have long campaigned for the “right of return,” meaning that all of those who left their homes in the 1948 War of Independence — and, crucially, all of their descendants — be able to return.

According to Haaretz, the sticker displays the slogan “The Nakba continues, the return is certain, standing firm is a must” with a map of Israel.

The university rules that the dorm director acted outside his jurisdiction, Haaretz says, noting that he also did not inform the Dean of Students of the incident in a breach of protocol.

Reports: Settlers set fire to mosque, car in West Bank village; no injuries

Palestinian media outlets report that settlers set fire to a mosque and a car in the village of Mukhmas, north of Jerusalem in the West Bank.

Footage from the scene shows damage to the mosque’s entrance.

There are no reports of injuries.

📹مستوطنون إسرائيليون يحرقون مسجدًا ومركبة وشجرة زيتون خلال هجومهم على قرية مخماس شمال شرق القدس المحتلة – وسائل إعلام فلسطينية pic.twitter.com/XJZofXrpAO

— Sputnik Arabic (@sputnik_ar) October 14, 2026

Iran executes man accused of carrying out attacks in support of Israel, exiled crown prince

Iran executed Ali-Sina Mostafavi after being convicted of carrying out armed attacks in the southeastern city of Kerman during the war with the United States and Israel, the judiciary’s news outlet Mizan says, accusing him of acting in support of exiled opposition figure Reza Pahlavi and Israel.

He climbed the Himalayas. Now the Islamic Republic wants hang him in Iran for protesting.

Ali-Sina Mostafavi, an Iranian mountaineer, has been moved to solitary confinement. His family was called for a final goodbye.

World media, athletes: BREAK THE SILENCE. Save his life. pic.twitter.com/xsIQh2ShRD

— Masih Alinejad (@AlinejadMasih) October 14, 2026

Turkey police raid pro-opposition TV channel, broadcasts taken off air

Turkish police raided the headquarters of the pro-opposition Halk TV, halting its live broadcasts, the channel writes on X.

“Police raid at Halk TV headquarters! A trustee (manager) has been appointed, broadcasts have been halted,” it posts.

Hamas commander who held hostages killed in Gaza City strike — IDF

A Hamas commander who held hostages in captivity during the war was killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City yesterday, the military announces.

The IDF says the strike killed Mumen Ahmad Salameh al-Ay, a commander and aide to senior officers in Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade.

During the war, al-Ay held hostages in the Gaza City area, the military says, without identifying the captives.

The military says that recently, al-Ay was advancing attacks against troops and Israeli civilians and attempted to restore Hamas capabilities, “in systematic violation of the ceasefire.”

צה"ל חיסל מפקד בארגון הטרור חמאס שלקח חלק בהחזקת חטופים בשבי

צה"ל תקף אתמול במרחב העיר עזה וחיסל את מומן אחמד סלאמה אי, מפקד בזרוע הצבאית של ארגון הטרור חמאס.

במהלך המלחמה המחבל לקח חלק בהחזקת חטופים בשבי חמאס במרחב העיר עזה.

במסגרת תפקידו, שימש כסייען למפקדי חטיבת עזה בארגון… pic.twitter.com/hI6S7EghjF

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 14, 2026

Report: Houthis using Chinese parts to build ballistic missiles that could target Israel, Saudi Arabia

Men carry a mock missile during a rally by university students and faculty denouncing strikes on Yemen and in solidarity with Palestinians, in the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa on December 25, 2024. (Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP)

The Houthis are trying to build advanced medium-range ballistic missiles using parts delivered from China, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing a report by Conflict Armament Research.

According to report, the Tehran-backed group is attempting to build a version of Iran’s Kheibar Shekan precision-guided missile using a selection of Chinese parts.

The planned projectile would have a range of some 1,900 miles, the report says, meaning that it could be used to target Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The Kheibar Shekan, or Kheibar-buster, is named after a Jewish castle overrun by Muslim warriors in the early days of Islam.

It has a range of 1,450 kilometers (900 miles), making it fully capable of reaching Gulf nations and Israel. Its ability to be quickly deployed and launched has helped the Iranians avoid air strikes during the war by the Israeli and US air forces as they hunted for and eliminated launch sites.

Pope Leo spent peaceful night in hospital after lung cancer surgery, Vatican says

A mosaic of Pope Leo XIV is displayed inside a shop selling religious items near St. Peter’s Square, in Rome, October 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Leo spent a peaceful night in hospital after undergoing surgery for lung cancer, the Vatican says, adding that further information about his condition would be released later in the day.

Building partially collapses on Tel Aviv’s Nahalat Binyamin Street; no reports of injuries

A building under renovation that partially collapsed on Nahalt Binyamin Street, Tel Aviv on October 14, 2026 (Magen David Adom)

A building has partially collapsed in Tel Aviv, emergency services say, with no immediate reports of injuries.

According to the Magen David Adom emergency service, the building on Nahalat Binyamin Street, at the corner of the famed Rothschild Boulevard, was undergoing renovations at the time of the collapse.

Government approves NIS 1 billion toward ‘urgent’ purchase of 12 Apache helicopters

An IDF helicopter fires a missile toward Lebanon near the border in northern Israel, May 2, 2026. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

The government conducted a telephone vote this morning to approve transferring nearly a billion shekels (over $300 million) in budget funds to the Defense Ministry for an “urgent classified procurement.”

The funds will go toward procuring a squadron of 12 Apache helicopters the Israeli Air Force has sought for several years. In January, the US approved the potential sale of the Apaches for $3.8 billion.

A draft resolution states that the government will cut money from the five-year plan for investment in Israel’s Arab society, including NIS 169 million ($55 million) in 2027, NIS 342 million ($111 million) in 2028, and NIS 453 million ($147 million) in 2029.

In recent weeks, there have been major budget disputes between the Defense Ministry and the Finance Ministry, with media reports, apparently stemming from briefings by defense officials, claiming that Israel had missed the deadline to carry out the deal with Boeing for the Apaches, and that their delivery would be delayed by several years as another customer will take Israel’s place.

Military costs surged as Israel waged costly wars in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran, as well as operations in Yemen, since the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, with the military also seeking to significantly expand its forces that were found lacking in preventing the Hamas massacre and subsequent wars.

The state budget that was passed in March already allotted the Defense Ministry a record NIS 143 billion ($45.8 billion), or about 17 percent of the total spending bill.

In July, the Finance Ministry said it had reached an agreement with the Defense Ministry to immediately transfer an additional NIS 15 billion ($5.01 billion) in budget funds for the military amid claims by the IDF that it was on the verge of grounding an array of units.

Riyadh residents report hearing explosions

Residents in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, say they have heard new explosions.

The residents speak on condition of anonymity for their safety. One lives in northern Riyadh, where King Khalid International Airport is located.

The source of explosions isn’t immediately clear. The Saudi civil defense reported air raid alerts in Riyadh and Kharj province southeast of the capital.

The airport in Riyadh has been targeted several times in the past week with deadly attacks. Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen have claimed responsibility.

In late post marking anniversary of release of all living hostages, PM fumbles message with claim that slain came home too

Chairs with a portrait of Ran Gvili, the last hostage held in Gaza, the day after his remains were brought home by Israeli forces, in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv on January 27, 2026. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

A day after the anniversary of the release of the last 20 living hostages from Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mistakenly claims that yesterday marked “one year since the release of all our hostages, the living and the fallen alike.”

