New York City officials from departments as varied as sanitation and small-business services gathered at City Hall in Lower Manhattan on Thursday for the inaugural meeting of New York’s interagency task force on antisemitism, an initiative of the Office to Combat Antisemitism. It was created in May under Executive Order 51.

Randy Mastro, the deputy mayor of the city, addressed a diverse group of agency representatives to underscore the urgency of their mission. (JNS was among the few outlets invited to observe the meeting.)

“This year, over 60% of hate crimes in our city are against Jews,” he told the group of city officials. “I never thought I would live in the greatest city in the world—with the largest Jewish population of any city in the world—and see this level of antisemitism. It’s wrong, it’s intolerable, and we have to do something about it.”

“Unfortunately, we haven’t always been a perfect vessel, but nothing short of perfection will do,” he said at the meeting. “We need zero tolerance, and so the work you’re going to do here today—the coordination with each and every one of your agencies and policies—is critical to the success of this initiative.”

Moshe Davis, executive director of the new mayoral office to combat antisemitism, told JNS that the task force meeting was convened to advance the implementation of Executive Order 52, which adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism in June.

“One of the topics we discussed in our meeting was: How can you create policy? How can you create agencies to be proactive and not just reactive,” he said. “This definition helps us do that—we’re not looking to police speech, and we’re not telling people what they should think or how they should think. But we do want our city employees not to be racist, and we want them to be addressing the needs and interests of the Jewish community.”

Davis told JNS that addressing Jew-hatred means engaging city agencies across the board, including some that might not typically be associated with fighting antisemitism.

“We have core partners who are part of the executive order, like the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force, the Human Rights Commission and Community Affairs, but then there are also other agencies that interact with the Jewish community every day,” he said. “Take the Parks Department, for instance—about 4% of hate crimes are happening in parks. Parks can respond directly by removing vandalism, like swastikas, right away, and they can also implement educational initiatives or partner with other agencies to take proactive measures.”

Arrests, prosecution, education

The interagency task force meeting also discussed crime-related hotspots in the city, including the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Crown Heights, Williamsburg and Midwood, in addition to the Upper East Side in Manhattan, all of which have sizable Jewish populations.

“These neighborhoods have seen rising hate crimes of all kinds, and as a result, we need to focus more on these specific communities, especially since they have significant Jewish populations,” Davis told JNS. “It’s essential to take a city-wide approach to address everything that’s happening. In Crown Heights, for example, we’ve seen protests targeting synagogues, as well as incidents where people are being assaulted on the street.”

He said that “these situations require arrests, follow-up prosecution and proactive education initiatives.”

Davis told JNS that city agencies are motivated to confront the rise of Jew-hatred directly, with many expressing a desire to be part of the solution.

“People are saying, ‘This is a real problem in our city, and we want to help fix it. We’re in,’” he said. “Every city representative in the meeting said, ‘Give me the marching orders.’”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement on Thursday that antisemitism is a “pervasive ugly disease that has sadly infiltrated so many sectors of our city, but we will never allow that to stand unanswered under our administration.”

He stated, “We continue to tackle this crisis head-on by rooting out hateful rhetoric and ensuring it has no place in even the most remote corners of our city government. From schools to sanitation to police, our administration will never allow antisemitism, or any other form of hate, to persist.”

Adams added that “we will continue to build a future in which every New Yorker can live without any fear of hatred.”

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U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee arrived on Wednesday at the Tel Aviv District Court to observe the proceedings of Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing trial. This particular act of solidarity with the Israeli prime minister followed a number of statements by President Donald Trump expressing outrage at the “politically motivated case.”

Trump went further, urging that the trial be canceled “immediately” or that Netanyahu be granted a pardon. As was to be anticipated, the very activists and pundits who’d spent years in cahoots with the Biden administration to “rescue Israel from Netanyahu” have been in a tizzy over what they consider inexcusable American intervention in Israel’s internal affairs.

The hypocrisy would be hilarious if it weren’t so egregious. Ditto for the fact that the hearing Huckabee had come to attend was suddenly deemed a closed-door session. So, the U.S. envoy and the rest of the viewing public were sent away.

It’s unclear whether the move was related to the presence of Huckabee, who was photographed clutching a Bugs Bunny doll as he greeted Netanyahu and Amir Ohana, the Speaker of the Knesset. This was more than an inside joke.

