Israel and the United States “remade” the Middle East and “created incredible opportunities” during Jerusalem’s 12-day war with Iran last month, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told his Israeli counterpart Israel Katz at the Pentagon on Friday.

Hegseth and U.S. Air Force Gen. Dan "Razin" Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, congratulated Katz on the “incredibly successful [Operation] Rising Lion”—which Israel launched in a large-scale surprise attack against Iran on June 13.

“Obviously, we’ve spoken on the phone many, many times. Welcome to the Pentagon. Welcome to your team, some of which we saw just earlier this week,” the U.S. Department of Defense website quoted Hegseth as saying to the Israeli minister, referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent trip to Washington.

The war “changed the region and the world and was an example of why Israel is a model ally, understands the threat, is capable and will act in defense of your own country but also recognizing the collective security threats that we face,” Hegseth said.

The secretary further praised "Operation Midnight Hammer," in which U.S. bombers attacked three Iranian nuclear facilities, Fordow being the most challenging, constructed deep underneath a mountain.

“It was not just a message to those nuclear sites, but also to the rest of the world: America can fly 37 hours undetected into a hostile nation, deliver decisive, precise munitions that only the United States of America has and is capable of employing, and then go home safely. That’s a message to the world,” Hegseth continued.

He said that Washington stands firmly with Israel, committed to reinforcing its right to self-defense and its pursuit of lasting peace. “We look forward to working together even more,” the defense secretary said.

Katz expressed appreciation for his counterpart’s hospitality, adding how much he was impressed with "Operation Midnight Hammer."

“It was a brave and historic decision by President Trump. Together, we destroyed the Iranian nuclear program,” he said.

The defense minister added that Israel destroyed Iran’s missile production capability. “Our joint goal is to keep our achievements, stopping Iran from building its nuclear program and mass production of missiles,” he continued.

Washington and Jerusalem “have a very close partnership and we will continue to strengthen it in the fields of missile defense and drones,” Katz said.

A Holocaust-themed exhibit in the city of Umeå in northern Sweden featuring mannequins in concentration camp uniforms hanging from gallows was put up by an anti-Israel group named Umea for Palestina on Friday.

The supposed message is that Palestinians in Gaza are undergoing the same atrocities that Jews suffered under the Third Reich—although some have interpreted it as a call to hang Jews.

The mannequins are dressed in long gray and white stripes, displaying a yellow star next to a series of numbers, reminiscent of the uniforms Jews were forced to wear in concentration camps during the Holocaust.

A banner reading, “Genocide is genocide is genocide” towers above, with two PLO flags hoisted besides the gallows. In the front, what looks like a real person wearing a keffiyeh hiding his or her face, sits down with a baby doll in both hands.

The display stirred a storm in Swedish social media, after which the original posts on Facebook and Instagram were removed, according to Israel’s public broadcaster Kan News.

Israeli Ambassador to Sweden Ziv Nevo Kulman dubbed the exhibit a “grotesque exploitation of the Holocaust and a chilling act of antisemitism.

"When pro-Palestinian demonstrators hijack the memory of the Shoah to vilify Jews today, they cross every moral line. We must never allow the Holocaust to be weaponized against Jews ever again,” he said.

The diplomat added, “We welcome the Swedish police’s investigation into this despicable act of incitement.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar reposted the ambassador’s tweet on his own X account.

Swedish Jewish comedian and author Aron Flam expressed outrage on X, saying, “This is utterly insane. Shut it down now. These are not demonstrations. They are religious rituals calling for the genocide of Jews.”

Swedish journalist Bitte Assarmo, a regular contributor to online publication Det Goda Samhället ("The Good Society"), wrote on her Facebook page, “Umeå for Palestine? Bullshit. More like Umeå for terror against Jews. How do police, authorities and politicians in the city of birch trees act after this antisemitic abomination? How far can it go before Sweden sets its foot down?”

Swedish legal scholar Professor Mårten Schultz said the exhibit may violate laws against incitement.

“This isn’t just about Israel—it targets Jews as a people,” he was cited by local media outlet Omni as saying, Ynet reported.

Argentina on Friday commemorated the 31st anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in the country’s history, a car bombing that targeted the seven-story Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) community center in Buenos Aires.

The attack on July 18, 1994, left 85 people dead and more than 300 wounded.

Events marking the attack were held across the country, with an official commemoration held in Congress for the first time.

