Monday, November 09, 2026

11/09 Links Pt1: Fauda's Triumph: Confronting the Reality and Brutality of October 7; Brian L. Cox: The ICJ and the Genocide Convention: Is the Court about to change the law?

From Ian:

Fauda's Triumph: Confronting the Reality and Brutality of October 7
The events of the worst day in Israel's history come back to Doron in flashbacks while he pursues a Hamas team in Marseille. Again, the plot tracks reality: In 2025, German, Austrian, and British intelligence, working on Mossad tip-offs, intercepted a Hamas plan to mark the second anniversary of October 7 by massacring Jews in Germany and Austria. If Fauda has retained its knack for trendspotting in terrorism, we should note that in season five, Hamas recruits and trains French leftists as terrorists, much as the PLO did with German leftists in the 1970s.

Fauda offers a real-time reflection of realities that are violently reshaping the Middle East. For Israelis, the fifth season attempts to incorporate a trauma that is still ongoing. The war with Iran is not over. The political reckoning has yet to come; Israel did not hold its first post-October 7 elections until Oct. 27, 2026. Fauda also opens a well-crafted window into the core of a society that Arabs widely despise, distrust, and fear, even as security collaboration is quietly maintained behind the scenes and public ties thaw at the state level. This is important for two reasons.

The Jews of the Mista'aravim can pretend to be Arabs because they are Arabs, culturally speaking, just as European Jews are culturally European and many American Jews, as Frederick Seidel wrote in Sunrise, can pass as "just another/Greek nose in street clothes in/Harvard Yard." More than half of Israeli Jews are descended from Arabic-, Turkish-, Kurdish-, and Persian-speaking communities that never left the Middle East. The official discourse of Arab states denied this for decades and presented Zionism as a European invasion and Israelis as ginger interlopers. American universities, much of American media, and even some Democratic Party candidates still push this line even after the Abraham Accords.

Second, Fauda is candid in ways that Arab shows are not allowed to be candid. The heart of the Israeli state is its legendary security apparatus. Fauda shows a heart riven by human weakness and, especially in the fifth season, broken by strategic failure. It shows Jews as human beings. It shows the reality, obvious to anyone who visits, that the lives of Israelis and Palestinians are intertwined in a small and crowded space, and that they are closest to each other when it comes to the issues on which they are also furthest apart, religion and security.

The motor of the fifth season is the compatibility of the Arab tribal concept of tha'r, blood revenge, with the Jewish tribal concept of nekmat dam. One of the first scenes shows Eli, who has become a religious settler after losing his wife and children on October 7, and his Bedouin friend Salem (Bian Anteer), whose son died with Eli's family, praying in parallel. This is presented in the matter-of-fact way that these things occur in Israel. We do not have to be either happy or clappy when we see them praying. The series is a hard watch, and there is no happy ending; every season of Fauda ends with a small victory that defers the tide of chaos at great personal cost. But it is good to see things as they are, and surprising that a TV series, of all things, should capture so much reality.

The episodes in which we see Hamas murdering Jewish civilians came with a trigger warning. In truth, the fictional representation pulls every punch; you can compare it with the real footage that circulates online. Raz and Issacharoff chose to lessen the impact of the atrocities and show only as much as was needed to justify the response. In this, and not for the first time, Fauda shows that the difference between civilization and barbarism is not a plotline or character conceit.
Khaled Abu Toameh: What Really Lost the US Mid-Term Election? President Trump's Failure to Win Iran's 47-Year War
Iran's participation in discussions about "regional peace" does not, in the slightest, indicate that the Iranian regime is prepared to abandon the policies that have helped it comfortably to destabilize the Middle East for decades.

Had Saudi Arabia joined the Abraham Accords, it might have benefited from a really powerful security partnership – with Israel and the United States. Israel possesses extensive experience in intercepting missiles and drones, sophisticated intelligence capabilities and advanced military technology. Combined with American military power, these capabilities could have offered Saudi Arabia a level of protection and security cooperation that Turkey and Pakistan are unlikely to match. Riyadh's refusal to take that step has left the kingdom pursuing alternative security arrangements whose effectiveness seems hapless at best.