The remains of 28 dead hostages were returned over the subsequent weeks in late 2025 and early 2026, with the final body, that of Master Sgt, Rav Gvili, found by IDF troops on January 26, 2026.

“Many did not believe we would achieve this goal, which seemed impossible—but we believed,” he writes on X. “And with the heroism of our soldiers and their resourcefulness, we achieved the goal.”

“We brought them all back home.”

Woman said killed in strike on Gaza City residential building; IDF says terrorist targeted

Palestinian media outlets affiliated with Hamas in Gaza report that the IDF struck an apartment in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood early this morning, killing a 33-year-old woman and wounding several others.

Gaza media outlets publish footage showing the rescue of a young girl who was reportedly trapped inside a house that was hit in a strike and caught fire.

The IDF says it carried out a strike targeting a terrorist in Gaza City this morning, but provides no further details.

تخيل فقط مشهد هذه الرضيعة لتعرف ماذا يفعل الاحتلال في غزة

تم قصف شقتهم بطائرات الاحتلال. pic.twitter.com/wRJmTWMUX4

— د.إياد ابراهيم القرا (@iyad_alqarra) October 14, 2026

Three fishermen injured in apparent drone incident off southern Iran, authorities say

Three fishermen were injured after a fishing boat was struck in an incident involving an unidentified drone near Sirik in southern Iran’s Hormozgan province, the provincial governor’s office says, according to Tasnim news agency.

Tasnim cites local sources as saying a fishing boat was hit in what they described as an attack by a US drone, although Iranian authorities have not officially confirmed the circumstances of the incident or who was responsible.

Deri says Shas won’t join next government unless Haredi draft exemptions are enshrined in law

An election campaign billboard of the Shas party in Jerusalem, ahead of Israel’s upcoming election, October 14, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Shas chairman Aryeh Deri declares that his party will not join or support the next government unless it passes legislation preserving sweeping military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, making the issue a condition for the Haredi party’s participation in any future coalition.

“There will be no government in Israel with Shas’s support or participation unless the status of yeshiva students is regulated,” Deri tells the Haredi news outlet Kikar HaShabbat in an interview, without giving a timeline.

The declaration follows a similar ultimatum from United Torah Judaism, the other major Haredi party, with which Shas signed a surplus-vote agreement this week ahead of the October 27 election.

“United Torah Judaism will not enter a government that does not actually pass the law regulating the status of yeshiva students, known as the draft law. Period,” UTJ chairman Yaakov Asher told Kikar HaShabbat on Monday.

“We do not belong to any bloc. Whoever wants us should come… and ask for our bloc’s support. That is the decision we have made for now,” he said.

The comments follow a Channel 12 report last month that said UTJ would not oppose a government led by election frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot, amid lingering anger over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s failure to pass legislation exempting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students from military service, a move that could potentially deprive the premier of crucial support needed to form a government.

While Eisenkot has pledged to end sweeping draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men and said that no Haredi party currently meets his conditions for joining a government, he has also previously signaled openness to governing with Haredi parties, particularly Shas.

Head of UN peacekeeping efforts in Lebanon as UNIFIL mandate winds down, will visit forces in Syria, Israel

Members of the Indonesian contingent of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) ride in a vehicle in Lebanon’s southern border village of Ibl al-Saqi on October 13, 2026. (Joseph EID/AFP)

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the United Nations official responsible for UN peace operations, meets in Beirut with Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun to discuss UNIFIL, the peacekeeping force that has been monitoring hostilities in southern Lebanon for nearly 50 years.

UNIFIL’s mandate ends on December 31.

According to the Lebanese readout, Lacroix says that the UN Security Council will begin discussing the future of the UN presence in Lebanon, and that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “has presented the Security Council with a number of options regarding the possibility of continuing the United Nations presence after the end of the mandate.”

The European Union has said it is in favor of extending the mandate.

Lacroix will also meet with members of the UN Disengagement Force on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, which maintains the ceasefire between Israel and Syria.

He will then travel to Jerusalem to meet the UN Truce Supervision Organization, which contributes to peacekeeping efforts across the Middle East.

Houthis say they’ll keep targeting airports and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia

Yemen’s Houthis say they have targeted Saudi Aramco facilities in Dhahran, King Khalid International Airport and an Aramco refinery in Riyadh, as hostilities between the Iran-aligned group and the kingdom worsen.

The group says its operations targeting airports and oil facilities would continue in the coming days.

Funeral held for boy killed in Hezbollah munitions blast: ‘A child full of joy, a good and beloved friend’

Elazar Yair Wilensky, killed in an explosion near the Lebanon border on October 12, 2026. (Courtesy)

Elazar Yair Wilensky, 13, who was killed in an explosion of Hezbollah ordnance during a school trip near the Lebanon border on Monday, is buried in Moshav Hosen.

“He was a child of life. Smart and intelligent, full of joy, a good and beloved friend, whose entire future was still ahead of him,” the boy’s family says in a statement, according to Channel 13.

Amid questions as to why the school group was apparently hiking in a restricted area, Education Minister Yoav Kisch vows that the boy’s family will be given answers.

“Yair was a boy full of joy. He had been waiting for this trip and was happy that it was happening,” Kisch tells mourners, according to the broadcaster. “He was a good friend, a talented athlete, a champion in fencing.”

“This trip, which was all about joy and love for the country, ended in great disaster and tragedy,” says Kisch. “I want to tell the family, the entire State of Israel stands with you and will support you. Secondly, we will examine this painful disaster… We will tell you what happened so that you will not be left with any questions.”

Minister Ze’ev Elkin, whose portfolio includes responsibility for the rehabilitation of the north, is also present at the funeral.

Reports: Palestinian farmer suffers head injury in settler attack during olive harvest

Palestinian media outlets report that a Palestinian farmer sustained a head injury after being hit by stones thrown by settlers near the village of Beita, south of Nablus.

Earlier, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported a separate incident in the same area in which it treated a 17-year-old who was injured in an attack by settlers. No further details are given.

Colombia opens embassy in Jerusalem, becoming tenth country to do so

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and his Colombian counterpart Omar Bula Escobar (center) open Colombia’s embassy in Jerusalem, alongside Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion (right), September 14, 2026. (Rafi Ben Hakoon/GPO)

Colombia opens its embassy in Jerusalem, with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and visiting Colombian foreign minister Omar Bula Escobar hailing the latest move in restoring the countries’ diplomatic relations.

“Today, we are taking a concrete step toward restoring diplomatic relations between us — relations that should never have been severed. Israel is a strategic partner — it always has been, and from now on, it will be even more so,” Escobar says in a Foreign Ministry readout.

Sa’ar similarly hails the move, calling it “a recognition of the simple political fact that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital.”

Colombia’s new right-wing president Abelardo de la Espriella announced his intention to open the embassy following his election months ago, saying the two countries would have a relationship “like never before” once he takes office.

Bogota’s relations with Jerusalem nosedived under Colombia’s first-ever leftist government, led by president Gustavo Petro, an ardent critic of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, before de la Espriella’s election renewed ties.

Colombia is the tenth country to open an embassy in Jerusalem, alongside the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Fiji, Somaliland and Nauru. Other countries — including Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia — have embassy branches in the capital.

