Video EWTN News vice president calls the upcoming conclave ‘wide-open’ EWTN News editorial director and Vice President Matthew Bunson discusses the conclave challenges facing the next Pope and more on ‘Fox News Live.’ JERUSALEM – The Franciscan Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa who has served as the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem since 2020 has emerged as one of the top candidates to succeed the late Pope Francis The conclave will select the new Pope in Rome for the world’s more than 1 billion Catholics on Wednesday The Jesuit Pope Francis made Pizzaballa a cardinal in September 2023 slaughtered more than 1,200 people and took more than 250 people hostage Pizzaballa declared he would offer himself as a hostage to the jihad terrorist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of children kidnapped by the radical Islamists CONCLAVE TO PICK NEXT POPE TO BEGIN MAY 7, VATICAN SAYS Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa arrives at a consistory ceremony held by Pope Francis to elevate Roman Catholic prelates to the rank of cardinal in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican on Sept According to the Vatican News the first cardinal to live in Jewish state if this can lead to freedom and bring those children back home Pizzaballa was born in northern Italy in 1965. He described his upbringing in the rustic environment of the Italian village of Castel Liteggio as delightful "Those were the last years of a simple country life with the farmsteads already beginning to depopulate but still living the last moments of a world now gone by." TAIWAN ON EDGE AFTER POPE FRANCIS'S DEATH, CLOSELY WATCHING VATICAN-CHINA RELATIONS Firefighters place the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel where cardinals will gather to elect the new pope at the Vatican on Friday the joy of riding in the horse-drawn carts to go make hay Only with time did I realize how that world would influence me by giving me a style and pursuit of sobriety and sincerity." Israeli President Isaac Herzog has known Pizzaballa since the turn of the new century in 2000 and praised Pizzaballa’s "fluid Herzog previously said, "He is a brilliant person He is a leader knowledgeable and extremely well acquainted with the complexities of our region and enjoys the trust of all the concerned parties in Jordan the top Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus on Christmas Eve in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Sunday CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP  the statement failed to blast Hamas’s massacre Pizzaballa walked back his support for the statement and declared Hamas’s massacre as "unacceptable and incomprehensible barbarity."  Fox News' Antisemitism Exposed" newsletter brings you stories on the rising anti-Jewish prejudice across the U.S. and the world." Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Fire is being whipped up by strong winds and hot I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The blaze erupted in the hills west of Jerusalem on Wednesday starting in the Eshtaol Forest near Mesilat Zion and rapidly spreading due to high temperatures “This is perhaps the largest fire ever in the country,” Jerusalem’s district fire department commander Shmulik Friedman told reporters on Wednesday afternoon Firefighters have since contained most of the major hotspots though firefighting efforts continue to address remaining hotspots including the main route between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem the fires had burned an estimated 6,000 acres of land Three Catholic religious communities that were forced to evacuate from their properties on Wednesday were also able to return on Thursday suffered heavy damage as did some buildings The fire prompted concerns over the safety of citizens in Jerusalem as winds of 60mph made the situation challenging Mr Friedman earlier said it could dramatically increase the threat posed by the fires “in the near future” Mr Netanyahu warned that the wildfires could reach Jerusalem "The western wind can push the fire easily toward the outskirts of (Jerusalem) - and even into the city itself," he said in a video sent by his office Video footage showed vehicles stranded nearby as flames spread throughout the area while another video showed the fire approaching a Catholic monastery At least a dozen people have been hospitalised due to smoke in the area and some firefighters also sustained injuries Many people were seen abandoning their cars and running away from the flames Israel’s Fire and Rescue services has said there are 155 firefighting teams operating at “full force in all fire centres in the area of Shfelet Yehuda.” They said the Elad Squadron's firefighting planes were making rounds over the major hotspots and near settlements in order to cut off the fire from the houses The Israeli government has appealed for international assistance, receiving commitments for firefighting aircraft from Italy, Croatia, and North Macedonia. The Palestinian Authority has also offered support though Israel has not yet responded to this offer The wildfires coincide with Israel's Memorial Day and Independence Day celebrations, leading to the cancellation of ceremonies on Thursday including a major event at Mount Herzl. Authorities are investigating the cause of the wildfire, with some officials suggesting possible arson, and a number of individuals have been arrested on suspicion of starting fires. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies govt and politics"},{"score":0.969994,"label":"/law four room apartment on Balfour Street in Jerusalem's Rehavia neighborhood has been sold for NIS 5.35 million The apartment on the corner of Ovadia of Bertinoro Street is just 30 meters from the prime minister's residence The price of the deal is significantly higher than the average prices in the area another similar-sized apartment in the building was sold for NIS 4.7 million which is much higher than the price increases recorded over the past two years Rehavia is one of Jerusalem's oldest and most prestigious neighborhoods Much of the historic neighborhood was owned by the Greek Orthodox Church until the start of the 20th century when it went bankrupt and the Jewish National Fund and the Israel Land Development Co The neighborhood's planners developed a garden suburb The Balfour Street apartment is in the east of the neighborhood on the border of the Komemiyut neighborhood (Talbieh) Apartment prices in Rehavia average around NIS 58,000 per square meter Older apartments are being sold for about NIS 50,000 per square meter are sold for at least NIS 65,000 per square meter The Balfour Street apartment sold now was built in 1950 "Medium plus apartments in the area sell for about NIS 50,000 per square meter or more It is the most central location in the city and therefore also one of the most expensive So a price range of NIS 60,000 per square meter is not unusual prices soar even higher and can reach NIS 100,000 per square meter "Regarding the price differences over the last two years it is possible that the previous owners undertook renovations to the apartment Does proximity to the prime minister's residence have an impact but if anything the proximity to the prime minister's residence should lower the value because you are essentially entering a closed zone." in real estate with religious significance proximity to those considered community leaders or a major Torah institution is significant apartments and houses in the Jewish Quarter they sold an apartment near the Sanhedria Cemetery in Jerusalem 'The apartment closest to the grave of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef,'" says Bir "An ultra-Orthodox Jew with money in his pocket will agree to pay more to live near his rabbi But this is what we call in professional parlance a 'special buyer.' This is not a market price." The bottom line: The Rehavia deal is further proof of the real estate mantra "location location." Although the building is not impressive and lacks uniqueness - at least from the outside - and the apartment's area is small compared with the norm these days the price of the apartment is especially high Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on May 4 © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. President Isaac Herzog hosted Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa in Jerusalem on Sunday celebrating a milestone in bilateral relations as Ecuador officially launched its Innovation Research and Development Center in Israel’s capital symbolizes a deepening partnership between the two nations Welcoming Noboa on his first state visit to Israel Herzog described the Ecuadorian leader as “a great friend” and hailed the decision to open a diplomatic office in Jerusalem as a significant gesture President Noboa reaffirmed Ecuador’s commitment to its alliance with Israel particularly in the context of combating global terrorism “Peace must sometimes be attained through strength,” he stated highlighting Ecuador’s appreciation for Israeli defense and technological expertise The two leaders jointly called for the immediate and unconditional release of all Israeli hostages held by the Hamas terror group in Gaza “We cannot have a situation like this in the 21st century,” Noboa said Accompanying the Ecuadorian president were senior officials including Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also welcomed the delegation describing President Noboa as “a true friend of Israel” and commending Ecuador’s initiative in fortifying its diplomatic and technological ties with the Jewish state “I praise Ecuador for opening an extension of their embassy an innovation office with diplomatic status '#' : location.hash;window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUQuery = location.search === '' && location.href.slice(0 location.href.length - window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash.length).indexOf('?') !== -1 '?' : location.search;if (window.history && window.history.replaceState) {var ogU = location.pathname + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUQuery + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash;history.replaceState(null "\/liveblog_entry\/yemeni-missile-launch-sparks-sirens-in-jerusalem-southern-israel\/?__cf_chl_rt_tk=rGr1Isi0bl8onNWUqo1OaSOrbQ1S99HPRskL5pRy_oA-1746523651-1.0.1.1-jyA0rJQHwq00Br.DFhvtHdmAU39CW8B.EgxbexJ6g5w" + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash);cpo.onload = function() {history.replaceState(null ogU);}}document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(cpo);}()); By subscribing I accept the terms of use and privacy policy "\/liveblog_entry\/man-arrested-on-suspicion-of-jerusalem-hills-arson-released-to-house-arrest-fire-officials-have-blamed-conditions-for-blazes\/?