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Thursday, October 29, 2026

10/29 Links Pt1: JPost: Netanyahu, Eisenkot, Bennett must put Israel first and talk unity; Shin Bet probes Qatari, Turkish funding to boost Arab turnout in Israeli election; Israeli ship sinks in Black Sea after being hit by 3 suicide boat drones

From Ian:

Bret Stephens: Very Little Is Likely to Change after Israeli Election
The first thing to say about Tuesday's election in Israel is that the country is having one. Competitive, lawful, on schedule. That's more than can be said of the Palestinian Authority under the presidency of Mahmoud Abbas, who was elected to a four-year term in 2005 but has bypassed elections ever since. It's more than can be said for Hamas, which won Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, went to war against its domestic political opponents, and has ruled through fiat and fear ever since.

It's difficult to take Israel's inveterate critics seriously when they demand a "Free Palestine" without registering the slightest audible objection to the tyrannies in Ramallah and Gaza; or when, in the name of freedom and equality, they seek to abolish the Middle East's only functioning liberal democracy.

For an election widely billed as the most important in the country's history, very little is likely to change, at least as far as the outside world is concerned. Not one of the leading contenders wants a Palestinian state. Not one of them is going to remove Israelis from the West Bank or issue a blanket ban on settlement construction. Not one of them wants anything less than an assertive military posture toward Hamas, Hizbullah and Iran.

Of the many intellectually flabby critiques of Israeli policy since Oct. 7, the idea that Israel should have traded its physical security for the sake of some added dollops of liberal pity is among the flabbiest. Israel doesn't exist to showcase Jewish victimization. It exists to end it.

At stake is whether a people who have borne the burden of Hamas's terror and Iran's missiles and a nonstop state of emergency and the unceasing chorus of global condemnation that is one part ignorance, two parts bigotry and three parts self-delusion should have a government worthy of their sacrifice, steadiness and courage.
After Oct. 7, Israelis Were Forced to Choose between Two Bad Options
Politicians on the left and right in the U.S. these days often seem more focused on Israel, its treatment of the Palestinians, and its policies in the Middle East than on the usual local concerns, like the number of children in a classroom or unemployment. This preoccupation is a puzzle to many Israelis.

Do Israelis really not care what the world thinks about them? No. They care a lot. But what concerns them even more is what their enemies think. Israelis want the Western world to love them but their enemies in the Middle East to fear them.

In the days after the Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis by Hamas, most Western countries displayed a deep empathy for Israel. But the coin had another side. Hamas's invasion and the slaughter signaled to the neighborhood that Israel had lost power. Western love moved Israelis, but their enemies' dissipation of fear aroused existential anxiety.

Three years later, the successes of the Israeli Army rehabilitated the army's deterrent power in the Middle East. The trouble is that the actions that restored Israel's image in the region have severely damaged its image in the West. Any restraint that Israel might have shown to maintain Western sympathy would have prevented it from restoring the fear felt by its enemies. And everything it did to establish fear eroded sympathy. The catch is that it can't have both.

After Oct. 7, Israelis were forced to choose between two bad options. Going to war against a terrorist army requires ground operations amid a civilian population - a blueprint for large-scale death and devastation. But not going to war would have left Hamas with the ability to repeat the massacre, signaled to Israel's enemies that it had lost the ability to defend itself, and stripped Israelis of confidence that they could continue building a future in their own country.

There is broad agreement in Israel: the war and its justifiability are not topics of public debate in the current election. Israel was required to choose bad over worse but judged as if it had chosen bad over good.
Israelis Are Broadly United on Attitude to Country's Enemies
Despite the inconclusive result of Israel's general election, it remains highly unlikely that replacing Netanyahu with Eisenkot would have any profound impact on the many security challenges facing the wider Middle East. When it comes to issues surrounding Israel's security, there is little to distinguish between the two main contenders for the premiership in terms of their uncompromising approach to defeating Israel's many foes.

