The Times of Israel is liveblogging Sunday’s events as they unfold.
Saudi Arabia, UAE said to agree on freezing normalization over West Bank annexation plans
Saudi Arabia has given the United Arab Emirates its blessing to reconsider normalization with Israel should moves be made toward the annexation of the West Bank, Israel’s Kan news outlet reports, citing a source close to the Saudi royal family.
According to the report, the issue was discussed during a recent meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed, who met in Riyadh last week. The Saudi Press Agency reported that the two discussed “the latest developments in Palestine,” among other matters.
Kan quotes the source saying the two agreed that a pullback from the Abraham Accords would be a “realistic” option should moves toward annexation be made.
The source adds that any such move would also halt progress toward normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The UAE agreed to normalize relations with Israel in 2020 in exchange for Israel shelving plans to annex parts of the West Bank, in a move widely seen as having Riyadh’s tacit backing.
Abu Dhabi recently dispatched a number of warnings to Israel against revived plans to extend sovereignty to parts of the territory, including in an interview with The Times of Israel, an official statement and via backchannel sources. According to The Washington Post, the statements alarmed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the point that annexation was taken off the agenda for a Thursday night cabinet meeting.
Riyadh earlier today published a statement condemning Israeli comments on displacing Palestinians in Gaza, and accusing Israel of genocide. The statement made no direct reference to West Bank annexation.
Israeli drone said to strike dump truck in southern Lebanon
Lebanese media report that an Israeli drone fired on a truck in the southern Lebanese town of Maaliyeh just before midnight.
Videos shared online show what appears to be a dump truck engulfed in flames in the town, which is southeast of Tyre.
غارة اسرائيلية شنتها طائرة مسيرة استهدفت شاحنة في منطقة المعلية قضاء صور جنوب لبنان pic.twitter.com/3pckkw9yVW
— زكريا احمد الطالبي (@Zk2ria) September 6, 2025
According to the Elnashra news site, the truck was transporting rubble before it was hit with a pair of missiles.
It is unclear if there were any injuries in the alleged attack.
There is no comment from the Israeli military, which has carried out hundreds of strikes on alleged Hezbollah activity in southern Lebanon since a ceasefire some 10 months ago.
Ex-Mossad head Cohen distances self from Qatari funding for Hamas; says PM should boot aides paid by Doha
In the extensive Channel 12 interview tonight in which he says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should step aside, former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen also says Netanyahu should have “immediately suspended” any aide working in the Prime Minister’s Office who has been working for Qatar.
“No worker in the PMO should be taking money from any foreign state,” he says, referring to allegations in the Qatargate affair, in which figures working for Netanyahu are suspected of also being paid to advocate for Doha. “And maybe Qatar above all.”
Cohen, who acknowledges playing a role in facilitating the supply of Qatari money to Gaza, claims that the Shin Bet and COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) initiated the policy, and that he merely helped implement a measure overseen by Netanyahu. He says he never worked for Qatar or benefited from the policy in any way.
“I do not feel guilty as regards the Israeli policy on the Qatari money [for Hamas],” he says. “The Qatari money was ultimately the responsibility of the government of Israel and its head.”
The Shin Bet immediately issues a statement denying that it initiated the policy, which was publicly endorsed by Netanyahu. Since October 7, the prime minister has been widely criticized over the measure, which was intended to ease financial pressure on Gazans, for ostensibly having helped fund Hamas.
Cohen also says he sought to have the Mossad play a role in Gaza during his 2016-2021 term, but claims the IDF and Shin Bet rejected the idea. He does not claim that Mossad involvement would have prevented October 7. He says he warned in July 2023 that the rift in Israel over the judicial overhaul was weakening Israel’s internal resilience and that there was reason to fear a war was imminent.
After the invasion, he says he warned Netanyahu to be wary of rushing into Gaza, and to “check the intelligence” that he was being given. “They’ll tell you the army is ready to go in tomorrow morning,” he says he told the prime minister. “Don’t buy it.”
Cohen also says he wanted to target Hezbollah long before October 7, and indicates he wanted to target a key facility in Iran after the killing of Qassem Soleimani, head of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 2020, but Netanyahu was talked out of this by then IDF chief Aviv Kohavi.
Kohavi issues a statement saying the IDF opposed a different operation proposed by Cohen to kill Soleimani, and backed what proved to be a successful operation.
Cohen also denies any wrongdoing in the “submarine affair” concerning naval purchases by previous Netanyahu governments. A state commission of inquiry last year said that the former Mossad chief’s conduct in the purchase of the submarines “resulted in the serious disruption of work processes and force building, and harmed the decision-making process in a series of sensitive issues, thereby jeopardizing national security and harming the foreign relations and economic interests of the State of Israel.”
