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Israel’s Defense Establishment Prepares for Multiple Ramadan Scenarios
Israeli police officers walk during clashes with Palestinian protesters, as the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan continues, in Jerusalem, April 24, 2021. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
JNS.org – The Israeli defense establishment and Israel Police are preparing for a range of security scenarios during the traditionally tense Muslim Ramadan month, which begins on the evening of March 10, give or take a day, as the war against Hamas in Gaza rages on.
Thus far, Hamas has failed to ignite Judea and Samaria with violence, and it views Ramadan as a new opportunity to do that—both in eastern Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria. It will likely try to stress religious fundamentalist themes to call on Palestinian masses to take part in violent disorders, and rally under the banner of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” (the name Hamas gave its Oct. 7 attack).
Hamas hopes to get hundreds of thousands of Palestinians on the streets to take part in rioting.
The Israel Defense Forces is well aware of this intention and is preparing accordingly, with stepped-up numbers of battalions operating in Judea and Samaria.
In Judea and Samaria, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), the IDF and Border Police have been busy conducting large numbers of security raids to disrupt terror cells before they mature into deadly attacks.
For example, on Tuesday, security forces apprehended a high-ranking terrorist in Balata near Nablus, following intelligence that he was planning an imminent attack with fellow suspects, the IDF said.
On the same day, a terrorist stabbed an Israeli at the Yitzhar Junction, before being shot dead by soldiers on the scene.
The IDF Central Command, which has jurisdiction over Judea and Samaria, has been busy with a severe wave of terror attacks that long preceded the Oct. 7 mass murder attack from Gaza and the war it started.
The wave of terrorism stretches back to March 2022 and includes a spate of attacks within Judea and Samaria and in the larger State of Israel.
A defense source told JNS in recent days that security forces in Judea and Samaria are in the midst of an intense effort to combat terrorism, including raids and arrests.
The long-lasting wave of terror, the source said, is being fueled by the weakening of the Palestinian Authority, with some areas in Judea and Samaria being no-go zones for its security forces, such as Jenin and the Balata camp.
The defense source also pointed to a new, young Palestinian generation, who feel alienated from “everything,” he said—both Israel and the P.A.
According to the source, this is a generation that did not experience 2002’s “Operation Defensive Shield,” carried out by the IDF in Judea and Samaria in response to a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings that claimed hundreds of lives. It is a generation that has not seen tanks in the streets of Palestinian cities in Judea and Samaria or large-scale destruction of homes.
Meanwhile, a surge of weapons has flooded Judea and Samaria, entering mostly from the Jordanian border, but also some stolen from IDF bases, and some produced in local Palestinian workshops.
On top of this combustible mix, terrorist organizations remain highly motivated to conduct attacks. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are attempting to orchestrate terrorism from abroad, though this effort has been significantly hampered by the IDF’s operations in Gaza, the source stated.
Iran is investing money to get weapons into the hands of terrorists as well and tries to help direct and carry out attacks, alongside Hamas and Islamic Jihad. According to the defense source, in the past six months, weapons that originated from the radical Shi’ite axis have been seized in Judea and Samaria.
If this were not enough, the source described large-scale incitement to violence underway among the Palestinian public, fueled further by scenes from Gaza, and tensions that date back to before the current war. These influences can produce “lone wolf” terrorists who attack with knives or other weapons, while the threat of organized cells exists as well.
The IDF describes organized cells as part of “terrorist infrastructure” and is engaged in nightly raids to thwart it, whether in Hebron, Bethlehem or anywhere else in Judea and Samaria. The cells usually receive instructions, weapons and money from outside of Judea and Samaria.
Since October 2023, the IDF and Shin Bet have thwarted around 250 terror cells in Judea and Samaria.
A third kind of threat also exists—armed groups of localized terrorists, who receive assistance from established terror factions, and from Iran, but who operate on their own. These usually spring up where the P.A. is especially weak, the source said, turning camps into terrorist hornet’s nests.