Most nations’ embassies in Israel are in Tel Aviv, with countries arguing Jerusalem’s standing can only be decided as part of a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, who claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. Israel took control of East Jerusalem — which includes the Old City and its holy sites — from Jordan during the 1967 Six Day War. Israel annexed the territory in 1980 and considers the entire city its capital.

Katz says IDF will capture more of south Lebanon if Hezbollah ‘joins Iran in an attack on Israel’

Defense Minister Israel Katz arrives at the Western Wall during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, in Jerusalem’s Old City, September 28, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)

Defense Minister Israel Katz threatens to capture additional territory in southern Lebanon if Hezbollah “joins Iran in an attack on Israel.”

Katz is known for his outspoken remarks, and there has been an increase in such comments in recent weeks, ahead of the October 27 election.

“If Hezbollah joins Iran in an attack on Israel, it will be dealt a heavy blow and lose additional territory in southern Lebanon, in the areas of Nabatieh and the Litani, which will become part of Israel’s permanent security zone,” the defense minister says during a visit to the IDF’s southern Lebanon buffer zone this morning.

Katz says “the IDF is prepared to carry out the ground offensive,” and that the Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, “will also be evacuated, and its terror infrastructure will be struck, and more than one million Shiites will become displaced in Lebanon.”

“Nasrallah destroyed Lebanon’s Shiite community before he was eliminated, and Naim Qassem could annihilate it completely, until he too is eliminated,” he adds.

Last night, Katz said at an event that “we are identifying attempts by our enemies, led by Iran and its proxies, to carry out attacks that will influence the results of the election in Israel.”

Likud, Smotrich pressure smaller parties to quit election race; signs placed outside candidate’s home

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and its allies are mounting an aggressive campaign to pressure smaller right-wing parties to withdraw from the October 27 election, fearing they could siphon off support from established parties and cost the Netanyahu-led bloc crucial seats if they fail to cross the electoral threshold.

After succeeding in getting Davidi Ben Zion, No. 8 on Ofer Winter’s People of Israel slate, to withdraw yesterday, the campaign is now targeting Laly Derai, the party’s No. 6 candidate and a bereaved mother whose son, IDF Staff Sgt. Saadia Derai, was killed fighting in Gaza.

Signs and billboards calling on Derai to withdraw have been erected near her home in the West Bank settlement of Eli in videos circulated online. People of Israel has been hovering around the 3.25 percent electoral threshold in recent polls.

Likud and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party are also pressuring the newly formed Haredi Public party to withdraw, a source with knowledge of the matter tells The Times of Israel.

Although polling below the threshold, the party threatens to siphon votes from the bloc’s ultra-Orthodox allies, Shas and United Torah Judaism. Unlike the established Haredi parties, the Haredi Public advocates military service, workforce integration, and secular education, and includes women on its electoral slate.

“There is no point in pressuring the Haredi Public to drop out of the elections,” the party says in a statement, insisting it has a responsibility to “the tens of thousands of Haredim who want new and responsible leadership that will address the fundamental problems facing our society.”

The pressure campaign comes as polls consistently place the Netanyahu bloc well short of the 61 seats needed to form a government, while Smotrich’s own party has struggled to remain above the electoral threshold.

Dublin hotel canceled 70-room booking for antisemitism conference, asked if event linked to IDF, Jewish leader charges

A Dublin hotel canceled a reservation for 70 rooms for delegates attending an international conference on combating antisemitism after learning the purpose of their visit, according to a senior representative of Ireland’s Jewish community.

Maurice Cohen, chairman of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, disclosed the incident at a reception at the Irish Foreign Ministry last night marking the opening of the conference.

In an address shared with The Times of Israel, Cohen said the Herbert Park Hotel, in Dublin’s Ballsbridge neighborhood, initially accepted the booking for delegates representing the European Union’s 27 member states but later withdrew it.

Hotel management asked whether the conference was connected to the Israel Defense Forces, despite the gathering being a civilian and diplomatic event, he said.

“How quickly does the word ‘Jewish’ change a conversation? How easily does a gathering about antisemitism become associated with the Israeli army?” Cohen said. “This was the hotel that… had always represented warmth and welcome, and now a group of people traveling to Dublin for a conference on antisemitism had been told that they could not stay there.”

Delegates were eventually put up in a different hotel in Dublin as they attended a meeting of the Special Envoys and Coordinators Combating Antisemitism (SECCA).

The conference took place during Ireland’s presidency of the European Union and was intended to underscore the country’s commitment to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.

The incident comes amid growing concerns among Irish Jewish leaders over antisemitic incidents and anti-Israel sentiment in the country. Ireland’s community of approximately 2,200 Jews recorded 143 antisemitic incidents between July 2025 and January 2026, according to Cohen.

The Herbert Park Hotel says it will not comment.

Gaza committee signs MOU with German aid group to support Strip’s ‘recovery and reconstruction’

A view of buildings destroyed by an Israeli airstrike late Thursday in Gaza city, October 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza signed a memorandum of understanding in Cairo yesterday with the German Corporation for International Cooperation, or GIZ, on “establishing a framework for technical cooperation to support recovery and reconstruction efforts in the Gaza Strip,” the NCAG announces.

“The MoU establishes a flexible framework for technical cooperation across several key areas, including economic recovery, institutional development, municipal services, social protection, education, employment, and planning, as well as essential sectoral services such as water, agriculture, and energy,” the NCAG writes on X, saying GIZ “will provide technical expertise and specialized advisory services, and contribute to needs assessments and capacity-building.”

The agreement comes as the US-backed Board of Peace, which oversees the NCAG, seeks to advance a $2.45 billion, six-month recovery plan for Gaza.

However, implementation has remained stalled amid disputes over Hamas’s disarmament and IDF withdrawals, with the Palestinian technocratic committee still unable to enter the Strip to assume its governing responsibilities.

NCAG head Ali Shaath “expressed his appreciation to Germany and GIZ for their support, praising GIZ’s longstanding contribution in the Gaza Strip.” The major German aid group has long had staff working in Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories.

COGAT: Gaza merchants suspending coordination for goods shipments amid Hamas threats

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) says private-sector merchants in Gaza have announced that they are suspending coordination for the entry of goods into the Strip until further notice, following what it describes as a forced taxation mechanism imposed by Hamas and escalating threats against merchants.

According to COGAT, Hamas security personnel arrested and imprisoned the son of one of the merchants yesterday after the merchant refused to pay taxes to the terror group on goods brought into Gaza. As a result, the merchants announced that they would suspend coordination activities starting today.

COGAT says that, according to the merchants, Hamas demands approximately NIS 10,000 for every truck entering Gaza and requires merchants to sell around 30 percent of their goods in cash, apparently to enable the group to gain control of the proceeds.

These demands directly contradict the commitments made by merchants approved to operate, who are required to make and receive payments exclusively through bank transfers.

For most of the war following October 7, Israel refused to allow goods into Gaza through private merchants. In August 2025, it began allowing private merchants who had undergone security screening to bring in goods, alongside humanitarian organizations.

According to COGAT, the private sector currently accounts for 50% of all trucks entering the Gaza Strip. Under the ceasefire agreement reached last October, Israel committed to allowing approximately 600 trucks a day into Gaza.