Eisenkot, 66, the former head of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who served in Netanyahu's war cabinet after the Oct. 7 attacks, is just as much a hawk as Netanyahu when it comes to defending Israelis from the many regional threats they face. He shares Netanyahu's view that Israel must prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons at all costs, and that it is vital to disrupt and degrade Tehran's terrorist infrastructure throughout the Middle East.

Following the national trauma of Oct. 7, it is a prerequisite for almost all Israeli voters that whoever leads their country regards the defense of the Jewish homeland as their number-one priority. So far as the wider Middle East is concerned, the next Israeli government will be equally robust when confronting its many foes.

Israel will continue to target any attempt by Iran to reconstitute its nuclear program, the majority of which has been reduced to rubble. Likewise, Israel will continue to press for the complete disarmament of Hamas terrorists in Gaza, and will maintain its efforts to disrupt the activities of Hizbullah and other Iranian-backed terror groups in the region.


JPost Editorial: Netanyahu, Eisenkot, Bennett must put Israel first and talk unity
Why should Netanyahu, Eisenkot, and former prime minister Naftali Bennett not sit down together and talk?

The three men have spent months campaigning against one another, sometimes fiercely. But elections are fought to determine who will govern, and governing requires considerably more than the ability to attack one’s opponents.

As The Jerusalem Post’s Shir Perets argued on Wednesday, the opportunity exists for the broad Zionist government that has been discussed for so long. Such an arrangement would demand compromises, particularly from politicians who have made their opposition to one another central to their campaigns.

Israel’s unique circumstances surely justify making the attempt. The country is still dealing with the consequences of the October 7 massacre, the security challenges posed by Iran and its regional proxies, the burden carried by reservists and their families, and the economic consequences of years of conflict.

For too long, governments have depended on relatively small parties whose demands have often exerted an influence far beyond their electoral strength. Coalition survival has repeatedly complicated decisions on matters of national importance, particularly the question of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) military service.

A broad government could create room for a more equal military service framework, particularly if it can be built without haredi participation, and a consistent approach to national security without every significant decision becoming a negotiation with the most uncompromising coalition partners. Such a government may also find support in Washington.

According to a report published by the Post on Wednesday, American sources said US President Donald Trump wants Israel’s next government to exclude National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. The sources indicated that Trump regards settler violence as an obstacle to his broader regional diplomatic ambitions.

Earlier reports had already suggested that figures in Trump’s circle were encouraging the formation of a broad Israeli unity government.

These reports are significant, particularly given the importance of relations with Washington and the possibility of advancing regional normalization agreements. Israel’s government must ultimately be determined by Israelis, but the diplomatic implications of its composition cannot be ignored.

There are, of course, legitimate objections to a Netanyahu-Eisenkot-Bennett arrangement.

Eisenkot campaigned on replacing Netanyahu, and many of his supporters would regard joining a government under the prime minister as a betrayal. Questions surrounding responsibility for October 7, Netanyahu’s criminal trial, and the conduct of his government cannot simply be brushed aside in the name of unity. Nor should they be.

Any agreement would need clear commitments on the rule of law, institutional independence, military service, and the government’s priorities. The question of leadership would also require serious negotiation.

All parties must be prepared to enter the same room
Yet none of these matters can be resolved unless the parties are prepared to enter the same room.

There is precedent for cooperation. Eisenkot served alongside Netanyahu in the emergency government formed after October 7, while Bennett has previously demonstrated the possibility, and the difficulty, of governing across political divisions.

Nobody is suggesting that a unity government would be easy, or even necessarily successful. But Herzog is right to warn against returning to the ballot box, particularly before every reasonable avenue for forming a government has been exhausted.

The campaign is over. The public has fulfilled its democratic responsibility. Netanyahu, Eisenkot, Bennett, and the other party leaders now have a responsibility to examine what can be achieved through negotiation.

Whatever their differences, they owe the country at least a serious conversation.
Melanie Phillips: The alarming rise of Islamic power
The huge Arab turnout in the Israeli election this week should ring loud alarm bells for both Israel and the West.

What suddenly became visible in Israel was what’s been emerging in Europe and now also in America: the weaponization of democracy by Islamic power.

In Israel’s election, the various Arab parties clocked up a record number of 19 Knesset seats. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud has accused these parties of fraud, bribery, intimidation and ballot manipulation.

Now the chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Noam Sohlberg, has ordered an inquiry by Israel’s security agency, the Shin Bet, into “serious suspicions of improper influence” through funding by foreign actors working against Israel’s interests. The main finger of suspicion is pointing at Qatar having funneled money to boost Arab turnout.

Alarm should go even deeper than this. The Arab parties have used the country’s utterly dysfunctional electoral system to put Israel’s existential Zionist project in peril.

The astonishing Arab tally of 19 mandates has put a huge obstacle in the way of both the Likud and the opposition “change” blocs in forming a Zionist government.

While this deprived the Likud bloc of possible Knesset seats, it presents a worse predicament for the anti-Netanyahu faction. If these centrist and left-wing parties who have sworn never to join forces with Netanyahu refuse to abandon this position, their only route into government is to form a coalition with the Arabs.

But these parties consist of anti-Zionist Arab nationalists, anti-Zionist communists and Muslim Brotherhood-connected Islamists.

It may yet turn out that the sheer size of this Arab achievement, not to mention a possibly corrupted election process, will force the creation of what many think would be the best way forward for Israel.

This would be a unity government, in which Netanyahu’s centrist foes swallow their “never Bibi” pledges to form a patriotic Zionist cabinet around him.

But it remains the fact that the Arab tail is now wagging the Israeli dog. It’s no surprise that Mansour Abbas, leader of the Arab Ra’am party, has gloated: “Everyone’s speaking with us.”

Those piping up to say the Arabs’ 19 seats prove that Israel is not an “apartheid state” are missing the deeper point. The Arabs’ result is not a triumph of civil rights. It’s a strategy of using those civil rights as a weapon for Israel’s destruction.
Israel's Arab Citizens Choose the Ballot Box; Palestinians Still Wait for Independent Candidates
In Israel's Oct. 27, 2026, election, two Arab-led parties, the Joint List and Ra'am, secured a combined 19 seats, a significant increase from the 10 seats they held in the outgoing parliament.

So much for the sweeping claim that Israel is an "apartheid state."

The election demonstrates that Arab citizens of Israel vote, and win substantial representation in the country's national parliament.

The election highlights an important distinction between Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinians living under the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank or under Hamas's rule in Gaza.

The last election for the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) took place in 2006, when Hamas won 74 of the PLC's 132 seats.

The record turnout for Arab-led parties demonstrates that Israel's parliamentary system provides a route for political participation that Arab citizens are actively using.

The international community should support not just elections for the Palestinians, but, even more, genuine political competition, independent candidates, transparency, institutions capable of holding elected leaders accountable, and an end to corruption and glorification of violence and "martyrdom."
With all votes counted, Netanyahu’s bloc has 53 seats, Eisenkot’s 48, Arab parties 19
The final voter turnout was 77.9% of eligible voters — the highest figure in decades — with 5,716,665 votes cast.

The final results give Likud 27 seats, Yashar 21, B’Yachad 12, the Joint List 11, The Democrats 8, Ra’am 8, Yisrael Beytenu 7, United Torah Judaism 7, Otzma Yehudit 7, Shas 6 and Religious Zionism 6.

Yoaz Hendel’s Reservists-Economic party fell below the 3.25% electoral threshold with 2.63% of the vote, along with Ofer Winter’s People of Israel, which had collected just 1.7% of the vote. The Charedi Public, a longshot party that had offered an alternative vision to Israel’s ultra-Orthodox communities, was far below the threshold, with just 0.2% of the vote.

These results leave the pro-Netanyahu bloc with 53 seats, the anti-Netanyahu bloc with 48 and the Arab factions with 19. The parties in the pro-Netanyahu bloc, which comprise the current government, held 68 seats in the outgoing Knesset, marking a significant drop.