He says he found that accusation shocking, and has no doubt that it will be proved false.
Cabinet set to vote on creating body to defend Israel in media, online
The cabinet will vote Sunday on creating a public diplomacy agency within the Foreign Ministry aimed at countering anti-Israel content in the media with the help of online bloggers and social media influencers, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
The resolution set to be considered by the cabinet includes a clause allowing for the appointment of a person to head the body without needing to go through the tender process.
Jerusalem has been criticized as only half-heartedly attempting to shape public opinion and make its case in the international arena, even as its name has inched toward pariah status as the war in Gaza has ground on, including dominant media narratives painting it as an unjustified aggressor.
According to the report, a body already exists within the Foreign Ministry tsked with advancing Israel’s interests in the media.
Man found dead in Arab town, foul play suspected
Police are investigating after a man was found dead with suspected stab wounds in the northern town of Kafr Yasif, according to Hebrew media reports.
The Ynet news site describes the victim as a 41-year-old resident of Majd al-Krum, quoting residents who believe he was the victim of an internal clan feud.
The killing would mark the 177th among Israel’s Arab population this year, according to a tally published by the Abraham Initiatives watchdog, putting 2025 on pace to be the bloodiest yet for the community, which has been wracked by rising violence in recent years.
Report: Mediators to unveil proposal for full Gaza deal this week; Netanyahu skeptical
The US, Qatar and Egypt are expected this week to proffer a full Gaza ceasefire deal that brings all hostages home, ends the war and replaces Hamas with a new administration running the Strip, the Kan public broadcaster reports, without citing a source.
Kan quotes a source close to Netanyahu as reacting that Israel would be willing to call off its planned offensive aimed at conquering Gaza City in favor of a “real deal” ending the war and freeing the hostages, but no such offer is currently on the table.
Netanyahu’s government has declared that it will no longer entertain partial deals.
Hamas yesterday released a statement saying the terror group is open to any deal that ends the war, along with a full Israeli withdrawal, unfettered access for aid and other demands.
MK says massive protests could push PM to end war, gets into verbal tussle with cop
MK Gilad Kariv is seen on video getting in a shouting match with a police officer on the sidelines of the hostage rally in central Jerusalem, with the two accusing each other of being embarrassments.
According to Ynet, the altercation began after Kariv, from the Democrats, accused the cop of violently arresting a protester. A video shows the two arguing at a breakaway protest outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private home, where many protesters headed after the main rally outside his official residence down the street ended.
“Don’t yell at me,” the cop says, to which Kariv responds, “I’ll yell at you,” prompting the officer to say then he will yell back.
The two then accuse each other of “threatening.”
הוא עובד אצלו? גלעד קריב צורח על קצין משטרה. pic.twitter.com/yKyVFpI8ma
— הפרגוד (@moshepargod) September 6, 2025
“Shame on you, you are an embarrassment to your uniform,” Kariv says as the officer begins to walk away, to which the officer shoots back “you are an embarrassment to the Knesset,” telling the lawmaker that he needs to work on his decorum as the two continue shouting and pointing fingers at each other.
Following the confrontation, National Security Minister Itamar Ben GVir says he will ask Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to censure Kariv, declaring that “the police are not a punching bag for frustrated politicians.”
Moments earlier, at the main protest, Kariv told The Times of Israel that a large sustained protest movement with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators could push Netanyahu to end the war.
“Without hundreds of thousands of Israelis protesting, this war — like the First Lebanon War — will last 18 years,” he said, adding that the demonstrations should be nonviolent, while still “paralyzing the country.
“The Israeli public needs to take to the streets because Netanyahu won’t do the right thing, Netanyahu is not driven by morality and conscience. Netanyahu is a narcissist and a borderline psychopath,” he asserted. “The only thing that will move Netanyahu is one million Israelis in the streets and American pressure.”
Standing alongside Kariv, fellow Democrats MK Na’ama Lazimi branded Netanyahu a “complete sociopath,” pointing to Netanyahu’s claim earlier this year that he sleeps with a clean conscience, even after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.
“You can’t expect him to act rationally, out of an understanding of the sanctity of life and what his role and responsibility is,” Lazimi lamented.
But she said he could be moved by public sentiment.
“When there are demonstrations… they stress him out and make him tremble,” Lazimi claimed.
“Netanyahu cares about his seat, he about his political survival, he cares about his trial. When we are here, he trembles. We need to come out en masse to save our brothers and ourselves,” she added.