News Digest — 11/3/26
In Unusual Move, Herzog To Begin Coalition Consultations Wednesday With Smallest Knesset Parties
President Isaac Herzog will begin consultations with representatives of the parties elected to the 26th Knesset at 5 p.m. Wednesday (4th), starting with the smallest factions in an unusual departure from previous rounds of coalition negotiations, the President’s Office announced on Monday (2nd).
Rather than beginning with the largest parties, Herzog will invite faction representatives in ascending order of Knesset seats beginning with Religious Zionism-Zehut and concluding with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud on Thursday evening (5th).
According to the President’s Office, the decision is intended to “encourage thinking outside the box,” allowing Herzog to consider a wider range of potential coalition arrangements before consulting with the larger factions.
The consultations come as Israel’s political parties face the challenge of forming a governing coalition following the Oct. 27 election, with neither of the two largest parties, Likud and Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar, enjoying a straightforward path to a 61-seat majority.
Herzog has emphasized the importance of exploring potential compromises to prevent another election, with the unusual consultation order potentially allowing smaller factions to present alternative coalition arrangements before the president meets with Netanyahu and Eisenkot.
In his statement Herzog said he would hear the positions of all factions, seeking to “exhaust every possibility, broaden the dialogue, and explore any avenue that could advance the process.
“The president also left open the possibility of holding a second round of consultations if necessary.
During the consultations, each faction will be given an opportunity to recommend a Knesset member to receive the mandate to form the government.
While the number of recommendations each candidate receives matters, the president is not legally required to elect the candidate with the most recommendations. Instead, Herzog must determine which Knesset member has the best chance of successfully forming a government.
Under basic Law: The Government, the Knesset member entrusted with forming a new government has 28 days to assemble a coalition. The president may grant an extension of up to 14 additional days if necessary.
Should the designated candidate fail to form a government, the law provides for further procedures that could see another Knesset member given the opportunity to assemble a coalition.
The consultations will be broadcast live on the president’s official social media account, allowing the public to follow the parties’ recommendations and the opening stages of the coalition building process.
Israel Said Pressing Lebanon To Prevent Hezbollah From Joining Renewed War With Iran
Israel has asked the Lebanese government to deploy troops who will set up road blocks in areas where Hezbollah operatives live in order to prevent the terrorist group from joining the fray if war resumes with Iran, Israeli television reported Monday (2nd), citing a security source.
The broadcaster said the request was relayed by US mediators, with Jerusalem warning Beirut that fighting in Lebanon will again flare up if Hezbollah attacks Israel.
It was not clear why Jerusalem did not reach out to Lebanon directly, with the report noting the recent US-backed direct talks between the sides with discussions implementing the framework deal meant to disarm Hezbollah and phase the Israel Defense Forces out of southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the Israel-US war with Iran on March 2 in support of its Iranian patrons, prompting massive Israeli airstrikes and a subsequent ground invasion of southern Lebanon before the agreement to end the conflict was reached in June, though sporadic fighting has continued.
The negotiations have been hampered by Hezbollah’s refusal to comply with the deal, which calls for the IDF to withdraw from areas of south Lebanon it held in parallel with the deployment of the Lebanese army, starting with so-called pilot zones, under the condition that Hezbollah disarms. But the Iran-backed terror group has refused to do so.
Lebanon’s president Joseph Aoun said last week however that several key issues remain unsolved, adding that the Lebanese state and army were prepared to address security concerns through “official mechanisms and established coordination channels” rather than military action.
Lebanese officials have said continued Israeli strikes are hampering Beirut’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah, while Israel has argued that the Lebanese army has not proved capable of assuming the security role envisioned under the US-backed ceasefire agreement.
Israel says its strikes in Lebanon ‘target operatives’ for Hezbollah and other terror groups, or strikes in response to Hezbollah’s fire on IDF troops. The IDF holds a buffer zone in southern Lebanon.
Lebanese officials have said continued Israeli strikes are hampering Beirut’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah, while Israel has argued that the Lebanese army has not proved capable of assuming the security role envisioned under the US-backed ceasefire agreement.
Hebron: IDF Ends 11-Day Counterterrorism Operation, Official Tells JNS
Israel Defense Forces soldiers withdrew from Hebron on Monday morning (2nd), ending a counterterrorism operation that began with the deadly Oct. 23 attack near the Judean city, a military official told JNS.
The Judea Brigade is now focusing on its defensive mission ahead of the weekend, when tens of thousands of Jews are expected to flock to Hebron for the Chayei Sarah Torah portion.
As part of the 11-day operation, IDF soldiers worked alongside Israeli Defense Ministry bodies to demolish illegal infrastructure near the Yehuda Junction, where Staff Sgt. Ron Yonatan Roytman and Sgt. Yuval Shai Svilem were both killed on Oct. 23, according to the official.
They also carried out engineering work “to improve security conditions and strengthen defensive measures,” the official said.
A week after the attack, the soldiers demolished the homes of the two terrorists who carried out the attack.
In a large operation in a neighborhood belonging to a Hamas-affiliated clan, soldiers searched buildings and detained suspects for questioning. They seized four weapons, several vests and other military equipment. They also sealed an underground shaft next to one of the terrorists’ homes.
