Weekly roundup of world briefs

Kushner returns to advise Trump on administration

By Ariel Kahana

(Israel Hayom via JNS) — New details emerged Sunday morning about Donald Trump’s developing administration. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has returned to closely assist the president-elect in preparations for building the new administration.

Kushner, 43, was among the key figures in Trump’s first administration and led many of its successes. Since the 2020 election, he and his wife, Ivanka, Trump’s daughter, have avoided public and political activity, partly to provide their children with a more comfortable life.

Kushner broke his silence about a month ago, strongly criticizing the Biden administration for its approach toward Israel and the Middle East. According to a source familiar with the matter, he has now returned to active involvement in the president’s circle to contribute his experience ahead of Trump’s second term, which begins on Jan. 20.

Meanwhile, Republican Party sources assess that Trump’s rejection of a post for former CIA director and secretary of state Mike Pompeo increases the likelihood of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) being selected as the next secretary of state.

Rubio, 53, a strong supporter of Israel, has grown considerably closer to Trump in recent months and attended the victory event in West Palm Beach, Fla. on Tuesday night. According to two sources, the chances of his selection as America’s top diplomat are high.

Originally published by Israel Hayom.

Palestinian official media describes ‘warm’ call between Abbas, Trump

(JNS) — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump held a “warm and general” call with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Friday, a Palestinian official told Axios, which reported that the two last spoke in 2017.

Abbas “extended his congratulations to President-elect Trump, wishing him success in his upcoming term in office,” according to Wafa, which is aligned with the Palestinian Authority. “The Palestinian leader expressed his hope that Trump would lead the United States towards further progress and prosperity.”

The Palestinian leader “also reaffirmed his readiness to work with President Trump in pursuit of a just and comprehensive peace, based on international legitimacy and principles,” per Wafa. “In response, President Trump emphasized his commitment to stop the war and reiterated his willingness to collaborate with President Abbas, as well as other regional and global stakeholders, in efforts to achieve peace in the region.”

In July, Trump stated that Abbas had sent him a letter condemning the assassination attempt against him. According to the post, Abbas wrote that “acts of violence must not have a place in a world of law and order. Respect for the other with tolerance and valuing of human life is what must prevail.”

New trial for Jew on death row in Texas due to judge’s Jew-hatred

(JNS) — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals voted 6-3 to grant a new trial to Randy Ethan Halprin, 47, after it found that the judge who ruled against him “was biased against him at the time of his trial because he is Jewish,” the Associated Press reported.

Halprin, who is on death row, is part of the “Texas 7,” which shot and killed a police officer after breaking free from prison in December 2000, per the AP. 

He had been serving a 30-year sentence after admitting to brutally attacking a 16-month-old baby.

Sonia Sotomayor, associate Supreme Court justice, wrote on April 6, 2020 of the judge’s antisemitic statements that “the facts underlying this petition are deeply disturbing.”

Judea and Samaria leader saves Palestinian driver’s life

(JNS) — Israel Ganz, who leads the Yesha Council umbrella group of Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria, saved the life of a Palestinian who was in a car crash near his office over the weekend.

Ganz was leaving his office at the Binyamin Regional Council offices in Sha’ar Binyamin, north of Jerusalem, when two vehicles collided on the Route 60 highway, video footage shared by the Arutz 7 news outlet showed.

Ganz exited his vehicle and pulled the Palestinian driver out of the damaged car, moments before it caught fire. The local leader then returned to search the burning car for possible additional victims.

Following the accident, the road was briefly closed in both directions as police, firefighters and council security officials were called to the scene.

Ganz—who has also headed the Binyamin Regional Council, which administers large parts of southern Samaria, since 2018—was elected in May to lead the Yesha Council, which represents the interests of some 500,000 Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria.

A total of 358 people were killed in 336 fatal road accidents in Israel in 2023, the National Road Safety Administration revealed earlier this year. The 2023 figure was about 2 percent higher than the previous year’s and 5 percent higher than the average for the years 2020-22, it noted.

Israel Ganz pulled an Arab out of his damaged car, moments before it caught fire.

(JNS) — Israel Ganz, who leads the Yesha Council umbrella group of Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria, saved the life of a Palestinian who was in a car crash near his office over the weekend.

Ganz was leaving his office at the Binyamin Regional Council offices in Sha’ar Binyamin, north of Jerusalem, when two vehicles collided on the Route 60 highway, video footage shared by the Arutz 7 news outlet showed.

