JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
WAR WITH IRAN - DAY 179 AUGUST 25,26 - TARIF DUELS BETWEEN CANADA AND USA.
THE
NEXT US-ISRAEL HIT ON IRAN SHOULD BE VERSE 37. ALL OFFENSIVE NUKE SITES
MISSLES,DRONES,AND OF COURSE KHEMENI AND THE IRGC GUARDS.THEN AFTER
IRANS REGIME CHANGE. MUSLIMS COME TO JESUS BY THE MILLIONS.
JEREMEIAH 49:32-39 (IN IRAN AT THE BUSHEHR OR ARAK NUKE SITES AND ALL OFENSIVE WEAPONS DESTROYED IN IRAN)
Jeremiah 49:32-39
32
Their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a
spoil: and I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners [of
their hair] cut off; and I will bring their calamity from every side of
them, says Yahweh.
33 Hazor shall be a dwelling-place of jackals, a
desolation forever: no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of
man sojourn therein.(Location & Size: It was strategically located
along the Via Maris (Way of the Sea), a major trade route connecting
Egypt with Syria and Mesopotamia.)
34 The word of Yahweh that came to
Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam,(IRAN) in the beginning of the
reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35 Thus says Yahweh of
Hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,(IRANS OFFENSIVE WEAPONS)
the chief of their might.(MISSLES AND NUKE SITES)
36 On Elam (IRAN)
will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of the sky, and will
scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation where
the outcasts of Elam shall not come.(SINCE 1979 IRANIANS HAVE GOTTIN OUT
OF IRAN BECAUSE OF KHEMENI AND HIS APOCOPOLIPTIC DEATH CULT
BELIEF-BLACK HATER 12ERS)
37 I will cause Elam (IRAN) to be dismayed
before their enemies, and before those who seek their life;(ISRAEL THE
LITTLE SATAN AND THE U.S THE BIG SATAN) and I will bring evil on them,
(MISSLES) even my fierce anger,(FIRE) says Yahweh; and I will send the
sword after them,(IRANS OFFENSIVE WEAPONS) until I have consumed them;
(DESTROYED THEM ALL NUKE SITES,MISSLES ETC)
38 and I will set my
throne in Elam,(IRAN WILL BECOME A CHRISTIAN NATION) and will destroy
from there king (KHEMENI CLAN) and princes, says Yahweh.(IRANIAN ARMY
GUARDS)
39 But it shall happen in the latter days, that I will bring
back the captivity of Elam,(IRAN) says Yahweh.(WERE IN THE LATTER DAYS
NOW)
WHEN ARE THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL IN THE SPRING TIME.(GET READY ISLAM TO BE BIRD SEED FOR THESE BIRDS)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/m0bXU5Xqc5M
The
500 million migratory birds in Israel during the spring arrive from
Africa and head toward Europe and Asia, with the peak migration
occurring in March and April. While migration starts in late February,
the most intense movements, particularly of birds of prey, storks, and
pelicans, occur during the third week of March and continue into April.
Key Details on the Spring Migration
Peak Period: Mid-March through April.
Main
Migration Route: The birds use the Great Rift Valley, which includes
the Hula Valley and Eilat, acting as a "bottleneck" where millions of
birds fly through the narrow land bridge.
Best Spots: The Hula Lake
Park (Northern Israel) and the Eilat Birding Center (Southern Israel)
are primary locations for observing the migration.
Key Species:
Hundreds of thousands of white storks, along with black kites, raptors,
and pelicans, pass through over these months.
uration: The spring migration runs from late February and continues into June, though the heaviest traffic is in March/April.
The
500 million migratory birds fly over Israel in the fall between late
August and mid-December. The peak migration period for the autumn, when
the highest volume of bird traffic occurs, is typically October and
November.
Key Fall Migration Details
Location: The Hula Valley (Agamon Hula Park) in northern Israel is the premier spot to witness this phenomenon.
Timing: Migration starts as early as late June with some waders, but intensifies from mid-August through November.
Peak Festival: The "Annual Hula Valley Bird Festival" is usually held in November to align with the peak migration traffic.
Key
Species: Many birds of prey (raptors), including honey buzzards and
steppe eagles, cross during this time, along with massive flocks of
storks and cranes.
While roughly 500 million birds pass through in
the autumn on their way to Africa, the same number crosses again in the
spring (mid-February to May) on their way back to Europe and Asia.
JEREMEIAH 49:23-27
23
Concerning Damascus.(SYRIA) Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they
have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the
sea;(WAR SHIPS WITH NUKES COMING ON SYRIA) it cannot be quiet.
24
Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath
seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in
travail.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26
Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of
war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
27 And I
will kindle a fire (NUKES OR BOMBS) in the wall of Damascus, and it
shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.(ASSADS PALACES POSSIBLY IN
DAMASCUS)
20 dead in 68 incidents near Hormuz over six months of
war, maritime agency says-Incidents occurred every 2.6 days on average,
briefly halving during Iran-US talks from mid-June to July 7-By AFP
Today, 11:54 am-AUG 25,26
The Strait of Hormuz has been the main
focus of the six-month war between Iran and the US and Israel, with many
commercial vessels targeted in the vital conduit for oil and gas
shipments.In total, 68 incidents have been confirmed by the
International Maritime Organization (IMO) in the Gulf and neighboring
bodies of water, the equivalent of one every 2.6 days.Across all
incidents, at least 20 seafarers or port workers were reported killed,
35 wounded and one missing, the UN maritime agency said.About half of
the incidents have involved tankers, 20 percent container ships and 15%
bulk carriers.The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO)
classified 47 of the incidents as attacks.Liberia-flagged vessels have
been most affected, being involved in 13 incidents, followed by 10
vessels each from Panama and the Marshall Islands.Iran-flagged vessels
were reported as being involved in four incidents.The rate of incidents
has ebbed and flowed during the various phases of the war.From the
outbreak of war at the end of February until an agreement establishing a
framework for talks between the US and Iran was struck in mid-June, an
incident was reported on average once every 2.3 days.Israel, which
launched the military campaign against Iran jointly with the US, has not
been represented at the talks.Incidents during this period accounted
for 16 of the deaths and 19 of the injuries, and were recorded
throughout the Gulf — both east and west of Hormuz, and off the coasts
of Iraq, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.As
peace talks continued until around July 7, that rate halved to one
incident every 4.6 days, on average.No seafarers or other workers were
reported killed, missing or injured during this period.Four of the five
incidents during this period were clustered off the Omani coast around
the strait’s narrowest point, along a route not authorised by Iranian
authorities.Iran, which hopes to retain control of the Hormuz after the
war and charge fees for passage, had warned vessels against taking the
alternative route.Since talks collapsed, the rate has climbed almost
back to pre-talks levels, with an incident recorded on average every 2.8
days.Four seafarers or workers have been killed, 16 injured and one
reported missing as a result.Times of Israel staff contributed to this
report.
IRAN IS FILLING THE WHEEL BARROW FULL AND OVERFLOWING WITH THIS STORY.
Iran’s
president admits country faces ‘many problems,’ insists deal is best
way forward-Pezeshkian says Tehran must escape state of ‘neither war nor
peace’ as US preps fresh sanctions; new Iran security chief threatens
Gulf oil routes, while Pakistan pushes mediation-By Agencies 23 August
2026, 5:49 pm
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged
Sunday that Iranians were facing “many problems” as the United States
prepares new sanctions aimed at further isolating the country’s economy,
while defending a June memorandum of understanding with Washington as
the best way out of a diplomatic deadlock that has left Iran in a state
of “neither war nor peace.”His remarks came after the US announced the
new sanctions campaign, nearly six months into the war between Iran and
the US and Israel. The 60-day deadline set by the US-Iran memorandum for
ending the conflict and reaching an agreement on Tehran’s nuclear
program expired last week without any sign of a breakthrough.“I
understand we have many problems in society right now. We are trying to
prevent these as much as we can,” Pezeshkian said in a speech broadcast
on state television.Pezeshkian said Iran was effectively engaged in a
“full-scale economic, military and security war,” blaming US President
Donald Trump for seeking to impose the “most crushing and terrifying
sanctions” on the Islamic Republic.Meanwhile, the Iranian president
defended the MOU signed with Trump in June, describing it as the
country’s best option for moving beyond the current stalemate.“There is
not a single provision in this agreement that amounts to capitulation,”
Pezeshkian said. “The supreme leader sets the policies, and we will
follow that path.”Pezeshkian also argued that the diplomatic uncertainty
was compounding Iran’s economic difficulties by preventing the country
from attracting investment.Iran’s economy has been battered by repeated
sanctions and a naval blockade, while inflation, unemployment and sharp
exchange-rate swings have eroded purchasing power.“We are striving with
all our hearts to overcome inflation, livelihood problems, unemployment,
and to secure the future of the people, so that they can live with
dignity and pride,” Pezeshkian said.Economic hardship has repeatedly
fueled unrest in Iran in recent years. A protest movement that began at
the end of December over the rising cost of living grew into mass
demonstrations against the government. Iranian authorities reported more
than 3,000 people were killed during the unrest and accused the US and
Israel of orchestrating the violence. Foreign-based NGOs, however, said
officials had launched an indiscriminate crackdown that left thousands
dead. According to some assessments, tens of thousands were killed.On
Sunday, Iran announced the execution of a man arrested during the
protests. The judiciary’s Mizan news agency identified him as Majid
Adineh, saying he was arrested January 9 in Mohammadshahr, near Karaj,
west of Tehran.Authorities said that he was carrying a handgun with 30
rounds of ammunition, two stun guns, two cans of tear gas and a
battery-powered chainsaw when arrested. The judiciary said that forensic
examinations indicated the handgun had been fired on Jan. 8 and 9.A
Revolutionary Court later convicted Adineh under legislation providing
harsher penalties for espionage and cooperation with hostile states.
Mizan alleged that he had carried out operations on behalf of Israel,
the US and other groups Tehran considers hostile.Iran security chief
threatens retaliation-While Pezeshkian emphasized diplomacy and Iran’s
economic difficulties, the newly appointed head of Iran’s Supreme
National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, issued a far more
confrontational statement to neighboring countries against cooperating
with the latest US pressure campaign.“If [Trump] wants to do something,
we will retaliate in a seismic manner,” Rezaei told Iran’s state
broadcaster in an interview aired Saturday.Rezaei warned that Iran could
target oil-shipping routes out of the Persian Gulf that serve as
alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz if neighboring countries joined
what he described as Washington’s economic war against Tehran.Rezaei was
appointed this month as part of a series of senior leadership changes
widely seen as signaling a harder political and military stance.Pakistan
pushes mediation-The competing messages came amid Pakistan’s continued
efforts to mediate between Tehran and Washington.Pakistani army chief
Field Marshal Asim Munir is set to travel to Tehran on Monday at the
head of an official delegation, according to Esmail Baghaei, Iran’s
Foreign Ministry spokesman.Baghaei said the visit is intended to
strengthen bilateral cooperation between Iran and Pakistan and form part
of Islamabad’s efforts to “help consolidate peace and security in the
region.”Two regional officials told The Associated Press that Munir’s
visit is aimed at de-escalating tensions and encouraging the sides to
return to negotiations.Pakistan played a central role in efforts to halt
the war, helping broker the June deal, but talks currently appear to
have hit a wall.Earlier this month, Pakistan also signed a joint defense
agreement with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, a move some analysts viewed as
an attempt to counter Iranian influence in the region.
Where to
kill Barron Trump?’: Iran said to put $10 million bounty on US
president’s son-Heavily stylized state TV segment purportedly details
place of residence and habits of US president’s youngest son, as
voiceover claims ‘many would be willing’ to assassinate him By ToI Staff
24 August 2026, 2:24 pm
Iran is offering a $10 million bounty on
US President Donald Trump’s son Barron, opposition outlet Iran
International reported Monday, citing a segment that aired on Iranian
state TV the day before.According to the outlet, state TV broadcast a
three-minute segment titled “Where to kill Barron Trump?” detailing
efforts to locate and reach Trump’s youngest child, though it noted that
the segment was heavily stylized and did not give any indication that
the efforts were bearing fruit.The Persian-language voiceover in the
video claimed “many would be willing” to use the purported intelligence
shown in the segment to find and assassinate the US president’s son.The
TV report showed animations purporting to represent Barron’s frequent
locations, as well has his daily habits and hobbies, such as playing
video games and hanging out with his friends, one of whom was identified
by name in the segment as Liam Carter. It was unclear from the video if
the purported friend actually exists or if the identity and social
media profile were used for illustrative purposes.The video also
identified the student dormitories at the Constance Milstein &
Family Global Academic Center at New York University’s Washington campus
as Barron’s main place of residence. Barron, 20, is enrolled at the
university, and moved to the Washington campus last year after spending
his first year in school at NYU’s main campus in Manhattan.It also
depicted Barron’s secret service detail and purported to show the
locations of his security staff in relation to his dormitory. It was
again unclear if the depiction had basis in actual intelligence gathered
by Iran, or if it was purely illustrative.⚠️ Iran’s Islamist Terror
Regime continues to directly threaten the lives of President Trump and
his family members. The “Death to America!” Regime and its propaganda
arms are openly pushing for the murder of Barron Trump, the President’s
20-year-old son. pic.twitter.com/zropCEAsHE Advertisement — Israel War
Room (@IsraelWarRoom) August 23, 2026-Iran International noted that
Iranian state TV has previously issued similar videos showing efforts to
find Trump himself and his wife Melania, and has repeatedly threatened
to assassinate the US president and senior members of his staff.Trump
has said publicly that Iran has made threats “to assassinate, or attempt
to assassinate” him, and last month, in an unusual move, he secretly
switched planes while flying back from a summit in Ankara after Israeli
intelligence reportedly alerted the US that Iranian agents were planning
to shoot down Air Force One. The CIA was said to have cast doubt on the
intel.The regime has been publicly pledging to assassinate Trump since
the US killed Iranian IRGC Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani during his
first term in 2020. Calls for the US president’s death featured
prominently in the recent mourning commemorations for slain supreme
leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Besides the alleged Iranian plans, there
have been multiple assassination attempts against Trump. Most recently,
eight men were indicted last month on murder and terrorism conspiracy
charges for their alleged roles in a thwarted plot to target officials
linked to Israel, including Trump, Vice President JD Vance, other
federal officials, trillionaire businessman Elon Musk and “other
high-value targets,” at the UFC event at the White House last month.
US
said returning diplomats to Mideast, signaling fresh Iran hostilities
not imminent-Redeployments of staffers evacuated during recent conflict
could begin this week, with embassies in Israel, Jordan and Oman set to
return to full staffing despite stalled talksBy ToI Staff Today, 4:28
pm-AUG 25,26
The US is poised to send diplomatic staff back to
embassies in the Middle East that were cleared out amid the war with
Iran, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing an internal State
Department document and three anonymous US officials.According to the
report, the move suggests Washington does not expect the military
conflict to reignite in the immediate future, despite the stalled
negotiations between the US and Iran.With talks in a deadlock,
Washington has increasingly turned to economic pressure in an apparent
effort to force Tehran to make concessions at the negotiating table. On
Monday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled what he described
as an “economic D-Day” of secondary sanctions intended to “sever every
economic lifeline” sustaining Iran.The diplomats’ redeployment is
expected to start as soon as this week.The report named several
countries expected to get staff reinstated, including Israel, Jordan,
Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and Oman.The State Department told
the paper it “continuously reviews the security posture at our
diplomatic missions around the world. Based on our latest assessment, we
are adjusting our staffing posture at certain posts in the Middle East
to ensure we can continue advancing US foreign policy objectives while
protecting the safety and security of our personnel.”The paper quoted
former officials as saying that the move appeared to be a clear
indication the US did not see a return to full-scale any time
soon.“Returning personnel to missions that were partly evacuated
suggests the administration believes the war is winding down,” former US
ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro told the Times.However, others
cautioned that the fact that some family members were not returning
signified significant risk, and noted that bringing back diplomats was
no guarantee.“Bringing back embassy staff does not tie their hands for
taking action against Iran in the future,” Robert Danin, a former deputy
assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern affairs, told the paper.
“They did it once, they can do it again.”The day before the US and
Israel attacked Iran in late February, Washington authorized
nonessential personnel at its Jerusalem embassy and their families to
depart Israel. As Iranian drones and rockets subsequently struck
American diplomatic facilities in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and
elsewhere, the State Department ordered further evacuations from
missions across the region.The Lebanese embassy was reportedly set to be
the first to receive diplomats, though the mission will continue
operating below full capacity. Meanwhile, embassies in Israel, Jordan
and Oman are expected to return to complete staffing.Missions in
Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will initially
operate at up to 85 percent of normal staffing, while those in Iraq,
Kuwait and Bahrain will be limited to 75%. Restrictions on diplomats
bringing family members will remain in effect across Lebanon and the six
Gulf states.
