JAPAN WON'T RECOGNIZE AN ARAB STATE AT THE USELESS U.N.

 JAPAN WON'T RECOGNIZE AN ARAB STATE AT THE USELESS U.N. 

WORLD TERRORISM

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)

ISAIAH 14:12-14
12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14  I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)

JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)

And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE.

Joel 3:2-King James Version (YOU DIVIDE JERUSALEM IN HALF - YOUR POKING GOD IN THE EYE - GOD SAYS AN EYE FOR AN EYE AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH- YOU WANNA DIVIDE JERUSALEM IN HALF -  HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION 4 BILLION DIE ON EARTH.
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

Japan won’t recognize Palestinian state at upcoming UN General Assembly — report-Asked about move, which is likely aimed at maintaining relations with US, Tokyo says it is considering ‘appropriate timing and modalities’ of Palestinian statehood recognition-By Reuters Today, 6:52 am-SEP 17,25

TOKYO — Japan will not recognize a Palestinian state for now, a decision likely taken to maintain relations with the United States and to avoid a hardening of Israel’s attitude, the Asahi newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified government sources.Several governments, including those in Britain, France, Canada and Australia, have said they will recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly this month, adding international pressure on Israel over its actions in the territory.The US had prompted Japan to forgo the recognition of a Palestinian state through several diplomatic channels, while French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot had strongly urged his Japanese counterpart to recognize it, Kyodo news agency reported last week.Japan has been conducting a “comprehensive assessment, including appropriate timing and modalities, of the issue of recognizing Palestinian statehood,” Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya told a news briefing on Tuesday.Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, the government’s top spokesperson, repeated the statement at a news conference on Wednesday when asked about the Asahi report.But Hayashi expressed a “grave sense of crisis” over the Israeli ground assault against Hamas in Gaza City, saying “the very foundations of a two-state solution could be collapsing.”He urged Israel to “take substantive steps to end the severe humanitarian crisis, including famine, as soon as possible.”At a UN meeting on Friday, Japan was among 142 nations that voted in favor of a declaration outlining “tangible, timebound, and irreversible steps” toward a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.But Asahi said Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is set to skip a September 22 meeting on the subject during the UN gathering in New York.Within the Group of Seven nations, German and Italian officials have called an immediate recognition of the state of Palestine “counterproductive.”Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Starmer said planning to recognize Palestinian state after Trump’s UK visit-The Times reports that British PM is under massive pressure from Labour to grant Palestinian statehood recognition before UN General Assembly, when France and others plan to do so By ToI Staff Today, 12:51 am-SEP 17,25

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer plans to formally recognize a Palestinian state after US President Donald Trump completes his state visit to the United Kingdom, British media reported Wednesday.The unsourced report by The Times said that Starmer plans to recognize Palestine even before several countries, led by France, will do so at the United Nations General Assembly summit in New York next week, amid concern over the ongoing war in Gaza.The Times reported that Starmer is under massive pressure from within his Labour party to make the move, but will hold off on doing so until Trump leaves so that the issue doesn’t dominate a joint press conference planned for Thursday.Britain’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The US is deeply opposed to the move, saying it would be a reward for the Hamas terror group in the wake of the October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw another 251 taken hostage.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned countries considering recognizing Palestinian statehood during the General Assembly that Israel could take “reciprocal” action in the form of annexing the West Bank.Starmer announced in July that the UK would recognize a Palestinian state in September unless the Israeli government took substantive steps to end the war and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, and committed to a viable peace process.The decision was swiftly condemned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who declared the move “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism.” Meeting Starmer in London last week, President Isaac Herzog said Britain’s “stated intention to recognize a Palestinian state at this time would in no way help bring the hostages home, help the Palestinians, or help bring an end to the conflict” but only “embolden extremists across the Middle East and beyond.”In June, the UK sanctioned far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich and froze trade talks with Israel. And last month, the British government announced a ban on Israeli defense firms attending a major London arms fair.Earlier this week, the Royal College of Defence Studies, one of Britain’s most eminent military academies, banned Israelis from enrolling from next year, due to the ongoing war.Israel has found itself increasingly isolated on the world stage, as the 23-month-old war sparked by the Hamas-led October 2023 attack grinds on in Gaza. Terror groups in the Strip still hold 48 hostages, of whom only about 20 are believed to be alive.Reuters contributed to this report.

Smotrich: Gaza a real estate ‘bonanza,’ Israel talking with US about dividing it up-Finance minister says ‘demolition’ is done, ‘now we just need to build’; also slams Netanyahu’s comparison of Israel to Sparta-By Sam Sokol-Today, 8:44 pm-SEP 17,25

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday said that the Gaza Strip was a potential real estate “bonanza” and that he was in talks with the United States on how to divide up the coastal enclave after the war, once again making clear his desire to transform the enclave into Israeli territory.Speaking at a real estate conference in Tel Aviv, the minister said the opportunity “pays for itself,” and he has “already started negotiations with the Americans.”Palestinians and much of the international community strenuously insist that the enclave must be governed by a Palestinian body after the war and reject the idea of Israeli or US occupation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said he does not intend to reestablish Israeli settlements in the Strip, while his far-right allies have talked up their vision of pushing Palestinians out and building Israeli communities on the land.“We have paid a lot of money for this war. We have to see how we are dividing up the land in percentages,” Smotrich said, adding that “the demolition, the first stage in the city’s renewal, we have already done. Now we need to build.”He added, “There is a business plan, put together by the most professional people here, that is on President Trump’s desk.”Officials in the White House and US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.In an interview with his Religious Zionism party’s Ofek weekend newsletter last month, Smotrich said he was working to reestablish the former Israeli settlements of Ganim and Kadim in the northern West Bank, both of which were evacuated and dismantled during Israel’s disengagement from Gaza in 2005, when it withdrew all of its settlers and soldiers.In July, he spoke at a Knesset conference called “The Gaza Riviera – from vision to reality,” at which participants presented plans for reestablishing Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. There, he said that Gaza would become an “inseparable part of the State of Israel.”In May, he said the population of the territory would be confined to just a narrow swath of land, with the remainder of the enclave “totally destroyed.”Smotrich claimed in July that his vision has US President Donald Trump’s backing. Trump in February said the US would take over Gaza, relocate its residents, and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”Trump’s plans have been rejected by the Palestinians, the Arab world and most of the international community, in addition to officials from both parties in the US. Trump himself has also placed less focus on such plans after his initial comments.But last month, The Washington Post reported that the proposal was apparently not quite dead. The report said the Trump administration was weighing a proposal for the postwar reconstruction of Gaza that would put the Strip under US control for a decade and pay roughly a quarter of its population to relocate, many of them permanently.In addition, Smotrich on Wednesday rejected Netanyahu’s statement earlier this week that Israel was facing increasing isolation and may be required to become a self-reliant economy with “autarkic characteristics” and a kind of “super-Sparta.”“I do not agree with the prime minister’s words, and I really did not like the comparison to Sparta,” the finance minister said.Netanyahu’s comments sparked fierce criticism from opposition heads and business leaders and were followed by a dip in the value of shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.In response, the prime minister said on Tuesday that he had “full confidence” in the Israeli economy and sought to clarify that his comments were focused on the defense industries rather than the broader economy.

'Death is cheaper and more merciful'-Dozens said killed in strikes as thousands flee Gaza City, but some vow to stay put-On IDF ground offensive’s second day, many Gazans say nowhere is safe; aid groups call for more pressure to stop operation; strikes said to cut internet, phone service-By Emanuel Fabian,Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 4:49 pm

Dozens of Palestinians were said to have been killed in Israel Defense Force strikes across Gaza on Wednesday, as the military said Palestinians continued to flee Gaza City amid a major offensive in the Strip’s largest urban area.At least 30 people were killed across the Strip in Israeli strikes, including 19 in Gaza City, local Hamas-run health authorities said. Israeli forces continued to bombard the city and other parts of the Strip overnight and into Wednesday, the second day of the IDF’s ground offensive in the area.The casualty figures could not be independently verified and did not differentiate between fighters and civilians. Gazan health officials said they included several women and children.The IDF said the air force struck some 50 targets in the Strip overnight, most of them in Gaza City, with some 140 targets hit over a 24-hour period. The military said the targets included tunnels, buildings used by terror groups, cells of operatives, and other infrastructure, but provided few additional details about the intensified operation.According to reports, Israeli troops blew up remote-controlled explosive-laden unmanned vehicles in the northwest Tel al-Hawa neighborhood and in Gaza City’s south. During the war, the IDF has repurposed decommissioned APCs by packing them with explosives and attaching remote-control capabilities, in order to drive them into areas with Hamas infrastructure without risking the lives of troops.Airstrikes and artillery fire were reported in several areas around the edges of the city.On Wednesday, the military estimated that some 400,000 Palestinians had so far evacuated Gaza City. But it remains heavily populated despite a general evacuation order from the IDF, which has instructed civilians to move south to a humanitarian zone.Around 1 million Palestinians were estimated to be residing in the city before the IDF began preparations for its offensive there against Hamas. In recent days, the pace of evacuations has accelerated to tens of thousands of people a day, according to the army.That increasing rate has led to overcrowding as people make their way out of the city. Until now, Gazans have only been able to leave via the Rashid coastal road, which has been inundated with foot and vehicle traffic as thousands move south to avoid the onslaught.But on Wednesday, the military announced that it would facilitate a second evacuation route on Salah a-Din, the main north-south highway in Gaza, which will remain open until noon on Friday. Salah a-Din, a main inland artery running to central Gaza, was used as a principal evacuation route during an offensive in Gaza City in the first months of the war.Displaced Palestinians headed southward a day after Israel unleashed a long-threatened ground assault on Gaza City, declaring ‘Gaza is burning’ as Palestinians there described the most intense bombardment they had faced in two years of war https://t.co/MQrEsYzN14 pic.twitter.com/GtiSlYkYTb— Reuters (@Reuters) September 17, 2025-Still, many Gazans say nowhere is safe and instead have vowed to stay in their homes despite the IDF’s order to evacuate.“I won’t leave Gaza. There’s shelling here and there,” said Umm Ahmed Yunes, who is living in her partially destroyed home.She additionally lamented the high cost of moving.“Where would I find $1,000 or $2,000 for transport costs? Where would I buy a tent? There are no tents and prices are insane,” said the 44-year-old. “Death is cheaper and more merciful.”Fatima Lubbad, a mother of four, said she had left Gaza City along with 10 relatives but felt the ordeal was unbearable.“I wish we would all die together,” said the 36-year-old.“Last night we slept in the street by the sea in Deir el-Balah — there was nowhere to put a tent… I cried all night as I looked at my children sleeping on the ground,” she said.The military has estimated that, in addition to the approximately 600,000 civilians who have not yet evacuated, there are thousands of Hamas fighters in Gaza City. Additionally, a number of Israeli hostages are believed to be held in the city.Terror groups in Gaza are holding 48 hostages, including 47 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists during the October 7, 2023, attack that launched the war. Twenty hostages are believed to still be alive, while there are grave concerns for two others. The remainder are thought to be dead. Hamas is also holding the body of an IDF soldier killed in 2014.As the ground and air operations in the city intensified, the Palestinian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, based in the West Bank, said Israeli strikes on the main network lines in northern Gaza had collapsed internet and telephone services, cutting Gazans off from the outside world.Meanwhile, a coalition of leading aid groups on Wednesday urged the international community to take stronger measures to stop Israel’s offensive in the city.“What we are witnessing in Gaza is not only an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, but what the UN Commission of Inquiry has now concluded is a genocide,” read the statement signed by leaders of over 20 aid organizations operating in Gaza, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, Anera, and Save the Children.“States must use every available political, economic, and legal tool at their disposal to intervene,” the statement said. “Rhetoric and half measures are not enough. This moment demands decisive action.”The statement referred to a report released Tuesday by a commission of UN experts, which accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The panel’s findings were roundly rejected by Israel.Israel has also strenuously contested accusations that there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying that it makes efforts to deliver aid to Gaza’s civilians. It has accused the United Nations of delays in distributing aid and charged Hamas with stealing the supplies.Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, known as COGAT, said that nearly 230 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Strip on Tuesday through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings.According to COGAT, some 250 trucks’ worth of aid were collected by the United Nations and other international organizations from the Gaza side of the crossings Tuesday to be distributed. Similar amounts of aid deliveries have been reported daily in the past few weeks.“The contents of hundreds of trucks are still awaiting collection on the Gaza side of the crossings,” COGAT said.The UN has said 600 trucks of aid need to be distributed each day in order to properly feed the Strip’s roughly two million people amid the war.COGAT also said that “tankers of UN fuel entered for the operation of essential humanitarian systems” yesterday, and that it coordinated the entry and exit of humanitarian aid workers rotating in and out of Gaza.The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 64,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught, in which Hamas-led invaders killed some 1,200 people.Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas fights from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 465.

Flower-bedecked Netanyahu and counterpart from Fiji open new embassy in Jerusalem-FM Sa’ar vows to continue to work to relocate embassies to capital after island nation becomes 7th country to do so; Fijian PM acknowledges ‘special bond’ with Israel-By Nava Freiberg-Today, 8:05 pm-SEP 17,25

Fiji opened its embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday, becoming the seventh country to do so, with leaders of Israel and the island nation sporting traditional Fijian garlands at the inauguration ceremony.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar celebrated alongside Fiji’s Prime Minister and and Foreign Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, Sa’ar’s office said in a statement.“A new embassy in Jerusalem, our eternal capital!” Sa’ar cheered in the statement.The event was a rare diplomatic bright spot for Israel at a time when allies are issuing increasingly harsh criticism of Israel’s conduct in the Gaza war and threatening sanctions. Fiji was one of a dozen countries to abstain from a recent United Nations vote that overwhelmingly endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state, and on Wednesday, Rabuka paid tribute to his country’s relationship with Israel.“I’d like to acknowledge the special bond and the enduring friendship and relationship that has existed between Fiji and the State of Israel,” Rabuka said following the inauguration at a ceremony held at the Foreign Ministry offices in the presence of Sa’ar.Fiji is the seventh country to open an embassy in Jerusalem, joining the US, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea and Paraguay. Argentina has also announced plans to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem next year.Rabuka, Sa’ar and Netanyahu posed for a photo, with Netanyahu and Rabuka sporting salusalu — traditional Fijian garlands.Ahead of the ceremony, Netanyahu hosted Rabuka at his office, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. Rabuka, who is also the foreign minister, in turn invited Netanyahu to visit the South Pacific archipelago, the statement added.Netanyahu thanked his Fijian counterpart “for his support and steadfast standing alongside Israel, and spoke with him about regional political and security issues,” the PMO said.Most countries have their diplomatic seats in Tel Aviv due to the disputed status of Jerusalem. Israel claims the city as its eternal and undivided capital, while the Palestinian Authority seeks East Jerusalem as the capital of its future state. Most countries do not recognize Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem.Rabuka came to power in late 2022 as the head of a three-party government that included the right-wing Christian Sodelpa party, one of whose leaders’ demands was that Fiji open an embassy in Jerusalem.Fiji’s embassy move follows a decades-long campaign by the Jerusalem-based International Christian Embassy of Jerusalem, which preaches support for Israel at churches across the Southern Pacific.Israel had an embassy in Fiji, but it was closed in the 1990s due to budget cuts at the time.AFP contributed to this report.

