Defense Minister Israel Katz celebrates the demolition of buildings damaged in an Iranian missile attack last month in Holon, provoking the ire of affected residents.

The June 19 strike wounded over 20 people, including one who was seriously hurt, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service.

Speaking at a ceremony marking the demolition, Katz hails the 12-day war against Iran as “the grandest operation in Israeli history,” and says “we plan to surprise the ayatollah regime in Iran in the future as well.”

Katz says the government knew the war would be difficult for Israel’s residents.

“It was clear to us that the resilience of the Israeli home front is an important factor,” he says. “We prepared well for this damage, and still — the images of ruined buildings and displaced families are difficult and complex.”

“You are the real heroes,” he tells the residents, “and we are committed to doing everything to let you return to life quickly. Today we demolish so we can build and be built — it’s part of the victory.”

Also at the ceremony, Holon Mayor Shai Kenan says a new road called Rising Lion Way, named for Israel’s operation against Iran’s nuclear program, would be paved in the neighborhood.

Yulia, a tenant of one of the impacted buildings, tells Army Radio that the celebratory nature of the ceremony was in poor taste.

“Maybe I should wear a wedding dress,” she says sarcastically. She adds that when she saw the notice for the ceremony — adorned with the slogan Am Yisrael Chai (The nation of Israel lives) — “it took me a day to process that it’s real. It’s incredibly disgusting. The municipality is detached from reality.”

Noam She’altiel, another resident whose home was destroyed, tells the Ynet news site: “I did not imagine that this would be how we’d say goodbye to our first home. There is champagne and food [at the ceremony] and it’s gross.”

In a statement, the Holon municipality tells Ynet that the event “is all about home, community empowerment and new beginnings,” and is meant to honor the affected residents and first responders.

“The municipality will not cooperate with attempts to create a divisive discourse at the expense of the ceremony, which is being held in a similar fashion to events in other cities,” it says in a statement.

Protesters demanding a hostage deal rallied outside the ceremony, Hebrew media reports.

Iran launched over 500 ballistic missiles at Israel during the war last month. The strikes killed 29 people and wounded over 3,000 in Israel. In all, there were 36 missile impacts and one drone strike in populated areas, causing damage to 2,305 homes in 240 buildings, along with two universities and a hospital, and leaving over 13,000 Israelis displaced.

בחולון הרסו הבוקר מבני מגורים שניזוקו קשות מפגיעת טיל איראני, והעירייה ערכה טקס לציון האירוע – שלא עבר חלק. לפני הריסת הבתים שוטרים פינו ממתחם הטקס דייר שביתו נפגע, לאחר שהפריע לראש העיר שי קינן בנאומו. בנוסף, תושבים קראו לשר הביטחון ישראל כ”ץ שנכח באירוע לפעול לשחרור 50 החטופים… pic.twitter.com/XT6Q9N57OP — כלכליסט | Calcalist (@calcalist) July 28, 2025

Here’s a transcript of much of what US President Donald Trump just said when speaking to reporters and answering their questions on the White House lawn:

“I’m not happy that Israel’s going out now. There was one rocket that I guess was fired overboard [by Iran]. It was after the time limit, and it missed its target. And now Israel’s going out. These guys gotta calm down. Ridiculous…”

“I didn’t like plenty of things I saw yesterday. I didn’t like the fact that Israel unloaded right after we made the deal. They didn’t have to unload. And I didn’t like the fact that… The [Iranian] retaliation was very strong. But in all fairness, Israel unloaded a lot.”

“And now I hear that Israel just went out because they felt [the deal] was violated by one rocket that didn’t land anywhere. That’s not what we want, I’ll tell you. And I’m telling you, I’m not happy about that, Israel, either.”

“All I do is play both sides.”

“We have to have Israel calm down, because they went on a mission this morning. I gotta get Israel to calm down now.”

“I think they both violated [the ceasefire]. I’m not sure they did it intentionally. They couldn’t bring people back. I don’t like the fact that Israel went out this morning at all. I’m going to see if I can stop it.”

President Trump on Israel and Iran: “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.” pic.twitter.com/xrztmebALZ — CSPAN (@cspan) June 24, 2025

“[Iran’s nuclear program] has been completely demolished. Those B-2 pilots did an unbelievable job… Those pilots hit their targets. Those targets were obliterated. … Iran will never rebuild its nuclear… That place [Fordo] is under rock. That place is demolished… That place is gone… Take a look at the pin pricks.”

“Yeah I do [believe that Iran is still committed to the deal]. They violated. But Israel violated too…|

“Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs the likes of which I’ve never seen before. The biggest load that we’ve seen. I’m not happy with Israel. You know, when I say, okay, now you have 12 hours, you don’t go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them. So I’m not happy with them. I’m not happy with Iran either. But I’m really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning because of one rocket that didn’t land, that was shot, perhaps by mistake, that didn’t land. I’m not happy about that. ”

“You know what? We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing. Do you understand that?”

Israel has submitted a hostage deal proposal that veers away from the principles Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted are required for Jerusalem to end the war in Gaza, three sources familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.