SINCE
ISRAEL TOOK OUT THE KHEMENI CLAN IN THE FIRST BOMB IN IRAN.NOW THE
IRANIAN WHEELBARROW FILLERS WANT TO KILL TRUMP AND NETANYAHUS SONS AND
FAMILIES. WE KNOW FOR SURE ISRAEL KILLED THE WHOLE KHEMENI CLAN IN ON
SHOT.THAT SO CALLED GAY BOY KHEMENIS SON IS THE CARD BOARD PRESIDENT OF
IRAN NOW. BUT THERES NO VIDEO OR AUDIO OF HIM FROM THE IRAN PROPAGANDA
MEDIA.SO WE CAN GO BY THE BIBLE TRUTH.THAT MOJTABA IS BURNING IN HELL
FIRE FOREVER RIGHT BESIDE PAPA ALI KHEMENI.
Mojtaba
Khamenei is the third and current supreme leader of Iran, taking office
in March 2026 following the death of his father, Ali Khamenei.Background
and Early LifeBirth: He was born on September 8, 1969, in Mashhad,
Iran.Family: He is the second son of the late second supreme leader, Ali
Khamenei.Education: He studied in religious seminaries in Qom, learning
under senior clerics.Rise to PowerBehind-the-Scenes Role: For years, he
held a powerful and shadowy role inside the Office of the Supreme
Leader. He had strong ties to military and security groups like the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).Succession: After his father
was killed in air strikes on February 28, 2026, the Assembly of Experts
appointed Mojtaba as the new supreme leader in March
2026.ControversiesDynastic Rule: Critics called his appointment a
dynastic succession—meaning power passed from father to son—which goes
against the original republican ideals of the 1979 revolution.Religious
Rank: At the time he took office, many experts viewed him as a
mid-ranking cleric rather than a top-tier Grand Ayatollah, making his
rise politically driven rather than based on high religious standing.
JEREMIAH 49:38
38
and I will set my throne in Elam,(IRAN WILL BECOME A CHRISTIAN NATION)
and will destroy from there king (KHEMENI CLAN) and princes, says
Yahweh.(IRANIAN ARMY GUARDS)
Netanyahu says Iran ‘tried to murder
one of my sons,’ doesn’t give further details-PM cites purported
assassination attempt to defend unusually high level of security
coverage enjoyed by his family-By Stav Levaton-and ToI Staff 24 August
2026, 11:42 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday
that Iran had tried to assassinate one of his two sons, in what appeared
to be a defense of the recent and unusual agreement to extend their
security protection even if he loses the upcoming election.“Here I think
there is something quite unbelievable… Iran targeted one of my sons.
Iran tried to kill, to murder one of my sons,” Netanyahu told the
pro-government Channel 14 in a phone interview, without saying which of
his sons was a target, or providing any further details.Hebrew media
outlets noted that the matter had been under censorship for several
months. Channel 12 said the alleged assassination plot has been known to
the Israeli security establishment for several months.“Iran tried to
murder one of my sons,” the prime minister repeated. “And therefore this
security protection is not a luxury,” he went on, seemingly referring
to the agreement reached with the Shin Bet to extend security protection
for his sons, Yair and Avner, and to grant lifetime security coverage
to his wife, Sara, regardless of the outcome of the October 27
election.The deal, reportedly made back in July, has been a topic of
conversation again in recent days after the Shin Bet declined to provide
a security detail for Netanyahu’s main election opponent, Yashar chair
Gadi Eisenkot. On Monday, the security agency said it would allow
Eisenkot armed guards but would not provide them itself.Netanyahu told
Channel 14 that without the security coverage provided to his sons, the
would-be-assassins “would succeed.”Netanyahu’s son Avner lives in
Israel. Yair, the better-known of the two due to his hardline right-wing
social media presence, has spent much of the past few years in
Miami.Channel 12 said the alleged attempt took place at a time when Yair
Netanyahu was not in Israel, but did not specify that Yair was the
target.The round-the-clock security coverage granted to Yair Netanyahu
has long been criticized as excessive, given that he generally lives
abroad. In 2024, outlets reported the premier’s son was living in an
extravagant apartment complex in Miami, Florida, with a chauffeur and a
pair of bodyguards from the Shin Bet’s elite Unit 730, costing the state
an estimated NIS 200,000 ($55,000) a month.The decision to grant Shin
Bet protection to Netanyahu’s wife and children was initially approved
in March 2023 after hundreds of anti-government protesters massed
outside a Tel Aviv hair salon while Sara was inside, leading her to
claim that she had feared her life was in danger.
New sanctions
on 'five critical sectors' of Iran's economy-‘Economic asphyxiation’: US
Treasury chief announces new sanctions campaign against Iran
Bessent
warns nations that ignore the sanctions and help Tehran will ‘share in
the isolation,’ but holds off on announcing secondary sanctions against
China, others By Agencies 24 August 2026, 10:40 pmUpdated: Today, 1:35
am
The US on Monday announced an expansion of secondary sanctions
it hopes will “sever every economic lifeline” sustaining Iran, as
President Donald Trump’s administration struggles to resolve an
unpopular war that has pushed energy prices higher.Treasury Secretary
Scott Bessent unveiled what he described as an “economic D-Day” that
aims to give a final warning to countries to cut their business ties
with Iran or risk having key companies and entities cut off from the
dollar-based financial system.“We are launching an economic onslaught
against Iran’s financial connections around the globe. Our objective is
to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime
until Tehran stands alone,” Bessent said at a press conference.Bessent
laid out plans for the “economic asphyxiation” of Iran, warning of dire
consequences for countries that decline to join the pressure
campaign.Bessent’s address comes almost six months into a war on Tehran
that has ground to a stalemate, with stalled peace talks and Iran
thwarting most traffic through the crucial Strait of Hormuz.“Around the
globe, our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains
this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,” Bessent told a press
conference.“We are going to hold everyone accountable, and this is
economic asphyxiation of this regime.”He added that countries not
joining US sanctions would “share in the isolation” of Iran, and noted
that Trump is making phone calls to world leaders with requests to stop
their interactions with Tehran.The US Treasury Department said Monday
that it has “issued determinations against five critical sectors —
digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping — that the
Iranian regime uses to try to prop up its failing economy.Bessent,
meanwhile, vowed that any entity “that facilitates money laundering on
behalf of Iran will be removed from the US dollar system.”He said
secondary sanctions in the pipeline aim to block all potential sources
of revenue for Iran, telling nations to cut economic ties to Tehran or
face US retaliation.Bessent added that it’s “no longer acceptable to
operate in the gray spaces” of the conflict.On China, Bessent says no
one beyond reach-The Treasury secretary did not name countries that
could face potential secondary sanctions from the United States, but
China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are Iran’s largest trade
partners.“Let there be no ambiguity as to the position of the United
States,” Bessent said. “An economic engagement of any kind with this
murderous regime will expose those responsible to the full reach of
American power.”Asked if Chinese banks dealing with Iran could be
targeted, Bessent said that “no one is above the reach of US
sanctions.”China has for several years been the biggest buyer of Iranian
oil and Washington has intensified its efforts to clamp down on Chinese
purchases, but has so far stopped short of designating larger Chinese
banks that may be facilitating the oil trade.Chinese leader Xi Jinping
is expected to visit the US next month.The Treasury chief earlier
declared that an “economic D-Day” had begun against Tehran, in a column
for the Financial Times.Asked by a reporter why Washington was not
taking immediate action against Tehran’s financial partners, the
secretary said he wanted countries to shift away from Iran before it was
too late.“Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?”
Bessent said. “We believe that it is important to level-set and give
people a cure period.”But, he added: “They should know that that will
move very quickly and that we are serious. Secondary sanctions are a
very powerful tool.”Giving other nations ‘timelines’The UAE announced
last week that it was suspending all trade, commercial exchanges, and
financial transactions with Iran until further notice.“I am confident
the president, as you all know, is quite persuasive,” Bessent
said.Bessent said that Treasury and State Department officials are
following up with calls and visits with officials from countries and
entities the US wants to see take action and laying out “exactly what we
expect and the timelines.”Responding to Bessent, Iranian Economy
Minister Ali Madanizadeh predicted “another defeat” for the United
States, saying the Islamic Republic had a “two-year plan” to counter the
new sanctions.“They have done everything they could to test the
determination of the Iranian people and the country’s officials, but
they have failed every time. It seems they wished to suffer yet another
defeat,” Madanizadeh told state television.“We’ve been waiting for these
plans for a long time, and the government is and was ready and has a
two-year plan to manage these events,” he added.The sanctions
announcement came as the Iranian currency hit a new record low, dropping
to 2.02 million rials to the US dollar as trading opened on informal
currency markets.Iran’s official Central Bank rate stands at around 1.5
million rial to the dollar, but the informal rate is what most Iranians
pay.The currency had already been under pressure before the US and
Israel attacked Iran on February 28, with double-digit inflation and
negative growth, but has been hitting new record lows as nearly six
months of war have taken an even greater toll.“You justly exact a steep
price from that cruel dictatorship and from those who assist its
continued aggression,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a
statement Monday praising the new sanctions.The US-Israeli campaign was
launched to degrade the Islamic Republic’s military capabilities,
distance threats posed by Iran — including its nuclear and ballistic
missile programs — and “create the conditions” for the Iranian people to
topple the regime, Israeli leaders have said.While heavy fighting has
subsided, diplomatic efforts to end the war have stalled and oil and raw
material shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked, keeping
energy prices elevated. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stressed on
Monday however that the Trump administration was not ruling out the
resumption of military force.“By no means are we foreclosing using
kinetic strikes anywhere in the Strait of Hormuz or around Iran,”
Hegseth told reporters, adding that Iran cannot handle the economic
pressure being put on it.Trump’s approval rating has fallen to a low
point, with just 33% of Americans in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll
approving of his performance. He says the economic costs are necessary
to ensure Iran does not have a nuclear weapon.The US has maintained
sanctions against Iran for decades, most of which have been aimed at
curtailing the country’s oil revenues, aviation sector, cryptocurrency,
procurement of weapons components and other military hardware, and
cutting off funding for business enterprises controlled by the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps, a dominant force in the Iranian economy.The
sanctions bar designated entities from the dollar-based financial
system, but Iran has been successful in quickly standing up new front
companies, other entities and vessel registrations to evade the
limitations.
Iran threatens to punish ships that violate its
Hormuz rules-US warns of ‘economic D-Day’ for Iran as defiant Tehran set
to hold talks with Oman on Hormuz-Iran’s rial slumps to record low
ahead of sanctions announcement; Tehran charges measures prove US failed
in war, says it issued warnings against cooperating with pressure
campaign By Agencies and ToI Staff 24 August 2026, 1:42 pm
The
United States on Monday threatened Iran with what it called “the
greatest financial offensive ever marshaled” as it prepared to roll out
economic sanctions that target Iran’s trade partners in an attempt to
pressure the Islamic Republic into favorable terms to end the war.US
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will hold a press conference on later
Monday amid promises to reveal even more severe measures on a country
that has endured near-continuous economic sanctions since the Islamic
Revolution of 1979.“At dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single
greatest financial offensive ever marshaled against an adversary,”
Bessent wrote in an opinion piece published in the Financial
Times.Without detailing specific measures, Bessent signaled the US will
target “fearful nations” that practice “appeasement” by engaging with
Iran’s economy and financial system.“They would do well to consider the
consequences of sustaining it,” he wrote in the Financial Times.Ahead of
the announcement, Iran’s currency dropped to a record low of more than
2,000,000 rials per US dollar, two websites tracking the free market
rate showed.US President Donald Trump warned last week of sweeping
economic consequences for any country that provides what he called “any
type of lifeline to Iran,” threatening economic warfare and isolation on
an unprecedented scale.The US president has made a series of threats of
devastating force and economic sanctions against Iran, only to walk
many of those back, while claiming progress in negotiations toward a
diplomatic agreement.The intensified economic pressure campaign comes as
the war nears the six-month mark with no immediate diplomatic or
military off-ramp in sight, and the vital Strait of Hormuz still
significantly choked off, obstructing the flow of oil and natural
gas.With the US November midterm elections quickly approaching, Trump is
also facing renewed domestic scrutiny over the war’s costs on consumers
and its toll on the military.Trump did not elaborate on what he would
do to countries that continue doing business with Iran — which would
appear to include US allies that have helped mediate talks — and he did
not list any country by name.China’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday
that Beijing, a close trading partner of Iran, will closely watch
developments and do what is necessary to protect its rights.Speaking at a
daily press conference on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin
Jian also urged parties to act rationally with restraint, warning that
sanctions and pressure tactics do not help to resolve issues.China buys
more than 80% of Iran’s shipped oil, according to 2025 data from
analytics firm Kpler, but engaging in further economic warfare with
China, a major exporter to the US, including in vital rare-earth
minerals, risks retaliation against Washington.Iran’s Foreign Ministry
Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday that it has issued warnings
regarding cooperation with the sanctions, and vowed Tehran will use all
bilateral means to confront them.“The necessary warnings have definitely
been given, because any complicity with America in carrying out its
aggressive actions against Iran will definitely have its own
consequences,” he said.At the same time, the Iranian Foreign Ministry
dismissed Washington’s declaration that it will impose severe sanctions,
saying it disproves US claims to have dismantled Tehran’s military and
nuclear capabilities.“Your narrative doesn’t add up: you say that Iran’s
military power has been ‘dismantled’, 100% of its military factories
‘destroyed’ and its nuclear program ‘buried’,” Kazem Gharibabadi, deputy
foreign minister, said in a post on X.Yet, he added, “there is a need
for ‘the largest financial invasion in history’ and the mobilization of
‘all institutions and powers’ of the United States! Is this a victory or
an admission of America’s defeat?”Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr
Albusaidi will visit Tehran on Tuesday to continue talks between Iran
and Oman on the Strait of Hormuz, Baghaei also said on
Monday.Additionally, Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir, who has mediated
between the US and Iran, spoke with Trump last week, according to three
Pakistani sources, days before his expected visit to Tehran on
Monday.The White House Office of the Press Secretary did not immediately
respond to a request for comment. It was unclear what Munir and Trump
discussed.Meanwhile, Iran has issued a warning that vessels violating
its arrangements for transiting the Strait of Hormuz could face
restrictions, including fines, detention, or confiscation, the Persian
Gulf Strait Authority wrote in a post on X.The warning heightens risks
for the charterers and shipowners whose vessels transit through the
Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for the world’s energy shipments.The
PGSA, a new body Iran has established with the aim of managing the
strait, has said cargo owners should refer to an updated list of vessels
deemed non-compliant for voyages relating to the Persian Gulf.Vessels
engaging in operations including ship-to-ship transfers or transshipment
with non-compliant vessels will also be added to the restricted list,
it said.Ships seeking the removal of their names from the non-compliant
vessels’ list must submit a request with relevant explanations to Iran’s
maritime authorities, the post said.Fewer than 20 commodity vessels
transited the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, shipping data shows, as
Iranian and US blockades restrict traffic through the vital chokepoint
for energy shipments.Four vessels crossed the strait on Sunday, initial
data from ship tracker Kpler shows, with 13 on Saturday. The figures can
change as some ships switched off transponders on their way through.
Iran
announces new natural gas discovery as war and US sanctions hamper
production-Islamic Republic’s oil minister predicts the field could
produce 1 billion cubic feet of gas a day for 15 years, though any new
production will likely take some time to materialize-By Agencies 24
August 2026, 4:09 am
Iran said on Sunday it had discovered more
than 200 billion cubic meters (7.5 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas,
months into the Middle East war that has hit the country’s energy
infrastructure and production.“New gas reserves were discovered in the
south of Fars province,” Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad told state
television, adding that over 160 billion cubic meters (5,700 billion
cubic feet) could be extracted from the field, which he predicted could
be in operation for 15 years producing over 280 million cubic meters
(around 1 billion cubic feet) of natural gas per day — a fraction of the
country’s estimated daily natural gas consumption.He described it as
sweet natural gas, which has very little of the toxic gas hydrogen
sulphide, resulting in lower operating and development costs.According
to Bloomberg, any new production from the site would likely be years
away.Iran’s energy sector has taken a hit since joint US-Israeli strikes
on the Islamic Republic launched the Middle East war in late
February.The countries have struck Iran’s energy infrastructure such as
gas production facilities or oil depots, as well as transport routes.In
July, a senior government official said Iran expected to restore about
100 million cubic meters per day of natural gas production capacity
“within the coming months,” after strikes cut output by about 230
million cubic meters per day since the war started in late February.But
Tehran, which has been carrying out repairs to its damaged energy
infrastructure, now faces planned US sanctions that could put further
strain on its economy, with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent due to
hold a press conference at 2 p.m. on Monday after threatening “the
toughest sanctions in history” on Iran.Times of Israel staff contributed
to this report.
Iran-linked cyberhackers blamed for four-day
shutdown of UK power plant-Telegraph reports attack marks first
successful strike of its kind on vital British infrastructure;
government says national grid not endangered-By ToI Staff 23 August
2026, 8:24 pm
Hackers linked to Iran were responsible for a
cyberattack that shut down a small British power plant for four days
last month, in the first successful Iranian-linked attack on vital UK
infrastructure, The Telegraph reported on Sunday.According to the BBC,
authorities declined to name the plant and insisted the shutdown did not
put the country’s power grid at risk, but warned power companies about
the danger of cyber attacks.A spokesperson for the Department for Energy
Security and Net Zero said that the incident “impacted a small-scale
energy generator, and at no point was there a risk to the wider energy
system.” He added that the department works “closely with the energy
sector to protect infrastructure and ensure the highest security
standards,” according to The Guardian.The Telegraph, which did not name a
source, said the attack took place last month, at the same time that
water infrastructure in the US was also affected by a suspected Iranian
cyberattack.The incident could mark an escalation in Iranian-linked
cyber activity against Britain after London allowed the US to conduct
what it described as “defensive” operations against Iran from British
bases. The UK has refused to help Washington in offensive operations.The
policy was not altered by the new prime minister, Andy Burnham, who was
notified last week that a decision had been made to extend the
agreement with the US.Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned
last month that “any base used for aggression against Iranian territory
constitutes a legitimate target for our forces.”It has previously been
accused of carrying out cyberattacks on various countries, including in
relation to a massive power outage in Turkey in 2015.The US has alleged
that an Iran-affiliated group known as “CyberAv3ngers” targeted US
infrastructure in 2023, which compromised at least 75 devices in
multiple infrastructure sectors.Israel has also faced suspected Iranian
cyberattacks, including a major assault in March 2022 that knocked
government websites offline for more than an hour. Israeli officials did
not identify the perpetrator at the time, though some media outlets
pointed to Iran.US security agencies warned earlier this year about
potential cyberattacks on critical infrastructure by hackers linked to
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE
DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH) (DO NOT EVER
LISTEN TO ANYBODY THAT SAYS THE WORLD IS ENDING.ITS NEVER GONNA HAPPEN-4
BILLION WILL BE LEFT ON EARTH TO GO INTO JESUS" 1000 YEAR RULE)(THAT
DOES NOT SOUND LIKE THE END OF THE WORLD TO ANY ONE, DOES IT-NOT ME.THE
EARTH IS JUST RENOVATED.NEVER ENDED.
REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8
And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that
sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given
unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with
sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE
DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18
By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the
fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their
mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE
17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS
KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE
BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND
DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in
that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN
WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4
billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37
And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto
them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered
together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against
Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten
by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE
SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE
CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH
IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
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.(CAN YOU SAY
TORNADOES,HURRICANES,VOLCANOES,EARTH QUAKES,LANDSLIDES,FLASH
FLOODING,EXPLOSIONS,SNOW STORMS,THEN FINALLY NUKESAND ANY OTHER
JUDGEMENTS THE EARTH CAN VOMIT THE SINNERS OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH
WITH.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there
shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and
troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11
And great earthquakes shall be in divers places,(DIFFERNT PLACES AT THE
SAME TIME) and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great
signs shall there be from heaven.
2 Peter 3:6-7 Amplified Bible (AMP) (HOT SUN, NUKES ETC)
6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
7
By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire,
being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
LUKE 21:25-26
25
And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in
the moon,(MAN ON THE MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the
stars;(ASTEROIDS-PROPHECY SIGNS) and upon the earth distress of nations,
with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE
WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for
fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things
which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven
shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
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.
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.
LUKE 19:40
40 And He answered and said unto them, “I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.”
US
envoy tries to downplay remark that Israel occupies Golan, which defied
American policy-Tom Barrack insists he was describing UN’s position on
the territory, not endorsing it; also asserts he wasn’t advocating for
Iran and Hezbollah to join Israel-Lebanon talks when he said they’re
‘missing from that table’By Agencies and ToI Staff 24 August 2026, 2:02
am
The US special envoy to Syria and ambassador to Turkey on
Sunday attempted to walk back his comments from two days ago that Israel
“still” occupies the Golan Heights, in violation of UN resolutions,
remarks that went against US President Donald Trump’s position on the
disputed territory.Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the
1967 Six Day War and annexed it in 1981. The UN considers the territory
occupied Syrian land.In 2019, Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over
the territory, reversing decades of US policy. That recognition was
maintained by the Biden administration.Ambassador Tom Barrack said in a
Friday interview with Lebanese-Australian entrepreneur Mario Nawfal that
“in the Golan, with Syria, they still occupy the Golan against the UN
resolutions, against all the international order, which has said the
Golan is Syria’s.”Barrack claimed that was a description of the
territory’s historical status, “not an endorsement of the United
Nations’ position” on the Golan.“United States policy on the Golan was
set by President Trump in 2019 and is unchanged,” he said in a statement
to the Associated Press.He said he intended to explain why he does not
anticipate annexation in Lebanon, where Israeli forces are occupying
parts of the south to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure. He also said
he had meant to argue that negotiated agreements, rather than
territorial maps, were more durable and that he had cited the Golan as
an example that “territory taken by force remains contested for
generations.”Defense Minister Israel Katz said Barrack’s remarks were
“full of inaccuracies” and included “positions that contradict the
position of US President Trump.”In the Friday interview, Barrack had
also criticized Israel’s strikes on an airbase in northern Syria earlier
last week. Israeli officials said the strikes intended to prevent
Turkey from establishing a presence at the base.Katz on Sunday defended
the strikes, writing on X that critics who initially called it
“unnecessary and politically motivated” changed their position after the
government said they were based on “clear intelligence” and at the
recommendation of the Israeli army. He added that Israel would not allow
Turkey “to establish itself in Syria and threaten Israeli security.”The
strikes last Tuesday have highlighted growing tensions between Israel
and Turkey over Ankara’s increased influence in Syria following the fall
of Bashar Assad. Turkey and Syria have denied that Turkish forces were
due to be deployed at the Abu al-Duhur military airport.Barrack’s
comments on the Golan also sparked a backlash in Washington. Florida
Republican Senator Rick Scott wrote on X that the ambassador appeared to
have “forgotten” Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the
territory.Barrack went further on the defensive on Sunday, responding to
criticism of his assessment of ongoing negotiations between Israel and
Lebanon over Israeli withdrawal and the disarmament of the Iran-backed
terrorist group.He had said “there are two people missing from that
(negotiating) table – Hezbollah and Iran.” That remark prompted
speculation Barrack meant Tehran and Hezbollah should join the US-backed
negotiations.On Sunday, Barrack stressed that the US does not negotiate
with Hezbollah, but said he was pointing out that “the weapons in
question are supplied and financed by Iran,” which complicates
negotiations over their fate.“I was describing the difficulty of the
problem, not proposing a new table,” Barrack told the AP. “Hezbollah is a
designated foreign terrorist organization. We do not negotiate with it,
and nothing I said suggests otherwise.”He also defended his remarks
questioning who would replace Tehran’s financial support for Shiite
communities in southern Lebanon, saying that raising those questions was
“not conferring standing on anyone.”
Eisenkot: PM allowing
anarchists to do whatever they please-Far-right MK smashes monument for
Palestinian ‘martyrs’ during IDF-escorted West Bank tour-Zvi Sukkot,
aides filmed wielding sledgehammers in Madama; army accuses him of
acting ‘deceptively and manipulatively; incident triggers condemnations
across political spectrum; PM: ‘Unacceptable’By Emanuel Fabian,Sam Sokol
and Stav Levaton-Today, 1:44 pm-AUG 25,26
Far-right lawmaker Zvi
Sukkot and several of his aides smashed a Palestinian “Martyrs’
Monument” with sledgehammers in the West Bank village of Madama on
Tuesday morning, during a military-escorted tour, drawing criticism from
the army and politicians across the spectrum.Footage first published by
Palestinian media showed a soldier standing beside the Religious
Zionism MK and the other men as they struck the monument to slain
Palestinians, while other troops stood slightly further away beside an
army vehicle.The Israeli military said Sukkot’s trip had been
authorized, but that the lawmaker and his aides had acted “deceptively
and manipulatively” when they smashed the monument during the
tour.Sukkot later published his own footage of the destruction of the
village’s “Martyrs’ Monument,” which commemorates residents of Madama
who were killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including
terrorists.Photos published by Palestinian media after the incident
showed that the monument remained standing but had been significantly
damaged.In a statement, Sukkot said he acted because the Israel Defense
Forces had failed to remove the monument and others in the West Bank
commemorating Palestinian terrorists, despite a request he had
previously made.“We will not lend a hand to a situation in which those
who harmed Jews and IDF soldiers are commemorated as heroes,” he said,
calling on the military to remove what he described as “all monuments to
terrorism” across the West Bank.The monument at Madama honors several
slain Palestinians, among them terrorists, including Yaman Tayeb Ali
Faraj, who Sukkot said was involved in a 2003 suicide bombing at the
Geha Junction in central Israel in which four people were murdered and
over 20 injured, and Shadi Nasser, a Palestinian suicide bomber who
injured 14 in an attack at the Eshel HaShomron Hotel in the West Bank
settlement of Ariel in 2002.The December 25, 2003, suicide attack in
Geha was claimed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
terror group. Faraj, a PFLP commander, was killed by a missile fired
from an IDF helicopter while fleeing arrest near Nablus in July 2004. A
Palestinian lecturer and his son were also killed in the arrest
operation, according to Palestinian media.The IDF said that on August
12, Sukkot requested authorization to conduct a “tour of monuments” in
the villages of Beita, Burin and Madama, located in areas A and B of the
West Bank — where Israelis are normally barred from entering without
military coordination. The tour was conducted on Tuesday morning “under
the security of IDF troops who were diverted from their duties for this
mission.”Though Sukkot had been scheduled to visit the villages of Burin
and Beita, the tour was cut short following the incident in
Madama.“Contrary to the coordination, the participants acted deceptively
and manipulatively, without authority and in complete violation of the
approved outline, and began demolishing one of the memorials in the
village of Madama,” the army said.While footage showed soldiers standing
by during the destruction, the IDF said that when troops saw what was
happening, they notified their commanders, who then instructed the
forces to halt the tour and take the MK and his aides out of the
village.The military did not explain why it had approved the tour to
begin with, which it said diverted troops that had been “assigned to
operational missions in the area,” and also “unnecessarily put them at
risk, all while the IDF is under operational strain.”“The IDF views the
conduct and lack of coordination by the MK gravely and as an
exploitation of the security provided by the security forces for a
complete overstepping of authority,” the military said.The IDF said that
it “regularly demolishes memorials and symbols of incitement,” subject
to authorization, and that it was planning another such operation soon.
“This is an important activity in the fight against terrorism and
incitement to terrorism,” it said.Madama has been the target of several
recent settler attacks. This month, settlers damaged the village’s
electrical grid, while in May, seven Palestinians were hospitalized
after a violent settler attack.The army’s presence during Tuesday’s
incident comes amid longstanding criticism that IDF troops have condoned
or even encouraged violent acts and property damage against
Palestinians in the West Bank.Soldiers have repeatedly been filmed
standing by without intervening during similar incidents of settler
violence.Condemnation across political spectrum-A number of politicians
from both sides of the aisle, including Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, condemned the incident; however, Finance Minister Bezalel
Smotrich partially defended the actions of the MK from his party.“The
IDF is the sovereign authority in Judea and Samaria and is responsible
for implementing the decisions of the political leadership,” the Prime
Minister’s Office said in a Hebrew-language statement, using the
biblical term for the West Bank.“Taking the law into one’s own hands,
particularly by public officials, is unacceptable and interferes with
the IDF’s ability to focus on its missions against terrorism and
incitement,” the PMO added.Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu’s
main rival in October 27’s elections, wrote on X that Sukkot’s behavior
“is a disgrace for anyone who claims to represent the public and be a
leader. He lied to and misled the IDF and its commanders, compromised
security, and tarnished the entire State of Israel.”Eisenkot also
slammed Netanyahu, declaring that the premier had “dismantled the system
that enabled security and governance in Judea and Samaria” while
“allowing anarchists like Zvi Sukkot and his ilk to do whatever they
please, endangering security in the settlements and harming Israel’s
standing in the world.”Former prime minister Naftali Bennett argued in a
statement that Netanyahu’s “government of chaos is harming Israel’s
security and Israel’s standing in the world in order to gain views on
TikTok,” declaring that “terrorism is fought with actions, not with
pathetic provocations.”Sukkot, “like any other Knesset member, is not
the sovereign in the territories of Judea and Samaria,” Foreign Minister
Gideon Sa’ar wrote on X. Decisions to demolish such monuments must be
made by the state and carried out by “the IDF and the security forces,
and by them alone,” he said.In a statement, Smotrich appeared to agree
with critics that such actions should only be taken by the military, but
was quick to blast the opposition leaders for their comments.“What
should truly disturb us is the frantic rush of the left-wing opposition
leaders to condemn MK Sukkot rather than terrorism itself,” Smotrich
asserted, accusing the opposition of intending to “form a government
with overt supporters of terrorism, evacuate the settlements and farms
we have established in Judea and Samaria, and establish a terrorist
state in the heart of the country.“That is the only thing that should
disturb any sane person who desires to live in the State of Israel
today,” he added.However, critics of Sukkot reportedly also included
Religious Zionism faction chair Ohad Tal, who, according to Channel 12,
questioned his colleague’s behavior in an internal party forum, asking
if there was “some deep strategy here that I’m completely missing, or
did we just decide to commit suicide?”A history of provocation-Sukkot
has previously attracted controversy over similar actions.In July,
Sukkot, who chairs the Knesset’s Education Committee, filmed himself
smashing the sign of a Palestinian school in the Old City of Jerusalem,
pledging to shut down the institution over its use of a Palestinian
Authority curriculum.A month earlier, he toured the Arab city of Umm
al-Fahm in northern Israel and hung an Israeli flag outside one of its
schools amid a strike by the city’s education system against his
visit.In May, Sukkot, who heads a Knesset subcommittee, requested of the
military to carry out a “professional oversight tour” of Joseph’s Tomb
in Nablus. However, the tour ultimately became a political and media
event, and was condemned by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir for
wasting the military’s resources.Sukkot was also among far-right
protesters who rioted outside and stormed the IDF’s Sde Teiman military
base in July 2024, demanding that the Military Police free reservists
arrested on suspicion of severely abusing a Gazan detainee held
there.Shortly after the incident, Sukkot told the Knesset Foreign
Affairs and Defense Committee, “I was doing my job,” and adding to The
Times of Israel that his accreditation as a Knesset member “gives me the
right to enter any place in the State of Israel.”He was questioned
under caution by police last November over his role in the break-in.The
lawmaker has also played a prominent role in efforts to expand civilian
Israeli authority in the West Bank. He helped advance a controversial
bill that would extend civil control over archaeological and heritage
sites. The bill drew criticism from Palestinians and Israeli rights
groups that said it was tantamount to annexation of Palestinian
territory and would expand Jewish settlements.Amid the controversy, the
bill’s progress through the Knesset was halted in June, reportedly by
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Nava Freiberg contributed to this
report.
Mossad chief meets Syrian FM in effort to defuse tensions
after airstrike-Israel said to set ‘red lines’ for diplomatic
agreement, as US pushes for full renewal of direct Jerusalem-Damascus
talks that were halted earlier this year-By Nava Freiberg-and ToI Staff
23 August 2026, 11:26 pm
Mossad chief Roman Gofman and Syrian
Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani held a meeting on Sunday to defuse
tensions between their countries after Israel’s strike last week on a
Syrian airbase, Syrian state media confirmed.The two met in Jordan, two
sources told AFP, adding that they discussed issues such as establishing
“a special operations room” in Jordan under US supervision to prevent
any confrontation in Syria, including involving Turkey.Citing three
sources with knowledge of the matter, the Axios news site reported that
the meeting was aimed at “lowering the temperature,” following the
escalating rhetoric between the two sides.Israel’s Channel 12 news
reported that the sitdown was positive in nature and was considered a
step toward restarting direct Jerusalem-Damascus negotiations. The
network said the meeting was supposed to take place last week, but was
pushed off because of the Israeli strike.The Trump administration
strongly pushed for the meeting, seeking a de-escalation between Israel,
Syria and Turkey ahead of the upcoming Israeli election, Channel 12
said.The TV network also reported that Israel’s security establishment
is pushing politicians to follow through on diplomatic efforts to lower
the flames, preferring that to a potential military escalation.Citing an
Israeli security source, Channel 12 said Jerusalem has set a number of
red lines for such talks, including not allowing any Turkish military
activity in Syria; keeping the Syrian side of the Golan Heights a
demilitarized zone; not allowing the Syrian army to possess strategic
weapons systems; ensuring the security of Syria’s Druze community; and
only withdrawing Israeli troops from the buffer zone in which they are
currently posted in exchange for diplomatic achievements.The meeting
came after tensions between Jerusalem and Damascus and Ankara rose
sharply last week following an IDF strike on the Abu al-Duhur airbase in
northwestern Syria. Israel accused Damascus of preparing to allow
Turkish forces to deploy there. Syria denounced the strike and Turkey
denied the claim that its forces were deploying to the base.Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said that Israel had warned Turkey
against any military activity in Syria ahead of the strike. Reuters
reported last week that Gofman and al-Shaibani had held a phone call on
Turkey’s military presence in Syria just days before the
airstrike.Netanyahu’s office declined to comment to Axios on Sunday’s
purported meeting, and a spokesperson for al-Shaibani did not
immediately respond to a request for comment from the outlet.Hours
before the meeting was reported, al-Shaibani said in an interview with
the Reuters news agency that Syria expected negotiations with Israel to
resume soon, urging Israel to seize a “historic opportunity” as the door
for diplomacy is open.Shaibani said negotiations over a security
agreement between the two longtime foes had been frozen since the start
of the Iran war, but he expected them to restart: “We believe there
should be contact, especially with a party that constantly threatens the
security of Syria. But if this contact doesn’t bring results, then we
don’t need it,” Shaibani said. “We do not trust Israel currently.”“The
US is trying continuously to put pressure on Israel to return to the
dialogue table,” he added, saying that Syria has “very great hope” of
building stable relationships with its neighbors.“Syria is extending its
hand for understandings, for peace, for diplomacy,” and regional
stability, he said.The meeting took place despite an Israeli drone
strike on Saturday afternoon in southwest Syria. Damascus condemned the
attack, which the IDF said targeted an operative who was advancing
attacks “in the final stages of preparation.”The IDF has been deployed
to nine posts inside southern Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s
regime in December 2024. Most of the Israeli-held posts are located
within a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the border between the two
countries. Israel said it did so to protect its security given the
instability and uncertainty brought on by the rise of the new
jihadist-led regime.Israel and Syria held historic direct talks last
year aimed at reaching a groundbreaking security agreement that
ultimately failed to materialize.Al-Shaibani said Sunday that around the
start of this year, the sides had “agreed on paper to almost
everything” regarding a security deal that would require Israel to stop
strikes in Syria and was tied to its withdrawal from territory seized
after Assad fell.The deal would include several security zones in Syrian
territory near the Israeli border, including a buffer zone where only
the United Nations would be present, and others where Syrian forces
would deploy in varying degrees of force.But the Syrian foreign minister
accused Israel of seeking to evade implementation, adding: “We did not
see they had the real will to reach an agreement.”Meanwhile, Channel 12
also reported Sunday that Israel’s defense establishment has recently
identified an increase in Hezbollah’s attempts to smuggle weapons from
Syria into Lebanon, as the terror group works to rearm and rebuild under
cover of the ongoing ceasefire.A security official cited by the network
said Iran is financing and operating the smuggling network through the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, which continues to
oversee the transfer of weapons into Hezbollah’s hands.While the Syrian
and Lebanese armies have publicized several weapons seizures over recent
months, Israeli security officials reportedly assess that many other
shipments are successfully reaching Lebanon.“Hezbollah is exploiting the
ceasefire to build up its strength, and there has therefore been an
increase in smuggling attempts through Syria,” a security official told
Channel 12. “We assess that many shipments are getting through without
being detected.”Stav Levaton and agencies contributed to this report.
TAKING
SYRIA OFF THE TERROR LIST IS TROUBLE.THE BIBLE SAYS DAMASCUS WILL BE A
HEAP OF RUBBLE.SO OVIOUSLY THE SYRIAN LEADER IS PLAYING AMERICA REAL
GOOD.
Sharaa says Syria ‘shakes off a dark stain’ with removal
from US terror list-Syrian president says sanctions relief step sets
country on path to rebuild after destructive civil war; Turkey hopes it
will boost effort to reintegrate Damascus into world By AFP Today, 11:54
am-AUG 25,26
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa
hailed early on Tuesday the removal of his country from the state
sponsors of terror list by the United States, a major sanctions relief
step.“Today, Syria shakes off a dark stain and tears away a painful
chapter of its past to embark on a path of development, reconstruction
and rebuilding,” Sharaa said in a speech.Washington’s decision on Monday
rescinded a decades-old designation that came with severe economic
restrictions, marking another step in warming ties between the countries
following the 2024 ouster of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad.The
Treasury Department announced corresponding sanctions relief.Sharaa
expressed his “many thanks to the President of the United States of
America, Donald Trump, and to all the friendly and supportive nations
that stood by us.”The US Department of State also revoked its
designation of the al-Nusra Front — later known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham
(HTS) — as a global terrorist organization. Sharaa led that group,
which spearheaded the blitz offensive that toppled Assad.It was formerly
the branch of al-Qaeda in Syria before breaking ties with it in
2016.Syria’s new authorities are trying to attract investment to support
the country and rebuild its infrastructure, heavily damaged by more
than a decade of civil war.The US had initially announced in July its
intent to delist Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism, a move seen as a
vote of confidence in Sharaa.Monday’s move gave Syria “a path to
prosperity,” according to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.The action
“eliminates the final major barriers for private sector investment in
Syria and promotes Syria’s economic recovery and reintegration into the
global economy,” he said in a statement.Syrian Foreign Minister Assad
al-Shaibani described Washington’s delisting as a “historic milestone”
and said it reflected “the new Syrian state’s commitment to
international peace and security.”Finance Minister Mohammed Barnieh
described the move as a “success for Syrian diplomacy,” according to the
official news agency SANA.It “opens a major and long-awaited door to
strengthening Syria’s integration into the global economic and financial
system, attracting investment and modern technologies, and supporting
development opportunities.”Turkey also welcomed the decision, hoping
that it would boost efforts to integrate the war-torn country with the
world.“We believe this decision will lend momentum to efforts to
strengthen Syria’s ties with the international community and to
establish lasting security and stability in the country,” Turkey’s
Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
US removes Syria from
terrorism sponsor list, lifting major investment obstacle-Rubio lauds
‘positive actions’ and ‘further commitments’ by leader Ahmed al-Sharaa,
as Washington removes sanctions in place since 1979; Damascus already in
talks with major banks-By Feras Dalatey 24 August 2026, 11:36 pm
DAMASCUS,
Syria (Reuters) — The United States removed Syria from its list of
state sponsors of terrorism on Monday, lifting what Damascus says was
the last major impediment to investing in the country as Washington
deepens ties to the new Syrian government.The removal, posted on the US
Treasury’s website, took effect after a 45-day congressional review
period triggered when Trump formally notified Congress on July 8 of his
intention to rescind the designation.“These actions were all taken in
recognition of the positive actions taken and further commitments by the
Syrian government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa to fully distance
Syria from acts of international terrorism,” US Secretary of State Marco
Rubio said in a statement.Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani told
Reuters on Saturday that the government hoped removing what he called
the “last obstacle” would help reconnect Syria to the global financial
and economic system and boost investment. “There is no longer any
obstacle to investment, doing business and rebuilding economic life in
Syria,” he said.Syria had been on the list since 1979, when Washington
accused the government of former president Hafez al-Assad of supporting
militant groups. The designation remained throughout the rule of his son
Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled by rebels led by current President
al-Sharaa in December 2024.Monday’s announcement also removed the
designation of the al-Nusra Front as a Specially Designated Global
Terrorist organization, leaving Cuba, Iran and North Korea as the three
countries designated by Washington as state sponsors of terrorism.The
designation carries restrictions on US foreign assistance, defense
exports and sales, certain dual-use items and financial transactions,
and has remained a major deterrent for banks and investors even after
Washington dismantled its broader sanctions program on Syria.Trump’s
administration terminated comprehensive US sanctions on Syria in July
2025, while maintaining targeted sanctions against Assad and his
associates, rights abusers, drug traffickers, Islamic State and al Qaeda
affiliates and Iranian proxies.The US Treasury has since said American
financial institutions can provide services to Syria, process payments
involving Syrian banks and establish correspondent banking relationships
with them, provided sanctioned parties are not involved.But the
terrorism designation remained a source of legal and compliance risk for
firms considering entering Syria, whose government is seeking billions
of dollars in investment to rebuild after nearly 14 years of war.Signs
of interest had grown ahead of the removal. Syria’s finance ministry
said this month that Finance Minister Mohammad Yisr Barnieh held talks
with Bank of America executives over potential cooperation and Syria’s
reintegration into the international financial system. Bank officials
expressed willingness to visit Syria and continue discussions, according
to the ministry.Mastercard has gone further, announcing in May that it
was working with QNB Group and Syria’s central bank to prepare
infrastructure for international card payments in the country. The
company has described itself as an early investor in Syria and said it
wants to help connect Syrian consumers and businesses to global payment
networks.Trump notified Congress of his decision after meeting Sharaa in
Ankara in July, telling the Syrian president in a letter seen by
Reuters that he had promised to “remove all barriers” preventing Syria
from rebuilding.The delisting also followed months of negotiations
between Damascus and Washington over Syria’s economic and foreign
policy.Reuters reported this month that Damascus agreed to drastically
reduce imports of Russian oil during discussions with Washington over
lifting the terrorism designation, according to three sources familiar
with the talks.Trump has increasingly embraced Sharaa, the former
commander of al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra Front who broke ties with the global
jihadist network in 2016 and led the rebel coalition that overthrew
Assad.Washington has praised cooperation by Sharaa’s government against
Islamic State and said easing restrictions is intended to give Syria an
opportunity to stabilize, attract investment and rebuild.
Crime
boss shot dead in broad daylight at Caesarea gas station-Footage shows
gunman opening fire at point-blank range; Or Akiva businessman had
repeatedly been arrested over suspected violent crimes, but never
convicted-By Noam Lehmann 23 August 2026, 10:42 pm
A man was shot
dead at a Caesarea gas station on Sunday afternoon. He was identified
as Yanis Yushvaev, who was described in Hebrew media as the head of
Israel’s Caucasian Mafia.Yushvaev, 40, a resident of the central town of
Or Akiva, was well known to police and had been repeatedly arrested in
recent years on suspicion of violent crimes.Footage of the shooting
showed a man wearing a hoodie and cap approaching a restaurant at the
Caesarea Junction gas station. The man met Yushvaev and two other men at
the door as they walked out, and passed them by, only to suddenly spin
around, draw a handgun, and shoot Yushvaev from behind at point-blank
range. He then fled the scene.Yushvaev was critically wounded and taken
to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.Police have launched an
effort to locate and arrest the killer.Magen David Adom medics reported
from that when they arrived, the victim “had no pulse and was not
breathing, and was suffering from significant injuries.”Yushvaev had
been arrested numerous times on suspicion of involvement in shootings,
grenade attacks, and car burnings, though none of the cases resulted in a
conviction.He was most recently detained in February at Ben Gurion
Airport after returning from Moscow, but was released within
days.Yushvaev owned restaurants in Or Akiva. In an October 2025
interview with Channel 12, he described himself as “a legitimate
businessman” who was “very well-established, and drives a Bentley, and
that bothers police.”Police sources cited in the same report said
Yushvaev “almost never talks on the phone” because he knew he was being
wiretapped, and commanded the “complete loyalty” of his associates in
the Hadera area, who would remain silent in interrogations.“It’s hard to
convict him, and that’s frustrating,” an unnamed senior police officer
told Channel 12 at the time.
Alice Miller: 'Every child deserves
basic medical care'Israeli aid group announces new medical clinic for
10,000 children in Gaza refugee camp
Set to open September 1 in
crowded Al-Mawasi, facility will provide vaccinations, consultations,
rehab for children with disabilities, education services with anti-hate
messaging By Sue Surkes-and ToI Staff Today, 10:04 am-AUG 25,26
The
Israeli humanitarian organization NATAN Worldwide Disaster Relief
announced on Tuesday the opening of a new medical clinic that it will
support at the Mega Academy of the Gaza Children’s Village (GCV), a
humanitarian project aiming to give Palestinian children nutrition,
healthcare, and trauma-informed support in addition to education via a
curriculum devoid of hateful messaging.The clinic, set to open on
September 1 in the Al-Mawasi camp, where hundreds of thousands of
displaced Palestinians live in tents in packed and squalid conditions,
will be staffed by GCV nurses and doctors, while NATAN will offer
telemedicine support.It will provide preventive screening, pediatric
primary care including vaccinations, specialist consultations, and
dedicated rehabilitation support for children with disabilities, serving
up to 10,000 children.The project is managed by NATAN CEO Alice Miller,
an aerospace engineer and former Israeli Air Force officer. Miller is
nationally known for her landmark Supreme Court case in 1995, which
opened the gates of the air force to female fighter pilots. This
decision paved the way for today’s female combat soldiers and made
Miller a household name.“Every child deserves access to basic medical
care, no matter where they were born or what circumstances surround
them,” Miller said. “This clinic is a direct response to a need we have
seen firsthand at the Gaza Children’s Village.”Miller told Ynet news
that most of the organization’s work in Gaza is conducted “remotely” due
to Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian activities in the
enclave.Neurosurgeon and scientist Dr. David Hasan, founder of the Gaza
Children Village, is also a collaborator.“These children need a place to
gather and learn, a meal so they aren’t left with empty stomachs, and
physical care for bodies enduring extreme humanitarian conditions,” said
Hasan. “This clinic gives us that last piece — the physical care they
need.”NATAN, named after late Israeli humanitarian and peace activist
Abie Nathan, has for over two decades deployed small teams of volunteer
medical and emergency professionals to assist communities whose local
systems have been overwhelmed by crises.In November 2025, NATAN began an
initiative to provide feminine hygiene products to Gazan women and
girls who lacked access to them amid displacement and other hardships
caused by Israel’s military offensive, launched in response to the
Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack.According to NATAN’s website, the
organization consists of over 1,700 volunteers, including doctors,
nurses, dentists, psychologists, social workers and emergency
professionals, and operates in over 20 countries.The project’s emphasis
on a hate-free curriculum comes amid longstanding criticism of
educational materials used in Gaza for allegedly promoting antisemitism,
glorifying violence and denying Israel’s legitimacy.Listen to What
Matters Now from February 2026: Alice Miller: CEO of Israeli disaster
org on aiding Gazans post-Oct. 7
22.4% satisfied with Education
Ministry's conduct during war-Nearly 90% of Israeli parents say their
kids’ education was harmed by Iran war – poll
Ahead of new school
year, parents say 80% of children were hurt emotionally, 74% socially;
however, 63% of Haredi families say kids not harmed by war; country
short 30,871 teachersBy ToI Staff Today, 8:53 am-AUG 25,26
A new
poll published Monday found that close to 90 percent of Israeli parents
feel their children’s education was hurt by the Iran war, during which
school was closed for more than a month due to the threat of missile
fire.In addition, 77% of students who experienced class cancellations
due to teacher shortages suffered severe harm to their education,
compared to 33% of those who did not experience such cancellations, the
poll (Hebrew) said, which was reported by the Walla news site.More than
80% of parents say their children were hurt emotionally during the war,
while 74% say they were hurt socially, the poll said.By contrast, 63% of
Haredi families say their children were not hurt socially by the war,
according to Walla.Schools were ordered closed at the beginning of the
war on February 28, and reopened only after the end of Passover in
April.Only 22.4% were satisfied with the Education Ministry’s conduct
during the war, the report said.The poll was conducted by the
Geocartography Knowledge Group. Walla did not give details about the
methodology.The results came amid mounting concerns over Israel’s
education system, as students have faced repeated closures since 2020
due to the coronavirus pandemic and teachers’ strikes, and more so since
2023 due to ongoing wars.The country also faces a massive shortage of
30,871 teachers ahead of the 2026-27 school year, set to begin on
September 1, The Marker reported on Sunday, citing data from the Central
Bureau of Statistics.Results published earlier this year from exams
taken in 2025 also drove up anxieties over the quality of the country’s
education system.They showed that only 22% of Israeli ninth graders met
the requirements of the English language curriculum. In tests in their
mother tongue, only 38% of ninth graders met the requirements — 19% of
students at Arabic-speaking schools and 44% in Hebrew-speaking
schools.According to data reported by Channel 12 in June, 15 days of
school were disrupted at elementary schools, and 22 in secondary schools
across the country in the recent school year.
The disruptions were
more serious in northern border communities, with 36 disrupted days for
elementary schools and 53 for secondary schools.In the Gaza border
communities, 27 days were disrupted for elementary schools and 40 for
secondary schools.