Laser-based ‘Iron Beam’ interception system declared operational-System set to be delivered to IDF by end of year after successful final tests; defense minister says Israel ‘first country to possess this capability’By Emanuel Fabian-Today, 8:03 pm-SEP 17,25

Israel’s high-powered laser interception system, dubbed “Iron Beam,” has been declared operational after completing development and final tests, and is set to be delivered to the military by the end of the year, the Defense Ministry and manufacturer Rafael said on Wednesday.The Iron Beam has been in development for over a decade; it was first unveiled in 2014. During the current war, a lower-powered version of the system was used by the Israel Defense Forces to shoot down Hezbollah drones launched from Lebanon.The ministry said its Directorate of Defense Research & Development (DDR&D), the Israeli Air Force, and the Rafael defense firm “successfully completed an advanced series of operational tests, which lasted several weeks, to demonstrate the capabilities of the high-power laser system.”It said the test involved the interception of rockets, mortars, and drones by the Iron Beam.“The series of tests, conducted at a testing ground in southern Israel, concludes the development process and constitutes the final stage before delivering the system for operational use in the IDF,” the ministry said.In a symbolic move, the ministry renamed the system in Hebrew from Magen Or(light shield) to Or Eitan(Eitan’s light), after Cpt. Eitan Oster, 22, a commander in the Egoz Commando Unit, who was killed fighting Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in October 2024. Oster’s father, who works for the DDR&D, was among the “initiators and developers” of the Iron Beam project, the ministry said.The Iron Beam is not meant to replace the Iron Dome or Israel’s other air defense systems, but to supplement and complement them, shooting down smaller projectiles and leaving larger ones for the more robust missile-based batteries such as the David’s Sling and Arrow systems.As long as there is a constant source of energy for the laser, there is no risk of it ever running out of ammunition. Officials have hailed it as a potential “game-changer” in the battle against projectile attacks.The main downside of a laser system is that it does not function well in low visibility, including heavy cloud cover or other inclement weather.A lower-powered and shorter-range version of the laser interceptor system used by the IDF’s newly revived 946th Air Defense Battalion, which operates anti-drone systems, shot down some 35 Hezbollah drones over northern Israel last year.With the Iron Beam being declared operational, “a significant leap in the operational capabilities of the Air Defense Array is expected, through the long-range laser weapon system,” the ministry added.In June, Rafael showcased at the Paris Air Show its family of “high-energy laser weapon systems,” including the Iron Beam 450, an upgraded version of the Iron Beam; the Iron Beam M, a compact and mobile version of the laser interceptor, designed to be mounted on a truck and used by ground forces or to protect strategic sites; and the Lite Beam, a lightweight, compact, and lower-powered laser interceptor designed to be mounted on armored personnel carriers or other armored vehicles during ground operations.Rafael also said it was developing a maritime version of the laser interceptor, which could be deployed on Navy boats to protect assets at sea.Wednesday’s announcement was hailed by officials, with Defense Minister Israel Katz saying the Iron Beam “places the State of Israel at the forefront of global military technology and makes the State of Israel the first country to possess this capability.”“This is not only a moment of national pride, but a historic milestone for our defense envelope: a fast, precise interception at marginal cost that joins the existing defensive tools and changes the threat equation,” he said.

US House passes bill to identify Jewish American soldiers buried under crosses-Bipartisan legislation will allow families to request gravestone change to Star of David so that veterans will ‘have their heritage properly recognized and honored’By Luke Tress-Today, 11:33 pm-SEP 17,25

The US House on Monday passed a bill that aims to identify fallen Jewish-American soldiers who are buried under Christian markers in overseas military cemeteries, paving the way for those markers to be replaced with Stars of David.US Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Jewish Democrat from Florida who co-sponsored the bill, said in a statement that the graves of as many as 900 Jewish American soldiers are marked by crosses.The Jews were buried under crosses, mostly by mistake, due to the massive scale of casualties during World War I and World War II, the bill said.“American-Jewish servicemembers played a vital role in the Allied victories,” the bill said. “American-Jewish servicemembers who fought and died for the United States must have their heritage properly recognized and honored.”The bill will, if passed into law, have the American Battle Monuments Commission, a government agency that administers military cemeteries, establish a program to identify the improperly marked graves.The commission will task a nonprofit with identifying the graves and award the nonprofit $500,000 for the five-year effort.The bill, called the Fallen Servicemembers Religious Heritage Restoration Act, does not stipulate that the markers be changed to Stars of David, but would allow the families of the fallen to request the change.To replace a grave marker at the cemeteries, the fallen soldier’s next of kin must present the commission with evidence of the soldier’s religion and request the change, Wasserman Schultz said.“This bill is an important step to allow for the research necessary to correct these errors and ensure there are resources for that work,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement. “This will make it possible for these brave Jewish servicemembers’ descendants to know that their loved one’s military service, life and religious heritage are properly honored.”More than 2 million visitors went to the overseas cemeteries in 2022, according to the bill.The bill passed with bipartisan support by a voice vote in the House. The measure was led by Wasserman Schultz and Max Miller, a Jewish Republican from Ohio. The legislation must now pass the Senate before it heads to US President Donald Trump for final approval.The bill was supported by the Jewish Federations of North America, the Jewish War Veterans group, and several non-Jewish military organizations.The American Battle Monuments Commission oversees 26 military cemeteries with 124,000 fallen soldiers in 17 countries.More than 30,000 of the soldiers were killed in World War I, nearly 93,000 in World War II and 750 in the Mexican-American War, according to the commission’s website.The cemeteries are located in countries including France, the UK, the Philippines, Panama, Belgium, Italy, the Solomon Islands, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands and Tunisia.

Germany’s Merz warns criticism of Israel used as guise for ‘poison of antisemitism’At 75th anniversary of Jewish group’s founding, German leader still says critique of Jewish state ‘must be possible’; tears up at rededication of synagogue destroyed in Holocaust By Agencies and Zev Stub-Today, 11:31 pm-SEP 17,25

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday that criticism of Israel was increasingly being used in Germany as a pretext for stoking hatred against Jews.Speaking at an event to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Central Council of Jews, Merz said that antisemitism had “become louder, more open, more brazen, more violent almost every day” since the Hamas-led massacre on October 7, 2023, that ignited the Gaza war.“‘Criticism of Israel’ and the crudest perpetrator-victim reversal is increasingly a pretext under which the poison of antisemitism is spread,” he said, warning that “antisemitic rhetoric is becoming normalized.”Germany is one of Israel’s closest allies in Europe and is its second-biggest weapons supplier after the US. Its close ties to Israel are rooted in its sense of historical responsibility for the Nazi Holocaust — a policy known as the “Staatsraison.”Last month, however, Germany suspended exports of weaponry that could be used in the Gaza Strip because of Israel’s plan to expand its operations there — the first time united Germany had acknowledged denying military support to its longtime ally.The decision followed mounting pressure from the public and Merz’s junior coalition partner over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.In his speech in Berlin on Wednesday, Merz mentioned the about-face, saying that criticism of the Israeli government “must be possible,” but added: “Our country suffers damage to its own soul when this criticism becomes a pretext for hatred of Jews, or if it even leads to the demand that Germany should turn its back on Israel.”Merz also criticized the Flanders Festival Ghent’s decision last week to cancel the Munich Philharmonic’s concert, as it was going to be led by the orchestra’s future Israeli chief conductor, Lahav Shani.“Jewish and Israeli artists are being subjected to ideological tests and marginalized solely because of their origins, solely because of their faith,” Merz said.The 36-year-old conductor also spoke out about the controversy Tuesday, calling the cancellation of his appearance at the Ghent festival “regrettable.”The festival’s management had yielded to “political pressures,” said Shani, who officially takes over as conductor of the Munich orchestra for the 2026-2027 season and is currently music director of the Israel Philharmonic.They had demanded “that I make a political declaration despite my long-standing and publicly expressed commitment to peace and reconciliation,” he said.There has been an outpouring of support for Shani since the cancellation.On Monday, he performed with the Munich orchestra at a festival in the German capital after being invited by the Berlin Philharmonic on short notice in a show of solidarity.Merz speaks at ceremony rededicating synagogue destroyed in the Holocaust-Wednesday’s address was Merz’s second emotional speech about antisemitism this week. He appeared to fight back tears as he spoke at a ceremony rededicating a synagogue destroyed in the Holocaust on Monday.Speaking at the opening of the Reichenbachstrasse Synagogue in Munich, which was devastated during the Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938, that is widely seen as the starting point of the Holocaust, Merz got emotional as he recalled Nazi atrocities.“Jewish life in Germany will one day get by without police protection again,” Merz declared. “We must not get used to the fact that this has been necessary for decades. I declare war on all forms of old and new antisemitism in Germany on behalf of the entire federal government of the Federal Republic of Germany.”The Reichenbachstrasse Synagogue was built by architect Gustav Meyerstein in 1931, designed in the Bauhaus and New Objectivity style. It originally featured amber-colored marble around the Torah shrine, turquoise blue on the walls and a Pompeian red design in the foyer.After Kristallnacht, the Nazis turned the synagogue into a workshop and warehouse. After the war ended, Jewish survivors made minor repairs and consecrated it in 1947 as the main synagogue of Munich, a role it served until the Ohel Jakob Synagogue was opened in 2007.Led by German entrepreneur and journalist Rachel Salamander, the synagogue has now been faithfully restored in a minimalist style, with simple wooden benches, colored walls, and stained glass windows. It will serve as a cultural space as well as a functioning synagogue.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

They adapted really well'Ancient Levant farmers used irrigation to thrive amid millennia of drought, study shows-International scholars find that Bronze and Iron Age farmers proved resilient in the face of climate change, cultivating grapes and olives in increasingly complex societies By Rossella Tercatin-Today, 10:06 pm-SEP 17,25

Over the course of millennia, inhabitants of the Levant used irrigation to mitigate the effects of climate change and maximize the production of olives and grapes, demonstrating resilience and ingenuity, according to a new study by international researchers published in the prestigious journal PLOS ONE on Wednesday.The findings shed new light on the interplay between climate, agriculture, trade and human society in a region often described as the cradle of civilization, where great empires and nations rose and fell — from the Assyrians and Babylonians to the biblical Israelites.Scholars from the University of Tübingen in Germany and Durham University in the United Kingdom studied over 1,500 samples of olive and grape seeds from some 25 archaeological sites across modern-day Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Turkey and northern Iraq. The samples spanned roughly 3,000 years — from the Early Bronze Age, around 3600 BCE, to the end of the Iron Age in 600 BCE.By analyzing carbon isotopes, the researchers were able to reconstruct the water conditions in which these crops were grown.“We were interested in how people in the Bronze and the Iron Age in the Levant and northern Mesopotamia treated their crops, and particularly grapes and olives,” one of the paper’s authors, Dan Lawrence of Durham University, told The Times of Israel over the phone.“There are different reasons why crops might or might not have had enough water,” he said. “If rainfall decreased as a result of climate change, generating a drought, this could cause more stress for the crops, but also prompt more irrigation.”Lawrence noted that while previous studies had focused on staples such as barley and wheat, oil and viticulture had received far less attention.He and his colleagues adopted an innovative approach, examining not only seeds but also charcoal wood samples from the same sites. This allowed them to measure water stress levels more comprehensively.Their analysis centered on stable carbon isotopes, which plants absorb during photosynthesis. Because plants take up different isotopes depending on weather conditions, archaeobotanical remains preserve a record of the climate in which they grew.“We assume that [farmers] would irrigate crops primarily to make them grow large and healthy, rather than throughout the year,” Lawrence explained. “So, if the isotope values in seeds and wood [which grows year-round] are similar, it suggests they weren’t irrigating. But if the values differ significantly, it indicates that irrigation was being used at that particular site.”Irrigation levels reflected increasing resilience to a steadily drying climate.“It’s worth understanding that what happened across this period is that the climate got progressively more arid,” Lawrence said. “In addition, we had a couple of what are called ‘rapid climate change events,’ or RCC events, one around 4,200 years ago, and one around 3,200 years ago, with severe droughts.”The scholar noted that both of these moments are traditionally associated with the collapse of civilizations in the area.“I’m not so sure that the collapses described [by scholars] were as dramatic as once believed,” Lawrence added, “but we wanted to examine the broader trends — both the long-term drying of the climate and the impact of those two events.”What the researchers found in the PLOS ONE paper is that irrigation was increasingly employed across the region over the millennia.The findings also suggested that regions already accustomed to arid conditions sometimes fared better during periods of intensified drought compared to areas less accustomed to the challenge.“In places with lower rainfall, you’d expect the drought to hit harder,” Lawrence explained. “But instead, because those regions were already quite dry, they actually seemed to cope a little better — which might sound counterintuitive. Our thinking is that since it was already dry, people were likely relying on irrigation, so when the drought struck, a system was already in place. That’s an interesting example of the resilience people developed.”The researchers also identified areas where farmers went to great lengths to cultivate grapes.“One site on the Euphrates in Syria, called Emar, lies below the minimum rainfall needed to grow grapes at all,” Lawrence said. “So they must have been using substantial irrigation just to make it possible.”According to Lawrence, grapes and olives were especially significant because they were closely linked to increasingly complex, urbanized economies — a cornerstone of these societies’ development.“We see periods where there’s a clear focus on cultivating grapes and olives, even at the expense of other crops, which suggests there was strong demand,” he said. “That shows they were able to grow them, and it had wide implications for how society functioned. Grapes and olives essentially acted as commodities — they could be exchanged for goods, or even for money at a certain point. That tells us there was a fairly organized state with markets, trade networks, and economic integration.”The researcher acknowledged that the region and period under study were far from uniform, both in their conditions and in the peoples who lived there.Still, he pointed to one important unifying factor.Farmers “were working in very different environments, so there was a lot of variability — and even local preferences, for instance, regarding certain foods,” he said. “But more broadly, what stands out is how well farmers adapted. They experimented, responded to the conditions they faced, and developed skills in managing them. We see an overarching pattern of adaptation rather than specific cultural choices.”Looking ahead, Lawrence hopes researchers can expand the study to include other crops and livestock and integrate the findings with pottery and additional material remains. Such an approach, he said, could offer a more precise picture of life, agriculture, and trade in the Bronze and Iron Ages.“It would be super cool to unpick all this stuff,” he said.