The stuffed cartoon character’s role in the trial has become widely known and rightly ridiculed, turning the prosecution into a laughing stock. For anyone unfamiliar with this element of the overall farce, a little recap is in order.

To illustrate Netanyahu’s longstanding relationship with Bezeq shareholder Shaul Elovitch—on whose behalf he allegedly authorized beneficial regulatory decisions in exchange for favorable media coverage in the Walla news site—prosecutors pointed to the 1996 purchase of the toy in question.

Apparently, Elovitch was asked by Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, to buy a Bugs Bunny doll for the couple’s then-5-year-old son, Yair. According to the story on which the prime minister was grilled ad nauseam, Elovitch schlepped around New York City in the rain to comply.

When the prime minister said he recalled something about a Bugs Bunny gift but was vague on the details, since the event happened nearly three decades ago, prosecutors accused him of possessing a selectively poor memory.

Later, Netanyahu would quip that he hadn’t realized the trial was about “Who Killed Roger Rabbit?” And his supporters dubbed the silly business “Bugs Bunny-gate.”

This is merely a taste of the travesty that Trump referred to on Truth Social as a “WITCH HUNT” against Bibi, who “deserves much better than this, and so does the State of Israel.” For a deeper dive into the deep-state persecution of Israel’s democratically elected leader, there’s a new Hebrew-language film with English subtitles that spells it out.

“The Trial: Part 2” is a sequel to the first documentary on the topic, released in October 2022—a month before the Knesset elections that resulted in the current, Netanyahu-led government.

Part 1 gives a run-down of the indictments—spurred by a 2015 hit job in the far-left newspaper Haaretz—with a focus on the bribery charge, the most serious of the three. The lesser two are fraud and breach of trust.

Part 2 shows how flimsy the bribery case is since Elovitch didn’t receive regulatory benefits for Bezeq, and Bibi wasn’t treated to puff-piece reportage by Walla. Not only that.

Through interviews with legal eagles and other knowledgeable sources, it demonstrates that nobody involved in the attempt to criminalize Netanyahu thought that he would persist in proving his innocence. In other words, the lawyers preparing the cases didn’t imagine they’d end up before the bench.

The 19-minute video covers four categories of “facts.” The first is introduced with text reading, “Judges to prosecution: Drop the bribery charge. You don’t have enough evidence!”

Here, the narrator recounts, “At the end of June 2023, the judges inform the prosecutors that there are difficulties in establishing the bribery offense in the indictment.  Against the background of these difficulties, it was suggested that the state consider dropping the bribery charge.”

“Such a statement by the judges is very, very dramatic,” says former State Attorney’s Office Adv. Rachel Wozner in the film. It’s especially notable, she adds, since this was still during the prosecution phase, before a single defense witness had taken the stand.

Furthermore, as is underscored by Knesset member Adv. Moshe Saada, another former official at the State Attorney’s Office, “Bribery is the main offense, which carries a 10-year prison sentence. Breach of trust is an offense they wouldn’t file an indictment for at all. It’s like a person has a murder case and is also charged with running a red light. Then the court comes and says, ‘Listen, there’s no murder in this case.’ Is a red light relevant to anyone [after that]?”

Nevertheless, the state prosecutors wouldn’t budge.

About this, renowned constitutional and criminal law professor Alan Dershowitz tells his interviewer: “I think the prosecution made a serious mistake and hurt their own credibility, both with the judges and with the public, by going forward in the face of a fairly clear statement by the judges that [they] don’t have the evidence to prosecute successfully in this case.”

The second “fact” exposed is titled, “Senior law enforcement officials: The working assumption was that Netanyahu would resign rather than fight.”

The narrator proceeds, “On June 28, 2023, former Israel Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh said in an interview on Army Radio: “No one could have guessed that ultimately the prime minister would choose not to resign and fight from within the system.”

Professor Yuval Elbashan from the faculty of law at Ono Academic College in the Tel Aviv District calls the above “shocking.” He explains that what can be inferred from it is the assumption that the police and state prosecutors expected Netanyahu to give up the fight and make a plea bargain.

“This means,” he asserts, “that the case wasn’t built from the start for a courtroom confrontation, but as a pressure tool on the prime minister.”

