News Digest — 8/26/26
Katz: Israel Won’t Leave Syria Buffer Zone As Long As ‘Jihadist Threats’ Remain
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday (25th) told troops in southern Syria that the Israel military would not leave its buffer zone there as long as ‘jihadist threats’ remain, issuing a belligerent message to Damascus as the US tries to secure a security deal between the countries.
“We will not move from Mount Hermon and the security zone as long as there are jihadist threats to the State of Israel,” he said.
“The message to the president of Syria is clear – when you wake up in the morning in the palace in Damascus and look up at Mount Hermon and see the IDF, you know that we are here to defend our communities and our border.”
Katz added that Israel “acted against a Turkish attempt to establish itself in Syria, while putting Israel’s security interests at risk,” referring to last week’s strikes on the Abu Al-Duhur airbase in Idlib.
“We made this clear and will stand by it in the future as well.” he added
The Syrian foreign ministry condemned Katz’s visit to the buffer zone as illegal, and said his crossing of the international border was “a flagrant violation” of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The Israel Defense Forces has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, mostly within a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone on the border between the countries.
Israeli troops have been operating in areas up to around 9 miles deep into Syria, aiming to capture weapons that Israel says could pose a threat to the country if they fall into the hands of hostile forces.”
The two countries, which have no formal relations and are officially in a state of war, held historic direct talks last year aimed at reaching a groundbreaking security agreement that ultimately failed to materialize. However contacts between the sides have been ongoing.
In addition to concern about local jihadist groups, Israel is increasingly worried about Turkey’s military presence in Syria, prompting the strikes against the airbase last week.
However, a Channel 12 report on Tuesday (25th) said that Israel believed that Turkey’s efforts to establish a military presence at a base in northern Syria has been thwarted for now.
The decision was a result of intensive efforts to calm tensions following the Israeli airstrike, which have seen high-level contacts between Israel and Syria, as well as Israel and Turkey, notably including a meeting between Mossad chief Roman Gofman and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in Jordan on Sunday (23rd), the report said.
Nevertheless, Israel will not hesitate to strike the base again, Channel 12 quoted Israeli security officials as saying.
The US has been seeking to forge a security deal between Israel and the government of Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, a new US ally in the Middle East, for over a year. But it has proven elusive as Israel has kept troops in Syrian territory and attacked government assets, citing threats to its security.
Channel 12 also reported Sunday (23rd) that Israel identified an increase in the Hezbollah terror group’s attempts to smuggle weapons from Syria into Lebanon. A security official cited by the network said Iran is financing and operating the smuggling network.
“Hezbollah is exploiting the ceasefire to build up its strength, and therefore, there has been an increase in smuggling attempts through Syria,” a security official told Channel 12.
Chief Of Staff: ‘We Will Dismantle Hamas’
IDF Chief of Staff LTG Eyal Zamir conducted a tour of Gaza on Tuesday (25th) together with Southern Command MG Yaniv Asor, Gaza Division Commander BG Liron Bitito and brigade and battalion commanders.
During the tour, Zamir spoke with commanders, who briefed him on the operational situation and the activities of IDF forces in the area.
Zamir expressed his appreciation for the soldiers and commanders operating in Gaza to protect Israeli civilians. Referring to the ongoing campaign, he said: “In about a month and a half, we will mark three years since October 7. Three years in which the IDF has faced a complex, continuous, multi-front campaign – in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and additional arenas.”
He added: “This is a very significant challenge for the IDF, and we have achieved extraordinary results on every front and in every sector. Our forces have prevailed in every battle, significantly weakened our enemies, and struck their capabilities and infrastructure. We continue to prepare and remain vigilant on all fronts, understanding that the campaign is not over.”
Zamir addressed the IDF objectives in Gaza, stating: “In Gaza, we are not giving up on the overriding objective of demilitarizing Gaza and dismantling Hamas, using all necessary means. We continue to systematically target Hamas and its leaders wherever they are, as part of an ongoing campaign to prevent it from rebuilding its strength.”
The IDF Chief also addressed the pursuit of terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre: “The pursuit of the October 7 terrorists continues. Anyone who took part in the massacre will be hunted down until they are all eliminated. This is a long-term mission to which the command and the entire IDF are committed.”
Zamir said the IDF has changed its approach following the October 7 attacks: “Our message is clear: We investigated and are learning the lessons. The IDF will not return to the concepts we experienced on October 6. There will be no containment of threats.”
“We will not allow the enemy to rebuild itself, we will not allow terrorist infrastructure to become established, and we will act whenever possible to eliminate threats as they emerge,” he said.
We are listening to the voices of the residents, understand their concerns, and will know how to reach anyone behind a threat against them,” Zamir said. “Our forces are deployed on the front lines ahead of the communities and continue to thwart terrorist infrastructure and terrorists.”
Zamir also addressed the movement of forces between different fronts, noting that only about three months ago he had met commanders of the Givati Brigade and 401st Brigade on the northern border, “Now you are here, continuing to deepen the achievements in Gaza. Southern Command and the division continue to precisely thwart threats whenever the opportunity arises.”
The IDF Chief praised the forces’ activities saying: “There are tremendous achievements here, based on the determined and uncompromising activity of the forces on the ground. This is also not the first time I have met the reservist battalion of the 11th Brigade. The battalion is mobilized for 90 days in this round. I am aware of the extraordinary burden on reservists and their families. We are committed to continuing to act on your behalf.”
Dominican Republic Adopting IHRA Working Definition Of Jew-Hatred
The Dominican Republic said on Monday night (24th) that it is adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of Jew-hatred, JNS has learned.
Victor Bisono, the country’s foreign minister, made the announcement, which makes it the seventh Latin American state to do so.
