News Digest — 10/3/25
UK Police Identify Assailant In Synagogue Attack As British Citizen of Syrian Descent
Police said Thursday (2nd) that the suspect in the deadly attack outside a synagogue in Manchester, Britain, was believed to be Jihad al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent.
Al-Shamie was shot dead by armed officers after ramming a car into pedestrians and stabbing worshippers outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation during Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Police said three other suspects – two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s – were in custody “on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism.”
The terror attack left two Jews dead and three others seriously wounded. Authorities initially feared Al-Shamie was wearing an explosive belt, and bomb disposal units were dispatched to the scene. Police confirmed the assault was terror related.
Witnesses said the attacker deliberately targeted Jews. Kurram Rafiq, who was driving nearby, told the Daily Mail that he saw a car hit a man on the sidewalk. “At first I thought it was an accident. Then the driver got out and stabbed the man lying on the ground. It happened right outside the synagogue. He stabbed at least two more men. He stabbed anyone wearing a kippah.”
Chava Lewin, a local resident, said, “The moment he got out of the car, he started stabbing anyone nearby. He went for the guard and tried to break into the synagogue. Someone blocked the door – everyone was in total shock.”
British media reported that Rabbi Daniel Walker, who had led the congregation since 2008, quickly locked the synagogue doors and prevented the attacker from entering. “He was incredibly calm,” Lewin said. “He’s a hero. It could have been much worse.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the attack in the strongest terms. “Earlier today, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day for the Jewish community, a vile individual committed a terrorist attack that targeted Jews because they are Jews, and attacked Britain because of our values,” he said.
He added that the timing of the assault made it “all the more horrific,” and announced that additional police would be deployed to synagogues across the country. Starmer cut short a trip to Denmark and returned to Britain to chair an emergency meeting.
King Charles III said he and Queen Camilla “were deeply shocked and saddened.”
Israel’s embassy in London condemned the “appalling and deeply distressing” attack, saying it was in close contact with the Manchester Jewish community.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar issued a sharp statement blaming the British government for failing to act against what he called “blatant antiSemitic and anti-Israel incitement.” He said the UK had “allowed this toxic wave of anti-Semitism to continue” and urged Starmer’s government to take action.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel mourned with British Jews. “Our hearts are with the families of the murdered, and we pray for the swift recovery of the wounded. As I warned at the UN, weakness in the face of terrorism only brings more terrorism. Only strength and unity can defeat it.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Britain was paying the price for “embracing and protecting terrorists.” He added, “Terror makes no distinction between Israelis and Britons. Today it struck Jews, tomorrow it will strike the entire Western world.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with leaders of the Manchester Jewish community and revealed that earlier this week he had written to King Charles expressing concern about the rise of anti-Semitism across the UK and the Commonwealth. “Anti-Semitism is the world’s most reliable early warning sign of a major threat to freedom,” he quoted the late Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks as saying.
The attack evoked memories of Yom Kippur 2019, when two people were shot dead outside a synagogue in Halle, Germany after an assailant posted an anti-Semitic manifesto online.
IDF Kills Three Hezbollah Terrorists In Two Strikes In Southern Lebanon
The IDF killed three Hezbollah terrorists in strikes in southern Lebanon on Wednesday (1st) and Thursday (2nd), the military confirmed.
The military struck and killed Ali Muhammad Qara’uni near Kafra on Wednesday (1st), where he served as the local representative of the terror organization, responsible for financial and military connections between Hezbollah and local residents, the military stated.
In addition, Qara’uni worked to seize private assets for terror operations, including renting houses in order to be used to store weapons and to conduct surveillance, the military added.
The military, in a separate incident on Thursday (2nd), struck and killed two unnamed Hezbollah terrorists in Kfar Reman.
These terrorists were engineering operatives, working to re-establish the terror organization’s infrastructure in residential areas around Mount Dov and el-Khiam, the military stated.
The IDF published video footage of this strike, showing a vehicle being hit while traveling through the area.
Iran’s Larijani Pushes Hezbollah To Rebuild, In Warning To Israel And US – Analysis
Iran’s secretary of the Supreme National Security Council traveled to Lebanon to encourage Hezbollah to rebuild itself. He also sought to urge unity against Israel at a time when most countries in the region want the Gaza war to end and are willing to work toward making a US peace initiative possible.
As such, Iran is getting the cold shoulder to some extent. However, it wants to make it clear that its regime won’t go quietly and that, despite new US sanctions and snapback sanctions from European countries, Iran is still here.
Hezbollah is one file that Larijani is pushing. Another is the issue of letting international inspectors into Iran regarding the nuclear program.
Larijani told PBS that Iran won’t let inspectors come if sanctions are imposed. “Whether inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency will be able to access certain nuclear sites has been in limbo since the US-Israel bombing campaign in June. And a 30-day countdown for reimposing sanctions on the country that had been frozen since 2015 is set to expire this weekend,” the report said.
On September 27, during his visit to Lebanon, he also urged unity against Israel. He was in Lebanon to commemorate the anniversary of the deaths of the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and his successor. The goal of the Larijani visit was to rebuild Hezbollah slowly while still adhering to a ceasefire that ended the conflict with Israel and Hezbollah in November.
This ceasefire was ostensibly with Lebanon. Lebanon’s government is trying to disarm Hezbollah, but has not actually done much so far. Larijani wants Hezbollah to bide its time. He wants to slowly rebuild Iran’s reputation.