__cf_chl_rt_tk=u4oPETeHaXoM0qQ52Ca41SXPODacffbAnILANFPritk-1746523662-1.0.1.1-rqwXS.eB5YHKkc0ezwc5in4znuMdMel6SkYGNUxFTtA" + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash);cpo.onload = function() {history.replaceState(null "If the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) factions boycott government votes and harm the ability to maintain a normal routine — Likud must also stop automatically supporting their legislation," Likud MK Dan Illouz said on social media on Monday. מיטב בנינו עולים כעת לסבב לחימה נוסף ומסכנים את חייהם למען השבת החטופים ומיטוט החמאס.בזמן כזה - חשוב לומר בצורה ברורה:אם הסיעות החרדיות יחרימו את ההצבעות של הממשלה ויפגעו ביכולת לקיים שגרת חיים תקינה - גם הליכוד צריכה להשתחרר מהצבעה אוטומטית… The education of 800 students in occupied East Jerusalem is at risk as Israel moves to close their schools next week a senior official with the UN agency for Palestine refugees “It's a grave threat to the right of those children to education,” Roland Friedrich, Director of UNRWA Affairs for the West Bank The development follows two Israeli laws that went into effect in late January which ban UNRWA from operating in its territory and prohibit Israeli authorities from having any contact with the agency UNRWA is the largest provider of healthcare education and other services for nearly six million Palestine refugees across the Middle East This week the International Court of Justice – the UN’s highest court - began hearings to examine Israel’s restrictions on the work of the UN and other international organizations in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories Friedrich spoke about how the affected students are anxious over the prospect of being shut out of the classroom.  He also underlined UNRWA’s commitment to continue to deliver in East Jerusalem “as long as we can.” This interview has been edited for clarity and length Roland Friedrich: Roughly four weeks ago we received notifications from the Israeli Ministry of Education that the three schools we operate in Shu’fat refugee camp and another three schools we operate inside East Jerusalem shall be closed.  We have 800 students in these schools and these children have no adequate access to education beyond these schools and it comes while the school year is still ongoing It's a grave threat to the rights of those children to education and it's very concerning particularly because these closure orders are supposed to come into effect on 8 May UN News: What other UNRWA programmes are at risk in the West Bank Roland Friedrich: I think we have to make a distinction between our work in occupied East Jerusalem which according to the Israeli legislation is banned and our work in the rest of the West Bank where in addition to the six schools with 800 children two health centres – one in the Old City and another in Shu'fat refugee camp – with  roughly 60,000 patients: vulnerable patients who have no adequate access to other health facilities patients who have West Bank ID who have no access to alternative health facilities We are also responsible for garbage collection in Shu’fat refugee camp which is on the Palestinian side of the so-called separation barrier.  we also operate a vocational training centre in the north of Jerusalem also on the Palestinian side of the barrier Our main headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem is in the Sheikh Jarah neighbourhood We currently cannot operate from it because of continuing security threats: threats to the safety and security of our staff ongoing attacks against the compound.  We again had an arson attack against these facilities three weeks ago So that’s a place that’s not safe for our staff to work despite the fact that it is a facility protected by the privileges and immunities of the United Nations.  But we do have a severe humanitarian crisis in the northern West Bank due to an ongoing Israeli security forces operation that started in late January and that has led to the displacement of more than 40,000 Palestinian refugees from three refugee camps.   UN News: What messages did you hear from students parents and teachers during your latest visit to Shu’fat camp How is the community coping with this uncertainty Roland Friedrich: There is anxiety among children They are worried that they can’t continue the school year They’re worried that they will be separated from their friends.  They're worried that they will lose access to education They are worried that they will have to be placed in education facilities that are maybe very far away or not available at all A lot of them are young girls who feel safe there in an appropriate learning environment that they will possibly lose UNRWA has been delivering services in that refugee camp since the 1960s predating Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem so there’s a history of UNRWA teaching in that place and an appreciation for the quality of the services we deliver.  