They build observation command rooms and plant explosives under roads, which the IDF routinely neutralizes during security raids. These areas are filled to the brim with weapons and explosives. In such places, a hierarchy often emerges, with a commander taking charge and building greater capabilities. Such groups are responsible for many attacks, the source said.
The Lions’ Den group in Nablus is a well-known example of this kind of threat. In Jenin, the group there calls itself The Camp’s Sons, or the Jenin Brigade.
In effect, the war in Gaza has significantly enabled the IDF to step up its security raids in Judea and Samaria, since the Central Command no longer has to alert the Southern Command, which is responsible for Gaza, about potential terrorist casualties in raids—casualties that, before the war, could have sparked a subsequent rocket escalation from Gaza.
This means that the IDF in Judea and Samaria conducts more raids, more robustly, particularly in the camps against organized armed groups.
Since the start of the war, the IDF has rounded up 3,400 security detainees in Judea and Samaria, with some 1,500 of them affiliated with Hamas. That’s more than the army typically arrests in an entire year.
Legal changes also enable the IDF to more easily detain online inciters of jihadist violence against Israelis, backed by a specialized intelligence unit that tracks down such activities. The IDF is seeking to remove all of the “inciting elements” it can detect before Ramadan.
At the same time, the source said, the goal is to fight terrorism as precisely as possible, without harming uninvolved Palestinians.
The Israeli defense establishment holds that granting uninvolved Palestinians a degree of freedom of worship on the Temple Mount, though less than in previous years, will help deny Hamas the religious war it is trying to ignite.
It also believes that some Palestinian workers, fewer than before the war, should be allowed back into Israel to work to help relieve economic pressure and deny Hamas recruitment opportunities.
According to the source, while there are many IDF checkpoints in Judea and Samaria, at the end of the day it is the offensive security raids that are most effective in stopping terrorism, and the finite number of soldiers means that forces must be reserved for those raids—limiting the number of checkpoints that can be set up.
The Shin Bet announced on Monday that it thwarted a terrorist cell from the Hebron area that produced about 100 explosives and planned to carry out attacks inspired by the Islamic State organization. The announcement is a reminder that ISIS is also a threat in the area.
In recent days, the IDF Central Command’s training program for commanders was held at the Lachish training base. The program is intended for both active duty and reserve commanders.
“The IDF and the Shin Bet’s intensive counterterrorism efforts in Judea and Samaria prevent an escalation in the security situation and allow us to focus on fighting in Gaza and Lebanon and to achieve important results,” IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzl Halevi said at the training program on March 1.
“You have great responsibility in Judea and Samaria to achieve the goals of the war and to be prepared for each mission. This is even more important before Ramadan. We could not have accomplished these achievements without the outstanding reservists who are here.”
Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fuchs, head of the Central Command, added, “Readiness for an escalation is fundamental. There may be an incident, whether real or not, that could lead hundreds of thousands to take to the streets, and this needs to be anticipated and prepared for in every respect.”
Israel Police prepares for a range of scenarios
The Israel Police, meanwhile, has been busy for several weeks making its own preparations leading up to Ramadan as it coordinates with the IDF and the Shin Bet.
The police have been planning for a large variety of scenarios. The issue of whether or not a ceasefire will take hold in Gaza will likely influence events on the ground as well as the situation on the northern front.
The police will have to deal with large numbers of Muslim worshippers arriving at the Temple Mount, Arab Israelis and Palestinians, all at the same time.
Police are also seeing heightened levels of online incitement relating to events in Gaza on social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Telegram. This incitement includes bots from countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan, and to a lesser degree, from Gaza, due to internet disruptions in the Strip.
Preparing for various scenarios has been the police’s top priority in the period leading up to Ramadan, as well as for the Border Police. The Border Police has deployed backup reserve battalions since the start of the war, and many of those battalions remain in active service.
A portion of those battalions will reinforce the Jerusalem area. Jerusalem’s Old City, which is a tightly packed area of around a square kilometer, where hundreds of thousands of worshippers are packed in during an average Ramadan period, creates many potential scenarios for police to think about.
