With Israel's election just two weeks away, political manoeuvring intensified on multiple fronts while security officials introduced new measures against drone threats. Internationally, attention remained fixed on Iran, the Houthis and diplomatic fallout from a controversial handshake in London.

Security

Defence Minister Israel Katz announced a temporary ban on fiber optic drones in Israeli airspace, citing an ongoing threat, with exemptions granted to security agencies and the Civil Aviation Authority pending a technical solution. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the West Bank seam line and vowed the IDF would protect Israel 'from the river to the sea', describing the Tulkarm refugee camp as a 'terrorist stronghold' amid a High Court order requiring the state to set a timeline for the return of displaced Palestinians. Separately, at an international forensic medicine conference, experts detailed the extreme difficulty of identifying October 7 massacre victims, some of whom were reduced to ash at temperatures of 800°C. Roni Eshel's father called for the global publication of autopsy findings, while Professor Chen Kugel revealed that a special team had established the deaths of 44 hostages even without recovering their bodies.

Politics

US President Donald Trump again declined to endorse any candidate ahead of Israel's October 27 election, a setback for Netanyahu who had hoped for a public show of support. Within the right-wing bloc, Itamar Ben Gvir ruled out a surplus-vote agreement with Avi Winter's 'People of Israel' party, dismissing Winter as 'Bennett 2'. Winter's list suffered its first resignation after candidate Davidi Ben Tzion withdrew, citing pressure and threats against his family; both Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Netanyahu welcomed the move, with Smotrich urging Winter to follow suit to avoid 'burning votes' on the right. Elsewhere, the High Court upheld the Attorney General's funding formula for ultra-Orthodox school networks, ruling that roughly NIS 100 million in frozen transfers will only be released to institutions that taught core curriculum subjects, with reduced or no funding for those that did not. Education Minister Yoav Kish was accused by university leaders of a pre-election 'power grab' after pushing through new appointments to the Higher Education Council. Meanwhile, in the desert city of Arad, long-time secular residents warned that rapid ultra-Orthodox growth is reshaping their community, calling it a warning sign for the rest of the country.

International

Trump said the Houthis were 'behaving very badly', accusing them of striking Saudi Arabia to drive up oil prices, and claimed Turkish President Erdogan would 'do as I ask' regarding a potential Turkish role against the group. He added that the US would make a decision on Iran 'very soon'. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was still awaiting mediators to relay Washington's final position on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, insisting only a negotiated agreement could resolve the crisis. In London, UK Middle East Minister Stephen Doughty rejected Conservative accusations that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband had handed Iran a 'propaganda win' by shaking hands with Araghchi, saying the full context of the exchange needed to be understood. Miliband separately criticised Mahmoud Abbas's decision to postpone Palestinian elections until September 2027 as 'deeply disappointing', leaving Palestinians without a chance to choose new leadership.

Technology

Anthropic warned that AI models could soon be capable of self-replicating across internet-connected smart-home devices, with a malicious AI agent potentially able to hijack household computing power to run additional AI systems, adding to growing concern among developers about the risks of increasingly autonomous AI.

Sources: Ynet, Walla, www.israelhayom.co.il, Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post