The Times of Israel is liveblogging Saturday’s events as they unfold.
Pakistani charged with plotting ‘slaughter’ at NY Jewish center on anniversary of Oct. 7 Hamas attack
A Pakistani man was arrested in Canada this week for plotting a mass shooting at a Jewish center in Brooklyn on the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that sparked the latest conflict in the Middle East, federal authorities announce.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland says Muhammad Shahzeb Khan had attempted to travel from Canada, where he lives, to New York City with the “stated goal of slaughtering, in the name of ISIS, as many Jewish people as possible.”
The 20 year-old, who is also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, was apprehended on Sept. 4 and charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to the terror group, which stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.
“As I said to Canada’s Minister of Public Safety yesterday, we are deeply grateful to our Canadian partners for their critical law enforcement actions in this matter,” Garland says in a statement. “Jewish communities — like all communities in this country — should not have to fear that they will be targeted by a hate-fueled terrorist attack.”
US authorities said Khan began sharing ISIS propaganda videos and expressing his support for the terror group in social media posts and communications with others on an encrypted messaging app last November.
In conversations with two undercover law enforcement officers, he confirmed that he and another ISIS supporter based in the US had been planning to carry out attacks against Jewish centers in America and needed to obtain AR-style assault rifles, ammunition and other materials, according to the Justice Department.
Khan also provided details about how he would cross the border from Canada into the US and that he was considering conducting the attacks on either the Oct. 7 anniversary or on Oct. 11, which is the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, authorities say.
Then on Aug. 20, he told the undercover officers that he had settled on targeting New York City because of its sizeable Jewish population and sent a photograph of the specific area inside of a Jewish center where he planned to carry out the attack, according to the Justice Department.
Using three separate vehicles, Khan began travelling to the US but was stopped around Ormstown, a town in the Canadian province of Quebec that is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the US border, federal authorities say.
Court rules woman arrested for throwing sand at Ben Gvir during beach visit to stay in jail overnight
The Tel Aviv Magistrates Court rejects an appeal to have a 27-year-old woman released from police custody after she was detained for allegedly throwing a handful of sand at National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir as he visited a Tel Aviv beach.
The court says the woman will be held until a scheduled hearing on extending her remand, which is set for Saturday night.
The ruling comes after several hours in which the woman’s family and activists said she had disappeared and was no longer at the Tel Aviv police station.
The Ynet news site reports that she was taken to the Neve Tirza women’s prison and then brought back to Tel Aviv due to “faulty paperwork.”
The judge orders the police and prison services to ensure she receives all necessary medical treatment after the woman’s mother claimed she suffered from a chronic illness.
זו הבת שלי שנעצרה בחוף הים בטענה שזרקה חול על בן גביר.
משטרת הדיקטטורה החליטה, ללא הצדקה לסכן את חיי הבת שלי, שחולה במחלה כרונית – ומשאירה אותה במעצר מסכן חיים מבחינתה.
אין לה שום עבר פלילי, אפס מסוכנות.
אבל זאת ההנחייה מלמעלה.
אם למישהו שם בכל זאת יש לב ושכל, בבקשה… pic.twitter.com/tNBH8NFRBH
— Sharon Goldenberg ????️ (@goldens32) September 6, 2024
Police said the minister was at the beach with his family and that it takes the crime of “assaulting a public servant” seriously.
Ben Gvir, the leader of the far-right Oztma Yehudit party, oversees the police. He has often been the target of public protest for his hardline positions and his staunch opposition to a deal that would release hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for a ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners.
US sees potential Iran transfer of missiles to Russia as alarming ‘dramatic escalation’
Any Iranian transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia would mark a sharp escalation in the Ukraine war, the United States says, following reports that the two countries had deepened ties in recent weeks with such an arms transfer.
Reuters reported in August that Russia was expecting the imminent delivery of hundreds of Fath-360 close-range ballistic missiles from Iran and that dozens of Russian military personnel were being trained in Iran on the satellite-guided weapons for eventual use in the war in Ukraine.
Short-range missiles have now been delivered to Russia by Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an unnamed US official.
“We have been warning of the deepening security partnership between Russia and Iran since the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and are alarmed by these reports,” says White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett.
“Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”
Another US official told Reuters they were watching the potential Iranian-Russian missile transfers closely.