Ahead of Rosh Hashanah, 71% of Israelis view national mood as poor, survey says-Israeli Jews more pessimistic than Israeli Arabs; at the same time, 33% of Israelis think coming year will be better, up from 23% last year-By Michael Horovitz-Today, 10:06 pm-SEP 17,25

Ahead of the new Jewish year, a majority of Israelis view the country’s national mood as poor, according to a new survey published Wednesday. At the same time, there is greater optimism regarding the coming year than there was a year ago.According to the August 2025 Israeli Voice Index by the Israel Democracy Institute, 71 percent of the public believes the national mood is fairly poor or very poor, with more Jewish Israelis (73%) holding this view than Arab citizens (58%).Among Jewish respondents, a majority of all communities, except for national religious Jews, view the national mood poorly, including Haredim (59%), traditional religious Jews (55%), traditional non-religious Jews (81%) and secular Jews (86%). Among national religious Jews, 49% say the national mood is low.Additionally, the survey found that most Jewish citizens in all three political camps viewed the national mood poorly, with vast majorities on the left (93%) and center (89%) feeling pessimistic. The right, at 61%, was slightly less so.The survey was released as Israel neared two years of war with Hamas in Gaza, a fight that began after the terror group’s October 7, 2023, massacre.In addition to the war in Gaza, over the past year, Israelis experienced a 12-day war with Iran, a war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, mass anti-government protests and rallies for hostages who remain in the Strip, conflict over Haredi enlistment and political uncertainty. The country also faces growing international isolation over the ongoing war and humanitarian crisis in the Strip.Rosh Hashanah will be celebrated from the evening of September 22 through September 24.The IDI survey found that people were a bit more optimistic when it came to their personal mood: While 48% see things poorly, 49.5% view matters as fairly good or very good, “which may suggest that the public tends to evaluate the national mood as worse than it really is,” IDI said in a statement.Among Jewish respondents, Haredim (73.5%) and national religious communities (73%) have the most positive evaluations of their personal mood, followed by traditional religious (59.5%), while only a minority of traditional non-religious people (44%) and secular Jews (41%) view their personal mood positively.Divided into political camps, only 35% of right-wing people define their mood as poor, compared to 69% of respondents on the left and 61% in the center.Only 39% of Arab respondents (39%) view their personal mood as good, compared to 52% of Jewish respondents.IDI said that according to a cross-tabulation of responses, 62% of those who evaluate the national mood as poor make the same judgment regarding their personal mood, while 89% who view the national mood as good will also define their personal mood as such.IDI determined that Israelis are more optimistic than they were last year ahead of the Jewish New Year, with only 24.5% of respondents expecting the coming year to be worse than the current one — down from 42% who said the same last year.Furthermore, 33% of respondents believe next year will be better than the last — up from 23% last year — while 30% think things will stay the same. Some 12.5% didn’t know how to respond.Broken down by political camp, right-wingers were the most optimistic about next year, with 46% saying the coming year would be better and only 14% thinking it would be worse. Another 31% said things would stay the same, and 9% did not know what to answer.Among centrists, 30% believed the next year would be better than the last, and 32% believed it would be the same. Meanwhile, 28% said it would be worse than the last, and 10% didn’t know.The left wing was the only group in which a plurality of respondents, 43%, said the next year would be worse than the current one, with only 19% optimistic about next year. Twenty percent said it would be the same as the last, and 18% replied that they didn’t know.IDI surveyed 600 people interviewed in Hebrew and 150 in Arabic. The research was conducted by internet and telephone between August 24-28, and has a margin of error of 3.58%.

FM Sa'ar: 'Steps against Israel will be answered in kind'EU’s top body presents proposal to suspend free trade agreement with Israel-Israel’s top trading partner accuses Jerusalem of violating human rights in Gaza and West Bank, calls for measures to pressure government into ‘changing course’ in Gaza By Lazar Berman-Today, 7:17 pm-SEP 17,25

The European Commission has formally presented its proposal for sanctions on far-right Israeli ministers and a partial suspension of the European Union’s association agreement with Israel, the EU’s executive body announced on Wednesday.The sanctions, if approved, would strip Israeli imports of their preferential access to the EU. Israeli goods would have duties slapped on them at the same level as imports coming from countries with which the EU does not have a free trade agreement.The Commission also called to suspend “bilateral support” to Israel, with the exceptions of civil society and the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center.The move marks a dramatic escalation of the EU’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza, as IDF forces drive into the heart of Gaza City.“Actions taken by the Israeli government represent a breach of essential elements relating to respect for human rights and democratic principles,” a Commission review found. “This entitles the EU to suspend the Agreement unilaterally.”“Specifically, this breach refers to the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza following the military intervention of Israel, the blockade of humanitarian aid, the intensifying of military operations and the decision of the Israeli authorities to advance the settlement plan in the so-called E1 area of the West Bank, which further undermines the two-state solution.”“The horrific events taking place in Gaza on a daily basis must stop. There needs to be an immediate ceasefire, unrestrained access for all humanitarian aid and the release of all hostages held by Hamas,” said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.Trade between Israel and the EU, the Jewish state’s largest trading partner, reached  €42.6 billion (NIS 166 billion) in 2024, including €15.9 billion (NIS 62 billion) in Israeli imports. The EU accounted for nearly a third of Israel’s total international trade in goods last year.If adopted, the EU would also suspend its annual  €6 million (NIS 23.5 million) in financial support to Israel and  €14 million (NIS 55 million) in annual support for projects supporting Israel in the context of the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab countries.Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Wednesday called the proposed EU measures against Israel “morally and politically distorted.”“Actions against Israel will harm the interests of Europe itself,” he said on X.Sa’ar promised that “Israel will continue to fight, with the help of its friends in Europe, against attempts to harm it while it is engaged in an existential war. Steps against Israel will be answered in kind, and we hope they will not be necessary.”Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set off alarm bells in Israel on Monday when he suggested that Israel is “economically isolated” and might be required to become a self-reliant economy, which he termed a “super Sparta.” A day later, he held a press conference aimed at damage control, saying that he was speaking specifically about the defense industry, and that the problem was largely with“Western European governments.”The European Council, which includes the leaders of the EU member states, now has to approve the trade proposal with a qualified majority in favor in order for it to take effect.A qualified majority is reached with the support of 15 out of 27 members representing 65% of the EU population, a difficult threshold to reach at a time when European capitals continue to have diverging views on how to approach Israel and Gaza.The sanctions would take effect 30 days after the decision is adopted and the EU-Israel Association Council is notified.The measures against Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, violent settlers and 10 Hamas political leaders need unanimous support to be enacted.Both far-right Israeli ministers have already been sanctioned by Australia, Canada, Britain, New Zealand and Norway. Slovenia and Spain, both EU members, have also said recently that they will ban the two.EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned in June that Israel might be in violation of Article 2 of the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement, which governs Israel’s trade arrangements with the EU.Kallas said the measures are meant to “leverage the tools at our disposal to pressure the Israeli government into changing course.”Germany’s government has not yet decided on its stance toward the EU proposals to impose sanctions on Israel over its war in Gaza, a government spokesperson said on Wednesday. Berlin is one of Israel’s closest allies in the bloc.“We are aware of the plans for sanctions. The [European] Commission has been discussing them for several days. They will be presented today and the German government has not yet formed a final opinion on them,” government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said when asked about the plans at a press conference.The head of Israel’s manufacturers association warned that the European Commission’s proposal is a “serious and disproportionate step” toward Israeli industry, which is attempting to keep operating at strength even while suffering the effects of war.“This is a political decision disguised as a moral one, which undermines the foundations of economic cooperation between Israel and Europe,” said Israel Manufacturers Association president Ron Tomer. “Cooperation that has been built over decades based on values ​​of innovation, freedom of trade and dialogue.”Von der Leyen announced the impending measures last week in her State of the Union speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.“What is happening in Gaza has shaken the conscience of the world,” she said.“People killed while begging for food. Mothers holding lifeless babies,” she said. “Man-made famine can never be a weapon of war. For the sake of the children, for the sake of humanity. This must stop.”Israel has rejected claims of widespread starvation in Gaza, and has emphasized its efforts throughout most of the war to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip.Israel also denies targeting civilians, including those seeking food aid. It has acknowledged, however, that its forces, who often secure distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, have fired warning shots amid chaotic scenes. The UN says more than 1,000 people have been killed at aid sites, mostly from Israeli fire. Israel says the figures are exaggerated, but has not provided alternative numbers.

Iran’s FM to speak with European powers to avert sanctions on nuclear program-Call with British, French, German foreign ministers aimed at reaffirming conditions Tehran must meet to avoid re-imposition of punitive measures By Reuters and ToI Staff Today, 2:02 pm-SEP 17,25

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was set to hold a call with the British, French, and German foreign ministers on Wednesday as Tehran seeks to avert the re-imposition of international sanctions over its nuclear program.A French diplomatic source said the call was aimed at discussing the impending re-imposition of UN sanctions by the European powers and to reaffirm conditions they have set for Tehran to enable that decision to be delayed.Tehran called on Wednesday for a “positive approach and goodwill” by the European powers, known as the E3, which have initiated a one-month process to re-impose sanctions on Iran that were lifted under a 2015 nuclear deal that unraveled after President Donald Trump pulled the United States out in 2018.The call, which will also include European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, follows an agreement reached by Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency last week on resuming cooperation between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog, including, in principle, the inspection of nuclear sites.During the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June, Israel and the United States struck Iranian nuclear facilities, saying the Islamic Republic was getting too close to being able to produce a nuclear weapon, and IAEA inspections were interrupted over security concerns and complaints by Tehran.Resumed cooperation between Iran and the IAEA is one of the three conditions set by European powers to hold off completing the UN snapback mechanism — the automatic re-imposition of UN Security Council sanctions — which they invoked in August.“It is a natural expectation that Iran’s positive approach and goodwill should be reciprocated by the European side… If some European parties start nagging, this is not enough. That would mean they do not accept the IAEA,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said.“We hope that with contacts, like today and future ones, all parties will come to the conclusion that escalating tensions and perpetuating the current situation is not in anyone’s interest.”Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it has enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, has obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Israel said Tehran had recently taken steps toward weaponization.

Two British lawmakers reportedly denied entry to West Bank for ‘public order’ issues-MPs Peter Prinsley and Simon Opher said they were barred at Jordan border crossing; UK Foreign Office: ‘No way’ to treat MPs; Opher says they didn’t aim to ‘undermine the Israelis’By Stuart Winer-and ToI Staff Today, 5:21 pm-SEP 17,25

Two British lawmakers from the ruling Labour Party were reportedly denied entry to the West Bank by Israeli authorities as they participated in a parliamentary delegation to review medical services in the territory.MPs Peter Prinsley and Simon Opher arrived at a border crossing from Jordan on Monday but were told they could go no further and were sent back, they said.Britain’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday complained that the ban was “no way to treat British parliamentarians.” The country’s health secretary, meanwhile, said their treatment was “shameful” but not surprising.A joint statement on Tuesday put out by the two MPs said, “It is deeply regrettable that the Israeli authorities prevented them from seeing first-hand the grave challenges facing medical facilities in the region and from hearing the British government’s assessment of the situation on the ground.”After arriving at the border, the pair were held in a passport office and then handed a “legal form insisting that we leave the country immediately” Opher told the BBC. They were then put on a bus back to Jordan.There was no immediate comment from the Israeli Embassy in London or the Foreign Ministry.Two Labour MPs, Simon Opher and Peter Prinsley, have been denied entry by Israel for 3-day visit to the West Bank with CAABU and UK MAP. https://t.co/O7Lap0JJ8M — Hugh Lovatt (@h_lovatt) September 17, 2025-Opher said that they were denied entry on grounds of “public order” issues. Efforts by the UK’s Foreign Office to secure their entry were turned down, he said.“It’s very disappointing. We are both doctors and we were really just going to look at healthcare facilities in the West Bank to see if there was anything we could do to support them,” Opher told the BBC.“We weren’t in any way trying to undermine the Israelis, just trying to see what we could do in the West Bank,” where the lawmakers had been told access to health care was becoming more difficult, he said.Health Secretary Wes Streeting posted on X on Wednesday: “Having been on a number of delegations to Israel and Palestine… I find the treatment of two highly respected clinicians and Members of Parliament by the Israeli government shameful, but no longer surprising.”Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Middle East Hamish Falconer posted, “Unacceptable that two more British MPs have been denied entry to the Occupied Palestinian Territories by Israel.”“I have been clear with the Israeli authorities that this is no way to treat British parliamentarians,” he added.Prinsley and Opher were participating in a three-day parliamentary delegation to see medical and humanitarian work in the West Bank, organized by the Council for Arab-British Understanding.In addition to touring medical facilities in the West Bank, they were scheduled to meet British diplomats in Jerusalem and Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations.“Denying entry to British MPs shows how far Israel will go to cover up what is happening in the West Bank,” the organizing group said in a statement.Earlier this year, Israel denied two other British lawmakers entry to the country as they were attempting to visit the West Bank on a fact-finding trip.The two, Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang from the Labour Party, were traveling as part of a parliamentary delegation, but were stopped at Ben Gurion Airport on the grounds that they intended to provoke anti-Israel activities, according to the Israeli embassy in London.Israel has a history of refusing entry to members of the European Parliament and US Congress.In February, an EU Parliament delegation scrapped its trip to Jerusalem and Ramallah after two lawmakers were barred from the country upon arriving at the airport.Rima Hassan, one of the barred lawmakers, had previously called Israel a “terrorist” state and accused its military of having “coldly executed Palestinian children,” while advocating for it to “leave Palestine.”Then-foreign minister Israel Katz said last October that he would bar UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country because he had not “unequivocally” condemned a missile attack by Iran on Israel.

