KOENIG

Germany calls on Israel to halt its controversial E1 settlement project, said a foreign ministry spokesperson in Berlin on Friday, warning that construction carries the risk of creating more instability in the West Bank and the region.

“The plans for the E1 settlement project, it must be said, are part of a comprehensive intensification of settlement policy in the West Bank, which we have recently observed,” said the spokesperson at a regular government press conference.

“It carries the risk of creating even more instability, as it would further restrict the mobility of the Palestinian population in the West Bank,” as well as jeopardize the prospects of a two-state solution, the spokesperson added.

(photo: AFP)

An official in Somaliland on Thursday told Israeli media that ties with Jerusalem have led to discussions on potentially setting up an Israeli military base in the African self-ruled territory.

Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia that Israel recently recognized as a state — the first country to do so — has previously denied Somali accusations that the relations include “the resettlement of Palestinians or the establishment of military bases in Somaliland.”

But Israel’s Channel 12 news cited Deqa Qasim, the director of the political department in Hargeisa’s Foreign Ministry, as saying in an interview that such a military base is on the table and being discussed, though whether it will be established depends on the content of an agreement between the sides after they open reciprocal embassies.

The overnight US operation that seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas this past week will be studied for years as a case of overwhelming technological and operational superiority defeating a heavily armed but brittle defense system.

The assessment in Washington of the strength and scope of the Iran protests has shifted after Thursday's turnout, with U.S. officials now inclined to grant the possibility that this could be a game changer, Axios reported on Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to withdraw Washington from 66 United Nations and international organizations, agencies, commissions and conventions.

Trump signed and published a presidential memorandum on Wednesday which, he said, followed a review of which “organizations, conventions and treaties are contrary to the interests of the United States.”

The withdrawals will come with full U.S. funding cuts for all of the entities.

(photo: AP)

Former U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee told i24NEWS that while the United States may not directly intervene in Iran, it stands firmly behind Iranian citizens protesting against the regime, and he warned that Hamas must comply with President Trump’s disarmament demands or face decisive action.

During a sit-down interview with Correspondent Guy Azriel, Huckabee described Iran as the “kitchen” from which regional conflict, via groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, are orchestrated. “It’s all coming out of Tehran,” he said, emphasizing the central role of the Iranian regime in fueling unrest and violence across the Middle East.

On the ongoing protests in Iran, Huckabee stressed that meaningful regime change must come from the Iranian people themselves. 

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump’s administration told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week that it is committed to both bringing back the final deceased hostage from Gaza and disarming Hamas but is not prepared to condition the commencement of phase two of its peace plan on either, a US official and two sources familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel Wednesday.

Jerusalem has pushed back on proceeding with phase two — which envisions the establishment of mechanisms involved in the rebuilding and management of postwar Gaza — before Hamas returns the remains of Israel Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili and hands over its weapons.

The US has been in talks with Mideast mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, which have assured Washington that Hamas will agree to a gradual disarmament plan that would begin with the terror group giving up its heavy weaponry and the launch of a “buy-back” program for lighter weapons, according to the US official and two Arab diplomats, who said the goal is to begin implementing the program in the coming weeks.

(photo: AP)

Israel's diplomatic situation with Lebanon remains complex. On the one hand, Israeli officials say that even Lebanon's own leadership understands that the Lebanese army's declaration, claiming that the objectives of the first phase had been achieved "effectively and tangibly," is inaccurate, to put it mildly. The Lebanese army statement did not say that the area south of the Litani River had been demilitarized, meaning that in practice the agreed upon terms have not been met.

Under the agreement signed a year and two months ago, the failure to demilitarize the area south of the Litani allows Israel to take military action against what are defined as violations. Israeli officials emphasize that under the current circumstances, international legitimacy for action is preserved as long as Lebanon does not fulfill its commitments.

With regard to Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has received a green light from Washington to act. This was the case in a conversation he held with US President Donald Trump last week at Mar-a-Lago, and in meetings with senior officials in the Trump administration dealing with the Lebanese arena. Israel, officials said, has an organized operational plan against Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terrorist organization, including different levels of intensity and clearly defined targets within the group's power bases.