Outrageous’: UN slams threats from Netanyahu,
Katz to evacuate Gazans over ‘children’s kites’Israel believes the kites
are being organized by Hamas, which previously used them as incendiary
devices carrying flammable materials and explosives-By AFP and ToI Staff
Today, 3:27 pm-AUG 25,26
GENEVA, Switzerland — The United
Nations on Tuesday slammed Israel’s threat to evacuate people from areas
where kites, drones and balloons are launched in Gaza, lamenting
“unacceptable rhetoric” coming from Israeli leaders.“On the threat of
expulsion due to children’s kite flying, I hope we can all agree that
this is outrageous,” UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told
reporters in Geneva.Israel warned Hamas on Sunday that it would step up
operations in Gaza if launches of kites, drones and balloons toward
Israel continued, after a recent increase in such incidents. Hamas has
denied responsibility.The Israeli military believes Hamas was behind the
launches, which did not carry explosives and may have been testing how
Israel would respond.The incidents have revived memories of waves of
kites and balloons launched from Gaza in previous years, notably in
2018-21, some of which sparked massive fires in southern Israel.In those
incidents, burning material was attached to kite tails or to clusters
of helium balloons, and some carried small explosive charges, including
devices that detonated on handling,Four kites were found in communities
near the Gaza border on Saturday and one was shot down by the army on
Sunday, bringing the total number recovered in recent days to around
10.On Monday, Channel 12 reported that nine kites were launched from the
Gaza Strip toward IDF troops in June, but the incidents were neither
publicly reported at the time nor met with an Israeli response.“Israel
warns Hamas that if the launches toward Israel do not stop immediately,
the IDF will act to intensify strikes against those responsible for the
launches and evacuate populations from areas from which kites, drones
and balloons are launched,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday in a joint statement.Bassem
Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, claimed in a statement that
the kites were “launched from Gaza by children searching for their
innocent childhood amid the rubble.”In a separate statement, the terror
group accused Israel of using the kites as a “pretext” for airstrikes in
central Gaza on Sunday, in which three people were killed according to
the Hamas-linked civil defense rescue service.The UN spokeswoman
highlighted that Sunday’s statement was only the latest in a string of
threats.“We continue to see unacceptable rhetoric coming from the
highest level of the Israeli authorities, showing utter contempt for
international human rights and humanitarian law, and advocating and
inciting violence amounting to atrocity crimes,” she said.Katz recently
found himself in similar hot water after boasting that the IDF was “here
to stay” in southern Lebanon and was “destroying all the houses”
there.US President Donald Trump’s administration rushed to condemn those
remarks, with a State Department official arguing that Katz’s comments
flew in the face of Jerusalem’s assurances that it had no territorial
ambitions in the country.
UN and Red Cross step up call for
restrictions on ‘killer robot’ weapons-Joint statement from agencies
warns that world is ‘dangerously close to crossing a moral red line’
that would see ‘the autonomous targeting of humans by machines’By Jamey
Keaten Today, 5:27 pm-AUG 25,26
GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations
and the International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday ratcheted up
a joint call for countries to adopt bans and restrictions on the use of
autonomous weapons systems — often known as “killer robots” — warning
that “the risks have intensified.”Building on an initial appeal three
years ago and international talks on the issue for years, the appeal
stops short of calling for a blanket ban, but notes that such weapons
systems are being developed — though the UN and Red Cross haven’t
confirmed their use on the battlefield.The organizations said, however,
that civilians need to be protected for when that day may come.“We are
now dangerously close to crossing a moral red line: The autonomous
targeting of humans by machines,” said UN Geneva spokesperson Alessandra
Vellucci, reading a joint statement by UN Secretary-General António
Guterres and ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric.“Today, we renew this call
with even greater urgency,” the statement said. “The fundamental
concerns remain unchanged, but the risks have intensified.”The two
international organizations say the development of weapons technology at
“record speed” has strained the international rules system, and widened
the gap between technological capacities and regulatory
constraints.“Autonomous weapons systems are not part of a distant future
— a race toward greater autonomy in weapons systems is already well
underway,” the joint statement said.The call comes as negotiators are
set to meet in Geneva in November on ways of strengthening the existing
Convention on Conventional Weapons, with the UN and ICRC saying the
conference “offers the clearest path available” to move toward binding
legal rules on the use of such autonomous systems.The yearslong effort
to rein in the use of autonomous weapons systems has struggled to
produce limits. The new push comes against the backdrop of drones and
other technologies used in conflicts as diverse as the Russia-Ukraine
war, the Middle East, Sudan and others.Ground robotic vehicles have so
far been used on the Ukrainian battlefield primarily to ferry supplies
to infantry and carry out evacuations, because of Ukraine’s need to
preserve manpower amid the growing prevalence of drones.Kyiv is now
seeking to scale up armed robotic systems to reduce the pressure on
increasingly outnumbered infantry by equipping them with firing power,
but those efforts have been limited so far.“Scientists and engineers
developing these systems have themselves raised the alarm,” the
organizations said. “When the architects of this technology are calling
for limits, states cannot afford to remain passive.”“This year must mark
a turning point,” the statement said.
Police shut down
Palestinian graduation ceremony in Old City-Israel launches operation to
take over East Jerusalem UNRWA facility it says it controls
PM:
Israel to use ‘every means at its disposal’ to stop activity of UN
agency ‘involved in terrorism’; Jerusalem says land owned by Jewish
Agency since 1937, UNRWA says Jordan handed it over in 1952-By Noam
Lehmann, ToI Staff and Nava Freiberg-Today, 5:26 pm-AUG 25,26
Israeli
officials announced on Tuesday the start of operations to dismantle a
vocational training center run by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian
refugees, in the East Jerusalem area of Kafr Aqab, near the Qalandiya
refugee camp, on land Jerusalem says is controlled by the state.Israel
“will not allow an organization whose employees were involved in
terrorism and in the October 7 massacre to operate on its territory, and
will take action against it using every means at its disposal,” Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Hebrew-language statement.The
prime minister said he had ordered the evacuation of UNWRA from the
compound in line with a law passed in 2024 banning the UN agency from
operating in Israeli territory.The statement from Netanyahu came hours
after National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir announced the beginning
of the police operation.“Large forces of Israel Police are working
together with the relevant authorities to implement the law and get
UNRWA out of the area,” Ben Gvir said in a statement Tuesday. “An
organization whose workers were involved in terrorism, and which served
as a front for Hamas time after time, has no right to exist for even one
more second, and has no place in Jerusalem and the State of
Israel.”Footage from Palestinian media showed Ben Gvir on the scene with
Israeli forces at the UNRWA facility. According to the Haaretz
newspaper, Ben Gvir was accompanied by a camera crew from the
pro-government Channel 14 TV station.The Palestinian Authority’s
Jerusalem Governorate said Israeli forces ordered UNRWA employees to
exit the facility and not return. It also said that Israeli forces had
raised the Israeli flag in the courtyard of the training center.Israel
has long accused UNRWA of fomenting anti-Israel sentiment in its
schools, and in the aftermath of the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7,
2023, also accused it of collaborating with Hamas in Gaza, providing
evidence of agency employees who were also terror operatives. The UN
agency denies the charges. In late 2024, Israel passed legislation
banning UNRWA from Israeli territory, including East Jerusalem, which
Israel annexed after the Six Day War of June 1967.A statement from the
Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said the operation was part of “renovation
work” carried out by the Jerusalem Municipality on a “new educational
and community complex in Jerusalem’s Kafr Aqab neighborhood, for the
benefit of thousands of its Arab residents.”The ministry said that the
municipality is spending more than NIS 40 million ($13 million) on the
project, including a new high school set to open next month. The
statement asserted that the complex is question is on a plot owned by
the Jewish National Fund since 1937, and is being built “following close
dialogue with neighborhood residents” and will include schools, a
mosque, sports and healthcare facilities.UNRWA says the land was given
it by the Jordanian government in 1952 — when Jordan controlled East
Jerusalem — to establish the vocational training center that has
operated there ever since. The center trains about 340 students a year
and was already open for registration for the coming school year
starting on September 1, according to UNRWA.An AFP journalist at the
scene on Tuesday said Israeli forces had closed the main road near the
entrance to the Qalandiya Training Center, while forces inside the
institute were moving from one building to another.The journalist
reported seeing a convoy of three civilian vehicles leaving the
institute, escorted by the military.The UN body said earlier this month
that it was aware of the municipal plan, and that carrying it out would
violate protections to UN facilities under international law.“Should the
Israeli authorities proceed with the implementation of the plan, such
action would raise serious concerns regarding Israel’s obligations under
international law, including its obligations as a Member State of the
United Nations,” UNRWA said.However, the Foreign Ministry and the
Jerusalem Municipality maintain that UNRWA has no ownership or control
over the plot of land in question.“Despite holding no property rights to
the plot, UNRWA has walled off the land for decades, denying local
residents much-needed space for schools and community services,” the
ministry statement said. “UNRWA’s activities in Israel were prohibited
by law following evidence of its employees’ involvement in the October
7, 2023, terrorist attacks and its inseparable links to
Hamas.”Separately on Tuesday, the Israel Police announced that a
“conference identified with the Palestinian Authority” in Jerusalem’s
Old City was thwarted a day earlier.According to the Palestinian
Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate, the event in question was a
graduation ceremony for a Palestinian organization that teaches graduate
students from Al-Quds University. Four guests, including the director
of the Center for Jerusalem Studies and the head of the Palestinian
Jerusalem Tourism Cluster, were detained for interrogation, the
governorate said.Police said that “intelligence activity by the
Jerusalem District’s central unit” had uncovered the plans to hold the
event “inside the Old City, in violation of the Implementation Law.”The
1994 Law on Implementation of the Agreement on the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip, which enshrined agreements reached as part of the Oslo
Accords, forbade the Palestinian Authority from holding gatherings on
Israeli territory without permission from Israel, and authorized the
public security minister to order the closure of unapproved PA
gatherings in Israel.Ben Gvir signed an order to shut down the
Palestinian gathering after he and top police officers reviewed the
plans to hold the event, police said in a statement.Officers arrived at
the site of the gathering, where “they noticed preparations and a number
of people, and informed them of the order prohibiting the event,” the
statement said. It did not mention any arrests.The ceremony was set to
take place in Khan Tankaz, the compound that houses the Center for
Jerusalem Studies in the Muslim Quarter’s Cotton Merchants’ Market.The
Center for Jerusalem Studies, which teaches an interdisciplinary
graduate program on the city, is affiliated with Al-Quds University, a
nonprofit independent institution overseen by the nearby Al-Aqsa
Mosque.The university, which is the only Arab university in Jerusalem,
is accredited by the Palestinian Authority but not by Israel. It was
established in 1995 as a merger of other Palestinian institutions.
According to its website, the university has about 12,000 full-time
students and over 700 faculty.
Merz vows perpetrators of
attempted drone attack on German airport ‘will pay’Chancellor says
Berlin will soon reveal those responsible for plot targeting NATO and
Ukrainian military logistics hub; Russian intelligence suspected, Moscow
denies involvementBy Agencies Today, 2:51 pm-AUG 25,26
German
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday that people and groups behind
hybrid attacks against Germany, such as an explosive drone found at an
airport, “will pay for them,” without naming a suspected
perpetrator.Germany had increasingly “found itself in the crosshairs of
hybrid attackers,” Merz said, referring to an incident at Leipzig
airport earlier this month where police defused a drone found near a
Ukrainian airplane.German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius similarly
warned in January of “the increasing number of hybrid attacks in many
European countries, with critical infrastructure being targeted at the
click of a mouse, data cables being cut in the Baltic Sea, drone-based
espionage and media disinformation campaigns.”Merz also said that the
German government would soon announce who was responsible for the
attempted drone attack.Speaking at a coalition summit, Merz said his
government was “working closely with the security authorities on this,
and we will set this out and comment on it shortly.”Security sources
cited by local media suspect the involvement of Russian intelligence in
the attempted attack, but Berlin has not made any direct accusations.On
August 4, an explosives-laden drone was discovered near a Ukrainian
Antonov cargo aircraft used for military supplies. Investigators suspect
a second drone collided with a DHL cargo plane soon after the airport’s
temporary shutdown.The airport is a cargo and military logistics hub
used by NATO and Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines for military supplies.German
investigators discovered a third drone and suspected explosives linked
to the attempted attack 10 days later, broadcasters NDR and WDR and the
Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported on Tuesday.The drone was found
to the west of the airport, where investigators also discovered about 50
grams (1.8 oz) of a substance they suspected to be the military
explosive hexogen, the media reports said.The office of the prosecutor
general declined to comment on the report. Moscow has denied any
involvement in the incident.Germany, Europe’s top economy and home to
more than 83 million people, is a strong military supporter of Ukraine
in its war against Russia and a central hub for NATO forces on the
continent.After decades of stability following the end of the Cold War,
it is now scrambling to rebuild its military to deter Russia — but also
to improve resilience on the home front.
Suspect's father
reportedly arrested over obstructing probe-Man who allegedly stabbed
7-year-old to death reportedly on drugs at time of killing
Court
orders Liel Ifergen kept in custody until Sept. 3 over Beit Shemesh
stabbing; report says he’d been previously hospitalized at psychiatric
hospital, will undergo new evaluationBy Michael Horovitz-Today, 2:32
pm-AUG 25,26
The suspect in the murder of a young boy in Beit
Shemesh was under the influence of drugs when he carried out the deadly
stabbing last week, according to a report on Tuesday.Liel Ifergen, 26,
had taken a substance when he stabbed to death 7-year-old Hillel
Mordechai Dadon and injured his 4-year-old cousin, while their parents
were out of the house, according to the Kan public broadcaster.The
report did not specify what drugs Ifergen took.He is set to be sent to a
psychological evaluation as part of the conditions of his arrest, Kan
reported.According to the report, Ifergen was hospitalized at the
Eitanim psychiatric hospital several years ago, and he was scheduled for
a check-up with his psychiatrist in December. Police said at the time
of the murder that the suspect had not been previously known to them.The
Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday extended Ifergen’s custody by
10 days, police said, meaning he will remain detained until at least
September 3.Meanwhile, Ifergen’s father was arrested several days ago on
suspicion of obstructing the investigation into his son, the Ynet news
site reported on Tuesday.He was released to house arrest, the report
said.Police said Friday that Ifergen was a resident of the neighborhood
in which the stabbing took place. The Walla news site said after the
killing that neighbors reported seeing him cleaning a bloody knife,
which was seized by police.The father of one of the boys reportedly
found them in an inflatable pool upon his return home, at around 4:40
p.m.The pair were rushed to the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in
Jerusalem, with the older boy in critical condition and the younger one
in serious condition.A short time later it was announced that the older
child had died.Last week, the victim’s mother Tamar told Kan that Hillel
was a “smiley” boy who “knew everything.”“He is a bookworm; he was into
puzzles,” she said.Times of Israel staff and Noam Lehmann contributed
to this report.
IDF’s West Bank chief said to warn PM that
settler attacks could spark major Palestinian terror outbreak-Report
quotes Central Command chief telling Netanyahu ‘there is one match that
could ignite everything in an instant – nationalist crime,’ as army
increasingly sounds alarm over unchecked violence-By Stav Levaton-Today,
4:48 am-AUG 25,26
The most senior Israel Defense Forces officer
in the West Bank warned during a closed-door security assessment on
Monday that mounting settler violence could ignite a broader escalation
in the territory, Channel 12 reported.“There has been a significant
decline in the scale of [Palestinian] terrorism over the past two years,
but there is one match that could ignite everything in an instant –
nationalist crime,” Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth was quoted
by Channel 12 news as telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
other senior officials.“The IDF’s attention is constantly being diverted
to such incidents instead of thwarting Palestinian terrorism,” he
reportedly added.According to the report, Netanyahu then asked IDF Chief
of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir what the military would do if the West
Bank erupted and what plan it had in place.“We did not come prepared to
present that at this meeting,” Zamir reportedly replied.Defense
officials cited by the TV network stressed the IDF does have a
contingency plan, but said the meeting was convened at short notice and
was expected to focus specifically on settler violence, leaving Zamir
without the asked-for presentation and details on how the IDF would deal
with a drastic escalation in Palestinian West Bank terrorism.It was at
least the second time in recent days that IDF brass have warned that the
surge of near-daily settler attacks — which are rarely prosecuted —
could lead to an outbreak of Palestinian terrorism.A Channel 12 report
on Friday quoted an unnamed senior military official suggesting more
forceful action on the part of Israel was needed to stem the violence,
and lamenting that some government officials support the extremist
settlers.“There’s a group here that wants chaos,” the official
reportedly said. “Support from part of the local leadership and parts of
the government make enforcement difficult. It’s unclear whether there’s
anyone who wants enforcement. Commanders on the ground feel alone in
the campaign.”Settler violence has mounted in recent years, with
near-daily, sometimes deadly attacks taking place throughout the West
Bank, but few suspects arrested and charged.Critics accuse the
government of condoning or even encouraging the attacks. In addition,
IDF troops have been accused of standing by and allowing the violence,
or even aiding it in some cases.Violence in the West Bank has escalated
sharply in recent months, mostly involving settler attacks on
Palestinians. There have also been several attacks by Palestinian
assailants on Israelis, including a stabbing Sunday near the Jordan
Valley village of al-Auja that left an Israeli man moderately wounded.