If Saudi Arabia cannot count on its partners to demonstrate military solidarity when it is attacked, what exactly is the purpose of the [Mecca Joint Defense Agreement]?

Rather than demonstrating that attacks against Saudi Arabia carry consequences for Iran and its proxies, the three countries appeared to be asking -- if not begging -- Iran for permission, or at least appealing to its goodwill, to stop the attacks. The Iranian regime doubtless -- and understandably -- interprets such diplomatic efforts not as evidence of regional strength, but as a sign that its neighbors are scared and reluctant to confront it.

For a regime such as Iran's that has repeatedly used military threats and proxy warfare to advance its interests, an approach based primarily on appeals and negotiations only reinforces that intimidation and terrorism work.

The international community should not confuse the eagerness of Iranian officials to host diplomatic meetings with any meaningful change in the regime's dangerous regional policies.

There can be no lasting regional security of any kind while the current Iranian regime, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, retains the ability to threaten its neighbors through armed proxies, maintain its program to acquire nuclear weapons, and brutalize its own people.

US President Donald J. Trump, unless he truly finishes the war that Iran started 47 years ago instead of just saying he did -- and eliminates Iran's bloodthirsty regime -- will sadly go down in history as a failure rather than as one of the great leaders of all time. This can happen only if he eliminates not just Iran's nuclear threat but also eliminates Iran's current regime. Otherwise we will all be here in ten minutes to deal with Iran's new nuclear program again.

Trump's party did not lose the midterm elections because of the war; they lost it because he actually chose not to win it. He evidently allowed himself to be persuaded by Vice President JD Vance and other isolationists that diplomacy with terrorists can be a viable plan. As Trump himself might say, "That is not how it works." Iran already proved as much with the fatal delay caused by the catastrophic Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding that Vance negotiated and that did not make it to sun-up.

Trump and other international leaders in Europe and the Middle East need to stop treating the Iranian regime as a potential partner in "regional stability" and start treating it as the principal source of instability that they must finish confronting -- not accommodating.


Jake Wallis Simons: A war hero whose son was killed in Gaza, Gadi Eisenkot as prime minister would be a victory for democracy – but he's as hawkish as Bibi on Iran
Two months to the day after October 7, 2023, a 25-year-old computer science undergraduate and reservist paratrooper called Gal Eisenkot was on a mission to retrieve the bodies of two Israeli hostages from the rubble of a building in northern Gaza.

As he explored the site, a Hamas booby-trap exploded in a tunnel shaft and, critically injured, he was evacuated by helicopter to hospital, where he died.

Just a few miles away, his father, General Gadi Eisenkot, a heavyset career soldier who had risen to the top of the Israel Defence Forces, was in the operations room at the command base of the IDF's 162nd Division. As a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet, he was one of the most senior decision-makers in Israel.

A shaken officer asked Eisenkot to step outside. 'I understood immediately,' the father-of-five recalled later. Going into 'autopilot', he went home and found his wife, Hannah, putting their granddaughter to sleep. He gathered his family around him and told them that his youngest son had died.

And there was more tragic news to come. The following day, he was informed that his nephew, Sergeant Maor Cohen Eisenkot, had also lost his life in an explosion in Gaza.

Yet five days later, while still observing the traditional seven-day 'shiva' period of Jewish mourning, Eisenkot was to be found at a meeting of the war cabinet at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv. 'Don't make allowances for me,' he told his dumbfounded colleagues. 'Because I don't intend to make allowances for myself. Or for you.'

Almost unbelievably, there was yet more heartache in store for him. Eleven months later, another nephew, Captain Yogev Pazy, was shot by a jihadi while protecting a wounded colleague, yards from where Gal had been killed.

Few men in public life have paid such a price for their country and, when Eisenkot resigned from the government in 2024 and went on to set up a new political party called Yashar, or 'Straight', he attracted a groundswell of support.

But outside Israel, few have heard of Eisenkot. That is about to change. For the 66-year-old, whose coalition of four Jewish opposition parties won 48 seats in Israel's 120-seat parliament in last month's election, was invited by President Isaac Herzog on Saturday to attempt to form a government.

So what do we know about the politician who now has a real chance of calling time on nearly 20 years of the Netanyahu era?

