American Jewish students with the Yesha Council billboard in Times Square in New York City, on Jan. 19, 2025. Credit: Yesha Council.
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Overline
'Strong Allies'
Headline
Judea and Samaria councils thank Trump in Times Square campaign
Intro
A large delegation representing the Yesha Council has been invited to attend Trump's inauguration.
text

The Yesha Council umbrella group of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria launched a campaign in Times Square on Sunday to celebrate President-elect Donald Trump's support of the biblical heartland.

The billboard campaign, which will run throughout the day on Monday as Trump is inaugurated as the 47th U.S. president, marked the first time that a message from Jewish pioneers in the region was displayed over New York's Times Square, the council stated.

The messages to the incoming U.S. president include "Strong Allies," "Make Great Friends" and "Blessings from the Biblical Heartland."

On Sunday night, dozens of American Jewish students descended on Times Square with red Make America Great Again hats to join in support of the Yesha Council's campaign, it said in a statement.

The initiative was meant to express "appreciation for President Trump's stand with the State of Israel and the settlement of Judea and Samaria, and to wish the incoming president success," the council said.

A large delegation representing Judea and Samaria Jewish communities and the Yesha Council has been invited to attend Trump's inauguration at noon Eastern Time on Monday.

The delegation includes Israel Ganz, who heads the Yesha Council and the Binyamin Regional Council in southern Samaria, Yesha Council CEO Omer Rahamim, Samaria Regional Council leader Yossi Dagan, his chief of staff Yonatan Dubov, Binyamin Regional Council foreign affairs chief Eliana Passentin and Oranit Local Council head Or Piron Zomer.

During their visit to the United States, the Israeli delegation held a series of meetings with government officials and Jewish communities.

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The Trump administration formally notified Congress last week that it plans to sell Israel more than $8 billion in weapons, advancing sales that the Biden administration slow-rolled for months. The administration’s decision to use lawful means in this instance to bypass one member of Congress’s efforts to block the sales demonstrates the White House’s more assertive approach to security cooperation, as well as its support for the Jewish state, and the realization that a strong and well-armed Israel advances America’s interests. This laudable step by the Trump administration demonstrates an eagerness to restore regular order in Congress when it comes to security assistance and may signal a political willingness to undertake a much broader and desperately needed effort to reform the process by which the United States delivers weapons and munitions to allies and partners.

The State Department formally notified Congress on Feb. 7 of four different arms sales cases to Israel consisting of three foreign military sales (FMS) and one direct commercial sale (DCS). FMS is a mechanism in which a foreign government places an order but the Defense Department contracts with industry on behalf of the foreign government to procure the system or service. In the DCS mechanism, U.S. defense companies sell directly to foreign buyers. The export licenses, however, are approved by the U.S. government and submitted to Congress if they are above a designated dollar threshold.

One FMS for Israel announced last week consists of $6.75 billion in air-launched munitions, including 2,166 GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs and 2,800 MK 82 500-pound bomb bodies, as well as thousands of Joint Direct Attack Munition Guidance Kits and associated fuzes for a variety of munitions, including large 2,000-pound bombs and BLU-109 bombs designed to penetrate bunkers. A second FMS, worth $660 million, includes 3,000 AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles, which are launched by Israeli AH-64 attack helicopters. A third FMS, worth $312.5 million, is for 10,000 155mm artillery shells.

This sale was not widely reported because it was a modification or addition to an existing contract and therefore did not require a second public press release. The package of notifications also includes a $688 million DCS for 15,500 JDAMs and 615 SDBs. In January, the Trump administration released a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs that the Biden administration decided to stop in May over concerns related to Israeli operations in southern Gaza.

