The Times of Israel is liveblogging Sunday’s events as they happen.
‘We won’t stand for this’: Trump doubles down on attack against Israeli prosecutors in Netanyahu’s corruption trial
For the second time within days, US President Donald Trump lambasts the ongoing criminal trial against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claiming that it harms efforts to strike deals in Gaza and with Iran.
While not directly threatening the prosecution, Trump highlights the billions of dollars in US aid to Israel before declaring, “We are not going to stand for this.”
“It is terrible what they are doing in Israel to Bibi Netanyahu,” Trump writes on Truth Social.
“He is a war hero, and a prime minister who did a fabulous job working with the United States to bring great success in getting rid of the dangerous nuclear threat in Iran,” Trump continues.
“Importantly, he is right now in the process of negotiating a deal with Hamas, which will include getting the hostages back.”
“How is it possible that the prime minister of Israel can be forced to sit in a courtroom all day long, over nothing,” he adds, downplaying the charges against Netanyahu while calling the corruption trial a “witch hunt.”
“This travesty of ‘justice’ will interfere with both Iran and Hamas negotiations,” Trump claims.
“In other words, it is insanity doing what the out-of-control prosecutors are doing to Bibi Netanyahu.”
“The United States of America spends billions of dollar(s) a year, far more than on any other nation, protecting and supporting Israel,” he adds
“We are not going to stand for this,” Trump says, adding that “this greatly tarnishes our victory.
“Let Bibi go. He’s got a big job to do,” Trump adds.
Iran could resume uranium enrichment in ‘matter of months,’ IAEA chief says
UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi says Iran likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium “in a matter of months,” despite damage to several nuclear facilities from US and Israeli attacks, CBS News says.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the extent of the damage to the nuclear sites is “serious,” but that the details are unknown, while US President Donald Trump insists Iran’s nuclear program has been set back “decades.”
But Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says “some is still standing.”
“They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that,” Grossi said Friday, according to a transcript of the interview released Saturday.
Another key question is whether Iran was able to relocate some or all of its estimated 408.6-kilo (900-pound) stockpile of highly enriched uranium before the attacks.
The uranium in question is enriched to 60 percent — above levels for civilian usage but below weapons grade. That material, if further refined, would theoretically be sufficient to produce more than nine nuclear bombs.
Grossi admitted to CBS: “We don’t know where this material could be.”
“So some could have been destroyed as part of the attack, but some could have been moved. So there has to be, at some point, a clarification,” he says in the interview.
For now, Iranian lawmakers voted to suspend cooperation with the IAEA and Tehran rejected Grossi’s request for a visit to the damaged sites, especially Fordo, the main uranium enrichment facility, which was struck by the US last Sunday.
“We need to be in a position to ascertain, to confirm what is there, and where is it and what happened,” Grossi said.
IDF investigating after settler reportedly injured by live fire during attack on soldiers
The military says it is investigating after an Israeli settler was reportedly injured by live fire during an attack on soldiers in the West Bank last night.
Overnight Friday-Saturday, a 14-year-old was taken from the Ramallah area to the hospital in light condition after being hit by a bullet in his torso.
The IDF says that in the area of the violence near the Palestinian village of Kafr Malik, “no live fire was conducted toward Israeli civilians.”
“The battalion commander who operated in the area did not fire live rounds at all,” the IDF says, referring to the officer who was assaulted by the settlers.
In a nearby area at the same time, settlers hurled stones at an army vehicle, and troops fired three warning shots in the air in response, according to the military.
“It is being looked into if there is a relation between the incident and the claim that an Israeli civilian was hurt by live fire,” the IDF says.