The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they happen.
Toronto film fest to screen Oct. 7 doc initially nixed over ‘copyright concerns’
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) announces that it will screen a documentary about the October 7 onslaught, reversing a decision announced earlier this week to cancel the event over what it claimed were copyright concerns stemming from the fact that the filmmakers did not receive permission from the Hamas terrorists whose clips are featured in the film.
The documentary in question is “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” which tells the story of Maj. Gen. (res.) Noam Tibon, who set out to save his son, journalist Amir Tibon, and his son’s family as they were attacked by Hamas-led terrorists at their home on Kibbutz Nahal Oz near the Gaza border. The film was created by Canadian filmmaker Barry Avrich.
In a joint statement announcing the decision to screen the film after all, TIFF CEO Cameron Baily and Avrich say they had “heard the pain and frustration expressed by the public” following the initial decision to scrap the film.
“We have worked together to find a resolution to satisfy important safety, legal, and programming concerns. We are pleased to share that The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue will be an official TIFF selection at the festival this year, where we believe it will contribute to the vital conversations that film is meant to inspire,” the statement continues.
“In this case, TIFF’s communication around its requirements did not clearly articulate the concerns and roadblocks that arose and for that, we are sorry,” it adds.
Please see the following statement from TIFF and the Filmmaker regarding The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue. pic.twitter.com/e3Peik2es1
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) August 15, 2025
In night’s second reported attack, settlers said to hurl Molotov cocktails at Palestinian village
Settlers reportedly hurled Molotov cocktails at homes, vehicles and property in the Palestinian village of Atara in the central West Bank.
It is the night’s second reported settler attack, coming shortly after another one in the southern West Bank village of Susya that left several people injured.
مستوطنون يهاجمون المنازل ويحرقون مركبة في قرية عطارة شمال رام الله pic.twitter.com/nnC8lGEmz4
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 14, 2025
Several Palestinians wounded in reported settler attack in southern West Bank
Several Palestinians were injured in an overnight reported attack by Israeli settlers in the southern West Bank village of Susya.
Footage from the scene showed a bloodied man before he was reportedly evacuated to the hospital along with his wife, who was also wounded in the attack.
There are no reports of arrests, which are highly rare in such incidents of settler violence that have been taking place on a near-daily basis throughout the West Bank.
Massachusetts man sentenced to 26 months for threats to synagogues, Israel consulate
A Massachusetts man has been sentenced to more than two years in prison after he threatened to bomb synagogues and kill Jewish children in a series of calls he placed to two local houses of worship and the Israeli consulate in Boston after Israel and Hamas went to war in 2023.
John Reardon, 60, has been sentenced by US District Judge Julia Kobick in Boston to 26 months in custody after pleading guilty in November to charges related to what prosecutors said were dozens of violent and antisemitic calls and voicemails he placed to Jewish institutions beginning on October 7, 2023.
Reardon’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment. But in court papers, she argued for a nine-month sentence, saying mental health issues led Reardon to commit a crime that was “terrifying, deeply hurtful, and will cause lasting fear in the victims.”
He was charged in January 2024, as the US Department of Justice began to warn of a growing number of antisemitic threats nationally following the onset of the war.
Prosecutors in court papers said Reardon in a voicemail left with a synagogue in Attleboro, Massachusetts, on January 25, 2024, said that “you do realize that by supporting genocide that means it’s OK for people to commit genocide against you.”
Prosecutors said Reardon also threatened to bomb Jewish places of worship and said that by “supporting the killing of innocent little children, that means it’s OK to kill your children.”
Prosecutors said he then called another synagogue in Sharon, Massachusetts, and left a threatening voicemail. He also called the Israeli consulate in Boston 98 times over several months, saying in one call it was “time to prepare the furnaces again,” according to prosecutors, a reference to the Nazis’ systematic extermination of Jews in the World War Two Holocaust.