COGAT chief Maj. Gen. Yoram Halevi sent a letter to Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s high representative, and to the commander of the International Stabilization Force and the UN humanitarian coordinator for the region, informing them of the development and warning that Hamas would seek to exploit the suspension of private-sector operations to spread false claims that Israel was failing to comply with the agreement.

COGAT also says that, according to assessments supported by professional evaluations conducted by the UN and other international experts, approximately 250 trucks a day entering through humanitarian organizations are sufficient to meet the humanitarian needs of Gaza’s population.

Herzog arrives in Azerbaijan to speak at regional peace conference

President Isaac Herzog arrives in Baku, Azerbaijan, October 14, 2026. (Maayan Toaf / GPO)

President Isaac Herzog lands in Azerbaijan to deliver an address at tomorrow’s Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia summit in Baku.

Israel is a founding member of the 28-member peace-building organization, as are regional powers like Iran, Qatar, Turkey, Egypt and the UAE.

World powers China and Russia are also CICA members, while the US is an observer state.

According to the President’s Residence, Herzog will hold meetings with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, as well as other world leaders.

Baku has maintained close relations with Israel and has been a key regional partner to Jerusalem in recent years. Israel, which is very reliant on Azerbaijani oil, is a major arms supplier to Baku.

According to multiple reports, Azerbaijan has hosted Israeli troops for operations against Iran, with which it shares a border.

Netanyahu to Ronen Bar: You could’ve woken me up on Oct. 7 even without my private number

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits a cafe in the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Gat, ahead of the upcoming general election, October 14, 2026. (Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fires back at former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, who today filed a defamation suit against the premier for alleging that Bar knew about the threat of a Hamas attack in the hours ahead of October 7, 2023, but chose not to inform him.

Bar claimed in the suit that he didn’t even have Netanyahu’s private number.

Bar, says Netanyahu on X, who “saw the warning signs on the night of October 7 and didn’t call me, is saying today that he didn’t have my phone number.”

“Ronen, are you serious? After all, you had my secure phone number, and you could have immediately called me, as all heads of the security system do,” he continues, adding that his Shin Bet security agents could also have reached him.

“How many lives we could have saved if only you had called in time,” says Netanyahu.

Flames at site of Intel factory blast under control, say firefighters

A firefighter works the scene of an explosion at the Intel factory in Kiryat Gat on October 14, 2026. (Fire and Rescue Service)

The Fire and Rescue Service says it has the flames from the blast at Intel’s Kiryat Gat factory under control.

After police said a gas cylinder had apparently exploded, the Fire and Rescue Service says “the incident involved nitrogen trifluoride gas,” a toxic oxidizer that is not flammable on its own.

Units trained to handle hazardous material are “assessing the involvement of the material in the incident,” the service says, calling on the public not to come to the area.

Meanwhile, the Magen David Adom ambulance service says the three workers who suffered severe burns from the blast were hospitalized in serious condition, including two men aged roughly 30 and 50, both of whom medics revived through CPR and electric shocks after finding them with no pulse and not breathing.

The two men’s condition is considered unstable and they are both in an induced coma and breathing with the help of a ventilator, MDA says.

The third wounded worker is a 26-year-old man, who is in stable condition, according to the ambulance service.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Pillay says Israel’s reaction to her win was ‘hurtful and insulting’

South African-born jurist and former UN human rights chief Navanethem 'Navi' Pillay, sits at the Nuremberg Forum in Nuremberg, Germany, October 9, 2026, following the announcement that she had been awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. (Daniel Karmann/dpa via AP)

Nobel Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay hits out at US President Donald Trump’s “illegal” sanctions against the International Criminal Court, and says Israel’s reaction to her win was “hurtful and insulting.”

Upon the announcement of her win, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Pillay a “bigot” while the Foreign Ministry said Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels must be “applauding from hell” at her award. Pillay headed the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, which found last year that genocide was occurring in Gaza, a charge Israel strongly denies.

In an interview with AFP, Pillay says “I think it’s very hurtful and insulting.”

“Goebbels had blood on his hands… responsible for the death of thousands of people. Not only Jews, but people of color like me,” she adds.

Pillay also says it was no coincidence that fresh US sanctions on the ICC were announced just hours after her Nobel win, as a “reaction to the fact that the award was not given to President Trump.”

Trump’s administration has vowed to dismantle the court “brick-by-brick,” furious that judges have issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu for alleged crimes in Gaza.

She acknowledges that there is little political appetite to arrest Netanyahu to face the ICC accusations, which he furiously denies.

“But all my life I’ve seen people get around difficulties, so I’m confident that it will happen,” she says, asked if Netanyahu is ever likely to appear in the ICC dock.

Iran says a cargo ship sank after hitting a naval mine in Strait of Hormuz

A cargo ship has sunk after hitting a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz, says Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy. It is the first time Iran has reported a ship sinking after hitting a mine during the war.

There are few details, including about the fate of the crew. State television quotes a Guard statement saying the ship was traveling on what it called an illegal and dangerous route when it hit the mine this morning. The Associated Press cannot independently verify the images.

The unidentified ship, which was shown tilted in the water and spewing a thick plume of smoke, was carrying 2,500 containers, the broadcast says.

Iran has repeatedly warned ships from trying to transit through the strait without its approval. The US military has been guiding ships through the strait on a route nearer to Oman’s coast.

IDF, Shin Bet raid two West Bank charities they say were fronts for terror groups

IDF soldiers with the 202nd Battalion take part in a raid of a West Bank charity office that was allegedly a terror front, in October 2026. (IDF)

The IDF and Shin Bet say they have cracked down on allegedly illegal “charities” based in the West Bank, which they say were instead raising funds for terrorist organizations.

In a joint statement, they say two targeted operations were carried out in Ramallah and Yatta in the West Bank, and five people were arrested for raising money for Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Security forces raided the Ramallah offices of the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association yesterday, the statement says, seizing computers, documents and checkbooks. The IDF and Shin Bet say the organization provides legal assistance to terrorists, including those responsible for the murder of 17-year-old Rina Shnerb in 2019.

Forces also recently raided the office in Yatta of the Islamic Society for Orphans Welfare, saying that officers arrested individuals and confiscated items “bearing markings associated with designated Hamas funds.”

The IDF and Shin Bet accuse the organization of transferring funds to Hamas and supporting the families of Hamas terrorists and prisoners.

Winter vows to stay in race despite pressure campaign targeting his party

People of Israel party chairman Ofer Winter speaks at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, October 11, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Ofer Winter says his People of Israel party will remain in the October 27 election race despite a campaign urging its candidates to withdraw: “We will not give in,” the party leader says. “We will run to the finish with all our strength.”

People of Israel is the central target of an aggressive pressure campaign Likud and its allies have been waging against smaller right-wing parties to quit, fearing they could siphon votes from established parties and, if they fail to cross the electoral threshold, waste those votes and cost the Netanyahu-led bloc seats.

Winter’s party has hovered around the 3.25% electoral threshold in recent polls.

“In recent weeks, we have witnessed a coordinated campaign of smears, threats and vicious attacks,” Winter says in a statement to the press. He claims it is “funded with tens of millions of shekels from the state budget, all to hurt People of Israel.”