'We are experienced in the sounds of missiles'Senior Hamas official makes first appearance since surviving Israeli strike in Qatar-Interview is latest sign attack failed to kill terror group’s leaders; Ghazi Hamad says they were discussing truce proposal when strike hit By Nurit Yohanan-17 September 2025, 11:59 pm

Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad appeared in a TV interview on Wednesday, his first public appearance since the Israeli strike targeting the terror group’s leaders in Qatar last week.Hamad, who fled Gaza shortly before the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre sparked the ongoing war, confirmed in an interview with the Al-Jazeera network that he was at the site when it was attacked. His appearance was the latest sign that the attack had failed to kill the terrorist organization’s leadership.`“We were discussing a ceasefire proposal, less than an hour after the meeting began, we heard an explosion,” he said, referring to Hamas’s leadership.“We are experienced in the sounds of missiles and understood it was an Israeli strike. We left the place quickly, and thank God we survived,” he said. “God destined us to survive this treacherous aggression against us and sister Qatar.”Six people, including a Qatari officer, were killed in the strike, but all of the terror group’s senior leaders are thought to have survived.Qatar has hosted Hamas’s political leadership since 2012.Israel’s attempt to kill Hamas’s political leaders with the September 9 strike prompted international condemnation, but a defiant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Qatar to either expel Hamas officials or “bring them to justice, because if you don’t, we will.”Hamad additionally told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that Washington lacks credibility as a mediator for a ceasefire deal, citing what he called the group’s “bitter” experience with the truce efforts.In response to Trump’s warning that there would be “hell to pay” if Hamas used hostages as human shields, Hamad said the US president “doesn’t scare us,” and claimed that captives are held according to “beliefs and Islamic principles.”“We deal with the prisoners according to our values, and despite the massacres against our people, the one putting them in danger is the [Israeli] occupation itself,” Hamad added.A number of hostages have been murdered by terrorists in captivity. Hostages who have been rescued and released have described being tortured, including enduring beatings, sexual abuse, psychological abuse and starvation, while their captors had no shortage of food. A recent video of a hostage showed him emaciated and forced to dig his own grave.The ongoing war began when Hamas-led terrorists rampaged through southern Israel’s communities on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages.Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 48 hostages, including 47 of the 251 abducted by terrorists in the October 7 attack, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive. There are grave concerns for two others. The remainder are thought to be dead.The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 65,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it had killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.Israel says it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas fights from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 465.AFP and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Radio-Canada journalist says Jews control ‘a big machine,’ US cities, Hollywood-Broadcaster swiftly suspends reporter, issues apology to offended viewers and Jewish community; Quebec Jewish group calls comments ‘vile’By ToI Staff Today, 3:16 pm-SEP 17,25

Radio-Canada has suspended a reporter for using antisemitic tropes after she asserted that Jews control a “big machine,” major US cities, and Hollywood, provoking condemnation from the government’s pointman on Jewish community relations, from the community itself, and from other officials.The broadcaster said it had suspended correspondent Élisa Serret following the incident and issued an apology to the Jewish community as well as viewers who were offended.Serret made the remarks on Monday when she was in Washington speaking live with the studio about US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Israel.Christian Latreille, the host of the news program “Sur le terrain,” asked Serret about US backing for Israel amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, and specifically why that support was not being withdrawn as Israel expands its military operations to conquer Gaza City.Serret responded that “the Israelis, in fact the Jews, finance a lot of American politics” and control a “big machine,” according to a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation English translation of her remarks reported Tuesday.Serret also said that “big cities” in the US, as well as Hollywood, are “run by Jews.”Radio Canada on Tuesday issued a “sincere apology” to any offended viewers and the Jewish community.A statement on its website stated that Serret’s analysis of American policy in the Middle East “led to stereotypical, anti-Semitic, erroneous and prejudicial allegations against Jewish communities.”“These unacceptable comments” violate the station’s journalist standards and practices and “in no way reflect the opinion of the public broadcaster.”It said that the news department “has decided to relieve the journalist of her duties until further notice.”Latreille also put out a statement saying he should have “intervened” over Serret’s remarks and apologizing for the incident, CBC reported.Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Steven Guilbeault, who is responsible for CBC/Radio-Canada, denounced Serret’s remarks as “pernicious antisemitic tropes” and declared “antisemitism has no place in Canada.”“When antisemitic language is used by journalists, or anyone in a position of trust, it risks normalizing hatred in deeply dangerous ways,” Guilbeault wrote in a post to X.“These are textbook tropes and are antisemitic under the IHRA definition adopted by the Government of Canada,” tweeted Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who is the government’s special adviser on Jewish community relations and antisemitism.The Quebec chapter of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, a Jewish advocacy group, issued a statement about the “vile antisemitic comments.”Vice President for CIJA Quebec Eta Yudin, in a post to X, said “this incident cannot be allowed to pass without serious internal reflection on the damage such hateful rhetoric inflicts on our democratic values.”“We expect Canada’s national public broadcaster… to take concrete steps to ensure that neither such comments — nor the systemic issues that enabled them to be aired — are ever allowed again on Canadian airwaves.”

Leviathan partners ink $610m deal for new pipeline to boost gas exports to Egypt-Operator Chevron says 65-kilometer export route will transport gas from the offshore field to Egypt; deal will bump up state revenue from gas royalties By Sharon Wrobel-Today, 2:15 pm-SEP 17,25

US energy giant Chevron and its partners in the Leviathan reservoir off Israel’s Mediterranean coast have inked a $610 million deal with state-owned pipeline operator Israel Natural Gas Lines for the construction of a new pipeline to bolster natural gas exports to Egypt.Chevron, which holds a 39.66 percent stake in Leviathan, said the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract is for a 65-kilometer (40-kilometer) pipeline to transport gas from the field running from Ramat Hovav in southern Israel to the Nitzana crossing on the Israeli-Egyptian border. The contract is for a period of 15 years.The Niztana export route will transport at least 600 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, once construction of the pipeline is completed in 2028. The pipeline route has the potential to increase Israel’s total export capacity to Egypt to more than 2.2 billion cubic feet per day, Chevron said.“This milestone reflects Chevron’s commitment to advancing energy security in Israel and regionally,” said Jack Baker, managing director of Chevron’s Eastern Mediterranean Business Unit. “The Nitzana export route will deliver substantial domestic economic benefits and also support energy security across the Eastern Mediterranean region.”The deal comes after partners in the Leviathan reservoir announced in August a $35 billion agreement to supply natural gas to Egypt, marking the largest export deal in Israel’s history. The deal is expected to funnel hundreds of millions of shekels in revenues from gas royalties and taxes to Israel’s state coffers.Leviathan, one of the world’s largest deep-water gas discoveries, contains an estimated 600 bcm of gas located about 120 kilometers west of the port city of Haifa at a water depth of 1.7 kilometers. Other partners in the gas field include Israel’s NewMed Energy, formerly Delek Drilling (part of Yitzhak Tshuva’s Delek Group), which owns a 45.3% stake; and Ratio Oil Corp., with a 15% stake.“Leviathan is a national project and its expansion is the anchor of Israel’s energy security for the coming decades,” said NewMed CEO Yossi Abu. “The Nitzana pipeline project is a direct continuation of the huge deal we signed with our Egyptian partners, and both of them together move us forward toward making a final investment decision worth billions of dollars in the expansion project.”Amid the ongoing war with the Hamas terror group in Gaza, Israel’s natural gas exports to Egypt and Jordan increased by more than 13% in 2024 year-on-year, accounting for about half of Israeli gas production. State revenue collected from gas royalties soared almost 11% to a record NIS 2.37 billion ($713 million) in 2024.Natural gas from Leviathan started to flow to the Israeli domestic market in December 2019. The partners in the Leviathan reservoir began exporting natural gas to Egypt in January 2020 after signing a deal for 60 bcm, which is expected to be supplied by the early 2030s. To date, Leviathan has supplied 23.5 bcm of gas to the Egyptian market.Both Israel and Egypt have emerged as gas exporters in recent years following major offshore discoveries. Israeli gas accounts for about 15% to 20% of Egypt’s consumption, according to data from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative.In June 2022, Israel, Egypt, and the European Union signed a memorandum of understanding that will see Israel export its natural gas to the bloc for the first time. According to the agreement, Israeli gas will be supplied via Egypt’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants to the European Union.

Religious Zionism MK: Israel 'must act like the enemy does'Red Cross visits to Palestinian inmates a ‘security threat,’ prison officials claim-Otzma Yehudit MK calls aid group an ‘antisemitic organization,’ alleges double standard in treatment for security prisoners versus hostages held in Gaza-By Charlie Summers-Today, 1:47 pm-SEP 17,25

Prison service officials doubled down Tuesday on their blanket ban on Red Cross visits to Palestinian inmates in Israeli jails, insisting to lawmakers in the Knesset that allowing the humanitarian organization into prisons poses a national security threat.Israel halted visits to Palestinian prisoners by Red Cross officials and stopped passing information on inmates to the organization in the wake of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre.“The entry of the Red Cross into prisons is liable to damage prison security and therefore, national security,” Netanel Shimson, the head of the Israel Prison Service’s counterterrorism department, told the Knesset National Security Committee.Representing the agency, Shimson cautioned against allowing “foreign actors” into prisons, which he claimed “raises the potential for the transmission of negative messages.” He also implied such visits could endanger guards and wardens by upping tension inside prisons and leading to possible riots, without going into more detail.The prison service’s blanket ban has sparked pushback from Israeli human rights organizations, which petitioned the High Court of Justice demanding the state declare the policy illegal based on the Geneva Conventions.The case is currently being deliberated in court, though the state has not yet submitted its position regarding the petition and repeatedly requested to delay providing a response.Hamas has refused to grant the Red Cross access to the Israeli hostages it is holding in Gaza. Its failure to reach the captives has led many Israeli and Jewish organizations to accuse the organization of not trying hard enough and employing a double standard rooted in alleged anti-Israel bias.While prison officials discussed potential risks, most lawmakers sitting on the committee focused on the alleged double standard between the treatment of Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages.“The Red Cross organization is an antisemitic organization,” claimed Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech, adding that it “operated with a lack of balance toward our hostages.”Committee chairman Zvika Fogel, also of Otzma Yehudit, vowed to do everything in his power to ensure that the Red Cross visits the hostages held by terror groups in Gaza.“Until that happens, I will stand at the gates of the prisons and prevent them from visiting there,” he declared. “We need to act like a state with a backbone. The cabinet must make a decision: No Red Cross visits until we receive information about our hostages.”The organization, which says it must maintain neutrality to operate in war zones, facilitated the release of Israeli and other foreign hostages from Gaza in November 2023 and again in January-February 2025.Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot said Israel “must act like the enemy does” and flout international law so long as Hamas is doing so. “We need to be more ruthless than those who come to murder us. Only then will peace come,” he asserted.Yizhar Lifshitz, the son of slain hostage Oded Lifshitz, cautioned against treating prisoners harshly for fear of harm to the hostages. He pushed back against Sukkot, insisting that Israel stood to lose its values should it conduct itself like the terror group.“The hostages are a reflection of the prisoners. When you say you’re treating prisoners harshly, it only means more torture for the hostages,” he warned.The sole lawmaker who advocated to restore the Red Cross officials’ visitation rights was Hadash-Ta’al MK Aida Touma-Suleiman.“Lately, this government is very crudely trampling the laws and treaties it has committed to. Many things happen inside the prisons, and it wasn’t without reason that the High Court gave a ruling regarding prisoners’ conditions,” she said, referencing a recent decision that determined the state was not sufficiently feeding Palestinian inmates.She said it was “far-fetched and absurd” to place blame on the Red Cross for failing to persuade Hamas to allow its representatives to visit the hostages.

A misunderstanding supposedly shook the stock market'Under fire, Netanyahu scrambles to defuse his own claim Israel may become ‘super Sparta’Facing torrent of criticism for suggesting radical self-reliance was the way forward, PM claims Israeli economy has ‘amazed the entire world,’ is stronger than ever-By Nava Freiberg,Lazar Berman-and ToI Staff 16 September 2025, 11:03 pm

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back against fierce criticism from opposition heads and business leaders on Tuesday, a day after he admitted that Israel was facing increasing isolation and warned that it might be required to become a self-reliant economy with “autarkic characteristics” and a kind of “super-Sparta.”In the wake of his Monday comments, as well as the beginning of the IDF’s Gaza City offensive, shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange dipped. The Israel Business Forum, representing workers from 200 of Israel’s largest companies, declared that “We are not Sparta” but that Netanyahu’s policies were marching the country “toward a political, economic, and social abyss that will endanger our existence in Israel.” And the head of the Histadrut trade union federation, Arnon Bar-David, protested: “I don’t want to be Sparta… We deserve peace. Israeli society is exhausted, and our status in the world is very bad.”Netanyahu insisted to the press that he had “full confidence” in the Israeli economy and that there had been a “misunderstanding that supposedly shook the stock market.”“It didn’t shake us,” he declared at his Tuesday evening press conference. “And the reason it didn’t shake us is one thing: because essentially, the stock market — the markets — understand what I said [about] the strength of Israel’s economy, and the profitability of investing in Israel. And this is very important for ensuring our future.”Netanyahu said that the shekel was stronger than before the war, the stock market was performing at record levels, unemployment was at a historic low, and there had been a large influx of foreign investment into Israel recently.He sought to clarify that his comments on Monday were focused on the defense industries rather than the broader economy. “There is one area I referred to where indeed there could be restrictions – not economic ones, but political at their core – and that’s what’s happening in the defense industries.”“Our defense industries are soaring. They have reached tremendous achievements in exports, both in quantity and quality, but there we have indeed encountered — and could again encounter — political restrictions during the war,” he went on.“And if there is one lesson we have drawn from this war, it’s that we want to be in a situation where we are not restricted — that Israel defends itself with its own forces and with its own weapons. And that is why we want to achieve security independence.”“My remarks were on the attempt to restrict the import of parts, components, weapons, or raw materials — and that indeed is something that does not operate according to market economics, but according to political economics — governments, leaders, politics,” he asserted.Netanyahu had said Monday, at a conference of the Finance Ministry’s accountant general in Jerusalem, that “Israel is in a sort of isolation.”“We will increasingly need to adapt to an economy with autarkic characteristics,” he had continued, describing that the term for economic self-sufficiency, closed off from global trade, as “the word I most hate.”“I am a believer in the free market, but we may find ourselves in a situation where our arms industries are blocked. We will need to develop arms industries here — not only research and development, but also the ability to produce what we need,” he had told the conference.Faced with a scenario of “Athens and Sparta,” Israel would be “Athens and super-Sparta,” Netanyahu had said, citing the ancient Greek city-state, whose superiority over Greece was effectively ended in the 4th century BCE. “There’s no choice; in the coming years, at least, we will have to deal with these attempts to isolate us.”Attracting widespread blame-Those initial comments, delivered as European countries have gradually increased arms embargoes and sanctions against Israel over the ongoing war in Gaza, caused the immediate dip in stock market shares and led political opponents and high-tech industry groups to blame him for Israel’s troubled status on the world stage.Responding to Netanyahu’s remarks on Monday, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid demanded to know what the premier had meant by saying that Israel was “becoming” isolated.“Did some higher power cause this?” Lapid asked in a speech at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism. “You caused this.”“You are the main cause of the diplomatic isolation,” he charged, citing Netanyahu’s silence when Israel faced negative international press after far-right ministers made comments suggesting an atomic bomb should be dropped on Gaza and that it may be justified to starve the Strip’s residents.The Democrats chairman Yair Golan fumed on X that Netanyahu was offering “neither security nor economy, but an autarkic economy cut off from the world, under a stifling international boycott. The meaning is simple: a 40% drop in the wages of everyone in the economy.”“An economy without imports and exports, without high-tech, without advanced industry. A backward country that can barely provide eggs, milk, and water to its citizens,” he wrote.Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman, a former finance minister, accused Netanyahu of turning Israel into a “third world country.”“The prime minister of October 7 wants Israel to get used to isolation, to a closed market, without competition and without oxygen for the economy. This is not a work plan; this is surrender. This is an admission of failure,” he wrote.‘Slip of the tongue’Sources close to Netanyahu had told the Kan public broadcaster on Tuesday morning that the remark about an isolated Israeli “super-Sparta” was a “slip of the tongue,” and that he had intended to refer to the need for Israel to be reliant on its own defense industry.At his Tuesday press conference, Netanyahu claimed, as he had done the previous day, that “Islamic minorities” were to blame for the political efforts to harm Israel’s defense industries, citing the pressure they place on “Western European governments,” resulting in souring ties with Israel.Decades of organized anti-Israel propaganda, he said, have compounded the pressure, which “expresses itself as restrictions on parts of weapon systems or the systems themselves.”Israel must “develop these ourselves, arm ourselves, and ensure we have the ability to defend ourselves,” he said, even if that requires moving temporarily to “a centralized, closed economy, something I generally dislike — I prefer open markets.”“But here, I want to take all the necessary steps to build a strong, independent defense industry. If there is one lesson from this war, this is it,” he said.Netanyahu claimed that just the day before, he had spoken with “people from the Finance Ministry, with farmers, and with others,” and had appealed for them not to “restrict” Israel’s economy with bureaucracy.“We are leaping forward, both in new technology and in production on a much more industrial scale. And to do this, I need to cut the bureaucracy that restricts us from doing these things…and that’s what I was referring to,” he said.Financial fallout-The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange slipped Tuesday, with the TA-125 index falling 1.8 percent. The TA-35 index of blue-chip companies fell 1.6%, while the TA-90 index, which tracked the shares with the highest capitalization not included in the TA-35 index, declined 2.3%. The TA-Insurance index dived 2.9%.“The start of the Gaza City offensive is a disappointment to investors after expectations for a potential ceasefire fueled Tel Aviv stock indexes to record highs in August,” Leader Capital Markets chief economist Jonathan Katz told The Times of Israel. “The offensive means that war costs will continue, spending will need to be increased, and the budget deficit will be higher, which is negative for Israel’s credit rating.”“The negative sentiment is also impacted by Netanyahu’s comments about Israel facing the threat of isolation and the need to be self-reliant, which in turn, has potential implications for higher fiscal spending into the defense industry,” Katz added.The Israel Business Forum warned Netanyahu earlier in the day that his policies were leading the country into a “dangerous and unprecedented economic and political downturn… This vision as presented will make it difficult for us to survive in an evolving global world.”“The Israeli economy shows exceptional resilience, despite the security and political challenges — but not forever,” the forum added.It urged Netanyahu to “stop this” policy and called on the government to immediately change course.“The government must urgently put an end to the longest war in Israel’s history, promote the release of all hostages, announce a state investigation committee [into the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack], and set a date for elections in the immediate future,” the forum demanded.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report

