Netanyahu in Miami
As usual, I do not have to struggle to find topics to write about. Instead, I must struggle to determine what to omit.
One might argue that I should have dedicated more space in this column to the meeting between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, which the Israeli media is covering ceaselessly. However, I see no need to join the ranks of the pundits attempting to predict what the two leaders will discuss in their conversation. Some media commentators claim that they already know exactly what Trump will say in his rebuke of Netanyahu, and even how fierce his reprimands will be. But since this newspaper will be published after their meeting, I see no reason to waste words on idle speculation. Rumor has it that Netanyahu is planning some sort of party in honor of the new year; in fact, I even saw a copy of an elegantly designed invitation on behalf of the prime minister and the “first lady” (i.e., Sara Netanyahu). But there is little that I can report about that either.
The closure of the Galei Tzahal radio station is also making headlines. I have mentioned in the past that the cabinet approved the defense minister’s decision to shut down the station, which does not serve the soldiers at all and simply promotes a left-wing agenda. There is no logical reason for the government to finance the operation of such a station, especially with funds earmarked for national security. For a while, the process of closing the station moved along smoothly despite opposition from the left—including a number of politicians who used to be in favor of shutting down the station but have now decided to oppose it simply because they are in the opposition. But the process ground to a halt this Sunday when Justice Amit ordered it frozen. This was the outcome of a court case that began with petitions against the closure and continued with the attorney general responding, allegedly on behalf of the government, that the closure process was unlawful.
The investigation into the military advocate general has likewise been stymied by court intervention. The Supreme Court has repeatedly shot down every effort made by the minister of justice to appoint someone to oversee the investigation. At this time, there is no external official managing the probe, and that is naturally eroding the investigation’s efficacy. Some believe that that is exactly what the judges are hoping to accomplish: Their goal is to protect the attorney general, and possibly themselves as well, by ensuring that the investigation never gets to the bottom of the story. Most of the public believes that the truth will never come to light, and the people who leaked the video and covered up the crime will never pay the price for their actions.
In another development, the deputy attorney general, a man who formerly held the position of military advocate general, secretly visited the disgraced MAG, Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, in her home. This surely constitutes tampering with an investigation, but once again, there is no one powerful enough to order an investigation into his actions.
Somaliland Joins the Abraham Accords
Let’s talk about Somaliland. Now, I know the first question that you are bound to ask: What is Somaliland? Almost everyone in Israel asked that same question on Friday, when Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that Israel has officially recognized Somaliland as an independent sovereign state, and that the country has joined the Abraham Accords and will establish formal diplomatic relations with Israel. Netanyahu’s announcement was followed by one from Somaliland, announcing the country’s intention to join the Abraham Accords now that it has received recognition from Israel.
Somaliland, a country that has not been recognized by any United Nations member state until now, was recently mentioned as a possible destination for deported Gazans. Officials in Somaliland even announced that they were willing to absorb a million Gazans, albeit not officially. However, this no longer seems to be a possibility.
Somalia, which considers Somaliland part of its own territory, quickly condemned Israel for recognizing the country, in a joint statement issued along with the foreign ministers of Turkey, Egypt, and Djibouti. The move was later condemned by Saudi Arabia as well. The rush to condemn the recognition of Somaliland simply reveals that it will be detrimental to the Arab countries, and therefore it is certainly to Israel’s benefit.
Somaliland, which has a Muslim population, is home to about six million people. The president of Somaliland, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, has referred to the international recognition of its independence as a “subject of supreme importance.” The Israeli announcement was embraced by Somaliland as a historic development and was celebrated with festivities and fireworks in the capital city, Hargeisa, where a huge image of an Israeli flag was projected on a building. Netanyahu’s announcement revealed that Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, and the president of Somaliland signed a joint declaration. “This declaration is in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, which were signed on President Trump’s initiative,” Netanyahu said. The prime minister congratulated the president of Somaliland and praised his leadership and his commitment to security, stability and peace, as well as inviting him to Israel for an official visit. I will cover this development at greater length in the near future and will explain more of its significance for Israel and the reason it is so fiercely opposed by hostile Arab states.
