Israel News

against Israeli, European, and American civilians and government officials in Colombia, Kenya, Ethiopia, the UAE, and Cyprus in the last two years alone.

His killing was meant to warn Iran that the group should stop its activities, the intelligence official quoted by the Times said.

Iran has never publicly acknowledged the existence of Unit 840 and maintains that Khodaei played a completely different role in the IRGC after joining as a teen, voluntarily enlisting during the Iran-Iraq War and later fighting against Islamic State in Syria on behalf of the Quds Force.

The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Maj. Gen Hossein Salami publicly blamed “the Zionists” for the assassination. Khodaei’s assassination was the most high-profile killing inside Iran since the November 2020 killing of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Shin Bet: Strife Can Lead to Terrorism

Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar said on Sunday that the security agency has identified that Israel’s political instability and internal discord have encouraged terrorism.

“From the intelligence that we have read, from the interrogations of attackers we have conducted, and also from many years of familiarity with our adversaries, wherever they are, we can say today without a shadow of a doubt that the political instability, the growing internal strife… are an encouragement to the axis of evil, to the terror organizations and individual attackers,” Bar said at a conference at Herzliya’s Reichman University.

He added that the “deep rift that is developing within Israeli society” is the “most complex” challenge it is facing.

“The prevailing feeling among our adversaries is that our historical advantage, our national resilience, is fading,” Bar warned.

“This insight should trouble us more than anything else. In this matter the Shin Bet can only warn, it certainly cannot deal with it,” he said. “It is in the hands of each and every one of us.”

Israelis have been dealing with politics for all their lives, but recently, the in-fighting has become louder. Last year, former Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman warned of rising incitement and hate speech on social media as thenprime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was close to being ousted after a 12-year rule. At the time, Naftali Bennett and his fellow Yamina party members faced intense attacks for their decision to join the socalled “change government.”

Ultimately, the government fell apart, sending Israel into its fifth election since 2019, which will be held on November 1.

IDF Soldier Killed by Gunmen

Maj. Bar Falah lost his life on Wednesday morning when he attempted to arrest two suspected terrorists.

Falah, 30, was the deputy commander of the elite Nahal reconnaissance unit.

The two terrorists, Ahmed Abed and Abdul Rahman Abed, from the village of Kafr Dan near Jenin, were killed in a subsequent firefight. Ahmed was an officer in the PA security services.

Speaking about Falah, Prime Minister Yair Lapid said, “A warrior in all his being, he fought terrorism and led his fighters until his final hour. The operational activity in which he was killed thwarted a major terrorist attack and saved many lives.”

Falah’s uncle, Eli Hasson, spoke about his nephew.

“He had been sent on a posting for the army to the US, but despite the good conditions he came back to the field to take up this position,” Hasson told the Walla news site. “He told me, ‘I’ll defend my soldiers with my body,’ and that’s what he did,” he said.

According to the IDF, soldiers operating surveillance cameras spotted two suspects in the so-called seam zone between the West Bank and Israel, near the Palestinian village of Jalamah, before dawn on Wednesday. Troops dispatched to investigate flanked the pair and initiated arrest procedures.

At that point, “the suspects opened fire at the soldiers,” the military said in a statement. “IDF troops took cover and shot at the suspects, neutralizing them.”

The terrorists were carrying a makeshift submachine gun and a semi-automatic weapon. It is thought that they were planning an ambush in the area.

The tragic incident occurred near the scene ofanother shooting attackless than 24 hours earlier. On Tuesday morning, a Defense Ministry engineering vehicle working along the security barrier in the same area came under gunfire. There were no injuries, but the vehicle was damaged.

Terror Attack Thwarted

Last Thursday, police thwarted a major terror attack when they arrested a 19-year-old resident of Nablus armed with a firearm and two bombs in Jaffa.

The man said that he had wanted to commit a major terror attack in Tel Aviv.

He had no permit to enter Israel and had aroused the suspicion of officers of the elite police reconnaissance unit Yasam near Jaffa’s clock tower, a major landmark and tourist attraction.

He was detained and found to be carrying a “Carlo” submachine gun and two pipe bombs filled with nails.

According to police commissioner Kobi Shabtai, “He was looking to commit a massacre.”