The Arab-led parties — the Joint List and Ra’am — won an all-time high of 19 seats, an all-time high and almost double their current 10 seats. This would be more than enough to tip the anti-Netanyahu bloc into a comfortable majority, if all Zionist bloc members except The Democrats hadn’t ruled out cooperating with Ra’am or the Joint List.

In its statement early Friday morning, the CEC reiterated comments made by acting director Dean Livne earlier Thursday, rejecting claims of widespread voter fraud amid reports of a possible Qatari campaign to influence the vote.

“Reports published throughout the day are entirely unfounded,” Livne said, noting that the investigation “will not affect the final results submitted to the president, nor does it concern any particular sector of the population.”

The Knesset is slated to be sworn in on November 10, regardless of efforts to form the next government, which are predicted to be bumpy and could extend for more than two months, with neither side close to the 61-seat majority required.

On Wednesday, Herzog urged party leaders to do everything possible to avoid another round of elections: “We must do everything we can, certainly after yesterday, to avoid another round of elections. So I expect everyone who comes here to come with an open mind,” he said.

Both Netanyahu and Eisenkot have vowed that they will be the one to form the next government.

The election on Tuesday took place four years after the end of a three-year period in which Israel repeatedly went to the polls five times, with the first four failing to produce stable governments.


Herzog calls for arrests over Knesset election irregularities
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Thursday that allegations of irregularities surrounding the Knesset election must be fully investigated, and that those responsible must be arrested “and held accountable according to the full extent of the law.”

“The integrity of our elections is a supreme democratic value,” Herzog said, speaking at an event at the President’s Residence honoring the Jewish Federations of North America’s Israel Small Business Loan Fund.

Herzog said he had spoken with Israeli Central Elections Committee Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) head David Zini.

Sohlberg on Wednesday instructed Zini to investigate suspected foreign funding and election bribery in Tuesday’s vote, according to a letter published by Channel 12. He requested findings within a week, citing legal deadlines for filing election appeals.

“I cannot attest to the nature of the aforementioned suspicions,” Sohlberg wrote, directing the agency to locate evidence to substantiate or refute them.

Herzog said he was “closely following developments” in the investigation into suspected foreign interference in the election. Channel 12 reported that the suspicions concern large sums of Qatari money allegedly used to illegally boost turnout in Arab communities.

“But even at a moment like this, we must not tarnish an entire community that sought to exercise its right to vote,” Herzog added.

Herzog said he would meet with representatives of all Knesset factions once official results are in and urged politicians to pursue a coalition “best for the country.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party has alleged widespread election fraud and demanded a police and Shin Bet investigation. Yashar Party chairman Gadi Eisenkot called for a thorough examination of the allegations but warned against them being a basis for delaying the swearing-in of the 26th Knesset.

Separately, police said on Thursday that four men had been detained for questioning on suspicion of election bribery. Three other suspects were arrested on election day, according to the force.
Israeli elections chief orders Shin Bet probe of foreign influence on vote
Israeli Supreme Court Deputy President Noam Sohlberg, who chairs the country’s Central Elections Committee, instructed Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) head David Zini on Wednesday to investigate suspected foreign funding and election bribery in Tuesday’s Knesset election, according to a letter shared with JNS.

“Serious suspicions have been brought before me of improper influence, through foreign funding by external actors acting against the Israeli interest, on the elections,” Sohlberg wrote.

“I cannot attest to the nature of the aforementioned suspicions,” he continued. Because the suspicions concern foreign actors, there is “a duty to investigate them properly,” he wrote.

Sohlberg instructed the domestic intelligence agency “to locate evidence to substantiate the aforementioned suspicions or to refute them.”

“Only in this way can we ensure public trust in the election process,” he wrote.

Citing the legal deadlines for filing election appeals, Sohlberg asked Zini to present any findings within a week.

