News Digest — 9/16/26
Poll: Three-Quarters Of Israeli Jews Fast On Yom Kippur
Most Israeli Jews plan to mark Yom Kippur through fasting, refraining from driving or attending a synagogue, according to new polling ahead of the holiday, with the customs remaining widespread even among Israelis who identify as secular.
Data released by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) on Tuesday (15th) showed that 74% of Jews in Israel fast on Yom Kippur, including 63% who fast through the entire holy day.
A separate survey by the Tzohar Index to Judaism and Tradition found that 61% of Jewish Israelis plan to fast to some extent this Yom Kippur. Fifty-four percent said they intend to observe the complete fast, while another 7% plan to fast partially.
The near-total disappearance of cars from Israeli roads on Yom Kippur appears to be an even broader tradition than fasting.
Among respondents who own cars, 95% said they do not plan to drive during the holiday, according to the Tzohar survey.
The custom extends overwhelmingly to secular Israelis: 92% of secular car owners said they would stay off the roads, despite much lower rates of fasting and synagogue attendance within the same group.
The Tzohar survey found that 46% of respondents expect to attend synagogue during Yom Kippur while 51% said they plan to give to charity ahead of the fast .
Religious observance differed sharply according to respondents’ backgrounds.
Among Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews, 68% said they plan to observe the complete fast, compared with 48% of Ashkenazi Jews.
The IDI poll also found that Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews were more likely to say they fast on Yom Kippur, with 88% saying they fast, compared to just 64% of Ashkenazi Jews.
According to the IDI survey, 57% of Jews plan to attend Yom Kippur services at a synagogue, with 51% attending Orthodox services, and just 6% attending services held at Reform or Conservative congregations.
The two polls diverged more sharply regarding the percentage of self-defined secular Jews who plan on fasting this Yom Kippur.
Among secular respondents polled by Tzohar, 34% said they intend to fast at least partially. Twenty-four percent plan a complete fast and another 10% a partial one.
The IDI poll, however, found that nearly half (47%) of secular Jews plan on fasting this Yom Kippur.
The Tzohar survey, conducted through the Mashav channel in late August, polled 1,330 Jewish Israeli adults via the internet.
Yom Kippur begins on Sunday evening September, 20th and ends on Monday evening the 21st.
IDF Confirms Hamas Rafah Brigade Commander Eliminated In Southern Gaza
The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) confirmed on Tuesday evening (15th) that they had struck in the southern Gaza Strip and eliminated terrorist Nael Abu Obeid, commander of Hamas’ Rafah Brigade and head of Hamas’ military wing operations array.
In a joint statement , they said that Abu Obeid was appointed to his position following the elimination of Mohammad Sabaneh, after previously holding numerous positions in the brigade, including deputy commander of the Rafah Brigade and commander of the Tel al-Sultan and Yibna Battalions. Abu Obeid was a key figure among senior Hamas leadership.
As part of his role, the statement noted, Abu Obeid was responsible for managing the activities of the brigade’s terrorists and directing them to advance and carry out terror attacks against IDF troops and Israeli civilians. In addition, he worked to restore the brigade’s force buildup, which suffered severe damage throughout the war.
The statement noted that prior to the strike, steps were taken to minimize harm to civilians, including the use of precision munitions and aerial surveillance.
“The security forces remain deployed in the area in accordance with the agreement and will continue to operate to remove any threat,” it said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz commented on the elimination earlier in the evening.
“The IDF has just struck the commander of the Rafah Brigade in the Hamas terrorist organization, following the elimination earlier this week of the commander of the Khan Yunis Brigade and other senior figures in the organization,” they said.
“Our message is clear: No terrorist is immune, and Hamas will not be in Gaza. We stand by the IDF and the ISA, which are operating with determination to remove threats and protect the citizens of Israel.
Katz, in a separate statement , later said, “The policy that the Prime Minister and I are leading, and that the IDF is carrying out in the most professional and appropriate manner , is clear. We eliminate terrorists and remove threats, and we do not target civilians or uninvolved people – contrary to the blood libel fabricated by the makers of the film ‘NAZA,’ directed against our heroic soldiers. No terrorist is immune, and Hamas will not remain in Gaza.”
Earlier, the IDF announced that it eliminated Mohsen Farid Said Abu Hadaf in Khan Yunis last weekend. Abu Hadaf was a head of a rocket cell in Palestinian Islamic Jihad who raided the Kissufim area during the October 7 massacre. Recently he advanced terror plots targeting IDF Forces and Israeli civilians, in systematic violation of the ceasefire.
IDF Chief Met Heads Of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Other Arab States To Discuss Iran – Report
The military chiefs of Israel, the US, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, and Egypt held a meeting in Germany last week about the war with Iran and regional tensions, two Israeli officials told the Axios news site in a Tuesday (15th) report.
The private meeting at a secluded ski resort, organized by US CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper and confirmed by CENTCOM to Axios was the first such gathering since the US and Israel launched their joint campaign against Iran in February, according to the report.
The officials have previously held similar meetings, the report said, despite Israel not having diplomatic relations with several of the involved Arab states, notably Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the latter of which has been called an “enemy state” by several prominent Israeli politicians.
During the meeting, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir briefed his counterparts on “IDF operations on various fronts” the report said.
