KOENIG

Defense Minister Israel Katz has walked back his Tuesday morning statement claiming that Israel plans to settle northern Gaza and has no intention of withdrawing from territory under Israeli control in either Gaza or Syria.

"The defense minister’s remarks regarding the integration of Nahal nuclei in northern Gaza were made strictly in security-related contexts," Katz's office said in a Tuesday afternoon statement. "The government has no intention of establishing settlements in the Gaza Strip.”

The statement came after Katz told Reuters on Tuesday afternoon that Israel has "no intention of establishing settlements in Gaza" in a statement only released in English. 

Nearly 30 career foreign service officers are being told to report back to Washington as part of a continuation of major changes inside the U.S. State Department.

Mass resignations from the Heritage Foundation continued on Monday, as more than a dozen former staffers ... announced they were joining former vice president Mike Pence’s policy organization. ... The moves come amid the ongoing fallout from Heritage president Kevin Roberts’s decision to defend media personality Tucker Carlson for giving a friendly interview to neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes, which Roberts said later was a “mistake” but that he would stick by Carlson.

After the three rounds of direct conflict with Iran since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, Israeli officialdom understands that the country cannot afford to let fundamentalists possess destructive capabilities, Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz told JNS on Monday.

“The missile plan of Iran is definitely a strategic weapon in their hands, and I think we should re-prevent it,” he said, speaking at a meeting of his party at the Knesset in Jerusalem.

“When to do it, how to do it, and what is the right calculus, whether it’s regional or global, that’s a different story. But we should not allow Iran to be able to negatively dominate the region,” he added.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned on Sunday that Hamas appeared to be rearming and trying to strengthen its control of Gaza, while Hezbollah continued to produce weapons in Lebanon.

The senator spoke during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu welcomed Graham, calling him “a great friend of Israel and a dear personal friend,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is aware that Iran has been conducting “exercises” recently, adding that Tehran’s nuclear activities will be discussed with US President Donald Trump.

“We are following this and doing all the necessary preparations,” Netanyahu says in a press conference in Jerusalem alongside the leaders of Greece and Cyprus.

“I want to convey this clearly to Iran: Any action against Israel will be met with a very severe response.”

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Thursday that disarming Hamas is “absolutely going to happen” and that he expects to see other countries in the region join the Abraham Accords next year.

He spoke as U.S. President’s Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan is expected to move to its second stage next month following the president’s anticipated meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida after Christmas.

“The challenge of getting Hamas disarmed is not a goal that has been abandoned,” Huckabee told JNS in an exclusive interview in his Jerusalem embassy office. “The president has been very clear: They have to disarm and recognize they have no future in Gaza.”

Reports indicate that Iran has resumed development of its ballistic missile program while continuing to supply weapons to allied militias across the Middle East. 

According to an unnamed U.S. official speaking to Saudi Al-Arabiya, Tehran is using “every possible means” to transfer arms via both land and sea, viewing support for its regional proxies as a top strategic priority.

The official emphasized that the United States is actively working to prevent these shipments, coordinating with regional partners including Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq to secure borders and limit arms transfers.

Jerusalem will host a trilateral summit tomorrow, bringing together leaders from Israel, Greece, and Cyprus to discuss strengthening security cooperation in the eastern Mediterranean. 

The summit follows reports by Amichai Stein of i24NEWS last week that the three countries are considering the formation of a joint rapid-response military unit.

The Israeli Prime Minister is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with each of his counterparts before convening the full trilateral session, which will conclude with a joint press statement outlining the summit’s outcomes.

WASHINGTON — Israeli officials have grown increasingly concerned that Iran is expanding production of its ballistic missile program, which was damaged by Israeli military strikes earlier this year, and are preparing to brief President Donald Trump about options for attacking it again, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plans and four former U.S. officials briefed on the plans.

Israeli officials also are concerned that Iran is reconstituting nuclear enrichment sites the U.S. bombed in June, the sources said. But, they added, the officials view Iran’s efforts to rebuild facilities where they produce the ballistic missiles and to repair its crippled air defense systems as more immediate concerns.

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are expected to meet later this month in Florida at the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate. At that meeting, the sources said, Netanyahu is expected to make the case to Trump that Iran’s expansion of its ballistic missile program poses a threat that could necessitate swift action.

US President Donald Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, announced Saturday that representatives from the US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey met Friday in Miami to discuss the next steps in the Gaza plan. The statement followed a summit held Friday in Miami, attended by Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.

Witkoff wrote, "We expressed support for the swift establishment and activation of the Peace Council as a transitional administration to address civilian needs, security, and reconstruction. We reviewed the upcoming steps in the phased implementation of the comprehensive peace plan for Gaza, emphasizing the importance of timing, coordination, and effective monitoring in collaboration with local Palestinian institutions and international partners."

Witkoff also called on all parties "to uphold their commitments, exercise restraint, and cooperate with the ceasefire monitoring mechanism." He added that further consultations would be held in the coming weeks to "advance the implementation of the second phase.

The US Senate has passed the Intelligence Authorization Act, annual legislation that authorizes funding and sets policy for the intelligence community, with key measures targeting Iran’s nuclear capabilities and other threats to American national security.

The bill, which received bipartisan support, includes measures such as “prohibiting the intelligence community from contracting with Chinese military companies, improving the security of CIA installations, identifying the threat to America’s food security posed by communist China, and directing necessary resources towards defending our nation from threats posed by Iran,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Sydney Chanukah attack was exceptional in its scope, weaponry and planning, but it represents the peak of an antisemitic terror wave that has struck Australia, some with proven foreign involvement.