The letter does not name the foreign actor, but Channel 12 News reported that the suspicions concern Qatar. According to the report, large sums allegedly flowed from Doha to illegally boost voter turnout in the Arab sector.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party on Wednesday had accused Arab parties of stealing the election through widespread fraud and called for a police and Shin Bet investigation.

The party alleged that thousands of envelopes containing cash and United Arab List (Ra’am Party) ballots were found at polling stations in Arab communities. It also alleged identity fraud and ballot-count discrepancies.

In a statement on Thursday morning, the party called what it dubbed the “Ra’amgate affair” an “earthquake.”

“They stole the election in Israel!” Likud said in a statement shared by Netanyahu on X.
Shin Bet probes suspected Qatari, Turkish funding to boost Arab turnout in Israeli election
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) is investigating suspicions that foreign entities, potentially including Qatar and Turkey, funneled money into Israel to influence voting in Arab communities, following a directive from Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg to investigate suspected foreign funding and election bribery.

The investigation will not delay publication of the final election results, a Central Elections Committee source told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. The source said it would also not prevent President Isaac Herzog from selecting a party leader to begin the coalition-building process.

Asked whether the investigation could lead to another election, the source said it was “far too early for such a question.”

“First, we need to examine whether there was any impact and whether it affects the distribution of Knesset seats at all,” he said.

Notably, N12 News reported that the Shin Bet had intelligence information about potential illegal money transfers, but did not inform the CEC, including Solberg.

The report noted that Zini presented information to the CEC that was "extraordinary in its seriousness," on Wednesday night.

Qatar's Spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Ministry released a statement categorically denying allegations that Qatar has interfered in Israeli elections.

Likud lawyer to 'Post': Party looking into all irregularities at suspected polling places

Separately, a Likud lawyer told the Post that the party intends to seek the invalidation of results at polling stations where it suspects irregularities.

The foreign-funding inquiry, a police investigation into suspected bribery involving Ra’am voting slips, and any legal challenge to election results are distinct proceedings. None of the allegations amounts to a finding that the election results were altered unlawfully.

Israeli media have identified Qatar and Turkey as possible sources of the suspected funding. Channel 13 reported that investigators were examining whether money had passed through currency exchangers and local institutions along routes previously used to transfer terrorist funds, allegedly to encourage voting in Arab communities through unlawful means.

The source, recipients and use of the money remain under investigation. Encouraging voter participation is not, by itself, evidence of election bribery.


Call me Back: Israel’s Election Is Far From Over – with Amit Segal
Israel’s election was a referendum on Benjamin Netanyahu. So why has the opposition fallen short—and could Netanyahu emerge with another government after all? Dan joins Amit Segal to unpack the surprising results, the political promises that may soon be tested, and the choices facing Israel’s political leaders as they try to break the deadlock.

The opposition was energized and organized - why didn’t it translate into more seats?
The historic Arab voter turnout reshaped the electoral math.
Could Naftali Bennett or Avigdor Lieberman join forces with Netanyahu?
Gadi Eisenkot’s bad options.
Another election as soon as April, or a national unity government?
Could the next confrontation with Iran change everything?


The Free Press: Israel's Election Decoded: Live with Haviv Rettig Gur
Israelis have voted, and the first results are in. The Free Press’s Maya Sulkin is joined live by Haviv Rettig Gur, to make sense of what happened.

They’ll go through the exit polls and preliminary results, where turnout surged or collapsed, how the Arab parties performed, and what each candidate is now saying publicly. Most importantly, they’ll get into the question that decides everything in Israel: who can actually put together 61 seats, and what the next government could look like.


Eugene Kontorovich: I24 interview on Israeli election results

HonestReporting: Israel's election framing, Cenk Uygur's Michigan ad, and who really lit France's "student protests"
CHECKED is HonestReporting's weekly live show. Every Wednesday, Ben Chertoff and Joe Truzman take apart the week's coverage of Israel. They look at what got reported, what got left out, and who decided.

