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Israel Clinches Three Olympic Medals in One Day, Including First Gold, for Total of Six Medals in Paris
Paris 2024 Olympics – Sailing – Men’s Windsurfing Final – Marseille Marina, Marseille, France – August 03, 2024. Tom Reuveny of Israel celebrates after winning gold. Photo: Reuters/Andrew Boyers
Israel’s Olympic delegation has made their country proud by winning three medals on Saturday in the 2024 Olympic Games, including on by Israeli windsurfer Tom Reuveny who clinched his home country’s first gold medal in Paris.
Reuveny, 24, secured Israel’s first ever Olympic gold medal in men’s windsurfing and fourth gold medal overall in the country’s Olympic history. Second place went to Australia’s Grae Morris and the bronze medal was given to Luuc van Opzeeland from the Netherlands.
“It feels pretty amazing. It hasn’t sunk yet,” Reuveny said after his historic win. “I need some time to understand what just happened today but I’m pretty happy of my performance this week and I’m super proud of myself.”
Standing on the podium to receive his gold medal, it was the first time that Israel’s national anthem “Hatikvah” was played at the Paris Olympics. The coach of the Israeli men’s windsurfing team is Olympic gold medalist Gal Fridman, who won Israel’s first gold medal 20 years ago at the Olympic Games in Athens.
Reuveny’s brother is currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as Israel wages its war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip who orchestrated the Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel. He said winning an Olympic gold means far more to him now amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. “My brother has been a combat soldier since the war began … it’s much bigger than me to win this event and it feels amazing,” he told Reuters.
“It was so hard to go training while everyone else was crying over lost people, dead people,” he added. “It’s been so hard and I still had to put my head down and keep training and its all for this moment.”
Two more Israeli athletes won Olympic medals on Saturday, including Sharon Kantor, 21, who took home a silver in women’s windsurfing, shortly before Reuveny’s race. Reuveny and Kantor were originally scheduled to compete in the finals on Friday, but their races were postponed due to the weather. Kantor came in second place to Marta Maggetti from Italy and the bronze medal was awarded to Emma Wilson from Great Britain.
“We are in a tough year and a tough position … in this situation to represent Israel is a big honor for everyone and we all understand our roles: to give a bit of joy,” said Eli Zuckerman, head coach of Israel’s Olympic sailing team, according to Reuters. “I’m very happy that we succeeded,” he added. “I think the athletes are also very happy and very proud to do it while our country is in such a complicated situation.”
Kantor took to Instagram to share some of the emotions she felt after her win on Saturday.
“I’m writing it with tears in my eyes,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “This campaign was a roller coaster for me. I feel like I am 12 years old and that maybe I do not understand what history was made yesterday, especially in this horrible moment in Israel. Thank you for every message, every hug, every smile. The fans that were on the shore alongside the love and support from Home gave me the best feeling to go into the water.” She concluded the post by writing in Hebrew “Am Israel Chai” (“Long Live Israel”).
Israel has previously won a total of three medals in windsurfing — all achieved by the coaches of this year’s team in the Paris Olympics. Kantor’s coach won a bronze at the Olympics in 2008.
Also on Saturday, Ukrainian-Israeli gymnast Artem Dolgopyat, 27, won a silver in artistic gymnastics in the men’s floor exercise. Dolgopyat, who won a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, became the first Israeli to win a medal in back-to-back Olympics when he took home the silver on Saturday by scoring 14.966 in his performance. The gold medal went to Filipino gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo, who had a score of 15.
Israel had a three-day winning streak in the Paris Olympics that began on Thursday, when Peter Paltchik won a bronze medal in men’s judo and Inbar Lanir won a silver in women’s judo. On Friday night, Israeli judoka Raz Hershko won silver after losing 1-0 to Brazil’s Beatriz Souza in the final match of the women’s over 78-kg category.
Israel has won 19 Olympic medals in its history, including six so far in this year’s Olympic Games, making it already Israel’s best performance in Olympic history.
The post Israel Clinches Three Olympic Medals in One Day, Including First Gold, for Total of Six Medals in Paris first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays

A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives

Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.