Britain rolls out royal red carpet for Trump’s state visit-US president’s unprecedented second official trip to UK will see lavish pomp and ceremony as London aims to win over visitor amid key diplomatic talks-By Danny Kemp Today, 11:43 am-SEP 17,25

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain will roll out a supersized royal welcome for Donald Trump’s unprecedented second state visit on Wednesday, with the king to greet the US president who has compared himself to a monarch.From a carriage ride with King Charles III to a flypast and a lavish state dinner in the nearly 1,000-year-old Windsor Castle, Britain is going to unprecedented levels to dazzle and flatter the mercurial Trump.A huge security operation will keep the 79-year-old Republican far away from protests and the British public — among whom polls show Trump remains unpopular — with the extraordinary show of pomp and pageantry unfolding entirely behind closed doors.Knowing that Trump is obsessed with Britain’s royals and loves showy displays of pomp, Britain has turned up the pageantry to the max as he becomes the first US president to visit Britain twice.The trip will involve what UK officials call the biggest military ceremonial welcome for any state visit in living memory — even bigger than when Queen Elizabeth II hosted Trump in 2019.Trump will also get the first joint flypast by US and UK fighter jets at an event of its kind, and the largest guard of honour at a state visit, featuring 120 horses and 1,300 troops.It’s all designed to appeal to a US leader who this year crowed “LONG LIVE THE KING!” about himself on social media before the White House posted a fake magazine cover of him wearing a crown.‘Warm my heart’The question for Britain is whether the red carpet welcome will win over Trump, whose unpredictability on everything, from tariffs to Ukraine and Gaza, has caused global turmoil.British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be hoping that Trump leaves on Thursday feeling the warm glow of some royal soft power, but there are no guarantees.Trump appeared to be feeling the love as he arrived by helicopter at the US ambassador’s official residence in London on Tuesday with First Lady Melania Trump.“A lot of things here warm my heart,” said the president, whose mother hailed from Scotland and who has two golf courses in Britain.He described Charles, 76, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, as “my friend.”The Republican may also relish a chance to escape a turbulent period at home in the United States, where the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk has caused deep turmoil.Trump’s day will begin with heir to the throne Prince William and his wife Catherine welcoming him and Melania to Windsor Castle, the home of the British royals for nearly a millennium.King Charles and Queen Camilla are then due to join them for a carriage procession through the grounds of Windsor estate towards the castle — again behind closed doors.The Trumps will lay a wreath on the tomb of Queen Elizabeth II, who died in 2022.Shadow of Epstein-Trump will also witness a military band ceremony, ending with a flypast by US and British F-35 military jets and the Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows display team.The president and Charles will wrap up the day with a white-tie state banquet, where they are due to hold speeches.The lavish welcome, however, stands in contrast to public opinion in Britain, where polls show Trump remains unpopular.Demonstrators projected images of Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein onto Windsor Castle late Tuesday, while protests are planned in London on Wednesday.Starmer will host Trump on the second day of the visit on Thursday at his country residence Chequers for talks that could turn awkward on several fronts.The British premier in particular faces political troubles at home, after sacking his UK ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, over a scandal involving the diplomat’s connection to the late Epstein.Trump has also been dragged into the scandal, while insisting it is a “hoax.”

It’s time to replace the human rights NGOs-When those who claim to be representatives of humanity and impartiality declare 'F*ck Israel,' they are anything but-Sep 17, 2025, 2:39 PM

For nearly two years — since October 7, 2023 — grim accounts have seeped from the world’s major human rights and humanitarian organizations. Jewish and non-Jewish staff describe a surge of unchecked antisemitism and a shocking indifference to Hamas’ massacres, hostage-taking, and sexual violence. Internal forums brim with anti-Zionist, anti-Israel rhetoric—sometimes personally targeted, and in clear violation of organizational policies. Firsthand testimony exposes practices distorted by ideology. Among the examples:Staff leaving false claims uncorrected online — such as that Israel bombed Gaza’s Al-Ahli hospital—because correcting them could “appear pro-Israel” and anger Hamas.Managers denying knowledge that staff worked alongside militants in Gaza, even as it was openly discussed in meetings.Palestinian suffering elevated in fundraising because it “plays well with donors,” while some 30 million people in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo face famine, displacement, and hunger.Staff permitted to march for a Gaza ceasefire under the organizational banner but barred from marching for Israeli hostages because it might appear “pro-Netanyahu.”Emails and internal correspondence back these accounts. I know this because, since I wrote in Sapir Magazine about ideological capture during 14 years as senior editor at Human Rights Watch, I have connected with more than 60 current and former staff from global organizations, including Amnesty, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the International Committee of the Red Cross, Save the Children, UNICEF, and USAID. A few have spoken publicly. But mostly their experiences remained buried. Until now.From Anecdote to Data-A new survey by OLAM, the global Jewish humanitarian network, turns anecdotes into data and confirms what the sector has long ignored or denied. Based on 168 Jewish professionals in secular humanitarian and human rights groups, it finds:55% have experienced or witnessed anti-Jewish bias or hate, including stereotypes, jokes, or exclusion; one in five said it began after October 7. 57% reported anti-Israel incidents, such as colleagues questioning Israel’s legitimacy or dismissing Jewish expertise as “biased.”73% said their organizations’ responses were ineffective; more than half said no action was taken.Most felt pressured to suppress their identity, fearing assumptions about their stance on Israel.The survey is modest in size and self-reported. But its findings mirror internal documents, resignations, and testimonies. Dismissing it reveals bias, not rigor.Behind the numbers lie chilling accounts: colleagues declaring “World War III will be the fault of Israel,” dismissing Jewish lives as expendable “collateral,” or suggesting Jews are inherently dishonest. Some were warned to hide their Jewishness in the field. Others resigned after complaints or expertise were ignored.Selective Outrage-OLAM’s findings should trigger reform: antisemitism training, independent reporting channels, and audits of Israel work against that which is done elsewhere.For example, why did Amnesty mount a global campaign for the Chibok girls and release a report within a year of Boko Haram’s kidnappings, but nearly two years after Hamas’ attacks has issued no report on October 7 and not campaigned for Hamas’ captives? What resources have flowed into Israel-Gaza work in relation to crises elsewhere, and why?But history, and recent trends, show reform is unlikely. Scandals — sexual, financial, racial, and methodological — have long shown that money and reputation, not principles, drives the sector. In a marketplace where antisemitism and anti-Israelism are ascendant, there is little incentive to defend Jews or scrutinize Israel work.Since October 7, things have worsened. Largely unregulated and unaccountable, groups that claim to be the acme of humanity and impartiality have become open enablers — and perpetrators — of just the opposite, with leaders including MSF’s UK Executive Director Natalie Roberts — flaunting solidarity with those waving Hezbollah flags and declaring “Fuck Israel.” Accountability Avoided-Their reaction to The Atlantic’s March 2025 exposé on NGO double standards proved the point. Instead of reflection or engagement, implicated groups like MSF, HRW, and Amnesty chose denial, silence, or deflection. Amnesty USA’s director Paul O’Brien even urged staff not to share the article — “to reduce amplification.”Gulf funding deepens the rot. In April, Mercy Corps’ CEO announced a donor tour to Qatar and the UAE — “a region with significant potential for new partnerships and funding.” It was another reminder that groups condemning Gulf regimes’ abuses still court their checkbooks.Meanwhile, many Jewish professionals are barely hanging on. Over a third of OLAM survey respondents who faced hate or bias said they would consider leaving their jobs — or the sector entirely. That is not just a personal tragedy; it is a devastating loss for a sector Jews helped build and sustain far beyond their numbers.Human Rights 2.0-Faith in human rights remains vital. But it is reckless to trust organizations that turned silence on October 7 into strategy. This is not a few wayward organizations, it is an industry-wide collapse, years in the making, abetted by involvement and silence at the top. As one senior ex-colleague involved with Israel-Palestine work told me: “I’m torn, between saying…the future is clear and I’m not part of it….and actually taking a stand. It depends on how much energy I have on any given day.”The solution is not reform but reinvention: Human Rights 2.0.That means new organizations and partnerships grounded in universalism, neutrality, equality, and humanism. It means rejecting selective outrage and politics disguised as principle. It requires transparency in funding and proven rigor in methodology — including applying the same standards and moral clarity to every abuse, whether in Sudan, China, or Gaza.Reinvention will take time, but it has already begun. Post–October 7 disillusionment is giving way to new voices, fresh initiatives, and emerging partnerships in Israel and abroad — spaces where Jews are for their professionalism rather than judged for presumed politics. Compromised NGOs may one day reckon with their failures. But there is no point trying to revive organizations that have already flatlined. There’s too much work to do. 

Startups dive in to keep birds off fishponds, help swimmers improve their game-National Center for Blue Economy showcases sustainable water and marine tech at third Blue Tech Summit in Haifa, northern Israel-By Sue Surkes-Today, 11:21 am-SEP 17,25

Nobify’s technique for scaring birds off fishponds sounded simple enough — erect rows of pipes like those used for drip irrigation, and shoot air at any bird that approaches.But behind this lies deep knowledge about bird behavior, a system that locates birds in real time using high-resolution detection cameras and advanced data analytics, and special hardware that shoots compressed air down thin black hoses, suspended from pipes. The hoses whip around exactly where the birds are, and scare them away without touching them.The project aims to stop birds from eating fish and transmitting diseases to fish ponds, and from defecating on solar panels and reducing their energy efficiency.Six years in the making and already operating in fishponds in northeast Israel and reservoirs run by the Mekorot water company, it was one of a slew of startup products pitching for attention at this year’s third annual Blue Tech Summit in Haifa, northern Israel, on Tuesday.CEO Ofir Tessler said his knowledge about bird-related risks came from his military service in the Israel Air Force.He explained that Nobify’s system was more resilient, efficient, and sustainable than nets, which were clumsy to spread and often trapped birds within them.Nobify, based in southern Israel, is conducting its first seed round and hoping to raise $2 million.Thin black hoses hang down from pipes strung along a fishpond in northern Israel. (Nobify)A virtual swimming trainerAlso water-focused, SenpAI is developing a virtual swimming trainer that utilizes sensors, algorithms, and an application to help professional and hobby swimmers improve their technique and minimize injury.Already patented in Israel, the US, Italy, and the UK, and awaiting approval elsewhere, the AI-powered technology provides way more information than existing wrist and body trackers, according to CEO Limor Finish. Finish, like her CTO Effi Pinhasov, spent 20 years working in Israel’s defense industries.The product, whose sensors are roughly the size of hearing aid batteries, learns the swimmer’s style and provides feedback and recommendations on everything from body angle, speed, and acceleration to injury prediction and prevention. It offers an animated version of the user swimming, along with improvement tips.Still at an early stage of development, a wired version of the sensors has been successfully tested on a real swimmer, Keren Ayzbruch. The ultimate product will be wireless.Self-funding the project to date, Finish and Pinhasov are hoping to find first-round seed money for SenpAI, which means teacher in Japanese.Burying CO₂ Rewind is exploring ways to bury biomass (organic material such as wood) to prevent the carbon dioxide that plants use to grow from escaping back into the atmosphere when they die and decompose.The company is well known in environmental circles for its attempts to halt the escape of carbon dioxide by burying plant biomass deep in the Black Sea, where organic matter has been preserved for thousands of years thanks to a lack of oxygen.But with slow and cautious progress there, the company has pivoted to terrestrial options for biomass burial.Since May, it has been working with a coal mine in Georgia to bury sawdust and other wood waste from timber mills in subterranean chambers (stopes) left hollow after the coal has been removed. The mine needs to backfill these cavities anyway to prevent collapse, and so already has the permits to insert the biomass.Mixed with mud and water to make it viscous, the sawdust is injected into the cavities, “rewinding” the process during which dead plant matter became coal over millions of years.The company is now moving from the pilot to the commercial phase, and is looking for mine partners worldwide, explained CEO Ram Amar, a longtime climate activist and a member of the board of the Israeli Climate Action Fund, which brings Israeli philanthropists together to fund carbon-slashing projects.“Today, we can bury around 1,000 tons a month, but we will grow to meet the scale of 100,000 tons per year by 2027,” Amar added.The money for loading and transporting the sawdust, creating the slurry, injecting it into the ground, and yielding a profit will come from carbon credits.Today, in an effort to reach net-zero emissions, many companies invest in environmental projects, such as afforestation, to offset or mitigate carbon emissions elsewhere in their operations.