Two Murdered in Erev Shabbos Terror Attack
On erev Shabbos, two Jews were murdered in a multi-scene terror attack. The murderous rampage began at 12:00 in Kibbutz Mesilot in northern Israel, when the terrorist stole his employer’s car. He drove to Beit Shean, which is four minutes away, where he attempted to run over a 16-year-old boy on Rechov Yaakov Machlouf. The terrorist emerged from the car and tried to stab the boy, who managed to escape and thus was spared from death. Returning to the car, the terrorist continued on his way. At 12:25, he rammed his car into an elderly man named Shimshon Mordechai on Rechov HaShomron, a major thoroughfare in Beit Shean. The victim was killed on the spot. The terrorist’s cruelty becomes clear in light of the details of the attack that later came to light: He drove onto a bicycle lane where his victim, a disabled man, was walking. The terrorist rammed his car into the man and dragged him for a distance of about 50 meters, where he left his victim in critical condition and drove off again. The victim, a longtime resident of the city, was pronounced dead shortly after he was struck. The mayor related that he had been making his way home from shul when he was killed. Another local resident recalled that the victim was the gabbai of his shul, where he cared for every mispallel and greeted everyone graciously.
After murdering this victim, the terrorist drove onto Route 71, where he hit a number of cars and then made his way to a bus stop, where he stabbed a young woman named Aviv Maor to death. An eyewitness revealed the details: After driving onto the highway from Beit Shean, the terrorist rammed his car into another vehicle, owned by the kibbutz, which was occupied by his victim. The occupants of the car emerged and fled, and the terrorist chased Aviv and stabbed her in a ditch on the side of the road. He escaped from that scene as well and drove to Afula, where his car crashed into an electric pole and he attacked 37-year-old Yaakov Gerber. At that point, the terrorist was shot by a passerby and taken to the hospital. His murderous spree had lasted for about 50 minutes.
The attempted murder of Yaakov Gerber took place in Afula at 12:45. The terrorist managed to hit the victim with his car and then emerged from the car and tried to kill him by crushing his head with stones; however, he was wounded by armed civilians at the scene. Gerber, a melamed at a Talmud Torah in the Chadeira area, was seriously injured and rushed to Rambam Hospital in Haifa. “I was on my way home, walking on the sidewalk, when I saw a car approaching me and driving on the sidewalk,” Gerber related. “I thought that it was some kind of accident and that the driver had inadvertently gone off the road, but he continued driving toward me. I tried to run into the adjacent field, but the car hit me. The next thing I remember is lying on the ground while I felt blows to my head, and then people came to help me and called an ambulance.” The blows to his head were the terrorist’s efforts to kill him with stones. Yaakov’s wife related that her husband is suffering from head injuries in the aftermath of the attack.
“It shocks me to think that this awful terrorist hit Yaakov and then emerged from his car and tried to crush his skull with his hands or with something else,” she said. “We are davening for him to get out of this and for his injuries to be reversible.”
Yaakov Gerber was released from the hospital on motzoei Shabbos, and the terrorist was released a short time later. In the interim, the IDF raided the village of Qabatiya and arrested two of the terrorist’s brothers.
Rising Fears of Palestinian Infiltrations
Friday’s terror attack came just a few days after the state comptroller released a frightening report claiming that Yerushalayim is vulnerable to an attack similar to the October 7 massacre. The comptroller determined that the Israel Police Force has failed to properly secure the area surrounding Yerushalayim and that its failings on the seam line and at the crossings create a tangible danger of a repeat of the October 7 attack; may Hashem protect us all. According to the report, over the course of years, the police did not develop a response to threats or construct a scenario for a major terror event erupting in the Yerushalayim area, failing to take preparatory steps even after the massacre in the south. The comptroller’s report revealed that the checkpoints on the roads are being operated without an organized operational plan, without regular oversight, and without full security checks. The comptroller also warned that there are openings along the seam line where terrorists can infiltrate Israel without detection, and there is a serious shortage of manpower, technological means, and responses to infiltration attempts. This situation is liable to make it possible for terrorists to conduct a coordinated attack in the heart of Yerushalayim. The report reaches an unequivocal conclusion: If these deficiencies aren’t repaired immediately, Yerushalayim might be the scene of the next attack, chas v’shalom. I hope to write a separate article on this scathing report.