The pro-Hezbollah Al-Akhbar reported on October 2 that Larijani had warned America that assassinations did not destroy Tehran or Hezbollah.” The warning is apparently for Israel as well. Israel eliminated Nasrallah and also key Iranian commanders between 2024 and 2025.
Ali Larijani confirmed that Hezbollah’s rapidly rebuilding itself, while emphasizing that the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists and leaders has not destroyed the resistance or the country’s scientific capabilities,” Al-Akbar noted.
“He gave a television interview, which appears part of his larger public relations campaign in the region and in Western media. In which he said that “recent assassinations, including those of nuclear leaders , have not destroyed Iran’s scientific and technological capabilities.
Responding to the US president regarding Washington’s aggression against the country’s nuclear facilities, he emphasized that “Iran has trained a large number of scientists, and its nuclear technology will not be destroyed, and Trump must realize this.”
He continued to threaten the US. He also “noted that he had been briefed on Hezbollah’s situation, stressing that during the visit, he witnessed Hezbollah rapidly rebuilding itself and continuing its resistance.” The report said he added,”It cannot be denied that Hezbollah has suffered a blow with the assassination of its leaders and martyr Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, but this resistance will not only not be destroyed, but its capabilities will be enhanced thanks to its ideology and its struggle.”
Iran wants to slowly build Hezbollah. It says it is investing in the group and not individuals. This means that Nasrallah’s passing won’t mean that Iran can’t back Hezbollah. Instead new Nasrallahs will arise. This may be easier said than done because Nasrallah led Hezbollah for decades.
Israel’s Legal Right To Judea And Samaria – Lt. Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch
Israel’s legal and historical rights to Judea and Samaria are grounded in international decisions made after World War I. The 1920 San Remo Conference and the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine recognized the Jewish people’s historic connection to the land and charged Britain with facilitating the establishment of a Jewish national home west of the Jordan River. Under the legal principle of uti possidetis juris, Israel inherited these Mandate borders at independence in 1948, which included Gaza, Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem.
The 1947 UN Partition Plan was a nonbinding recommendation rejected by Arab states, and subsequent armistice lines drawn in 1949 were explicitly not intended to serve as borders. Egypt controlled Gaza, and Jordan controlled Judea, Samaria, and east Jerusalem until 1967, but these occupations did not alter sovereignty. Article 80 of the UN Charter further preserved the validity of Mandate-based rights.
Israel has extended its domestic law to territories such as Jerusalem (1967) and the Golan Heights (1981), establishing precedents for applying law to additional areas. While political and diplomatic considerations are significant, the legal foundation for extending Israeli law to Judea and Samaria rests on longstanding international recognition of Jewish sovereignty in the region.
The writer, former director of the Military Prosecution in Judea and Samaria, is director of the Palestinian Authority Accountability Initiative at the Jerusalem Center
(jcpa.org)
Israel Thwarts Palestinian Attempt To Pave Over Biblical City Of Gibeon
Israeli authorities prevented what they described as a deliberate attempt by the Palestinian Authority to damage a major archaeological site in the Binyamin region. The operation, carried out on Monday (9/29), targeted PA engineering crews who were preparing large-scale infrastructure work at the Biblical city of Gibeon, a site of great historical and biblical significance.
According to the IDF and the Binjamin Regional Council, excavators and concrete materials intended for use at the site were seized in a coordinated effort with the “Guardians of Eternity” organization, which first identified the activity. Officials said the attempted work included pouring concrete, clearing ancient terraces, and preparing asphalt surfaces – actions they said would have caused irreversible harm.
“This is infrastructure work using heavy mechanical tools in the heart of the site, near the most important elements of the mound,” explained Adi Ahargai, director of activities for Guardians of Eternity, an Israeli organization at the forefront of efforts to protect Jewish historical sites.
Shargai stressed the site’s vulnerability due to its location north of Jerusalem. Although it is in Area C, where Israel has both administrative and security jurisdiction, it lies adjacent to the Palestinian village of Al Jib.
The Biblical city of Gibeon is considered one of the region’s most significant archaeological treasures. Mentioned repeatedly in the Book of Joshua, it is where Joshua made a covenant with the Gibeonites and the site of the famous battle in which “the sun stood still at Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Aijalon.”
Discoveries include a massive pool described in the Book of Samuel, elaborate winery cisterns known as the “Gibeon cisterns,” and an underground water system still connected to a functioning spring.
Historically, Gibeon was described as “the great city of Gibeon, one of the cities of the kingdom,” serving as one of the 13 priestly cities in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. It was home to King Saul’s family and played a central role in his kingdom’s fate.
The head of the Binyamin Regional Council, Yisrael Gantz, accused the PA of deliberately targeting Jewish history. “While the plan in question to end the war states that the Palestinian Authority must undergo reforms so that it can accept responsibility for Gaza, reality comes and hits us in the face” Gantz said.
“The same authority proves once again that nothing will really change, and is in fact responsible for another national heritage attack aimed at erasing a biblical site. We will continue to fight with all our might to dismantle the Palestinian Authority and to impose Israeli sovereignty over all of the West Bank, including these important heritage sites that prove above all, our exclusive right to the land of our ancestors.”
An inspector from the Samaria Regional Council’s Lands Department discovered earlier this month that the PA had begun paving roads for 32 housing units on the ruins of a historic site that is mentioned in the Biblical books of Deuteronomy and Joshua.
“This is an important reminder of why the State of Israel must ensure that it assumes responsibility for all heritage sites scattered throughout the West Bank, no matter where they are located, in areas A, and B, and of course in Area C,” Guardians of Eternity said. “We must not abandon our heritage to those who wish to erase our history using engineering tools.”
