The Times of Israel is liveblogging Saturday’s events as they unfold.
Saudi Arabia, France, Norway and Spain launch global fundraising campaign for PA
France, Norway, Spain and Saudi Arabia are working to rally countries around an emergency aid package to prevent the Palestinian Authority’s collapse while Israel withholds hundreds of millions of dollars that belong to Ramallah, according to a letter to potential donor states obtained by The Times of Israel.
For four consecutive months, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has been refusing to transfer clearance revenues that Israel collects on the PA’s behalf. These funds make up the majority of Ramallah’s budget and their withholding has brought the PA to brink of collapse.
The letter to potential donor countries who will be attending a French-Saudi two-state solution conference at the UN on Monday says that participants are expected to demand Israel release the Palestinian funds.
However, organizers appear resigned to the possibility that Jerusalem will not budge on the issue and therefore have set a fundraising goal of $200 million for each of the next six months to cover the PA’s operating expenses.
“Support to the recovery of the private sector and the functioning of essential commercial actors, including Palestinian banks, is also needed,” the letter says.
A European diplomat tells The Times of Israel that the four participating countries have already agreed to donate $200 million a month to the PA for six months, but are hoping that other countries help share the burden.
“The Palestinian Authority is engaged in implementing an ambitious reform agenda, aiming at structural transformations that lay the foundation for a modern, transparent, and accountable State,” say the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, France, Norway and Spain, as they seek to justify another international fundraising campaign for Ramallah.
Saudi Arabia’s inclusion in the effort is particularly noteworthy, as Riyadh previously was one of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s biggest critics, accusing him of corruption.
The leading Arab country’s inclusion in the effort gives Ramallah’s recent reform efforts a boost of legitimacy.
The letter says the PA is facing an “existential threat” due to the withholding of clearance revenues on top of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, settler violence in the West Bank and blocks on transfers to Palestinian banks.
“A viable Palestinian state capable of fulfilling the needs and aspirations of the Palestinian people will be essential for a future of peace and
security in the Middle East,” the four countries say.
“We therefore need to urgently mobilize to prevent a financial collapse of the Palestinian Authority, with severe implications for Palestinian society, regional stability, and international security,” the letter continues. “Financial shortcoming cannot be the cause of the failure of the Palestinian State and destabilization of the Middle East.”
“We need to act now, and with this objective, we propose to swiftly coordinate in the coming days an emergency coalition for Palestine,” the letter states.
Trump administration imposes new restrictions on Harvard’s access to federal funds
The Trump administration imposes fresh restrictions on Harvard’s access to federal funds, opening a new front in its unprecedented crackdown on the prestigious US university.
The Department of Education announces in a statement that it has placed Harvard under “heightened cash monitoring (HCM) status” saying there were “growing concerns regarding the university’s financial position.”
It cites the administration’s own accusations of civil rights violations at the university as creating uncertainty over future funding, as well as Harvard’s move to issue bonds and layoff employees.
The status shift requires the university to use its own funds to pay out student financial aid packages that federal officials have promised, with the school later able to seek reimbursement from the government.
“Students will continue to have access to federal funding, but Harvard will be required to cover the initial disbursements as a guardrail to ensure Harvard is spending taxpayer funds responsibly,” the department writes.
Additionally, federal officials are requiring Harvard to “post an irrevocable letter of credit for $36 million” to “cover potential liabilities and ensure that Harvard meets its financial obligations to both students and the Department.”
This latest jab in the Trump administration’s ongoing fight with academia comes after a judicial victory for the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based school in the northeastern United States.
Trump officials accuse the university, and other schools around the country, of promoting so-called “woke” ideology, while failing to sufficiently protect its Jewish students during pro-Palestinian protests.
Harvard has denied those claims, saying the federal government is instead focused on controlling the school’s hiring, admissions and curriculum.
Earlier in September, a Boston judge ordered the administration to lift its freeze on approximately $2.6 billion in federal funds for Harvard, writing that Trump’s Department of Education “used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.”