In Buenos Aires, hundreds gathered in a ceremony held outside the rebuilt AMIA building, demanding justice for the crime. Attendees could be seen holding photographs of the victims.

President Javier Milei attended the event, held under the slogan “Impunity persists, terrorism too,” according to AFP. The staunch Israel supporter did not deliver a speech, but told reporters that “we won’t stop until justice is done.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar marked the date on X, saying that “we remember with sorrow the 85 victims.”

He thanked Milei and his government “for their unwavering commitment to justice and firm stance against the terrorism that Iran continues to promote.” Sa’ar further remarked that the two allies were “united in the fight for liberty and against terror.”

In April 2024, an Argentine court found Iran and Hezbollah were responsible for what it called a crime against humanity for the attack on the Jewish community center.

Last month, a judge authorized a trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese defendants, consisting of former ministers and diplomats, AFP reported.

The prosecution in April 2025 requested a national and international arrest warrant for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei over his involvement in the AMIA attack.

Khamenei “led the decision to carry out a bomb attack and issued an executive order or fatwa to carry it out,” the Clarín daily quoted the lead prosecutor in the three-decade old case, Sebastián Basso, as saying.

The request made to a federal court judge is a significant shift from previous investigators in the case who viewed Khamenei as having diplomatic immunity.

Argentina has long maintained that senior Iranian officials operating through their Lebanese terrorist proxy Hezbollah played a key role in the attack. But three decades of Argentine government probes delayed and marred by corruption coupled with Iran’s refusal to hand over any of the suspects sought for trial have not yielded any conviction for the bombing.

In 2024, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in San Jose, Costa Rica, found Argentina responsible for not preventing, or properly investigating, the 1994 bombing, the report further read.

Prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who investigated accusations of a cover-up against former President Cristina Kirchner, was later found murdered, with no one ever charged over his death.

The long-delayed legal action currently underway was enabled by a bill pushed through the Argentine National Congress earlier this year by Milei that authorizes trials in absentia for fugitives who have long sought to evade justice.

“This is a turning point after years of impunity. Justice will be served—even if the perpetrators refuse to appear,” said Argentina’s Ambassador to Israel Axel Wahnish.

Argentina hosts the largest Jewish community in Latin America, with an estimated 180,000 to 220,000 members.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s Feb. 6 executive order imposing sanctions on some who work for the International Criminal Court was blocked in a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge on Friday.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen branded the order unconstitutional, infringing the First Amendment on the issue of free speech. “The executive order appears to restrict substantially more speech than necessary to further that end,” Torrensen was quoted as saying by Reuters.

“The executive order broadly prohibits any speech-based services that benefit the prosecutor, regardless of whether those beneficial services relate to an ICC investigation of the United States, Israel or another U.S. ally,” she said.

Trump’s order authorized broad economic and travel sanctions on individuals investigating U.S. citizens or U.S. allies, such as Israel, on behalf of the court in The Hague.

The federal court issued the preliminary injunction after concluding that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their First Amendment violations claims.

The case has been brought before the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine in April by two rights groups, the American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Maine, on behalf of Matthew Smith and Akila Radhakrishnan, according to the ACLU.

Radhakrishnan is a human rights lawyer and the president of the New York-based Global Justice Center.

Smith is the founder and CEO of the Fortify Rights NGO. In June, he wrote a column for New York Times explaining his decision to sue the Trump administration. The “sanctions against the ICC are an attack on global justice and the rule of law,” he wrote.

In 2020, when Trump issued similar sanctions compelling Americans to stop working with the ICC, the ACLU filed a similar lawsuit that was later dropped when then-President Joe Biden rescinded the sanctions.

“Preventing our clients and others like them from doing critical human rights work with the ICC is unconstitutional, and we’re heartened that the court saw that as well,” a staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project, Charlie Hogle, was cited as saying on the ACLU’s website.

“The First Amendment does not allow the government to impose sweeping limits on what Americans can say and who they can say it to,” he added.

The White House and the ICC did not immediately respond to requests for comment by Reuters.

Trump’s order in February declared a national emergency to respond to the ICC’s “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”

It further imposed direct sanctions on British citizen and ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, who led investigations against Israel for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

“The ICC’s recent actions against Israel and the United States set a dangerous precedent, directly endangering current and former United States personnel, including active service members of the Armed Forces, by exposing them to harassment, abuse and possible arrest,” the order states.