Given the fact that all international UN staff have not received visas from the Israeli authorities since late January it’s our local staff on the ground who are taking high risks in continuing to serve their communities what steps is UNRWA considering to support the continuity of its services in East Jerusalem Roland Friedrich: We’ve been very clear since these laws against UNRWA entered into effect on 29 January We’ve been seeking to live up to our humanitarian commitment to our mandate to continue to deliver these services to communities in East Jerusalem There have been legal efforts by Israeli civil society organizations before the courts against these laws and against these closure orders Some of these proceedings are still pending We clearly call upon all actors to respect the obligations under international law particularly to respect the inviolability of the premises of the United Nations in East Jerusalem.  We are providing these services based on a mandate by the General Assembly UNRWA clearly enjoys full privileges and immunities like any other UN agency and our staff there are taking grave personal risks We are assessing the situation on a daily basis Is it still safe for our staff to operate or not After suffering almost 18 months of deadly bombardment displacement and lack of access to basic services the embattled people of Gaza face yet another challenge: the threat of insects and rodents Palestinians trying to access Christianity's holiest sites in the Old City of Jerusalem face restrictions and hostility As the bells rang out across the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and escorted by people bearing aloft large gold crosses they made their way to a platform at the heart of the ancient square The ceremony on Holy Thursday, in which the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem washes the feet of 12 monastic priests to commemorate the Last Supper, is one of many Easter rituals that have taken place in the Old City of Jerusalem for hundreds of years there is no holier place to commemorate Easter than here the site where they believe Jesus Christ was crucified Yet the crowd that assembled outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Thursday morning was small and muted International pilgrims jostled with dark-robed Greek Orthodox monks but one group of native worshippers was noticeably absent they have become almost impossible to obtain the government announced it had issued 6,000 permits though there are 50,000 Christians – mostly Catholic or Greek Orthodox – living in the West Bank beyond East Jerusalem and often only to a few members of each family who applied These permits are valid for just one week and do not allow the Palestinian pilgrims to stay in Jerusalem overnight meaning they have to make the gruelling journey back to the West Bank by bus or taxi – crossing a multitude of army checkpoints – every evening limiting the festivities they can take part in A group from the village of Taybeh said the Israeli military still did not allow them to cross over to Jerusalem for Palm Sunday even though they had valid permits The few who do make it to the Old City have been met with increased police brutality in recent years Palestinian Christian worshipers and international pilgrims were beaten by Israeli police and armed forces as they attempted to reach the Church of the Holy Sepulchre “People are very afraid and many will not risk attending the Easter processions any more,” said Omar Haramy a Christian organisation based in Jerusalem He said several staff were beaten last year as they tried to attend Easter festivities in the Old City and Christians in the Old City regularly faced hostility outside churches or as they went about their daily lives One of the greatest sources of distress among the Christian community is the introduction of blockades and aggressive policing that prevented thousands of Christians being able to take part in the Holy Fire festivities that mark the resurrection on Easter Saturday afternoon as they have done for hundreds of years in the Old City The sun shines through the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where tradition has it that Christ was crucified Photograph: Debbie Hill/UPI/Rex/ShutterstockWhile the restrictions have been justified in the name of safety many Christians view them as another way for the Israeli state to exert dominance over the community “I will go to the celebrations on Holy Saturday because my family has been part of this tradition for thousands of years The spectre of Gaza also hangs over this year’s Easter festivities. Palestinian Christians are among the 51,000 people killed in Gaza since the war with Israel began and on Palm Sunday, an Israeli missile hit the only Christian-run hospital in the strip There are about 500 Christians are sheltering in Holy Family church Those contacted by the Guardian said they were too afraid to talk fearful of anything that might make them a target of Israeli airstrikes For all its biblical significance and abundance of churches Jerusalem’s Old City has become increasingly dangerous for all Christians Since the rise of Jewish ultranationalism in Israel and the election of the most far-right government in the country’s history extremist and settler Jewish movements – who want to claim all of Israel and Palestinian-controlled territories as a state only for Jews – have been emboldened in their actions against both Christians and Muslims the relationship between Christians