These munitions will help Israel deter and defeat future aggression by replenishing stockpiles depleted in combat with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon after the terrorist groups started attacking Israel again in October 2023. The Small Diameter Bombs and BLU-109 bunker penetration bombs, as well as the guidance kits that convert unguided bombs into precise munitions, are especially useful for striking high-value targets while mitigating civilian casualties in urban operating environments. Even as Israel seeks to buy as many munitions as possible from the United States, it is simultaneously seeking to create additional domestic production capacity for the weapons that a future U.S. administration might refuse to provide Israel—namely, air-launched munitions.

Once the State Department adjudicates and approves a requested arms sale to a foreign government above a certain dollar threshold, the department submits an informal notification to the Senate and House Foreign Relations Committee. This process, known as a “tiered review,” permits the leaders of these two committees and their staffs to raise concerns, ask questions and potentially impose a “hold” on the proposed arms sale.

If one of the four leaders of these two committees places a hold on a proposed sale, the State Department usually does not proceed with the formal notification to Congress necessary to advance the sale. This practice is intended to facilitate a constructive consultative process between the executive and legislative branches but in practice permits a single member of Congress to prevent the provision of American weapons to an ally or partner before the U.S.-government-approved sale has even been submitted formally to the legislative branch for consideration.

This practice, while longstanding and usually respected by administrations controlled by both parties, is not required by law as noted by the Congressional Research Service and the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General. Accordingly, the administration can lawfully decide to move ahead with formal notification to Congress even if a “hold” is in place, and that is what the Trump administration did last Friday.

In this case, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, opposed the weapons sales to Israel and used a “hold” to try to stop them, consistent with his previous actions. The DCS case had been in informal, or tiered, review since October, according to one source, and the three FMS cases had been under review for more than 20 days. These delays were exacerbated by the fact that the Biden administration had slow-rolled many Israeli requests for months.

The Republican chairs of the two committees supported the sales, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) lifted her hold. Trump’s State Department answered questions from Meeks and offered briefings, but he kept his hold in place. Only then, after a significant amount of time, the Trump administration decided to proceed with formal congressional notification.

Meeks responded by issuing a press release on Feb. 7 that accused the Trump administration of making a “decision to bypass Congress and immediately proceed with billions of dollars in arms sales to Israel.” That is not accurate. In fact, the Trump administration submitted the sales to Congress for review under the Arms Export Control Act and is now waiting the required time period before proceeding with the sales, consistent with the law.

If he chooses to do so, Meeks can file a joint resolution of disapproval in an effort to stop the sales. But if the past is prologue, such an effort will fail to muster even a simple majority in either chamber, much less the super-majority in both the House and Senate necessary to overturn a presidential veto. Perhaps that’s because Americans understand the horror of what happened in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, support Israel’s right to exist and want the world’s only majority Jewish state to have the means to defend itself against enemies that hate the United States as much as they do Israel.

To be sure, the tiered review process offers a valuable mechanism for key congressional leaders and staff to conduct oversight, ask questions, raise concerns and shape outcomes. That process should be retained and respected, but no administration should allow one or two members of Congress to abuse non-statutory tools indefinitely to unilaterally cancel a government-approved arms sale to our closest beleaguered democratic allies even before other members of Congress and their staffs have had a chance to review the facts.

It is widely understood that the American foreign military sales process is broken. It takes far too long for valuable allies and partners confronting current or potential aggression to acquire from the United States the weapons they need, leaving them vulnerable or encouraging them to look elsewhere for self-defense. One of the causes for many of those delays is a congressional-tiered review process that is too often abused. It is time for reform, and the Trump administration has now taken a vital first step to begin to fix a broken process.

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Israeli Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar on Thursday called on the World Baseball Softball Confederation to act after Jerusalem's team was banned from the annual PONY U-19 Palomino tournament in Stuttgart, Germany.

The Stuttgart Reds club reportedly vetoed the participation of Israeli athletes due to the "political situation" and fears that "troublemakers" would attack visiting Israelis.

"The decision seriously violates the fundamental values ​​of sports, which stand first and foremost on principles of equality, unity and a complete separation between sports and politics," Zohar wrote to the World Baseball Softball Confederation.

