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For 5 days, an endangered seal became a celebrity on an Israeli beach. Locals want her back.
JAFFA, Israel (JTA) — For most of the past week, Israel’s latest unlikely celebrity lounged on the Jaffa beach, drawing throngs of onlookers, constant media attention and round-the-clock protection from the government as she sunbathed and slept the day away.
Then early on Tuesday afternoon, the unwitting star named Yulia — a rare 6-foot species of seal weighing hundreds of pounds who has traveled the eastern Mediterranean — waded into the water and swam away. She left no sign of whether she would ever return.
Her departure has left some local residents bereft and others hopeful that she may find a safer home than a bare beach with little shelter, other animals and litter. News of her departure spread quickly through the area’s social media and WhatsApp groups, one of which had even changed its name from “Friends of Jaffa” to “Friends of Yulia.”
“Of course I know she’s not smiling, but her lips are formed in a way that makes her look like she is. She’s so utterly calm — even while a million people are watching her,” said Jaffa resident Aya Zaken, who added that she was “deeply sad” that Yulia had returned to sea.
Seeing the mammal for the first time was a “much more moving” experience than she had expected, Zaken said — partly because of the seal’s size but also because of the effect she had on onlookers.
“When faced with her, I felt an overwhelming sense of calm, like a deep meditation,” Zaken said. “The feeling that this is so much bigger than me or my troubles.”
Yulia, who was given her name by a local boy who first discovered her, arrived on Jaffa’s beach on Friday. She had since been the subject of 24-hour surveillance both by the press and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, which had sent volunteers to keep watch and ensure that the crowds of people who have gathered since her arrival didn’t disturb her.
Yulia is a Mediterranean monk seal, one of roughly 600-700 left in the world, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, though other estimates put the number even lower. The species is classified as endangered.
Yulia was listless and shaking when she first arrived on Israeli shores, and experts were worried that she was ill. But when Turkish researchers at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, received images of Yulia, they recognized her as a monk seal they had already seen, named Tugra, who is known to have a penchant for both swimming great lengths and napping for extraordinarily long stretches of time. She is over 20 years old and has a reputation for traveling, having been spotted as far off as Greece and Turkey.
“On the one hand, I’m on such a high, I haven’t slept in days,” said Mia Elasar, who has been researching monk seals for 30 years. “As a child I heard that there were once far more seals here; and now, to see one in real life, it’s a legend that has come alive.”
Elasar is the founder of the Delphis Association, an Israeli nonprofit for marine mammals that has partnered with the IUCN on a joint project for the protection of monk seals. She said Yulia’s (or Tugra’s) globetrotting isn’t the only reason for her extreme fatigue. When she arrived in Jaffa, she was spotted with large bite marks in two areas of her body. According to Elasar’s Turkish colleagues, those marks were not present at her last sighting in 2019, off the coast of Lebanon. She was also shedding her fur, a process that requires a lot of energy.
“I worry for her here,” Elasar said. “It makes more sense for her to go back.”
Onlookers view Yulia from a distance. (Deborah Danan)
Some Jaffa residents agreed that the beach — with its crowds, dogs and considerable volume of garbage — wasn’t the best place for their beloved guest. Elasar added that Israel lacks the resources to give Yulia the protection she needs. To provide a more permanent home for her and her fellow seals, she said, authorities would need to build caves along the shoreline where the marine animals could rest.
“I think it is for the best,” said Dan, a resident of Jaffa who declined to give his last name. “It was probably a matter of time until someone would potentially harm her or ‘adopt’ her to live in a bath or aquarium, or even try to eat her.”
In the end, Yulia apparently felt the same way. After 48 hours of sleeping following her arrival, she finally went back to sea. Over the ensuing two days, she was in and out of the water, until, on Tuesday, she left for the longest stretch yet. She was spotted swimming opposite the nearby Jaffa port on Wednesday morning, which gives optimists reason to believe that she will yet return.
“I very much want her to come back,” said Arnon Pinchuk, 14, who came with some of his classmates to see Yulia on Wednesday morning, only to learn that she had left.
Pinchuk was one of only 18 students from the Kehila Democratic School in Jaffa to take the trip. Asked why the rest of his 103-student class did not come along for the adventure, Pinchuk answered, “Because they’re losers who prefer being on their phones.”
Jaffa has a diverse population of Jews, Christians and Muslims and, for many of the residents, Yulia’s arrival was a unifying event. That was especially the case amid recent events in the country, which range from civil strife over a proposed overhaul of Israel’s judiciary to the recent five-day conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza. Yulia got to Jaffa near the end of that round of fighting.