At the sit-down, Cooper told his counterparts that the US military would not withdraw its forces from the region despite Iranian attacks on American bases, the sources said.
Cooper also briefed them on US plans for expanding maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the key shipping lane that carried one-fifth of the world’s energy supply before Iran began blockading the waterway and attacking ships trying to transit it.
In a statement to Axios confirming the meeting, CENTCOM said it “hosted senior military leaders from eight nations during a scheduled conference in Germany.”
The statement added that the leaders “discussed opportunities for enhancing security cooperation in the Middle East.”
A source familiar with the matter also told Axios that Israel and Saudi Arabia, with CENTCOM assistance, are discussing ways Jerusalem could assist Riyadh in confronting Houthi advances toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait amid renewed conflict between the two, and attacks by the Iran-backed group on the kingdom, adding it is unlikely Israel will take any offensive actions.
Earlier Tuesday (15th) , the Israel Hayom daily newspaper reported that CENTCOM had been overseeing contacts between the two countries over the Houthi attacks.
The IDF declined a request for comment on the Germany meeting from The Times of Israel.
Danon Urges UN Member States To Boycott Antisemitic Durban Anniversary Event
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon is calling on UN member states to boycott an upcoming event marking the 25th anniversary of the Durban Conference, accusing the gathering of perpetuating a legacy of antisemitism and the demonization of Israel.
The UN is scheduled to hold the event on September 28 during the High-Level Week of the UN General Assembly, marking 25 years since the original Durban Conference in South Africa.
The 2001 conference was intended to address racism and discrimination but became notorious for antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric. At the conference’s NGO Forum, antisemitic materials were distributed, including Nazi-style caricatures and signs invoking the destruction of the Jewish people.
Israel and the US ultimately withdrew from the conference after participating countries refused to condemn the anti-Israel rhetoric.
The legacy of the Durban Conference subsequently became a foundation for international campaigns targeting Israel, including accusations of apartheid, legal campaigns and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
In recent years, an increasing number of countries have refused to participate in Durban-related events. Fourteen countries boycotted the 2011 conference, while by 2021, dozens of UN member states had declined to take part.
Ahead of this year’s event, Israel is urging UN member states to boycott it, arguing that participation would lend legitimacy to a process that has repeatedly been used to promote antisemitism and anti-Israel hatred.
“In two weeks, the United Nations will mark 25 years since the Durban Conference, an event that was supposed to fight racism but instead became a platform for antisemitism and the demonization of Israel,” Danon said.
“There is no reason to celebrate this toxic legacy. Countries that genuinely oppose racism and antisemitism should do the right thing and boycott this event.”
It Is An Outrageous Inversion Of Reality To Blame Israel For Gaza’s Humanitarian Catastrophe Rather Than Hamas – Melanie Phillips
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has defined the values of the Labour Party as the promotion of lies, defamation and Jew-hate. It is an outrageous inversion of reality to blame Israel for Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe rather than Hamas, which uses civilians as cannon fodder while Israel went to unprecedented lengths to supply them with aid that Hamas then stole.
The half million Jews living in Judea and Samaria are under constant attack by local Arabs. Rocks are thrown at Israelis in their cars: Jewish farmers are having their fields torched and their flocks stolen. Over the years, dozens of Israelis in these areas have been murdered. None of this is reported in Britain.
The charge that Jews are perpetrating ethnic cleansing of the Arabs is grotesque. In fact, it’s the Burnham government that’s demanding the ethnic cleansing of every Jew from their own land to create a fantasy state of Palestine that wouldn’t have a single Jew in it.
By cementing the image of Israel as uniquely evil, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband will further galvanize the Islamists, already delirious that their campaign to reframe Israel in the Western mind as the worst country in the world has succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Miliband defamed Israel and laid out how it would be punished for the crime of refusing to commit suicide.
It would never occur to Miliband to sanction Palestinian leaders for tyrannizing Palestinian Arab dissidents, supporting and rewarding terrorists, and teaching their community’s children that their highest calling is to murder Jews and steal their land.
The writer is a columnist for The Times-UK. (JNS)
(jns.org)
How The IDF’s Defense Concept Changed After Oct. 7 – Elisha Ben Kimon
The painful lessons of the Oct. 7 attacks have led to a comprehensive shift in thinking across the IDF. Under the current operational doctrine, air, naval and ground forces are viewed as full partners in the mission of defending Israel’s borders. In an intensive series of exercises conducted recently, IDF forces practiced extreme scenarios involving multiple simultaneous fronts.
These scenarios included large-scale ground raids, maritime infiltrations using jet skis and unmanned vessels, heavy indirect fire, and threats from UAVs. The principal scenario guiding division commanders is based on full readiness to provide an immediate response in the event of a large-scale surprise, with particular attention paid to close protection of civilian areas.
At the heart of the Air Force’s new doctrine is actively employing critical air power from the first hour of an unfolding event. A framework has been established to allow the Air Force to act immediately to halt an invasion and “freeze the situation.” The use of heavy fire to disrupt an attack, the rapid arrival of a critical mass of aircraft and a dramatic shortening of response times are now central elements of this response.
The modern defense doctrine also calls for pushing threats farther away from population centers and creating a forward security zone inside enemy territory. The IDF says it can no longer accept a reality in which enemy forces or thousands of terrorists are entrenched within a short drive of Israeli civilians and communities. (Ynet News)