"I urge you to reconsider your decision, in accordance with the values ​​of fairness and sportsmanship so that the Israeli team can participate in the tournament as any other team is entitled to do," he continued.

"If the reason for your decision is security considerations, then it is the responsibility of local and international authorities to ensure the safety of all participants—and not to exclude an entire team because of its origin," Zohar wrote.

Earlier this week, the Israel Association of Baseball blasted the move by the Stuttgart club, saying that Israeli athletes were being banned from competing "based on hypothetical scenarios and perceived risks.

"The IAB categorically rejects the notion that Israeli teams cannot participate safely in international events. This exclusion is a troubling precedent that could have far-reaching implications for the inclusion of teams from Israel and other nations in future sporting events," it noted.

In November, a pogrom led by at least 100 Arab Dutchmen wounded 25 visiting Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam as they were returning from a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and the local Ajax team.

Police were deployed in large numbers near the stadium but failed to protect the Israelis in the city center, where they walked into an ambush that had been planned days in advance by numerous Jew-hating rioters.

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While the United Arab Emirates regards U.S. President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza as "difficult," Abu Dhabi has yet to see "an alternative to what's being proposed," the Emirati envoy to the United States said Wednesday.

Speaking with Al Arabiya's Hadley Gamble at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, UAE Ambassador to the United States Yousef al-Otaiba said Abu Dhabi was "going to try" to find common ground with Trump.

"We are agile, we make our voices heard and we are very outspoken and unapologetic about this, so just like any relationship, sometimes our friends listen to us, sometimes they don't, sometimes we agree on certain positions, sometimes we disagree. We've always strived to find common ground," said al-Otaiba.

"But at the end of the day, we're all in a solution-seeking business; we just don't know where it's going to land yet," he continued.

Asked whether the UAE was working on an alternative to Trump's plans to relocate the Gazan population, al-Otaiba said, "Not yet."

"I don't see an alternative to what's being proposed. I really don't," the Arab diplomat admitted, before adding: "So if someone has one, we're happy to discuss it, we're happy to explore it, but it hasn't surfaced yet."

https://twitter.com/_HadleyGamble/status/1889722131157512530

Trump has suggested that the United States will "take over" the war-torn Gaza Strip, speaking during a press conference at the White House alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Feb. 4.

Initially, Trump said Palestinians could later opt to return to Gaza, but he reversed himself on Feb. 10, telling Fox News host Bret Baier that Palestinians who leave the Strip would not return under his plan "because they're gonna have much better housing" elsewhere.

Trump has suggested that Gazans would be moved to one large site or various locations. In an unverified report, Israel's Channel 12 News claimed that areas under consideration are Morocco, Somaliland and Puntland, a region in northeast Somalia that declared itself a country in 1998.

Netanyahu has voiced his support for Trump's proposal, and a survey found that a majority of Israeli Jews support it as well.

Previously, Netanyahu had said that he was working to establish an administration in the Strip by Palestinians "who are not committed to our destruction, possibly with the aid of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other countries that I think want to see stability and peace."

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The Oct. 7, 2023, attacks marked the end of the two-state solution, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana told visiting European Parliament President Roberta Metsola in Jerusalem on Thursday.

"Today, I welcomed @EP_President Roberta Metsola back to the Knesset to discuss the hostages, Iran & UNRWA's role in fueling terror," Ohana tweeted. "I told her Hamas also killed the so-called 'two-state solution' on October 7th—and thanked her for her solidarity ever since."

https://twitter.com/AmirOhana/status/1889971182516199666

Ohana, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party and ruling coalition, blamed Gaza's education system for inciting violence and suggested that only the approach proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump offers a fresh perspective.

The American president's plan includes the resettlement of Gazans to other countries while the war-torn coastal enclave is rebuilt, deradicalized and turned into a developed hub at peace with Israel.

Metsola also met at the Knesset on Thursday with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar.