Eisenkot's story begins a long way from the corridors of power. He was born of Jewish Moroccan immigrants on the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel in 1960. When a baby, the family moved to Eilat, a working-class town in Israel's arid southernmost tip, and his father worked in the copper mines of the Timna Valley.

Eisenkot met his wife, Hannah, at high school at a sailing club and went on to pursue maritime and mechanical studies.

It was hardly the gilded upbringing of a member of the Tel Aviv elite. If Eisenkot wins, he will be Israel's first prime minister from the 'Mizrahi' community, the Jews whose families were expelled from Arab lands, and who are often patronised by the European-dominated Israeli establishment.

But Eisenkot was a born fighter. At 18, he was drafted into the Golani Brigade, Israel's legendary working man's infantry unit, the start of a military career that would last 41 years. By the time the 1982 Lebanon War broke out he was a company commander and spent years locked in combat with Hezbollah guerrillas.

He went on to serve as military secretary to two prime ministers and commanded troops in the West Bank at the height of the Second Intifada. In 2006, he was put in charge of the northern front. It was there that he devised the 'Dahiya doctrine', named after the Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut that was flattened during the war. Any village from which Israel was attacked, he warned, would be hit with massive force. 'From our standpoint,' he said, 'these are not civilian villages, they are military bases.'

Clearly, Eisenkot is no dove. In 2015, Netanyahu appointed him chief of staff of the IDF.

Like other opposition figures, Eisenkot criticises Netanyahu's conduct of the war in Iran only because it was not decisive enough.
Commentary Podcast: State of the Jews
John is joined by 2026 Commentary roastee, former Israeli ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, to discuss the state of affairs for Israel in the current moment, the prospects of an anti-American US president, and the massive drawbacks of America rolling back its relationship with Israel due to the rising tide of anti-America and anti-Israel hatred in academia and politics. Plus, a breakdown of the coalition building efforts in Israel after Gadi Eisenkot was tasked with forming a new government, and how might that government differ from the Netanyahu government.


Dr. Brian L. Cox: The ICJ and the Genocide Convention: Is the Court about to change the law?
Webinar recorded on November 3, 2026.

Participants: Prof. Orde Kittrie; Dr. Brian Cox
Moderator: Andrew Tucker
Hosted by thinc. (@thinc-law)

The Genocide Convention requires proof of an intention to destroy a group, as such. To date, the court has maintained a high standard when intent is inferred: intent to destroy the group “must be the only reasonable inference which can be drawn from the pattern of conduct.” The Court is currently preparing its decision in the case of The Gambia vs Myanmar. A number of intervening states have urged the court to lower the threshold for proving “intention” by applying a so-called “holistic” approach.

How likely is it that the Court will adopt this approach?

What are the implications of this for NATO states and other Western nations?

Is the court being manipulated to pave the way for a genocide finding in South Africa's pending case against Israel?




Call me Back: The Muslim Brotherhood in the United States - with Lara Burns and Dalia Ziada
To understand the Muslim Brotherhood, and whether it’s operating in the U.S., Dan speaks with two experts from very different walks of life.

Egyptian human rights activist Dalia Ziada now works with the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy as their Director in Washington D.C. Lara Burns spent more than two decades as an FBI special agent working terrorism cases. She’s now a senior research fellow with the Program on Extremism at George Washington University.

They examine the debate over how to confront extremism while protecting the rights of Muslim Americans, and which political candidates are raising red flags.


EXCLUSIVE: Republican AGs Tell UK and Netherlands To Drop Sanctions on Israeli Companies or Risk US Divestment
Thirteen Republican state attorneys general warned the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Netherlands of potential U.S. divestment should the two nations go through with implementing sanctions against parts of Israel in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. In a new letter shared exclusively with the Washington Free Beacon, the attorneys general, led by Iowa's Brenna Bird, say the sanctions "impose potentially severe economic harm on individuals and businesses in other nations—including those within our States" and are in line with the goals of Hamas and Hezbollah.

