Israel News

A doctor was assessing whether her health allowed her to be imprisoned for the remainder of the trial.

Furchner’s next hearing is scheduled for October 19.

Sarkozy Sentenced

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced last week to one year in prison for illegal campaign financing. The illegal financing occurred during his failed re-election bid in 2012.

All 13 of Sarkozy’s co-defendants have been found guilty. Meanwhile, the judge has said that Sarkozy may wear an electronic bracelet and serve his sentence in his home.

“Nicolas Sarkozy knew the spending limit. He knew he shouldn’t exceed it,” the judge said.

Sarkozy’s lawyer has promised to appeal the sentence.

The current case is Sarkozy’s second; in March, he received a threeyear prison sentence – two of which were suspended – for corruption and influence peddling. He has appealed the conviction.

Searching for Ron Arad

Israeli pilot Ron Arad has been missing in action since 1986, last thought to be custody of Lebanese terror groups. In an effort to find his body, the Mossad intelligence agency had examined a corpse in a northern Lebanese village last month, extracting DNA to test if it was Arad’s remains.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Monday that the Mossad had recently embarked on wide-ranging efforts in search of information about Arad.

Saudi news outlet Al-Arabiya reported that the Mossad had also abducted an Iranian general from Syria to interrogate him about Arad’s fate. That was first reported earlier on Tuesday by the London-based Rai alYoum paper. Mossad agents took the Iranian general from Syria to an unnamed African country, interrogated him there, and eventually released him, the paper said.

Speaking at the opening of the winter Knesset session on Monday, Bennett revealed that Mossad agents recently went on a mission to uncover the whereabouts of Arad. He was last heard from in 1988, two years after he was captured.

Initial accounts in several Hebrew media outlets late Monday portrayed the operation as entirely unsuccessful, and accused Bennett of revealing its existence for political reasons. Channel 12 news cited Mossad chief David Barnea as calling the operation courageous, daring, and complex but nonetheless a “failure,” in an internal meeting.

But on Tuesday, the same TV channel reported that Barnea actually asked for Bennett to reveal the operation and that “the praise and recognition for the Mossad sacrificing to return Arad and other captives and MIAs was important for members of the organization along with the praise for soldiers.” The network also said that Barnea sent a letter to the organization’s staff portraying the operation as a major success.

Yediot Ahronoth quoted an unnamed “senior intelligence source” claiming that “the Mossad achieved its mission,” and Israel Hayom quoted a senior intelligence source calling it “one of the most important and successful operations to bring quality information about Arad.”

Arad bailed out of his plane during an operation in southern Lebanon in 1986. Israel believes he was captured by the Shiite Amal movement before being handed over to Iran and moved from Lebanon to Iran and then back again. Several signs of life were received in the first two years of his incarceration, including photos and letters, the last of which was sent on

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May 5, 1988.

Arad has long been assumed to have died many years ago, although intelligence reports have differed as to the circumstances, timing, and location of his death. In 2016, a report indicated that Arad was killed and buried in 1988 near Beirut. But a 2004 IDF commission determined Arad had died in the 1990s after being denied medical treatment.

Iran’s Failed Assassination Attempt?

Over the past few days, reports have emerged of an attempted attack on Israeli targets in Cyprus. Details, though, are murky.

Some have put Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi as the target of the attempted attack. On Monday, the Israeli government blamed “Iranian terror” for the planned murder, although some say that Sagi was not the target.

Even so, it has come to light that the hired killer was originally from Azerbaijan and had landed in Cyprus on a flight from Russia using a Russian passport. He then made his way to the Turkish-controlled city of Paralimni in the north where he rented a room and two vehicles. He then scouted out an office complex in the Angumi business district, where most of the island’s Israelis work.

He had reportedly crossed the Turkish-Cypriot border back and forth a number of times on a bike.

Subsequently, he was arrested by Cypriot police from the Anti-Terrorism Unit with a gun and silencer on him that he had reportedly obtained while in Cyprus.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, the recent attack attempt was a response to Israel’s assassination last year of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the head of Tehran’s nuclear program. Fakhrizadeh was reportedly taken out in a sophisticated hit led by a Mossad team that deployed a computerized machine gun, required no on-site operatives, took less than a minute, and did not injure anyone else.

Channel 13 news said that it could have been intended as a reaction to a recent Mossad operation to gather information on the fate of Ron Arad, who has been missing in action for more than 30 years.

Speaking at the Knesset on Monday, Defense Minister Benny Gantz reiterated the government claim that the alleged attack on Sagi was linked to Iranian terror.

“As was publicized recently, an Iranian attack against Israeli targets in Cyprus was foiled,” said Gantz, during a Blue and White faction meeting. “Iran continues to be a global and regional threat, as well as a challenge to Israel, and we will continue to operate in order to protect our citizens and the State of Israel anywhere from any threat.”

According to initial reporting, Sagi, a well-known Israeli-Cypriot businessman who founded the gambling software company Playtech and owns Camden Market in London, was saved at the last minute from the assassination plot after being warned of it by authorities.

But Sagi told Channel 12 news on Monday evening that he was never tipped off or warned and decided to leave Cyprus for unrelated reasons. “The headlines sounded very scary, but it had nothing to do with me,” he said. “I didn’t receive any notification to leave.”

Lapid Inaugurates Israeli Embassy in Bahrain

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) on Thursday inaugurated the Israeli Embassy in Manama, Bahrain, one year after the two countries signed a normalization agreement.

Speaking at the event, Lapid said, “May our people live in peace and prosperity forever.” He added, “Israel made a major, historic step today in the Gulf.”

Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif al Zayani said at the ceremony, “It is an unmistakable signal to all that we are determined. We are not done.”

Bahrain will open an embassy in Israel before the end of the year.

Bahrain has already sent an ambassador to Israel, and Israel has tapped diplomat Eitan Na’eh to serve as ambassador to Bahrain, though he has not yet been confirmed.

Earlier in his visit, Lapid met with Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, marking the King’s first public meeting with an Israeli official. The Foreign Minister also met Prime Minister and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

Arrests in Stone-Throwing

Israel Police announced last Thursday that two people suspected of hurling stones at an Arab village were arrested. According to the police, the two suspects are an adult and a minor; their arrest follows the Wednesday arrest of three other Israelis who allegedly participated in the incident.

In the incident, which occurred last Tuesday, dozens of masked assailants threw rocks at Palestinian Authority Arabs in the southern Hebron Hills, causing damage to cars and injuring over a dozen people, including a three-year-old. Some of the Arabs threw rocks at the assailants, with clashes breaking out between the sides. Hebrew media reported that three Israelis were injured in the clashes.

Meanwhile the Arab child, threeyear-old Mohammad Bakr Hussein, was evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva, Israel, in moderate condition.

Tragic Bus Crash

Four members of a single family were killed in a collision between the taxi they were traveling in and a tour bus carrying Bnei Akiva youth returning from a field trip last Tuesday. The bus driver, 76-year-old Asher Bason, was also killed in the crash,