News Digest — 8/22/25
Hotovely To UK: Don’t Tell Us Where To Build In Jerusalem
Israel’s Ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, fiercely pushed back against British officials after being summoned over a new construction project in the E1 area, which connects Ma’ale Adumim to Jerusalem.
“I wouldn’t tell the British where to build in London,” Hotovely told the Daily Mail Thursday night (21st). “We see E1 as part of greater Jerusalem.”
Hotovely was summoned for a meeting after UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy condemned Israel’s approval for plans for 3,400 homes in E1.
Lammy said in a statement on Wednesday (20th), that the E1 plans, if implemented, “would divide a Palestinian state in two, mark a flagrant breach of international law and critically undermine the two-state solution. The Israeli government must reverse this decision,” he added.
The Civil Administration approved the advancement of the E1 project on Wednesday (20th), nearly a week after it was officially announced during a press conference led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
While European countries have condemned the construction, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said that “this is not a violation of international law.”
“We will not dictate to Israel what to do, we will not interfere in the running of the country. It would be very strange to say that others can live in this area but Israelis cannot,” Huckabee said in an interview with Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio).
The US State Department similarly said that the construction of Jewish houses in E1 supports Israel’s security and is in line with the administration’s goals.
Chief Of Staff: ‘We Will Not Stop Until Hamas Is Defeated’
Thursday (21st), IDF Chief of Staff LTG Eyal Zamir conducted a field tour in the Gaza Strip alongside Southern Command Commander BG Moran Omer, Commander of the Kfir Brigade, Col. A., and additional commanders.
During the tour, the Chief of Staff and the Southern Command Commander met with soldiers from the Kfir Brigade and Brigade 188. They held a debriefing at the site of the encounter with Hamas operatives in Khan Yunis, where an attack was thwarted on Wednesday (20th). The Chief of Staff expressed appreciation for the soldiers’ vigilance and swift response, which led to the elimination of most of the terrorists.
The Chief of Staff instructed the commanders to deepen the debriefing of the event, extract lessons learned and continue with determined and professional operations.
He stated, “We are in a challenging and intense multi-front war. The Gaza front is our primary focus. We are progressing with efforts for operations in Gaza City. Our objectives remain the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas – we will not rest or stop until we complete them.”
The Chief of Staff further added, “We have inflicted a severe blow to Hamas. It was a terror army, and now it is a guerrilla organization. We will continue to strike Hamas everywhere, both domestically and abroad. The thwarted attack here is significant, and I commend you for the way you acted. This event could have ended differently. If you hadn’t been here, this terrorist cell could have reached the settlements.”
Continuing his remarks, he emphasized, “Your presence alongside operational actions, is part of the defense of our communities. You are the shield. We issued tens of thousands of reserve orders yesterday for forces to join. We appreciate the reservists and their families, they are doing sacred work. I’m confident they will stand ready until the mission is completed.”
The Chief of Staff concluded that the IDF continues to conduct the fighting in collaboration with the political echelon to present the best options for continuing. “Our struggle is still long, and many challenges lie ahead. The entire people of Israel are looking to you and trust you. We have no other option but victory. The Kfir Brigade will continue to stand firm and bring achievements.”
Terrorist Wounds Jewish Shepherd In West Bank Shooting
One person was wounded after being shot in the head by a terrorist in the Malachi Hashalom area, northeast of Ramallah, in the West Bank, on Thursday morning (20th).
Initial reports stated that two shepherds were grazing cows near the settlement when a masked terrorist, who was lurking among the trees, fired two shots. A violent confrontation developed between the terrorist and the civilians,
The IDF said the incident is being investigated. Searches are underway for the terrorist behind the shooting. IDF soldiers encircled the village of Al-Mughayir near Ramallah to locate the terrorist.
MDA paramedics provided treatment for the 20-year-old shepherd and evacuated him to Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital in medium condition.
Border police arrested a week ago a Gaza man in his 20s on suspicion of attempting to carry out a terror attack at the Qalandiya checkpoint north of Jerusalem.
One month ago, the IDF thwarted two attempted terror attacks in the southern West Bank. First , a soldier shot a terrorist armed with a knife who attempted to carry out a stabbing attack near the Shim’a community. Later, another terrorist arrived at the entrance to Migdal Oz, also armed with a knife and began to throw rocks at the security post before a guard shot and killed him.
Part Of A Broader Effort: Lebanese Military Begins Disarming Palestinian Factions
Lebanon said on Thursday (21st) it was launching the planned disarmament of Palestinian factions in refugee camps, part of a wider effort to establish a state monopoly on arms.
The planned disarmament was started with the handover of weapons on Thursday (21st) from the Burj al-Barajneh camp in Beirut to the Lebanese army, the Lebanon prime minister’s office said.
The move is meant to mark the start of a broader disarmament effort, with additional deliveries expected in the coming weeks from Burj al-Barajneh and other camps across the country, the office said in a statement.
An official from Fatah told Reuters that the only weapons being handed over so far were illegal arms that entered the camp recently. TV footage shows army vehicles entering the camp ahead of a handover.
As part of a truce with Israel struck in November and backed by the United States, Lebanon committed to restricting arms to six specific state security forces, in a challenge to Iran-backed Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah.
The Lebanese cabinet has tasked the army with drawing up a plan to establish a state monopoly on arms by the end of the year.