The letter was sent Monday to the British and Dutch ambassadors to the United States by Iowa's Bird, Alabama's Steve Marshall, Louisiana's Liz Murrill, Arkansas's Tim Griffin, Mississippi's Lynn Fitch, Missouri's Catherine Hanaway, Florida's James Uthmeier, Montana's Austin Knudsen, Georgia's Chris Karr, Ohio's Andy Wilson, Oklahoma's Gentner Drummond, and South Carolina's Alan Wilson. The attorneys general urged the two nations "to rescind or halt implementation of the recently enacted trade sanctions against Israel or any component of Israel" or potentially face consequences from the United States Trade Representative and from individual states that have passed laws targeting antisemitic boycott campaigns against Israel.

"The economic harm that you are threatening on our States and our citizens may warrant remedies under U.S. trade law," the attorneys general write. United States law allows the United States Trade Representative to pursue "appropriate and feasible action within the power of the President" to ensure the cessation of "unjustifiable" burdens on American commerce imposed by foreign nations. "We reserve our right to pursue such remedies if you persist in your anti-Israel campaign," the attorneys general said.

Because of many U.S. laws preventing certain states from doing business with entities boycotting or divesting from Israel, the sanctions could deprive British and Dutch citizens of "goods, services, and technology that are essential to their everyday lives and their economic wellbeing," the attorneys general added.

Several billionaires left the United Kingdom as its Labour government issued new sanctions targeting "illegal settlements and settlement expansion," as British foreign secretary Ed Miliband described them. The planned Dutch sanctions are also, in theory, aimed at "extremist settlers and organisations which support them." The West Bank is home to a budding Israeli wine industry operated not by "extremist settlers" but by international businessmen. One owner of a kosher wine store in London told the Jerusalem Post that the sanctions would knock out "more than half of our inventory."

In response to Great Britain's sanctions, Israel closed the U.K. consulate in Jerusalem and expelled several diplomats from its borders in September. Soon after, the Jewish state announced it would revoke the diplomatic status of Dutch envoys to the Palestinian Authority over a previous bevy of sanctions from Prime Minister Rob Jetten's government.
Israeli defense giant IWI, Dutch defense company sign Netherlands-based arms production deal
Israeli firearms maker Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) and Dutch defense company Artillerie Inrichtingen Armaments (AIA) plan to manufacture and assemble IWI weapon systems in the Netherlands, the companies said on Monday.

IWI, known for the development of the Uzi submachine gun, is the main weapons supplier for the IDF and Israel Police.

Under the planned cooperation agreement, AIA will begin manufacturing and assembling the ARAD 5 rifle and the NEGEV UX in a factory that will be built in the Netherlands.

IWI will provide AIA with the underlying technology, product expertise, and manufacturing know-how, while AIA will establish the Dutch manufacturing operation and the infrastructure to deliver and support the products.

The planned cooperation between the two defense companies is expected to create the foundation for long-term domestic production, technical expertise, and lifecycle support in the Netherlands. The Negev UX.

Assembly will start at AIA's site in Tilburg, with the possibility of moving to a different location in the near future, the companies said.

Production will be phased, starting with assembly, followed by partial production in the Netherlands and eventually full domestic production, AIA said, without giving specific timeframes or investment figures.

AIA added that the Dutch government was not involved in the agreement.
At G7 summit, Rubio puts International Criminal Court in crosshairs
Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Monday that the United States could inflict “tremendous damage” on the International Criminal Court unless it changes course, while reaffirming President Donald Trump’s push to transition U.S. military assistance to Israel from military financing toward conventional weapons sales.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Paris, Rubio also revealed that Washington views two or three candidates favorably in the race to become the next United Nations secretary-general, though he declined to identify them publicly.

The remarks came as G7 foreign ministers gathered for two days of discussions on major international conflicts — including the wars involving Iran and Russia — amid sharp policy disagreements between Washington and its European allies over the ICC and broader Middle East strategy.

Rubio reiterated the administration’s firm opposition to the ICC’s assertion of jurisdiction over nationals of countries that are not parties to its founding treaty. The organization has previously issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza, even as Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute.

“We raise it everywhere we go, and that is the ICC as a court that continues to claim that they have jurisdiction over individuals from countries that are not members of that treaty,” Rubio said. “And we’ve tried for a year and a half to get them to reform [in] a nice way, and they haven’t been willing to do so. So we’ll have to try a different approach.”