Winter says signs calling on candidates to quit were put up “on every corner” in the communities where they live, including Laly Derai’s West Bank settlement of Eli. Derai, the party’s No. 6 candidate, is the mother of an IDF soldier killed fighting in Gaza.

“What do these signs say? That good people, some of whom lost what was dearest to them for the country, or who served hundreds of days in reserve duty during the war, are ‘endangering the State of Israel,’” he says. “And why? Only because they exercised the most basic democratic right: the right to be elected.”

The campaign has already succeeded in getting Davidi Ben Zion, the party’s No. 8 candidate, to withdraw. Winter says Ben Zion told him that he and his wife “can no longer withstand this pressure.” He adds: “I embrace Davidi and his family, and respect his decision.”

The pressure campaign comes as polls consistently place Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc well short of the 61 seats needed to form a government.

EU aviation safety agency eases Jordan airspace warning

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency says that it now recommends airlines take potential risks into account when flying in Jordanian airspace, easing earlier guidance that advised carriers to avoid the airspace altogether.

The conflict zone information bulletin on Jordan was, however, extended until November 16, it says on its website.

NYC comptroller walks back pledge to invest in Israel bonds

New York City Comptroller-elect Mark Levine addresses a crowd outside Park East Synagogue, in New York City, December 4, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

New York City Comptroller Mark Levine, who is Jewish, says he is walking back his campaign pledge to invest city funds in Israel bonds.

Levine is a moderate, closely connected to the mainstream Jewish community, and supportive of Israel, while criticizing the Netanyahu government. He often addresses crowds in Hebrew at Jewish community events.

He is a prominent player in city politics — the comptroller is viewed as the second-highest elected position in city government, and before becoming comptroller, Levine was the Manhattan borough president.

The city’s investments in Israel bonds has been an issue for years. Levine’s predecessor, Brad Lander, is also Jewish, but further to the left and more harshly critical of Israel. Lander had decided against reinvesting in Israel bonds when the city’s holdings of around $40 million matured in early 2023, saying he had made the call for financial reasons.

The decision led to a spat between Lander and the pro-Israel mayor at the time, Eric Adams.

During his campaign, Levine had pledged to buy Israel bonds, but now says he will not, citing financial factors, not politics.

“As of now, we feel that because of some technical challenges, and because of financial considerations, that this is not an investment that we can make right now,” Levine tells The New York Times.

The bonds have historically been a reliable investment, but due to Israel’s military conflicts in recent years, ratings agencies have downgraded the bonds.

“I always said this would be based on financial considerations only, not politics — that’s still my position,” Levine says.

Publisher says Sally Rooney books cannot be sold in UK due to Palestine Action ban

Copies of Irish author Sally Rooney's newly published book 'Intermezzo', are pictured in a book shop in London, September 24, 2024. (Ben Stansall/AFP)

Irish author Sally Rooney can no longer sell her books in the UK because of her support for the activist group Palestine Action, which is proscribed by London, says her publisher Faber.

“Current legislation in the UK has led to circumstances where Faber cannot pass on UK earnings to Sally Rooney for her work… As such, and in full agreement with Sally, we have taken the decision that we can no longer supply her works in the UK in any format,” Faber says in a statement on its website.

Israel signs deal to buy 12 Apache helicopters from US’s Boeing

An Israeli Air Force Apache helicopter, August 18, 2025. (Moshe Shai/FLASH90)

Israel has signed a deal with the United States to procure 12 Apache helicopters for the Israeli Air Force, the Defense Ministry announces.

The deal is signed after the government this morning approved transferring a billion shekels to the Defense Ministry for the procurement.

Under the deal, US manufacturer Boeing will supply the Israeli Air Force with 12 AH-64E Apaches, with delivery starting at the beginning of the 2030s.

The ministry says the Apaches will be the “Echo” variant, the newest and most advanced model of the helicopter.

Defense Minister Israel Katz hails the procurement, calling it a “critical step in the IDF’s force buildup, one that will strengthen its operational capabilities against a wide range of threats and contribute to the security of the State of Israel in the years to come.”

IAF officials have previously said that the procurement of the Apache helicopters comes following lessons learned from Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught and the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

US weighs sanctions on Lebanese judges over complaint against envoy for contacting Israeli ambassador after son wounded

Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad at the US State Department in Washington, April 14, 2026. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

The US State Department is weighing sanctions against Lebanese judges involved in handling a legal complaint against Lebanon’s ambassador to Washington over her reported contact with her Israeli counterpart following a car-ramming attack on his son in the West Bank, according to a US official familiar with the matter.

It remains undecided whether punitive measures would be imposed only if the complaint is not dismissed, or whether the mere consideration of the case could trigger them, the official tells The Times of Israel.

The complaint was filed against Lebanese Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad after she allegedly contacted Israeli ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter to condemn the West Bank car ramming attack that left his son in critical condition — in an apparent violation of Lebanon’s laws forbidding direct contact with Israel.

It was filed with Lebanon’s top public prosecutor by Lebanese attorney Hassan Adel Bazzi following a September 27 report by the Beirut Review on the alleged interaction. Neither Washington nor Beirut had denied the report. The prosecutor referred the complaint to the military judicial authorities for consideration, according to the Beirut Review.

Earlier today, a US State Department spokesperson sharply condemned the “embarrassing” complaint in a statement, defending Moawad’s conduct while saying Bazzi is affiliated with Hezbollah and warning the military judiciary against supporting those working on the terror group’s “behalf.”

“We are aware of the complaint leveled by a pro-Hizballah lawyer against [Moawad.] It is embarrassing that a military court is handling a complaint against the Lebanese Ambassador in Washington for carrying out the policy of their legitimate government and engaging in US-led negotiations,” the statement says.

“The Lebanese military judiciary should use its limited resources to prosecute Hizballah operatives plotting against the Lebanese government and people instead of those working on their behalf. Laws and practices that enable this kind of politicized targeting of civilians and diplomats, while systematically shielding Hizballah operatives, must be repealed. We have no patience for obstruction,” the statement continues.

While the complaint may ultimately be dismissed or shelved, the case has raised concerns that similar legal action could be taken against others involved in the ongoing US-mediated Israel-Lebanon talks, especially in light of Lebanon’s long history of political intimidation and assassinations.

Saudi Arabia postpones exhibition tennis tournament after Houthi attacks

The chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority says that the exhibition Six Kings Slam tennis tournament has been postponed for logistical reasons, after Yemen’s Houthis carried out several deadly attacks on the kingdom.

“The Six Kings Slam tournament has been postponed due to logistical reasons and will now take place on December 27,” writes Turki Alalshikh on X, sharing a statement from the Riyadh Season entertainment program.

Journalist says he knows who met with Egypt intel chief before Oct. 7; senior security officials say it wasn’t them

Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel attends a meeting of Egyptian and Sudanese foreign ministers and heads of intelligence at Tahrir Palace, in Cairo, Egypt, February 8, 2018. (Khaled Elfiqi/Pool photo via AP)

Journalist Shlomi Eldar, who published a report claiming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warned by the Emirati president before the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack, says he knows who met with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel in the same period.

Last night, Netanyahu said in an interview that Abbas landed in Israel in September 2023, but that he doesn’t know which Israeli official he met with, and hasn’t been able to find out.