The third “fact” opens with, “Two state witnesses sue the state: We were tortured and humiliated.”

The narrator goes on, “State witness Nir Hefetz sues the police and prosecution for more than 10 million shekels (about $3 million), allegedly due to his detention and interrogation conditions. State witness Shlomo Filber sues former senior officials in the police and prosecution for 10 million shekels due to events he allegedly experienced during detention and interrogations.”

Of this, Dershowitz opines, “In my 60 years in practicing criminal law in the United States and around the world, I’ve never seen such a messy case, where witnesses are suing the state and the prosecutors.”

The fourth “fact” is headlined, “The prosecution and the judges: Even in the midst of a multi-front war, Netanyahu’s testimony cannot be postponed.”

From the narrator: “The defense phase began on Dec. 10, 2024, after the defense’s requests to postpone the prime minister’s testimony by two and a half months were rejected by the prosecution and judges. Initially, three sessions per week were set, and later the judges agreed to hear the PM’s testimony two times a week.”

Dershowitz responds, “I don’t know of any other country that would require its leader during wartime to spend so much of his time in court on so frivolous a case. In the United States, this could never happen.”

It’s particularly striking that the people interviewed for the documentary are not all supporters of Netanyahu, to put it mildly. Take former Justice Minister Haim Ramon, for instance.

“I think Netanyahu should have resigned after Oct. 7, and I very much hope he won’t be prime minister after the [next] elections,” Ramon announces. “But at the ballot box. By the people. The public. Only the public will decide. But in Israel, there’s been no democracy for a long time. There’s only substantive democracy, which means there isn’t.”

Elbashan, no Bibi voter himself, concludes that this “is not just a criminal case against Benjamin Netanyahu. It has become the cornerstone of this thing called the ‘law-enforcement system.’”

Professor Moshe Cohen-Eliya, a leading expert in comparative constitutional law, sums it up nicely. “What we’re seeing here is a country in the throes of an ‘anybody but Bibi’ psychosis,” he notes.

And he didn’t even have to submit Bugs Bunny as Exhibit A to prove it.

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The reason that the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting about the situation in Syria was not the “systematic prosecution of minorities in Syria and the dangerous consequences that extend far beyond its borders,” Jonathan Miller, the deputy Israeli ambassador to the global body, told the council on Thursday.

The meeting was “a politically motivated move” to condemn Israel while the council ignored the “serious crisis” that has unfolded in Syria in the past two months, Miller said.

“Civilians murdered and slaughtered in cold blood. Communities decimated. Elders stripped of their humanity and mocked, cultural heritage erased,” he told the council. “This is not incidental. Unfortunately, it is emerging as a pattern.”

Sweida, a majority-Druze city, has been the site of reported executions, rapes and degrading treatment in clashes with Bedouin tribes over the past week. The Syrian government said it sought to restore order, but Israel accused it of adding to the bloodshed. Many Israeli Druze crossed the border in an attempt to help, leading to a fear of escalating violence.

The Syrian interior ministry announced a ceasefire on Thursday.

An Israeli official reportedly said on Friday that Syrian internal security forces would be allowed limited access to Suweida for two days to help quell renewed clashes as thousands more Bedouin fighters entered the area.

Israel carried out air strikes on “jihadist militants” due to the Jewish state’s “unwavering moral obligation to safeguard the Druze population, with whom we share deep historic and national bonds.”

“Their pain is our pain,” he said. “Their safety is our concern.”

Israel doesn’t intend to get involved in internal Syrian politics. “Our interests are limited, clear and legitimate,” Miller said. “We seek to maintain reasonable stability on our northern border.”

Members of the council called for probes of the attacks on the Druze. Many attacked Israel as well.

Khaled Khiari, assistant U.N. secretary‑general for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, said Israeli strikes on Syrian government office buildings, military installations and near the presidential palace are “escalatory.”

“In addition to violating Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, Israel’s actions undermine efforts to build a new Syria at peace with itself and the region, and further destabilize Syria at a sensitive time,” the U.N. official said.

Vasily Nebenzya, the Russian envoy to the global body, said his country condemns the Israeli strikes “unequivocally.”

Barbara Woodward, the British envoy to the United Nations, said, “We are deeply concerned by Israel’s escalatory strikes in Damascus.”

