News Digest — 10/16/26
In First, Netanyahu Reveals He Spoke With Syria’s Sharaa After 2025 Strike In Damascus
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday (15th) told Druze supporters that he spoke with Syria’s leader Ahmed al-Sharaa shortly after Israel, citing the need to protect Syrian Druze, bombed government targets in Damascus last year.
The comments were the first report that a conversation took place between Netanyahu and Syria’s president, who took power in late 2024 after deposing longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad. It may be the first-ever direct conversation between the leaders of Israel and Syria, which have fought multiple wars and have no diplomatic relations.
Israel, home to some 150,000 Druze, struck the Syrian Defense Ministry and near the president’s palace in Damascus in July 2025 amid sectarian bloodshed in Syria’s predominantly Druze Sweida province.
More than 2,000 people, including 789 Druze civilians, were killed in the fighting between armed Druze factions and Bedouin fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog. Syrian government security forces intervened at the time on the side of the Bedouins and were accused of executing Druze civilians and other abuses.
Israel, whose Druze population has deep ties to Syria’s Druze, faced internal pressure to act to protect the community.
“I picked up the phone to Sharaa,” Netanyahu said at a conference his Likud party hosted for the Druze community. “It was a very short and very sharp conversation. And the slaughter stopped.”
“I will do everything I can to protect our brothers and your brothers,” he told the conference in the northern Druze town of Yarka.
Israel seized a buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border and carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria after jihadist forces led by Sharaa ousted Assad in December 2024, at the end of a nearly 14-year civil war.
Israel has said the military action was necessary to prevent terrorist forces from exploiting the disarray to establish themselves in the border region.
Damascus and Jerusalem have held several rounds of direct talks since September 2025 for a security deal, with Syria demanding a full Israeli withdrawal.
Amid the talks, Israel’s Mossad chief Roman Gofman met with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in Jordan in August to defuse tensions after Israel struck a north Syrian base where it said it identified operations for Turkish military activity.
Sharaa, whom Israeli officials initially dismissed as a “terrorist in a suit,” had already confirmed in May 2025 that his country was holding indirect talks with Israel via an Enirati backchannel ahead of defusing tensions.
Speaking at the UN last month, Sharaa held out the possibility of peace with Israel while also assailing the country’s military activity in Syria and vowing not to relinquish Damascus’ claim to the Golan heights, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967’s Six Day War.
Rubio To Lebanon’s President: Confiscated Explosives Must Not Be Returned To Hezbollah
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to ensure that hundreds of kilograms of explosives seized from Hezbollah are not returned to the terrorist organization, a State Department official said Thursday (15th), according to Reuters.
During a telephone conversation, Rubio also called on Lebanese authorities to pursue accountability for those responsible for organizing, financing and directing explosives shipments.
The secretary of state “underscored that returning explosives to Hezbollah should be out of the question,” the official said.
The conversation followed the discovery of a large quantity of explosives in eastern Lebanon last week, which a Hezbollah lawmaker subsequently acknowledged belonged to the organization.
Lebanese security personnel intercepted a vehicle carrying the explosives at a checkpoint in the Bekaa Valley and arrested two individuals traveling in it.
According to Reuters, the seizure initially prompted concerns that the explosives might have been intended for assassinations or other attacks inside Lebanon, particularly after authorities declined to disclose the vehicle owner’s identity.
However, Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah later acknowledged the organization’s involvement while speaking in the Lebanese parliament.
Fadlallah confirmed that Hezbollah was transporting the explosives, claiming that they were intended for operations against Israeli military forces stationed in Lebanon territory.
According to a statement issued by Aoun’s office, the Lebanese president used his conversation with Rubio on Thursday (15th) to discuss the broader security situation in Lebanon and the region following recent developments.
The Lebanese president maintained that the country’s military and security agencies were fulfilling their responsibility under government decisions aimed at preventing armed displays, confiscating weapons and ammunition, and combating smuggling.
The discussion took place amid ongoing efforts to implement the framework agreement reached by Israel and Lebanon in June under American mediation.
The arrangement provides for gradual Israeli military withdrawal as Hezbollah is fully disarmed.
The terrorist organization has rejected demands to relinquish its weapons and has repeatedly violated the ceasefire creating further obstacles to implementing the arrangements.
Israeli troops have continued carrying out strikes against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon in response to those violations.
Herzog At Azerbaijan Summit: ‘Peace Cannot Exist With Terror’
Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Thursday (15th) addressed the plenary session of the Seventh Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Baku, an international forum dedicated to strengthening cooperation and ties among the nations of Asia.
“We come together at a time in which the rifts in our global community of nations are seemingly broadening, only to be further aggravated by eroding faith in multilateral forums,” Herzog began. “Against this tide of cynicism, CICA stands as an oasis of cooperation and partnership. Israel was always here, from the beginning, at the initiative of the late Shimon Peres back in the 1990s, and we are very proud of it.”
“It is most fitting that we come together in Azerbaijan, a nation that is truly synonymous with impressive regional partnership, tolerance, and confidence-building measures. Under president Ilham Akiyev’s wise leadership, Azerbaijan has become a paragon of stability, enjoying incredible economic growth and forging ties with nations across the region. I would also like to welcome the announcement of the upcoming visit of US Secretary of State Rubio to Uzbekistan in the coming days for meetings with Central Asian countries.
Herzog added, “In Israel, we have learned from lived experience that declarations of friendship, in and of themselves, are never enough. The relationships that endure are those that foster real connections, support practical collaboration, and identify areas of shared common interest. That is the promise of CICA.”