“If Netanyahu wants to know, he should give me a call — I’ll tell him who was on the phone too, besides the face-to-face meeting during those 61 minutes. By the way, there are security cameras,” writes Eldar on X.

Israel’s top security and intelligence officials deny to Army Radio that they met with Kamel in Israel on September 26, 2023.

Then-defense minister Yoav Gallant, IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, IDF Military Intelligence head Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, and Defense Ministry Political-Military bureau chief Dror Shalom all say they did not meet with him.

Then-Mossad chief David Barnea was photographed with Gallant, Halevi, and Bar at a memorial ceremony for soldiers who fell during the Yom Kippur War.

Deputy Shin Bet head N. and past COGAT director Ghassan Alian also deny meeting with him.

Herzog meets Azerbaijan’s Aliyev in Baku, discusses deepening ‘strategic’ ties

President Isaac Herzog (left) meets Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on October 14, 2026. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

President Isaac Herzog meets with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the presidential palace in Baku to discuss ways to “deepen the strategic relationship” between the two countries, according to a readout from Herzog’s office.

The meeting comes ahead of Herzog’s planned address at tomorrow’s Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia summit in Baku.

“The two presidents discussed ways to deepen the strategic relationship between Israel and Azerbaijan, which is rooted in mutual respect, shared interests, and the deep historical ties between the two peoples. They also discussed recent regional developments and the two countries’ shared commitment to stability and security in the region,” the readout says.

Herzog thanks Aliyev “for our partnership and for the open dialogue between us, and I believe we have much more to achieve together.”

Baku has maintained close relations with Jerusalem and has been a key regional partner in recent years. Israel, which is very reliant on Azerbaijani oil, is a major arms supplier to Baku.

According to multiple reports, Azerbaijan has hosted Israeli troops for operations against Iran, with which it shares a border.

10-year-old boy killed in blast after dumpster fire in Beitar Illit

Medics work the scene of a dumpster fire and explosion that killed a child in the ultra-Orthodox southern West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit on October 14, 2026. (Tzevet Hatzolah)

A blast that followed a dumpster fire in the ultra-Orthodox Beitar Illit West Bank settlement a short while ago caused an object to fly out of the container and fatally hit a 10-year-old boy, according to first responders.

The boy was rushed to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in critical condition, with severe burns, and was later pronounced dead, medics say.

Firefighters have put out the flames in the settlement, the Fire and Rescue Service says.

Police say officers are working with the firefighters in Beitar Illit to investigate the incident.

Disputing Bar’s claims, Netanyahu cites pre-Oct. 7 Shin Bet report on Gaza calm, vows to revive comptroller probe

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits a cafe in the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Gat, ahead of Israel’s upcoming election, October 14, 2026. (Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to challenge former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar’s defamation lawsuit over the premier’s allegations that Bar failed to warn him of the impending October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, during a rare Hebrew-language interview with the Kan public broadcaster.

Netanyahu claims he submitted nearly 1,000 documents to the State Comptroller’s Office rebutting Bar’s allegations, and accuses Bar of refusing to cooperate with the comptroller’s investigation.

“I submitted nearly 1,000 documents to the state comptroller that refute this from beginning to end. All his claims,” Netanyahu tells interviewer Ayala Hasson. “He didn’t want to cooperate with the state comptroller, and indeed, he did not cooperate with him.”

The premier cites what he describes as an October 3 Shin Bet intelligence report suggesting Hamas wanted continued stability, reading out loud what he presents as a written intelligence assessment issued just four days before the massacre, suggesting that an economic arrangement with Hamas could keep the calm in Gaza for an extended period.

Addressing Bar’s claims that he had issued strategic warnings of war leading up to the attack, Netanyahu acknowledges that security officials warned of a possible escalation amid the judicial overhaul crisis, but insists that they excluded Gaza from their assessments.

“But they always excluded one arena: Gaza. Gaza was outside the picture,” he says.

Netanyahu also accuses the High Court of Justice of halting the state comptroller’s investigations into the failures surrounding October 7 shortly after he submitted documents that he claims contradicted the security chiefs’ accounts.

“The moment I brought those documents, which refute not only these lies but other lies as well, they stopped it,” he says, vowing to revive the comptroller’s investigation if reelected later this month.

In a June ruling, the High Court found that State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman had exceeded his authority in investigating several aspects of the October 7 failures, including how intelligence and government officials handled warnings of a possible Hamas attack. The court also ordered several other probes redone due to procedural shortcomings.

France’s Macron to visit Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain and Qatar next week

France’s President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, September 22, 2026. (AP/Seth Wenig)

French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar to meet their leaders from October 19 to October 21, his office says.

He plans to discuss the situation in the Strait of Hormuz and its impact on energy prices, the statement adds.

Netanyahu sidesteps question on Urich’s alleged Qatar ties, says aide had no access to security briefings

Aides Yisrael Einhorn (left) and Jonatan Urich (center) with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2019. (Courtesy/ File)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that his aide Jonatan Urich never attended security meetings or received security briefings, when pressed about Urich’s alleged ties to Qatar during the war.

Asked by Kan interviewer Ayala Hasson what he knows about Urich’s connection to the powerful Gulf country, Netanyahu replies: “I can tell you one thing: Jonatan Urich was not present at a single security meeting, not a single security briefing, because he had no security information… He was outside the door.”

Asked whether he questioned Urich about any ties to Qatar during the war, Netanyahu says he has been prohibited from speaking with the aide by legal restrictions, and then describes the allegations against Urich as politically motivated, comparing them to his own corruption trial.

Earlier in the interview, Netanyahu also dismisses insulting messages allegedly recovered from Jonatan Urich’s hacked phone, saying he “didn’t even read” reports on the matter, describing as part of orchestrated “media storms” ahead of the elections.

Urich is a key suspect in the so-called Qatargate affair, which concerns allegations that Netanyahu’s advisers did public relations work for Qatar while they were employed by the Prime Minister’s Office, including by placing pro-Qatar stories in the media. Urich also faces charges in connection with a 2024 leak of classified documents.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Bedouin man sentenced to 24.5 years after joining IDF to spy for Gazan terror group

The Beersheba District Court sentences a man from an unidentified Bedouin village in the south to 24.5 years in prison for transferring stolen military equipment to the Mujahideen Brigades, and enlisting in the IDF in 2022 in order to spy for the Gaza-based group.

The Mujahideen Brigades went on to abduct on October 7 Shiri Bibas and her two young sons Ariel and Kfir, who were all then murdered in captivity.

The case of the man, Shehadeh Abu Alqian, has been referred to Interior Minister Yariv Levin to assess whether to revoke his Israeli citizenship, prosecutors say.

Abu Alqian was arrested by the Shin Bet on May 30, 2022, eight days after he joined the army.

He was convicted in December of aggravated theft, firearms offenses, membership in a terrorist organization and assisting an enemy during wartime. Abu Alqian admitted to the charges as part of a plea deal.

According to prosecutors, Abu Alqian had “decided to act against the state” after his father in mid-2019 received a demolition order for his home in the unrecognized village of Atir.

In September that year, Abu Alqian stole an assault rifle and a bullet magazine from soldiers near the southern West Bank settlement of Yattir while they were sleeping, prosecutors say. He buried the equipment underground near his home, they add.

In 2021, Abu Alqian joined the Mujahideen Brigades after making contact online with an agent of the group who called himself Abu Saliman, the indictment says.