“I’m not going to talk about what we might do or not do as a result of it,” he continued. “Suffice it to say that we believe we can inflict tremendous damage on the ICC, unless they see the error of their ways.”

While the Trump administration has already imposed sanctions on the court and its officials, Rubio did not specify what additional measures Washington might pursue. He cited severe concerns that its jurisdictional overreach could eventually set a precedent for prosecuting American service members, similar justification to his announcement of a major diplomatic offensive against the ICC in July.

“Bottom line is, we’re not going to have some American servicemen or American military commander standing trial at some illegitimate court that we’re not a member of. It’s as simple as that,” Rubio said.


Two Christian charities say United Nations shouldn’t be allowed to intervene in their lawsuit against Francesca Albanese
The United Nations shouldn’t be allowed to assert that Francesca Albanese, a U.N. special rapporteur, holds immunity in a civil lawsuit in which two U.S. Christian charities allege that she defamed them, the National Jewish Advocacy Center said last week.

The center represents Christian Friends of Israeli Communities and Christians for Israel USA. It said in a filing last week that Albanese was improperly granted a second term as an unpaid U.N. adviser—what the global body calls an “independent expert”—which nullifies her mandate.

The National Jewish Advocacy Center also told the court that Albanese has no claim of immunity after the U.S. federal government sanctioned her for harassing and intimidating American businesses and organizations with ties to Israel.

A federal magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado recommended last week that the court grant a motion, made on the last day before Albanese was to default, letting the United Nations intervene.

“Special rapporteur Albanese is an expert on mission for the United Nations and enjoys immunity from legal process of every kind in connection with the performance of her mission, including in relation to this complaint,” Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, told JNS.

“You will appreciate that we cannot discuss the details of this case,” Dujarric said.

The charities were among those who received threatening letters from Albanese as she readied a report, in which she alleged that nonprofits and others involved with Israel could face war crimes and crimes against humanity charges in international court.

The report led Washington to sanction Albanese, whom Jewish and other groups have long accused of antisemitism.

The two charities accuse Albanese of making false statements tying them to “genocide” and war crimes in Gaza and “knowingly spreading malicious lies.”

The two say that they focus on building friendships between Christians and Jews and supporting communities in Israel. Albanese’s accusations caused them reputational harm and hindered their ability to carry out their work, they allege. They also say that Albanese intended to cause them such harm.

Albanese accused Christians for Israel of financially supporting Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and training residents on using guns. The nonprofit said that claims of military aid are false and that it is involved in humanitarian aid to prospective and new immigrants to Israel and elderly Holocaust survivors and assistance for Arab Christians in the region.

Christian Friends of Israeli Communities said that it supports projects for disabled and elderly Israelis and children in Judea and Samaria.


Trump says further military action against Iran 'doesn’t seem necessary,’ reveals Tehran is talking
US President Donald Trump said Monday that further military action against Iran did not appear necessary at this stage, expressing optimism that the conflict could end soon while warning that American forces remained prepared to resume major operations if circumstances changed.

Speaking during an unscheduled White House press briefing alongside UFC president Dana White, Trump said the US was maintaining military pressure on Tehran partly at the request of neighboring countries, which he said preferred preserving the current situation rather than escalating the war.

“At this point, taking the military action doesn’t seem to be a very necessary thing. But we’re locked and loaded, ready to go for any reason that changes,” Trump said.

He added, “Israel and the entire Middle East are protected from Iranian danger and threats, and we’re seeing momentum toward the end of this conflict. I think it’s going to be ending fairly soon.”

The president argued that the military campaign had already achieved its principal objectives and that Washington was now focused on securing a lasting outcome.

“Iran militarily is effectively over. We’re just keeping it the status quo, and we’re doing that really at the behest of countries that are their neighbors,” he said.

Asked why he would not simply declare the conflict over after repeatedly claiming to have eliminated Iran’s nuclear weapons capabilities, Trump pointed to the security of American allies in the region.

“Because we have some great allies there, and we have to make sure they’re not hurt, and they would be hurt,” he said.

Trump continued, “They are right now a lot safer than they were six months ago because Iran’s been very much decapitated.”

