The Times of Israel is liveblogging Tuesday’s events as they unfold.
Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested after occupying building at University of Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — Police have arrested an unknown number of anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Minnesota after a group of students briefly occupied an administrative building, protest organizers say.
Some 30 protesters from the university’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society occupied Morrill Hall, an organizer with the group says, and a larger group gathered outside the building.
The group renamed the building “Halimy Hall,” in remembrance of 19-year-old Palestinian TikTok creator Medo Halimy who died in August in an apparent Israeli airstrike. The Israeli military said it was not aware of the strike that killed Halimy.
The Monday afternoon protest prompted an alert from school officials: “Protestors have entered Morrill Hall on the East Bank, causing property damage and restricting entrance and exit from the building,” the alert said. “If you are currently in Morrill Hall and able to safely exit the building, please do so immediately. Others are advised to avoid this area until further notice.”
A university spokesperson says he has no further updates. He does not immediately respond to a query to confirm the arrests. A woman who answered the phone for the university police says she has no information to give out beyond the earlier notification.
Ryan Mattson, a media liaison with the university’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, says some protesters from the group who were inside the building were arrested. He does not know how many.
US official: PA has met Israeli requirements for Smotrich to extend corresponding banking deal
The US has concluded that the Palestinian Authority has met the requirements laid out by Israel for Jerusalem to extend indemnification needed to allow Israeli banks to continue conducting transactions with Palestinian banks, according to a US official familiar with the matter.
The recognition from the US is aimed at pushing the Israeli government to extend the corresponding banking agreement with the Palestinians for at least another year in order to avert an economic crisis in the West Bank.
The agreement is set to expire on October 31, after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich agreed to extend it for only three months over the summer, despite US pressure for a much longer period. As the deadline approaches, the US has grown increasingly worried that Smotrich wouldn’t extend it further.
In recent months, Smotrich’s office informed the PA Finance Ministry and the Biden administration that Israel would be willing to further extend the corresponding banking agreement if the PA conducted a risk assessment of its financial system and if a similar review by the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force was scheduled.
The Treasury Department notes in a readout on a rare phone call held earlier today between US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo and PA Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa that the PA has met both of those requirements.
Adeyemo noted the PA’s progress on the issue, including completing key milestones for assessing risks within its jurisdiction and bolstering effective compliance with international standards, the US readout says.
“They discussed the importance of the correspondent banking relationships between Israeli and Palestinian banks to the security and economic stability of the region,” the readout notes.
Adeyemo “stressed the importance of preventing terrorists and violent extremists” from raising, using, and moving funds in the West Bank, the Treasury readout adds, apparently referring to US sanctions against settler extremists.
Reuters contributed to this report.
IDF says ‘suspicious aerial target’ intercepted over Upper Galilee, one lands in open area in northern Golan
After drone infiltration alerts sounded in the Upper Galilee area shortly after midnight on Tuesday, the IDF says that a “suspicious aerial target” was intercepted as it made its way toward Israel from Lebanon.
Sirens were activated during the incident for fear of falling shrapnel caused by the interceptor missile, the military says.
An additional aerial target was fired from Lebanon at the northern Golan area, the IDF adds, and was tracked by the Israeli Air Force until it landed in an open area inside Israel, causing no injuries.
Blinken heads to Israel for ‘intensive discussions’ on hostages, Gaza ceasefire
Ahead of his departure from Washington for the Middle East, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken writes on X that he is visiting Israel and other countries in the region “for intensive discussions about the importance of ending the war in Gaza, returning the hostages to their families, and alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people.”
This will be Blinken’s 11th visit to the region since the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror onslaught in Israel.
The State Department has said that his trip will start with Israel but did not provide the other exact destinations.
On my way to Israel and other stops in the Middle East for intensive discussions about the importance of ending the war in Gaza, returning the hostages to their families, and alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people. pic.twitter.com/lIaRUo7Ea2
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) October 21, 2024