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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the end of an IDF combat officers training course at Bahad 1 near Mitzpe Ramon, October 31, 2024. (Screenshot/IDF Spokesperson) At the end of an IDF combat officers training course at Bahad 1 near Mitzpe Ramon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israeli freedom to stop Hezbollah attacks is more important than ceasefire agreements in Lebanon. “The agreements, the papers, the proposals, the numbers [UN Security Council Resolution] 1509, 1701 — all these have their place, but they are not the main thing,” he says, hours after meeting and making a similar point to top White House Middle East aides. “The main thing is our ability and our determination to enforce security, to thwart attacks against us and to act against the arming of our enemies as much as is necessary despite all the pressures and constraints — that is the main thing.” Amid chants of “Bibi, Bibi” and regular applause, Netanyahu says Israel attacked Iran’s “soft underbelly...

Germany will shut all Iranian consulates in Germany but allow the embassy to remain open in reaction to the execution of a German-Iranian national, the foreign ministry said on Thursday. The killing of German-Iranian national Jamshid Sharmahd has put "extreme" strain on the relationship between Berlin and Tehran, a ministry spokesperson had said on Wednesday.

Flash floods that ravaged eastern Spain this week have left 140 people dead, state-run news agency EFE said on Thursday, without elaborating further. Authorities last updated the death toll on Wednesday, putting the number of fatalities at 95. Spain's deadliest flash floods in modern history swept the eastern Spanish region of Valencia following torrential rain on Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving roads and towns under water.

A photo taken from the southern Lebanese city of Tyre shows a series of rockets launched from Lebanon towards Israel on October 17, 2024. (Kawnat HAJU / AFP) Two people were killed in a rocket attack near Kiryat Ata, outside of Haifa, the Magen David Adom rescue service says. The two, a woman in her 60s and a man around 30, are declared dead after being found in an agricultural area near Gilam Junction, according to first responders. A third person, a man in his 70s, is transported to a hospital with light injuries. The three were injured by rocket shrapnel following an attack on the area just before 3:15 p.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2L) meets in his Jerusalem office with US special envoy Amos Hochstein and Middle East czar Brett McGurk, alongside other officials, in Jerusalem October 31, 2024. (Ma'ayan Toaf/GPO) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets in his Jerusalem office with US special envoy Amos Hochstein and Middle East czar Brett McGurk. According to Netanyahu’s office, the prime minister stresses that the most important element of an agreement to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is not the piece of paper it’s written on, but “Israel’s determination and ability to enforce the agreement and to foil any threat to its security from Lebanon, in a manner that will return residents to their homes safely.” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (2R) and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer (R) meet with top White House Middle East advisers Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein, alongside their teams, in Jerusalem, October 31, 2024. (Ma'ayan Toaf/GPO) Defense Minist...

Ashkenazi chief rabbi candidate Kalman Ber after becoming chief rabbi of Netanya, September 15, 2014. (Yaakov Naumi/Flash90) Rabbi Kalman Ber is elected Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi for the next 10 years. He wins the  second round  77-58 over Rabbi Micha Halevi, after an earlier election this month ended with both of them tied for first. Until now, Ber served as the Ashkenazi city rabbi of Netanya. Having roots in the Bnei Akiva and religious Zionist movements, the Haredi Ber was backed by ultra-Orthodox party Degel HaTorah. He was also supported, particularly after the first round, by many who were campaigning against Halevi, who had promised not to run in the election if not chosen by a committee tasked with selecting a single religious Zionist candidate, and then violated that promise by running anyway after not being selected. A hardline candidate, he was nevertheless backed by Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party and Aryeh Deri’s ultra-Orthodox Shas. The Sephardic...

Israeli fighter jets struck weapons depots and command centers belonging to Hezbollah in Syria a short while ago, the IDF says. The strikes were carried out in the al-Qusayr area, close to Lebanon’s border with Syria. The sites belonged to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force and the terror group’s armament unit, according to the military. The armament unit is responsible for storing weapons in Lebanon, and according to the IDF, it recently expanded its activities to Syria, where it stored weapons in al-Qusayr. The strikes come as part of the IDF’s efforts to prevent weapon transfers from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon.