Wednesday 27 Elul – Shin Bet says it foiled ‘significant and extensive’ terror network in West Bank, Jerusalem; 30 suspects captured – US hits Iranian oil tankers after attempted missile attacks on American Navy & more…

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announces a sweeping sanctions package targeting Israeli settlements in the West Bank as well as a range of other punitive measures, during a speech in the House of Commons featuring Britain’s strongest-ever criticism of the settlement enterprise.

Denouncing Israel’s entirely “unlawful occupation” of the West Bank, Miliband decries spiraling instances of settler violence against Palestinians, saying “settler terrorism is rampant,” and citing United Nations reports of an “average of six violent settler attacks against Palestinians per day this year, the highest on record.”

He adds that the “British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank – perpetrated by settler terrorists,” charging that “the Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this and, worse, members of it have made statements and taken actions to support the forced displacement of Palestinians.”

In his remarks, Miliband says London will impose an import ban on goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, sanction companies and individuals that facilitate settlement expansion, and refuse licenses for arms and other exports deemed to materially support Israel’s “occupation,” adding that France and Canada will also impose an import ban, with additional countries set to “support further action.”

“The unlawfulness of the occupation should be reflected in the economic relationships we choose to have with the occupied territories,” Miliband says, noting that the import bans and a ban on advertising settlements in the UK will form part of a new “comprehensive sanctions regime” expected to take effect within six to nine months, with what he calls “appropriate religious exemptions.”

The regime will also “take action against specific companies and individuals who provide services such as construction, infrastructure, financing, or real estate for settlement expansion,” he says.

Miliband stresses that the UK will continue trading with Israel inside the Green Line and opposing the broader Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

The United States on Tuesday struck multiple Iranian tankers in response to more attempted missile attacks on an American Navy warship, said a US official.

The US military has yet to acknowledge Monday’s attack by Iran, in which no American ships were struck, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal citing US officials.

In response, the US launched strikes on Tuesday night that Iranian state television said targeted Iranian oil tankers near the southern port of Jask and near Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf.

An Iranian state TV reporter in Jask said an Iranian tanker was struck near the coast of Yekbeni, while another explosion was heard in the area whose source and location were not immediately clear.

State TV later reported that the US military attacked a second tanker near waters off Jask. It said the crews of both vessels were being evacuated by lifeboat toward the Jask coast.

Separately, state television reported that another Iranian tanker was attacked in Kharg Island anchorage area. It said the crew was safely evacuated shortly after the strike.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy in response warned crews of oil tankers near ports in Kuwait and Bahrain to immediately leave their vessels, saying the ships could be targeted in retaliation for US attacks on Iranian tankers. It accused Kuwait and Bahrain of hosting US forces and assisting in the attacks.
The US strikes also came after the IRGC said it seized an advanced US submarine drone in the Strait of Hormuz.

The United Arab Emirates, in an official statement, neither confirms nor denies that Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shortly before Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught that the terror group was planning a major attack.

The UAE Foreign Ministry does not directly address the alleged warning, but stresses the two governments share all relevant intelligence. “UAE and Israeli government entities have maintained open and direct lines of communication since the inception of the relationship more than five years ago. When necessary, all relevant intelligence has been and continues to be communicated between the relevant parties.”

It was reported earlier today ,that bin Zayed personally warned Netanyahu some 10 days before the onslaught that Sinwar was planning a major offensive against Israel. An Emirati source familiar with the conversation subsequently confirmed the report.

Netanyahu’s office, in an English statement, denies the report. “The press reports are false. No warning was given to the Prime Minister from the United Arab Emirates before October 7th,” the PMO says in a statement. “If there was any relevant information, it was passed through intelligence channels between the two countries.”

Meanwhile, senior Israeli officials who participated in security discussions ahead of the attack tell Channel 12 that they might have reached different conclusions and taken different action had Netanyahu informed them of the reported warning that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major operation.