The United States seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker with links to Venezuela for violating US sanctions after a more than two-week-long pursuit across the Atlantic, the US's European Command (EUCOM) announced on Wednesday.

The Marinera was seized in the North Atlantic after a US federal court issued a warrant, following tracking by US Coast Guard vessels.

The United Kingdom aided the US in the operation, with a military vessel supporting US forces pursuing the tanker and the Royal Air Force providing air surveillance, the UK's Ministry of Defence confirmed.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud has arrived in the United States to meet with US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday. According to a statement released by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two will discuss bilateral relations, recent regional developments, and international developments.

Iran’s military chief warned on Wednesday that Iran will not stand by and allow itself to be threatened by outside powers, after the United States and Israel backed anti-government protests.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the escalation of hostile rhetoric against the Iranian nation a threat and will not tolerate its continuation without responding,” General Amir Hatami said, according to the Fars news agency.

Hatami, commander of the Iranian army but not Iran’s most senior officer, warned that “if the enemy makes a mistake,” Iran’s response would be more robust than during last June’s 12-day war with Israel.

The IDF says that t carried out precise strikes against terror infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah and Hamas in several areas across Lebanon.

According to the IDF, the strikes targeted weapon storage facilities and military structures, both above and below ground, used by Hezbollah to advance attacks against IDF soldiers, the State of Israel, and to rebuild its military capabilities. Hamas weapons production sites in southern Lebanon were also struck.

The IDF said the sites were located within civilian areas and that steps were taken in advance to mitigate harm to civilians, including issuing warnings to the local population. The military said the activity at the sites violated ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon and posed a threat to Israel.

Saudi Arabia has formally approached the United States, seeking a central role in supervising reforms within the Palestinian Authority (PA), sources tell i24NEWS. 

The move comes amid the PA’s worsening economic crisis and growing pressure from Washington and Brussels to implement deep institutional and governance reforms.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Saudi officials are linking their potential involvement to progress on the release of Israeli-held clearance funds. 

Israel has so far withheld these funds over PA payments to Palestinian prisoners and families of individuals convicted of murdering Israelis.

Government officials in Caracas and Washington are discussing exporting Venezuelan crude to refiners in the United States, five government, industry and shipping sources told Reuters on Tuesday, a deal that could divert supplies away from China while helping state company PDVSA avoid deeper output cuts.

The Islamic regime will get “hit very hard” if it starts killing protesters, U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Sunday, upping his rhetoric as demonstrations continued for the eighth day.

Washington is monitoring the situation “very closely,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, asked about his warning on Friday that the U.S. would come to the protesters’ rescue.

“If they start killing people, like they have in the past, I think they’re going to get hit very hard by the United States,” Trump reiterated.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset on Monday that he and U.S. President Donald Trump are in full agreement on Iran, describing their personal relationship and the Israel-U.S. partnership as “a recipe for the continuation of our successes in 2026.”

Speaking during the parliamentary "40 signatures" debate, Netanyahu highlighted close cooperation between Jerusalem and Washington on key regional issues, including efforts to repatriate the remains of Staff Sergeant Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage still held in Gaza.

Turning to Iran, Netanyahu delivered a firm warning. “We will not allow Iran to rebuild its ballistic missile industry, and we will certainly not let it restart its nuclear program,” he said. He stressed that the shared Israeli-U.S. position is based on a zero-enrichment principle, requiring Iran to export all enriched uranium and ensure its nuclear facilities remain under strict, permanent monitoring.

Iran’s efforts to quell a wave of anti-government protests have been complicated by Donald Trump’s threat to intervene on their side, a warning firmly underlined by the subsequent US capture of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, officials and insiders said on Monday.

A day before US special forces seized Maduro and his wife on January 3 and whisked them off to New York, the US president warned in a social media post that if Iran’s leadership killed protesters who have taken to the streets since December 28, the US “will come to their rescue.” At least 17 people have died so far.