Netanyahu’s principles — adopted by the cabinet on August 8 — are (1) the disarmament of Hamas; (2) the release of all remaining hostages at the same time (3) the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip; (4) Israeli security control over the Strip; and (5) the establishment of an alternative civilian government that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.

While the one-page offer Israel presented to a visiting Egyptian negotiating team late last month includes elements that are in line with those principles, there are some notable differences, according to an Israeli official, an Arab diplomat and a third source briefed on the offer.

The proposal, which has not been previously published, envisions Israel first declaring the start of a six-month process to “end the war” — something Netanyahu has until now refused to do until after his conditions are met.

The source familiar with the matter said the Israeli proposal was submitted after the US privately leaned on Netanyahu to wind down the war. US President Donald Trump claimed on August 25 that the conflict would reach a “conclusive ending” in two to three weeks. His envoy, Steve Witkoff, has offered a more modest timeline of the war ending by the close of 2025.

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The Arab diplomat claimed that the Israeli proposal doesn’t go far enough and includes a number of conditions that have prevented a deal to date, adding that mediators would have a better chance of securing a deal if the US elevated its pressure on Israel from private to public.

Still, the diplomat said that Arab mediators were taking the Israeli proposal into consideration as they continue their efforts to broker a ceasefire and hostage-release deal.

The Israeli official said elements of the offer are also present in another framework crafted by Witkoff in recent days.

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A new three-phase deal

As with previous offers discussed throughout the war, the latest Israeli proposal is split into three phases.

However, the timeline of each phase within the six-month framework is kept vague, with the Israeli official saying the proposal would serve as the basis for another round of indirect talks with Hamas.

Moreover, rather than spacing out the hostage releases throughout, the Israeli offer envisions them being freed in the 48 hours immediately following the declaration of the commencement of the six-month framework. There are currently 48 hostages left in Gaza, including at least 20 who Israel believes are still alive.

The offer envisions 130 Palestinian security prisoners serving life sentences released for every 10 hostages, a ratio that tries to split the difference between what the sides have agreed to in previous negotiations.

Notably, though, the Israeli proposal recognizes that Hamas doesn’t know where all the bodies of hostages are located and gives the group additional time to find and return them.

The first phase also envisions Hamas disarming from its heavy weaponry before giving up its light weaponry during the second phase.

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While Hamas has expressed willingness to give up governing control of the Strip, it has pledged never to give up its weapons. The Arab diplomat claimed the corresponding terms of the Israeli proposal were poison pills, given that Jerusalem will want to verify the disarmament process itself in a process that could well take years.

The third phase of the deal does envision an Israeli withdrawal to a one-kilometer buffer zone around the enclave, including the Philadelphi Corridor land strip between Gaza and Egypt.

As for the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the proposal envisioned it being operated according to a future agreement between Israel, the US and Egypt.

While the proposed Israeli withdrawal does not meet the terms that Hamas has demanded until now, it still would likely foreclose the possibility of re-establishing Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, an aspiration of Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners. The prime minister has publicly ruled out reestablishing settlements, but has also effectively kept the option on the table through the manner in which he has prosecuted the war. The IDF has cleared Palestinians out of some three-quarters of the Strip.

Still, the proposed Israel withdrawal depends on a series of conditions, including the completion of Hamas’s disarmament, the return of any remaining hostages’ bodies, the implementation of a “de-radicalization” process in Gaza, and the capacity of a new Palestinian administrative body to begin governing the Strip.

No mention of PA or Palestinian migration

Unlike the August 8 principles passed by the cabinet, this part of the proposal — also backed by Netanyahu — does not specifically rule out the West Bank-based PA, instead stipulating that the exact identity of the governing body would be subsequently discussed.

Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners back collapsing the PA entirely. But doing so would likely strip Israel of any chance to secure support from neighboring Arab countries in the postwar reconstruction and stabilization of the Gaza Strip, given that those countries have conditioned such backing on a role for Ramallah.

The Israeli proposal even highlights Jerusalem’s pursuit of donations from Arab states, while specifying that those financial transfers must be overseen by the US.

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Finally, the Israeli withdrawal is also conditioned on Jerusalem retaining the right to militarily intervene in the Gaza Strip in self-defense, the sources added.

Notably, the offer does not mention offering Palestinians the ability to leave the Strip. Earlier this year, Netanyahu added that concept to his conditions for ending the war, though it was not included in the principles passed by the cabinet on August 8.

Israel has framed the idea as a “voluntary migration,” and it received significant tailwind after Trump in February declared his desire for the US to take over Gaza before distancing himself from the initiative. But critics argue that it is a euphemism for ethnically cleansing the Strip of its Palestinians.

The Arab diplomat said Arab mediators were still working to convince Israel to go along with the phased framework Hamas said it accepted on August 18.

Israel has not officially responded to that proposal, but has strongly indicated it is not interested.

While the diplomat said mediators were pushing Hamas to make further concessions, the ultimate result would more likely be closer to the phased framework crafted last month by Egypt and Qatar than the latest Israeli proposal.

Jerusalem does not appear too attached to its own proposal either, with a source close to Netanyahu telling The Times of Israel on Sunday that the premier is seriously considering a separate proposal crafted by Washington in recent days.