“We have also seen the power of this approach firsthand through the Abraham Accords – we have two partners with us today: the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates – which demonstrated how converging interests can transform political realities. Relationships that just a few years ago seemed impossible to imagine are now a living, breathing reality, proving that a future of partnership and brotherhood is within our grasp. I sincerely hope and pray that we will be able to see a vision of peace in the Middle East with our neighbors and the nations of Asia.
“Just as the Jewish people have enriched the Asian tradition, I firmly believe that Israel has much to contribute to Asia here in the 21st century, in technology and science, water management and innovation, advanced agriculture practices, energy, tourism, fintech, healthcare, AI, and more.
Herzog also stressed, “We truly see ourselves as part of the Asian continent and want to contribute to it. I say to all neighboring countries, to all nations in this region and in Asia, that Israel desires and strives to enhance collaboration and to broaden the circle of peace. But it must be clear: peace cannot exist with terror, and cooperation cannot thrive with boycotts. Members of this institution have the right to live freely and peacefully, without their existence being constantly threatened.”
Concluding his statement, he said, “I thank you for your commitment to working together here at CICA. As we move forward, let us continue building, striving for common ground, choosing dialogue over division and engagement over hostility. Let us dedicate ourselves to a future of shared prosperity and our joint commitment to the common purpose of CICA.”
Paraguay To Join International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
Paraguay said on Thursday(15th) that it intends to become a full member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, the group that issues the widely used working definition of Jew-hatred.
The South American country made the announcement at the Argentinian embassy in Washington, with Argentine President Javier Milei present. Foreign Ministers of Argentina and Paraguay attended, as did the Argentinian ambassador to the United States and Yehuda Kaploun, a rabbi and the US State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism.
Members’ governments of IHRA, an intergovernmental organization that addresses “contemporary challenges related to the Holocaust and genocide of the Roma,” strengthen the “historical record, so the world can better understand and remember what happened,” the alliance states.
“We equip leaders with what they need to craft international policies that support democratic and inclusive societies to help prevent genocide in the future,” it says.
Paraguay became the eighth Latin American country to say that it is adopting the IHRA working definition of Jew-hatred.
Argentina is the lone Latin American country with full-member status in IHRA. Uruguay is an observer nation.
JNS reported last month that Costa Rica intends to pursue membership. The country’s government has yet to confirm that publicly.
The United States and Argentina have made a concerted effort to expand IHRA adoption in Latin America.
The announcement on Thursday (15th) initiates a process for Paraguay, which now has observer status. It could subsequently become an IHRA liaison and then a full member.
There are about 1,100 Jews in Paraguay according to the World Jewish Congress. “Largely traditional, though not Orthodox, Paraguayan Jewry is highly Zionist and concentrated in Asuncion the capital,” the Jewish group says.
(jns.org)
Why American Doctors Travel To Israel For Magen David Adom Training
Dr. Michael Block, an American anesthesiologist, was riding with a Magen David Adom ambulance crew rushing to a young man having a heart attack in Tel Aviv. They didn’t take him to the emergency room. He went straight to the catheterization lab. He would have died had we not gotten there so fast,” Michael said. “The way that it was organized was just incredible. It doesn’t happen in the U.S,”
Jeff Covitz, a paramedic captain with the San Francisco Fire Department, wanted to see how Israel handled major emergencies. “We run out of ambulances in San Francisco on your average Tuesday,” he said. “How do they get 30 ambulances to the scene in 10 minutes? That’s amazing.” In an incident with 20 casualties, he said, Israeli teams can sometimes triage, treat, and transport everyone from the scene in under 15 minutes. “In San Francisco, it would take us the better part of an hour.”
Magen David Adom’s International Seminar of Emergency Response brings doctors, paramedics, and other medical professionals to Israel for an inside look at the country’s emergency medical system. Jeff met MDA paramedics who responded on Oct. 7. They handled casualties at seven or eight locations at the same time, with terrorists still on the ground. (Jerusalem Post)
Hamas Bears Ultimate Responsibility For The Suffering In Gaza – Jake Wallis Simons
Former Israeli minister Ron Dermer explained this week that suffering in war is not in itself proof of genocide. Given the circumstances in which the war arose, Israel’s defensive campaign is evidence of the evils of Hamas, not the other side. It is necessary to look at the evidence rather than the scale of the devastation.
In 1939, on the eve of the Holocaust, there were 16.6 million Jews in the world. Six million were murdered, including 2/3 of European Jewry. Eight decades later, the global Jewish population has still not recovered to its pre-war level; that is what a systematic campaign of extermination looks like. More Gazans are alive today than on Oct. 7, 2023.
We know that Israel repeatedly warned civilians before it struck. It dropped leaflets, sent text messages, made phone calls and announced evacuation routes. Why would an army bent on killing civilians go to such lengths to warn them to get out of the way?
Hamas built a vast tunnel network. It could have sheltered civilians in those tunnels; instead, it kept them for its fighters. The world’s reaction gave Hamas a perverse incentive: the more Palestinian civilians suffered, the greater the pressure on Israel to give up the campaign before it had achieved victory.
Israel allowed large quantities of food, medicine and other aid supplies into Gaza throughout the war. Israel took part in vaccination campaigns and other humanitarian operations. All this is evidence that Israel had not sought the physical destruction of Gaza’s people.
The IDF’s firepower dwarfs anything Hamas possesses. Had Israel’s aim been to kill as many Palestinians as possible, it could have fulfilled an aim of genocide in a single afternoon. (Jewish Chronicle – UK)
