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Free Malaysia Today
a day ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Israel to issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox students
Ultra-Orthodox Jews block a main road during a protest in Bnei Brak, Israel, opposing military recruitment and conscription. (EPA Images pic) TEL AVIV : Israel's military said it would issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students following a supreme court ruling mandating their conscription and amid growing pressure from reservists stretched by extended deployments. The supreme court ruling last year overturned a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox students, a policy established when the community comprised a far smaller segment of the population than the 13% it represents today. Military service is compulsory for most Israeli Jews from the age of 18, lasting 24-32 months, with additional reserve duty in subsequent years. Members of Israel's 21% Arab population are mostly exempt, though some do serve. A statement by the military spokesperson confirmed the orders on Sunday just as local media reported legislative efforts by two ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition to craft a compromise. The exemption issue has grown more contentious as Israel's armed forces in recent years have faced strains from simultaneous engagements with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and Iran. Ultra-Orthodox leaders in Netanyahu's brittle coalition have voiced concerns that integrating seminary students into military units alongside secular Israelis, including women, could jeopardise their religious identity. The military statement promised to ensure conditions that respect the ultra-Orthodox way of life and to develop additional programmes to support their integration into the military. It said the notices would go out this month.
The National
17-06-2025
- The National
Iranian strikes are 'different ball game' in devastated streets of Tel Aviv
Missile alerts are nothing new in Tel Aviv, but an Iranian hypersonic counter-barrage is inflicting greater devastation than the Israeli city is used to. Assi Gregoire, a 57-year-old cleaner, heard an alarm go off at 4am during one strike, with police and rescue teams arriving 'almost immediately' to check the area. His family was put up in a hotel and volunteers helped him to move his belongings. Since Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran last Friday, its Home Front Command has been on the alert for the retaliation threatened by Tehran. But with the well-drilled response there was shock for Mr Gregoire's family at how badly their home was damaged and how much they had to leave behind. 'We couldn't imagine the damage. It was devastating, truly overwhelming,' said Mr Gregoire, who is from the Ivory Coast. 'And what could we do? 'I think it's better to make peace everywhere in the world. After what I saw yesterday, I believe even more strongly that peace is everything. We should embrace one another. We need a world of justice and peace.' After the strike on Monday night, a special education school shut down all operations after the ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of Bnei Brak suffered heavy damage. An elderly man was killed. One municipal worker at the scene said the man had refused to move into a shelter and lived in a kind of storage cabinet. Soldiers, rescue workers, police and firefighters were at the scene on Tuesday while residents crawled over debris with shards of glass beneath. Outside the homes, there were rows of cars completely written off, covered in dust. Uri Schacham, a paramedic with Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom, said Iran's counter-attacks posed a different threat to what Tel Aviv is used to. Tehran says it has fired hypersonic missiles and other weapons in response to Israel's campaign of bombardments and killings. When 200kg of explosives land 'it doesn't just affect a building but the entire street,' Mr Schacham said. Emergency teams used to responding to a handful of shrapnel injuries now find partially collapsed buildings and raging fires, he said. On Tuesday morning, they found all the residents of a 10-storey building coming down to the street. 'It's a whole different ball game for those first to arrive,' he said. 'The situation is harder to control. The injuries are different, much more blast injuries, which are harder to assess in the field. Numbers that are way higher than we used to have for the past 20 years.' The escalation has heavily affected flights in the Middle East, with even Israel's usually resilient Ben Gurion Airport closed. Some people have returned to Israel over a land crossing with Egypt. Inside abandoned homes in Tel Aviv glass shards were everywhere after windows were blown out. With no electricity, the smell of rotting food escaped from freezers. Young volunteers from a pre-military training academy were there to help the disadvantaged neighbourhood, with not enough support given by the municipality. Hebrew religious books were strewn across one ultra-Orthodox home. In another, Ethiopian Christian house, Amharic books lay scattered next to images of the Virgin Mary. In Mr Gregoire's house, a shrine to Pope John Paul II lay untouched in his living room. 'This morning, since we hadn't finished gathering our essentials, we came back to pick up what's most important – some clothes, shoes, kitchen utensils. But honestly, most of our things were left behind,' he said. 'We don't have children. It's just my wife and me. The young girl with us is our niece. She lives with us, and she's with us now. 'We're waiting. We're not working at the moment, and we don't know when or how we'll be able to work again. For now, we're staying at the hotel. They told us it's for a week, but after that – who knows? We're waiting to see what the government or the municipality decides.'