Neither the United States nor Israel is a member of the court, which is a stand-alone entity in The Hague and is not a part of the United Nations. Both Washington and Jerusalem therefore say that they are not subject to the tribunal’s jurisdiction.

In November, the court issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, then the Israeli defense minister.

Since Trump’s order, however, Khan’s work has ground to a halt, the Associated Press reported in May.

Khan has lost access to his email, and his U.K. bank accounts have been frozen since Washington imposed the sanctions on Feb. 6, AP reported.

Citing current and former court officials, international attorneys and human rights advocates, the news wire reported that American staffers of the Hague-based court fear being arrested if they return to the United States.

The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday killed a member of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force who had been involved in efforts to reestablish terrorist infrastructure in the area of Khiam in southeastern Lebanon's Nabatieh Governorate, the military said.

The IDF said that the terrorist's activities constituted "a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon," referring to the ceasefire agreement signed in November.

The Radwan Force is the Hezbollah unit tasked with infiltrating Israel, seizing areas along the northern border and abducting hostages as part of the terrorist group’s “Conquer the Galilee” plan.

"The IDF will continue to operate to remove any threat posed to the State of Israel," the military said.

On Thursday, the IDF killed two Hezbollah terrorists in separate strikes across Southern Lebanon, Hassan Ahmad Sabra—a Radwan Force commander—near Nabatieh, and a second operative who was rebuilding infrastructure in the Naqoura area.

On Tuesday morning, the Israeli Air Force carried out a broad wave of strikes targeting the Radwan Force in eastern Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley.

The targeted camps were “used by the Hezbollah terror group to train and prepare operatives for attacks against IDF forces and the State of Israel,” the military said, adding, “As part of this training, the terrorists conduct shooting drills and exercises with various types of weapons.”

Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strikes sent “a clear message to the Hezbollah terror group, which is plotting to rebuild its capabilities to raid Israel through the Radwan Force—and also to the Lebanese government, which is responsible for upholding the agreement.

“Every terrorist will be targeted, and every threat to the residents of the State of Israel will be thwarted,” he continued. “We will respond with maximum force to any attempt at rebuilding [Hezbollah].”

On Nov. 26, 2024, Jerusalem and Beirut signed a ceasefire deal aimed at ending more than a year of cross-border clashes between the IDF and Hezbollah. The Iranian-backed terrorist group began attacking the Jewish state in support of Hamas in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

Since the truce, the IDF has conducted frequent raids to stop Hezbollah from rebuilding terrorist infrastructure in Southern Lebanon and so violating the terms of the deal.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem has rejected demands to disarm in accordance with the ceasefire, warning last week that the terror group was “rebuilding, recovering and ready now” to take on the IDF.

Meanwhile, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on July 11 ruled out the possibility of normalizing relations with Jerusalem, though he expressed a desire to end the longstanding conflict with Israel.

“Peace is the lack of a state of war, and this is what matters to us in Lebanon at the moment. As for the issue of normalization, it is not currently part of Lebanese foreign policy,” Aoun said.

"Ms. Rachel," one of America's leading children's stars who was previously dubbed the "Beyoncé of toddlers," continues to shake up the internet, this time following a video she published with a Palestinian journalist who supports terrorism.

This week, Rachel Anne Accurso, known to her approximately 16 million YouTube followers as "Ms. Rachel," published a video on social media with her "friend," photojournalist Motaz Azaiza.

Azaiza, considered one of the voices most identifiable with Hamas in the digital arena, defines himself as a "genocide survivor." After the Oct. 7, 2023, massacres, he called to support Palestinian "resistance" and praised then-Hamas "military" wing leader Yahya Sinwar. In another instance, he refused to condemn the massacres.

The responses were quick to come. "Elmo's account was hacked (referring to antisemitic posts distributed on the hacked X account of the "Sesame Street" character). What's Ms. Rachel's excuse?" wondered Hen Mazzig, one of the prominent pro-Israel advocacy activists in the U.S.

The current affair joins a series of controversies surrounding Ms. Rachel's activities since the outbreak of the war in Gaza. This spring, Accurso published content that presented Israel as the aggressor, relying on data from Hamas's health ministry that does not distinguish between civilians and Hamas terrorists.

She shared photos of injured or hungry children without noting that, in some cases, these were children suffering from complex genetic diseases.

