The Israel Police has told organizations of anti-government they will no longer be allowed to hold their regular Saturday-night protest at Tel Aviv’s busy Kaplan Junction.
Authorities informed organizers on Wednesday that recent rallies were too small to justify blocking the key intersection, demanding that future demonstrations be held on the nearby Begin Road, closer to the Kirya military headquarters.
Police said they will reassess the location of the rallies if there is a large number of attendants at the protest.
This Saturday, activists plan to hold their first mass rally since the IDF removed all limitations on large gatherings in central Israel in light of the ceasefire in the war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In a recorded address, the current Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem accused Israel, along with the United States, of being behind the Syrian rebels currently capturing territory held by the Assad regime.
“Israel and the US are behind the belligerent organizations in Syria,” Qassem said.  “They have been doing this since 2011 to sow chaos across Syria so the country leaves the Axis of Resistance. Hezbollah will stand with the Syrian government as much as it can to eliminate this attack.”

A shul in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, was set on fire early Friday morning, leading to the evacuation of congregants and leaving at least one person injured.
The fire, which broke out before dawn at Adass Israel, an Orthodox haredi shul located in the Ripponlea area, prompted those attending morning prayers to flee into the streets at 4:10 a.m. Those who escaped reported seeing attackers smash windows and launch firebombs into the building.
The fire caused significant damage and was finally extinguished by 5 a.m. after 60 firefighters and 17 fire trucks responded, according to the Australian newspaper, The Age.

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu held a meeting on Thursday with the heads of Israel’s security services to discuss the recent developments in Syria, as rebels continue their advance, now capturing the city of Hama.
With the capture of Hama, officials are increasingly concerned that the Assad regime may collapse, and wonder what that could mean for Israel.
Two senior Israeli officials told Axios that Israeli intelligence was suprised by the faster-than-expected collapse of the Syrian army’s defense over the past 24 hours, with one official saying that the fall of Assad feels more likely than it had until very recently.

The FBI is invesitigating the large, flying drones seen near Trump’s golf course in New Jersey.

President Joe Biden and his top staffers are discussing whether to grant preemptive pardons to figures who might face the hostility of the incoming Trump administration, concerned that President-elect Donald Trump and others in his circle have threatened to go after their political adversaries.
Among those being weighed for potential pardons are Anthony S. Fauci, who helped coordinate Biden’s covid-19 response; retired Gen. Mark A. Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has called Trump a “fascist”; Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-California), who led the first impeachment effort against Trump; and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), an outspoken GOP critic of Trump.

A new survey released by the Jewish Medical Association of Ontario found that almost one-third (31%) of the 500 respondents in Ontario are considering leaving Canada due to the rising rates of antisemitism in the country.
The full survey, released on Wednesday, received responses from more than 1,000 Jewish medical professionals across Canada.

NASA on Thursday announced another delay to its first crewed lunar mission since Apollo, with astronauts now set to fly around the moon in 2026 and land in 2027.
The delay means the Artemis II – the next flight in NASA’s Artemis moon program that looks to return humans to the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years – will launch roughly 17 months after it was initially scheduled.
NASA now expects to launch the Artemis II mission in April 2026, when it will send four astronauts on a 10-day trip around the moon. The Artemis III lunar landing flight will follow in mid-2027. NASA attributed the delay to modifications in the Orion spacecraft’s reentry process to mitigate pressure on its heat shield.

Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair showed no remorse after a three-game suspension was upheld on Wednesday for his season-ending hit on Jacksonville Jaguars star quarterback Trevor Lawrence, posting an image of his “free” Palestine cleats that include statistics from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
“If you want me to be your villain, I’ll be your villain. See you soon,” he wrote, adding emojis of a middle finger and a Joker playing card.
Al-Shaair injured Lawrence’s shoulder and gave him a concussion after a tackle to the head while the quarterback was sliding during the Jaguars’ 23-20 loss on Sunday.

New research reveals the extent of Jew-hatred in Australia since the Hamas-led terror attacks against southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) released a report on Dec. 1 tracking incidents from October 2023 through September 2024, which showed that in 2023 the total antisemitic incidents in the country reached 495. For 2024, that number rose to 2062, a 316% jump.