Soldiers and Israeli police also confiscated 25 illegal vehicles similar to the one the terrorists used in the attack.
“Counterterrorism activities throughout Judea and Samaria continue,” the official said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Oct. 24 that he had instructed the IDF and the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) to draw up a “daring and comprehensive” plan unlike anything seen since the Six-Day War in 1967, aimed at uprooting terrorism in Judea and Samaria.
He spoke during an interview with broadcaster Channel 14, in which he was asked about the deadly shooting attack.
Explaining his directive to the IDF and the Israel Security Agency, Netanyahu said that his government knows that “the Palestinian Authority is a body hostile to the State of Israel that seeks to eliminate us in various ways.”
Palestinian terrorists targeted Israeli Jews in Judea and Samaria at least 5,051 times in 2025, according to figures published by the Rescuers Without Borders NGO.
The figures do not include the hundreds of violent attacks on Israeli security personnel occurring during ongoing counterterrorism operations in Arab towns under the control of the Palestinian Authority.
Twenty-four Israelis were murdered in Judea and Samaria in 2025, and more than 400 others were wounded, per the group’s annual report.
The findings, which were cross-checked against official data from Israeli security agencies, included 3,299 instances of rock-throwing, 458 firebomb attacks, 655 attempts to blind drivers with laser pointers, 286 attacks involving explosives and 19 shootings.
(jns.org)
Gravestones of Herzl’s Grandparents Unveiled On Mount Herzl
The gravestones of Theodor Herzl’s grandparents were unveiled on Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl on Monday (2nd), exactly 109 years after the Balfour Declaration.
Shimon Aryeh Leib) and Rivka Herzl, grandparents of the founder of modern political Zionism, were reinterred at Mount Herzl in August after their remains were brought to Israel from Serbia.
World Zionist Organization chairman Yakov Hagoel, Keren Hayesod, chairman Eli Hazan and ZAKA Director-General Tzvi Hassid attended Monday’s ceremony, along with public representatives and members of the Herzl family. ”Even today, there are those who try to disconnect Herzl from his Jewish roots and portray Zionism as a movement that broke away from tradition,” Hagoel said at the ceremony. “Today, here on Mount Herzl, the historical truth stands before us. It is no coincidence that we are standing here on the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.
The couple was buried on August 5 in the Herzl family plot in a state ceremony attended by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana.
Their reinterment followed some four years of diplomatic, religious and logistical efforts involving the World Zionist Organization, Israel’s Foreign Ministry, the Military Rabbinate, ZAKA and Serbian authorities.
The effort produced an unexpected discovery when officials opened what was believed to be Shimon Leib’s grave in Zemun, Serbia, in July and found it empty. His remains were eventually located beside his wife Rivka’s grave.
Herzog noted at the August reinterment that Shimon Leib served as a gabbai at Alkalai’s synagogue and would have been exposed to the rabbi’s ideas about Jewish sovereignty, the revival of Hebrew and the return to the ancestral homeland.
Theodor Herzl, born in Budapest in 1860, convened the First Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897 and became the central figure in the movement to establish a Jewish homeland.
He died in Vienna in 1904, and his remains were brought to Jerusalem in August 1949, a little more than a year after the establishment of the State of Israel.
Monday’s ceremony was held exactly 109 years after British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour issued the declaration bearing his name on Nov. 2, 1917, expressing the British government’s support for the establishment in Palestine of a “national home for the Jewish people.”
“The declaration, which was addressed to Lord Rothschild and the Zionist Organization, gave the Jewish people international recognition, but Balfour did not give us the right to the land—he merely recognized it,” Hagoel said.
“Our right was born from the longing and prayers of Jews like Shimon and Rivka Herzl,” he continued. “At a time when our enemies are trying to undermine our existential right, their burial here today is a symbol of life and national revival.”
(jns.org)
Antisemitism Is On The Ballot In The U.S. Midterm Elections – Matthew Continetti
In this year’s midterm elections, for the first time in generations, antisemitism has emerged from the shadows to influence American public life. From Graham Platner, to Abdul El-Sayed, from Hasan Piker to Tucker Carlson, antagonism toward Israel and “Zionists” has morphed into fear and loathing of a minority that has lived peaceably and productively in this country for more than 300 years. The results on Nov. 3 will measure our collective immunity to an ageless hatred that destroys everything it touches.
El-Sayed has made opposition to the U.S.-Israel alliance central to his candidacy. He demonizes Israel for committing a bogus “genocide” against Palestinians. He falsely charges Israel with apartheid while saying nothing about human-rights abuses in Iran. He refuses to say Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state.
He didn’t want to comment on the assassination of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei because “there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad about his death.” His flippant response to a failed terror attack on a synagogue and preschool was that “Hurt people hurt people.” He implied during a recent debate that Israel and Iran are equal threats to the U.S.
Victory for candidates who traffic in antisemitism will switch on a massive green light for antisemites across the political spectrum. The legitimacy barrier against open antisemitism will fall. American Jews will be in danger. They already are. Anti-Jewish attacks are the most common form of religious-based hate crimes, according to FBI data. Efforts to delegitimize Israel wind up legitimizing hostility to Jews. (Wall Street Journal)
(wsj.com)