“We want to make sure it’s a long-term solution, not just the short term. They’ll never have a nuclear weapon, but we have to make sure that’s long-term," he said.


Iran-linked hackers claim to be behind distribution of threatening flyers in Tel Aviv
The Israel Police and Shin Bet security agency are investigating flyers that were found in Tel Aviv on Monday, for which an Iran-linked hacker group claimed responsibility.

The flyers, which feature a QR code, were found in mailboxes at several addresses in northern Tel Aviv, according to police. Police said the QR code linked to a webpage containing “threatening content.”

A screenshot shared by police showed that the website is titled “Warning from Handala team,” a hacker group linked to Iran that has previously published the contents of devices belonging to Israeli officials.

A message in broken Hebrew was written on the site warning Israelis that if “your leaders once again act foolishly and attack the energy infrastructure of the resistance front, you must be prepared to pay the heavy price for this aggression.”

“On that day, not a single power station, oil refinery or water desalination facility will remain in the occupied territories,” the message read, referring to Israel. “From south to north, your energy and water arteries will shatter like glass.”

“This is the final warning. The choice is yours: wisdom, or sinking into darkness and the silence of catastrophe,” the website continued.

Police said that officers arrived at the addresses in Tel Aviv and collected the flyers as evidence for an investigation, which the force will conduct jointly with the Shin Bet.

On its Telegram channel, the Handala hacker group took credit for the operation, claiming that it had distributed “hundreds of thousands” of leaflets in the “heart of Tel Aviv,” calling the operation “A Shock to the Illusion of Zionist Security!”

The group claimed that “dozens” of Handala operatives took part in the operation, threatening: “Last night, you heard our voice from the heart of Tel Aviv, repeat your foolishness and you’ll learn the true meaning of threat and the collapse of your security in the shadows.”

Over the past two years, Israeli authorities have arrested dozens of people on suspicion of carrying out acts on behalf of Iran in exchange for money.
France suspects Iran-backed hackers in refrigeration attack
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Monday accused the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of being behind a recent cyberattack on French supermarket fridges, saying there would be consequences for the country.

Meanwhile, the Paris prosecutor's office said it had requested international arrest warrants against the leader of Shahid Kaveh, an offensive cyber unit affiliated with the IRGC, and his two deputies.

If the accusation is confirmed, that would make the hacks among the most disruptive cyberattacks of the war with Iran, which began in February and has been marked by scattered incidents of alleged cyber disruption. These have included disruptions to the Los Angeles transit system in March, US water treatment plants in July, and ships bound for the United States in August.

The French foreign ministry and the Paris prosecutor's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not return messages seeking comment. Iran routinely denies carrying out malicious cyber operations.

The October 11 cyberattack, which overrode the temperature controls on commercial fridges in hundreds of establishments, appeared easy to pull off, cybersecurity experts previously told Reuters. The firm behind many of the stricken units said that several were obsolete or were running outdated firmware, which could have made it easy for hackers to break in.


Defense Ministry recognizes flydubai passengers as victims of hostile incident
Israeli passengers who were aboard flydubai Flight 1073 on September 30 will be recognized as victims of a hostile incident, the Defense Ministry announced on Monday.

The recognition is expected to grant those on board the flight some sort of monetary compensation, as well as potential access to government-subsidized services.

The flight in question was en route from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30 when the copilot, Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, attacked the Indian captain, Smit Machchhar, and attempted to crash the aircraft, whose passengers were mostly Israeli.

The plane plunged thousands of feet before several Israeli passengers burst into the cockpit, whose door Machchhar had managed to open while under attack, immobilized the terrorist copilot and initially stabilized the plane.

Two off-duty pilots aboard the flight then took over the controls and made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia before a replacement aircraft returned passengers to Tel Aviv.

“Following official confirmation from the authorized investigative bodies in the State of Israel, the Defense Ministry’s approving authority recognized the attempted attack on the ‘flydubai’ flight as a hostile incident,” the ministry said Monday.