The IDF arrested a 16-year-old Palestinian male suspected of carrying
out the attack.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Israeli
startup led by cybersecurity veterans lays off workforce and shuts
down-Backed by Wiz founders and top cybersecurity executives, Minimus is
the developer of a platform designed to help businesses keep their
software secure from vulnerabilitiesBy Sharon Wrobel-24 August 2026,
9:39 pm
Tel Aviv security startup Minimus, founded by Israeli
cybersecurity veterans, on Monday announced plans to shut down its
operations and lay off employees after grappling with competitive
headwinds and a challenging business environment.Minimus employs about
35 workers who will be let go as the startup gradually ceases its
operations in the coming weeks.“Minimus is ending operations,” stated
the startup’s co-founder and CEO Ben Bernstein. “Unfortunately, the
current business and investment climate has resulted in a situation in
which we are unable to continue operations.”Minimus, formerly known as
Gutsy, was founded in late 2022 by cybersecurity veterans Bernstein
(CEO), Dima Stopel (VP R&D) and John Morello (CTO). The same team
founded Israeli cloud security pioneer Twistlock, which was sold to
cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Networks for about $410 million in
2019.Three years later, the trio, who previously worked together at
Microsoft, teamed up to develop a platform to help businesses and
organizations secure their software supply chains and applications from
malicious attacks by eliminating vulnerabilities. A software supply
chain is the ecosystem of systems, infrastructure, processes, and people
involved in developing software.Minimus attracted prominent investors
and top industry executives with an ambitious security platform designed
to eliminate over 95% of software supply chain vulnerabilities.In
October 2023, shortly after the outbreak of war with the Hamas terror
group, the startup raised $51 million in a financing round led by Yoav
Leitersdorf’s YL Ventures and US venture capital fund Mayfield. Stellar
cybersecurity entrepreneurs, including Wiz co-founders Assaf Rappaport,
Ami Luttwak, and Roy Reznik; Talon founders Ofer Ben-Noon and Ohad
Bobrov; former CyberArk CEO Udi Mokady; and CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz
also participated in the funding round.Over the past year, the startup
has been facing tough competition from a flurry of security solutions as
a rapid digital transformation across industries has increased the risk
of online vulnerabilities and hacks, prompting businesses to spend more
on safeguarding their software domains and applications. The rapid
adoption of AI tools into workflows has also opened unprotected attack
channels for cybercriminals to target.Minimus said it has started a
60-day transition period to provide customer support and maintenance
services for its products and will gradually cease all operations by
October 22. The startup is set to return about $10 million to its
investors, according to reports in the Hebrew press.
Analysis
'West sees Erdogan as a tame poodle, but that's not the case'Strike on
Syrian airbase signals Israel’s growing unease with Turkey’s regional
ambitions-Critics question why Ankara’s longstanding presence suddenly
required force, but experts say Turkish military systems could threaten
IDF freedom of action and help Erdogan expand his influence By Stav
Levaton-24 August 2026, 6:06 pm
For a decade, Turkey has
maintained a military presence in northern Syria, with Ankara framing
the occupation as necessary to protect its border from the Islamic State
and Kurdish militants it considers linked to the Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK). Israel’s strikes last week on a military airport in
northwestern Syria, however, signaled that Jerusalem increasingly sees
Turkey’s military presence not simply as a feature of the Syrian
conflict, but as a potential threat to Israel itself.In the early hours
of August 18, Israel carried out a series of eight airstrikes on the
runway of the Abu al-Duhur airbase in Idlib, causing damage but no
casualties, according to Syria.“Israel and Syria agreed to a status quo
in security matters, which Syria was on the verge of breaching by
permitting Turkish troops to deploy at an airbase near Aleppo,” Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in an English-language
statement explaining the strikes.Damascus swiftly condemned the attack,
calling it an “unjustified act of aggression.” Ankara did as well, while
denying plans to deploy military assets there.The fallout quickly
reached Washington, where US envoy Tom Barrack said the strikes
“constitute an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional
stability.”The ambassador cast doubt on Israel’s claim that Turkey was
moving military assets into Syria’s northwestern Abu al-Duhur military
airport, saying US intel did not indicate such activity.US Ambassador to
Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom- Israel, for its part, alleged
that Syria had approved the shipment of unspecified military equipment
from Turkey to the airbase, even after Mossad chief Roman Gofman
reportedly warned Syrian Foreign Minister Asad Hassan al-Sheibani
against such a move.A senior military source told Zman Yisrael, The
Times of Israel’s sister Hebrew website, that the shipment consisted of
several drones, while the Kan public broadcaster reported that it was a
radar system.Whatever the shipment contained, the Israeli decision to
use force raised a broader question: Why had this particular Turkish
deployment in northern Syria suddenly become a red line for Jerusalem?
Turkey’s deep roots in northern Syria-The Turkish Armed Forces have
occupied areas of northern Syria since August 2016, when they launched
Operation Euphrates Shield. In the years that followed, Turkey played an
active role in the Syrian civil war, supporting Syrian opposition
forces against now-ousted president Bashar al-Assad and backing the
Syrian National Army.Turkey’s unwavering support for Syrian dissidents
and its decision to welcome Syrian refugees during the civil war created
a close relationship between the two nations that has only gained
greater prominence as Syria seeks to rebuild and establish itself as a
stable, unified state after nearly 14 years of internal conflict-The
current Syrian government’s appreciation for Turkey, coupled with
Ankara’s willingness to aid Damascus in its military buildup, leaves
“room for Turkey to operate” within Syria, according to Gallia
Lindenstrauss, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National
Security Studies.Still, she emphasized that Syrian President Ahmed
al-Sharaa is “not a puppet of Turkey,” and has sought to balance
Ankara’s influence against strong support from other powers, such as the
US and Saudi Arabia.A necessary strike or political calculation?
Israel’s attack was widely seen as a preventive move — an attempt to
stop Turkey from establishing a new military foothold at Abu al-Duhur
before personnel and equipment were in place.Lindenstrauss said that
Jerusalem’s message was “clear,” wanting to signal that “Turkey will not
deploy in Syria.”But whether the prospective deployment justified
military action is far more contested.Attacking the base opened the
prospect of armed conflict with a NATO member country that enjoys close
ties with the White House and that continues to maintain diplomatic ties
with Israel, even if heavily frayed. And the strike added a fresh crimp
to a relationship with Syria that the US has been trying to smooth out
in hopes of forging a security deal and possibly more between Damascus
and Jerusalem.Elizabeth Tsurkov, a senior non-resident fellow at the New
Lines Institute, a Washington DC-based think-tank, told The Times of
Israel that while there “was definitely a context” for Israel’s attack,
she questioned the necessity of going “as far as striking to prevent”
the Turkish shipment.Others have questioned not only the necessity of
the strike, but the motivations behind its timing.“One theory is they
were just baiting Turkey, and it’s a very aggressive, but maybe
well-received, pre-election concept,” Barrack said in an interview days
after Israel’s attack, implying that conflict between Israel and Turkey
would serve Netanyahu ahead of the elections scheduled for October
27.“I see political reasons behind it,” Tsurkov said, echoing Barrack’s
remarks. “It’s very clear it could have been avoided.”Tsurkov speculated
that the government is purposefully exaggerating the Turkish threat in
Syria to gain political points by portraying itself as confronting the
issue with an iron fist.“We are two months away from an election.
Netanyahu is failing in the polls, and he is willing to do what it
takes,” she said. Recent polling shows Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party
trailing slightly behind main political rival Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar
party.Tsurkov took to X to voice her criticism of Israel’s strikes,
posting satellite images of Turkish bases in northern Syria, “some of
which have existed there since 2017.”“The images are from before the
fall of Assad, and since then, dozens of the Turkish bases have been
dismantled due to the end of the confrontations with the Assad regime
and the Kurds,” Tsurkov wrote. “Why does another base in northern Syria
with Turkish presence justify an Israeli strike and damage to relations
with the US and increased tension with Turkey? Where is the great
threat?”The wider Turkish threat-For Israeli security officials and some
analysts, however, the answer lies less in the prospect of another
Turkish base than in the capabilities Ankara could eventually station
there.According to Oded Ailam, a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for
Security and Foreign Affairs and former head of the Counterterrorism
Division in the Mossad, the most tangible threat lies in what Turkey may
have planned to ship to Syria.“What is especially alarming is the
deployment of their anti-aircraft system, the SİPER system,” he
stressed, referring to Turkey’s long-range, high-altitude surface-to-air
missile defense system.According to Kan, Israel told the US that Turkey
planned to deploy an air defense system at Abu al-Duhur, potentially
threatening Israel’s freedom of action in the region.Ailam said such a
deployment could complicate future Israeli strikes on Iran, since “the
course of the aircraft that are sent to Iran are strictly above this
place near Idlib.”Reporting has also portrayed the prospective
deployment as increasingly imminent. An Israeli source told Zman Yisrael
that the decision to launch the strikes was made when “the Turkish
trucks were already ready to move towards Syria.”Tsurkov pushed back
against that characterization, saying, “This airbase did not pose any
kind of an imminent threat to Israel,” noting its deteriorated state due
to damage sustained during the Syrian Civil War and the months it would
take to rebuild it to an operational state.Lindenstrauss argued that
other aspects of Turkey’s growing regional role may pose more immediate
challenges for Israel.“Hamas leadership is now moving from Qatar to
Turkey,” she said. “That’s an issue that I think is a bigger concern
than a possible Turkish deployment of UAVs in northern Syria.”According
to the Kan public broadcaster, the decision came in part after Doha
expressed dissatisfaction with the terror group’s decision to elect
Khalil al-Hayya as its new leader.Indeed, the dispute over Abu al-Duhur
comes amid a much broader Israeli unease over Ankara’s expanding
regional ambitions, extending beyond Syria to Gaza and the eastern
Mediterranean.Turkey’s growing involvement in the region has led some
experts to suggest Ankara is working to expand its influence, drawing
comparisons to Iran, which exerts sway via a network of proxy
organizations across the Middle East, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah
in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan is “gradually trying to get his foot in the door in order to
facilitate his concept of the new Ottoman Empire,” Ailam said, pointing
to Ankara’s push to deploy its troops to Gaza as part of the enclave’s
yet-to-be established International Stabilization Force as an example of
this effort.“I think the West and the Americans should understand who
we are facing,” Ailam warned. “They are looking at Erdogan as more of a
tame poodle that can be manipulated very easily, but that’s not the
case.”Keeping conflict at arm’s length-Israel’s mounting concern over
Turkey has helped drive closer ties with two of Ankara’s longstanding
regional rivals, Greece and Cyprus, both of which it recently partnered
with to deepen military cooperation.In December, the Greek parliament
approved the purchase of 36 PULS rocket artillery systems from Israel to
bolster defenses along Greece’s northeastern border with Turkey and on
Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.Yet for all the increasingly hostile
rhetoric and competing ambitions, neither Jerusalem nor Ankara appears
eager to allow their rivalry in Syria to spiral into a direct
confrontation.An unnamed Israeli defense official told Kan on Sunday
that the two countries have established quiet backchannel contacts aimed
at avoiding friction over Syria.“Israel has no desire to turn Turkey
into an enemy,” the source said. “[But] when the messages don’t help,
Israel is forced to act.”The comments echoed those of Foreign Minister
Gideon Sa’ar, who said Saturday night that Israel has “no interest in
escalation with Turkey,” seeking to dial back tensions that ratcheted up
after the Israeli strike on the Abu al-Duhur base.Turkey’s NATO
membership raises the stakes further, muddling the prospect of any
direct military confrontation between Ankara and Jerusalem.“Nobody wants
to envision this scenario in which Israel and Turkey clash,”
Lindenstrauss said, pointing to Washington as a likely mediator should
tensions between the two countries escalate further. “The US has a
leading role in NATO and a great interest in relaxing tensions.”
They
'will live under pursuit until they are eliminated' In rare warning,
Board of Peace tells Israel to limit Gaza fire to ‘genuine’ threats IDF
chief vows that ‘pursuit of the October 7 terrorists continues’;
US-backed organization also calls for halt of ‘all militant activity’ in
Gaza, including kites, after Israeli threatsBy Nava Freiberg and
Emanuel Fabian-Today, 7:01 pm-AUG 25,26
An official from the
US-backed Board of Peace made a rare call on Tuesday for Israel to
comply with the ceasefire in Gaza and limit strikes to “immediate”
threats, even as IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir vowed that
targeted killings of October 7 terrorists will continue until they are
all “eliminated.”The Board of Peace official also said that “all
militant activity” in Gaza, including kite flying, must stop, two days
after Israel threatened a forceful response if the Hamas terror group
revives a tactic of launching incendiary kites over the border.“All
militant activity in Gaza must stop, including the flying of kites. We
have conveyed this message directly through the established mechanism,”
an official of the Board of Peace — tasked with implementing the October
2025 ceasefire in Gaza — told multiple outlets.“Israel, too, must
comply with the ceasefire; military action cannot extend beyond
responding to genuine and imminent threats,” the official added.The
statement from the Board of Peace came after Israel appealed to the
organization over the spike in kites flown from Gaza in recent days. But
the response marked a rare admonition of Israel by the Board, which has
largely refrained from publicly criticizing Israeli military activity
in Gaza in recent months.But Zamir said during a visit to Gaza on
Tuesday that Israel’s hunt for terrorists involved in the October 7,
2023, onslaught will continue in the Gaza Strip.“We will not allow our
enemies along the borders, with an emphasis on Gaza and Lebanon, to
rebuild their strength,” Zamir said. “We will not allow terror
infrastructure to become established. We will take every opportunity to
eliminate threats as they emerge.”Zamir continued that “the pursuit of
the October 7 terrorists continues. Anyone who took part in the massacre
will live under pursuit until they are eliminated.”“This is a
high-priority mission to which the [Southern] Command and the entire IDF
are committed,” he added.Zamir also met with female surveillance
soldiers on the border with the Gaza Strip, commending their efforts as
“important.”“You are our eyes on the front, the first to identify
infiltration threats and activate forces,” he said, according to remarks
published by the army, during a visit to the 414th Combat Intelligence
Collection Unit at the Re’im Base.He added that the surveillance
soldiers’ identifications and assessments “are important, and one of the
lessons of October 7 is that we must listen carefully to every female
and male soldier as part of assessments and the decision-making
process.”Leading up to that Hamas-led invasion and massacre, the
surveillance soldiers sent alerts about terrorists training for the
attack, and were infamously ignored. Some of the surveillance soldiers,
who are women, said sexism was a factor in their warnings being brushed
aside.A total of 12 kites and four balloons have reportedly crossed from
Gaza into Israeli border communities this month. The military stressed
that “no suspicious findings were identified on the kites,” and that “at
no stage was there any danger to the public.”But according to Hebrew
media reports, the IDF believes that Hamas was responsible for launching
the kites, and was doing so to test whether and how Israel would
respond.Officials have told The Times of Israel that senior US
representatives and board members expressed concern during their recent
meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel’s
interpretation of “imminent threats” in Gaza is too “vague” and risks
stalling advancement of Washington’s peace plan, which would see Hamas
disarmed and have Israel withdraw.In recent months, the IDF has stepped
up its efforts to kill Palestinian terrorists involved in October 7,
justifying the strikes amid the ceasefire by claiming that the targets
had “posed an immediate threat.”On Sunday, Netanyahu and Defense
Minister Israel Katz also threatened to “intensify strikes” against
those responsible for launching kites from Gaza toward Israeli border
communities, and evacuate areas of the Strip.Gaza parents were warned
late Monday to stop their children from flying kites in the war-ravaged
enclave. The popular committees, comprising representatives of local
non-government organizations and charities that run Gaza displacement
camps and shelters in the Hamas-run area of the Strip, issued the
warning in a statement coordinated with Hamas authorities.“We are
working tirelessly on the ground and doing everything possible to stop
this practice, not to restrict the childhood of our children, who have
already been deprived of the most basic rights to play and live in
safety, but to protect their innocent lives,” the statement said.A Hamas
official told Reuters the group has complained to ceasefire mediators
that “Israel was making fake pretexts to continue the war on Gaza.”On
Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike killed one Palestinian in the Mawasi area
of Khan Younis, south of the enclave. The IDF said it had targeted a
terror operative, without further information.The IDF also said Tuesday
that it bombed five Hamas weapon depots located inside mosques and near
aid sites, along with a rocket launch site, in the Gaza Strip a day
earlier.According to the IDF, the arms sites were used to store rockets,
weapons, explosives and other military gear used by Hamas to advance
attacks on troops.“These storage facilities were established inside
mosques and alongside humanitarian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip,”
the military said. Ahead of the strikes, the IDF published warnings to
Palestinians residing in the area.The military and Shin Bet said in a
joint statement that the strikes “constitute a clear warning” to Hamas,
adding that Israel “will not accept any kind of terror activity” in the
Strip that threatens Israeli civilians.Agencies and Times of Israel
staff contributed to this report.