Ganz exited his vehicle and pulled the Palestinian driver out of the damaged car, moments before it caught fire. The local leader then returned to search the burning car for possible additional victims.

Following the accident, the road was briefly closed in both directions as police, firefighters and council security officials were called to the scene.

Ganz—who has also headed the Binyamin Regional Council, which administers large parts of southern Samaria, since 2018—was elected in May to lead the Yesha Council, which represents the interests of the some 500,000 Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria.

A total of 358 people were killed in 336 fatal road accidents in Israel in 2023, the National Road Safety Administration revealed earlier this year. The 2023 figure was about 2% higher than the previous year’s and 5% higher than the average for the years 2020-22, it noted.

NSC warns travelers anti-Israel orgs plan more pogroms

(JNS) — Israel’s National Security Council issued an alert for Israeli travelers on Sunday in the wake of the Nov. 7 attacks on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam, warning that anti-Israel groups have called to harm Israelis and Jews elsewhere in Europe.

Pro-Palestinian groups are planning to harm Jews by exploiting gatherings at sports and cultural events, the NSC said. Networks have been identified in a number of European cities, including Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris, where the Israeli national team will play on Nov. 14.

The NSC issued the following guidance: 

1. In the coming week, avoid attending sporting and cultural events altogether, with a special emphasis on the upcoming Israeli national team game in Paris.

2. Stay away from demonstrations and protests of any kind.

3. Immediately notify local security forces of any incidents of threat/ assault.

4. Be extra careful to keep Israeli identification symbols private, including when booking taxis, or hiring vehicles using apps.

5. Check before traveling to areas prone to violence and disturbances, high crime or that have large immigrant populations from countries hostile to Israel.

IDF kills Islamic Jihad operations chief in Gaza

(JNS) — A prominent Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Muhammad Abu Sakhil headed operations for the terrorist group and worked in a command and control center embedded in a compound in northern Gaza that previously served as a school. 

“The terrorist was a significant figure for the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization in the planning and execution of terrorist activities and coordinating attacks with Hamas against Israeli civilians and IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said, adding that he compiled situational assessments for the terror group.

The IDF emphasized that precautions were taken to avoid harming civilians during the strike, adding that the use of the school as a command center was another example of how Islamic Jihad systematically exploits civilian infrastructure and the civilian population as human shields.

One thousand Hamas terrorists have been killed and another thousand captured in Jabalia over the past three weeks, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said on Friday.

Speaking during a situational assessment in the northern Gaza city, Halevi said it was a “significant achievement that deals Hamas a severe blow.”

The IDF launched a major operation in the city in early October, following indications of a Hamas resurgence there.

Israel, said Halevi, was “sending Hamas a very clear message: The IDF does not tire. The more we fight, the stronger we become, gaining more experience, capabilities, professionalism, values and determination. We are progressing with great intensity.”

Netanyahu’s security measures tightened following drone attack

(JNS) — For the past three weeks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has worked mostly from a safe room in the basement level of the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, Israel’s Channel 12 News reported on Sunday.

Netanyahu has been conducting most of his routine schedule and meetings from this secure location since a Hezbollah drone hit his private residence in Caesarea on Oct. 19.

In the wake of the attack, security officials cited in the report recommended that the Israeli premier avoid remaining in one location for too long, as well as postponing the wedding of his son Avner.

Hezbollah’s Oct. 19 drone attack included three drones, one of which scored a direct hit on a bedroom window at Netanyahu’s Caesarea residence. The premier and his wife were not home at the time.

Following the attempted assassination, security measures for government ministers and other officials were “significantly” reinforced, according to the report.

“The attempt by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to assassinate me and my wife today was a grave mistake,” the prime minister said after the incident. “This will not deter me or the State of Israel from continuing our just war against our enemies in order to secure our future. I say to Iran and its proxies in its axis of evil: Anyone who tries to harm Israel’s citizens will pay a heavy price,” he added.

Netanyahu lawyers seek to delay his corruption trial testimony

(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyers on Sunday requested that the Jerusalem District Court postpone his trial testimony until March 2025. 

In July, the court set Dec. 2 as the start date for Netanyahu’s testimony in his corruption trial. The premier was indicted for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in January 2020. 