‘Evil propaganda against Israel’

Following her previous statements, the StopAntisemitism organization appealed to the U.S. Justice Department in April, demanding it open an investigation into whether Accurso effectively serves as a paid propaganda agent. The NGO declared that Accurso "spreads evil propaganda against the State of Israel to more than 20 million followers through multiple accounts, more than the entire population of Jews and Israelis in the world."

She previously justified her activity and said she "works for all children, regardless of religion, nationality or geographic location." In May, she raised more than $50,000 for the Save the Children organization operating in the Gaza Strip, but emphasized that the organization does not operate in Israel because it is a wealthy country.

Accurso, 42 and mother of two, is considered a beloved figure among the parent community in the U.S. Her videos, accompanied by songs and simple language, are designed to help toddlers acquire basic speech skills and are considered a key tool for children with developmental delays.

But now, the internet is boiling, voices of boycott are strengthening and parents are required to ask themselves whether it is possible to separate the educator on the screen from the activist on Instagram.

Originally published by Israel Hayom.

Before soldiers from the 969th Battalion accompanied our group of three reporters through the Erez Crossing and into the Gaza Strip on Thursday, massive explosions could be seen and heard just over the border fence. Large plumes of layered smoke could be seen from the base where the soldiers picked us up in their armored vehicles.

Soldiers dropped us off at a critical location for the IDF. Located between two northern Gazan cities, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, it is used as a lookout point for the top half of the enclave and nearly all of the Israeli border area. The battalion fights against this backdrop, with the memory of Oct. 7 ever present as they overlook kibbutzim that were ransacked and massacred by the Hamas-led terrorists.

“We can see here Beit Hanoun and if we look beyond Beit Hanoun, we can see [Kibbutz] Kfar Aza, and if we continue, we can see [Kibbutz] Nahal Oz,” said Lt. Col. (res.) T., commander of the battalion, who remains anonymous for safety and operational purposes. “Every soldier here can see what he is protecting, he can see the communities, and he knows what he is protecting them from.”

Lt. Col. T. explained that Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya are not only “massive Hamas strongholds,” but IDF soldiers there keep finding weapons and tunnels and are still engaged in face-to-face combat with terrorists on a daily basis.

“It’s more like an ambush. Sometimes there are terrorists just waiting for us, it’s like a game, like a chess game,” said A., a combat reservist in the battalion.

On Tuesday, the Givati Brigade killed dozens of terrorists at close range and dismantled terrorist infrastructure in Beit Hanoun, a few kilometers from where the group of journalists were now standing, the IDF said. They also located weapons, tunnel routes and a rocket launcher used by Hamas to fire at Israel.

“We need to find them and get to them, so we can dismantle them,” said Lt. Col. T. He explained that Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya are “massive Hamas strongholds,” and IDF soldiers there keep finding weapons and tunnels and are still engaged in face-to-face combat with terrorists on a daily basis.

“These processes take time, but this is something that is happening every night. Every night we discover tunnels,” Lt. Col. T. said.

The destroyed buildings stretch for kilometers in the two cities, seen through the gray smoke. Devastation fills every neighborhood, with scarcely a structure upright.

Soldiers explain that even though the structures have been knocked down, Hamas terrorists still find a way to survive there. They also say the explosions are likely taking place in underground terrorist infrastructure.

A. said, “Everything around here is demolished for a reason. Everything here is where the terrorist hide all their weapons, hide everything.” 

From the point where the journalists were standing, the IDF said Palestinian civilians were pushed two kilometers south to avoid the ongoing operations and combat.

As Hamas continues to hold its own people and Israelis hostage, IDF soldiers here say they aren't going anywhere.

“After 600-plus days of fighting, we are here. Fighting from deep within the Gaza Strip, deep within the area of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, and we are here to stay,” Lt. Col. T. said.

Israeli forces detained 70 Palestinian suspects during counter-terrorism operations across Judea and Samaria over the past week, the IDF said on Friday.

Troops also seized large sums of terrorism-linked funds and dozens of weapons, including explosive devices, M16 rifles and improvised “Carlo” submachine guns.

On Thursday, three terrorists were arrested in Qabatiya, near Jenin in northern Samara, while planning an attack on IDF troops. During the operation, soldiers discovered improvised explosive devices intended for use against them.