Abu Alqian reported to the Mujahideen on troop and helicopter movements near his home and also sent the group “information and pictures of IDF bases, train stations, state-owned firms and shopping centers,” according to the indictment.

In March 2022, the indictment says, Abu Saliman asked Abu Alqian for military equipment and Abu Alqian offered to sell what he had stolen more than two years before, as well as five grenades and thousands of bullets that he obtained by unspecified means.

After digging up the materiel, Abu Alqian, with the help of a cousin, in May 2022 transferred it to a hiding spot used by the Mujahideen Brigades in the West Bank, according to prosecutors.

He drafted to the IDF that same month with the aim of “gathering information from within the army about Bedouin soldiers, bases and military locations” for the Mujahideen Brigades, but his plan was thwarted by his arrest, prosecutors say.

Netanyahu doesn’t say whether he’ll quit politics if he loses election: ‘I intend to win’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits a cafe in the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Gat, ahead of Israel’s upcoming general election, October 14, 2026. (Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declines to say whether he would retire from political life if he loses the upcoming election.

“I intend to win, and I don’t want to get into hypotheticals,” says Netanyahu, who will turn 77 a week before the vote, during his Kan public broadcaster appearance, when asked directly whether he would quit politics following a defeat.

“You know, I’ve been written off so many times already,” he adds, saying he approaches every election as though he will lose unless he campaigns with “full force.”

Man wounded in blast at Intel factory dies of his wounds

Israeli security and rescue forces at the Intel factory in Kiryat Gat, southern Israel, following an explosion and fire that left three workers seriously injured, October 14, 2026. (Liron Moldovan/Flash90)

A man who was wounded in an explosion earlier today at an Intel factory in Kiryat Gat has died of his wounds.

The Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba says the man succumbed to his injuries.

Police said a gas cylinder appeared to have exploded at the plant, and there were no suspicions that the blast was the result of an attack or other hostile act.

Netanyahu reportedly worried Gur Hasidim won’t turn out to vote

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from the Gur Hasidic dynasty protest outside the Beit Lid Military in central Israel, July 20, 2026. (Tal Gal/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is concerned that the Gur Hasidim, the largest and most influential Hasidic sect in Israel, do not plan to vote in the upcoming election amid anger over the failure of the Netanyahu government and the Haredi parties to secure a law exempting ultra-Orthodox youth from the military draft, Channel 12 reports.

The unsourced report says the group, which generally follows its rabbinical leaders, is unlikely to vote for United Torah Judaism, its traditional political home and a long-time ally of Netanyahu, and may instead stay home or cast protest votes for marginal parties unlikely to pass.

Former UTJ chief Yitzhak Goldknopf, a member of the sect, resigned as housing minister last year amid anger over the issue, signaling the group’s unhappiness with Netanyahu.

Gur sources confirmed to Channel 12 that there was widespread anger and said that there were no efforts to mobilize members to vote in the coming elections. The report said that there were some 30,000 potential Gur Hasidic voters.

Otzma Yehudit MK receives summons for interrogation over alleged assault on cop during West Bank riot

MK Yitzhak Kroizer speaks during a protest against United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) outisde the agency's offices in Jerusalem, February 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

MK Yitzhak Kroizer, of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party, confirms he has been summoned for interrogation over his part in an October 1 West Bank riot that left two officers wounded and reportedly gave cover for the escape of a suspect in violence against Palestinians.

Police investigations chief Boaz Blatt wrote to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana earlier today requesting to summon Kroizer, who is suspected of assaulting an officer during the incident in Mitzpe Yeriho. Kroizer has claimed that he was the one who was attacked by police during the clash.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara earlier this week granted police’s request to interrogate Kroizer, who would otherwise have been shielded by parliamentary immunity.

In a video on X, Kroizer says “the political witch hunt by Boaz Blatt and Gali Baharav-Miara has crossed every line and run amok.”

He claims the interrogation was “timed” to hurt him ahead of the October 27 election.

“I’m not afraid of an interrogation,” he says. “The harsh violence that was used against me needs to be investigated.”

“All those responsible will be interrogated and brought to justice,” he adds. “When the public gives us the mandate, you’ll be the first to be brought to justice.”

Yemen’s Houthis say they targeted Riyadh airport with ballistic missile

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis say they targeted Riyadh’s international airport with a ballistic missile, hours after the Saudi-led coalition reported an interception of one fired toward the capital.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces… were able to target King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi enemy’s capital, Riyadh, with a ballistic missile, and the hit was accurate,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree posts on X.

Netanyahu: Iran’s regime ‘must go,’ doubt it will fall before election; Trump understands threat

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterates that overthrowing Iran’s regime is essential, while adding he does not expect it to fall before the upcoming election and saying US President Donald Trump “understands the threat” posed by the regime.

Asked during his Kan public broadcaster appearance whether the regime could fall before Israelis head to the polls on October 27, Netanyahu says: “No, I don’t think that’s realistic.”

“This regime must go,” he insists, warning that Iran’s leadership will continue seeking Israel’s destruction as long as it remains in power. “It’s either us or them. I’ll make sure it’s them and not us — that they’re the ones who fall.”

Netanyahu also stresses his close relationship with Trump, saying he speaks with him “all the time.”

“I don’t usually share [what’s said in private conversations], but I can tell you that he certainly understands the threat posed by this regime,” Netanyahu says.

The premier repeats an argument he has made in the past that his relationship with Trump will be critical during the remaining two years of the US president’s term, questioning whether political rival Gadi Eisenkot could work as effectively with him.

Report: Jet that landed in Israel before Oct. 7 carried businessmen, not Egypt’s intel chief

The private Egyptian jet that landed at Ben Gurion Airport for an hour on September 26, 2023, was not carrying Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, rather two Egyptian businessmen, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

The Atlantic had reported that the plane carried Kamel, who was in Israel to warn days before the eventual October 7 onslaught that Hamas was planning a major attack.

Bizarrely, yesterday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that Kamel was in Israel then, but that he doesn’t know who he met with, and that he received no warning about a Hamas attack.

The plane, owned by Egyptian charter company Smart Aviation, received routine ground services in Israel by QAS after landing at 9:50 a.m., and returned without passengers at 10:57 a.m.

The names of the businessmen, who landed at the private Fattal Terminal at the airport, are known to Israeli authorities, Kan reports.

Ex-Shin Bet chief said to meet with Herzog, ministers to convince Netanyahu of threat before Oct. 7

Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar attends a ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem on April 23, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar reportedly met with several key political figures and allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the months before the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion to try and persuade them of the security warnings he was issuing.

Channel 12 reports that Bar met with President Isaac Herzog, several cabinet ministers and right-wing media personality and longtime Netanyahu booster Yaakov Bardugo so that they might help convince Netanyahu of the severity of the threat.

According to the report, Bardugo — who is now in the 11th spot on the Likud party list for the upcoming election and certain to enter the Knesset — accused Bar of being “a political actor” who wanted to stop the government’s judicial overhaul agenda, which had created a massive political and societal schism.

Bar and former defense minister Yoav Gallant both issued warnings themselves that the judicial overhaul was damaging Israeli security in the months before the Hamas invasion, since the country’s enemies believed it be weak as a result of the political divisions. In response, Netanyahu fired Gallant, which he later reversed following mass public protests.

