News Digest — 11/11/25
4,120 Days After His Abduction, IDF Lt. Hadar Goldin Laid To Rest
Eleven years after he was killed and abducted in Rafah during Operation Protective Edge in 2014, IDF Lt. Hadar Goldin was laid to rest Tuesday morning (11th) in the Kfar Saba military cemetery near his family home.
His funeral began at 10: am following a procession that left the Shura military base. Thousands took part, and several roads in Kfar Saba were closed to accommodate the ceremony.
The funeral was attended by senior officials, including IDF Chief of Staff LTG. Eyal Zamir who delivered a eulogy. Due to Zamir’s presence, the cemetery was designated a “sterile zone” allowing entry only to family members and IDF representatives. Many attendees remained outside, where large screens and speakers were set up to broadcast the ceremony live.
Throughout Kfar Saba, Israeli flags and signs were hung along the route to the cemetery. One sign read, “Until the first hostage,” a reference to the Goldin family’s decade-long campaign that began years before the October 7 Hamas terror attack, when 251 soldiers and civilians were abducted to Gaza. Soldiers from the Givati Brigade, where Goldin served, arrived early in the morning to prepare for the funeral.
On Monday (10th) the Prime Minister’s Office reached out to the Goldin family to inquire about a visit from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but the family declined stating they wished to remain together privately at this time.
Lt. Hadar Goldin was 23 when he was killed. He is survived by his parents, Simcha and Leah, his sister Ayelet, and his brothers Hemi and Tzur.
The funeral procession passed through Kfar Saba’s main streets — Tel Hai Interchange, Tel Hai Street, Weizmann Street, and HaEmek Street – before reaching the cemetery.
Knesset Advances Death Penalty For Terrorists Bill In First Reading
The Knesset plenum advanced the death penalty for terrorists bill in its first reading on Monday evening (10th).
The bill was proposed by the Otzma Yehudit Party, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Cvir. It passed its first reading by a margin of 39-16.
It will now return to the Knesset committees for further discussion and will still need to pass a second and third reading in the plenum to become a law.
The bill’s explanatory notes say that since imprisonment does not serve as a sufficient deterrence for terrorists, it is proposed that death will be the punishment for terrorists who commit murder.
“The punishment is expected to deter and thus prevent additional acts of terrorism,” the explanatory notes add.
Ben Gvir called the bill “the most important law in the history of the State of Israel. Every terrorist should know, this law will deter them. It will make them afraid. It will make them think a thousand times before carrying out another October 7 massacre.”
“Whoever goes against this bill is actively working against the Jewish state,” Ben Gvir said at an earlier press conference at the Knesset on Monday (10th) ahead of the vote.
Ben Gvir said that if the bill was passed in its first reading, it would “enter a marathon of discussions to complete the legislation as quickly as possible, so that we can bring it to a vote in the plenum for its second and third readings soon.”
“The goal is not to say we’re passing the law, but to actually pass it. There will be absolutely no compromises on our part,” he added.
Last week, BG. (res.) Gal HIrsch, the coordinator for the hostages in the Prime MInister’s Office said that the bill had received backing from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to the proposed bill, “Whoever murdered an Israeli civilian out of racism or hostility toward the public, to harm the State of Israel and the restoration of the Jewish people in their land, shall be sentenced to no other punishment but death.”
The bill also proposes that in military courts in the West Bank, the death sentence may be imposed by a majority of the judges, and the punishment may not be commuted once imposed.
‘Lion’s Roar:’ IDF Launches Three-Day Drill In Judea, Samaria and Jordan Valley
The Israeli Defense Forces on Monday (10th) kicked off a three-day exercise in the Judea, Samaria, and Jordan Valley area, called “Lion’s Roar.”
“The IDF has begun a large-scale, multi-organizational, and multi-branch military exercise to enhance operational readiness for a variety of scenarios across Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley,” according to the military.
The exercise involves forces of the IDF’s Central Command, as well as “special units,” the Israeli Air Force, the IDF Technology and Logistics Directorate and other military branches and security forces, according to the statement.
“The exercise was pre-planned as part of the IDF’s 2025 annual training program,” the statement noted.
According to the Binyamin Regional Council, the largest regional council in Judea and Samaria, the exercise “will involve the movement of many army vehicles throughout the area, significant activity in various communities and the mobilization of emergency response teams.
”As part of the drill, simulated enemy forces will be deployed in the area, which will be identified by designated vests, the council stated.
“Explosions are not expected to be heard in the area, but pyrotechnics may be used and smoke may be visible,” said the message to the residents.
On October 21, IDF Chief of Staff LTG. Eyal Zamir warned senior officers that terrorist elements could try to disturb the “stabilization processes,” in the Middle East, particularly in Israel’s Judea and Samaria region.
The region is “in a period of significant change, which would bring new developments, and we must be prepared for all scenarios,” Zamir said during a visit to Central Command headquarters in Jerusalem.
Palestinian terrorists targeted Israeli Jews in Judea and Samaria at least 6,343 times last year, according to figures published by the Rescuers without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria) NGO on February 17.
Twenty-seven Israelis were murdered in Judea and Samaria in 2024, and more than 300 others were wounded, the group said in its annual report.
IDF Strikes Hezbollah Targets Across Lebanon, Says 3 Operatives Killed
The Israel Defense Forces carried out a wave of airstrikes in southern Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley area on Monday (10th), targeting what it said were sites used by Hezbollah for rocket launches and the production and storage of strategic weapons, bringing the number of Hezbollah operatives killed in 24-hours up to three.
The military confirmed that it had carried out the strikes following reports in Lebanese media of a wave of Israeli air attacks across southern Lebanon.