“We repeat our call for Israel to refrain from actions that risk destabilizing Syria and the wider region,” she said.

Jérôme Bonnafont, the French ambassador to the United Nations, told the council something similar, stating that Syria is “eager” for “peaceful relations with its neighbors.”

“Everything must be done to help Syria become a center of stability in the Middle East,” he said.

Koussay Aldahhak, the Syrian envoy to the global body, accused Israel of using sectarian violence as “pretexts” for military actions and “seizing natural resources.”

The United States, which lifted some sanctions and foreign terrorist organization designations to grant legitimacy to the Syrian government, called on it “to lead on determining the path forward.”

“While the United States did not support recent Israeli strikes, we are engaging diplomatically with Israel and Syria at the highest levels, both to address the present crisis and reach a lasting agreement between two sovereign states,” said Dorothy Shea, the U.S. interim ambassador to the United Nations.

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By any historical measure, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump are reshaping the world. Their alliance has helped deter global catastrophe.

The two leaders worked in close coordination to counter Iran’s nuclear ambitions and reshape the Middle East. Their partnership began before the 2020 Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Muslim-majority states. In June, that alliance deepened when Trump authorized a decisive U.S. strike on Iran’s underground nuclear facilities, an operation that reflected the long-standing strategic cooperation between the two leaders. The full scale of their achievements may only be understood in hindsight.

But Jewish history reminds us that downfall can easily follow victory, especially when unmitigated and unchecked.

The Hasmonean dynasty once stood for strength and sovereignty. Generations after defeating the Seleucids, however, their descendants fell due to internal rivalries and external dependencies. In 63 BCE, two Hasmonean heirs—Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II—fought for the throne and invited Rome to decide. The Roman general Pompey entered Jerusalem as a so-called arbitrator. Instead, he seized the city and ended Jewish independence.

What began as domestic infighting became Roman occupation. What began as an appeal to a superpower ally ended in the loss of sovereignty.

This is not merely an ancient cautionary tale. We are living with its echoes.

Today, Israel is divided over political reforms, the scope of executive and judicial power, and the legitimacy of its institutions. The corruption trial of Netanyahu has become a national fault line. Into this internal drama, Trump has stepped in, calling on Israel to end the witch hunt and halt the proceedings against Netanyahu. Some see support. Others see pressure. But all could see what it is: a foreign leader intervening directly in Israel’s internal political system.

This is not a criticism of Trump. On the contrary, his support for Israel remains one of the most significant expressions of American-Israeli partnership in modern memory. But the lesson of history remains: Even friendly interventions carry a price. One president’s favor can become another’s leverage.

This is not speculation but precedent.

During the Obama administration, pressure on Israeli housing policy, defense posture and coalition composition became routine. In 2011, Obama publicly condemned settlement construction and withheld U.N. vetoes to force diplomatic concessions. Let’s not forget former President Barack Obama’s V15 interference with Israeli elections and his parting gift to Israel at the United Nations in 2016. Under former President Joe Biden, officials openly criticized Israel’s domestic policies, with members of Congress calling for aid restrictions. In both cases, it was often Israeli voices, especially on the left, who welcomed foreign condemnation as a tool to influence internal policy.

But that’s the trap: left or right, coalition or opposition, inviting foreign intervention is always a losing bet. Once the door is opened, you can’t control who walks in or what they demand.

We are in the midst of the Jewish period known as “The Three Weeks”—from 17 Tammuz, the day Jerusalem’s walls were breached, to 9 Av, the day the two Temples were destroyed. These are not just fast days but reminders of what happens when we collapse from within. The Talmud teaches that the Second Temple was destroyed not because of Rome’s might alone but because of sinat chinam, “baseless hatred”: Jew fighting Jew, faction against faction. When division reaches a boiling point, foreign influence fills the vacuum.

That is what happened when Pompey entered Jerusalem. It’s what happened when Rome replaced the Sanhedrin’s authority with their own courts. And it is what will happen again if we outsource our sovereignty in exchange for a temporary advantage.