“The decision has been forwarded to the National Insurance Institute, which is in contact with those affected, for further handling,” the announcement added. Passengers from flydubai flight FZ1073, who survived an attempted terror attack, walk with their family members through the arrivals hall at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, September 30, 2026, after returning home on another flydubai flight. (Flash90)

The National Insurance Institute said in a statement that citizens “who sustained a physical or mental injury” can file a claim with the body.

Nobody onboard the flight was killed in the attack, although several were lightly wounded from the steep descent, while Machchhar was seriously wounded with stab wounds to the head.

The near-disaster aboard Flight 1073 exposed major flaws in Israel’s security procedures, especially for incoming foreign flights, with no effective oversight of the airlines’ vetting of pilots, no Israeli vetting of the crews, and aircrew lists routinely submitted only after planes have taken off.
IDF arrests 10 suspected terrorists over attack plot in Samaria
Israeli security forces arrested 10 suspected terrorists in northern Samaria on Monday morning for allegedly establishing a terrorist network and planning an attack on Israeli civilians, the Israel Defense Forces said.

IDF soldiers and Border Police officers, acting on intelligence from the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet), conducted coordinated raids at several locations near the Palestinian town of Arraba, southwest of Jenin.

The suspects were transferred for further questioning, the military said.
Israeli-Palestinian group says IDF West Bank chief must be sanctioned for ‘ethnic cleansing’
The Combatants for Peace organization, an Israeli-Palestinian group that opposes Israeli rule in the West Bank, called on the foreign ministers of the EU, UK, Canada, and Australia to sanction the head of the IDF Central Command, Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, over his alleged role in assisting with the recent establishment of a settlement outpost on the outskirts of the Palestinian city of Jericho.

In its letter on Monday, Combatants for Peace pointed out that as part of his role, Bluth is responsible for protecting the Palestinian population in the West Bank, but accused him of carrying out “ethnic cleansing” against Palestinians in the territory.

The organization made a similar request to sanction Bluth earlier this year, due to what it alleged was his failure to prevent violence against Palestinian civilians by both IDF soldiers and settlers, amid a surge in settler attacks.

“The rapid deterioration in the West Bank demonstrates the urgent need to impose sanctions on Israeli officials involved in it, rather than targeting mainly far-right Israeli organizations and activists,” Combatants for Peace wrote in its letter to the foreign ministers.

“In light of our previous request to sanction Major General Bluth for his role as the official and de facto commander of the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, as well as his personal involvement in facilitating the establishment of a new settlement in Jericho, we urge you to add him immediately to your respective sanctions lists,” the group continued, stating that such sanctions may influence his conduct and may also deter other IDF officers from similar conduct.

The letter was sent by Israeli lawyer and human rights activist Eitay Mack on behalf of Combatants for Peace to the EU’s chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas; UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband; Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong; and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand.

Last week, several dozen settlers associated with the Nachala settlement organization took up residence in eight buildings in a Jericho suburb, which Nachala said it had purchased in a secretive operation it only announced once settlers had entered the homes.

According to a report in Haaretz, Bluth was notified in advance of the plan but did nothing to prevent it, and even met with the settlers in advance of their entry into Jericho, and instructed them not to tip off top officers under his command until they had moved into the buildings.

The IDF said the report was false, but did not elaborate further.
PA temporarily bars Arab Israelis from land transactions after settlers buy homes near Jericho
The Palestinian Authority temporarily suspended land registration transactions last week for people holding Israeli citizenship or Jerusalem residency, following the purchase of eight homes by Jewish activists near Jericho, a city in Area A, according to an official announcement by the Palestinian Land Authority.

Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch, director of the Initiative for Palestinian Authority Accountability and Reform at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, argued that the PA likely believed the Israeli Jews had acquired the homes with the assistance of Israeli Arabs.

Palestinian law treats the sale or lease of land to Israeli Jews as an act of treason, which can carry severe penalties, including life imprisonment with hard labor and potentially the death penalty. In 2019, a Nablus court sentenced a Palestinian man to five years in prison for allegedly attempting to sell land to Israeli Jews. In 2018, a Kalkilya court sentenced two Palestinian men to 15 years of hard labor for their involvement in a network seeking to transfer West Bank land to Israeli Jews.