October 28, 2026: Front Page: It's Israel's election week. Justin Pozmanter, Director of HonestReporting's News Division, joins us to look at how the international press covered the run-up to the vote. Outlets from The Independent and The Guardian to ABC Australia decided in advance that no matter who Israelis elect, nothing changes, because the problem is Israeli society itself. We look at how criticism of a government turned into a verdict on 10 million people.

The Feed: Cenk Uygur's Rebellion PAC released an ad this week. In it, a family puts the eggs back at the grocery store because their money is going to "killing Palestinians." We check the numbers. Aid to Israel is about 0.05% of the federal budget, and most of it is spent inside the US on American-made defense equipment. The "new ad" also turns out to be a two-year-old clip.

Open Cases: France burned this month, and the headlines called it student protests. HonestReporting's Rachel O'Donoghue followed the network behind the demonstrations: the organizations, their leaders' convictions, and the campaign announced weeks before the fires. It's all on their own websites.

Honest Mistake, or On Purpose? A Guardian photo caption that put Haifa in "Palestine."

CHAPTERS
00:00 Welcome to CHECKED
01:08 Front Page: the election coverage written before the vote
02:40 Justin Pozmanter joins the conversation
12:11 The Feed: Rebellion PAC's grocery-bill ad
19:28 Open Cases: Who was really behind France's riots
23:20 The October timeline: from the BDS France launch to the fires
27:09 Honest Mistake, or On Purpose? The Guardian's "Haifa, Palestine"
29:01 What to watch in the coalition talks
29:40 How to support the show




UN Watch's Dina Rovner: “Hamas Has Infiltrated UNRWA”
UN Watch Legal Advisor Dina Rovner spoke with David Schulberg on the Israel Connexion Podcast to discuss UN Watch's latest report revealing UNRWA's claims of reforms are far from accurate.




ZIM vessel sinks in Black Sea after being hit by 3 suicide boat drones; no injuries
A vessel chartered by Israel’s ZIM Integrated Shipping Services sank overnight after it was hit by three maritime drones off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, the local maritime administration said Thursday.

The incident is the latest in a string of suspected Russian attacks in the region, against the backdrop of neighboring NATO countries’ support for Ukraine.

The suicide boat drones struck the Liberian-flagged container ship Contship Jet about 21 nautical miles off the coast of Bulgaria on Wednesday, the country’s defense minister, Dimitar Stoyanov, said. It was the fifth drone attack in the NATO nation’s exclusive economic zone this month.

The crew aboard the container ship, which departed from Haifa en route to Constanta in Romania, was rescued and safely evacuated, ZIM said in a statement.

All 18 crew members, 14 Filipinos and four Ukrainians, were rescued by Bulgarian naval and border police vessels and taken to the port city of Varna for medical checks.

Footage posted to social media appeared to show one of the drones streaking through the water before it began to turn toward the vessel. Additional footage captured the ship tipping into the water and beginning to sink.

The 421 containers carrying high-value cargo were lost at sea. Some of the containers were carrying lithium-ion batteries, flammable liquids, gases and other hazardous materials, the site maritime.bg reported. Navy teams reportedly found no signs of pollution after taking samples from several locations in Bulgarian territorial waters.


Top US commander briefs Trump on Iran military options as 10 US military transport planes land in Israel
The US military’s top commander overseeing the Middle East met President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday to present military options concerning Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials and others with direct knowledge of the meeting.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine also joined the meeting, at which US Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper presented the options, according to the report.

Reuters said it could not immediately independently verify the Wall Street Journal report.

The meeting came as Washington and Jerusalem were reported last week to be considering a “short but intensive operation” of renewed strikes on Iran after the November 3 US midterm elections.

Military drills ramped up, targeting Iranian energy sites, nuclear facilities and arsenals of missiles and drones. The report said Trump could still decide against military action.

More than 10 US military transport aircraft landed at Israeli airbases in southern Israel over the past week, according to analysts monitoring open-source flight-tracking data.

Most of the recent cargo flights took off from Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso, Texas, and were bound for the Israeli Air Force’s Nevatim and Ovda airbases in southern Israel, according to the data.