The seam line is the barrier around the neighborhoods of Yerushalayim that is intended to prevent Arabs who are not residents of the state from infiltrating Israeli territory. After the terror attack in Ramot, I reported to you that the residents claimed that the police had been warned about the breaches in the security wall and that Arabs were seen crossing the barrier every day with ladders and other makeshift means. These infiltrators probably cross the barrier to work in Israel, but no one can guarantee that they are not entering Israel to commit murders. If the security forces have decided, for some reason, that there is no need to prevent these infiltrators from entering Israel, then the security wall seems to have no purpose. A security wall with multiple breaches is essentially useless. The problem is compounded by the fact that there is a large Arab population in Yehuda and the Shomron, and only half the areas are separated from Israel by a wall or fence. As the state comptroller put it, this is a genuine threat to Israeli lives. You may recall that I wrote last week about the stinging gas in the air in Neve Yaakov. The residents of the neighborhood are certain that the gas was used in an effort to repel Palestinian infiltrators. Nevertheless, they also complain that their neighborhood is completely accessible to Palestinians, which definitely makes for a frightening situation.
The latest murderous attack has reawakened concerns over the presence of illegal Palestinians in Israel, especially at construction sites and in industrial zones throughout the country. In Kiryat Ono, for instance, a resident published a picture showing a large crowd of Palestinians successfully infiltrating the country through a breach in the security fence; these infiltrators entered Israeli territory while carrying heavy bags. Kiryat Ono, like many other cities, has numerous construction sites manned by Arab workers, including Palestinians who slip into the country illegally every day, and no one can guarantee that there are no murderous terrorists among them. The terror attack in Beit Shean and Afula therefore escalated fears throughout the country, raising the widespread concern to the level of panic, especially in light of the state comptroller’s report about Yerushalayim. And I might add that the danger in Yehuda and the Shomron is even greater. The only question is whether the passage of time will lull the country into a false sense of security again, or the rising fears will lead to increased security measures.
Shabbos Buses Scrapped Due to Lack of Demand
This week, the secular media in Israel published a report that had a mournful tone but that I read with glee. Let me present the text of one news item: “The Ministry of Transportation has canceled about 80 bus lines that operated on Shabbos over the course of the past three years. Eighteen of those lines, which operated mainly in Arab localities in the north, were canceled during the year 2025. Today, there are 418 bus lines with permits to operate on Shabbos, but despite the significant demand, at least 130 of them do not run on Shabbos.”
All the media outlets quoted the Movement for Freedom of Information, which had more specific information to share: “The Ministry of Transportation has canceled about 80 bus lines that operated on Shabbos. The information on the operation of Shabbos bus lines was received only after we filed a petition with the court. From the information we received, it has become clear that in 2025, the Ministry of Transportation canceled at least 18 lines that held permits to operate on weekends. Even though there are 418 bus lines in Israel that are permitted to run on Shabbos, about 130 of those lines do not operate on weekends. Most of the bus lines canceled in 2025 operated in Arab communities in the north, some of which have their own organized public transportation on Shabbos, like Haifa and East Yerushalayim. Based on the list of Shabbos lines provided by the Transportation Ministry, it is clear that vital bus lines connecting the southern periphery to the center of the country have not been operating for at least two years. One of the bus lines that is supposed to run on Shabbos is the 301 line, which connects Ashkelon to Tel Aviv, but in spite of the official permit given to this line, it does not operate on Shabbos. Other lines that do not operate on Shabbos despite having official permits are the lines connecting Eilat to Yerushalayim, Beer Sheva to Yerushalayim, Beer Sheva to Ashdod, and Chadera to Yerushalayim. The bus line for the Arab community that travels between Arara in the Negev and Dimona similarly does not run on Shabbos. In Israel, a bus line may receive a permit to operate on Shabbos if it serves passengers traveling to hospitals, border settlements, or settlements with a non-Jewish populace, if the local government believes that it is vital for public security, or if it is vital for other reasons in the estimation of the local authority. In practice, however, there are no bus lines to hospitals such as Hadassah and Shaare Zedek in Yerushalayim, Assuta in Ashdod, and Sheba in the center of the country. The information that we received indicates that there are fewer and fewer buses operating on Shabbos, despite the need for them.”