and Jews has been fraught because of the Christian church’s historic role in antisemitism and the persecution of Jews The ongoing presence of proselytising evangelical Christians who travel to Israel with the sole purpose of converting Jews particularly among the Jewish Orthodox community But religious intolerance and antichristian sentiment has been made mainstream by Israeli political leadership – the ultra-hardline national security minister described Israelis spitting on Christians as “an old Jewish tradition” – and old suspicions have escalated into brazen There have also been growing incidences of settler groups attempting to seize Christian land in Jerusalem the Holy Land Roman Catholic patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa accused the government of establishing a “cultural and political atmosphere that can justify A recent report by the Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue documented the steep rise in the scale and severity of attacks on Christians in Jerusalem and across Israel in 2024 ranging from spitting at priests and public hate speech to the desecration of graves “It’s usually young Israeli Jewish men who are conducting these attacks with impunity if the police get involved at all,” said John Munayer the director of international engagement at the Rossing Center “It’s a clear attempt by hardcore settler Zionists to Judaise the Old City of Jersualem and trying to make it unbearable for Christians who have been there for centuries.” As he attended the Easter prayer ceremony on Thursday the deputy head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem said he had “really seen things change for the worse for Christians in the past nine years” Catholic clerics during the Washing of the Feet procession at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Thursday Photograph: Léo Corrêa/APHe said: “We receive a lot more hostility and even aggression from the Jewish community even when we are walking through the Christian quarter It sends a message that the city belongs not to all communities but only to the Jews After an incident in which Orthodox Jews were caught on video spitting at Christians Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that Israel was “totally committed to safeguard the sacred right of worship and pilgrimage to the holy sites of all faiths” a Palestinian Christian political analyst and the author of Rooted in Palestine: Palestinian Christians and the Struggle for National Liberation 1917-2004 said that despite the mounting harassment they faced the diminishing numbers of Christians left in the West Bank and the unrelenting horrors of the war in Gaza he still viewed Easter as a time of hope and “the timely message that life defeats death” we know that this generation will either make it or break it,” said Abu Eid “So making clear to the Israeli occupation that we are going to stay that we will celebrate the same religious events that we’ve been celebrating for centuries is both a national mandate and a religious mission that we have praying – they have become an act of resistance.” Melissa Sue Gerrits / GettyApril 12, 2025 ShareSave Listen-1.0x+0:007:31Produced by ElevenLabs and News Over Audio (Noa) using AI narration Watching the wild lines of the S&P 500 and various foreign markets is how I’ve spent most of the past week This felt familiar; I’d spent much of 2017 doing the same following the vagaries of the first Trump administration and tracking the markets’ reactions like a nurse checking a patient’s heart rate Whoever is elected the 48th president won’t be able to easily rebuild what Donald Trump is busy destroying Countries can and will move on without the United States Their firms will establish new supply chains and pursue other markets were the ultra-dominant trading partner it used to be and even its basic rationality has evaporated in just weeks hopefully—tries to model what would happen to America’s trading partners if the country were to be fully closed to trade in 2025 trading partners would have fully recovered from the lost U.S 100 out of 144 trading partners would have recovered the entirety of their loss of U.S sales because of the expected growth in other economies Read: The tariff damage that can’t be undone America’s economic dominance has long been supported by alliances Those three things “were all built on trust that took decades to build,” the economist Ernie Tedeschi told me Over the course of the rest of Trump’s new term in office assuming our politics even has the energy to do it.” The problem facing future administrations—and this one in the unlikely event that it gains a modicum of rationality—is that the country has killed its reliability “Trump has unilaterally decided that I’m going to wreck the credibility of international agreements,” Skanda Amarnath the executive director of the research and advocacy organization Employ America “what is the confidence you have that the rules are not going to change for arbitrary and capricious reasons?” Yet many of the people I have spoken with lay blame at the feet not of the president which refuses to assert itself as a co-equal branch of government no president has ever invoked tariff authority through this law Congress or the courts could constrain him “Somebody in the federal government is going to