This doesn’t mean that Israel should isolate itself. Strategic alliances are essential, but alliances must never become dependencies. Sovereignty must be rooted in internal trust, not external validation. That means a defense strategy independent of shifting U.S. politics. It means a judicial system that earns public respect on its own merit, not because of outside approval or threats. It means Israelis, across the political spectrum, taking responsibility for resolving our own disputes among themselves. Because when they don’t, others will.

Already, we see Trump pressuring Israel over Netanyahu’s legal fate. Most strikingly, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee made an unprecedented appearance in Netanyahu’s courtroom in mid‑July, explicitly aligning with the president’s call to halt the trial. We saw Biden officials weighing in on internal reforms. We see Israeli factions using these voices to their political advantage. But all these acts from both sides chip away at the one thing we must protect above all: the ability to govern ourselves.

Israel must become self-reliant, not just in weapons and economy but in justice, unity and moral clarity. Sovereignty is not maintained by elections alone. It is upheld by a society that can resolve its own crises without appealing to foreign courts, foreign media or foreign leaders.

Let us not become Rome’s client state again, in modern form.

King David cautioned: “Do not put your trust in princes, in a human being, in whom there is no salvation.” Centuries later, the prophet Jeremiah reinforced the warning: “Cursed is the man who trusts in people. … Blessed is the man who trusts in God.”

These timeless truths remind us that when we rely too heavily on foreign powers—even trusted allies—we risk surrendering the very independence we fought to restore.

So, as we mourn the past and face the future, let us remember, be careful what we wish for. A foreign ally today may demand a price tomorrow. Unity and self-determination are not luxuries; they are the prerequisites for survival. And when the walls are breached, it is already too late to argue about who opened the gate.

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Pope Leo XIV called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Friday, expressing concern following a strike by the Israel Defense Forces against Hamas terrorists that inadvertently hit the Holy Family Catholic Church, the only Catholic church in the Strip. 

The strike, which occurred on Thursday morning, killed three people and wounded at least 10, including the parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, according to Vatican News.

In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, the pope reiterated his plea for an end to the conflict and the protection of religious sites and civilians.

According to a statement from the Holy See Press Office, Netanyahu phoned the pope at his summer palace in Castel Gandolfo, southeast of Rome, to discuss the incident.

“During the conversation, the Holy Father renewed his appeal for a revival of negotiations and the achievement of a ceasefire and an end to the war,” the Vatican said.

The pope expressed alarm at the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, particularly its devastating impact on children, the elderly and the sick. “The Holy Father reiterated the urgency of protecting places of worship and, above all, the faithful and all people in Palestine and Israel,” the statement added.

https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/1945830848604917912

‘We regret any unintentional damage’

The Holy Family Church in Gaza City suffered significant damage in the strike. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem condemned the attack, urging leaders to "raise their voices and to do all that is necessary to stop this tragedy, which is humanly and morally unjustified."

After an initial investigation, the Israel Defense Forces said “fragments from a shell” mistakenly struck the church amid airstrikes nearby. The military emphasized that its operations target only military objectives and that it takes “every feasible effort to mitigate harm to civilians and religious structures.”

The IDF added: “We regret any unintentional damage caused to them.”

Widespread reports on social media claimed the church had been destroyed. However, images were posted after the strike in which a Catholic mass was being held, with much of the structure intact.

The Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem expressed sorrow over the incident, stating, “We share the grief of the families and the faithful. We are grateful to Pope Leo for his words of comfort. Israel is investigating the incident and remains committed to protecting civilians and holy sites.”

This statement followed Netanyahu’s call with U.S. President Donald Trump, who also pressed the Israeli leader on the church strike. 

“It was not a positive reaction,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters. “The prime minister agreed to put out a statement. It was a mistake by the Israelis to hit that Catholic Church.”

The Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said Leo was “deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack.”

Meanwhile, international condemnation of the incident has grown.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the church strike “unacceptable,” declaring, “No military action can justify such an attitude.” 

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani described it as “a serious act against a Christian place of worship,” urging an end to the violence and the pursuit of peace.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry echoed regret over the harm caused to the church and civilians. It reaffirmed that Israel “never targets churches or religious sites.”

https://twitter.com/IsraelMFA/status/1945924011021492357

The IDF has previously reported that Hamas continues to exploit civilian areas for military purposes, operating within hospitals, schools and places of worship. The military notes that such tactics endanger civilian lives by using them as human shields.