The Guardian
16-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘This is not our first rodeo': Israelis remain stoic amid Iran strikes
The Iranian missile blew the door off the White City museum celebrating Bauhaus Tel Aviv, and shattered the windows of the Quick coffee shop down the road, where cinnamon buns and salads sat in the display case ready for a relaxed summer day that would never come. In the ultra-orthodox neighbourhood of Bnei Bark another missile collapsed a school, killing an 80-year-old man. A third hit partway up a high-rise tower in manicured, suburban Petah Tikva, destroying a reinforced safe room and killing the family inside. Destruction landed randomly across Israel's biggest metropolitan area on Sunday, the third night of Iranian missile attacks, crossing social, economic and religious divides to kill eight people, injure more than 100 and leave many more homeless. After Israel launched the war with attacks on Iranian military commanders and the assassinations of top nuclear scientists early on Friday morning, Iran vowed revenge. Since then more than 20 missiles have evaded sophisticated defences to cause devastation unprecedented in contemporary Israel. While some appear to have targeted strategic sites, many have landed in residential areas far from known military installations. They have brought down apartment blocks and a school, and damaged synagogues, museums, shops and cafes. Entire buildings have collapsed at the worst-hit sites, with severe damage over a radius of hundreds of metres. 'I'm so tired, now I just want to leave,' said Avital, 72, on Monday morning. She was sitting outside the tower in Petah Tikva that had been home for more than a decade, waiting for rescue workers to bring down her clothes and medicine from their 14th storey apartment. 'My husband wanted to go out for a bit on Sunday, but I said: 'No, let's stay here where its safe.' Well, what kind of safety was that?' Their home looks out on the strike site, a gaping hole in the neighbouring block, where four people were killed. Avital is now moving to a hotel to wait for news on whether their building can be repaired, and hopes that the war will end soon. 'This is our country; we don't have anywhere else to go'. At the start of the war, the government urged people to shelter in communal shelters or individual safe rooms – a legal requirement in all new builds in recent years – when the air raid sirens sound. A sophisticated multi-layer warning system puts Israelis on notice to stay by a 'protected area' when imminent attacks are expected, and usually gives an early alert 10 minutes or more before the missile is expected to land. But in Petah Tikva, one safe room was taken out by a direct hit, leaving the government scrambling to reassure people that this was extremely rare, fearing they might shift to sheltering in basements or stairwells instead. Those leave people vulnerable in other ways. Some have been killed by collapsing buildings, blast waves from the explosion, or smoke inhalation from fires sparked by the impact. A quarter of Israelis do not have the option of safe rooms, state ombudsman Matanyahu Englman admitted on a visit to Bat Yam, where another missile took down part of a high rise, and left buildings unsafe for several blocks around. 'This is quite a large proportion of the population,' he said. 'We have found some deficiencies and raised recommendation for the government to do more. Beside fighting enemies outside the country we have to take care of civilians. The area hit in central Tel Aviv is one of them, a district mostly made up of historic low-rise buildings from the 1930s. Few have safe rooms. Liad Scharf, 48, was sheltering in his basement when the missile hit, sending chunks of plaster showering down, and cracks through the walls of his bedroom upstairs. He is worried that the war will stop his daughters coming to visit over the summer, but the damage at home is 'just money'. The apartment can be patched up, said Scharf, who backs the government's decision to attack Iran, despite the heavy personal and national price. Israel has endured multiple wars, and is surrounded by enemies who will destroy it if the country doesn't fight, he said. 'This is not our first rodeo. Or our second, or our third or our fourth,' he said. 'We are strong, and we have to do what's necessary.' Death tolls in both Tehran and Israel are likely to mount. Military officials have admitted that the scale of Iran's nightly barrages, with dozens of missiles sent in multiple waves, means that even its sophisticated air defence systems cannot stop all the warheads. At the start of the war Israel estimated Iran had about 2,000 missiles. Many have been destroyed, and nearly 300 fired at Israel, but it is still thought to have an arsenal on a scale that dwarfs previous threats to the country. Rockets from Hezbollah or Hamas are mostly blocked by the Iron Dome defence system and the few that do land cannot rip apart whole blocks. Yemen's Houthis and Iraq, in the years under dictator Saddam Hussein, have also fired ballistic missiles at Israel, but they each deployed a few dozen warheads in total. Analysts also warn that Israel's stockpiles of expensive air defence missiles are not unlimited, and while inventories are a closely guarded military secret, if they are depleted too fast it could make the country even more vulnerable. There is also likely to be economic pain from the war. The economy is partially shut down, with large gatherings of people banned, many businesses closed, and all flights cancelled, making it hard to enter or leave the country. But for now a large portion of the country see the losses of lives, homes, earnings and much else, as a painful but necessary sacrifice for the country's future. 'The diplomatic solutions were not working out,' said real estate agent Ofek, 24, who had come to check on his grandfather, who lives just a couple of blocks from the Bat Yam site. 'I guess this is the price we have to pay to be safe.'
