The incitement in Israel against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has reached new heights in recent days, with left-wing provocateurs repeatedly calling him a “murderer” in the wake of the executions of the six hostages in Gaza last week. Housing Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf complained about the incitement in the Cabinet meeting this week, saying that people who call Netanyahu a murderer should be imprisoned. He also slammed opposition leader Yair Lapid who claimed that Netanyahu was responsible for the murders. National Unity chairman Benny Gantz spoke at the Israel Bar Association in Tel Aviv on Tuesday and referred to the incitement against Netanyahu. “I would like to state the obvious here – Netanyahu is not a murderer and I condemn the incitement against him,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged a “strong reaction” to the deaths of six hostages whose bodies were found in Gaza over the weekend, stating that Israel plans “to hurt Hamas in a way Israel hasn’t done before,” according to an Israeli official. “The intention of the PM now is to hurt Hamas in a way Israel hasn’t done before,” the official told CNN.

Hamas has issued a stark warning, stating that Israeli hostages held in Gaza will return “inside coffins” if Israel attempts to free them through military action rather than negotiating a deal. In a statement released by the militant group, which controls Gaza, Hamas claimed its fighters guarding the hostages in the Palestinian enclave have received “new instructions” on how to handle the situation if Israeli forces approach. The group also released an illustrated poster apparently depicting hostages being threatened with a gun.

Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, in its neverending efforts to singlehandedly rule the country, ordered Justice Minister Yariv Levin to convene the Judicial Selection Committee “in the coming days” in order to elect a new Supreme Court president and two new justices or they will issue a ruling on the matter on September 1. Following former Supreme Court President Esther Hayut’s resignation in October 2023, a long-standing dispute developed between Justice Minister Yariv Levin and the Supreme Court regarding the appointment of a new president. Traditionally, the next most senior justice becomes president. However, there is no law mandating this. The next most senior justice, Yitzchak Amit, is a liberal, and Levin wanted to prevent his appointment as president.

Kaid Farhan Al-Qadi, 52, the first Israeli hostage to be rescued alive from a tunnel, looked gaunt after being released from 326 days in captivity on Tuesday. He was rescued from a tunnel in southern Gaza, where he was held alone. However, doctors at Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva say that although he lost a lot of weight, he is in good condition. Al-Qadi, who has two wives and 11 children, held emotional reunions with his family members, including his one-year-old son, who was an infant when he was abducted. Qadi’s relatives, who didn’t even know until today if he was still alive, said that he “ate mainly bread in captivity and not every day. But he is on his feet and he’s coherent. He was constantly thinking about the family and never stopped believing that he would get out of there.

The same Iranian hacking group believed to have targeted both the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns tried to go after the WhatsApp accounts of staffers in the administrations of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, Meta Platforms said Friday. Meta said it discovered the network of hackers, who posed as tech support agents for companies including AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo and Google, after individuals who received the suspicious WhatsApp messages reported them. Meta’s investigators linked the activity to the same network blamed for the hacking incident reported by Trump’s campaign. The FBI this week said a hack by Iran of the Trump campaign and an attempted breach of the Biden-Harris campaign was part of a broader Iranian effort to interfere with the U.S.

Agudath Israel hosted an event on the sidelines of the DNC in Chicago bringing together elected officials and stakeholders from federal, state, and local government including, Senator Debby Stabenow (D- Michigan), NJ Governor Phil Murphy, NJ Congressman Josh Gottheimer, NY Congressman Pat Ryan, Illinois Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiss, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, and numerous state and local officials from across the country to highlight the alarming rise of antisemitism and the growing electoral strength of Orthodox Jewish community. Agudah Chairman Shloime Werdiger opened the jammed packed event with a straightforward explanation: “The Jewish people are living though very trying times.

As the 2024 presidential race heats up, some of the far-right’s most prominent voices are beginning to turn against former president Donald Trump’s campaign, signaling a potential fracturing of his base. Key influencers, once staunch supporters, are now threatening a digital “war” against Trump’s aides, warning that his campaign is veering too far from the hard-right positions that galvanized their support. Nick Fuentes, a neo-Nazi white supremacist and podcaster, has been one of the most vocal critics. Fuentes, who dined with Trump in 2022 at Mar-a-Lago, blasted the campaign on X, claiming that Trump’s strategy was “blowing it” by not embracing more extreme views on race and immigration. His post criticizing the campaign has been viewed 2.6 million times.

Eden Dabas, 30, a resident of Ramat Gan, was formally indicted Monday on charges of allegedly collaborating with an Iranian foreign agent. According to the prosecution, Dabas had been in contact with the foreign agent for the past four months, using the encrypted messaging app Telegram to communicate. In exchange for completing a series of tasks, Dabas reportedly received $12,000 in cryptocurrency payments. Among the tasks he allegedly carried out were printing and hanging posters advocating for a military coup in Israel and promoting a Telegram group called “The People’s Army,” which seeks to recruit more Israeli citizens for similar efforts. Prosecutors further revealed that Dabas documented his activities by sending video proof to the foreign agent to secure payment.

A District of Columbia councilmember known for promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories accepted over $150,000 in bribes in exchange for pressuring D.C. employees to extend city contracts for violence intervention services, authorities alleged in court records unsealed Monday. Trayon White Sr., a Democrat who ran an unsuccessful mayoral campaign in 2022, was arrested Sunday on a federal bribery charge and ordered released from custody after a brief court appearance Monday. His attorney declined to comment on the allegations against him. White agreed in June to accept roughly $156,000 in kickbacks and cash payments in exchange for pressuring government agency employees to extend two companies’ contracts worth over $5 million, authorities alleged in an FBI affidavit.