Prepared by and sent from Jewish Federations of North America’s Israel Office 

  • 2 Israeli soldiers fall in Lebanon as talks ongoing
  • U.S. and Iran continue negotiations
  • Muslim countries condemn Israeli operations in Gaza

Iran

  • Over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly called off planned strikes against Iran, stating on Sunday night that negotiations with the Islamic Republic to reopen the Strait of Hormuz would begin. However, Iranian officials told the media that they were not currently holding talks with the United States, instead conferring with Oman to designate a temporary safe route through the Strait.
  • These revelations were met angrily by President Trump, who lashed out via his Truth Social platform, stating: “Nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through unless a deal or total surrender is accomplished…Whether Iran wants to admit it or not we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused for decades. It is very simple, IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!”
  • U.S. officials later told reporters that, despite President Trump’s insistence that talks with Iran were going to begin on Monday, there were no new negotiations planned, just the ongoing discussions led by Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
  • Other countries in the region are having to adapt to the ongoing tensions, which have been inflamed by the Yemen-based Houthis entering the fray, with Saudi Arabia appearing to re-route its oil tankers to southern Africa rather than through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that the Houthis have been attacking.
  • Indeed, shipping traffic in both the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb remains constrained, according to the data firm Kpler; on Sunday, only nine transits were confirmed through Hormuz, while 30 crossings occurred through Bab el-Mandeb – down from 41 on July 31.
  • CENTCOM announced on Monday that it had redirected 44 commercial vessels under the U.S. blockade against Iran, posting on X that it had also disabled two vessels and boarded two others.
  • By Wednesday, Iran and Oman agreed on a shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz. Under the deal, Iran would retain control of traffic in the Strait, and receive fees of 5-7% of cargo value. However, the agreement’s implementation hinges on the U.S. lifting its naval blockade, which the Trump administration has given no indication of doing. No progress has been made on a U.S.-Iran deal either, with President Trump threatening to strike Iran “really hard” if it doesn’t reopen the Strait.

Gaza and the West Bank

  • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Nickolay Mladenov, the Gaza envoy for the Board of Peace, on Monday, as the group works to shore up support for the disarmament deal it reached with Hamas, to which Israel was not a party.
  • According to reports, Prime Minister Netanyahu insisted that the IDF would not withdraw from the Yellow Line or hold its fire; this followed Mladenov’s post on social media lamenting that Israeli strikes in Gaza over the weekend killed civilians.
  • Qatar also criticized Israel’s actions, calling on the international community to pressure Israel into fulfilling its obligations under President Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza and arguing that the recent increase in Israeli airstrikes “is nothing more than an attempt to derail the plan’s implementation and block peaceful solutions.”
    • Other Muslim countries, including the U.A.E., Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Pakistan, joined Qatar in condemning Israel’s “violations” in Gaza and accusing it of undermining President Trump’s 20-point plan.
  • Israel remains skeptical of the proposed framework, which calls for Hamas to gradually hand over its arms to a new Palestinian administration in Gaza and for the IDF to begin withdrawing before Hamas has fully disarmed. The Prime Minister’s Office demanded in a statement last Thursday that Hamas fully disarm, all weaponry be removed from Gaza, and that the Strip be fully demilitarized, adding that the Board of Peace’s deal did not provide “a sufficient response to those demands.”
  • In defending the deal, Board of Peace officials have called it “a pragmatic path forward to transform Gaza” that “would undoubtedly allow for the improvement of life in Gaza and enhancement of security in Israel.” Israeli President Isaac Herzog has also lauded the “positive elements” in the Board of Peace’s efforts while emphasizing that Hamas must be fully disarmed before the next phase of the agreement – bringing in a technocratic government to run Gaza – can be implemented.
  • Meanwhile, the IDF’s strikes in Gaza have killed several Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists, including Mahmoud Fatair, who held former Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski in captivity; Abdallah Adnan Taha Abu al-Tayf, a member of Hamas’s Nukhba Force; and Jalal Sobieh, a commander in Hamas’s Daraj-Tuffah Battalion; all three had invaded Israel on October 7, 2023.
  • In a video posted to social media, Braslavski says, in Arabic: “Yes, you were criminals, and yes, I was weak while with you, and you did whatever you wanted. But now, you are being killed one after the other, and not even one will be left of you. Whoever works for Islamic Jihad, Hamas, or any terror group will die, one by one.”
  • The IDF reportedly tightened its protocols for conducting strikes in the Gaza Strip, requiring the approval of Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir in addition to the chief of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor. The Times of Israel reported that the new policy has led to a decrease in the number of strikes, while the IDF has not yet commented.
  • In the West Bank, the IDF conducted raids in the area of the Qalandiya refugee camp “to thwart terror and apprehend wanted individuals.” Israeli forces arrested at least 20 people, with COGAT later stating that the operation targeted “terrorist elements, terrorist infrastructure, and the possession and trafficking of weapons.”
    • The IDF also opened an investigation into an armed attack on the Palestinian community of Khirbet a-Tuba, in which injured six residents – including a 6-year-old girl and a 36-year-old woman. The perpetrators reportedly set fire to several homes and sprayed Hebrew graffiti reading “Eretz Yehuda” (“Land of Judea”). In its statement confirming the incident, the IDF also reiterated that it “strongly condemns incidents of this kind” and expected “law enforcement authorities to bring the suspects to justice.”