Right-wing US pundit Tucker Carlson says that disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was probably working for Israeli intelligence.

“It’s extremely obvious to anyone who watches that this guy had direct connections to a foreign government. Now, no one’s allowed to say that foreign government is Israel, because we’ve been somehow cowed into thinking that that’s naughty,” he says.

The comment draws cheers from the crowd at the right-wing Turning Points confab on Friday.

Carlson says this comment is neither hateful nor anti-Israel, adding by way of analogy that he objects to CIA actions but is still an American patriot.

But “as long as we’re sending you money,” he says of Jerusalem, “if you were committing crimes on our soil, we have the absolute right to know.”

In another video from the same conference, Carlson says Americans who serve in foreign militaries, including the Israeli and Ukrainian armies, should lose their US citizenship.

“I quote the New Testament, but I also refer to common sense when I say that no man can serve two masters, it’s not possible,” he says, in response to a question that ends before the start of the clip, which he indicates was about Israel. “I only have one wife for that reason.”

“You can only really pledge your loyalty to one person or one country, that’s just a fact.”

“There are a lot of Americans who’ve served in the IDF and they should lose their citizenship. There are a lot of Americans who serve in Ukraine, and they should lose their citizenship,” he says. “You can’t fight for another country and remain an American — period. Obviously!”

Americans have been “cowed into believing that’s hate speech,” Carlson continues; he says it’s not hate speech, adding: “You don’t hear hate in my voice, because there isn’t any.”

🚨 🇺🇸 Tucker Carlson Demands Citizenship Revocation for Americans in Foreign Armies At a Turning Point USA event on July 12, 2025, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson declared that American citizens who serve in foreign militaries—specifically Israel’s IDF and Ukrainian… pic.twitter.com/fjE6acgHMD — The Tradesman (@The_Tradesman1) July 12, 2025

Carlson has previously railed against US Rep. Brian Mast, of Florida, for wearing his Israel Defense Forces uniform to Congress in solidarity with Israel in the days after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.

Mast, a veteran of the US military who lost both his legs fighting in Afghanistan, briefly volunteered with the IDF in January 2025, packing medical kits at an army base near Tel Aviv.

Degel HaTorah faction chairman Moshe Gafni launches a full-throated attack on the national-religious community and Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, charging that the national-religious have been “leading the war against Torah students.” He questions the political partnership with that community’s representatives and will the ruling Likud party.

In a lengthy interview with the ultra-Orthodox Kikar Hashabbat news site, the veteran Haredi politician — whose United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party withdrew from the government this week — complains about those who insist that it is possible to combine military service with Torah study.

“But the ones who are leading the war against Torah students are the religious Zionists, they are the leaders of this, the ones who constantly keep saying, ‘We also study, we also have rabbis.’ I’m not telling them what to do, but they shouldn’t tell us what to do,” he declares, adding that “those who are leading the incitement against us… they are worse than the biggest haters of Torah scholars.”

In the interview, Gafni states that recent events constituted a “bill of divorce,” ruling out any partnership on any issue between United Torah Judaism and its erstwhile national-religious partners.

Asked how he can defend exempting all Haredi yeshiva students from military service when every day brings new reports of fallen soldiers in the ongoing war, Gafni insists that it is “thanks to Torah students that we exist,” something he admits is “really very difficult to explain during a war.”

Responding to a question about whether Haredim who are not learning Torah full-time should enlist, Gafni evades the question, stating that he is “not the defense minister. My role is to take care of those who study Torah,” because the Jewish state would not exist without them.

“All these people on the right who speak against yeshiva students are playing into the hands of the left,” he argues, claiming that proves “that this partnership with the right is a conditional partnership.”

In response, Smotrich tweets that Gafni should be ashamed of himself, recommending that he visit the military cemetery on Mount Herzl and “go visit the bereaved families” — as well as the national-religious hesder yeshivas and pre-military academies, which combine Torah study with military service.

Gafni also slams national religious politician Itamar Ben Gvir, the chairman of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, whom he accuses of violating Jewish law — a likely reference to his frequent visits to the Temple Mount, which Haredim consider forbidden.

“We are not friends of the parties we are partners with. We often bite our lips,” he says.

Beyond Smotrich and Ben Gvir, Gafni launches an attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud), the latter of whom is another representative of the national-religious community.

UTJ quit the coalition on Monday evening after Edelstein reportedly went back on an agreement to soften some of the harsh sanctions included in his proposed Haredi draft legislation.

UTJ’s big mistake on the enlistment issue, he said, was that it “agreed that the legal reform would come before the conscription law,” adding that Edelstein “simply lied.”

“He should have told us that he couldn’t pass this law. He misled us — that’s one issue. And the second is the prime minister. He bears responsibility because he is the head of the system. He did not lie to us about this matter, but he bears responsibility and he needs to fix it. He made an agreement with us in which the main issue was regulating the status of yeshiva students.”

Gafni says his party is telling Netanyahu that “you need to bring an [enlistment] law. If there is no law — we won’t continue with this partnership at all.”