She described the meetings as "open discussions in Jerusalem," adding that the immediate priority for the European Parliament "is to ensure that all the hostages are released, that the ceasefire holds and humanitarian aid increases."

https://twitter.com/EP_President/status/1889986805325591018

Hamas currently holds 76 hostages in Gaza, including 73 kidnapped during the Oct. 7 attacks in which over 250 were taken hostage and some 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel. Three captives are scheduled to be released on Saturday as part of the first stage of a ceasefire that took effect on Jan. 19, with the second stage being negotiated.

Israel has threatened to resume combat against the terrorist group if the hostages are not released by noon on Saturday. Trump also warned Hamas after the organization said earlier in the week that Saturday's release would be postponed, although reports indicated on Thursday that the Islamist group will move forward with freeing three men.

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Australian lawmaker Andrew Wallace said on Wednesday that there has never been a more important time to support Israel and the Australian Jewish community.

Addressing the Australia-Israel Allies Caucus, which he chairs, at Parliament House in Canberra, Wallace said: “Australia is facing an antisemitism crisis, and it is incumbent upon all Australians—and especially those elected to lead the country—that we stand up, speak up and show up for Israel and the Jewish people.”

The remarks come after video footage emerged on Wednesday of two Australians nurses threatening to murder any Israelis under their care, and claiming to have already done so. Australia has seen a surge in antisemitic incidents over the last year, including the torching of two synagogues and vandalism of homes, vehicles and a childcare center.

"The world is watching—allies and competitors alike," the lawmaker continued. "We must have each other’s backs in the fight against antisemitism.”

Jewish community leaders in Australia have attributed the sharp rise in antisemitic incidents amid Israel's 15-month war with Hamas in Gaza to inaction or hostility on the part of the Labor-led government.

"The vast majority of Australians support Israel and are dismayed by the actions of the present Labor government in both their voting pattern in the United Nations, their public statements and their lack of action to quell the resurgence of antisemitism by criminal minorities in the country, " Danny Lamm, former president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told JNS on Thursday.

Wallace, who is part of a network of more than four dozen faith-based Israel caucuses in parliaments around the globe, said that it is “for such a time as this” that such alliances are needed.

“Australia and Israel are two pioneering and freedom-loving nations sharing a rich Judeo-Christian and democratic tradition,” said the MP. “There has never been a more important time for political leaders to support Israel and the Jewish community in Australia,” he added.

After months of attacks directed at the Jewish community, Australia‘s parliament last week enacted stringent laws to address hate crimes, introducing mandatory minimum sentences for terrorism offenses and the display of hate symbols.

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Justice Yitzhak Amit was set to be sworn in as president of Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday, in a ceremony expected to be boycotted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

Amit, who is widely considered a left-wing judge, is expected to be sworn in at 5:30 p.m. in the presence of state President Isaac Herzog.

Netanyahu, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana have all announced they will not attend the swearing-in ceremony.

The decision, which received support from coalition lawmakers who sit on the Judicial Selection Committee, was taken following what Levin last month labeled an "illegitimate" appointment process, as well as allegations of fraud and conflicts of interest leveled against Amit.

On Jan. 13, it emerged that Amit failed to disclose that he was involved in legal proceedings involving Tel Aviv real estate under a different name, which right-wing lawmakers said amounted to fraud.

Maariv cited senior sources inside Netanyahu's Likud Party as saying on Thursday that the prime minister considers Amit's selection "null and void" and was considering not signing his appointment letter.

Article 12 of Basic Law: The President of the State says that the decree appointing the court president requires the signature of Netanyahu or "another minister assigned by the government," in addition to Herzog's.

It took more than a year for Amit to replace Esther Hayut, the previous Supreme Court chief, who retired in October 2023 at the mandatory retirement age for judges of 70. Justice Uzi Fogelman then served as the acting court president, until he too retired, in October 2024, at age 70. Since Jan. 26, Amit, 66, has served as acting court president.