“She came at a time when people need quiet and solidarity and unity and happiness,” Zaken said. “I hope she gathers her strength and comes back and tells us all how awesome we are.”
Along with locals, Yulia attracted a gaggle of photographers who have spent hours training their lenses on her. Yehiel Lamesh, an amateur photographer, traveled from the southern port city of Ashdod to visit Yulia, and said, “I would go around the world to see such a creature, so of course I would come here.”
To Ziv Binunski, a cameraman for Israel’s Channel 12 News, Yulia’s sojourn was a welcome respite from his other assignments, which include capturing rocket fire over the Gaza border, as well as the anti-government protests roiling the country.
On Wednesday morning, he stood on the beach, hoping to catch her return.
“It’s such a different experience, being connected to the sea and to nature,” he said, “and to be dependent on the whims of animals, and not humans.”
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Yemen’s Separatists Appear to Split, Reflecting Saudi-UAE Rift
Supporters of the UAE-backed separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) hold a poster of Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the STC’s leader, who, according to the Saudi-backed coalition, fled to an unknown destination, in Aden, Yemen, Dec. 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Fawaz Salman
Yemen’s main separatist group appeared split on Friday as some members announced it was disbanding, reflecting a feud between Gulf powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that was blown into the open by a separatist advance last month.
Saudi-backed fighters have largely retaken areas in southern and eastern Yemen seized by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) in December, and an STC delegation has traveled to the Saudi capital Riyadh for talks.
However, STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi fled Yemen on Wednesday instead of joining the talks, with the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen saying the UAE had helped spirit him away on a flight that was tracked to a military airport in Abu Dhabi.
One of the members who traveled to Riyadh for the talks said in a statement broadcast on Saudi state media on Friday that the group had decided to disband.
But the STC says it has had no communication with the delegation that initiated the talks under Saudi sponsorship.
A spokesperson who did not travel to Riyadh and is close to Zubaidi said any decision on the group’s fate can only be taken by the entire council, including its leader.
Any such decision would only be taken once the delegation in Riyadh “is released,” he said.
Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman welcomed the decision as a “brave” one. A conference would be held in Saudi Arabia to discuss southern Yemeni issues with all groups invited, he said.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE had previously worked together in a coalition battling the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen’s civil war, a conflict which caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
But the two most powerful countries in the Gulf have had sharp differences over issues ranging from geopolitics to oil output. Their rivalry was exposed when the STC advanced to within reach of Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia, which Riyadh declared a threat to its national security.
The STC on Friday called for mass protests in the southern cities of Aden and Mukalla, urging supporters to rally on Saturday in a show of “loyalty and steadfastness” amid the political crisis.
Authorities in Aden aligned with Yemen’s Saudi-backed government later ordered a ban on demonstrations in the southern city, citing security concerns, according to an official directive seen by Reuters.
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Gal Gadot to Produce, Potentially Star in Paramount Film Adaption of ‘Recovery Agent’ Book Series
Gal Gadot at the 82nd Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. Photo: Dan MacMedan-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
Paramount Pictures has acquired the rights to the bestselling Recovery Agent book series by Janet Evanovich, and Israeli actress Gal Gadot will produce and potentially star in the feature film, Deadline reported.
The former “Wonder Woman” star and her husband and business partner Jaron Varsano will produce under their television and film production company Pilot Wave, with a screenplay written by Ellen Shanman (“Voltron”). Paramount will also develop and produce the film with Carol Mendelsohn and Julie Weitz from Carol Mendelsohn Productions, according to Deadline.
The Recovery Agent was published in 2022 and its sequel “The King’s Random” was published in November 2025, each by Atria Books. Both books have been New York Times bestsellers. The protagonist in Evanovich’s book series is Gabriela Rose, an international recovery agent who specializes in retrieving stolen or lost high-value items, often in dangerous missions. Her partner is her ex-husband Rafer Burke, and together they travel the world looking for valuable treasures.
Gadot’s most recent credits include Julian Schnabel’s “In the Hand of Dante,” which premiered at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, Kevin Macdonald’s action thriller “The Runner” for Amazon International, and the live-action remake of the Disney classic “Snow White.” Her past credits include the “Wonder Woman” films, the “Fast & Furious” franchise, “Heart of Stone,” and “Red Notice,” which is Netflix’s second most-popular film of all time.
Evanovich has written 46 New York Times bestsellers over the last 28 years and has sold over 200 million books worldwide, according to Deadline. She is also the author of the Stephanie Plum 31-book series and its most recent installment, Now or Never, debuted on top of the New York Times bestseller list.
