The Times of Israel is liveblogging Sunday’s events as they happen.
Trump: ‘Never been a more dangerous time since the Holocaust’ to be Jewish in the US
Former US president Donald Trump says at a rally in Pennsylvania that there has “never been a more dangerous time since the Holocaust” to be Jewish in the US.
Speaking in Wilkes-Barre, the Republican presidential candidate claims that Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro wasn’t picked to be Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate in the upcoming elections because he is Jewish.
“They turned him down because he’s Jewish,” Trump says, echoing an accusation first made by his running mate JD Vance. The claim has been rejected both by the Democratic party and by Shapiro himself, who said that “antisemitism had no impact” on the decision-making process.
“They turned him down for other reasons, but the primary reason is because he’s Jewish,” Trump continues, telling the crowd that “any Jewish person that votes for her [Harris] or a Democrat has to go out and have their head examined.”
“If you see what’s happening with Israel and Jewish people, there has never been a more dangerous time since the Holocaust if you happen to be Jewish in America,” Trump says.
MDA says man in his 30s killed in violent incident in Negev desert
A man in his 30s was killed in a violent incident in the Negev desert on Saturday night, the Magen David Adom emergency service says in a statement.
Medics and paramedics who were called to the scene of the incident in the Segev Shalom area reported a 30-year-old man with penetrating wounds to his body, MDA says, adding that his death was determined at the scene of the incident.
Hamas confirms 2 senior operatives were killed in Jenin drone strike
The Hamas terror group confirms that two Palestinians killed in an IDF drone strike in the West Bank city of Jenin this evening were members of the terror group.
It says Raafat Dawasi was a commander in the terror group’s local wing in Jenin, and Ahmed Abu Ara was a senior operative.
The pair were involved in planning and carrying out a series of attacks, including a deadly roadside bomb in Jenin on June 27, another bombing attack against Defense Ministry workers on the West Bank security barrier on July 23, as well as a deadly terror shooting in the Jordan Valley on Sunday, according to Hamas.
The IDF and Shin Bet said Dawasi and Abu Ara were involved in the Jordan Valley shooting and other attacks.
شهداء عملية الاغتيال في جنين احمد ابو عرة من عقابا شمال طوباس والشهيد رأفت دواسي من سيلة الحارثية بجنين pic.twitter.com/1XPsnDZGlk
— Hisham Abu Shaqrah | هشام أبو شقرة (@HShaqrah) August 17, 2024
IDF says Jenin strike targeted Hamas operatives who helped orchestrate deadly terror shooting
Two senior Hamas terrorists were killed in the Israeli drone strike in the West Bank city of Jenin this evening, the IDF and Shin Bet security agency say.
According to the military and Shin Bet, the pair were involved in planning a shooting attack in the Jordan Valley last week, in which 23-year-old Yonatan Deutsch was killed and another civilian was wounded.
Ahmed Abu Ara, from Aqqaba, and Raafat Dawasi, from Silat al-Harithiya, were killed in the drone strike that targeted the car they were in, in Jenin.
The IDF and Shin Bet say that Abu Ara was involved in additional terror attacks, as well as being involved in manufacturing explosive devices, and Dawasi was a senior member of a Hamas terror network in Jenin.
The military releases footage of the strike.
כלי-טיס תקף מהאוויר רכב בג׳נין שבחטיבת מנשה, בו חוסלו שני פעילי חמאס בכירים.
המחבל אחמד אבו ערה מעקאבה, היה מעורב בפיגועים נוספים. כמו כן, שימש כגורם בכיר המעורב בייצור של מטענים למטרות טרור.
בנוסף, המחבל ראפת דואסי מסילת אלחרתיה, בכיר בתשתית החמאס הצבאית במרחב ג׳נין.השניים… pic.twitter.com/y7BbTBiWQw
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) August 17, 2024