Argentina holds the sole IHRA full member status in Latin America. Five other Latin American countries have previously adopted the IHRA definition, including Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, and Uruguay.
The Latin American and Caribbean Parliament, a consultative assembly made up of national parliamentarians that represent 23 countries, has also adopted the definition.
The IHRA definition provides guidance for recognizing when criticism crosses the line into Jew-hatred by applying double standards, denying the Jewish people’s right to self-determination or using classic antisemitic tropes.
Estimates vary of the number of Jews living in the Dominican from 1,000 to 3,000.
The country holds a unique place in Jewish history as the first sovereign country that offered to accept mass Jewish immigration prior to and during the Holocaust.
It was the only country in the 1940s that offered asylum to a significant number of Jewish refugees, stating it would accept up to 100,000. The great majority never made it.
The country’s agriculture industry has deep Jewish ties, with kibbutzniks in British Mandatory Palestine brought on to help the Dominican town of Sosua
The country’s biggest producer of milk and cheese was founded by Holocaust refugees.
There are only two synagogues in the country—neither has a permanent rabbi. A Jewish cemetery, charity, and mikvah still operate there, along with several Jewish organizations.
The Dominican Republic has previously engaged with the Combat Antisemitism Movement and the Israel Allies Foundation to review its potential adoption of the IHRA definition.
A source told JNS that the United States is working closely with the government of Argentina to bring more Latin American countries into the IHRA fold and that progress is expected to be made public soon.
Globally, 46 national governments have adopted the definition, along with dozens of U.S. states and more than 1,000 global entities,
Just last year, 67 entities worldwide adopted the IHRA definition, a 97.1% increase from the 34 adoptions recorded the previous year, according to the Combat Antisemitism Movement.
The source said the Dominican Republic’s adoption of IHRA is due to the efforts of the Combat Antisemitism Movement, along with the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Yehuda Kaploun, a rabbi and the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism.
The Undisputed Answer To Israel’s Legitimacy – Loav Alshareef
I am an Arab Muslim and have spent years advocating for peace and reconciliation between Muslims and Jews. I have never understood why acknowledging the ancient Jewish connection to this land should be considered threatening to Muslims. The Dead Sea Scrolls are one example that demolishes the claim that Jewish attachment to the land is a recent political invention created by Europeans in the 19th or 20th centuries.
The ancient manuscripts found in caves near the Dead Sea were written by Jews living in this region more than 2,000 years ago. I do not see something that belongs to a civilization completely foreign to me – I see part of the religious and historical landscape from which Christianity emerged and which Islam itself repeatedly acknowledges. This is why I believe Muslims should be among the last people to deny ancient Jewish history.
The Quran is filled with the history of the Children of Israel. Moses is mentioned more frequently in the Quran than any other prophet. The Quran speaks of King David, Solomon, Aaron, Joseph and the tribes of Israel.. It acknowledges the Torah and repeatedly places its own religious message in conversation with earlier Jewish and Christian traditions. There is therefore something deeply strange, in my view, about some Muslims feeling that we must erase Jewish history in order to defend Arab or Palestinian rights.
Peace will never be built by creating historical amnesia. For decades, political arguments surrounding Israel have frequently attempted to deny Jewish history altogether, pretending that a nation did not exist in its ancestral homeland. The Dead Sea Scrolls tell us that Jewish communities lived in this land, developed religious institutions in this land, and debated the meaning of their faith in this land centuries before Islam appeared and centuries before modern European nationalism existed.
History cannot become something we recognize only when it supports our political position. If archaeology proves something uncomfortable, we should not destroy the archaeology – we should adjust our understanding. For Muslims in particular, recognizing the Jewish people’s ancient connection to this land should not frighten us. It does not diminish Islam. It simply requires intellectual honesty.
The writer is a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Ottawa. (Fox News)
The Penchant For Blaming Israel And Jews For Everything – Amb. Alan Baker
There is something deeply troubling about the manner in which Israel and the Jewish people have once again become the focus of an extraordinary campaign of political condemnation, public vilification, and international hostility. Public figures feel able to malign Israel and Jews in sweeping, inflammatory and often baseless terms – and to do so with the apparent confidence that social media will provide them with millions of receptive followers. Hostility toward Israel and Jews has become socially acceptable, politically advantageous, and increasingly immune from serious scrutiny.
In Europe, when governments and political leaders in Ireland, Spain Canada, Australia, and Britain appear willing to embrace or lend credence to, false allegations of genocide and deliberate starvation against Israel and its leaders without the factual and legal basis for such allegations, one must ask whether European governments have become incapable, or unwilling, to resist politically motivated campaigns against Israel.
Many Western governments have historically sponsored, financed, and supported the Oslo process and subsequent Israeli-Palestinian agreements. Those agreements created reciprocal obligations and were intended to provide the legal and political framework for resolving outstanding issues through negotiations. Yet when states that helped create and endorse that framework subsequently support initiatives that bypass, weaken, or undermine its fundamental commitments, the credibility of their own diplomatic guarantees is inevitably called into question.
One must therefore ask: what confidence can Israel, or any state, place in international assurances concerning future agreements if the states providing those assurances are themselves prepared to disregard or circumvent the commitments embodied in existing agreements? The issue is whether fundamental principles of international relations and treaty commitments are to be respected.
Israel appears repeatedly to be treated as an exceptional case: subjected to an extraordinary level of international scrutiny, condemnation and political pressure. Legitimate criticism is an essential component of democratic discourse. But criticism becomes something entirely different when it is selective, disproportionate, detached from facts, or based upon standards that are not applied consistently to other states and people.
The writer, former Legal Adviser and Deputy Director-General of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, heads the international law program at the Jerusalem Center.
(jcfa.org)