The initiative to disarm Palestinian factions is part of an agreement reached during a May 21 summit between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Palestinian Authority Head Mahmoud Abbas, which affirmed Lebanon’s sovereignty and the principle that only the state should bear arms, the statement from the prime minister’s office said.
Palestinian factions have long-operated with relative autonomy in several of Lebanon’s 12 refugee camps, which fall largely outside the jurisdiction of the Lebanese state. The latest handover represents the most serious bid in years to address weapons held inside the camps.
Hezbollah is also commanded to turn its arms over to the Lebanese army, per a recent decision by the Lebanese Cabinet . However, Iran-led Hezbollah’s leaders said last week that that would not happen even if Hezbollah had to battle with the state of Lebanon.
Report: Israel And Syria To Sign Security Agreement On September 25
The Saudi-owned newspaper Independent Arabia reported on Friday morning (22nd), citing “senior Syrian sources,” that Israel and Syria are expected to sign a security agreement on September 25 under American auspices. The agreement is slated to be signed a day after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa delivers his first speech at the United Nations General Assembly.
According to the sources, the agreement will be a security arrangement aimed at reducing tensions between Jerusalem and Damascus. However, a comprehensive peace deal between the two countries is not expected “in the near future.”
Furthermore, Sky News Arabia reported, citing its sources, that the US is working to facilitate a meeting next month between President al-Sharaa and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with US President Donald Trump expected to participate. The report noted that with the recent appointment of a new Syrian representative to the UN, negotiation authority was made “in this context.”
Sky News Arabia also reported progress in talks held this week in Paris between Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Shibani. However, the main point of contention remains Israel’s desire to maintain an IDF presence at several strategic sites in Syria, including the radar station on the Syrian Hermon and Tel al-Hara in the Quneitra province.
The reports have not yet been officially confirmed by either Israel or Syria.
The discussions reportedly addressed several key issues: de-escalation along the border, adherence to the principle of non-interference in Syria’s internal affairs, regional stability, monitoring the ceasefire in the Druze Mountain area, and the renewal of the 1974 disengagement agreement.
The report was highly unusual, marking the first time in more than 25 years that an official Syrian media outlet acknowledged direct contact between the Syrian government and Israel.
Yes, Anti-Zionism Is Anti-Semitism -Brendan O’Neill
Is it anti-Semitic to criticize Israel? Of course not. Is it anti-Semitic to rage day in, day out against Israel? To think of little else? To let this tiny state occupy your every waking thought? To call it uniquely barbarous, demonic, a nation that lusts after blood like no other? To dream of its destruction? To traipse through streets every week hollering for its obliteration.?
To devote yourself so singularly to this one nation’s erasure that you come to define your entire political personality by that goal and proudly declare yourself an “anti-Zionist”? Yes, that is anti-Semitic.
If you maniacally obsess over the Jewish homeland, and detest Jewish nationalism more than any other nationalism, and gleefully chant for the death of the Jewish nations’s soldiers, and fantasize about the violent excision of the Jewish state “from the river to the sea,” then you have a problem with Jews.
We are not talking about criticism of Israel. We are talking about blind hatred for Israel. Hysteria about Israel. The fantasy of Israel’s death. The wild and demented conviction that Israel is the most murderous state in existence, if not the most murderous state ever, and that it wields staggering power over the obsequious nations of the West. That’s a species of madness.
Show me one other anti-war movement that called not only for an end to war but for the end of an entire nation. Name one other nation that finds its entire right to nationhood ceaselessly called into question, like its normal to pine publicly for the erasure of a nation of nine million souls. If you have sworn yourself solely to the upending and elimination of the project of Jewish nationhood, then you can’t be too surprised if someone calls you a Jew hater.
Where Did Iran’s Arab Supporters Go? Abdulrahman Al-Rashed
What has befallen Iran is no small matter; its military losses and nuclear facilities are immense, facilities that cost billions of dollars and much blood and sweat to build. To its ballistic and nuclear losses, we can add the loss of the popular current it had cultivated across the region, from Iraq to Morocco.
The collapse of Iranian influence is clear within Arab regions. When the Lebanese government took its bold decision to confiscate Hezbollah’s weapons, the response in the street was limited. In the wake of Iran’s defeat, a sense of shock and betrayal spread across the region, which had been waiting for the liberation of Palestine.
Iran once enjoyed dominance and popular support in the region. It managed to raise generations of Arabs on its ideas. Tehran opened its doors and arms to extremist Sunnis, including leaders of al-Qaeda, and supported most Sunni opposition groups against their governments. It built a deeply coordinated relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood. It climbed onto many Arab media outlets to promote Khamenei’s line.
Tehran was managing elite and grassroots movements in dozens of Arab cities. But in the recent wars, following the October 2023 attacks, the kind of mobilization we were used to in every confrontation faded. One reason is that people do not admire the defeated. The second is that the apparatuses that used to orchestrate these movements have lost their connections and their resources. The Arab street venerates the victorious hero until he falls, then replaces him with another hero.
The remaining challenge for Iran is to hold on to its supporters within its Shiite popular base. With time, the Shias of Lebanon will come to realize the truth: that they are victims of Hezbollah and Iran, that it is a burden on them rather than a support. For four decades they have borne the confrontation with Israel and the consequences of ties with Iran: economics and personal sanctions, and the destruction of their neighborhoods.
The writer is chairman of Al-Arabiya’s editorial board.
(https://english.alarabiya.net)