Family of missing girl Haymanut Kasau meets for first time with Shin Bet head

The parents of missing girl Haymanut Kasau seen protesting and holding her photo in Tel Aviv on August 12, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The family of Haymanut Kasau, who disappeared at age 9 from an absorption center in Safed in February 2024 after her family came to Israel from Ethiopia, met for the first time today with Shin Bet chief David Zini, according to a statement from activists who are supporting the family.

The meeting lasted about an hour and took place in Zini’s office, with an activist serving as translator for Haymanut’s Amharic-speaking parents, Tesfai and Banchi, according to the statement.

“The head of the Shin Bet showed empathy for the family’s suffering, expressed interest and was open and willing to widen involvement, subject to the approval of the attorney general,” the statement says.

“I’m certain that after the meeting today, Haymanut is also the daughter of David Zini,” Haymanut’s father Tesfai is quoted as saying.

The Shin Bet confirmed in August that it was joining police’s investigation of the case, after repeated protests by the family and supporters.

The statement from the activists says the meeting also took place thanks to the “personal and official appeals” to Zini from lawmaker and Knesset faction heads.

British PM condemns Green Party for ‘Zionism is racism’ motion, rules out partnership

Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham leaves 10 Downing Street in central London on October 14, 2026, to take part in the weekly session of ‘Prime Minister’s Questions’ (PMQs) at the parliament. (Henry NICHOLLS/AFP)

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham condemns the Green Party’s “Zionism is racism” motion and rules out a future partnership with the faction.

Speaking in the House of Commons, the Labour prime minister says the motion “is wrong, it is antisemitic, and this side of the House will have nothing to do with it.”

The Greens’ motion also called for the establishment of “a single democratic Palestinian state across all of historic Palestine” — thereby eliminating Israel.

“We will always take the right response when it comes to any partnerships we have with other parties,” adds Burnham, who has been sharply critical of Israel and whose government introduced broad sanctions against Israeli settlements last month. “We cannot support a partnership with a party that holds the position that has recently been adopted.”

Eisenkot slams Netanyahu’s ‘deafening silence’ on Urich’s work for Qatar, says PM owes Israel answers

Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot at a youth conference at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, October 11, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Responding to tonight’s report that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top aide Jonatan Urich met at least twice in Europe with a senior Qatari official in the summer of 2024, opposition frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot denounces Netanyahu’s deafening silence over the affair and says it indicates the prime minister’s “full complicity in Urich’s actions. Netanyahu owes the people of Israel answers,” he says.

Urich, who is suspected of working for pay within the Prime Minister’s Office to promote the image of Qatar, reportedly met with Ali al-Thawadi, a Qatari minister considered a close ally of the ruling emir. The meetings were reportedly not part of any official Israeli government business.

Urich has been charged in a separate case with disseminating classified IDF intelligence information with intent to harm state security in the Bild leak affair

“The details emerging in recent days illustrate just how deep and rotten the failure is,” Eisenkot charges, noting that “the man closest to the prime minister” is also accused of having endangered a highly sensitive intelligence source regarding the issue of Israeli hostages in the Bild leak affair.

Urich, he continues, also “worked in the service of Qatar, during wartime, from the office of the prime minister of Israel. All this, during the toughest war in our history, which began with the gravest failure we have ever known, at a time when our finest sons and daughters were laying down their lives” in the defense of Israel.

“Netanyahu’s pathetic excuses of ‘I didn’t know’ and his fairy tales that ‘they didn’t wake me up’ fool no one,” Eisenkot continues.

“Netanyahu abandoned Israel’s security and desecrated the Holy of Holies,” the Yashar leader charges, referring to the inner sanctum at the Prime Minister’s Office, where Urich still works.

“The people of Israel will put an end to this in 13 days at the ballot box, and will elect honest, responsible, and worthy leadership,” Eisenkot declares. “I will always act solely in Israel’s national interests. I commit to this.”

2 arrested in Bnei Brak for rioting outside building housing Haredi IDF program

Dozens of Haredi men and boys tried breaking into a Bnei Brak office building that houses Kodkod, a Defense Ministry program for ultra-Orthodox soldiers in military intelligence, footage shows.

People inside the building could be seen standing guard by the doors, as security and police scuffle with the protesters outside.

Police say they arrested two rioters at the site and have taken them into custody for interrogation.

The riot has ended, police add.

עשרות מפגינים חרדים מנסים לפרוץ כעת לבסיס באזור בני ברק בו משרתת יחידה טכנולוגית חרדית pic.twitter.com/sT0LmgSEAJ

— דניאל גרובייס Daniel Grovais (@daniel_grovais) October 14, 2026

US says it destroyed Iranian-affiliated vessel conducting surveillance last week

The US military says it destroyed an Iranian-affiliated dhow last week that it alleged was conducting surveillance and targeting US Navy ships in the Gulf of Oman.

“Crew members were safely removed prior to destruction of the dhow. Repatriation efforts are ongoing,” the US Central Command posts on X, saying the incident took place on October 6.

On Oct. 6, U.S. forces destroyed an Iranian-affiliated dhow conducting surveillance and targeting U.S. Navy ships in the Gulf of Oman. Over the past seven months, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has continued to indiscriminately target thousands of civilian mariners… pic.twitter.com/99Vn5TTxVh

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) October 14, 2026

IDF begins process to award decorations for heroism by troops during October 7 onslaught

IDF troops stand atop a tank in a field near Kibbutz Be'eri in southern Israel on October 14, 2023. (Thomas Coex/AFP)

The IDF says it held a conference today marking the start of a review of soldiers’ acts of heroism during the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, to determine recipients of military commendations and decorations.

At the conference, headed by Personnel Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa and President of the Military Court of Appeals Maj. Gen. Orly Markman, commanders were presented with the framework approved by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir for reviewing acts of heroism by troops during the October 7 onslaught and up until the start of the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip in late October 2023.

The IDF has three top-level decorations: the Medal of Distinguished Service, the third-highest honor; the Medal of Courage, the second-highest; and the Medal of Valor, the highest honor the military can award.

The Medal of Valor has been awarded only 40 times in Israel’s history, most recently in 1975 for actions during the Yom Kippur War.

Commendations — known individually as a tzalash in Hebrew — can also be awarded by the chief of staff, generals, division commanders and brigade commanders.

The military says the process will be carried out in several stages. First, brigade commanders will submit recommendations for citations and decorations to their division commanders for approval. The recommendations will then be forwarded to the relevant major general before being sent to a theater-level committee.

The committee for the Southern Command, which oversees the Gaza theater, will be headed by a major general, the IDF says. The composition of the various committees will be submitted to Zamir for approval and will include career and reserve personnel from a range of IDF directorates and branches, according to the military.

In the next stage, a General Staff-level committee will convene to review the theater-level committee’s recommendations.

The General Staff committee’s recommendations will be submitted to Zamir for a decision on recipients of the Chief of Staff’s Citation and the top-tier decorations. Recommendations to award the highest honor, the Medal of Valor, will then be forwarded to the defense minister for approval.

The IDF adds that cases of exceptional civilian heroism will be referred to a presidential advisory committee responsible for recommending recipients of the President’s Medal for Civilian Heroism.