Trump: Hostages might face greater risk due to Gaza City op but ‘they also may be freed because of that’
While fielding questions from reporters, US President Donald Trump is also asked about freed hostages’ concerns that Israel’s offensive in Gaza City could endanger the lives of captives still held by Palestinian terrorists in the enclave.
“They might be [at greater risk]. They also may be freed because of that,” he says. “War, a lot of strange things happen. A lot of results take place that you never think were going to happen.”
????BREAKING ????WATCH: President Trump asked about Gaza and the hostages and responds with a very cryptic answer: “A lot of strange things happen in war – maybe they will be freed” pic.twitter.com/m5HyML0WlR
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) September 19, 2025
Trump on hostages: Young people can take a lot, ‘but a lot of people died in these horrible tunnels’
US President Donald Trump again tells reporters that fewer than 20 hostages may be alive in Gaza.
“Look, young people don’t die, they just don’t die. They can take a lot, but a lot of people died in these horrible tunnels. They’re mostly in the tunnels,” he says while speaking in the Oval Office of the White House.
Trump on the hostages in Gaza:
Young people don't die. You know they just don't die. They can take a lot.
A lot of people died in these horrible tunnels. They're mostly in the tunnels. pic.twitter.com/dtV9JhuVol
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) September 19, 2025
Asked about UN report on Gaza, Trump says Oct. 7 ‘was genocide at the highest level’
US President Donald Trump is asked by a reporter at the White House about a UN report released this week claiming Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
“Did anyone commit genocide on October 7?” he says, referring to the Hamas-led terror onslaught that started the ongoing war. “That was genocide at the highest level. That was murder, genocide, you can call it whatever you want. But little babies were chopped in half. Arms were cut off people, heads were cut off people. That’s genocide also I guess.”
???????????????????????? President Trump gets asked about the UN Commission of Inquiry concluding that Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip:
“October 7th was a genocide. That was genocide at the highest level. That was murder, genocide. You can call it whatever you want…little babies… pic.twitter.com/JjLv1B6mgT
— HOT SPOT (@HotSpotHotSpot) September 19, 2025
Portugal says it will recognize Palestinian state on Sunday, ahead of UN assembly
LISBON, Portugal — Portugal will officially recognize a Palestinian state on Sunday, Lisbon’s foreign ministry says, ahead of a UN General Assembly where around 10 other countries are set to follow suit.
“The ministry of foreign affairs confirms that Portugal will recognize the State of Palestine… the official declaration of recognition will be made on Sunday, September 21,” a statement on the ministry’s website says.
Foreign Ministry says Dutch cops arrested suspect for attempted arson of Israeli embassy
The Foreign Ministry says an assailant who tried to break into the Israeli Embassy in the Netherlands and set it ablaze has been arrested by Dutch authorities.
No Israeli staffers at the diplomatic mission in The Hague were hurt.
Israeli envoy to the UN Danny Danon decries “the abhorrent attempt to set fire to the Israeli embassy.”
“Hatred and violence will not deter us — the Israeli flag will continue to fly proudly around the world,” he adds.
Anarchists say they projected video of soccer game using mock Netanyahu head as ball onto UN
An anarchist US activist group says it projected a video of a soccer game, using a mock severed head of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, onto the side of the UN Headquarters in New York City.
The INDECLINE group held the game earlier this month at a field near the UN in protest of the Gaza war.
Footage from the game showed the activists kicking Netanyahu’s head around a field, set to a punk rock soundtrack.
The group releases a follow-up video showing the footage projected onto the UN Headquarters. The footage couldn’t immediately be verified.
The head was made of silicone.
INDECLINE has pulled similar stunts using mock-ups of other figures’ heads, such as US President Donald Trump.
This is not the first time that guerrilla activists have projected an anti-Netanyahu message onto the UN Headquarters.
In September 2023, Israeli activists opposed to the government’s judicial overhaul projected a message onto the building that said, “Don’t believe crime minister Netanyahu.”
Weeks later, after the October 2023 invasion of Israel, the same activist group projected images of the Israeli hostages onto the building to demand the release of the captives.