Initial findings point to an ISIS connection, not Iran, which has been proven responsible for torching synagogues and Jewish businesses in the country. The distinction between streams of radical Islam does not diminish the threat: The Iranian model is sometimes replicated in other influence networks, both state and non-state, and in any case, it lays the “fertilizer” for attacks on Jewish life.

In August, Australian intelligence concluded that Iran stood behind two attacks: the arson of a kosher delicatessen in Sydney and the torching of a synagogue in Melbourne. 

The revised Unified Command Plan, if approved, will reportedly combine Northern and Southern Commands into a single American Command, and will merge the European, Central and African Commands into a single International Command. The plan would subordinate the officers who served as commanders of the former regional commands, reducing these generals’ and admirals’ rank from four- to three-stars. Anticipating part of the forthcoming change, last week the Army created a new Western Hemisphere Command.

(photo: Reuters)

Senior officials from Israel, Greece, and Cyprus are discussing the possibility of establishing a rapid-response force composed of units from the armed forces of the three countries, according to three informed sources who spoke with The Jerusalem Post.

The initiative is part of a broader effort to deter Turkey’s military and strategic activities in the eastern Mediterranean.

According to the sources, the security initiative is currently in the preliminary review and planning stages.

(photo: via Israel Hayom)

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has recently delivered a series of unusually blunt remarks that point to growing despair at the top of the Iranian leadership over the country's situation. Speaking to academics, Pezeshkian sounded exasperated, saying, "I don't know what to do, please don't curse me," and openly acknowledged Israel's advantage over Iran in missile capabilities.

Iran has endured a punishing year marked by drought, an energy crisis and soaring inflation. But if Iranians were hoping their president might offer solutions, Pezeshkian suggested they should not bother. In a string of remarkably candid public speeches in recent weeks, he said the country was facing insurmountable problems and that he had run out of ideas for how to solve them.

"If anyone can do something, please go ahead and do it," Pezeshkian told students and academics in early December. "I can't do anything. Don't curse me."

The US Treasury Department announced new sanctions on Thursday aimed at intensifying pressure on Iran’s so-called “shadow fleet,” accusing it of using deceptive shipping practices to export petroleum and generate revenue for the Iranian regime. The move targets 29 vessels, their management companies, and an Egyptian businessman allegedly involved in facilitating the trade.

(photo: AP)

The US is telling interlocutors that it has secured commitments from Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany to have their leaders join US President Donald Trump on the Board of Peace that will oversee the postwar management of Gaza, four officials familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.

Commitments from six countries — including prominent stakeholders in the Mideast and Europe — offer critical international buy-in to the Trump administration’s efforts to advance its Gaza peace plan out of the initial ceasefire phase.

However, willingness to sit on the Board of Peace does not mean further support from each country is guaranteed, according to a US official, an Israeli official and two Arab diplomats who spoke to The Times of Israel for this story on condition of anonymity.

(photo: UN)

While the United Nations Security Council held its quarterly meeting to condemn Israeli “settlements,” Washington declared the sessions a waste of time.

Jennifer Locetta, the U.S. alternative representative for special political affairs to the U.N., said the sessions focusing on Security Council Resolution 2334, which declared Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem illegal, “only distract from pressing threats to international peace and security.”

She said that, instead, it’s Resolution 2803—which the council passed unanimously last month to give lawful effect to U.S. President Donald Trump’s Israel-Hamas peace plan—that “charts the path toward a stable, safe and prosperous Middle East.

(photo: Reuters)

“As president of the United States, I will always support Jewish Americans, and I will always be a friend and a champion to the Jewish people,” US President Donald Trump told attendees of the White House’s Hanukkah celebration on Tuesday. “We love you, and we love Israel,” he added.

During his speech, Trump drew extensive parallels between the story of Hanukkah and the story of the modern Jewish people’s resilience and strength.

“Let me take a moment to send love and prayers to our entire nation, to the people of Australia, and especially all those affected by the horrific and antisemitic terrorist attack,” Trump said. “We’ve joined in mourning all of those who were killed, and we’re praying for the swift recovery of the wounded. Some are very horrifically wounded, as you probably know. All nations must stand together against the evil forces of radical Islamic terrorism.”

(photo: Abed Rahim Khatib, Flash90)

Turkey was not invited to a Tuesday conference organized by US Central Command (CENTCOM) in Qatar regarding the International Stabilization Force (ISF) that is set to be deployed in the Gaza Strip

Mid-level officials from 32 countries attended the meeting, where they discussed key elements of the force's potential deployment, including command structure, rules of engagement, locations within Gaza, and the force’s role in disarming Hamas.

The absence of a Turkish delegation suggests that organizers accepted Israel’s objections to Ankara’s participation. Still, the issue appears unresolved.

(photo: AFP)

US President Donald Trump has expanded a travel ban to the US by barring nationals of six more countries, including Syria, as well as Palestinian Authority passport holders, from entering the United States.

In a social media posting, a White House account says that Trump, who has long campaigned to restrict immigration, was acting “to protect the security of the United States.”

The move is part of ongoing efforts to tighten US entry standards for travel and immigration, and follows the arrest of an Afghan national suspect in the shooting of two National Guard troops over Thanksgiving weekend.