It was the latest round of Israeli attacks against Hezbollah targets in recent days, after the IDF warned last week that it would step up the scale of its operations if the Iran-backed terror group is not fully disarmed by the Lebanese military.
In southern Lebanon, the IDF said it had struck a site used by Hezbollah to launch rockets, after renewed activity by the terror group was detected there in recent months.
In the Nabatiyeh area, the military said it struck several more Hezbollah targets, and in the Beqaa valley it said it targeted infrastructure at a site used by the terror group to store and manufacture strategic weapons.
The site in the Beqaa Valley has been struck by the IDF several times in the past.
In total the IDF said that 15 Hezbollah operatives have been killed since the beginning of November, adding that their activities had posed a threat to Israel.
According to the military, Monday’s (10th) operations were guided by the Ministry Intelligence Directorate and carried out with the Israeli Air Force under the Northern Command.
It said the strikes were aimed at neutralizing weapons directed at Israel and preventing Hezbollah from rebuilding its terror infrastructure.
The presence of such infrastructure violates the understandings between Israel and Lebanon, the army added, pledging that it would continue acting to eliminate threats.
Israel’s war with Hezbollah began on October 8, 2023, when the terror group began firing missiles at the Jewish state a day after the Hamas-led onslaught in the south. Israel launched massive airstrikes and a limited ground incursion in September 2024. A ceasefire was declared two months later, with Hezbollah severely weakened.
Israel has accused the Lebanese Army of acting too slowly to implement its plan to disarm Hezbollah, and a report on Monday (10th) said that it was pressing Lebanon’s army to be more aggressive in disarming Hezbollah by searching private homes in the south for weaponry.
According to the report, which cited three Lebanese security officials and two Israeli officials, the demand was rejected by Lebanon’s military leadership, who feared it would ignite and derail a disarmament strategy seen by the army as cautious but effective.
Iran To Begin Restricting Water Use In Tehran As Drought Reaches Critical Levels
Iran was laying plans on Saturday (8th) to cut off water supplies periodically to Tehran’s 10-million-strong population as it battles its worst drought in many decades.
Rainfall in the capital has this year been at its lowest level in a century, according to local officials, and half of Iran’s provinces have not seen a drop of rain in months.
Now, to save water, the government is planning water cuts in Tehran – and several local news outlets have already reported pipes running dry overnight in some areas.
“This will help avoid waste even though it may cause inconvenience,” Iran’s Energy MInister Abbas Ali Abadi said on State television.
In a speech broadcast on Friday (7th), Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian had warned that Tehran might have to be evacuated if no rain falls before the end of the year.
“If it doesn’t rain in Tehran by late November, we’ll have to ration water. And if it still doesn’t rain, we’ll have to evacuate Tehran.” Pezeshkian was cited as saying a day earlier.
However the President gave no details about how such a vast operation would be conducted.
Tehran nestles on the southern slopes of the Alborz mountains and has hot dry summers usually relieved by autumn rains and winter snowfall, though no such precipitation has come yet this season.
Tehran is by far the country’s biggest city and its inhabitants use three million cubic meters of water per day, according to local media.
The main Amir Kabir dam on the Karai River, one of five reservoirs serving the capital, is running dry and holds only 14 million cubic meters, according to Behzad Parsa, director general of the Tehran water company , cited by the official news agency IRNA.
During the same period last year, the reservoir held 86 million cubic meters, he added, but now it only has enough to maintain supplies to the Tehran region for less than two weeks.
Meanwhile, agriculture still consumes about 80% of Iran’s freshwater, much of it inefficient irrigation for thirsty crops in arid areas.
“We must modernize,” Agriculture Ministry official Gholameza Gol Mohammadi warned in August, saying outdated practices are draining aquifers and worsening power outages as pumping stations fail.
The ecological toll continues to grow, dust storms increasingly blanket major cities, and the northwest, Lake Urmia – once one of the world’s largest saltwater lakes – has now effectively dried up, leaving behind vast salt flats and worsening dust storms that threaten nearby cities.
Evangelical Support For Israel Is Rooted In A Belief That Freedom And Faith Are Inseparable – Ralph Reed
Evangelical Christians for decades have been the most pro-Israel constituency in America. The Pew Research Center reported in 2022 that 70% of white evangelical Protestants believe God gave Israel to the Jewish people and 86% have a favorable view of Israelis.
After World War II with the horrifying revelations of the Holocaust, the creation of a Jewish state out of the former British Mandate became a humanitarian imperative, and when the US became one of the first nations to recognize the modest state of Israel in 1948, Christians broadly supported it.
Evangelicals view Israel through the prism of a celebrated tradition of Christians who opposed the Nazis and rescued Jews from Hitler. Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, murdered by the SS, is lionized in American churches, and his letters from prison became standard reading in Bible studies. Corrie ten Boom, who survived the camps after her family hid Jews in her native Holland, became a featured speaker at Billy Graham’ meetings. Being a good Christian meant defending Jews.
Christian empathy for the Jewish people is leavened with a clear-eyed assessment of US security interests. During the Cold War, as Nasser’s Egypt and other Arab nations allied themselves with the Soviet Union, Israel emerged as a vital strategic partner to America and its most reliable ally in the region. During the war on terror, Israel’s radical Islamic foes became America’s enemies, and its struggle the West’s struggle.
Christians also cherish Israel as the cradle of their faith. It is the land where Jesus was born. Since gaining control of eastern Jerusalem in 1967, Israel has provided greater access to the holy sites of all faiths. Evangelicals support Israel because they love God, cherish their country, and believe faith and freedom are inseparable. Israel, like the US, is a beacon for those timeless, eternal values.
The writer is founder and chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. (Wall Street Journal)
(wsj.com)