A number of other US military cargo flights also traveled to American bases elsewhere in the Middle East in recent days, including in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.

The contents of the transport planes were unknown, but were thought to be connected to US efforts to bolster its air defenses in the region ahead of a possible new round of fighting with Iran.

On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the US military was sending a Patriot battery from Texas to strengthen its air defenses in the region.


IDF soldier charged with spying for Iran in exchange for cryptocurrency
An Israeli soldier was arrested and charged with carrying out a slew of espionage tasks on behalf of Iran in exchange for cryptocurrency, authorities announced on Thursday.

The soldier had been arrested in September following a joint investigation carried out by the Shin Bet, Israel Police, and Military Police, which suspected him of committing “grave security offenses, including maintaining contact with Iranian intelligence operatives and carrying out tasks under their direction.”

On Thursday, military prosecutors filed an indictment charging him with passing information to the enemy with the intent to harm state security and for the benefit of the enemy, as well as contact with a foreign agent.

The Shin Bet, police, and IDF said that during his interrogation, it emerged that the soldier had maintained contact with Iranian agents for about a year, during which he provided sensitive information about his unit’s military activities, the IDF’s readiness and call-ups, including details about his own call-up at the outbreak of the war with Iran earlier this year.

“The investigation also found that the soldier acted with awareness of the identity of his Iranian handler,” and that in exchange for the information he sent them, he received payment in cryptocurrency, the joint statement said.

Prosecutors said that the soldier sent the Iranian handler information about military bases and their coordinates, and also photographed interceptors, military vehicles and American refueling aircraft parked at an airport in Israel. US Air Force refueling aircraft are seen parked on the tarmac of the Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv on February 25, 2026. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

The soldier also “acted in a particularly grave manner and endangered those around him” by sending the Iranian handler details about his comrades and commanders, “knowing that the handler would seek to recruit them for espionage activities,” the statement said.

The investigation also found that the soldier sent his Iranian handler a Telegram group, known as “Kal Bakrav” (easy in battle), which is intended for young Israelis preparing to enlist in the military. The handler joined the group, according to the indictment.

The Iranian handler at one point instructed the soldier to install “malicious communications applications for conducting encrypted conversations,” and also offered to buy him a “dumb” phone and a pistol.

The soldier and Iranian handler also agreed to use codes in their conversations, “and construct a cover story in case he was discovered by security forces,” the statement said.

Prosecutors also said that the soldier was offered $200,000 to travel to Iran.


Activists arrested after footage shows settlers beating them in West Bank
Jasper Nathaniel and Andrey Kharzhanovsky, journalists and activists who assist Palestinians in the West Bank, were arrested by police overnight Wednesday in the South Hebron Hills after footage showed them being attacked by two settlers, at least one of them armed.

Nathaniel is an American citizen, while Kharzhanovsky immigrated to Israel in 2022 and holds Israeli citizenship. It was unclear how the confrontation began.

In footage published by a third activist who was at the scene, Adele Shoko, the two could be seen in a physical confrontation with two settlers. Later, one of the settlers, who was armed and at one point appeared to raise his weapon at Kharzhanovsky, forced the activist to sit on the ground and shouted, “Sit down, we’ll wait for the police.”

The settlers were subsequently filmed knocking Kharzhanovsky to the ground again.

According to Shoko, Kharzhanovsky lost consciousness several times during the incident but was not taken to a hospital, and instead was arrested alongside Nathaniel.

Footage appeared to show Kharzhanovsky looking dazed and unable to sit upright as he was checked by a medic.

Police said on Thursday that they had received a report of a clash in the area in which two Israeli citizens were attacked, after which police and IDF troops arrested an Israeli citizen and a foreign national, referring to Kharzhanovsky and Nathaniel. No settlers were reported arrested.

Police said they opened an investigation of the incident and were looking into an alleged attempt to steal weapons. The statement did not elaborate on that allegation.

The statement said that at the request of the police, the activists were released but banned from the West Bank for the remainder of the year.



 

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