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Iran Shuts Off Internet as Anti-Regime Protests Intensify Across Country
Protesters gather as vehicles burn, amid evolving anti-government unrest, in Tehran, Iran, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video released on Jan. 9, 2026. Photo: Social Media/via REUTERS
Iran was largely cut off from the outside world on Friday after authorities blacked out the internet to curb growing unrest, as video showed buildings aflame in anti-government protests raging in cities across the country.
Rights groups have already documented dozens of deaths of protesters in nearly two weeks and, with Iranian state TV showing clashes and fires, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that several police officers had been killed overnight.
In a televised address, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed not to back down, accusing demonstrators of acting on behalf of émigré opposition groups and the United States, and a public prosecutor threatened death sentences.
DOZENS KILLED IN TWO WEEKS OF PROTEST
The protests pose the biggest internal challenge in at least three years to Iran‘s clerical rulers, who look more vulnerable than during past bouts of unrest amid a dire economic situation and after last year’s war with Israel and the United States.
While the initial protests were focused on the economy, with the rial currency losing half its value against the dollar last year and inflation topping 40% in December, they have morphed to include slogans aimed directly at the authorities.
Iranian rights group HRANA said on Friday it had documented the deaths of at least 62 people including 14 security personnel and 48 protesters since demonstrations began on Dec. 28.
The internet blackout has sharply reduced the amount of information flowing out of the country. Phone calls into Iran were not getting through. At least 17 flights between Dubai and Iran were canceled, Dubai Airport’s website showed.
Images published by state television overnight showed what it said were burning buses, cars, and motorbikes as well as fires at underground railway stations and banks.
Videos verified by Reuters as having been taken in the capital Tehran showed hundreds of people marching. In one of the videos, a woman could be heard shouting “Death to Khamenei!”
Other chants included slogans in support of the monarchy.
Iranian rights group Hengaw reported that a protest march after Friday prayers in Zahedan, where the Baluch minority predominates, was met with gunfire that wounded several people.
Authorities have tried a dual approach – describing protests over the economy as legitimate while condemning what they call violent rioters and cracking down with security forces.
Last week President Masoud Pezeshkian urged authorities to take a “kind and responsible approach,” and the government offered modest financial incentives to help counter worsening impoverishment as inflation has soared.
But with unrest spreading and clashes appearing more violent, the Supreme Leader, the ultimate authority in Iran, above the elected president and parliament, used much tougher language on Friday.
“The Islamic Republic came to power through the blood of hundreds of thousands of honorable people. It will not back down in the face of vandals,” he said, accusing those involved in unrest of seeking to please US President Donald Trump.
Tehran’s public prosecutor said those committing sabotage, burning public property, or engaging in clashes with security forces would face the death penalty.
FRAGMENTED OPPOSITION
Iran‘s fragmented external opposition factions called for more protests, and demonstrators have chanted slogans including “Death to the dictator!” and praising the monarchy that was overthrown in 1979.
Reza Pahlavi, exiled son of the late shah, told Iranians in a social media post: “The eyes of the world are upon you. Take to the streets.”
However, the extent of support inside Iran for the monarchy or for the MKO, the most vocal of émigré opposition groups, is disputed. A spokesperson for the MKO said units with the group had taken part in the protests.
“The sense of hopelessness in Iranian society is something today that we haven’t seen before. I mean, that sense of anger has just deepened over the years and we are at record new levels in terms of how Iranian society is upset,” said Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute in Washington.
Trump, who bombed Iran last summer and warned Tehran last week that the US could come to the protesters’ aid, said on Friday he would not meet Pahlavi and was “not sure that it would be appropriate” to support him.
Despite the increased pressure, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Friday the chance of foreign military intervention in Iran was “very low.” He said the foreign minister of Oman, which has often interceded in negotiations between Iran and the West, would visit on Saturday.
UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was “deeply disturbed by reports of violence” and by communications shutdowns.
The Islamic Republic has weathered repeated bouts of major nationwide unrest across the decades, including student protests in 1999, mass demonstrations over a disputed election outcome in 2009, demonstrations over economic hardships in 2019, and the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in 2022.
The 2022 protests, sparked by the killing of a young woman in the custody of Iran‘s Islamic morality police, drew a large variety of people onto the streets, with men and women, old and young, rich and poor.
They were ultimately suppressed, with hundreds of people reported killed and thousands imprisoned, but authorities also subsequently ceded some ground with women now routinely disobeying public dress codes.