Tehran’s options have been limited by Trump’s threats and a long-running economic crisis that deepened after Israel, joined by the US, launched strikes on the Islamic Republic in June in a 12-day war that pummeled several of Iran’s nuclear sites.

The supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reportedly has an "escape plan" that involves fleeing to Russia if the current nationwide protests continue to intensify, British newspaper The Times reported on Sunday.

The plan, called "Plan B" by the British report, would include 86-year-old Khamenei and 20 close people, including family and aides.

It will also involve a way of taking his vast asset network, which, according to a 2013 Reuters investigation cited by The Times, is valued at about $95 billion, and includes the Setad organization, one of the most powerful organizations in Iran, and the Ayatollah's system of semi-state charitable foundations known for their financial obfuscation.

President Donald Trump has been “unequivocal,” both in private and in public, that Hamas needs to disarm as a condition for his 20-point peace plan to proceed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

“This is a necessary and fundamental condition for the implementation of his 20-point plan. He made no concessions on this and showed no flexibility on this matter,” Netanyahu stated, addressing journalists ahead of the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday.

Netanyahu’s visit last week to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., contributed to “deepening the dual relationship—between Israel and the United States, and of course the personal bond,” he added.

Senior Israeli and Syrian officials are scheduled to meet Monday and Tuesday in Washington for talks mediated by US envoy Tom Barrack, i24NEWS has confirmed. This will mark the first such high-level meeting since Syrian Foreign Minister Al-Sharaa’s visit to Washington.

The Israeli delegation will be led by Ambassador Yechiel Leiter and Roman Goffman, along with a senior member of the National Security Council. The Syrian side will be represented by the Syrian Foreign Minister, while US envoy Tom Barrack will attend on behalf of the United States.

Previous i24NEWS reporting has noted that broader Israeli-Syrian negotiations have progressed significantly. Discussions are reportedly focused on security arrangements and coordination, reflecting ongoing diplomatic engagement that precedes this week’s scheduled senior-level talks.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado celebrated the US capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro Saturday, saying in her first public comment the “hour of freedom has arrived.”

“The time has come for popular sovereignty and national sovereignty to govern our country. We will restore order, free the political prisoners, build an exceptional country, and bring our children back home,” Machado said in her first public statement since the historic arrest.

“We have fought for years, we have given everything, and it has been worth it. What had to happen is happening.”

President Trump ordered strikes on sites inside Venezuela, including military facilities, U.S. officials told CBS News, as the administration early Saturday ratcheted up its campaign against the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The strikes follow months of U.S. military buildup in the region, with the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and numerous other warships positioned in the Caribbean.

In recent weeks the U.S. has seized two oil tankers off Venezuela, launched deadly strikes on more than 30 boats the administration says were carrying drugs, and struck what President Trump called "the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs."

The Trump administration has accused Maduro of drug trafficking and working with gangs designated as terrorist organizations, which Maduro denies.

The United States will intervene if Iran violently suppresses anti-government demonstrations, President Donald Trump warned on Friday.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that if “Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters,” Washington will “come to their rescue,” adding that the U.S. is “locked and loaded and ready to go.”

Demonstrations over Iran’s plunging currency and soaring inflation, the largest in three years, have widened nationwide and turned deadly as security forces clash with protesters.

Senior Iranian officials are warning of a fierce response if Washington follows through on Trump’s threat to intervene should Tehran use lethal force against demonstrators.

The FBI disrupted an alleged plot to attack people inside a grocery store and fast food restaurant in North Carolina on New Year’s Eve in support of the Islamic State terrorist group, prosecutors revealed Friday. Christian Sturdivant, 18, of Mint Hill — a town outside Charlotte — was arrested and charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization...

In one of his first acts in office on Thursday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani revoked the city’s implementation of an antisemitism definition that includes some forms of Israel criticism, in a sweeping rejection of his predecessor’s executive orders.

The mass revocation of those executive orders also canceled other pro-Israel measures taken by the former mayor, Eric Adams.

Mamdani, a far-left anti-Zionist, took office with the start of the new year, replacing Adams’s staunchly pro-Israel administration.