need to demonstrate that these laws on the books are not blank checks for a single individual to destroy trillions of dollars of wealth with the stroke of a pen,” Lincicome argued to me It was once possible to believe that Trump’s first reign was a fluke carried into the presidency on an Electoral College bias that discounted the votes and voices of millions he was deeply unprepared for the actual job of being president his campaign having been shunned by most of the Republican establishment that had experience running White Houses past When former President Joe Biden ran for election in 2020 “I believe history will look back on four years of this president and all he embraces as an aberrant moment in time.” No such luck But the president seems remarkably stalwart Trump is behaving like a man seeking an age-defining legacy A man was arrested for allegedly attempting to ignite an open field in southern Jerusalem and the man was caught after a short pursuit and additional incendiary materials were found in his possession was taken in for questioning," police stated Israel Meteorological Service warned on Wednesday about the continuation of severe weather conditions affecting much of the country as fires rage throughout the Jerusalem area and central Israel.  and low humidity in the country has been intensifying the risk and spread of wildfires In many regions, temperatures have reached between 36° and 38° Celsius, with some areas peaking at 39°. The most extreme heat has been recorded in the Shfela region, the southern coastal plain, and parts of the western to northwestern Negev. Bulldozers are breaking highway barriers to allow for the emergency evacuation of vehicles on Highway 1 following fires that broke out in the Jerusalem area on Wednesday כדי לאפשר פינוי כלי רכב: דחפורים פורצים את ההפרדה בין הנתיבים בכביש 1@amirbarshalom pic.twitter.com/PIl61vj1Jx Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar has appealed to the international community for assistance -- including neighboring countries Greece, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, and Bulgaria -- as fires continue to rage across the country on Wednesday Assistance is not currently expected to arrive before nightfall Firefighters have closed Highway 1 in Jerusalem to traffic and are attempting to contain the fire there The public has been urged to stay away from the area and people have begun abandoning their cars on the road.  A massive wildfire broke out Wednesday afternoon in the Jerusalem hills prompting evacuations and forcing the closure of Highway 1 in both directions between Anava and Shoresh The fire erupted near the site of last week’s blaze and has been rapidly spreading due to strong winds in the area Motorists who were trapped on Highway 1 were forced to abandon their vehicles as flames and thick smoke approached Nine people have so far been rescued from areas impacted by the heavy smoke Three private vehicles and a truck—none of them occupied—were reported to be burning at the scene Fire and Rescue Commissioner Eyal Caspi has activated the fire service’s emergency protocols and raised the national alert level to its highest Israel has submitted a formal request for international assistance in battling the blaze As fires rage near Jerusalem, one of the world’s largest firefighting aircraft—the Boeing 747 Supertanker—has been dispatched from Greece to assist Israeli emergency crews battling the blaze.  The aircraft, which has earned a reputation as a flying firefighter, is capable of dropping tens of thousands of liters of water or fire retardant in a single mission, making it one of the most powerful tools available in the fight against wildfires.  The Supertanker is a converted Boeing 747-400 originally designed for commercial aviation but later transformed into a specialized firefighting aircraft It was first developed by Evergreen International Aviation and most recently operated by the American-based company Global SuperTanker Services.  A treetop and forest fire broke out in Eshtaol Forest between Mesilat Zion and Neve Shalom in the Judean Hills on Wednesday morning Israel's Fire and Rescue Authority reported and a helicopter have been deployed to extinguish the blaze A fire station has been established in the Latrun area to manage the complex firefighting effort the authority said a Red Torch Order was declared meaning a national mobilization of assistance reinforcement teams from additional districts "The founding and existence of the State of Israel is an unbreakable chain of pain and sacrifice," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during his speech at the Remembrance Day ceremony for Israel's fallen soldiers at Mount Herzl "This also defines the spirit of our fighters in the current war—the War of Rebirth," he continued The IDF struck a gathering of an extremist group in Syria that was reportedly preparing to continue attacks against the Druze population in the town of As-Suweida in Syria’s Damascus Governorate on Wednesday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz announced in a joint statement on Wednesday "Israel will not allow harm to come to the Druze community in Syria out of a deep commitment to our Druze brothers in Israel who are tied by family and historical bonds to their Druze brothers in Syria," the statement read