In a separate raid, Israeli soldiers uncovered and dismantled an explosives production lab in Al-Ram, near northern Jerusalem. Forces also operated in Hebron in Judea, apprehending five wanted suspects and confiscating hundreds of thousands of shekels earmarked for terrorism, along with a cache of weapons.

Two-thirds of Israelis (66%) fear the possibility of another Oct. 7-style massacre, this time originating from Judea and Samaria, according to a survey published this week by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA). Among Jewish respondents, 77% expressed concern, compared to 22% of Arab Israelis.

According to the JCFA, 64% of Israelis oppose the creation of a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 lines. Just 8% support statehood without conditions, while 17% would back it if Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state and agree to demilitarization.

Among Jewish respondents, opposition is higher—77% overall, and 88% among right-wing voters.

Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire following several days of massacres carried out by Sunni jihadists loyal to Damascus against the Druze minority in Sweida Province, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack announced on Friday night.

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa supported by the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio have agreed to a ceasefire embraced by Türkiye, Jordan and its neighbors," tweeted Barrack, who also serves as U.S. special envoy for Syria.

"We call upon Druze, Bedouin and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity in peace and prosperity with its neighbors," he added.

Soon thereafter, al-Sharaa's office announced an “immediate ceasefire” and urged “all parties to fully respect” the deal.

Al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, is a former Al-Qaeda terrorist.

"The Syrian state is committed to protecting all minorities and communities in the country. … We condemn all crimes committed" in Sweida, al-Sharaa later said in a televised speech on Saturday.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar dismissed al-Sharaa's comments, describing them as "a display of support for the jihadist attackers.

“Al-Sharaa spiced all this with conspiracy theories and accusations against Israel,” Sa’ar said. “Bottom line: In al-Sharaa’s Syria, it is very dangerous to be a member of a minority—Kurd, Druze, Alawite or Christian. This has been proven time and again over the past six months.”

He added that the international community "has a duty to ensure the security and rights of the minorities in Syria and to condition Syria’s renewed acceptance into the family of nations on their protection.”

Meanwhile, the European Union welcomed the ceasefire, saying it was “appalled” by the deadly sectarian violence in the southern Druze heartland.

“Now is the time for dialogue and for advancing a truly inclusive transition. Syria’s transitional authorities, together with local authorities, bear the responsibility to protect all Syrians without distinction,” according to a statement from Brussels.

The E.U. called for the perpetrators of “grave violations” of international law to be held to account.

At least 718 people have been killed in southern Syria since sectarian violence erupted on Sunday, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.

The war monitor reported that among the dead are 146 Druze fighters and 245 civilians, 165 of whom were “extrajudicially executed by personnel of the [Syrian] Defense and Interior ministries.”

The violence also claimed the lives of 287 government-linked troops and 18 Bedouin fighters, along with three Bedouin civilians who were reportedly executed by Druze militias.

An additional 18 Syrians, including at least 15 government soldiers or officials, were killed in Israeli airstrikes, according to the report.

The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday attacked the entrance to the Syrian regime’s military headquarters in Damascus in response to atrocities against Druze civilians.

Jerusalem “will not allow southern Syria to become a terror stronghold,” IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Wednesday evening. He spoke after a situational assessment held at the IDF’s Camp Nafah, aka Camp Yitzhak, in the Golan Heights.

“We are acting with determination to prevent hostile elements from establishing a presence beyond the border, to protect the citizens of the State of Israel, and to prevent the harming of Druze civilians,” said Zamir.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces carried out a series of airstrikes against Syrian government troops in the Sweida city area of southern Syria’s Jabal al-Druze (“Druze Mountain”) region of the Sweida Governate, targeting armored vehicles and convoys sent by Damascus.

Katz and Netanyahu told the IDF to “immediately strike regime forces and weaponry that were brought into the Sweida area," as Damascus had violated “the demilitarization policy that was decided upon, which prohibits the entry of [regime] forces and arms into southern Syria that could endanger Israel."

“Israel is committed to preventing harm to the Druze in Syria due to the deep fraternal alliance with our Druze citizens in Israel, as well as their familial and historical ties to the Druze in Syria,” according to the statement.

On Thursday, Netanyahu clarified Israel’s two-pronged strategic goal—ensuring southern Syria is demilitarized and protecting the Druze.

The al-Sharaa regime violated both red lines, Netanyahu said, adding, "That was something we could not accept under any circumstances."