Report: Strike deterred Turkey
from setting up Syria base--Katz: Israel won’t leave Syria buffer zone
so long as ‘jihadist threats’ remain
Defense minister, visiting
troops, tells Syrian president ‘when you wake up in Damascus and see IDF
on Mount Hermon, know we’re here to defend our communities and
border’By Emanuel Fabian-and ToI Staff Today, 7:56 pm-AUG 25,26
Defense
Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday told troops in southern Syria that the
Israeli military would not leave its buffer zone there as long as
“jihadist threats” remain, issuing a belligerent message to Damascus as
the US tries to secure a security deal between the countries.“We will
not move from Mount Hermon and the security zone as long as there are
jihadist threats to the State of Israel,” he said.“The message to the
president of Syria is clear — when you wake up in the morning in the
palace in Damascus and look up at Mount Hermon and see the IDF, you know
that we are here to defend our communities and our border.”Katz added
that Israel “acted against a Turkish attempt to establish itself in
Syria, while putting Israel’s security interests at risk,” referring to
last week’s strikes on the Abu al-Duhur airbase in Idlib.“We made this
clear and will stand by it in the future as well,” he added.The Syrian
foreign ministry condemned Katz’s visit as illegal, and said his
crossing of the international border was “a flagrant violation” of
Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.The Israel Defense Forces
has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria since the fall of
the Assad regime in December 2024, mostly within a United
Nations-patrolled buffer zone on the border between the
countries.Israeli troops have been operating in areas up to around 15
kilometers (9 miles) deep into Syria, aiming to capture weapons that
Israel says could pose a threat to the country if they fall into the
hands of “hostile forces.”The two countries, which have no formal
relations and are officially in a state of war, held historic direct
talks last year aimed at reaching a groundbreaking security agreement
that ultimately failed to materialize. However, contacts between the
sides have been ongoing.In addition to concern about local jihadist
groups, Israel is increasingly worried about Turkey’s military presence
in Syria, prompting the strikes against the airbase last week.However, a
Channel 12 report on Tuesday said that Israel believed that Turkey’s
efforts to establish a military presence at a base in northern Syria
have been thwarted for now.The decision was a result of intensive
efforts to calm tensions following the Israeli airstrike, which have
seen high-level contacts between Israel and Syria, as well as Israel and
Turkey, notably including a meeting between Mossad chief Roman Gofman
and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in Jordan on Sunday, the
report said.Nevertheless, Israel will not hesitate to strike the base
again, Channel 12 quoted Israeli security officials as saying.Washington
took issue with the Idlib attack, and even cast doubt on the Israeli
intelligence Jerusalem cited to justify it.The US has been seeking to
forge a security deal between Israel and the government of Syrian
President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a new US ally in the Middle East, for over a
year. But it has proven elusive as Israel has kept troops in Syrian
territory and attacked government assets, citing threats to its
security.On Sunday, Mossad chief Gofman met with Syria’s al-Shaibani in
Jordan to defuse tensions between Israel and Damascus.The Trump
administration strongly pushed for the meeting, according to Channel 12.
The outlet reported that the sitdown was positive in nature and was
considered a step toward restarting direct negotiations.Hours before the
meeting was reported, al-Shaibani said in an interview that Syria
expected negotiations with Israel to resume soon, and that “the US is
trying continuously to put pressure on Israel to return to the dialogue
table.”Al-Shaibani said that around the start of this year, the sides
had “agreed on paper to almost everything” regarding a security deal
that would require Israel to stop strikes in Syria and was tied to its
withdrawal from territory seized after Assad fell.The deal would include
several security zones in Syrian territory near the Israeli border,
including a buffer zone where only the UN would be present, and others
where Syrian forces would deploy in varying degrees of force.But the
Syrian foreign minister accused Israel of seeking to evade
implementation.Channel 12 also reported Sunday that Israel identified an
increase in the Hezbollah terror group’s attempts to smuggle weapons
from Syria into Lebanon. A security official cited by the network said
Iran is financing and operating the smuggling network.“Hezbollah is
exploiting the ceasefire to build up its strength, and there has
therefore been an increase in smuggling attempts through Syria,” a
security official told Channel 12.
Reform synagogue vandalized in
central Israel, in second such incident in 10 days-Ramat Hasharon mayor
demands police investigation after assailants smash windows of Darchei
Noam congregationBy ToI Staff 24 August 2026, 6:05 pm
The Darchei
Noam synagogue in the central city of Ramat Hasharon was vandalized on
Sunday night by unknown assailants, the second Reform synagogue targeted
in less than 10 days.The assailants threw rocks at the synagogue and
smashed a window at the entrance, Darchei Noam said in a statement,
adding that it did not yet know who was behind the “heinous act.”As of
Monday afternoon, the attackers had not yet been apprehended, and it was
unclear whether police had opened an investigation into the incident,
although the mayor of Ramat Hasharon said he had demanded one.The attack
on Darchei Noam, said Mayor Itzik Rochberger, “is a serious act of
vandalism, and it will not be tolerated here.”Rochberger said that
“Ramat Hasharon is a city of freedom, tolerance, pluralism, and
coexistence between secular and religious people.“We will not allow
extremist elements to damage property, instill fear, and sabotage the
fabric of our shared life,” the mayor added in a statement carried by
local news outlet Sharon Online.The violence took place just over a week
after the well-known Kol HaNeshama synagogue in Jerusalem was
vandalized by a group of youths. The assailants in that incident broke a
window, entered the building, and tore an LGBTQ Pride flag in the main
sanctuary, according to the synagogue.Democrats MK Gilad Kariv, a Reform
rabbi who directed the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive
Judaism before entering politics in 2021, posted an image on X of the
damage to Darchei Noam.He noted, in his post, the general uptick in
violence against businesses that operate on Shabbat and against places
of worship and religious figures affiliated with other religions or with
non-Orthodox denominations of Judaism.“We will not falter for a
moment,” he vowed. “Facing the Judaism of the ‘paths of hatred,’ we will
continue to promote the Judaism of the ‘paths of joy’ and ‘paths of
peace,’ he said (Darchei Noam translates to Paths of Joy.)-“In the face
of incessant incitement, we will continue to promote incessant hope,”
continued Kariv. “They will smash and break — we will repair and build.”
Israel
home purchase cancellations spike as risky developer financing takes
toll-Data shows sharp rise in shelved deals, after builders allowed some
buyers to put down nothing in advance and face little or no penalty for
walking awayBy Zev Stub-24 August 2026, 4:20 pm
The number of
canceled home purchases has spiked in recent months, rising 41 percent
since the beginning of the year, according to the Finance Ministry’s
most recent review of the housing sector.The increase points to growing
strains on the housing market as developers have aggressively promoted
new developments with generous financing options.In a number of cases,
buyers were not required to put any money down when buying “on paper,”
and fees for cancellations were waived or heavily discounted, senior
deputy to the chief economist Galit Ben Naim commented on social media
after the report’s release.Israel’s housing market has slowed in recent
years, with prices falling nearly 2% in the past year, partly in
reaction to the multifront war Israel has been engaged in since Hamas
invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023. High interest rates, a
record supply of unsold new housing, and high prices have also helped to
tamp down sales.In response, developers have taken to offering more
attractive — and riskier — financing options to buyers, who have become
more averse to buying homes due to the uncertainty of the situation. The
trend became so pronounced in recent years that in March, the central
bank stepped in and imposed restrictions on those packages, fearful of
the increased risk to individuals and the entire banking
system.According to the Finance Ministry report, of the purchase deals
signed between 2023-2025, a total of 1,821 had been canceled as of
August 2026, with some 500 of those in the past seven months alone.While
contract terminations naturally increase as time elapses, the recent
acceleration points to deeper structural factors, economists at the
Finance Ministry noted.Contracts signed during 2024 saw a particular
jump in cancellations, the report noted, with 738 cancellations by
August compared to 495 in January. This pushed the relative cancellation
rate for 2024 deals from 1.5% to 2.3% — a 53% increase in relative
frequency over just seven months. This corresponded with a period when
building companies offered aggressive promotional financing schemes,
including delayed payment structures, the report noted.By comparison,
the cancellation rate for 2023 deals grew by 18% over the same period,
reaching 825 canceled contracts for a 4.3% overall cancellation
rate.More defaults may be reported in the future, the report noted. For
housing units sold in 2024, only about 40% are ready for occupancy, and
about a quarter specify delivery dates extending into 2028 or later,
meaning that more cancellations are likely to materialize.The trend
stands in stark contrast to previous boom periods, the report noted. For
deals signed in 2021, for example, the cancellation rate was just 0.5%
two years after the end of that calendar year.The rise in defaults is
directly connected to the risky payment conditions required by
developers, Ben Naim wrote on her personal Facebook page.“Two sentences
caught my eye when I was looking through the pile of cancellation
agreements,” she wrote, quoting: “‘As the buyer has not paid anything
for the apartment.. and as the buyer has informed the seller that he is
unable to complete the purchase…'”According to Ben Naim, half of all
those who canceled never put up more than a few tens of thousands of
shekels, and a third never actually put up any money.“Set aside the fact
that it is somewhat amusing to write about ‘completing’ the purchase
when nothing has been paid,” she charged. “There is nothing funny about
the fact that for many months, sometimes even more than a year after the
purchase, in many transactions, one could pay nothing for an
apartment.”In addition, Ben Naim noted that while there is usually a
cancellation fee of 10% of the apartment price, a sum that would
typically reach hundreds of thousands of shekels, the penalty was
discounted or completely waived in many cases. In the southern region,
where the cancellation trend was most pronounced, the average penalty
was just NIS 20,000 ($6,682), she wrote.Separately, a report by the
central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) last week showed that price
disparities between different regions in Israel continue to grow.The
average home in Tel Aviv now sells for some 2.5 times the price of a
residence in the northern and southern regions, CBS found.Nationwide,
the average transaction price reached NIS 2.435 million ($665,000) in
the second quarter of 2026, CBS said.The average sale price in Tel Aviv
during the quarter was NIS 3.58 million ($1.2 million), compared to NIS
1.52 million in the north ($508,200) and NIS 1.66 million ($555,000) in
the south, CBS reported. In Jerusalem, the average price was NIS 2.91
million ($973,000).
Canada strikes back at US with retaliatory
tariffs, amid escalating trade war-Donald Trump says Washington giving
‘serious consideration’ to renaming Lake Ontario ‘Lake America,’ as
Canada slaps tariffs up to 50% on $20 billion worth of American goods-By
Rob Gillies Today, 8:27 pm-AUG 25,26
TORONTO (AP) — Canada
struck back at the United States on Tuesday with retaliatory tariffs on
about $20 billion worth of American goods, including steel, dairy
products, appliances and farm equipment, as the trade war between the
once-friendly neighbors escalated sharply.The tension threatened one of
the world’s largest trading relationships. The new tariffs extended well
beyond industrial goods, hitting everyday purchases such as seafood,
cheese, clothing, cosmetics and toilet paper, with some facing duties as
high as 50%.“We did not choose this conflict, but when our economic
integration is used as a weapon rather than the foundation for a win-win
partnership, we need to stand up,” Finance Minister François-Philippe
Champagne said in French, calling the situation “an unprecedented
challenge imposed on Canada.”Canada’s retaliation came after the Trump
administration imposed 50% tariffs over the weekend on Canadian goods
following the collapse of trade negotiations. Canadian Prime Minister
Mark Carney accused Washington of trying to subordinate Canada and said
US demands during the failed talks showed that Americans wanted to
“destroy our major industries.”President Donald Trump intensified the
confrontation Monday, telling Canadian leaders to “fall in line” or face
consequences “far WORSE” than existing tariffs and threatening new 50%
tariffs on Canadian vehicles, auto parts and steel.Trump added another
provocation Tuesday, saying the United States was giving “serious
consideration” to renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America” in a feud with
Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Such a change would be reminiscent of the
Republican president’s unilateral action last year by executive order to
rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.The tariffs will take
effect September 8 at rates of 15%, 25% and 50%, with Canada matching
the corresponding US tariff rate on more than 700 products such as pulp
and paper and electronics. The tariffs on many American products would
double from 25% to 50%, with the largest share of the new measures
affecting steel and aluminum.Canadian officials said the goal is not to
raise revenue but to protect Canadian companies and reduce US imports.US
steel imports, for example, have already fallen 30% since Canada
imposed a 25% tariff, and the new 50% rate is expected to cut them
further, Canadian officials said.Goods facing 50% tariffs include some
steel and aluminum products, furniture and clothing. Appliances, dairy
products including cheese, fish and seafood, and certain steel and
aluminum derivatives will face 25% tariffs. Existing Canadian
countertariffs on US autos will remain in place.Canada also announced a
support package for workers and businesses affected by the dispute worth
$7.5 billion in Canadian dollars ($5.4 billion in US dollars).Canadian
officials acknowledged the counter tariffs will raise costs for some
businesses and consumers but said they expect the overall economic
effects to be moderate.They said the government has provided more than
30 billion Canadian dollars (US$21.7 billion) in tariff-related support
since the beginning of 2025 — far more than it has collected in
retaliatory duties — as it tries to cushion the blow from the trade
fight.Canada and the United States have deeply integrated supply chains
across autos, energy, agriculture and manufacturing, making a prolonged
trade fight potentially costly for businesses and workers on both sides
of the border.Businesses and consumers are caught in the middle, facing
uncertainty about how much prices may increase.Michael Howard II, owner
of a furniture business in Warren, Michigan, outside Detroit, said the
tariffs will hamper the “ability for us to put food on the table for our
family” and affect “the ability for us to give back to our
community.”Howard and his wife started their business a decade ago. They
make and sell everything from dining room tables to bookcases.“To say
that we don’t need Canada is just disingenuous,” he said. “It’s
dishonest. And it’s just absolutely not truthful. We need our neighbor,
but also they need us.”Carney said Monday that Canada may need to move
away from matching US tariffs dollar for dollar and instead use more
targeted retaliation aimed at protecting Canadian workers and
businesses.“An attitude at the negotiation table that Canada is a
subsidiary of the United States” is “not something we’re going to
accept,” Carney said.Carney was even more blunt in French.“We learned
during the negotiations that the Americans want to destroy our major
industries, including autos, steel and aluminum,” Carney said. “That was
one of the main reasons we said no. It was a bad deal.”On Monday,
Carney said US negotiators had raised the discoverability of
French-language content on streaming platforms, along with
French-language labeling rules, as trade irritants. He rejected the idea
that those protections were negotiable, saying in French: “For the
Americans, questions about the French language, Quebec culture,
francophone culture and Canadian culture are irritants. Here in Quebec,
here in Canada, they are rights.”In a social media post early Tuesday,
Trump wrote: “I would never interfere with Canadians speaking French! In
fact, I have never even thought of doing such a stupid thing. This lie
was made up by a weak and ineffective Prime Minister in an attempt to
gain political support, which he has totally lost, from the people of
Quebec. I love French Canadians!”
Wartime reserve duty will take
heavier toll on economy, Treasury warns-Month of reserve duty costs the
state an average NIS 53,000 per soldier and falls mainly on non-Haredi
Jewish men aged 25-44, who tend to earn more and have children, report
finds-By Sharon Wrobel-Today, 9:59 pm-AUG 25,26
The economic cost
of a reservist leaving a job for a month to perform military duty is
higher than previously estimated, as the burden falls disproportionately
on non-Haredi Jewish men who earn higher salaries, the Finance Ministry
warned in a new report released on Tuesday.The average economic cost of
a reserve soldier is about NIS 53,000 ($17,790) per month, according to
the study by the Finance Ministry’s chief economist’s division. The
estimate is about 10 percent higher than the previous estimate from
2024, which was NIS 48,000. The Treasury said it switched from a
calculation based on the average wage in the economy to examining the
actual employment characteristics and wages of reservists.The report
showed that the burden of reserve duty falls disproportionately on
non-ultra-Orthodox Jewish men aged 25 to 44 earning an average monthly
salary of NIS 19,000, about 42% higher than similar workers who weren’t
absent due to reserve duty.In the second quarter of 2026, about 75% of
employed reservists who were absent from work were aged 25-44, even
though this age group only made up about 43% of the workforce, the
Finance Ministry said.A reservist in his 20s costs the state NIS 39,000
per month, up from NIS 33,000 in the previous estimate, while one in his
30s costs about NIS 68,000 versus NIS 54,000, the report
showed.Israel’s multi-front hostilities with the Hamas terror group and
Iran and its proxies that began with the devastating Hamas-led attack on
October 7, 2023, have ballooned defense costs and the need for military
manpower, placing heavy pressure on public debt and finances.The direct
cost of the war has been estimated at more than NIS 250 billion ($84
billion), of which about a third was allocated to funding the
mobilization of hundreds of thousands of reservists for extended
periods, among them many high-tech employees.The figures come even as
the government has sought to enshrine a blanket exemption from military
duty for ultra-Orthodox men and passed a series of laws, which have
since been frozen by the courts, that would have temporarily stopped the
arrest of ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers.“Non-Haredi Jewish men on
reserve duty aren’t from within the lowest socioeconomic strata, and
their salaries are high, which is a very heavy burden for the Israeli
economy,” Shlomit Ravitsky Tur-Paz, Director of Israel Democracy
Institute’s Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for Shared Society, told The
Times of Israel. “But there is an alternative, which is to enlist young
ultra-Orthodox men to mandatory military service, who are supposed to
join the army.”At the peak of the war, the IDF activated around 300,000
reservists, and it had previously been expected to call up some 60,000
during 2026 for routine activities. During the first year of the war,
combat soldiers served an average of 136 days, and commanders served 168
days. Before the war, reservists would carry out up to 25 days of
operational activity every three years.Earlier this month, a
government-requested extension of emergency military mobilization until
September 30 was approved. The approval allows the IDF to call up a
maximum of 240,000 reservists. Such extensions have been granted every
few months since the outbreak of war in Gaza almost three years ago.The
Finance Ministry’s report found that although non-Haredi Jewish men make
up only 36% of the country’s workforce, they represented about 83% of
the employed who were absent from work due to reserve duty. About 70% of
those absent due to reserve service were parents with children.The
report’s findings reinforce repeated calls by the Finance Ministry and
the Bank of Israel to draft the ultra-Orthodox population into the
military service, to save billions of shekels per year to the state’s
war-hit coffers.Some 72,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged 18 to 24 are
currently believed to be eligible for military service, but have not
enlisted. The IDF has said repeatedly in recent months that it urgently
needs 12,000 new recruits amid the ongoing regional security threats.“We
know the costs of security are only getting higher as Israel is facing
conflicts on multiple fronts,” said Ravitsky Tur-Paz. “This is not
sustainable and will come at a heavy price for social services including
health, welfare and education.”Ravitsky Tur-Paz noted that a broader
enlistment of ultra-Orthodox men could reduce reliance on reserve
soldiers, whose cost to the economy is much higher. In contrast, the
cost to the economy of drafting young Haredi men for mandatory service
is very low, since in most cases the enlistment does not replace
participation in the labor market. The enlistment of 7,500 Haredi men
per year could generate annual savings of about NIS 9 billion within
three years, according to estimates by the Bank of Israel.“The problem
that Haredim are not joining the army is not only about fairness and the
fact that it’s not egalitarian,” said Ravitsky Tur-Paz. “It’s not only
about military manpower and whether we will be able to meet our defense
challenges, but it’s also about whether Israel’s economy will be able to
shoulder the high costs in the coming years.”Times of Israel staff
contributed to this report.