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Israeli military prosecutors are filing indictments against three Hamas terrorists for their roles in the attack that killed 30-year-old Tzeela Gez and her newborn son, Ravid Chaim.

The suspects stand accused of carrying out a series of violent attacks in Samaria in recent months, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and Judea and Samaria District Police said in a joint statement on Friday.

The charges follow a joint investigation between the Shin Bet and police. Prosecutors submitted a statement of intent to indict, known as a prosecutor's declaration, ahead of filing full indictments in the coming days.

Gez and her husband, Hananel, were driving near the Bruchin Junction in southwestern Samaria on May 14, on their way to the hospital for the birth of their fourth child when terrorists ambushed their vehicle. 

The attackers opened fire at around 10 p.m. as the couple traveled toward the Peduel interchange. Tzeela was fatally shot, and though doctors managed to deliver her baby by emergency C-section, Ravid Chaim suffered severe oxygen deprivation and died in the hospital two weeks later.

Three days after the attack, Israeli forces arrested four Hamas-affiliated suspects from the surrounding area. 

The primary shooter, identified as Nael Samara, was killed in a counter-terrorism operation in the village of Bruqin. Samara was shot after approaching Israeli troops while carrying a suspicious bag and shouting “Allahu Akbar,” according to security sources.

During the operation, security forces recovered the firearm used in the attack, as well as ammunition, camouflage netting and other gear linked to the cell.

The Shin Bet and police investigation revealed that the suspects had been involved in at least four terrorist attacks over the past six months. Some of these incidents caused injuries and property damage.

Prosecutors are preparing severe charges against all suspects, reflecting the scale and brutality of their activities.

The murder of Gez and her son shocked the nation. Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, informed Hananel Gez of Samara’s elimination, but emphasized that the real solution lies in strengthening deterrence.

“We certainly do not find solace in the killing of this vile terrorist. That is only a small comfort,” Dagan said. “The true remedy is restoring deterrence and preventing the next attack.” 

He called to fortify Jewish communities in Samaria and declared: “The appropriate and true response is strengthening settlement—establishing new communities now, in Tzeela’s path and in her memory.”

Tzeela was buried in Jerusalem’s Har HaMenuchot cemetery, and Ravid Chaim was laid to rest beside her after his death. At the funeral, Hananel Gez urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take decisive steps to prevent further terrorism.

The attack was part of a broader wave of violence against Israelis in Judea and Samaria.

In 2024 alone, Palestinian terrorists carried out more than 6,340 attacks in the region, resulting in 27 Israeli deaths and more than 300 injuries, according to the NGO Rescuers Without Borders.

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The western Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud has rescinded a €40,000 (nearly $46,500) subsidy for next month's Rock en Seine rock music festival following the booking of Northern Irish rap group Kneecap.

The town council announced that the decision, made on July 3, was a direct response to Kneecap's inclusion in the festival's final lineup.

Kneecap has attracted controversy for its harsh criticism of Israel during live performances. The band, based in Belfast, is scheduled to play on the festival's final day. The event runs from August 20-24.

Saint-Cloud’s town hall emphasized that while it supports cultural programming, it will not finance political action or incitement to violence. According to local officials, the funding agreement was reached before the full festival lineup was confirmed.

Rock en Seine director Mathieu Ducos was quoted by NME as saying that “when we programmed them last autumn, they weren’t the talk of the town, except for good reasons. I hope that the history we’ve managed to build and weave together doesn’t end with this dispute and the vision we have of this group.”

Kneecap member Mo Chara was charged with a terrorism offense last month in the United Kingdom, accused of waving the flag of Hezbollah, the terrorist organization based in Lebanon, at a concert last year. This has led to a string of performance cancellations. The rapper, who wore a keffiyeh to court, has been released on bail.

The band made headlines in April after projecting “F**k Israel, free Palestine” at the Coachella music festival in California.

The charge comes amid renewed scrutiny after two controversial videos resurfaced online on April 22. One shows a band member shouting, “The only good Tory is a dead Tory!” and “Kill your local MP!” In another, Mo Chara is seen wearing a Hezbollah flag and yelling, “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah!”

Kneecap has denied supporting terrorist groups or advocating violence, claiming that it does not “support proscribed terror organizations” or “advocate for violence against anyone.”