'Extending consequences beyond Palestinians living under PA jurisdiction'
“The decision exposes a fundamental contradiction in Palestinian Authority policy. While the PA considers Arab citizens and residents of Israel to be Palestinians, it now treats their Israeli citizenship as grounds for restricting their property transactions,” Hirsch wrote in a publication for the JCPA.

He added: “The PA’s latest restrictions on Israeli Arab property transactions represent another dimension of this policy, extending its consequences beyond Palestinians living under PA jurisdiction to Arab citizens and residents of Israel.”

The PA has long regarded the approximately two million Arab citizens of Israel as Palestinian, regardless of their integration into Israeli society, military service, or self-described identities. However, the latest suspension, though a temporary restriction that has now been lifted, introduced one of the first distinctions based on the Israeli citizenship and residency status of Arabs.

Despite the Oslo Accords excluding Israeli citizens from the PA’s personal jurisdiction, the PA has attempted to prosecute Israeli Arabs in the past for their alleged roles in land transfers to Jews and other alleged crimes.
Palestinian Authority arrests suspects involved in sale of Jericho homes to settlers
The Palestinian Authority has arrested several suspects in connection with the sale of West Bank homes on the outskirts of Jericho to Israeli settlers, in violation of PA laws.

Palestinian Authority security forces spokesman Anwar Rajab told Palestinian radio that those arrested are suspected of involvement in the “takeover of land in the Ad-Duyuk area of Jericho.”

Last week, several dozen settlers associated with the Nachala settlement organization took up residence in eight buildings in the Jericho suburb, which Nachala said it had purchased in a secretive operation it announced only once the settlers had entered the homes.

The Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported that those arrested by the PA were brokers involved in transferring the homes to settlers and that they had been remanded in custody for 15 days.

Palestinian Authority law prohibits the sale of land to an “enemy state” or its citizens, including Israeli citizens. In practice, the provision is enforced primarily against sales to Israeli Jews, rather than Arab citizens of Israel.

Ad-Duyuk al-Tahta, where the homes were purchased, is located in Area C of the West Bank, which is under full Israeli civil and security control under the Oslo Accords. It is adjacent to Jericho, a city of over 20,000 people, which is in Area A and under full PA control.

According to reports, the homes purchased by the settlers are located on Israeli state land, and the Palestinians who built them did so illegally. The settlers claimed to have purchased the homes with the cooperation of the Binyamin Regional Council, a state-funded settlement municipal authority.

The Binyamin Regional Council also claimed the buildings are on state land. But it is unclear how the council would have been able to purchase the land if it had not been privately owned by Palestinians.
US prepares to deploy 250 foreign troops in Gaza as Israel opposes Turkish involvement
The Israeli government has authorized the US to deploy an initial multinational force of approximately 250 foreign troops in Gaza, security officials told Walla on Monday.

Foreign military officers accompanied by US troops have been spotted near the Gaza Strip border over the past two weeks, as preparations advance for the deployment.

Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Uganda, and Albania have so far expressed willingness to participate in the force. Kazakhstan has offered medical and logistical assistance, while Kosovo has proposed supporting security and policing operations.

Israel concerned over Turkish involvement and rapid deployment of multinational force
One of the factors delaying the formation of the multinational force is pressure from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Washington to allow Turkey to participate in operations in Gaza, as part of Ankara's efforts to expand its regional influence, according to Walla.

Officials in Jerusalem and the Israeli defense establishment strongly oppose Turkish involvement, citing Ankara's policies toward Israel, Erdogan's statements, and Turkey's hosting of Hamas's terrorist headquarters.

According to Israeli assessments, Hamas's headquarters in Turkey directed a terrorist attack near Hebron more than two weeks ago in which two IDF soldiers were killed.

Israeli defense officials are also concerned about Washington's future policies toward Israel and the speed at which the multinational force could enter Gaza.

These concerns come amid fears that senior US administration officials could adopt a more hostile stance toward Israel, particularly following Republican losses in the midterm elections.

"It is not unrealistic that the Gaza Division and Southern Command could wake up one day and discover that there is a foreign multinational force with more soldiers than the number of troops in the Gaza Division. Israel needs to be prepared for several diplomatic and security scenarios with implications on the ground," a security official said.



 



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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



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