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In notable early move, Itamar Ben-Gvir visits Temple Mount, reportedly against Netanyahu’s urging
(JTA) — Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s new far-right security minister, visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Tuesday, shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly urged him to delay the visit because of security concerns.
The visit to the site, considered the holiest in Judaism and the third-holiest in Islam, was treated as a provocation by the Palestinians and by the Israeli political opposition. Jordan, which considers itself a caretaker of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the site, accused Ben-Gvir of “storming” the Temple Mount, which has been a longtime flashpoint in Israeli-Palestinian tensions.
Ben-Gvir believes that a “status quo” allowing Jews to visit the site during limited periods but not to pray openly there should be changed to give Jews more access, but he reportedly adhered to the rules during his visit Tuesday.
The visit came shortly after Ben-Gvir said he would continue to visit the site after being sworn in as a high-level minister in Netanyahu’s cabinet, a breakthrough position for him and the Religious Zionist bloc he represents.
“The Temple Mount is open to everyone and if Hamas thinks that if it threatens me, it will deter me,” Ben-Gvir tweeted alongside a picture of himself with security forces. “Let them understand that times have changed.”
ממשלת ישראל שאני חבר בה לא תיכנע לארגון מרצחים שפל. הר הבית פתוח לכולם ואם החמאס חושב שאם הוא יאיים עליי זה ירתיע אותי, שיבינו שהשתנו הזמנים. יש ממשלה בירושלים! pic.twitter.com/vgDYBYacJG
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) January 3, 2023
Reports in Israeli media on Monday had initially said Ben-Gvir would delay his first visit as internal security minister, which gives him authority over Israel’s police, following the urging of Netanyahu and others.
A visit to the Temple Mount by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2000 triggered riots that became the Second Intifada, and Ben-Gvir’s eagerness to visit during periods of unease has fueled criticism of him as a “pyromanic” in Israeli-Palestinian tensions.
Yair Lapid, whom Netanyahu displaced as prime minister, had urged Ben-Gvir and others not to visit the Temple Mount, saying, “People will die” if Ben-Gvir provoked violence there.
Afterwards, the foreign ministry of Jordan, which sees itself a caretaker of the mosque, issued a statement that condemned the visit “in the strongest terms.” The Palestinian Authority called it an “unprecedented provocation.”
Officials with the United States, France and the United Kingdom all issued statements, publicly and to Israeli media, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the status quo when it comes to holy sites in Jerusalem. “It is important that all actors avoid actions at those sites that inflame tensions,” tweeted Neil Wigan, the United Kingdom’s ambassador to Israel.
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Who Was Tabtabai, Hezbollah’s Military Leader Killed by Israel?
People inspect a damaged building, after Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a militant from the Lebanese Iran-aligned Hezbollah group, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon November 23, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Yassin
The Israeli military on Sunday killed Hezbollah’s top military official, Haytham Ali Tabtabai, in a strike on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital that came despite a year-long ceasefire.
His killing was announced by Israel’s military. Hezbollah later confirmed his death, hailing him as “the great jihadist commander” who had “worked to confront the Israeli enemy until the last moment of his blessed life.”
Israel had already eliminated most of Iran-backed Hezbollah’s leadership during a war that raged between October 2023 and November 2024, when a US-brokered truce was agreed.
But Tabtabai, who was appointed as the group’s chief of staff after its recent war with Israel, was killed in a rare post-ceasefire operation against a senior Hezbollah figure.
MILITARY LEADER ROSE THROUGH HEZBOLLAH’S RANKS
Tabtabai was born in Lebanon in 1968 to a father with Iranian roots and a Lebanese mother, according to a senior Lebanese security source. He was not a founding member of Hezbollah but was part of its “second generation,” deploying with the group to fight alongside its allies in Syria and Yemen, the source said.
Israel’s military said Tabtabai joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and held several senior posts, including in its Radwan Force, an elite fighting unit. Israel killed most Radwan figures last year ahead of its ground invasion into Lebanon.
During last year’s war, Tabtabai led Hezbollah’s operations division and rose in rank as other top commanders were eliminated, the Israeli military’s statement said.
Once the ceasefire came into force, Tabtabai was appointed chief of staff and “worked extensively to restore their readiness for war with Israel,” according to the statement.
The Lebanese security source confirmed Tabtabai was swiftly promoted as other top Hezbollah officials were killed, and had been appointed chief of staff over the last year.
The Alma Center, a security research and teaching organization in Israel, said Tabtabai had survived other Israeli attacks both in Syria and during the war in Lebanon.
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Netanyahu, Smotrich to Meet on Israeli 2026 Budget that Faces Battle for Approval
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich during the weekly cabinet meeting at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel, January 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and senior ministry officials will present Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later on Sunday with the state budget and planned structural reforms for 2026, Smotrich’s office said.
“The Finance Minister will present to the Prime Minister the necessary measures to ensure continued economic growth and to combat the high cost of living,” it said.
It added that cabinet ministers would vote on the budget on Dec. 4 but it is unlikely the budget would be approved by year end.
According to Israeli law, the budget must be approved by parliament by the end of March or new elections are triggered.
Its final approval faces an uphill battle that could ultimately lead to new elections.
The government has splintered in the past two years over the Gaza war, the ceasefire which has halted it and demands by ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties to exempt Jewish seminary students from mandatory military service.
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Hamas Delegation Meets Egypt Spy Chief, Says Israeli ‘Breaches’ Threaten Ceasefire
Palestinian women look out of a window near the site of Saturday’s Israeli strike in the Central Gaza Strip, November 23, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo
A senior Hamas delegation met Egypt’s intelligence chief in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the ceasefire agreement and the situation in Gaza, the group said, as both Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group continue to trade accusations of truce violations.
Egypt, Qatar and the US have been mediating between Hamas and Israel, securing the ceasefire that came into effect last month.
In a statement, the group said it reaffirmed its commitment to implementing the first phase of the ceasefire agreement in its meeting with Egypt’s intelligence chief, but accused Israel of “continued violations” that it said threatened to undermine the deal.
Hamas, whose delegation included its exiled Gaza chief Khalil Al-Hayya, called for a “clear and defined mechanism” under the supervision of mediators to document and halt any breaches of the deal.
The movement said it also discussed with Egypt ways to urgently resolve the issue of Hamas members in Rafah tunnels, adding that communication with them had been cut off.
Reuters reported earlier this month that mediators were trying to address the fate of a group of Hamas fighters holed up in tunnel networks in Israeli-controlled areas of Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said the country’s military killed five senior Hamas members on Saturday after a fighter was sent into Israeli-controlled Gaza territory to attack Israeli soldiers there.