The post Israel’s Defense Establishment Prepares for Multiple Ramadan Scenarios first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Criticizes Arab-Islamic Summit Statement, Flags Objections After Doha Meeting
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, attends the emergency Arab-Islamic leaders’ summit in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 15, 2025. Photo: Hassan Bargash Al Menhali / UAE Presidential Court/Handout via REUTERS
Iran has criticized the final statement of the Arab-Islamic Summit held in Doha on Monday as insufficient, in the wake of last week’s Israeli attack targeting the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Qatar.
In a statement released shortly after the summit, Iran reaffirmed its “unwavering support for the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination,” while arguing that a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot adequately address the Palestinian issue.
According to the Iranian delegation, “the only real and lasting solution is the establishment of a single democratic state across all of Palestine, through a referendum involving all Palestinians inside and outside the occupied territories.”
On Monday, Qatar held a summit of Arab and Islamic nations in the aftermath of last week’s Israeli strike on Hamas, with leaders gathering to express support and discuss regional responses.
The Sept. 9 strike targeting leaders of the Palestinian terrorist group in Doha marked a significant escalation of Israeli military operations, reflecting Jerusalem’s broader efforts to dismantle the terrorist group amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
Expressing solidarity with Qatar, summit leaders condemned Israel’s strike, labeling it “cowardly, illegal, and a threat to collective regional security.”
In the final statement, the heads of state declared that “an assault on a state acting as a neutral mediator in the Gaza crisis is not only a hostile act against Qatar but also a direct blow to international peace-building efforts.”
Alongside the United States and other regional powers, Qatar has served as a ceasefire mediator during the nearly two-year Gaza conflict, facilitating indirect negotiations between the Jewish state and Hamas.
However, Doha has also backed the Palestinian terrorist group for years, providing Hamas with money and diplomatic support while hosting and sheltering its top leadership.
During the summit, Arab and Muslim leaders called for a review of diplomatic and economic relations with Israel while firmly opposing any attempts to displace Palestinians.
In the final statement, the heads of state also emphasized resisting Israel’s efforts to “impose new realities on the ground,” urged enforcement of International Criminal Court (ICC) warrants for Israeli leaders over war crime allegations adamantly denied by Jerusalem, and coordinated actions to suspend Israel’s UN membership.
Although Iran participated in the summit and endorsed the declaration, its delegation issued a separate statement shortly afterward clarifying that doing so “must in no way be interpreted, explicitly or implicitly, as recognition of the Israeli regime,” reaffirming its rejection of the Jewish state’s right to exist.
Iranian leaders regularly declare their intention to destroy Israel, the world’s lone Jewish state.
The statement also stressed that the Palestinian people have the right to employ “all necessary means to achieve their inalienable right to self-determination,” emphasizing that backing this cause is “a shared duty of the international community.”
As the heads of Arab and Islamic states convened for a summit on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned he did not rule out further strikes on Hamas leaders “wherever they are.”
During a diplomatic visit to Israel, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed strong support for Israel’s position, even as Washington previously voiced concerns over the strike in Qatar, a US ally.
Speaking alongside Netanyahu, Rubio said the only way to end the war in Gaza would be for Hamas to free all hostages and surrender. While the US wants a diplomatic end to the war, “we have to be prepared for the possibility that’s not going to happen,” he said.
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“Your Name Was Included”: UC Berkeley Cooperating With Trump Administration, Admits to Disclosing Names
Students attend a protest encampment in support of Palestinians at University of California, Berkeley during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Berkeley, US, April 23, 2024. Photo: Carlos Barria via Reuters Connect
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) is cooperating with the Trump administration’s inquiry into campus antisemitism, providing materials containing the names of some 160 people identified in disciplinary reports and other official documents.
As first reported by The Daily Californian, UC Berkeley’s official campus newspaper, the university’s Office of Legal Affairs notified every person affected by the mass disclosure, writing to them on Sept. 4.
