Crime

By Pesach Benson • January 15, 2026

Jerusalem, 15 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Two Israeli-Arabs from Lod and a Palestinian resident of Samaria were arrested on suspicion of transferring weapons components intended for terrorist operatives in Judea and Samaria, it was cleared for publication on Thursday.

A joint investigation by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and Israel Police led to the arrest of Hamdan Essam Abu Lebeda, 25, and Muhammad Hassan Khalil Amsaad, 25, both residents of Lod. Also detained was Ahmed Muhammad Saleh Awad, 33, a Palestinian resident of the village of Urta, near Shechem (Nablus).

The investigation was launched after Amsaad was apprehended while attempting to enter Judea and Samaria carrying more than 500 rounds of M16 ammunition. Following his arrest, the case was transferred to the Shin Bet for further questioning.

According to investigators, Amsaad admitted that the ammunition was intended for Awad, who maintains contacts with terrorist operatives in Judea and Samaria and assists them in acquiring weapons. The probe further revealed that Abu Lebeda was the source of the ammunition and that he acted together with Amsaad to transfer weapon parts to Awad inside the territory.

Upon completion of the investigation, the Central District Attorney’s Office is expected to file indictments against the two Israeli suspects. The case involving Awad is being handled by the military prosecution in Samaria.

By Pesach Benson • January 14, 2026

Jerusalem, 14 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Former Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi has been summoned to testify in an expanding investigation into suspected obstruction of a probe into the leak of a classified document to the German tabloid Bild. The inquiry centers on whether aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to derail the investigation into the leak, which came amid intense public scrutiny following the execution of six Israeli hostages by Hamas in August 2024.

Halevi, who served as Israel’s chief of staff until last year, ordered the Israel Defense Forces’ Military Police Criminal Investigation Division to examine the leak and involved the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) in the inquiry. Police say Halevi’s testimony is expected to clarify how the investigation was initiated and managed.

Halevi stepped down as Chief of Staff in March 2025 as the army’s investigations into the failures of the October 7 attack neared completion.

Central to the probe is Netanyahu’s chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, who is suspected of attempting to obstruct the investigation. Authorities allege that Braverman met with Netanyahu’s former spokesman, Eli Feldstein, in a late-night encounter at an underground parking lot of the IDF’s Tel Aviv headquarters. During that meeting, Feldstein claims Braverman presented him with a list of names connected to the inquiry and told him he could “switch off the investigation.”

In a television interview aired on the Kan 11 public broadcaster last month, Feldstein placed the prime minister himself at the center of the controversy, stating that Braverman was aware of a covert investigation months before it became public and had offered assurances that it could be quashed. Feldstein, who is a key figure in the so-called Bild affair, said the leak was intended to “serve the boss” by influencing public perception of Israeli hostage negotiations with Hamas.

The investigation is linked to a 2024 leak in which a classified Israeli military document detailing Hamas’s position on hostage negotiations was published abroad. The leak bolstered Netanyahu’s position that military pressure, rather than diplomatic negotiations, would secure the release of hostages held in Gaza. Critics argue the document represented an effort by Netanyahu’s office to shift blame onto Hamas for the failure of the talks.

The case has drawn in other senior aides. Omar Mansour, Netanyahu’s deputy spokesman, was questioned under caution and removed from the Prime Minister’s Office for 15 days. During the court hearing at Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court, Judge Menachem Mizrahi questioned why Mansour — who, according to Feldstein, only held phones during the parking lot meeting — was being treated as a suspect. “Assuming everything Feldstein claims is true, what is the suspicion against Mansour? How would he know what was happening? Mansour is the glove compartment,” Mizrahi said.

A police representative countered that there was a “concrete suspicion” that Mansour deliberately turned a blind eye.

The court also addressed appeals filed by Braverman and Mansour against restrictions barring them from the Prime Minister’s Office while the investigation continues. Police noted that Feldstein was questioned under caution on Sunday regarding the alleged obstruction, and Judge Mizrahi pressed investigators on why Braverman had been detained before Feldstein was formally questioned. “You moved to raid based on a television version,” Mizrahi said, ordering that the raw footage of Feldstein’s interview be handed over to the authorities.

Police describe the new obstruction case as “at a preliminary stage,” but maintain it justifies restrictions on high-level contacts between Netanyahu’s staff and other individuals tied to the leak. Authorities also highlighted that multiple senior figures in the Prime Minister’s Office are now under scrutiny, including Yonatan Urich, who was previously named in the investigation.