Levin had resisted convening the Judicial Selection Committee due to his opposition to the seniority system, the custom whereby the most veteran justice, in this case Amit, is selected as president.

According to a survey the Jewish People Policy Institute published on Thursday, half of the Israeli public regards Amit as "problematic." At the same time, 20% think his appointment should have been canceled, even if the move would have led to a constitutional crisis in the Jewish state.

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Two Arab Israelis have been arrested on suspicion of planning a series of terrorist attacks against security forces and civilians, the Israel Police and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) revealed in a statement on Thursday.

The suspects, aged 18 and 21, from the towns of Qalansawe and Zemer in central Israel, expressed support for the Hamas terror group following its Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, according to the statement.

The two had planned several attacks, including "a shooting at a military facility and a combined ramming and shooting attack targeting IDF soldiers or civilians," it continued.

According to the investigation, one of the suspects purchased materials to make fire bombs and "conducted tests" to produce explosive charges with the intent to attack a bus transporting Israeli troops.

Following the arrests, a court extended the suspects' detention. Charges were set to be filed against them on Thursday.

In November, two minors from Israel's "triangle region" were indicted on charges of conspiring to carry out terrorist acts against security forces.

The triangle region contains 11 Arab Israeli communities adjacent to the Green Line and the Samaria security barrier, including Qalansawe and Zemer, and is home to approximately 250,000 people.

According to the indictment, one of the minors was recruited to a terror cell in August 2023. He allegedly received training in explosives and subsequently acquired chemical materials to conduct experiments.

He then recruited three additional members, including the second minor in the indictment. The pair allegedly worked in collaboration with others, attempted to make bombs and demonstrated an intent to cause harm.

Since the start of the Iron Swords war 16 months ago, there has been growing radicalization among some segments of the country's Arab population. 

A poll conducted in December 2023 by the Israel Democracy Institute's Center for Democratic Values and Institutions discovered that one-third of Israel's Arabs disagree with the statement that the Oct. 7 attack "does not reflect Arab society, the Palestinian people and the Islamic nation."

According to a June poll, some 14.7% of Arab Israelis believe Hamas should govern Gaza after the war. That number represents some 308,700 Israeli citizens out of an Arab Israeli population of around 2.1 million.

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  • Words count:
    835 words
  • Type of content:
    Opinion
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  • Publication Date:
    Feb. 13, 2025
  • Media:
    1 file

U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans to take over Gaza, resettle its 2 million residents and redevelop the territory have been excoriated in the United States and elsewhere as ruinously expensive and likely to see American troops mired in another conflict. Those criticisms have things entirely backward.

Under Trump’s plan, no troops would be needed. Israel’s military will be taking responsibility for Gaza’s long-term security.

Rather than being ruinously expensive, Gaza’s redevelopment stands to be massively profitable. Those who mock Trump’s assertion that Gaza has the potential to become a “Riviera of the Middle East” ignore the deep pockets and business acumen of those in Trump’s circle.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a Middle East real estate developer, lauded the development potential of Gaza’s Mediterranean coastline in a February 2024 interview with Harvard Middle East Initiative Faculty chairman Tarek Masoud. Kushner’s business associates include the Saudis, Emiratis and Qataris, who have invested a combined $3.5 billion in his Affinity Partners’ investment fund.  According to George Washington University economics professor Joseph Pelzman, author of a detailed plan for Gaza’s redevelopment, Kushner’s investors “are salivating to get in.”

Seconding Kushner’s assessment of Gaza’s development potential is Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, another real-estate developer, and Trump, himself, who considers Gaza prime real estate. The Trump Organization and its partner, Saudi-based Dar Al Arkan, have been developing hotels, luxury apartments and golf courses in Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. 

The value of hotel developments along the Gaza Strip’s 25-mile coastline could amount to tens of billions of dollars, dwarfing the $60 million a year for the estimated 20 years the United Nations says would be required to clear the 50 million tons of rubble left behind by the war.