Shabtai thanked the Yasam officers who “prevented a large-scale deadly terror attack” by noticing the suspect and questioning him.

One of the officers recounted the arrest.

“We were in Jaffa,” Sharif Hasson said. “We identified a suspicious person, stopped him and while we were checking him, he admitted that he was in Israel illegally, didn’t have any papers or ID.”

Hasson added, “He had a bag, and there was something metal poking out. The bag was heavy, really heavy. While checking the bag, we saw it was a gun. We told the guy to get on the floor, that he was under arrest.”

This is not the man’s first encounter with police. He had been arrested in April after attempting to bring a knife onto the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. He was tried and sentenced to four months in prison.

The Israel Defense Forces set up checkpoints in the West Bank near the settlement of Ariel amid a search for additional suspects who may have been involved in the planned attack. According to the Kan public broadcaster, a relative of the suspect was arrested in the area.

A Maritime Deal with Lebanon?

According to Beirut’s foreign minister, a maritime deal between Lebanon and Israel is 95 percent complete. He urged both sides to come together to sign the agreement.

Abdallah Bouhabib told the An-Nahar newspaper that both countries had an interest in completing the agreement

quickly, noting that Israeli elections in November may push off an agreement.

“The problem is that there is a caretaker government in Israel, and they have elections, and they throw test balloons to see the reactions and their impact on the mood,” Bouhabib said.

“It is said that if Benjamin Netanyahu comes [into power], he may blow up the agreement. Here [in Lebanon], a president with a different approach and vision may come. Therefore, the time is right for an agreement.”

Lebanese President Michel Aoun’s term in office is set to end in October.

On Friday, U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein noted progress in indirect talks between Lebanon and Israel but said more work was needed for a final agreement.

The dispute, which involves competing claims over offshore gas fields, escalated in June after Israel moved a production vessel near the Karish offshore field, which is partly claimed by its northern neighbor.

Energean, the London-listed company licensed by Israel to extract gas from Karish, said on Thursday that gas would begin flowing within weeks, despite the disagreement.

Hochstein was in Israel on Thursday where he met with National Security Council chairman Eyal Hulata and Foreign Ministry director Alon Ushpiz. This was his third visit to Israel to work on this deal.

Lebanon and Israel, whose border is UN-patrolled, have no diplomatic relations. They resumed maritime border negotiations in 2020 but the process was stalled by Beirut’s claim that the map used by the United Nations in the talks needed modifying.

Lebanon initially demanded 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) in the disputed maritime area but then asked for an additional 1,430 square kilometers (552 square miles), including part of the Karish field.

Israel says that the field lies in its waters and is not part of the disputed area subject to ongoing negotiations.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which launched drones towards the Karish gas field in July, had threatened attacks if Israel proceeds with gas extraction in the disputed area.

In turn, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said late last month that any attack on its gas assets could reignite war between the two sides.

Shaked is Back

Yamina party leader Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked announced on Tuesday that she had signed an agreement with the Jewish Home party for a “joint run” in November’s elections, just days after reneging on her Zionist Spirit partnership with Yoaz Hendel.

Shaked and Jewish Home’s current leader, Yossi Brodny, agreed to run their parties together under the Jewish Home name, although it has yet to be finalized.

“I am happy that we succeeded in rebuilding a home for religious Zionism and for the responsible right in Israel,” Shaked said in a statement announcing the deal with Brodny.

Hendel and Shaked had separated over a disagreement over whether to join a narrow government under Benjamin Netanyahu – if a unity government proved impossible – as an alternative to sending Israel to a sixth election. Zionist Spirit had also consistently been polling below the electoral threshold necessary to enter Knesset.

Until she split with Hendel in the early hours of Sunday morning, Shaked had pushed for a broad “unity” government. In the days since, Shaked has said she is “coming home” to the right, and with her Tuesday statement, completed her rhetorical shift to a right-wing government.

“We’ll work together to form a broad, right-wing and stable government,” Shaked said of her new partnership with Brodny.

She had explicitly said she would likely lend her support to Netanyahu following the elections, while speaking to a convention of the Association of Municipal Engineers on Monday. Brodny echoed her sentiment.

“I support a broad government, but I will probably recommend Netanyahu. I will recommend whoever has the most seats, and whoever has the best chance