Official says Syria withdrawing heavy weapons from south-Israel presented Syria with detailed proposal for new security agreement – report-Top Israeli, Syrian and US officials said to meet in London to discuss plan that would see no Syrian troops near Israeli border, air corridor that would enable Israel to strike Iran-By Lazar Berman,ToI Staff and Agencies Today, 10:17 am-SEP 17,25

Israel has reportedly presented Syria with a detailed proposal for a new security agreement regarding southwest Syria, with Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer set to meet Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in London on Wednesday to discuss it.Syria said Tuesday that it was working with the United States to reach mutual “security understandings” with Israel.According to a Tuesday evening Axios report, which cited two officials familiar with the details, Dermer and al-Shaibani will be joined by US envoy Tom Barrack to discuss the draft that Israel submitted several weeks ago. The report said that Damascus has not responded to the proposal, but was formulating a counter-offer.The meeting would be the third trilateral summit, but while sources familiar with the discussions said there were signs of progress, it was thought that a breakthrough was not imminent, and the report described the Israeli demands as “maximalist.”According to Axios, Israel wants a no-fly zone and demilitarized zone over its border in Syria, with no limits on Israeli deployment on its own territory.The officials were cited as saying that the Israeli proposal is based on its 1979 agreement with Egypt, which divided the Sinai into three zones, each with its own limits on forces. The limits are strictest in the areas closest to Israel’s border.The report said the proposal would see the buffer zone in Syria extended by a further two kilometers (1.2 miles).According to the proposal, the area next to the border would have no Syrian military forces, but police and domestic security forces would be allowed.Syrian aircraft would be banned from flying over the territory between Damascus and the Israeli border.A source told Axios that Israel wants to maintain an air corridor, apparently so that it could more easily strike Iran if needed in the future.In return, Israel would withdraw in stages from the buffer zone it established after Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad fell last December, but would remain on the peak of Mount Hermon.An Israeli official said that Jerusalem would insist on remaining at the strategically key location. Last month Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel’s need to maintain a presence in Syria is a “central lesson from the events of October 7.”As Islamist-led forces toppled Assad on December 8, Israel deployed troops to the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights, which has separated Israeli and Syrian forces since an armistice that followed the 1973 Yom Kippur War.The IDF described its presence in southern Syria’s buffer zone as a temporary and defensive measure, but the United Nations considers Israel’s takeover of the buffer zone a violation of the 1974 disengagement accord. Israel says the accord had fallen apart since one of the sides was no longer in a position to implement it.While aligned against Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups that threatened Israel’s north under Assad, Jerusalem has expressed distrust regarding Syria’s new government, which is led by former jihadists. Nonetheless, it has engaged in US-brokered talks aimed at reaching understandings with Damascus.An Israeli official told Axios that additionally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is angling for a meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa at the UN General Assembly next week, though an Israeli official was cited as saying it was believed unlikely to happen.Heavy weapon withdrawal-Meanwhile, Syria has begun withdrawing heavy weapons from the country’s south as it works to reach an understanding with Israel, unnamed officials told AFP on Tuesday.The Syrian foreign ministry said that Washington, “in consultation with the Syrian government, will work to reach security understandings with Israel concerning southern Syria that address the legitimate security concerns of both Syria and Israel.”The announcement was part of a US- and Jordan-backed roadmap for restoring stability in the south following intra-Syrian sectarian violence that drew Israeli intervention.“Syrian forces have withdrawn their heavy weapons from southern Syria,” a military official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that the process began around two months ago, after the violence.A diplomatic source in Damascus told AFP, also on condition of anonymity, that the withdrawal covered the country’s south up to about 10 kilometers (six miles) outside the capital.The week of bloodshed in Druze-majority Sweida province erupted on July 13 with clashes between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin but rapidly escalated, drawing in government forces and tribal fighters from other parts of Syria.Israel, which has its own Druze community, carried out airstrikes on government targets, saying it was acting to defend the minority group as well as to enforce its demands for south Syria’s demilitarization.Syrian authorities have said their forces intervened after the violence broke out to stop the clashes, but witnesses, Druze factions and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog have accused them of siding with the Bedouin and committing abuses against the Druze.The Observatory said the violence killed more than 2,000 people, including 789 Druze civilians “summarily executed by defense and interior ministry personnel.”Earlier on Tuesday, Syrian authorities announced the creation of a new internal security chief position for Sweida city, naming a member of the Druze community to the post.The new chief, Suleiman Abdel Baqi, leads a local armed group that is seen favorably by the new authorities.Reuters reported on Tuesday that Israel is working to unite splintered Druze factions in the Sweida area, providing them with arms and paying salaries of militia members in the wake of the massacres of the Druze there.

Thousands of archaeological relics rescued in Gaza ahead of IDF strike-Army says Hamas was using warehouse that contained artifacts from over 25 years of excavations, including some of the oldest known evidence of Christianity in Gaza-By Melanie Lidman Today, 8:20 am-SEP 17,25

AP — Nine hours of frantic negotiation with the Israeli military. A last-minute scramble to find trucks in a devastated Gaza Strip, where fuel is in short supply. Six hours of frantic packing, carefully stacking cardboard boxes on open flatbed trucks.With an Israeli airstrike looming, aid workers carried out a last-minute rescue mission to salvage thousands of priceless artifacts from a Gaza warehouse before the building was flattened.The warehouse contained artifacts from over 25 years of excavations, including items from a 4th-century Byzantine monastery designated as a World Heritage Site by the UN cultural organization UNESCO, and some of the oldest known evidence of Christianity in Gaza. The Israeli military said the building housed Hamas intelligence installations and planned to demolish it as part of their expanded military operation in Gaza City.“It’s not just about Palestinian heritage or Christian heritage, it’s something important to the world heritage here, protected by UNESCO,” explained Kevin Charbel, the emergency field coordinator for Première Urgence Internationale, a humanitarian organization that has worked in Gaza since 2009. PUI is a health organization that also works toward the protection of Gaza’s cultural heritage.Negotiating against the clock-COGAT, Israel’s defense body in charge of humanitarian aid, notified PUI of the demolition plan last Wednesday morning. The warning was triggered by a notification system managed by the international NGOS to let the Israeli military know that a specific area is a sensitive site, such as a school, hospital, or warehouses holding humanitarian aid.Charbel, who is based in Gaza City on a temporary humanitarian rotation, spent nine hours furiously negotiating with the military for a delay to allow workers to move the artifacts to a safer location. But the challenge was larger than just holding off the strike. As Israel expanded its operation in Gaza City, other organizations were in disarray, and no one could locate trucks to transport the artifacts at such short notice.“Five minutes before I had to accept this was going to be evaporated in front of us, another actor offered us transport,” said Charbel. PUI worked with the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem to move the artifacts to a safer location in Gaza City that is not being disclosed for security reasons.The French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem, a venerated archaeological institution in the region that oversaw the Dead Sea Scrolls excavation in Israel, was responsible for the storage of about 80 square meters (860 sq ft) of archaeological artifacts in the Al-Kawthar high-rise building in Gaza City. PUI was providing security for the site.Dozens of ancient archaeological sites have been found in Gaza, including temples, monasteries, palaces, churches, mosques and mosaics. Many of them have been lost to urban sprawl and looting. UNESCO is struggling to preserve some of those that remain. Some of the sites date back 6,000 years, when Gaza was a central stop on trade routes between Egypt and the Levant, and the emergence of urban societies began to transform farming villages.The artifacts rescued this week include ceramic jugs, mosaics, coins, painted plasterwork, human and animal remains, and items excavated from the Saint Hilarion Monastery, one of the oldest known examples of Christian monastic communities in the Middle East, according to UNESCO.No time for normal preparation-Starting just after sunrise on Thursday, workers rushed to pack five flatbed trucks with as many delicate artifacts as they possibly could in the space of six hours. Artifacts, which had been carefully stored and documented in the warehouse, were hurriedly packed in cardboard boxes, with nearly 2,000-year-old pottery resting on the sandy ground.Charbel noted that transporting such old artifacts usually requires intense preparation and special provisions to protect delicate objects, something that wasn’t possible in this instance. The Israeli military does not allow the use of closed container trucks, exposing the artifacts to additional dangers. Several items were broken en route and others had to be left behind. Israel destroyed the building on Sunday, claiming Hamas had positioned observation posts and intelligence-gathering infrastructure within it.Over the past week, Israel has demolished multiple high-rise buildings in Gaza City, part of its dramatic warnings to civilians to evacuate ahead of the ground offensive, which began on Tuesday morning.As Israel’s ground operation expands, the artifacts are being held in a different location in Gaza City. However, they are outside, exposed to the elements, and remain in grave danger as strikes intensify.UNESCO said Israel has damaged at least 110 cultural sites across the Gaza Strip, including 13 religious sites, 77 buildings of historical or artistic interest, one museum, and seven archaeological sites, since the beginning of the war in October 2023.Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.During the archaeological rescue, Charbel said, he and other aid workers also wrestled with deeper questions. Did it make sense to direct so many resources, including desperately needed fuel and trucks, risking the lives of multiple people who worked under constant threat of bombardment, for inanimate historical objects, when the humanitarian situation is so dire? Charbel said he was worried about spending so much time arguing over the archaeological artifacts when they also needed to negotiate with COGAT about life-saving water, food, and medicine.“But we accepted to do this, because it’s so valuable, this stuff, it’s of such importance to world history and also Palestinian history,” said Charbel. “Destroying early examples of Christian history in Palestine would erase it forever.”Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

'The end will come much faster than they think'-Netanyahu says Trump to host him on Sept. 29, issues dire warning to Hamas over hostages-PM attacks Qatar as supporter of Hamas, says intel on results of Doha strike ‘not fully conclusive’ and claims negative response from markets to his ‘Sparta’ remark a ‘misunderstanding’By Lazar Berman and Nava Freiberg-Today, 2:44 am-SEP 17,25