I reviewed this list and conducted some research, and I discovered that dozens of bus lines that operated on Shabbos have indeed stopped running at that time, albeit for a very simple reason: a lack of demand. This is true not only in Arab communities but even more so in Jewish communities. For instance, the buses from Beer Sheva to Tel Aviv and to Ashdod were canceled due to a lack of interest. Apparently, the residents of Beer Sheva have no interest in traveling on Shabbos, nor do the residents of Yehud, Neve Monosson, and Ohr Yehuda. One must wonder what the anti-religious agitators expected. Were they hoping that the buses would run without passengers, simply for the purpose of violating the laws of Shabbos?
Smashed Windows in Herzliya
On the topic of Shabbos, here is an item that recently appeared in a widely circulated Israeli newspaper: “Two masked men smashed the glass windows of the Otello ice cream store in Herzliya, causing heavy damage. The motive for the vandalism is still unclear, but it is suspected that the business was targeted because it is open on Shabbos.” According to the article, many residents were outraged by the supposed attempt to prevent the business from operating on Shabbos. The writer decried the vandalism as “an act that would harm the character of the neighborhood and the residents,” and the mayor of Herzliya strongly condemned the vandals for their assault on the neighborhood and on the residents’ belief in the principle of “live and let live.” He, too, joined the chorus of condemnation against “criminals” who are disturbed by chillul Shabbos.
The truth is that no one in the chareidi community is aware of any halachic dispensation to vandalize a store that operates on Shabbos. We have always been taught that the Torah’s ways are pleasant and that the way to spread Jewish observance is through persuasion. If there are indeed violent people who wear yarmulkes, they are not representative of the chareidi community, and religious Israelis suffer from them as well. This makes it distressing that the editors of this newspaper smeared the entire chareidi community and to incite their readers against chareidim. Besides, the writer admits at the very beginning of the article that the motive for the attack is not yet clear. I must wonder what will happen if it is determined that the vandals were local drunks, business competitors, or some other troublemakers. Will anyone even bother to apologize to the religious community for blaming them for the damage?
Knesset Approves a National Investigative Commission
The national debate over the investigative commission into the events of October 7 continues to rage. The people of Israel are divided into two camps—one supporting the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, whose members would be appointed by Chief Justice Yitzchok Amit of the Supreme Court, and the other staunchly supporting a commission appointed by the government. Each side insists that the other’s position is untenable; one side feels that Amit and his cronies cannot be trusted, while the other maintains that the government cannot be allowed to investigate itself. In the interim, Netanyahu has proposed a compromise: A commission of inquiry will be appointed jointly by both blocs in the government, with half its members chosen by the coalition and the other half by the opposition. The most important provision, as far as he is concerned, is that Amit will not be responsible for choosing the committee members.
Netanyahu’s proposal was recently brought to a vote and approved by the Knesset. The sponsor of the bill, MK Ariel Kallner (Likud), declared, “The people need a committee of the people. Large parts of this nation have no faith in the Supreme Court and in Justice Amit in particular. You want an investigative commission as a weapon to eliminate political rivals, but that is not going to happen.”
Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition, was quick to respond caustically. “We will not cooperate with this embarrassing farce,” he announced. “In the first month of the next government, we will designate a true state commission of inquiry.”
