The Times of Israel is liveblogging Saturday’s events as they happen.
Pentagon chief scraps plea deal with 9/11 mastermind and accomplices
WASHINGTON — The United States government scraps a plea deal with 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin removed the military official who facilitated the agreement from the case, as it would have eliminated the death penalty as possible punishment.
“I have determined that, in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial agreements with the accused… responsibility for such a decision should rest with me,” Austin says in a memorandum addressed to Susan Escallier, who oversaw the military court at Guantanamo Bay.
“I hereby withdraw from the three pre-trial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024 in the above-referenced case,” the memo says, referring to Mohammed and two alleged accomplices.
Mossad hired IRGC security agents to plant explosives that killed Haniyeh — report
The Mossad enlisted Iranian security agents to plant explosives in the Tehran guesthouse where Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was staying, according to a report in the Telegraph.
The report says the initial plan called for assassinating Haniyeh when visited Tehran in May to attend the funeral of president Ebrahim Raisi, but two Iranian officials tell the newspaper the operation was called off due to the large number of people in the building and seeming high possibility of failure.
The British daily says the agents nevertheless went ahead and planted explosives in three rooms at the compound, and later left Iran. They reportedly detonated the bombs from abroad.
“They are now certain that Mossad hired agents from the Ansar al-Mahdi security unit,” an official in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps tells the newspaper, referring to a unit tasked with protecting senior officials.
Another IRGC official says: “It is a humiliation for Iran and a huge security breach.”
“It’s still a question for everyone how this happened, I can’t understand it. There must be something higher in the hierarchy that no one knows about,” the official adds.
Wizz Air halts flights to Israel over next day due to ‘escalating situation in region’
Budget carrier Wizz Air announces it’s cancelling all flights to and from Israel and Jordan over the coming day, citing “the escalating situation in the region.”
A statement from Wizz says the pause will be in effect until August 4.
— Wizz Air (@wizzair) August 2, 2024
US deploying more fighter jets and warships to Mideast amid threats from Iran-led axis
WASHINGTON — The US military will deploy additional fighter jets and Navy warships to the Middle East, the Pentagon says, as Washington seeks to bolster defenses following threats from Iran and its allies Hamas and Hezbollah.
The US is bracing for Iran to make good on its vow to respond to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh two days ago in Tehran — one in a series of killings of senior figures in the Palestinian terror group as the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza rages.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has approved sending additional Navy cruisers and destroyers– which can shoot down ballistic missiles– to the Middle East and Europe.
The US is also sending an additional squadron of fighter jets to the Middle East.
“Austin has ordered adjustments to US military posture designed to improve US force protection, to increase support for the defense of Israel, and to ensure the United States is prepared to respond to various contingencies,” the Pentagon says in a statement.
The US military also intensified deployments prior to April 13, when Iran launched an attack on Israeli territory with drones and missiles. Still, the threat from Hezbollah in Lebanon could present unique challenges to any efforts by the United States to intercept drones and missiles given the group’s vast arsenal and immediate proximity to Israel.
At the time, Israel successfully knocked down almost all of the roughly 300 drones and missiles with the help of the United States and other allies.
Josh Shapiro seeks to downplay his time as IDF volunteer after college op-ed resurfaces
Pennsylvania Governor and potential vice presidential nominee Josh Shapiro tries to distance himself from a recently uncovered op-ed he wrote in college in which he identified as a former volunteer in the IDF and argued that the Palestinians are too “battle-minded” to pursue peace with Israel.
“While he was in high school, Josh Shapiro was required to do a service project, which he and several classmates completed through a program that took them to a kibbutz in Israel where he worked on a farm and at a fishery,” Shapiro’s spokesperson Manuel Bonder tells The Times of Israel.
“The program also included volunteering on service projects on an Israeli army base. At no time was he engaged in any military activities,” Bonder adds in a statement responding to an inquiry regarding the nature of his volunteer work.
In the 1993 op-ed, which dismissed the recently signed Oslo Accords, Shapiro wrote, “Despite my skepticism as a Jew and a past volunteer in the Israeli army, I strongly hope and pray that this ‘peace plan’ will be successful.”
While Shapiro’s Jewish roots are well established — including his enrollment at the Akiba Hebrew Academy in Philadelphia — the op-ed from his time at the University of Rochester appeared to be the first revelation of such direct ties to the IDF.
“Palestinians will not coexist peacefully,” Shapiro also wrote in the op-ed titled “Peace Not Possible.”
“They do not have the capabilities to establish their own homeland and make it successful even with the aid of Israel and the United States. They are too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own,” added the then-20-year-old.
The article resurfaces days before Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is slated to announce her running mate. Shapiro has faced an aggressive campaign from far-left and anti-Israel activists, who have branded him “Genocide Josh” and warned Harris against picking him. Those critics have also faced charges of antisemitism, as Shapiro’s more recent views are no less critical of Israel than others on the shortlist who are not Jewish.
Asked about the op-ed at a press conference earlier Friday, Shapiro said, “I was 20.”
“I have said for years, years before October 7, that I favor a two-state solution — Israelis and Palestinians living peacefully side-by-side, being able to determine their own futures and their own destiny,” he added.
Earlier this year Shapiro called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “one of the worst leaders of all time and has steered Israel in a wrong direction.”
In a separate statement to the Inquirer responding to backlash over Shapiro’s views on Palestinians when he was in college, his spokesperson said, the governor “has built close, meaningful, informative relationships with many Muslim-American, Arab-American, Palestinian Christian, and Jewish community leaders all across Pennsylvania.
“The governor greatly values their perspectives and the experiences he has learned from over the years — and as a result, as with many issues, his views on the Middle East have evolved into the position he holds today,” the spokesperson added.
Police open murder probe after Tel Aviv shooting victim dies of wounds
Police announce the launch of a murder investigation after a man seriously wounded in a shooting in Tel Aviv dies of his wounds.
A police statement says the victim is a 34-year-old resident of Haifa, without naming him.
Lebanese media report fresh Israeli strikes along Lebanon-Syria border
Lebanese media report new Israeli strikes on the Lebanon-Syria border, near the Syrian village of Hawsh al-Sayyid Ali.
No further details are immediately available.
غارة على منطقة #حوش_السيد_علي على الحدود اللبنانية السورية#جنوب_لبنان #غزة #فلسطين_المحتلة #اسرائيل pic.twitter.com/w25CzLmIae
— Lebanon Trend (@LebanonTrend_) August 2, 2024