US President Donald Trump invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet at the White House later this month, the Israeli leader said at a Tuesday press conference in Jerusalem, while warning Hamas against harming hostages as the military operates in Gaza City.According to Netanyahu, the visit will take place on September 29, three days after the premier’s scheduled address at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.Netanyahu announced the meeting during a press conference focusing on the state of Israel’s economy, after he faced intense criticism for saying a day earlier that the country would need to become increasingly self-reliant.Netanyahu said the invitation came during a phone call on Monday, adding that he has held several conversations with Trump since Israel’s September 9 strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar, and all of them were “good.”This would be the fourth meeting between the leaders in the White House since Trump’s second term began in January.It would come amid US backing for Israel’s major offensive in Gaza City, which kicked off early Tuesday as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio took off from Israel for Qatar.During his visit, Rubio showed firm support for Israel, saying that the “ideal outcome” is for Hamas to simply surrender, but “it may require ultimately a concise military operation to eliminate them.”Rubio chose not to add to international criticism of Israel for its strike on Hamas leaders in Doha last week, saying on Monday, “We are focused on what happens next.”The strike — which killed five non-leading members of Hamas and a Qatari security officer, but apparently none of its five key intended Hamas leadership targets — elicited fury from Arab governments, which convened for an emergency gathering Monday over the attack.Trump claims that he had not had knowledge of the attack in time to stop it. However, an Axios report indicated that Netanyahu told Trump 50 minutes before the strike.Asked on Tuesday if he had notified Trump ahead of the strike, Netanyahu repeated his statement that the White House version of events was “correct,” and that Israel was solely responsible for the strike.Asked by The Times of Israel about whether he still sees Qatar as a mediator in indirect talks with Hamas, Netanyahu said that “if Qatar wanted, it could easily apply much harder pressure, which would help us free all of our hostages in the first months of the war.”“It is tied to Hamas,” he charged of Qatar. “It strengthens Hamas. It hosts Hamas. It funds Hamas. It has much stronger levers, and it chose not to do that.”As such, he insisted, the strike against Hamas leaders in Qatar “was entirely justified.”“There was an attempt to use them in a partial manner” during the war, Netanyahu continued, without mentioning he had worked with Qatar to send millions of dollars into Gaza every month in the years before the October 7, 2023,  Hamas-led terror onslaught that started the war.He declined to give an update on whether any of the targeted Hamas leaders were killed: “We’re still checking it out. It’s not yet fully conclusive. We’re waiting to see it.”Netanyahu also refused to answer shouted questions about his own advisers who are under investigation for allegedly receiving money from Qatar to push a public relations campaign casting the emirate in a positive light after the Hamas massacre in Israel.Markets spooked by ‘misunderstanding’Netanyahu called the press conference as a damage-control measure after admitting Monday that Israel was facing increasing isolation and warning that it might be required to become a “super-Sparta.”The premier said that the markets’ negative reaction to his remarks was a “misunderstanding.”“There was a misunderstanding that supposedly shook the stock market,” he said. “It didn’t shake us. And the reason it didn’t shake us is one thing: because essentially, the stock market — the markets — understand what I said, the strength of Israel’s economy, and the profitability of investing in Israel. And this is very important for ensuring our future.”“My remarks were on the attempt to restrict the import of parts, components, weapons, or raw materials – and that indeed is something that does not operate according to market economics, but according to political economics, governments, leaders, politics,” he added, insisting the Israeli economy was sound.Netanyahu — who frequently switched between English and Hebrew during the press conference, depending on who his message was targeted at — noted that while “Western European governments are generally friendly toward Israel,” they are “pressured by Islamic minorities that have formed within them, some of whom are very extreme.”Decades of organized anti-Israel propaganda, he added, have compounded the pressure, which “expresses itself as restrictions on parts of weapon systems or the systems themselves.”Several EU countries have announced in recent days that they would move towards arms embargoes on Israel and stop buying Israeli weapons amid the Gaza war.The prime minister said Israel must “develop these ourselves, arm ourselves, and ensure we have the ability to defend ourselves,” even if that requires moving temporarily to “a centralized, closed economy, something I generally dislike — I prefer open markets.”“But here, I want to take all the necessary steps to build a strong, independent defense industry. If there is one lesson from this war, this is it,” he said.While Netanyahu had announced he would hold an economic press conference, Channel 12 reported that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich refused to take part, despite being invited.During a meeting with Netanyahu on Monday, Smotrich reportedly told Netanyahu: ‘You caused the damage, you fix it.”A warning to HamasWith the Israel Defense Forces carrying out massive strikes in Gaza City, and desperate Israeli families of hostages saying they were “terrified” for their loved ones, questions at Netanyahu’s press conference also focused on the push into Gaza’s biggest city.Netanyahu said he discussed the issue of the hostages with Trump in their latest phone call.Netanyahu said the two “discussed a possibility that came up, which is very, very important in my eyes — dealing with the issue of the hostages’ security.”“As Hamas’s spokesperson said, they used our hostages as human shields — that is, placed them in locations that would endanger them. This is horrifying. It also horrified the president. He addressed it,” Netanyahu said, referring to remarks by Trump on Monday warning Hamas against using the hostages as human shields.Netanyahu added his own warning to Hamas, saying: “If they harm a hair on the head of even one hostage, we will hunt them down with greater force until the end of their lives — and that end will come much faster than they think.”“And this is what I say to Hamas’s leaders,” Netanyahu continued, “You will have no shelter anyway. But our effort to reach you will be redoubled sevenfold, and we will reach you much faster than you think.”Hostage families have expressed severe concern for their loved ones over reports that Hamas is keeping hostages in Gaza City to deter Israeli forces from attacking.Addressing reports of fierce disagreement between him and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir over how to conduct the war in Gaza, Netanyahu said that “false” leaks and “biased” briefings were hurting the war effort.“I think it is absolutely unacceptable that leaks that are often false, and briefings that are almost always biased and agenda-driven, are being released,” he said.“These things make it harder to manage the war, they clearly delay the release of our hostages, and they endanger our soldiers — and they also lower their morale,” he continued. “These are things that must not be done. That is why I do not comment on specific matters of this kind.”At the press conference — which saw journalists rushed to the basement of the Prime Minister’s Office shortly beforehand as sirens sounded in the wake of a Houthi missile being launched from Yemen — Netanyahu called for accelerated efforts to evacuate Palestinians from Gaza City, saying it would help ensure the war’s swift end.“Right now, [Gazans] are leaving Gaza City, and so far almost 400,000 have already left,” Netanyahu said, adding that in a discussion at the IDF command bunker in Tel Aviv earlier in the day, “I instructed them to find ways to make it easier for them to leave.”“They want to leave, they want to get out of the city, because they want to — they are responding to us, not to Hamas, which, by the way, occasionally even shoots at them to stop them from doing so,” he said.Netanyahu said the effort to evacuate Gazans from the city ahead of the major offensive “is succeeding, but we need to intensify it — to help, to accelerate it — because we have an interest in ending the war quickly, and not ending it in defeat.”“To those who say, ‘Come on, finish, just end it’ – ending it in defeat would be an enormous victory for the forces of evil, for Iran’s axis of evil, which would quickly recover from this, because everyone is watching who wins. If [Hamas] survives there, if they remain there, they will call that a victory – and of course, we want to achieve the opposite effect,” he continued.Last week, the IDF ordered Palestinians in all areas of Gaza City to evacuate immediately ahead of the offensive. However, moving can be costly, and space is at a premium in the overcrowded south of the Strip. Many had said they would not leave, exhausted from repeated displacement over the course of the 23-month war.IDF estimates from Tuesday morning indicated that more than 370,000 Palestinians had evacuated Gaza City. That contradicted a UN estimate issued earlier in the day that said around 220,000 Palestinians had fled northern Gaza over the past month.Regarding Palestinians’ voluntary departure from Gaza  — a goal Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners are eager to see achieved — the prime minister said, “This possibility certainly exists; it has not been taken off the table. But it is not an active campaign we are running. It’s not something we are pushing.”Still, he condemned international opposition to the idea. “Unlike in other war zones in the world, they say it is immoral to allow them to leave. I think what is immoral is not to allow them to leave,” he said.

Kirk killing suspect charged with aggravated murder; prosecutor seeks death penalty-Utah County attorney says Tyler Robinson’s DNA found on trigger of rifle, reveals texts in which accused tells roommate he killed activist because he ‘had enough of his hatred’By Agencies 16 September 2025, 11:03 pm

Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old Utah man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk, was charged on Tuesday with aggravated murder, a prosecutor announced, saying Robinson left behind his DNA on the trigger of the rifle that fired the fatal shot.The charge means Robinson could face the death penalty if convicted of killing Kirk last week at Utah Valley University in Orem, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City.“The murder of Charlie Kirk is an American tragedy,” Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray said in announcing the charges.Gray said he had made the decision to seek the death penalty “independently, based solely on the available evidence and circumstances and nature of the crime.”Kirk was gunned down on September 10 as he spoke with students and died soon after. Prosecutors allege Robinson shot Kirk in the neck with a bolt-action rifle from the roof of a nearby campus building.A Utah Valley University police officer was watching the university campus crowd from an “elevated position” and identified the roof of the Losee Center as a potential position for a shooter, Gray said. The officer found evidence on the roof immediately, he said, and spurred officers to direct their attention to surveillance video leading to the roof.Gray said Robinson’s DNA was found on the trigger of the rifle. He said Robinson discarded the rifle and clothing and asked his roommate to conceal evidence.Robinson left a note under a keyboard saying he planned to kill Kirk and confessed after the shooting, documents show.Robinson was also charged with felony discharge of a firearm, punishable by up to life in prison, and obstructing justice, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. He was scheduled to appear on camera for a virtual court hearing on Tuesday afternoon.It was unclear whether Robinson had an attorney who could speak on his behalf, and his family has declined to comment to The Associated Press.Robinson appears to have stayed in the area after shooting Kirk and ditching his rifle, authorities said.In a text exchange with his roommate, released by authorities, Robinson wrote, “I had planned to grab my rifle from my drop point shortly after, but most of that side of town got locked down. Its quiet, almost enough to get out, but theres one vehicle lingering.”Then he wrote: “Going to attempt to retrieve it again, hopefully they have moved on. I haven’t seen anything about them finding it.” And after that, he sent: “I can get close to it but there is a squad car parked right by it. I think they already swept that spot, but I don’t wanna chance it.”“‘Why did I do it?'” Gray quoted a message. “‘I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.'”The texts shared in court documents do not have timestamps, and it’s unclear how long after the shooting Robinson was texting.Robinson was arrested late Thursday near St. George, the southern Utah community where he grew up.Investigators have spoken to Robinson’s relatives and carried out a search warrant at his family’s home in Washington, Utah, about 240 miles (390 kilometers) southwest of where the shooting happened.Kirk, a dominant figure in conservative politics, became a confidant of US President Donald Trump after founding Arizona-based Turning Point USA, one of the nation’s largest political organizations. He brought young, conservative evangelical Christians into politics. His shooting raised fears about increasing political violence in a deeply polarized United States.While authorities say Robinson hasn’t been cooperating with investigators, they say his family and friends have been talking. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said over the weekend that those who know Robinson say his politics shifted left in recent years and he spent a lot of time in the “dark corners of the internet.”FBI Director Kash Patel said Monday on the Fox News Channel show “Fox & Friends” that DNA evidence has linked Robinson to a towel wrapped around a rifle found near the Utah Valley campus and a screwdriver recovered from the rooftop where the fatal shot was fired.The FBI is also looking at “anyone and everyone” who was involved in a gaming chatroom on the social media platform Discord with Robinson, Patel said Tuesday during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington. The chatroom involved “a lot more” than 20 people, he said.“We are investigating Charlie’s assassination fully and completely and running out every lead related to any allegation of broader violence,” Patel said in response to a question about whether the Kirk shooting was being treated as part of a broader trend of violence against religious groups.Investigators are working on finding a motive for the attack, Utah’s governor said Sunday, adding that more information may come out once Robinson appears for his initial court hearing.Cox said Robinson’s romantic partner was transgender, which some politicians have pointed to as a sign the suspect was targeting Kirk for his anti-transgender views. But authorities have not said whether that played a role. Kirk was shot while taking a question that touched on mass shootings, gun violence, and transgender people.Gray declined to answer a question about whether transgender issues played a role in the motive behind Kirk’s shooting. He pointed to the charging documents, saying they summed up those points.The charges filed Tuesday carry two enhancements, including committing several of the crimes in front of or close to children and carrying out violence based on the subject’s political beliefs.Gray declined to say whether Robinson’s roommate could face charges or whether anyone else might face charges. He also declined to say whether Robinson was cooperating or whether his parents or roommate had continued to cooperate.In the days since Kirk’s assassination, Americans have found themselves facing questions about rising political violence, the deep divisions that brought the nation here, and whether anything can change.Despite calls for greater civility, some who opposed Kirk’s provocative statements about gender, race, and politics criticized him after his death. Many Republicans have led the push to punish anyone they believe dishonored him, causing both public and private workers to lose their jobs or face other consequences at work.

NIST relaunches 1-to-N fingerprint biometrics matching evaluations-Initial submissions from Tech5, Innovatrics show gains after 13 years off-Sep 17, 2025, 6:12 pm EDT    | Chris Burt

The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology has relaunched its evaluation of performance capabilities of one-to-many fingerprint biometric identification algorithms after a 13 year hiatus.NIST has renamed the Fingerprint Vendor Technology Evaluation (FpVTE) as the Friction Ridge Image and Features (FRIF) Technology Evaluation Exemplar One-to-Many (E1N).The only submissions to the relaunched evaluation so far are from Tech5 and Innovatrics.NIST uses the submitted algorithms to match biometrics from three datasets for the evaluation. Class A is made up of index fingers only, Class B consists of 4-4-2 or “identification flat” captures, and Class C includes all ten fingers.Tech5 was found to have a false non-identification rate (FNIR) of 0.001 at a false positive identification rate (FPIR) of 0.001 or lower in matches against the 1.6 million images in Class A, and a Rank-1 FNIR of 0.0004. The best results so far for all pairings in Class C are Tech5’s. The company currently sits first for both operational thresholds and Rank-1 FNIR in plain-plain (0.0018 and 0.0042), plain-rolled (0.0006 and 0.0037) and rolled-rolled (0.0003 and 0.0034). The company’s algorithm also performed well in template creation speed and footprint.At FPIR 0.001 or lower, Innovatrics scored FNIRs of 0.0160, 0.0120, 0.0022 and 0.0011 respectively for left slaps, right slaps, left and right slaps together and identification flats. At Rank-1 FNIR was 0.0092, 0.0027, 0.0010 and 0.0005.The FpVTE, back in 2012, included submissions from “afis team,” NEC, id3, 3M Cogent, Sonda, Morpho, Neurotechnology, Tiger IT, Decatur Industries, Papillon, Innovatrics, BIO-key, Dermalog, SPEX, Aware, HiSign, ID Solutions and AA Technology.“This evaluation was highly needed, because the previous similar 1:N fingerprint NIST testing was conducted 13 years ago under FpVTE,” says Tech5 CRO Ameya Bhagwat. “The end customers are looking at these tests as a reference when selecting large-scale ABIS (Automated Biometric Identification System) platforms for their projects in civil identity, foundational identity, elections, passport systems and the like. We at TECH5 are very proud that this fingerprint algorithm, that is used in the T5-OmniMatch ABIS platform, shows the best results.”NIST notes that the evaluation is of template creation and search algorithms used with an automated biometric identification system (ABIS), and does not evaluate ABISs themselves.

Leveraging digital footprints to outpace evolving fraud tactics-Sep 17, 2025, 6:05 pm EDT    | Maanas Godugunur By Maanas Godugunur, senior director, fraud and identity, LexisNexis Risk Solutions

From login to checkout, fraud lurks in the shadows – highly sophisticated, global in scale and deeply entangled in the retail journey.Digitalization has introduced new challenges that demand comprehensive fraud management strategies. Advances in AI and automated bot attacks have turned fraud into a moving target – constantly shifting, adapting and becoming harder to pin down.Businesses obviously use digital channels to engage with customers and meet growth targets. Since consumers demand fast access to products and services, retailers are shifting their digital strategies to focus on collecting only the necessary data and prioritizing speed to reduce friction.Fraudsters understand this and exploit vulnerabilities in these new touchpoints to their advantage. Human-led phishing schemes and cross-border fraud rings continue to expand, increasing cost pressures.This leads to a new challenge. How can businesses reduce fraud, protect customers, lower false positives and enhance customer experience, all while improving profitability and efficiency? To stay ahead of fraud, businesses must treat adaptability not as an option, but as a core strategy. Success hinges on relentless evolution: Meeting today’s threats head-on while anticipating those of tomorrow.The role of digital footprints in fraud prevention-A customer’s digital footprint – including connected devices, transactional behaviors, geolocation data, email address and other associated attributes – serves as a fundamental tool in combating fraud. The data forms a unique identifier that separates trustworthy customers from potential fraudsters.Take the ability to detect anomalies, for example. A customer’s usual behavior might involve frequent logins from their smartphone in a specific region. If a login suddenly comes from another location hundreds or thousands of miles away or from a new, unfamiliar device, businesses can act on these potential red flags to tighten security while preserving customer convenience.This example highlights the use of a single attribute. Parks Associates reported that in 2023, the average US household with internet access had 17 connected devices. Each household uses devices tied to specific individuals, with associated email addresses, social aliases and phone numbers. The variables multiply when considering different permutations and combinations.Part of the solution includes a global digital identifier that has established an individual’s unique digital footprint. Pinpointing legitimacy in real time sharpens the focus on who’s real and who’s risky so that businesses can welcome trusted customers effortlessly while shutting the door on fraud.This approach can even add valuable insight when identifying new customers. A digital identity might be new to your business – a guest checkout, opening a new bank account or completing a payment for the first time. However, a consumer’s supplied information and device data available through a consortium of retailers can help paint a more complete picture of each identity coming through the business environment.Think of it as intelligent access: Smooth for the trusted, cautious for the questionable. It enhances experience without sacrificing safety. Fraudsters’ tactics are evolving-Fraudsters constantly up their game. They now move beyond automation, using human-initiated attacks that mimic real customer behavior. Phishing, social engineering and scam calls are now rife, complicating precise fraud detection. Fraudsters skillfully weaponize stolen credentials by posing as real users or fabricating entire identities that are nearly indistinguishable from the real thing.Generative AI technology has further advanced their ability to create automated scripts that execute attacks like credential stuffing in a more human manner, making it increasingly difficult to differentiate between bot-driven and human-led attacks on a global scale.Cross-border fraud also remains a major challenge. Digital interactions blur geographical boundaries, yet technology can uncover specific fraud patterns linking attacks and compromised credentials across regions.A fraudulent credential never stays local. They’re global weapons, capable of reaching any customer, anywhere, almost instantly, even across industries. A financial scam targeting ecommerce today may strike a financial institution tomorrow.Global intelligence as a shield against fraud-A fraud intelligence consortium analyzing billions of transactions each year reveals the interconnected nature of the global ecosystem. Analysis shows businesses can no longer combat fraud in isolation. To succeed, they must use global identity intelligence, identify shared fraud patterns and apply advanced AI technologies to counter attacks effectively.Increasingly complex fraud makes it impossible for a single solution to ensure complete security. A multi-layered security strategy that combines data points, techniques and various fraud detection tools, such as device intelligence, behavioral intelligence, geolocation tracking and real-time fraud insights, is another essential part of the solution.Behavioral intelligence helps to identify individuals by analyzing the genuine user’s typical typing patterns and touch screen usage, then comparing it with each new interaction. Do the actions of the entity logging in align with what is expected from that user or are there anomalies that could indicate an intruder? By weaving in geolocation, device and email intelligence, this adaptable framework pinpoints threats with precision without compromising the ease customers expect.Workflows must stay adaptable. Fraud tactics that challenge businesses today can evolve quickly, making previous protection strategies ineffective. Organizations require agile fraud prevention systems that scale easily and integrate new signals as they develop.Balancing customer experience with fraud mitigation strategies-Overly strict security measures frustrate legitimate customers and damage trust. Many believe strong fraud controls cause customer churn, but this perception is rooted in a point solution approach. Thoughtful fraud strategies enhance customer experiences, delight loyal customers and reduce exposure to fraudsters. By leveraging accurate digital identity data, businesses can reduce false positives and create a secure environment that offers trustworthy customers a seamless interaction while blocking fraudulent attempts.Businesses can address fraud by recognizing the value of digital footprints and leveraging global shared intelligence. Orchestrating multi-layered risk signals protects loyal customers and ensures their business models remain robust.Fraud isn’t going away but with strategic digital defenses, trust can thrive. Gaining a deep understanding of customer digital footprints then sharing the resulting risk insights between businesses across regions and industries empowers businesses to grow boldly, even on a global stage.

