Kushner Says the Botched Strike Worked

Jared Kushner admitted the botched Doha strike became a US bargaining chip for the Gaza deal. Trump's son-in-law said Friday that Israel's isolation after last year's failed strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar helped Washington push Hamas toward the ceasefire that freed the last 20 living hostages. Without that groundwork, he said, "when the opening came, nothing would have occurred." ¹

Settlers attacked Palestinians in at least five West Bank incidents over Rosh Hashanah, and nobody's been arrested. A 23-year-old man was severely beaten in Beitillu, and a French TV crew filming near an outpost by Duma was assaulted from 200 meters away. US Ambassador Mike Huckabee called for "severe consequences" against the attackers. ²

Likud petitioned to ban Ra'am and the Joint List from Israel's October 27 election, arguing the Arab-majority parties "harm IDF soldiers" and won't call Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups. The High Court has rejected every past attempt to ban these parties, including one on Balad in 2022. ³ The backstory →

Zohran Mamdani spent his mayoral campaign promising to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu on sight, then admitted in July he has no legal power to do that. Netanyahu is coming anyway for the UN General Assembly, and Mamdani is backing protests against him regardless. Israel's UN ambassador, Danny Danon, accused the mayor of "inciting" demonstrations instead of running "a smooth high-level week." Separately, groups like the Palestinian Youth Movement have declared their own "week of action," vowing to "reject Zionism and all who perpetrate it," a line aimed at the existence of a Jewish state, not any Israeli policy. Mamdani doesn't control those groups. He does control what crowd he's cheering into New York the same week. ⁴

It's 3 Tishrei, 5787: three days into the Aseret Yemei Teshuva, the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Next Shabbat, September 19, is Shabbat Shuva, paired this year with Parashat Ha'azinu, Moses's closing song to the Israelites. ⁵⁶