Lebanon

  • The seventh round of U.S.-mediated talks between Israel and Lebanon began in Rome on Tuesday as the two sides move ahead with implementing the framework agreement signed on June 26 in Washington, D.C.
  • Going into the meetings, Israeli officials stated that their goal was to establish six working groups focused on: maritime and land borders; evaluating pilot zones where the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) have replaced the IDF; disarming Hezbollah, stopping Iranian money from flowing into Lebanon; and expanding reconstruction throughout southern Lebanon.
  • Following public criticism by Hezbollah, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam posted on X that Hezbollah had dragged Lebanon into “futile war adventures,” adding that Lebanon should be “a state with one army.”
  • Against the backdrop of the ongoing talks, the U.N. reported that over 800,000 displaced Lebanese from the country’s south have begun returning to their homes, although over 360,000 remain displaced. Even so, the IDF issued an evacuation warning on Wednesday for residents of the southern village of Mansouri ahead of planned strikes against Hezbollah.
  • Two IDF reservist soldiers, Maj. (res.) Harel Birenstock, 34, and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Tamir Vaknin, 33, were killed by an explosive device in southern Lebanon on Thursday. Four others were severely wounded in the incident which came amid renewed fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that caused the negotiations in Rome to stall. Indeed, Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter reportedly cut the talks short on Wednesday after accusing the Lebanese delegation of leaking false information, although U.S. officials claimed that “events on the ground” were responsible for the pause in negotiations. By Thursday, the talks had picked up again.
  • Lebanese authorities also arrested former Palestinian Ambassador to Beirut Ashraf Dabbour on Monday as he prepares to face corruption charges brought against him by the Palestinian Authority.

Elections and Politics in Israel

  • Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz sparked an outcry this week with comments disparaging IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth – the top officer in the West Bank – and announcing his replacement during a live segment on Israel’s Channel 14 news. Israeli media reported that Defense Minister Katz’s actions infuriated Prime Minister Netanyahu, who allegedly privately demanded a clarification, although both Katz and the Prime Minister’s Office denied that the conversation took place.
  • In his capacity as Defense Minister, Katz does not have the authority to unilaterally dismiss Bluth. Part of the blowback he received for these comments centered on a perception that he was “politicizing the military’s ranks,” thereby assuming powers beyond its legal mandate.
  • Bluth had recently come under fire for seeking to renew a restraining order against a settler accused of carrying out an attack on a Palestinian village in March, which Katz described as a “[contravention] of the ministry’s policy.” By Tuesday, Katz clarified that Bluth would remain in his post and that there were no disagreements between the two, while IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir also reiterated his support for Bluth.
  • Meanwhile, despite the Knesset’s legislative recess, the Finance Committee approved an allocation of over NIS 267 million ($88 million) in coalition funds for the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) education system, including boys’ elementary schools that for the most part do not teach core curriculum subjects as required by Israeli law. However, on Wednesday, Israel’s High Court of Justice froze the transfer, citing procedural flaws in how the committee was convened. This prompted members of the governing coalition, most notably Knesset Finance Committee Chairman Hanoch Milwidsky, to call for the Court to be replaced by a “Constitutional Court.”
  • Israel’s Channel 12 news also reported that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir slammed the government’s passage of a law that froze the arrest of ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers. Zamir allegedly told other IDF generals that, in passing the law, the government ignored the IDF’s position on the issue, and predicted that it would ultimately not be implemented.
  • On the electoral front, former Likud ministers Gilad Erdan and Yuli Edelstein announced the formation of a new right-wing party to be headed by Erdan, with a focus on Haredi conscription. Edelstein resigned from Likud last month over the issue of military draft exemptions for yeshiva students.
    • Former Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel and former Blue and White MK Chili Tropper also launched their new party, called Zionist Home-The Reservists, emphasizing Zionist governance, strengthening education, and “allowing every citizen to integrate into military, national, or civic service.”

Other Developments

  • In a stark reminder of Israel’s mental health crisis in the wake of October 7, Bar Bechor Asraf, 30, who lost his close childhood friend Liron Barda, 26, in the attacks on the Nova festival, took his own life at her gravesite last Saturday. Asraf’s family recounted how Barda’s death took a significant toll on his mental health, noting that his pain never subsided over the 2.5 years since the massacre.
  • According to a new report from Tel Aviv University, the number of Israelis who emigrated from the country reached a new record, with nearly 50,000 leaving for more than 12 months – for the third year in a row. The report attributed the rising trend to both prolonged military conflict and political tensions; another study by Lilach Lev Ari, a professor of sociology at Oranim College, found that many Israelis who have decided to leave the country point to dissatisfaction with the government or the current security situation as reasons for emigrating.
  • No arrests have yet been made in the assault last week on 75-year-old Ilan Manes, who had taken down a banner from an intersection on Route 1 (the main Tel Aviv – Jerusalem highway) calling for the release of Yigal Amir, the man convicted of assassinating former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. Video footage, which circulated widely on social media, showed a group of young men attacking Manes, who was later hospitalized with a brain hemorrhage. His daughter, Talia, told Army Radio that Manes had attended the 1995 peace rally in Tel Aviv where Rabin was fatally shot by Amir.
  • El Al’s profit doubled during the April-June quarter of this year, growing from $66 million during the same period in 2025 to $132 million. Israeli travel experts attributed the exponential increase to the lack of competition from other carriers, which have been reluctant to resume flights to Israel under the ongoing threat of renewed fighting with Iran.
  • Iranian executions continued with the regime putting to death two men convicted of spying for Israel. Omid Behzad and Pouria Safvat were hanged on Monday morning, raising the total of people executed in the last year to 1,639 . According to Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based NGO, that is the highest number since 1989; groups such as Amnesty International have said that Iran is second only to China in state-sanctioned executions. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk condemned the executions in a statement, noting that over 100 people face the risk of being put to death on security-related charges, while others face drug charges.