Israel warns Iraq over attacks from Iran-backed militias
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar is calling on the UN Security Council (UNSC) and the Iraqi government to take immediate action to halt and prevent attacks by Iran-backed militias in Iraq.
Saar issued the call in a letter he sent to the president of the UNSC on Monday.
He said the militias, known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, have launched hundreds of drones of the Shahed, Ziad and Arpad types as well as dozens of cruise missiles since October last year.
Most of them were intercepted, he said, but some have made impact, including explosive-laden drones that hit an Israeli military base in northern Israel on October 3, killing at least two soldiers and wounding 24 others.
“The government of Iraq is responsible under international law to prevent the use of its territory as a base for attacks against other nations,” Saar wrote. “Against this backdrop, I wish to recall once again that Israel has the inherent right to self-defense… and to take all necessary measures to protest itself and its citizens,” he warned.
Member of the Knesset cut off while calling Netanyahu a ‘serial killer’
Ayman Odeh, a Palestinian citizen of Israel and head of the Hadash-Ta’al list in Israel’s parliament, has accused Netanyahu, who was in the chamber at the time, of being a “serial killer of peace”.
“There are 17,385 babies in Gaza which your system has killed, of those 825 are under the age of a year,” Odeh said.
“There are 35,055 babies orphaned in Gaza. The blood of all of them will haunt you,” he added.
A video Odeh shared on X showed other members of the Knesset reacting strongly to his remarks, before three men forced him away from the microphone.
The full speech that Speaker of the Knesset did not allow me to complete pic.twitter.com/xjOZiFcJKI
— איימן עודה أيمن عودة Ayman Odeh (@AyOdeh) November 18, 2024
Cut off is an understatement, he was dragged away from the microphone.
Israeli paramedic suspended after mocking woman’s death in rocket attack
Israel’s national ambulance service has suspended one of its paramedics who rejoiced over the death of an Arab woman killed by a rocket attack on Shfaram in northern Israel, according to Arab parliament member Ahmad Tibi.
Writing on Instagram about the rocket attack victim, the paramedic said: “There’s no reason to feel sorry. She’s a terrorist by every definition. She doesn’t support us in any way.”
Israel’s ambulance service plans to fire the paramedic, The Times of Israel cited Tibi as saying.
As we reported on Monday, the Hezbollah rocket attack on Shfaram also wounded several other people.
More than 1,000 ultra-Orthodox Israelis hit with arrest warrants for ignoring draft orders
In July, Israel’s military began sending out draft notices to ultra-Orthodox men, ending a longstanding practice of exempting them from military service.
Out of 3,000 ultra-Orthodox Israelis summoned for the draft, 1,126 of them did not turn up to their designated induction centres, according to Shay Taib, a senior Israel military official with the personnel directorate’s planning and personnel management division. As a result, those Israelis have been issued arrest warrants and risk being designated as draft evaders, he said.
“They will receive a call for immediate recruitment, and anyone who does not come [to the induction centre] will be declared an evader,” Taib said in comments carried by The Times of Israel.