By Pesach Benson • January 13, 2026

Jerusalem, 13 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Three Bedouin men were arrested Tuesday after allegedly robbing a jewelry store in the Hebron-area village of Dahariya while impersonating Israeli security forces, police said.

According to police, the suspects arrived at the store in a vehicle disguised as an official security vehicle, equipped with flashing lights. They were dressed in Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) uniforms and protective gear and were armed. Investigators say the men broke into the Palestinian-owned jewelry store, stole its contents, and then attempted to flee south.

Video circulating on social media showed armed, masked men wearing IDF uniforms outside one shop.

“We emphasize that these are not IDF soldiers,” the IDF said.

Police officers, soldiers and member of the Border Police launched an immediate search operation, locating the suspects in the Palestinian village of Samu’a, south of Hebron.

Police confiscated three M16 rifles and one pistol from their possession.

By Ehud Amiton • January 13, 2026

Jerusalem, 13 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — The Israel Defense Forces arrested several men suspected of impersonating soldiers and robbing Palestinian shops in the Hebron-area village of Dhahiriya on Tuesday. The IDF added that soldiers are pursuing additional suspects.

Video circulating on social media showed armed, masked men wearing IDF uniforms outside one shop.

“We emphasize that these are not IDF soldiers,” the IDF said.

By Pesach Benson • January 11, 2026

Jerusalem, 11 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Israeli authorities last week arrested a Palestinian man from Ramallah in his 50s suspected of defrauding more than 100 Israelis out of nearly NIS 3 million ($950,000) through online marketplace scams, the police announced on Sunday.

Footage released Sunday showed counterterrorism officers conducting a raid in central Ramallah to detain the suspect. According to the investigation, the suspect allegedly posed as an Israeli resident in northern Israel and contacted sellers on platforms such as Yad2, Israel’s largest online classifieds and marketplace platform, similar to Craigslist or eBay. After offering to buy high-value items and agreeing on a price, he sent forged bank transfer confirmations.

Believing they had been paid, victims handed over goods, which were collected by a taxi and transferred to another vehicle — often near the community of Beit Aryeh in Israel’s Binyamin region — before being delivered to the suspect’s home in Ramallah.

By the time the victims realized the payments were fake, the products could no longer be recovered. Police said approximately 100 complaints were filed between 2024 and 2025, with the total alleged fraud estimated at around NIS 3 million.

During the raid, authorities seized evidence to be examined as part of the ongoing investigation. A court has extended the suspect’s detention until Wednesday, while police continue to probe potential accomplices and the methods used in the scam.

By Pesach Benson • January 11, 2026

Jerusalem, 11 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — A 15-year-old boy was shot and killed in Nazareth on Saturday night, marking the second teenage murder in the city in just days amid a spike in violence within the Israeli-Arab community.

Azmi Gharib, a 10th-grade student, reportedly received a phone call instructing him to leave his home and was shot shortly afterward. Details about the exact location of the shooting remain unclear. He was rushed to a hospital in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead.

Police have launched an investigation, but no arrests have been made.

Earlier in the week, Adham Nasser and his 15-year-old son Nadim were killed while installing security cameras outside a house in Nazareth. Authorities believe the attackers may have misidentified the victims.

The Abraham Initiatives, a non-profit organization that promotes Arab integration into Israeli society, said that Gharib is the 16th Arab violently murdered since the start of the year, just 11 days ago. Thirteen of these deaths involved gunfire.

The spike continues a pattern of violence in the Arab sector, which saw a record number of 252 Israeli-Arabs murdered in 2025—more than double the 120 homicides in 2022.

The surge in violence is attributed to Organized Crime Groups fighting turf battles and attempting to eliminate rivals. Arab criminal organizations have been involved in extortion, money laundering, and trafficking in weapons, drugs, and women.

Critics argue the crime wave has worsened since Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right politician, became National Security Minister in 2022.

By Pesach Benson • January 11, 2026

Jerusalem, 11 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Tzachi Braverman, chief of staff to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s ambassador-designate to the United Kingdom, was detained Sunday morning for questioning by the police. He is suspected of attempting to obstruct an investigation into the leak of classified Israeli military intelligence to the German tabloid Bild.

“This morning, a senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office has been detained by Lahav 433 officers on suspicion of obstructing investigative procedures,” police said in a statement. The announcement did not specify who was being questioned; Israeli media reports identified Braverman. The police department’s Lahav 433 unit — sometimes described as “Israel’s FBI” — handles the country’s highest-level organized crime, corruption, and sensitive national investigations, and is questioning him.