Once the United States takes the “long-term ownership position” that Trump proposes and offers concessions to bidders in the tourism industry, the Gazan properties would start spinning off massive amounts of lucre. As icing on the cake, the Gaza Riviera would benefit from the 5 million tourists per year who already come to Israel, one of the world’s largest vacation destinations, many of whom may well include Gaza in their itinerary.

Gaza’s inland development would also be profitable, albeit much less so. Development of the areas adjacent to the coast would be driven by the need for housing for the tourist industry’s workforce and facilities for its suppliers. With the rest of Gaza resembling a demolition zone bereft of infrastructure and replete with unexploded ordinance, and with the United Nations estimating that rebuilding homes there will take decades, few would rush to develop communities further inland.

An exception would be Jewish communities.

With the Trump administration viewing Gaza as an “international place where everyone can live,” Israel would be able to right a historic wrong when it forcibly uprooted Jewish communities in Gaza in 2005 in the vain hope that peace would come of unilaterally giving Gaza to the Palestinians. Those uprooted communities could now be re-established, along with needed roads and other infrastructure. No U.S. financial or military commitment would be required; the private sector or the Israeli government would provide the wherewithal. Over time, other communities, including Arab settlements that found financing and were committed to peaceful coexistence with Jews, would also emerge.

Gaza’s petroleum-rich offshore represents another multibillion-dollar bounty for U.S. taxpayers. By awarding mining concessions to America-friendly corporations, the United States would augment America’s energy resources and its treasury.

While the U.S. military wouldn’t be needed to secure Gaza, it would benefit by establishing bases there to complement its facilities in some 20 other Middle East locations, many of which are subject to attack from hostile neighbors. Gaza bases adjacent to Israel, which would share its extensive intelligence, would be subject to far fewer attacks.

Trump expects America to sell Gaza eventually. When that occurs, this Mediterranean Riviera would represent an unparalleled financial windfall for the U.S. Treasury. Whether a country or an Israeli or Arab consortium proves to be the highest bidder, the new owners would want to protect their investment by keeping it a safe venue for tourism. 

Critics of Trump’s plan, such as Houchang E. Chehabi, professor emeritus at Boston University’s Pardee School of Global Studies, condemn the “forced resettlement of 2 million Gazans [as] mind-bogglingly appalling.” They have it backward: It is the Arab countries and others who are forcing Gazans to stay in Gaza, by barring their entry elsewhere. By persuading other countries to accept Gazan immigrants, Trump would be setting Gazans free to leave the uninhabitable calamity that Hamas has brought down on them.

Trump’s plan provides hope for Gazans who seek a brighter future, for Israelis who would finally share a border with a friend and ally, and for Americans who will take pride in turning one of the world’s most vicious terrorist enclaves into a profitable and peaceful oasis.

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  • Words count:
    186 words
  • Type of content:
    Update Desk
  • Publication Date:
    Feb. 13, 2025
  • Media:
    1 file

The State Attorney’s Tel Aviv District Office filed a declaration of intent on Thursday to prosecute a 20-year-old resident of eastern Jerusalem for allegedly transporting a Palestinian terrorist who stabbed a man in Tel Aviv on Jan. 18.

According to police, the man picked up the assailant, 19-year-old Salah Yahya from Tulkarem in Samaria, who was illegally residing in Israel, in Atarot near Jerusalem and drove him to central Tel Aviv.

Authorities say the driver knew Yahya was in Israel illegally and posed a threat to Israeli citizens. To avoid suspicion, the driver reportedly displayed a yellow ribbon on his vehicle symbolizing solidarity with Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

The terrorist stabbed a man at the intersection of Levontin and Mikveh Yisrael streets in Tel Aviv before being shot dead at the scene.

The 27-year-old victim was taken to Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) with a wound to the head area. His condition was variously described as moderate and serious

An indictment against the driver, including terrorism-related charges, is expected soon, along with a request to remand him in custody throughout the legal proceedings.

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