“Last spring, the [US Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, or OCR]] initiated investigations regarding allegations of antisemitic harassment and discrimination at UC Berkeley. As part of its investigation, OCR required production of comprehensive documents, including files and reports related to alleged antisemitic incidents,” chief campus counsel David Robinson wrote. “This notice is to inform you that, as required by law and as per directions provided by the UC systemic Office of General Counsel, your name was included in report as part of the documents provided by OGC [Office of General Counsel] to OCR for its investigations on Aug. 18, 2025.”
He added, “These documents contained information about reports or responses related to antisemitic incidents.”
Anti-Israel activists told the Californian that the university is helping the Trump administration hunt witches.
“I think the message was sent to anybody has who has ever been accused of antisemitism, which of course, includes a lot of Palestinians,” one said, claiming that he has been falsely accused. “Whenever we teach about Palestine, it usually leads to an investigation. I think they flagged and sent all of that information to the federal government.”
Students for Justice in Palestine, infamous for its ties to jihadist terror organizations, also criticized the move, charging that the administration had promised to conceal their identities and thereby obstruct the government’s inquiry.
“Chancellor Rich Lyons should not have given assurances that he wouldn’t be giving our information to the federal government,” the group said. “Beyond that, he should never have bowed down so easily. I would think that a university that prides itself on being this liberal haven would at least stand up to a fascist like Donald Trump.”
UC Berkeley came under scrutiny in 2024 after a mob of hundreds of pro-Palestinian students and non-students shut down an event at its Zellerbach Hall featuring Israeli reservist Ran Bar-Yoshafat, forcing Jewish students to flee to a secret safe room as the protesters overwhelmed campus police.
Footage of the incident showed a frenzied mass of anti-Zionist agitators banging on the doors of Zellerbach. The mob then, according to witnesses, eventually stormed the building — breaking windows in the process, according to reports in The Daily Wire — and precipitated the decision to evacuate the area. During the infiltration of Zellerbach, one of the mob — assembled by Bears for Palestine, which had earlier proclaimed its intention to cancel the event — spit on a Jewish student and called him a “Jew,” pejoratively.
Other incidents, including the university’s employment of a lecturer who tweeted antisemitic images — one of which accused Israel of organ harvesting, a blood libel — the rewarding of academic benefits for participating in anti-Zionist activity, and the banning of Zionist speakers from Berkeley Law, have raised concerns about anti-Jewish hated on campus. In 2017, The Algemeiner ranked UC Berkeley as number five on “The 40 Worst Colleges for Jewish Students.”
In August, an Israeli professor sued the university, alleging that school officials denied her a job because she is Israeli — a claim its own investigators corroborated in an internal investigation, according to her attorneys at the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.
Filed in the Alameda County Superior Court, the complaint is seeking justice for Dr. Yael Nativ, who taught in UC Berkeley’s Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies as a visiting professor in 2022 and received an invitation to apply to do so again for the 2024-2025 academic year just weeks after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre across southern Israel.
A hiring official allegedly believed, however, that an Israeli professor in the department would be unpalatable to students and faculty.
“My dept [sic] cannot host you for a class next fall,” the official allegedly told Nativ in a WhatsApp message. “Things are very hot here right now and many of our grad students are angry. I would be putting the dept and you in a terrible position if you taught here.”
Berkeley’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination (OPHD) later initiated an investigation of Nativ’s denial after the professor wrote an opinion essay which publicly accused the school of cowardice and violations of her civil rights. OPHD determined that a “preponderance of evidence” proved Nativ’s claim, but school officials went on to ignore the professor’s requests for an apology and other remedial measures, including sending her a renewed invitation to teach dance. After nearly two years, the situation remains unresolved.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Israel Issues Travel Warning Ahead of Jewish Holidays Amid Rising Attacks, Discrimination Targeting Israelis Abroad
A flag is flown during a protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, outside the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France, Nov. 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman
Israel has issued a travel warning ahead of the upcoming Jewish high holidays and the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities, alerting citizens of heightened terrorist threats against Israelis and Jewish communities abroad.
On Sunday, the National Security Council (NSC) urged travelers to stay alert, cautioning that the two-year anniversary of the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel could trigger attacks by Iran-backed or Hamas-linked terrorist groups targeting Jews and Israelis abroad.