LBCI
16-06-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Israel death toll from Iran missiles at 24: PM's office
Iranian missiles have killed at least 24 people in Israel since Friday, the Israeli prime minister's office said in an updated toll following the latest attacks. The toll issued on Monday includes 11 deaths recorded since midnight, the office said, including four in Petakh Tikva near Tel Aviv, three in Haifa and one in the Bnei Brak suburb of Tel Aviv. It also includes two bodies retrieved following a previous strike on Bat Yam and one more killed in an unspecified location. AFP
Al Arabiya
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Iran and Israel exchange deadly strikes in spiraling air war
Iran launched missiles at Israeli cities Monday after Israeli strikes deep inside the Islamic republic, raising Israel's death toll by 11 on day four of an escalating air war. After decades of enmity and a prolonged shadow war, Israel on Friday launched a surprise aerial campaign targeting sites across Iran, saying the attacks aimed to prevent its arch-foe from acquiring atomic weapons -- a charge Tehran denies. Israel's strikes have so far killed at least 224 people, including top military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians, according to Iranian authorities. In retaliation, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had 'successfully' struck Israel with a salvo of missiles and warned of 'effective, targeted and more devastating operations' to come. The Iranian attacks hit Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak, Petah Tikva and Haifa -- with shattered homes, smoldering wreckage and stunned residents picking through debris. 'The entire shelter shook,' said Shlomi Biton, who had taken cover with his five children in Haifa. 'There were many, many explosions.' Ido, a student whose house was hit, recalled scenes of panic. 'There were 12 to 13 children there in the shelter screaming.' The death toll in Israel rose by 11 on Monday, the prime minister's office said, bringing the total since Friday to 24. US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said the missile barrage also lightly damaged a building used by the American embassy in Tel Aviv. In Iran, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei condemned as a 'war crime' an Israeli strike that damaged a hospital in the western city of Kermanshah. A previous report said a nearby workshop had been the target. 'I will not leave' Iran's missile attack followed waves of intense Israeli air raids that struck targets across the country -- from the western border with Iraq to Tehran and as far east as Mashhad, where the airport was hit. While some people fled Tehran, others vowed to stay. 'It is natural that war has its own stress, but I will not leave my city,' said Shokouh Razzazi, 31, in the capital, where the Grand Bazaar was closed amid the ongoing Israeli strikes. The escalation has sparked growing international concern. China urged both sides to 'immediately take measures to cool down the tensions' and avoid plunging the region into deeper turmoil. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen also called for calm, telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that 'a negotiated solution is, in the long term, the best solution.' Though critical of Israel's campaign in Gaza, she blamed Iran for the latest crisis, citing the UN nuclear watchdog's findings that it was not in compliance with its obligations. 'In this context, Israel has the right to defend itself. Iran is the principal source of regional instability,' she said. Iran, in turn, urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to condemn Israeli strikes on its nuclear facilities. 'We expect the (IAEA) Board of Governors and the director general to take a firm position in condemning this act and holding the regime (Israel) accountable,' said spokesman Baqaei. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meanwhile told his Iranian counterpart in a phone call that Ankara is ready to play a 'facilitating role' to end the conflict. 'Make a deal' The Israeli military said Monday it had destroyed 120 missile launchers -- one third of Iran's total. In a televised address, Iranian armed forces spokesman Colonel Reza Sayyad vowed a 'devastating response' to Israeli attacks. 'Leave the occupied territories (Israel) because they will certainly no longer be habitable in the future,' he said, adding shelters would 'not guarantee security.' Addressing Iran's parliament, President Masoud Pezeshkian urged citizens to 'stand strong against this genocidal criminal aggression with unity and coherence.' US President Donald Trump insisted Washington had 'nothing to do' with Israel's military campaign but warned any Iranian attack on American interests would trigger 'the full strength and might' of the US military. On Sunday, Trump urged both sides to 'make a deal' while expressing doubts about near-term peace prospects. 'Sometimes they have to fight it out, but we're going to see what happens,' he said. A senior US official told AFP Trump had intervened to prevent Israel from carrying out an assassination of Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. 'We found out that the Israelis had plans to hit Iran's supreme leader. President Trump was against it and we told the Israelis not to,' said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Asked by Fox News whether regime change in Iran was one of Israel's objectives, Netanyahu said: 'It certainly could be the result, because the Iran regime is very weak.' As hostilities intensified, Iran said it was scrapping planned nuclear talks with the United States, calling dialogue 'meaningless' under bombardment.
