The Israel Defense Forces had successfully dealt with many security challenges over the past year, “in both nearby and far-off arenas,” Israel Defense Forces’ Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi said on Monday, but the “challenges are not over.”
Speaking at a memorial ceremony for the soldiers who fell in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Kochavi said, “Last summer was full of security incidents, both above and below the surface, in both nearby and far-off arenas.”
In the Gaza Strip, he said, “rocket fire was avoided and neutralized, and infiltration attempts were thwarted time and again.” In Judea and Samaria, he continued, “the intelligence and operational effort that prevented many, if not all, terrorist attacks continues.”

Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan on Monday morning blamed the violence of Arab society for a recent wave of murders in Israel’s Arab sector, drawing criticism from Arab Knesset members.
“Arab society—and I say this with great pain—is a very, very violent society,” said Erdan in an interview with Radio Jerusalem. “Instead of lawsuits, they pull out a knife.”
Erdan lamented the phenomenon of “honor killings,” and said he would not allow the discussion to fade into the background.
“A mother can allow her son to murder his sister because she’s going out with a man the family doesn’t like,” he said. “I will not allow this discussion to be sidetracked.”

More than 50 Democratic House members issued an open letter Wednesday to President Donald Trump saying his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northeastern Syria in advance of a Turkish military operation puts U.S. allies in danger, jeopardizes U.S. counterterrorism efforts in the region and will cause “current and future allies to question the reliability of the U.S. as a partner.”
Signers of the letter include a wide spectrum of political views within the party, from the left, to moderates, combat veterans such as Jason Crow of Colorado and former CIA officers Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, who won in a district Trump carried in 2016.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s four days of hearings with the state prosecution are coming to an end, and all indications yield that the attorney general will move forward with his decision to indict the prime minister on corruption charges.
Justice Ministry officials involved in the hearings have revealed that “no contrary evidence to the charges” to defend the prime minister have been presented during the hearing, and “it won’t take long for us to come to a final decision.”
This is a very different message than the statement made by Netanyahu’s attorney, Amit Hadad, who said that “at the end of the day, we think these files need to be closed, and we believe that this will happen.”

President Donald Trump brushed aside warnings from the United Nations on Wednesday that the 74-year-old organization risks being unable to pay its staff and bills if member nations don’t cough up their annual dues soon, USA Today reports.
Washington owes the U.N. $381 million in back payments and $674 million this year, according to the U.S. mission to the U.N. As the largst contributor to the 193-member organization, the U.S. has long sought to pressure the U.N. to rein in spending.

A new poll released Wednesday by Fox News shows that just more than half of all registered voters support President Trump’s impeachment and removal from office.
Those surveyed said 51% to 43% that Trump should be impeached and removed from office. Four percent said he should be impeached but not removed from office, and 40% said he should not be impeached at all.
The poll also showed a clear partisan divide. Of Democrats surveyed, 85% said Trump should be impeached and removed, as did 13% of Republicans. Those opposed to impeachment and removal included 9% of Democrats and 82% of Republicans.

The Orthodox Union on Wednesday night expressed its deepest sympathies to the Jewish community of Halle, Germany, where an attack left at least two people dead and others injured after a gunman targeted a shul.
“This senseless act of anti-Semitic violence was not only a heinous attack on the Jewish community of Halle, but it’s yet another example of anti-Semitism in Germany which continues to proliferate. Every Jew has the right to practice their religion without fear of being a victim of terror,” said Orthodox Union Executive Vice President Allen Fagin.
“An attack on a Jew anywhere is an attack on every Jew, and our prayers and thoughts are with our brethren in Halle,” added Fagin.

United Hatzalah volunteer EMTs responded to a medical emergency in Elad which saw a 9-year-old boy sustain a serious injury while building a sukkah on Erev Yom Kippur in Elad.
United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Dovid Entebbe who was one of the first responders at the scene said: “We responded to an emergency where a nine-year-old boy was using an electric circular saw to cut wood while helping to build his family’s sukkah. Two of his finger were severed completely. Together with other EMS personnel I treated the boy forbhis injuries at the scene, after which he was transported to the hospital for further care.”
{Matzav.com}

Yair Lapid — co-chairman of Israel’s centrist Blue and White party — issued a rare, if indirect, criticism of the Trump administration on Monday, expressing support for two US senators opposed to the president’s just-announced plan to pull American troops out of northern Syria to clear the way for a Turkish invasion.
The critique of Trump’s move has centered on the likely consequences for the region’s Kurdish population, whose US-allied militias played a decisive role in the defeat of the Islamic State.
“I join my friends @LindseyGrahamSC and @ChrisVanHollen in their call to impose sanctions on Turkey and suspend it from NATO in response to any attack on the Kurds in northern Syria,” Lapid tweeted.

Former Vice President Joe Biden explicitly called for President Trump to be impeached on Wednesday afternoon at a campaign stop in New Hampshire, the Daily Beast reports.  “Donald Trump has violated his oath of office, betrayed this nation and committed impeachable acts,” Biden said while speaking onstage at a stop in Rochester. “He should be impeached.” The move represents a significantly stronger stance for the Democratic contender, who has for weeks faced sustained attacks from the president. He went on to criticize Trump’s treatment of the United States Constitution, saying he’s “shooting holes” in the document. “The United States cannot have a president who will abuse whatever power he has available to him in order to get reelected,” he said.