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Israel's run at the FIBA U20 EuroBasket in Greece came to an end on Thursday, as it was edged out by Italy 86-80 in a hard-fought quarterfinal matchup.

The game, played at Nea Alikarnassos Arena in Heraklion, saw the teams trade leads before Italy pulled away in the closing minutes.

Israel entered the quarterfinals fresh off a dominant performance against Romania in the Round of 16 on Wednesday, securing a 119-68 victory after sweeping the group phase with an undefeated record against Spain, Finland and Poland.

The impressive 51-point win against Romania at the Heraklion University Sports Hall on the University of Crete’s Voutes campus in Heraklion set national records for scoring and margin of victory at the U20 level.

All 12 players on the Israeli roster scored at least five points, highlighting the team’s balanced attack. Guard Jonathan Abulof led the scoring with 18 points, while Omer Mayer, also a guard, contributed 11 points and six assists in just nine minutes of action.

Israel jumped out to a commanding 69-36 halftime lead and maintained control throughout the game, never allowing Romania to challenge its advantage.

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The Israel Defense Forces killed three senior Hamas operatives in targeted strikes carried out this week in the Gaza Strip, the military said on Friday.

Among those killed were Barhoum Shahin, head of the Western Gaza District for Hamas’s General Security Apparatus, and Asham Tzartzur, who led the terrorist group's Government Emergency Committee in eastern Gaza.

According to the IDF, both men played key roles in Hamas's internal security and governance efforts, including supporting the terrorist group's "military" wing and enforcing its rule through repression and violence against Gaza's civilian population.

The military described the General Security Apparatus as a covert and influential branch of Hamas, responsible for uncovering suspected collaborators, safeguarding terrorist leaders and infrastructure, and producing intelligence assessments that aid in attacks against Israel.

The IDF said it also killed Faraj al-‘Aoul, the head of Hamas’s legal bureau and a member of its legislative council.

On Thursday, the military announced the July 10 targeted killing of Iyad Nasr, the deputy commander of Hamas’s Jabalia Battalion, who infiltrated Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

According to the IDF, Nasr was wounded earlier in the war but later resumed his role in Jabalia, where he continued directing attacks against Israeli forces. In recent weeks, he was actively involved in orchestrating terrorist operations targeting troops from the IDF’s 162nd Division, the military said.

https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1945885935251653061

The IDF also confirmed the elimination of two additional Hamas operatives who participated in the Oct. 7 assault: Hasan Mahmoud Muhammad Mar’i, commander of the terrorist group’s Central Jabalia Company, and Muhammad Zaki Shamadeh Hamad, deputy company commander of the Beit Hanoun Battalion.

Israeli military operations across the coastal enclave are ongoing as part of “Operation Gideon’s Chariots,” a campaign with the stated goal of dismantling Hamas’s remaining military capabilities, taking control of key areas in the Strip, and securing the release of the 50 captives.

Troops from the Nahal Infantry Brigade, operating under the command of the 162nd Division, this week identified a terrorist cell armed with a rocket-propelled grenade near Israeli positions in the Daraj Tuffah area of northern Gaza. An Israeli Air Force craft, guided by soldiers on the ground, conducted a precision airstrike that eliminated the threat.

In a separate operation, IDF ground forces, in coordination with Yahalom special forces combat engineers, uncovered and dismantled a tunnel approximately 800 meters (875 yards) long and 18 meters (20 yards) deep.

The military said troops have destroyed weapons caches, observation posts and terrorist infrastructure, including a facility where Hamas operatives were hiding.

https://youtu.be/hPSSxSpEaZw

Meanwhile, the IAF on Thursday afternoon intercepted two rockets fired at the Jewish state by terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip.

Air-raid sirens sounded in the border villages of Kibbutz Mefalsim, Kibbutz Nir Am and Ibim, as well as in the nearby city of Sderot, sending tens of thousands of civilians running for shelter.

A majority of Israelis want the Gaza Strip to remain under Israeli military rule after the war ends, according to a survey published by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA) this week.

The poll, conducted by Menachem Lazar of Lazar Research at the beginning of July, found that 52% support an Israeli takeover of Gaza with a temporary military administration—if all hostages are first released. Only 4% believe Hamas should remain in power, whether politically or militarily.

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