The investigation is linked to a 2024 leak in which a classified Israeli military document detailing Hamas’s position on hostage negotiations was published abroad. The leak bolstered Netanyahu’s position that military pressure, rather than diplomatic negotiations, would secure the release of hostages held in Gaza.

The case resurfaced after Eli Feldstein, a former spokesman for Netanyahu, publicly stated that Braverman had warned him of a military investigation months before it became public. Feldstein claimed Braverman read him the names of officials under scrutiny and indicated that he could “silence” the inquiry.

“Braverman told me the investigation reached the Prime Minister’s Office and said he could make it disappear,” Feldstein said in a televised interview on Kan 11. Feldstein, who is under indictment for passing classified information and obstruction of justice, is also scheduled to provide testimony as part of the ongoing probe.

Other figures implicated in the case include a reserve officer from the Israeli Defense Forces’ Information Security Division who supplied the document. Prosecutors have said that publishing such sensitive intelligence abroad could jeopardize Israel’s military operations and national security.

The probe into Braverman overlaps with the Qatargate scandal because both involve former Netanyahu aides, including Eli Feldstein, and examine how sensitive information may have been used to influence media coverage during the 2024 Israel–Hamas conflict, raising questions about possible foreign-linked interference.

Braverman was scheduled to assume his post as ambassador to London in the coming months, but the assignment is now uncertain. The Prime Minister’s Office has declined to comment beyond police statements. Opposition leader Yair Lapid called it “untenable for someone suspected of interfering in a serious security investigation to represent Israel in one of Europe’s most important countries.”

The Movement for Quality Government stated that anyone under investigation for obstruction of justice “cannot hold a sensitive post that requires public trust.”

By Pesach Benson • January 8, 2026

Jerusalem, 8 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Israeli authorities arrested a 15-year-old resident of Northern Israel on suspicion of swearing allegiance to the Islamic State and planning a terror attack, the case was cleared for publication on Thursday.

According to the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and police, the minor was in contact with terrorist operatives abroad and had taken practical steps to prepare for an attack. During interrogation, investigators found detailed instructions for making an Explosive belt in his possession.

The investigation also revealed that the teen expressed support for past attacks against Israel and hoped for the country’s destruction. He reportedly engaged in extremist discourse targeting members of other religions, including Christians and Muslims who do not share his ideology.

The Haifa District Attorney’s Office is expected to file an indictment against the minor on Thursday.

“The General Security Service, together with the Israel Police and all enforcement agencies, will continue to act harshly against any activity that endangers the security of the state of Israel,” the Shin Bet said.

By Pesach Benson • January 7, 2026

Jerusalem, 7 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Three men were shot dead while on their way to work in the northern Arab city of Shfaram early Wednesday, as Israel marked at least 11 murders in Arab society since the start of 2026 — a grim opening to the new year that has renewed concern over spiraling violent crime.

The triple killing occurred shortly after 7 a.m., when reports of gunfire reached the Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency hotline in the Carmel region. Paramedics arriving at the scene found the three victims, all in their 50s, lying in the street with gunshot wounds and no signs of life.

“We received a report of three men who were injured in a violent incident,” said MDA medic Bilal Khatib and paramedic Fadi Tantouri. “We arrived at the scene in large numbers and saw three men lying unconscious, without a pulse or breathing, with gunshot wounds to their bodies. We performed medical examinations and were forced to declare them dead on the spot.”

Police said the background to the shooting was criminal and launched a manhunt for suspects. Residents reported hearing gunshots shortly before emergency crews arrived. Authorities did not immediately release the identities of the victims.

Shfaram, a mixed Arab city in northern Israel, has been gripped for nearly three years by a violent feud between two extended families, the Su’ad and Khaldi clans. The conflict has spread beyond the city into neighboring communities and has claimed around 30 lives, according to local reports. In several cases, people with no direct connection to the feud were killed after being caught in the line of fire.

The Shfaram killings came just hours after another fatal shooting in southern Israel. Overnight, Mahmoud Jasser Abu Arar, a 20-year-old medical student, was shot dead in the Bedouin town of Arara in the negev desert. Abu Arar was a first-year medical student in Georgia and had returned to Israel only a day earlier for a vacation.

