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Israel Police: 2023 Hezbollah Attack Targeted Former Defense Minister Ya’alon
Moshe Ya’alon gestures as he speaks during the presentation of the list for the Israel Resilience Party in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 19, 2019. Photo: REUTERS/ Amir Cohen
JNS.org — The target of an attempted bombing by Hezbollah in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park a year ago was former Israeli Defense Minister and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon, the Israel Police revealed on Wednesday.
“On Sept. 15, 2023, an explosive device exploded in Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv with no casualties; the investigation was assigned to the Central Unit of the Tel Aviv District Police and the Israel Security Agency (ISA),” the statement said.
A probe, which included an analysis of security cameras “focusing on relevant parties who used to frequent the area of the attack at the relevant time,” led to the conclusion that Ya’alon was targeted, it added.
The terrorist group “had installed a camera on the body of the explosive charge in such a way that it was possible to observe movements on the park’s trails remotely,” but failed to hurt Ya’alon, according to the police.
The news came a day after the ISA revealed that a cell associated with Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah was responsible for placing the explosive, which was planted next to a tree in the bustling park in the north of the coastal metropolis.
Ya;alon, 74, was named chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in 2002, retiring three years later after 37 years of military service. He subsequently served as minister of defense on behalf of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party in successive governments before running for Knesset together with former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz in 2019.
יעד פיגוע המטען בפארק הירקון לפני כשנה הוא הרמטכ״ל ושר הביטחון לשעבר משה בוגי יעלון, שמונה חשודים נעצרו
בתאריך 15.09.23 אירע פיצוץ מטען בפארק הירקון בת”א ללא נפגעים והחקירה הוטלה על היחידה המרכזית של מחוז ת”א והשב”כ. במסגרת החקירה עלה חשד, כי הפעלת המטען הינו אירוע פיגוע חבלני…
— משטרת ישראל (@IL_police) September 18, 2024
In related news, the ISA announced on Tuesday that it had thwarted a second attempt by Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior security official. According to the ISA, the attack involved an explosive device and was intended to be carried out in the coming days.
The security agency described the explosive device as a “type of Claymore anti-personnel mine known to be used by Hezbollah,” similar to the charge used in the planned attack on Ya’alon in September 2023.
The planned terrorist attack was said to have been prevented “in the final stages of implementation,” the ISA noted, adding that the targeted Israeli official has been updated by security forces and that additional details could not be provided “at this stage.”
Arab media reported on Wednesday that the intended target of the bombing was Aviv Kochavi, who was the IDF chief of staff between 2019 and 2023. Hezbollah operatives surveilled the retired military leader at a “sports facility” he used to frequent in Tel Aviv, according to the reports.
Hezbollah has attacked northern Israel nearly daily since it joined the war against the Jewish state in support of Palestinian Hamas on Oct. 8, firing thousands of rockets, missiles and drones. The attacks have so far killed more than 40 people and caused widespread damage. Tens of thousands of civilians remain internally displaced due to the violence.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah blamed Jerusalem for the pager explosions that wounded some 3,000 of its operatives and killed 12 in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday, warning that Israel will get “its fair punishment.”
The post Israel Police: 2023 Hezbollah Attack Targeted Former Defense Minister Ya’alon first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Saudi Arabia Rejects Israel PM Netanyahu’s Remarks on Displacing Palestinians