MONTREAL
BETTER HAVE STOPPED A BILL AGAINST ISRAEL OR GOD MAY HAVE SENT FLOODING
OR ANOTHER DISASTEROUS ICE STORM OR BIG QUAKE ON MONTREAL.AND ALSO
DONALD JOHN TRUMP THREATENS TO CHANGE LAKE OF ONTARIO.TO LAKE OF
AMERICA.TRUMP CARNEY AND FORD ARE DUKING IT OUT IN THE MEDIA OVER THE
50% TARIFFS ON CANADA,
Montreal city council walks
back motion to cut ties with Israel-Municipal legislators vote to water
down anti-Israel resolution, removing accusations of ‘genocide’ and
‘apartheid,’ instead passing a pro-Palestinian solidarity statementBy
Luke Tress-Today, 6:43 pm-AUG 25,26
The city government of
Montreal, Canada, failed to pass a motion on Monday that sought to cut
ties between the Canadian city and Israel, instead passing an expression
of solidarity with Palestinians.The city passed the watered-down
version of the proposal by a vote of 54-6 after a lengthy debate that
highlighted divides in the city government and outside
activists.Montreal’s opposition had backed the motion to cut ties with
Israel, but Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrara and her administration had
opposed the move, saying foreign relations were the purview of the
federal government.“We are not a government of a national perspective on
foreign affairs. That is not our role,” Martinez Ferrara said during a
Monday press conference.The administration proposed amendments to the
initial motion, removing the demand that Montreal cut institutional and
diplomatic ties with Israel, as well as demands the city denounce
“apartheid” and “genocide” by Israel, according to the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation.The amendments passed by a vote of 38-22, The
Montreal Gazette reported.The final motion expressed “solidarity with
the Palestinian people as well as all civilian victims of hostilities”
in the Middle East.The motion also backed Montreal’s commitment to
international law and called on the federal and provincial governments
to demonstrate “greater leadership” in resolving the conflict.After the
vote, Nathalie Goulet of Projet Montreal, the opposition group that
initiated the proposal, said the group was “extremely disappointed” with
the amendments.Outside activists had campaigned on both
sides.Anti-Israel groups organized petitions, campaigned for the measure
online and rallied outside Montreal’s City Hall on Monday.Video from
The National Post showed anti-Zionist activists shouting, “Shame on
you,” and, “Genocide supporter,” at those leaving city hall.Leaving
courtroom. When they show you who they are, believe them
pic.twitter.com/t5BoY3xudh — Terry Newman (@terrynewman) August 25,
2026-B’nai Brith Canada, a leading Jewish group, had urged the city to
reject the motion.“For the City of Montreal to weigh into this conflict
would be inappropriate and exacerbate tensions between communities. It
is not in the city’s purview to dictate foreign policy for its
residents,” B’nai Brith said in a statement.The statement tied
anti-Israel activism to hostility against Jews.Greek and Italian
community groups also opposed the initial motion.B’nai Brith Canada
hailed the vote and applauded Soraya Martinez in a Tuesday statement.“We
are pleased that the City Council did not adopt the deceitful and
distorted language contained in the original motion,” said Paola Samuel,
B’nai Brith Canada’s Regional Director for Quebec and Atlantic
Canada.“We urge Montreal’s city council to continue to focus its
attention on what matters most to its constituents — housing, crime and
affordability — rather than inserting itself into complex geo-political
issues that foster division and contribute to the normalization of hate
on our streets,” Samuel said.The motion was significant because, if its
original text had passed, it would have made Montreal the largest North
American city to cut ties with Israel, following European cities like
Barcelona, Spain, and Liege, Belgium.Montreal is home to a large Jewish
population and has a long and storied Jewish history. It also hosts an
Israeli consulate.
Studies have repeatedly found record levels of
antisemitism in Canada in recent years, including high-profile incidents
in Montreal.In Montreal, antisemitic activity has targeted an Israeli
soccer player, synagogues have been hit with arson and firebombings,
protesters have hanged effigies of Israeli leaders, and Jews have been
attacked in public.
Official: Faction leaders think disarming
would serve Israel, US-Iraq delays deadline for Iran-backed Shiite
militias to hand over weapons
Senior official says original Sept. 30
disarmament deadline was actually date for departure of US forces, does
not provide updated timeline for arms handover By AFP 24 August 2026,
3:21 pm
BAGHDAD — A senior Iraqi official on Sunday pushed back a
September 30 deadline for pro-Iran armed factions to hand over their
weapons, without offering an explanation for the move or providing a new
date.Iraq has come under pressure from the United States to rein in
armed factions, particularly those close to Iran.The US and Iran have
been at war since February 28, drawing in other countries in the region
as well as non-state groups backed by the Islamic Republic, many of whom
are located in Iraq and draw support from the country’s Shiite
majority.For several months, Iraq’s government has stood by its
deadline, but on Sunday, the security adviser to the prime minister,
Qasim al-Araji, told state media the process would only begin at the end
of next month.“September 30 is the date for the international coalition
to depart, not the deadline to hand over weapons,” Araji told the Al
Iraqiya broadcaster, referring to the coalition of US-led
forces.Government spokesman Haidar al-Aboudi had made a similar
announcement to local media on Friday, despite announcing in June that
factions had until the end of September to disarm.September 30, he said,
was “the date for the international coalition to end its presence, not
the deadline for armed factions… Perhaps people are confusing the
two.”Since taking office in May, Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has pledged
to ensure the armed factions that emerged in the years that followed
the US-led invasion hand over their weapons to the state.While some
factions have in recent weeks said they would join state institutions,
others, in particular those closer to Iran, are refusing.“The situation
is extremely complicated,” a government official told AFP, requesting
anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter.“The
government is insisting on closing the weapons file; but faction leaders
are determined to hold onto their weapons because they believe
disarming would serve Israel and the United States.”The most powerful
armed factions in Iraq include Kataeb Hezbollah, a part of Iran’s
so-called “Axis of Resistance” against the US and Israel.Saudi Arabia, a
close ally of the US, has also accused armed groups in Iraq of
launching attacks against it.Another Iraqi source told AFP that Iran
views its proxies in the region, “especially in Iraq, as a source of
strength it refuses to give up.”Times of Israel staff contributed to
this report.
OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26
Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and
the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the
light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of
his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold,
the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the
burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his
tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22
And except those days should be shortened,(DAY LIGHT HOURS SHORTENED)
there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE)
those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)(THE ASTEROID
HITS EARTH HERE)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days
shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and
the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9
And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God,
which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him
glory.
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the
sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON THE MOON-LUNAR
ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS-PROPHECY SIGNS) and upon the earth
distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the
waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for
fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things
which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION-HEAVENLY OBJECTS) for the
powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and
there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers
places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and
there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines
and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11
And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and
pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from
heaven.
DEUTORONOMY 28:24
24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with
blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees
was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
JAMES 1:11
11
For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the
grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of
it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
The
Hebrew noun accurately translated “oven” refers to a “baking oven” as
distinct from a kiln or smelting furnace—both of which burn much hotter.
(The Hebrew nouns for “kiln” or for “smelting furnace” are more likely
to appear in contexts of God's wrath or judgment.)
21 They have
roused me to jealousy with a non-god, they have exasperated me with
their idols. In my turn I shall rouse them to jealousy with a
non-people, I shall exasperate them with a stupid nation.
22 Yes, a
fire has blazed from my anger, it will burn right down to the depths of
Sheol; it will devour the earth and all its produce, it will set fire to
the footings of the mountains.
23 I shall hurl disasters on them, on them I shall use up all my arrows.
Ephesians 2:2
2
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air,(LIBERAL GODLESS AIR
WAVES) the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience:(GODLESS)
2 Peter 3:6-7 Amplified Bible (AMP) (HOT SUN, NUKES ETC)
6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
7
By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire,
being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
Daniel
chapter 10 provides us with a particularly fascinating incident from
the life of the prophet Daniel. The incident has to do with answers to
prayer and why those answers sometimes get delayed. In Daniel’s case,
his answer was delayed for three full weeks.
12 Then said he unto me,
Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day (3 WEEKS EARLIER) that thou
didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy
God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.(THIS SEEMS TO ME
TO BE MICHAEL THE ARCH ANGEL ISRAELS WAR ANGEL OF PROTECTION.) THAT
CAME TO DANIEL.
13 But the prince (TERRITORIAL DEMON OVER IRAN) of
the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days:(3 WEEKS) but,
lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained
there with the kings of Persia.
14 Now I am come to make thee
understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the
vision is for many days.(THE POINT HERE IS THAT SAME TERRITORIAL DEMON
THAT STOPPED DANIELS PRAYER FROM BEING ANSWERED FOR 3 WEEKS-IS STILL
OVER IRANS TERRITORY THAT LEADS THE LEADERS OF IRAN). THATS WHY IRAN
WILL NEVER STOP MAKING NUKES TILL ISRAEL IS OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH.
WITH THIS TERRITORIAL DEMON CONTROLLING THE MINDS OF KHAMENEI AND THE
LEADERS IN IRAN.
Fast-moving wildfire amid shifting winds
threatens Reno, Nevada, forcing thousands to evacuate-Smoke billows in
the distance as a wildfire in Reno, By JOHN RABY, JACK BROOK and JOHN
SEEWER-Updated 2:42 AM EDT, August 24, 2026
An out-of-control
wildfire that jumped over fire trucks and made it difficult for crews to
reach hot spots destroyed homes in northwest Reno, Nevada, on Sunday.
Shifting winds challenged firefighters trying to bring it under control,
and authorities urged some 90,000 people to evacuate.At least six
people — three first responders and three civilians — were injured.
Officials said the fire was “human-caused” but did not provide details
on how they reached that conclusion, or whether it was intentionally set
or accidental.The Hawk Fire began Saturday and grew to more than 23
square miles (60 sq. km.) as it spread Sunday across the Peavine Peak
area of the Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest, where rugged foothills are
ringed by homes and businesses near the California state line. There
was zero containment.Some 42,000 residents have been ordered evacuated
as the “GO NOW” zone expanded, reaching the edge of the University of
Nevada. An additional 45,000 people were in the adjacent evacuation
warning zone. Authorities urged people to be prepared to stay away for
several days, because shifting and strengthening winds were expected to
make the fire even more unpredictable“Please get out if you can right
now,” Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam said.A Sunday evening update
said crews observed “extreme fire behavior” as gusts pushed flames
through dry brush.“Over the next 12 hours, the fire is expected to
continue to make moderate to high intensity runs in pockets of dense
fuels,” the statement said.It wasn’t known how many homes were
destroyed. Cari Kieffer said a video posted on social media showed her
house entirely burned down, with only a scorched basketball hoop still
standing.“I woke up this morning and just started crying — all my kids,
they lost everything,” Kieffer said Sunday. “We lost all our stuff.
Everything we own is gone.”Kieffer had been watching her son’s football
game Saturday when she learned that their home on the outskirts of Reno
was in the evacuation zone. An app the family used to track the fire’s
progress had been lagging significantly behind its actual location, she
said, so they thought firefighters had kept the blaze from their
neighborhood.Instead, Kieffer, her husband and their four children ages 3
to 16 raced to save their dogs and whatever possessions they could
retrieve. Ash rained down, and the wind blew like an oven blast from a
wall of flames advancing down the hillside toward their neighborhood,
she said.“I kept looking outside and the flames just kept getting closer
and closer every time I looked,” Kieffer said. “I was like, we gotta go
like now.”Eyes watering and throat burning, Kieffer grabbed a handful
of clothes, a Bible, her wedding photos and her mother’s ashes. In the
frenzy, as firefighters yelled at her family to leave immediately, she
said she forgot her family’s birth certificates and was unable to
salvage her childhood photos.The family drove to a friend’s home but had
to evacuate again. They learned later Saturday evening that their own
home was gone.Governor declares state of emergency and mobilizes
National Guard-Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo declared a state of emergency in
Washoe County and mobilized the Nevada National Guard to support aerial
firefighting with two helicopter crews as well as 60 troops to help
police safeguard evacuated neighborhoods. Also responding were 800 fire
personnel.Nearly 10,000 customers were without power in Washoe County on
Sunday, down from 60,000 on Saturday. Portions of U.S. Route 395, a
major north-south highway, were closed due to the fire. Reno, with more
than 280,000 residents, is the largest city in Nevada outside of metro
Las Vegas.Washoe County emergency officials opened the Reno-Sparks
Convention Center to evacuees, but said they couldn’t bring their pets —
small animals and large animals were to be left at two other locations.
Casinos in Reno offered discounts on hotel rooms to evacuees.The fire
turned destructive fast-The fire was so small Saturday morning that it
wasn’t even a concern, said Tyler Duvall, who went camping over the
weekend. By the next day, his house was in the evacuation zone.“The wind
really blew it up,” Duvall said.On Saturday alone, 15 new fires popped
up across Nevada. Months of dry weather and a record lack of snow this
past winter across the American West have created prime fire conditions.
Earlier this month, wildfires in eastern Washington state forced the
evacuation of 60,000 people in the Spokane area, while three wildfires
north of Reno forced more than 13,000 residents from their homes.A
mountaintop home goes up in flames-Jaida Hargrove’s grandfather, Rick
Arrate, lived alone on Peavine Mountain, which overlooks Reno and
Sparks. Firefighters used a bulldozer, cut down trees and applied fire
retardant in their attempt to contain the flames, Hargrove said.“They
all thought it would be OK,” she said. “And then, in about 30 minutes,
the winds just changed and it came way too fast.”Arrate and the
firefighters were quickly forced off the mountain. “All he was able to
take with him was his two golden retrievers,” Hargrove said.Arrate spent
Saturday night with Hargrove’s parents, his next steps unknown.Separate
GoFundMe crowdfunding campaigns were set up to assist Arrate and the
Kieffer family.A Nevada transplant gets a rude welcome to Reno-Retired
police officer and firefighter Ted Melden has seen his share of Mother
Nature’s fury since moving to Reno with his wife earlier this month from
Chapin, South Carolina. So far, he has experienced a hailstorm with
flash flooding, two different power outages and, now, the second
wildfire incident in the region in two weeks.“Just another natural
disaster,” Melden said.In the two years he lived in South Carolina,
Melden said Hurricane Helene knocked over trees in his yard, while a
tornado did some damage in his neighborhood.For now, Melden hasn’t been
ordered to leave his home, but he has his bags packed just in case.“You
just have to roll with the flow and be ready,” he said.David Barb
returned from a weekend hunting trip to find the fire had leveled his
taxidermy shop, but his house nearby appeared to have been spared thanks
to workers with a landscaping company who cut a fire break, he said.
His wife was home when the fire started on the other side of the
mountain and later evacuated to a friend’s house.“I’m kind of
devastated, but thank God everyone’s safe,” he said Sunday.esidents just
outside the evacuation zone are keeping watch-The University of Nevada,
where many of the 20,000 undergraduates moved into their housing this
weekend, was just outside the evacuation zone Sunday.Two hospitals
evacuated patients and the sheriff said his office was keeping a close
watch on whether to evacuate the county jail.The fire moved
exceptionally fast Saturday night, jumping over fire trucks and making
it difficult for responders to get to hot spots while residents were
trying to get out, the sheriff said.“It was extremely confusing,” Balaam
said, describing how changing winds sent the flames in different
directions.___Raby reported from Charleston, West Virginia, Brook from
New Orleans and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio.
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