Israel faced a wave of international criticism at the UN General Assembly overnight, with leaders including Turkey's Erdoğan, France's Macron and Qatar's emir levelling harsh accusations against the country's conduct in Gaza. At home, the Central Elections Committee began hearings on high-profile disqualification bids targeting Balad and Ra'am, whilst security services thwarted a terror plot in Manchester timed for Yom Kippur.

Security

British police foiled a suspected terror plot targeting Manchester's Jewish community during Yom Kippur, arresting two men over the alleged plan. In Canada, the gunman who opened fire near a synagogue in Ontario during Yom Kippur, and who had previously made antisemitic remarks blaming Jews for COVID-19, died of injuries sustained in an exchange of fire with police; a memorial vigil for Palestinian victims was also held in New York on the same day. In Israel, survivors of the shooting attack at the Ein Rayah spring, in which Netanel Shakaron was killed, described terrifying scenes of gunfire at close range, saying the ordeal recalled the horrors of 7 October, though they vowed to keep visiting the site. Separately, police raiding a residential compound in northern Israel seized a handgun disguised as a mobile phone, along with a stun grenade, ammunition and four dismantled surveillance cameras used for criminal monitoring.

Politics

The Central Elections Committee opened a marathon of hearings on candidate disqualifications, with the push to bar Balad's Sami Abu Shehadeh from running taking centre stage alongside a wider fight over Ra'am's participation, seen as a political test for opposition parties. Yisrael Beiteinu confirmed it would back Ra'am's disqualification, while Itamar Ben Gvir and Simcha Rothman are expected to appear at the hearings. Separately, Yair Lapid is set to host all five leaders of the 'change bloc' for a coordination meeting as the camp grapples with disagreements over election strategy and who should lead it. With elections roughly a month away, Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming UN address is being viewed as a political opportunity, though hopes for a meeting with President Trump appear to be fading.

International

The UN General Assembly saw a succession of pointed attacks on Israel. Turkish President Erdoğan described Gaza as an 'inhumane concentration camp', Qatar's emir accused Israel of 'genocide in every sense of the word', and French President Macron said events in Gaza 'should shame us all'. Jordan's king accused Israel of expansionist ambitions, while the UK and Brazilian leaders added further criticism. Outside the chamber, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said 7 October 'cannot dictate' Israel's Syria policy, revealing that direct talks between the two countries had been under way for nearly a year and had reached roughly 90 percent agreement, though he insisted on a return to the 1974 border lines. Netanyahu separately hit out at Macron over a 'grotesque' claim that Hamas 'never operated' in the West Bank, after a Palestinian terrorist killed an Israeli-French citizen days earlier; a French official said Macron had meant Hamas does not govern the territory. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer defended London's decision to sanction Israeli settlement figures during a joint appearance with President Trump, who continued to play down the issue despite an Israeli request that Washington intervene. Iran, meanwhile, outlined conditions for ending its conflict with the US via Qatari mediation, including the lifting of sanctions, saying the terms had already been communicated to Washington. In Ukraine, a Russian missile strike on an Interpipe factory in Dnipro killed four people and injured seven. In the US, former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned in Michigan for Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a vocal critic of Israel, pledging to serve as a check on the Trump administration. In the UK, King Solomon High School in Ilford is facing possible closure after pupil numbers collapsed, leaving 385 places empty and governors warning the school can no longer sustain its current size.

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