The bill calling for a “national-state commission of inquiry” was approved in the Knesset by a majority vote of 53 to 48. The purpose of the committee is to probe the government’s failings in advance of October 7 and to report them to the public. The government will determine the topics to be investigated and will be authorized or expand or narrow the commission’s focus upon request. The committee will consist of six or seven members, ideally appointed through consensus between the coalition and opposition. This slate would require approval by a supermajority of 80 members of the Knesset. If the two camps fail to reach an agreement, the appointments will instead be divided between the coalition and the opposition, with each camp appointing half the members. In that case, a mechanism will be determined for one or two committee chairmen to be selected jointly. The bill also proposed appointing four members of bereaved families as observers, who would be permitted to participate in the discussions, ask questions, and submit comments in writing before the committee releases its reports. Netanyahu has already designated a ministerial committee to determine what the investigative committee will probe. That committee will be headed by Netanyahu.
Oscar from the Shin Bet
Ever since the Simchas Torah tragedy, many conspiracy theories have been published that are reminiscent of the wild claims circulated in the 1990s that the Shin Bet, rather than Yigal Amir, was behind the assassination of Yitzchok Rabin. Those theories claimed that the Shin Bet provided Amir with a gun that was supposed to be loaded with blanks rather than actual bullets, and someone—not Amir—replaced the blanks with live ammunition. These days, we have been hearing similar stories, such as the claim that there was a traitor—or several traitors—within the ranks of the Shin Bet and the IDF who agreed to allow Hamas to raid several settlements in the south with the goal of bringing down Netanyahu’s government. According to this theory, Hamas betrayed its contacts in the army and intelligence by perpetrating a mass slaughter.
The following story, however, is definitely true: Brigadier General Yishai Vaknin, director general of the State Comptroller and Ombudsman’s Office, recently summoned two senior officials in the Shin Bet for a meeting to review the events of October 7. One of those officials, a man known by the code name “Oscar” who served as Shin Bet commander in the southern district, refused to appear for the meeting.
Oscar’s refusal evoked the wrath of the state comptroller’s office. “The behavior of the former Shin Bet official, who refuses to cooperate and has even informed us that he will not appear in response to a lawful summons, is extremely severe, both because it violates the law and from a moral standpoint,” the office wrote. “In the past, the Supreme Court has ruled that we are authorized to question any witness. No one is above the law, and anyone who held a senior position on October 7 is obligated to cooperate fully with the state’s review.” According to State Comptroller Mattisyohu Engelman, a letter was sent to the two officials’ lawyers after repeated attempts to schedule meetings with them were rebuffed. “The summons is in accordance with paragraph 26 of the State Comptroller Law, which states that the refusal to respond to a summons may result in sanctions,” he wrote.
In response, Oscar’s lawyers, Ofer Bartal and Dov Gilad Cohen, wrote that the state comptroller has no authority to summon their client for questioning, and that “any other interpretation of the law is nothing more than wishful thinking that has no legal basis.” The lawyers added that the Supreme Court will be hearing petitions concerning the state comptroller’s involvement in investigating the failures prior to October 7, and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has taken the position that the state comptroller does not have the authority to conduct this review. State Comptroller Engelman met with Shin Bet chief David Zini in response to this difference of opinion.
Very few Shin Bet officials who were summoned for review under the state comptroller are still holding their original positions. Most of them, mainly the senior officials with the most direct connections to the events of October 7, have already retired. But even the retired officials have been refusing to meet with the state comptroller’s staff, and Oscar is one such official. The retired officials have retained the services of lawyers, who argued that since they are now civilians, they have no obligation to appear before the state comptroller’s staff. Some of these officials received a summons while they were still in the service and promised to meet with the state comptroller but managed to delay it until they retired. Their lawyers now argue that the State Comptroller Law requires official government bodies to cooperate with the comptroller, but that retired Shin Bet officials do not fit that definition. To put it bluntly, these men stalled for time and then decided after retiring that they have no obligation to appear before the state comptroller.
Which means that the real question is: What are they hiding?