He was taken to Soroka Medical Center in Beer-Sheva, where doctors pronounced him dead. Police said the killing was suspected to be linked to a blood feud and an ongoing dispute between families in the Bedouin community. Ten people were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the incident.

The four killings pushed the number of murder victims in Arab society since the start of the year to 11, echoing the deadly trend of 2025, when 255 people were murdered — the highest annual total on record.

President Isaac Herzog addressed the issue this week, calling the surge in violence a national crisis. “The issue of crime, delinquency and the loss of personal security in Arab society in Israel is a national challenge in every sense,” he said. “This reality is not a decree of fate. It is a critical national mission to strengthen enforcement, eradicate criminal organizations, and restore to citizens — in Arab society and in Israeli society as a whole — the right to live in security.”

The surge in violence is attributed to organized crime groups fighting turf battles and attempting to eliminate rivals. Arab criminal organizations have been involved in extortion, money laundering, and trafficking in weapons, drugs, and women.

Critics argue the crime wave has worsened since Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right politician, became National Security Minister in 2022.

By Pesach Benson • January 4, 2026

Jerusalem, 4 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — The Israeli police investigation into the so-called “Qatargate” scandal, involving suspected Qatari influence over figures close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was officially handed over to the attorney general’s Office on Sunday, marking a key procedural milestone in the case.

“The investigation has been passed to the prosecutor’s office for consideration,” police told the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court in a filing submitted earlier that day. Prosecutors will now determine whether the evidence warrants indictments, requires additional investigative steps, or could lead to the closure of the case.

Alongside the handover, police requested a 60-day extension of the restrictions placed on Yonatan Urich, a former top aide to Netanyahu. These measures, originally imposed several months ago, bar Urich from working in the Prime Minister’s Office, prohibit him from contacting anyone connected to the case — including other government officials — and require him to report to police upon request. Urich is suspected of contact with a foreign agent, bribery, fraud, breach of trust, and money laundering in connection with the ongoing probe.

The court has yet to rule on the extension. Judge Menachem Mizrahi criticized the police for submitting the request only hours before the previous restrictions were set to expire, noting that “the timing made it impossible to rule properly on the matter.” He instructed the parties to submit additional arguments, including whether the police were authorized to request the extension and whether prosecutorial approval was necessary. The judge emphasized that he was not ruling on whether there is reasonable suspicion against Urich — a procedural step that does not affect prosecutors’ decisions moving forward.

The Qatargate investigation emerged from earlier inquiries into the “Bild” affair, which centered on the alleged leak of classified military documents to the German tabloid Bild in 2023 following the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas. Authorities have said the leak, which involved former military spokesperson Eli Feldstein, may have been intended to influence public discourse surrounding hostage negotiations with Hamas. The initial probe led to the arrest and indictment of military reservist Ari Rosenfeld, accused of unlawfully transmitting classified information.

As investigators examined Feldstein’s continued involvement in sensitive political and security-adjacent matters, they reportedly uncovered indications of improper contacts between Netanyahu’s advisers and foreign actors, including Qatar. The Qatargate investigation has since focused on Urich and longtime political consultant Israel (Srulik) Einhorn, examining alleged advisory and financial relationships linked to Qatari interests.

According to police documents, Urich is suspected of assisting a foreign agent, disclosing classified information, accepting bribes, money laundering, and other offenses. Investigators have also suggested that hundreds of thousands of dollars may have been funneled from the Qatari government through American lobbyist Jay Potlik to Israeli businessman Gil Birger, whose company reportedly paid Feldstein’s salary while he worked in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Recent revelations, including published correspondence between Netanyahu’s advisers and Feldstein, have reignited public debate. Messages reportedly showed advisers criticizing Egypt’s role as a mediator during the conflict, with one note stating, “The Egyptians cannot be trusted,” and another alleging that “Senior army officials got rich from smuggling weapons to Hamas.”

In recent days, members of Netanyahu’s coalition have expressed concern about the scandal, including Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, a former director of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).

“Whoever works for the State of Israel from inside the Prime Minister’s Office, and in parallel works for the state of Qatar and does public relations for it, is an outlaw,” Dichter said in a recording he tweeted on Dec. 28. “I don’t know if he’s a criminal outlaw, but he’s certainly a national outlaw.”

The Attorney General’s Office is now tasked with reviewing the Qatargate file, determining whether indictments should be filed against Urich, Einhorn, Feldstein, or other involved parties. Prosecutors have not announced a timetable for their decision.