HEADLINES
Bennett demands state probe into Oct 7
Hamas fugitives intercepted after Rafah tunnel escape
West Bank teen charged in arson attack

The time is now 9:01 PM in New York, I'm Noa Levi and this is the latest Israel Today: Ongoing War Report.

At 9:00 p.m., in Tel Aviv, thousands gathered to demand a state probe into the October seventh failures, with former prime minister Naftali Bennett calling for answers about how the security lapse happened and what must change to prevent a repetition.

The Israeli Defense Forces reported that seventeen Hamas militants who tried to flee Rafah through tunnels were intercepted; eleven were killed and six were arrested as a unit detailed how the capture was achieved and how it fit into the broader manhunt in southern Gaza. The operation underscores the ongoing threat posed by Hamas and Israel’s continuing counterterrorism efforts.

In the West Bank, prosecutors announced that a seventeen-year-old will be charged in connection with a large arson attack that damaged Palestinian factories and farmland this month. The incident was part of a broader wave of nationalist violence, with more than fifty indictments filed so far this year, even as some officials note a decline in investigations under the country’s security leadership amid rising violence.

In the international arena, debate over how to address Hamas in any future framework persists. An opinion piece warned of risks in a United Nations Security Council resolution if it does not include a clear plan for disarming Hamas and verification mechanisms, highlighting a key area of contention in diplomacy and security policy. Separately, a commentary described growing hostility toward Israel on the political right in the United States, a trend that observers say could influence policy debates and alliance dynamics at a critical time.

In Europe, Paris prosecutors opened an inquiry into Elon Musk’s Grok artificial intelligence after reports that the tool circulated posts containing antisemitic and Holocaust denial content, drawing attention to how technology and hate speech intersect across borders.

Beyond these developments, a court in Yemen controlled by the Houthi movement sentenced seventeen individuals to death on charges of spying for Israel, the United States, and Saudi Arabia. The defendants were accused of collaborating with foreign intelligence services and aiding recruitment that harmed Yemeni security and infrastructure, a case that reflects the broader regional tensions involving external powers and proxy alignments in the region.

On the Jewish world’s domestic front, a major cross-denominational study of the American rabbinate found that fifty-one percent of surveyed rabbinical students identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. Educators described this as a sign of a long-deferred shift toward more reflective and pastoral leadership, even as the job market for openly LGBTQ clergy remains uneven. While some congregations are eager for leaders who mirror the diversity of their communities, others report continued bias in hiring processes; nevertheless, scholars and educators say the trend is reshaping expectations for religious leadership and community life in the United States.

These threads— accountability in Israel, ongoing security challenges, shifts in diaspora leadership, and regional geopolitics—illustrate a landscape in flux, with implications for security policy, diplomacy, and community life across the Middle East and beyond.

Thank you for tuning in to this Israel Today: Ongoing War Report update.
I'm Noa Levi. Stay safe and informed.
Keep in mind that this AI-generated report may contain occasional inaccuracies, so consult multiple sources for a comprehensive view. Find the code and more details in the podcast description.

SOURCES
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-874824
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-874791
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-874790
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-874822
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-874821
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-874819
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-874674
https://www.timesofisrael.com/surging-lgbtq-enrollment-in-jewish-seminaries-signals-astounding-shift-in-us-rabbinate/
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-874818
https://www.timesofisrael.com/prosecutors-to-charge-teen-over-alleged-role-in-major-west-bank-settler-attack/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/yemens-houthis-sentence-17-to-death-over-alleged-spying-for-israel-us-saudis/