In their request to the court, Netanyahu’s defense team argued that due to a series of security-related events amid Israel’s ongoing wars in the north and south, the premier has not had sufficient time to prepare for trial, according to Hebrew media.

“A tremendous effort was made to utilize the period of time to prepare for the beginning of the defense case and for the hearing of the Prime Minister’s testimony,” the lawyers told the court. 

They requested another delay of two and a half months.

Reports of Kristallnacht assault in Sweden false, locals say

By Canaan Lidor

(JNS) — An altercation in Stockholm, Sweden on Sunday reported on in Israel and elsewhere as an antisemitic incident during a commemoration event for the 1938 Nazi Kristallnacht pogroms really wasn’t, the head of Sweden’s Jewish community told JNS on Monday.

The reports are “not really true,” said Aron Verständig, the president of the Council of Swedish Jewish Communities.

According to Verständig, a non-Jewish, transgender activist holding an Israeli flag had confronted anti-Israel protesters during one of their rallies. The anti-Israel protesters took the flag and threw it into a canal. The incident was unrelated to any Kristallnacht commemoration, he said.

The incident in Sweden followed a pre-planned mass assault on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam on the night of Nov. 7. Separately, players for the Jewish TuS Makkabi soccer team were reportedly assaulted on Thursday following a game against DJK Schwarz-Weiß Neukölln in Berlin, Germany.

The assaults in Amsterdam, which left some 25 Israelis injured and which prominent politicians in Israel and the Netherlands condemned as a pogrom, focused international attention on Europe’s antisemitism problem in general and its growth among Muslim immigrants and their descendants.

In the wake of the Amsterdam attacks, Israel’s National Security Council issued a travel alert, warning that anti-Israel groups have called to harm Israelis and Jews elsewhere in Europe.

IDF expands Gaza humanitarian zone

(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces announced on Monday that the Gaza humanitarian zone has been expanded in coordination with the Israeli Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and the international community.

Gazans in the expanded zone have access to field hospitals established since the start of the war, tent compounds, shelter supplies and provision of food, water, medicine and medical equipment, the IDF said. 

The army published a map of the expanded zone, including via the X account of Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, head of the Arab Media Branch in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

“The IDF will continue to work toward achieving the objectives of the war, including dismantling Hamas and returning all hostages,” the IDF said.

The expanded humanitarian zone comes amid an operation to root out a Hamas insurgency in Jabalia and other areas of northern Gaza and as the outgoing Biden administration pressures Jerusalem to meet its demands for Gaza aid.

Senator likely to join Trump admin blasts ICC for Israel probe

By Ariel Kahana

(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton, widely anticipated to secure a position in the new Trump administration, issued a statement on Sunday night condemning the International Criminal Court‘s warning regarding possible arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

“The International Criminal Court has no jurisdiction in Israel and its illegal pursuit of Israeli officials is built on a lie,” the lawmaker said. “Any attempt by kangaroo court prosecutor Karim Khan to threaten the United States or our allies should be seen as an act of aggression and face swift retaliation.”

Cotton stressed that “a bipartisan majority in the House [of Representatives] has passed a bill to sanction Karim Khan and anyone else involved in any U.S., Israeli or other allied citizen being wrongfully targeted by the ICC. [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer should immediately bring this up for a vote in the Senate.”

In September, Khan presented the judges’ panel with a request to rule on warrants against Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, who was subsequently killed by the IDF during the fighting in Gaza. Khan withdrew the arrest warrant request for Sinwar and for his predecessor as Hamas chief, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran in July.

Originally published by Israel Hayom.

MBS accuses Israel of Gaza genocide, calls for ceasefires

(JNS) — Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Monday that Israel is committing a campaign of “genocide” in Gaza, a charge that Jerusalem vehemently denies.

The kingdom’s de facto ruler called on the international community to “immediately halt the Israeli actions against our brothers in Palestine and Lebanon.”

Jerusalem has also repeatedly emphasized that its fight is with Hezbollah terrorists and not with the Lebanese people.

The prince’s harsh criticisms of Israel’s military confrontations with the Iranian-back terrorist organizations came during a joint Arab League and Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit held in Riyadh on Monday.

Arab and Muslim leaders arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday for the summit organized by the country’s foreign ministry to focus on the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud announced the summit in late October.

Attendees would “discuss the continued Israeli aggression on the Palestinian territories and the Lebanese Republic, and the current developments in the region,” the official Saudi Press Agency said on Sunday.