US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talk in the midst of a joint news conference in the White House in Washington, US, Jan. 28, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Saudi Arabia affirmed its categorical rejection of remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about displacing Palestinians from their land, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Israeli officials have suggested the establishment of a Palestinian state on Saudi territory. Netanyahu appeared to be joking on Thursday when he responded to an interviewer on pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 who mistakenly said “Saudi state” instead of “Palestinian state,” before correcting himself.
While the Saudi statement mentioned Netanyahu’s name, it did not directly refer to the comments about establishing a Palestinian state in Saudi territory.
Egypt and Jordan also condemned the Israeli suggestions, with Cairo deeming the idea as a “direct infringement of Saudi sovereignty.”
The kingdom said it valued “brotherly” states’ rejection of Netanyahu’s remarks.
“This occupying extremist mindset does not comprehend what the Palestinian territory means for the brotherly people of Palestine and its conscientious, historical and legal association with that land,” it said.
Discussions of the fate of Palestinians in Gaza has been upended by Tuesday’s shock proposal from President Donald Trump that the U.S. would “take over the Gaza Strip” from Israel and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere.
Arab states have roundly condemned Trump’s comments, which came during a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza war that Israel has been waging against the terrorist group Hamas, which controls the narrow strip.
Trump has said Saudi Arabia was not demanding a Palestinian state as a condition for normalizing ties with Israel. But Riyadh rebuffed his statements, saying it would not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.
The post Saudi Arabia Rejects Israel PM Netanyahu’s Remarks on Displacing Palestinians first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Egypt to Host Emergency Arab Summit on 27 February to Discuss ‘Serious’ Palestinian Developments

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Feb. 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Egypt will host an emergency Arab summit on 27 February to discuss what it described as “serious” developments for Palestinians, according to a statement from the Egyptian foreign ministry on Sunday.
The summit comes amid regional and global condemnation of US President Donald Trump’s suggestion to “take over the Gaza Strip” from Israel and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere.
The post Egypt to Host Emergency Arab Summit on 27 February to Discuss ‘Serious’ Palestinian Developments first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Thai Nationals Held Captive by Hamas in Gaza Return Home

Relatives hug a released Thai hostage, who was kidnapped during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas and held in Gaza, as the hostages arrive in Thailand following their release, at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, in Samut Prakan, Thailand, February 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
When Surasak Rumnao, 31, left his home in Thailand’s rural Udon Thani province three years ago to go across the world to the southern Israeli town of Yesha for agriculture work, his family never imagined they would lose touch with him for over a year when he was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in October 2023.
He and four others were reunited with their families this weekend after their release from captivity in Gaza.
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists abducted more than 250 people, including Israelis and foreign nationals, in their October 2023 attack on Israel.
During the attack, Hamas terrorists killed more than 40 Thais and kidnapped 31 Thai laborers, some of whom died in captivity, according to the Thai government. Later that year, the first group of Thai hostages was returned.
Surasak’s mother, Khammee Rumnao, was relieved that her son was not mistreated and has returned to his home, about 620 km(385 miles) northeast of the capital, Bangkok.
“He mainly got to eat bread, he was looked after well and was fed all three meals (each day). He got to shower, he was looked after well,” Khammee said, and that he ate whatever his captors had.
Her son does not plan to go back and wants to use the knowledge he gained in his agricultural work in Israel at their home, she said.
His grandparents and other relatives came to their home to welcome him home.
His stepfather, Janda Prachanan, was elated.
“I couldn’t find the words to describe how happy I am, that my son is safe and finally home,” he said.
Earlier on Sunday, the other returnees, dressed in winter jackets, were met with tears of joy from their families who were waiting for their arrival at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
“We are all deeply touched to come back to our birthplace … to be standing here,” said Pongsak Thaenna, one of the returnees said. “I don’t know what else to say, we are all truly thankful.”
Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa, who met the hostages in Israel after their release last week, expressed relief.
“This is emotional … to come back to the embrace of their families,” he said. “We never gave up and this was the fruit of that.”
Before the conflict, approximately 30,000 Thai laborers worked in Israel’s agriculture sector, making them one of the largest migrant worker groups in the country. Nearly 9,000 Thais were repatriated following the October 7 attacks.
The workers primarily come from Thailand’s northeastern region, an area comprising villages and farming communities that is among the poorest in the country.
Thailand’s foreign ministry said a Thai national is still believed to be held captive by Hamas.
“We still have hope and continue to work to bring them back,” Maris said, adding that this includes the bodies of two deceased Thai nationals.
The post Thai Nationals Held Captive by Hamas in Gaza Return Home first appeared on Algemeiner.com.