Jumio to support eIDs from 16 EU countries-Sep 17, 2025, 5:11 pm EDT    | Masha Borak

Jumio will provide support for eIDAS-compliant electronic IDs in 16 European countries on its web and mobile SDKs.The U.S.-based identity verification and Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance firm says that integrating support for the eIDs enables them to complete the accreditation processes on behalf of its customers. Most identity providers only support eIDs from a limited number of countries, which forces customers to go through lengthy accreditation processes.“By enabling customers to accept eIDs and digital wallets without needing to complete the accreditation process themselves, we’re providing them with fast, compliant onboarding based on official government identity data,” says Philipp Pointner, Jumio’s chief of digital identity.  “This, in turn, reduces fraud risk, improves conversion rates, and positions these businesses as adopters of trusted national eID programs.”The move comes as the EU prepares for the introduction of the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet. By 2027, many regulated businesses will be required to accept digital wallets.Aside from verifying IDs, Jumio also confirms that the person matches the credential through biometrics, historical verifications and fraud intelligence, the company says in a release.Earlier this year, the company introduced a new feature that analyzes the fraud risk of transactions with the help of data such as identity attributes and behavior. In June, Jumio also released its most advanced liveness detection solution to date, called Jumio Liveness Premium.

Trident raises $2.6M to support DR Congo’s digital ID rollout-DRC Pass to enhance financial inclusion and improve public service delivery-Sep 17, 2025, 4:43 pm EDT    | Ayang Macdonald

The Singaporean company Trident which is implementing a national digital ID program in the Democratic Republic of Congo, known as DRC Pass, has announced a funding boost for the project to the tune of about $2.6 million.The firm said it raised the funds thanks to a Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE) financing and the proceeds will be “primarily used to support the expansion and commercialization” of the digital ID platform.According to an announcement, broker-dealer Chaince Securities LLC, a subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed Mercurity Fintech Holding Inc, was the exclusive placement agent for the transaction.Soon Huat Lim, founder, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Trident, commented after the transaction, stating that “this financing not only validates our strategic direction but also provides the resources to strengthen our global presence in digital identity and eKYC.”DRC Pass was launched in June after the singing of the final agreement between the Congolese government and Trident.The digital ID is part of a digital government project which the firm is also working to implement in one of Africa’s largest countries by both population and landmass.DR Congo citizens are expected to download a “Tridentity” mobile application on their smartphone to be able to sign up to the DRCPass and have access to authorized government applications and websites, the company says.Last month, the DRCPass was cited as an example of successful collaboration between Singapore and Africa in the domain of technology.At the Africa Singapore Business Forum 2025, the country’s minister for Sustainability and the Environment, Grace Fu, said the digital ID “will enhance financial inclusion and improve public service delivery for over 110 million DRC citizens.”She stated that the project is “a good example of how Singapore companies work with African partners to bridge the digital divide and promote financial inclusion.”

Catching synthetic identities by sifting through clues in public data-No family, no property, no vehicle? Transunion says you could be dealing with a fake-Sep 17, 2025, 4:42 pm EDT    | Masha Borak

Synthetic identities have become an increasing threat over the past years: Constructed by combining authentic and fabricated information, such as stolen Social Security numbers and false names and contact information, synthetic identities are made to look credible enough to fool many identity verification systems.Companies such as TransUnion are now trying to catch synthetic identities by playing detective and searching for clues in public data. Its new research shows that certain traits and behavioral characteristics can help identify them: A person may have no known relatives or no vehicle registrations. It may be missing voter or property records. Nearly every synthetic identity, for instance, had no bankruptcies.Its main tool of investigation is the TransUnion’s Synthetic Fraud Model. According to its figures, 85.6 percent of the fraud predictions offered by the model prove to be true.“While the presence of living characteristics such as vehicle ownership, voter registration, or familial connections is not a definitive solution to detecting synthetic identities, it represents an important piece of the broader identity puzzle,” Steve Yin, the company’s senior vice president and global head of fraud, said in a release this week.The other 14.4 percent of suspected synthetic identities who turn out to be real people go through additional authentication. The process balances automated decisioning with things like manual reviews from fraud specialists, Brad Daughdrill, TransUnion’s vice president of Data Science and head of Global Fraud Analytics, explains to Biometric Update over email.TransUnion first launched its Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) Synthetic Fraud Model in 2021. The model analyzes Personally Identifiable Information (PII) for inconsistencies and patterns that point to a fabricated identity.Since then, the model has evolved through newer data and techniques such as AI, machine learning and graph-based constructs. It has also received new infrastructure, including centralization, more automation and faster update cadence, says Daughdrill.Despite this, fraudsters operating synthetic identities are smart: There is no single model for creating a fake persona, making them harder to trace.Fraudsters also establish their legitimacy by building a credit history, taking out loans for low-value products and services and paying their dues regularly to avoid raising any behavioral red flags. Once they secure access to higher value, they suddenly max out their credit and disappear.Many organizations do not understand their exposure to synthetic identity risk. According to TransUnion’s analysis of credit accounts, 0.19 percent of bank card, retail card, auto and personal loans had a high risk of synthetic identity, amounting to US$3.3 billion in fraud loss risk exposure.Risks are also growing in part because of large-scale data leaks: 640 million consumer records were breached last year, most of them including Social Security numbers (SSNs), says TransUnion. Breach severity is a leading indicator of future fraud, according to Yin.Around 80 percent of financial services customers who had charged off on loans and credit card accounts, meaning that the lender has written the account off as a loss, returned a high synthetic identity risk score — despite passing a standard identity check, TransUnion points out.One of the company’s recommendations for preventing synthetic fraud is making identity validation a lifecycle activity, instead of a one-time event. A synthetic identity would be assessed during the account creation process, but also throughout account review.“Processes like credential change, new product opening, money movement, etc., all of these could be continually assessed for new fraud risks, including synthetics,” says Daughdrill.The additional checks will have to balance out the customer friction. That is always a challenge and will differ across organizations for their risk tolerances, he notes.Aside from improving fraud detection models and adding more transparency and accountability to vendor and partner ecosystems, another recommendation from TransUnion is breaking down data silos and establishing centralized fraud intelligence hubs.“TransUnion has consortia within some of our solutions and competitors do as well,” says Daughdrill.

Indian tech firms shortlisted for Sri Lanka digital ID meeting with ICTA and DRP-Sep 17, 2025, 12:57 pm EDT    | Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera

About a dozen Indian tech companies shortlisted for the Master Systems Integrator (MSI) role in Sri Lanka’s Unique Digital ID project will visit the country this week to meet in-person with representatives of the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) and Department for Registration of Persons (DRP), government officials say.The integrators were at the pre-qualification virtual meeting last month, conducted by the National Institute for Smart Government (NISG) on behalf of Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Digital Economy.The NISG is seeking bids from Indian companies to appoint an MSI for this initiative, to collect citizens’ demographic and biometric data, similar to India’s Aadhaar system. At least 40 Indian firms have applied for this.The change from the traditional National Identity Card (NIC) to a digital identity is driven by the need for secure and scalable solutions, with the Modular Open-Source Identity Platform (MOSIP) chosen for its cost-effectiveness, security, and flexibility. “MOSIP was chosen over local and proprietary options due to its open-source nature, permitting customization and independent auditing, which certifies long-term sustainability and control over citizen data,” the official said.Officials noted that at this pre-bid meeting, these companies clarified the components proposed for the Sri Lanka Unique Digital ID (SL-UDI) project and answered certain questions regarding the proposals.These bidders had agreed to the components proposed for the project, meeting certain criteria, including being in the Leaders Quadrant of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, Leaders Wave of Forrester Wave, or Leader in IDC Marketspace.Professionals trained for ongoing management will be available before the system goes live, officials said. Key controls include data capture by the DRP and a comprehensive security audit before activation.Concerns about the role of the Indian system integrator in the project were raised by a DRP official in conversation with Biometric Update earlier this month. The program is also facing two court petitions alleging fundamental rights violations.These legal and procedural complaints are predictable, according to digital identity and DPI consultant Ott Sarv says in a LinkedIn post. Sarv warns that “when digital identity is pushed without legal sequencing,” countries are bound to face “legal petitions, sovereignty disputes, altered processes, duplicated roles, technology that does not fit today’s governance model, and citizens left uncertain about who really controls their data.”

New York’s proposed age assurance rules ‘clearest and smartest’ to emerge-Minimum performance levels provide piece missing from UK legislation-Sep 17, 2025, 1:31 pm EDT    | Joel R. McConvey

A new proposal in New York State that aims to lay out age assurance rules for social media is getting rave reviews from top voices in the biometrics and digital identity industry.The Office of the New York State Attorney General (OAG) says it has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act. Signed into law in June 2024, SAFE targets algorithms that personalize feeds for teen users and are designed to be addictive.“These feeds can track tens or hundreds of thousands of data points about users to create a stream of media that can keep minors scrolling for dangerously long periods of time,” the OAG says. “Consistent with robust research from child mental health experts, the Legislature found that these hours spent on social media have caused harm to New York minors including depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and self-harm.”The Act prohibits addictive feeds for young users and bans platforms from sending notifications between the hours of 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. OAG has been charged with “promulgating regulations” that “identify ‘commercially reasonable and technically feasible methods’ to determine that a user is not a minor before providing them with an addictive feed or nighttime notification,” and “identify methods of obtaining verifiable parental consent for an addictive feed or nighttime notification.”Show us the numbers: minimums set for accuracy, circumvention-What has won the particular praise of age assurance providers, however, are the Act’s “standards for effective, secure, and privacy-protective age assurance.” Unlike some other online safety legislation – like the UK’s much-discussed Online Safety Act (OSA) – SAFE gets specific on numbers for minimum accuracy levels and minimum percentage rate for detecting method circumvention.Up front, it defines “Accuracy Minimum” as: “(1) a rate of false positives for an age assurance method that is equal to or less than the following: 0.1 percent of minors ages 0 to 7; 1 percent of minors ages 8 to 13; 2 percent of minors ages 14 to 15; 8 percent of minors age 16; 15 percent of minors age 17, excluding failures or refusals by a user to provide requested data and inconclusive age assurance outcomes; and (2) a rate of detecting method circumvention for an age assurance method that meets or exceeds 98 percent.”These are the kind of very clear guidelines for performance that providers have been asking for since the age assurance conversation began. In a post on LinkedIn summarizing the proposal, Yoti CEO Robin Tombs calls it “by far the clearest and smartest set of age checking regulations that deliver privacy preserving, highly effective age assurance.”It’s not just the statistical specificity that appeals, either; Tombs has a long list of things that OAG has clarified. These include crucial practices like “operators must implement data minimisation and deletion,” statements on certification like “every age assurance method must be certified annually by an accredited independent third party under international standards (ISP/IEC 27566, IEEE 2089.1 or other),” and recognition that zero knowledge proofs (ZKP) and double blind age verification methods show significant promise.‘Rules are inclusive, robust, and privacy preserving’: VerifymyVerifymy has also taken note of New York’s proposal.“While the law is driven by evidence that algorithmically-curated feeds fuel depression, anxiety and other harms, the heart of the new guidelines is about practical, privacy-preserving age assurance to make those protections real,” says a blog from the company, which calls SAFE’s approach to age checks “encouraging.”“The rules are inclusive, robust, and privacy-preserving, without being overly restrictive. Rather than relying only on traditional identity documents for age checks, they embrace innovative age estimation and inference (for example, checks based on a user’s email address), while recognising that accuracy is highest for younger children and naturally more nuanced for 17-year-olds close to adulthood”.Privately, efficient, effective age assurance can be done in NY-Perhaps most significantly in a global context, the OAG provides, by way of its own extensive research and consultation, a statement that backs up the findings of Australia’s Age Assurance Technology Trial (AATT), which has faced questions about its methodology.“OAG can confirm that today, the age assurance market includes a robust variety of products that perform at a high accuracy rate, easily integrate with online platforms, handle large user volumes, and prioritize the preservation of user privacy and protection of user data,” says the NPRM.“Age assurance products can be selected and customized to meet different business models, user populations, and compliance obligations. Age assurance providers are already servicing clients in the U.S. and globally, including many of the largest social media platforms, and are supported by a trade association, standards bodies, and providers of certification and testing.”It also reiterates the often-stated point that the age assurance industry is aware its technology isn’t perfect, but continues to refine and improve it.To Robin Tombs, the OAG’s rules are “smart, clear details relating to commercially reasonable and technically feasible methods of age assurance.”“I suspect they will get copied by many AV regulators around the world over the next 1-3 years.”