“If we had known about Netanyahu’s conversations with the Emiratis, and apparently also with the Egyptians, there is a considerable likelihood that we would have reached different conclusions,” one senior official tells the network, calling the warning a “critical” piece of information.

“Had we known, we would at the very least have examined the matter more deeply,” another official says.

Channel 12 also reports that, days after the onslaught, former Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan told a close associate in frustration: “We passed warnings on to the Israelis. They did nothing with them.”

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announces a series of countermeasures against the United Kingdom in response to British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband’s announcement of what Sa’ar called a “hostile” sanctions package targeting West Bank settlements, “and following a series of anti-Israel decisions by the Labour government over the past two years.”

In a recorded statement at the Foreign Ministry, Sa’ar says he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have decided to shut the British Consulate in Jerusalem, expel British representatives from the US-backed International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat, terminate the British Support Team in Ramallah tasked with training members of the Palestinian Authority Security Forces, and bar 12 British elected officials and citizens “involved in antisemitic and anti-Israel activity.”

First speaking in Hebrew, Sa’ar calls Miliband’s accusations against Israel during his House of Commons speech “outrageous and false,” reiterating past accusations that the “severe sanctions” are being imposed “for domestic political reasons ahead of the Labour Party conference taking place this month,” calling the move “morally distorted” and a “blatant interference in the affairs of a sovereign state and in its election campaign.”

“We have nothing against the British people,” Sa’ar says, echoing language used by Miliband about the Israeli public, adding, “Unfortunately, there is a hostile Labour government in office that is systematically acting against Israel, and it will leave us no choice but to respond to its hostile moves.”

In a later English statement, Sa’ar says “a boycott of goods” from the West Bank is a “despicable practice that harms hardworking, law-abiding citizens.” He warns that the move will harm Palestinian workers in the West Bank, echoing remarks made by President Isaac Herzog today.

He further says the move and past punitive measures by London are “fueling antisemitism” abroad.

Over 30 Palestinians were recently detained over their membership in a “significant and extensive” terror network based in the West Bank and Jerusalem area, the Shin Bet security announces.

The network had been planning “attacks against Jews and security forces,” the Shin Bet says in a joint statement with the military and police.

Five Jerusalem residents who were members of the network were charged with “serious” security offenses, including “managing a terror organization, active membership in a terror organization, conspiracy and preparation to commit an act of terror involving murder under aggravated circumstances, weapons and property offenses for terror purposes, recruiting and attempting to recruit members to a terror organization,” and other offenses.

Indictments against some of the West Bank Palestinians involved in the network are expected to be filed by army prosecutors in the coming days, while the investigation of others is still ongoing.

Two of the Jerusalemites, Sabih Abu Sabih and Rashid Rishk, are members of the Shabab al-Aqsa group, which is affiliated with Hamas, according to the security agency. Abu Sabih is the son of Mesbah Abu Sabih, who carried out a deadly shooting spree that killed two Israelis in Jerusalem in October 2016, and Rishk was released in January 2025 as part of a hostage deal with Hamas.

The other three Jerusalemites charged in the case are named as Muhammad Abu Sabih, Muhammad Azmi Bakri and Ahmad Azmi Bakri.

The Shin Bet says Rishk and Sabih Abu Sabih established the terror network, “under which they recruited military terror cells under their command throughout the West Bank,” intending to carry out attacks.

Security forces captured several weapons the agency says the network intended to use in the attacks.

According to the Shin Bet’s investigation, Ahmad Azmi Bakri and Rishk planned a terror attack at a restaurant in the central city of Modiin, where Ahmad worked.

Additionally, Muhammad Azmi Bakri instructed Rishk and Muhammad Abu Sabih how to build explosive devices, after they told him of their intention to carry out attacks, including a shooting attack against Israeli security forces in the West Bank town of al-Eizariya, according to the security agency.

For the UK Jewish Orthodox Community
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Erev Shabbos

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