“The recent period has been characterized by continued efforts to carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets by the various terrorist organizations (most of them led by Iran and Hamas),” the NSC said in a statement.
“Oct. 7 may again serve as a significant date for terrorist organizations,” the statement read.
Israeli officials warned that the threat mainly stems from Iran and its terrorist proxies, which have increasingly targeted Jews and Israelis beyond Israel’s borders.
In recent months, the NSC reported that dozens of plots have been thwarted, even as violent incidents — including physical attacks, antisemitic threats, and online incitement — have continued to rise.
“With the war ongoing and the terror threat growing, we are witnessing an escalation in antisemitic violence and provocations by anti-Israel elements,” the NSC said in its statement.
“This trend may inspire extremists to carry out attacks against Israelis or Jews abroad,” it continued.
According to the NSC, Iran remains the leading source of terrorism against Israelis and Jews worldwide, acting both directly and through proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
“Iranian motivation is growing in light of the severe blows it suffered in the framework of ‘Operation Rising Lion’ and the growing desire for revenge,” the NSC said in a statement, referring to the 12-day war with Israel in June.
Amid rising tensions over the war in Gaza, Israeli officials have previously warned of Iranian sleeper cells — covert operatives or terrorists embedded in rival countries who remain dormant until they receive orders to act and carry out attacks.
In light of this reality, the NSC also warned that social media posts revealing ties to Israeli security services could put individuals at risk of being targeted.
“We advise against posting any content that suggests involvement in the security services or operational activities, including real-time location updates,” the statement read.
This latest updated warning comes amid a growing hostile environment and a shocking surge in anti-Jewish hate crimes targeting Jews and Israelis worldwide.
Across Europe, Israelis are facing a disturbing surge of targeted attacks and hostility, as a wave of antisemitic incidents — from violent assaults and vandalism to protests and legal actions — spreads amid rising tensions following recent conflicts in the Middle East.
On Saturday, a 29-year-old Israeli and his sister were attacked by three Palestinian men while on vacation in Athens, Greece.
According to local media reports, the two siblings were walking through the city’s center when three unknown individuals carrying Palestinian flags approached them, shouting antisemitic slurs.
The attackers assaulted the Israeli man, a disabled Israel Defense Forces (IDF) veteran, scratching him, throwing him to the ground, and striking him with their flagpoles, while his sister attempted to intervene and protect him.
October 7 is a global war against Jews & Israelis.
Pro-Palestinian radicals just attacked an Israeli man in Syntagma Square, Athens. via @N12News https://t.co/IZR2IdNrUI pic.twitter.com/9S2o4IjtO6
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) September 14, 2025
Greek authorities arrested all five individuals involved in the incident. According to the Israeli man’s father, his son was placed in a cell with 10 Arabs, where he was reportedly beaten again and feared for his life.
In a separate antisemitic incident earlier this year, a group of Israeli teenagers was physically assaulted by dozens of pro-Palestinian assailants — some reportedly armed with knives — on the Greek island of Rhodes.
After leaving a nightclub, the teens were followed to their hotel, where they were violently assaulted, leaving several with minor injuries.
In another example of rising anti-Israel sentiment and hostility toward Jewish communities, one of Britain’s most prestigious military academies, the Royal College of Defense Studies, announced Sunday that it will bar Israeli students from enrolling next year, citing concerns over the war in Gaza.
In Belgium, two IDF soldiers attending the Tomorrowland music festival were arrested and interrogated by local authorities following a complaint from the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), an anti-Israel legal group that pursues legal action against IDF personnel, accusing them of involvement in war crimes.
According to HRF, the soldiers were seen waving the flags of the IDF’s Givati Brigade, which they claimed has been “involved in the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza and in carrying out mass atrocities against the Palestinian population.”
In France, a 34-year-old Algerian man was sentenced to 40 months in prison for threatening passengers with a knife and making antisemitic death threats after boarding a train at Cannes station.
In another incident earlier this year, a Jewish man wearing a kippah was brutally attacked and called a “dirty Jew” in Anduze, a small town in southern France.