Former Hostage Speaks in Italian Parliament
One after another, the former hostages from Gaza have been sharing their feelings and experiences with broader audiences. One week ago, I listened to an interview with former hostage Segev Kalfon, which was enough to move me to tears. Alon Ohel has begun to speak about his experiences as well, and Eitan Mor, the son of Tzvika Mor of the Tikvah Forum, was recently interviewed by the media. This trend has been continuing, as former hostages repeatedly muster up the courage to talk about the hardships they faced and the difficulty of returning to a normal life—if that is even possible at all.
Ram Braslavski, who was held in Gaza for two years under unimaginable conditions, was recently hosted at a conference of the ruling political party in Italy. Braslavski was invited to the conference by the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and was received warmly. When he shared his story at the conference, his audience was moved to tears. His accounts of his experiences on the morning of Simchas Torah and of the two years of torment that followed were painful to hear. In an interview with Italian-Jewish journalist Maurizio Molinari, Ram spoke about the horrors perpetrated by the Hamas terrorists. The Jewish senator Esther Mieli, who is a descendant of Holocaust survivors, sat beside him as he spoke. During the interview, Ram revisited the horrific morning of October 7. “There is one word to describe what I witnessed: slaughter,” he said. He described some of his torturous experiences on the day of his abduction and throughout his captivity, and he recounted some of the horrors that he witnessed. “When I was abducted, I saw the horrors with my own eyes,” he said. “I saw the slaughter. I saw people lying on the ground, their bodies riddled with bullets. Their clothes were torn, and blood flooded the area. I saw a pile of bodies in a large yellow dumpster. These people were slaughtered only because they were Jews.”
Ram also described the horrific abuse that he experienced in captivity. “Islamic Jihad murdered me psychologically and physically every day,” he said. “There were other hostages like me who were released and are still unable to return to normal functioning. I know hostages who returned and are unable to communicate, who lost their sanity. This captivity wasn’t fit for animals, and it certainly wasn’t fit for human beings…. I had a job as a security guard at the Nova festival, and my life was ruined. I went to work as a guard at a party and look what happened to me. My life has been destroyed.”
He addressed his audience with a request: “I ask you wonderful people to continue your good work for the sake of justice and peace. I believed in these things before October 7.” He ended his address on a note of optimism and hope: “I was in Gaza until two months ago. I was 40 meters under the ground, wearing torn clothing, and I hadn’t showered in at least a month or eaten anything in a full day. But look at the suit that I am wearing today. My situation changed completely, and it was only because of the miracles of G-d.”
The Old Man in Bnei Brak
Rav Moshe Menachem Katzburg and his wife Breindel moved from Pressburg to Tel Aviv before the Holocaust. In fact, some say that they arrived in Israel on the last ship to leave Europe. After they settled in Israel, they found it difficult to support themselves and their ten children, and Reb Moshe Menachem was distraught. One day, he was visiting Bnei Brak when he was spotted by an elderly man who asked him why he looked forlorn. Reb Moshe Menachem replied, “I have ten children, bli ayin hara, but I have no parnossah.”
“What did you do for a living when you were in Europe?” the elderly man asked.
“I owned a chocolate store,” the struggling immigrant replied.
“Why don’t you open the same type of store here?” the elderly man suggested.
Reb Moshe Menachem took his advice and opened a store in Tel Aviv, which developed into a lucrative business. Reb Moshe Menachem passed away at a young age, and his wife raised their orphaned children as bnei Torah. All of the children in that family went on to establish their own Torahdik families. But our story takes place while he was still alive.
One day, one of Reb Moshe Menachem’s daughters became gravely ill, and someone advised him to travel to Bnei Brak and visit the gadol hador, who was known to dispense powerful brachos. That man, of course, was the Chazon Ish. Rav Moshe Menachem made his way to the Chazon Ish’s home, and when he was admitted into the apartment, he was amazed to find himself facing the very same man who had advised him to open his store.
(This story was told by Rav Yitzchok Katzburg, the son of Rav Yehonasan Katzburg, grandson of Rav Yisroel Katzburg, and great-grandson of Rav Moshe Menachem Katzburg.)
