PM, Kushner clashed over Israel’s insistence on continuing strikes against Oct. 7 terrorists

The main dispute during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting on Monday with US special envoy Jared Kushner was over the premier’s insistence that Israel continue carrying out strikes on Hamas operatives who allegedly took part in the terror group’s October 7 onslaught, an official present at the sit-down tells The Times of Israel.

Earlier this month, Israel acknowledged having established a special operation to hunt down and kill every single Palestinian terrorist involved in the October 7, 2023, invasion and atrocities.

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The mission has resulted in violations of the ceasefire that Israel and Hamas inked in October 2025, but the US-controlled Board of Peace has not adamantly objected, as the Israel Defense Forces in most cases has said those targeted posed an imminent threat to troops.

For months, the Board of Peace prioritized coaxing Hamas to accept its disarmament proposal, which it finally did on July 30.

Once in place, the plan envisions both sides immediately halting all military operations, though Netanyahu has come out against the proposal and raised that specific issue during his meeting with Kushner, according to the official present.

While Kushner assured Netanyahu that he would not oppose IDF strikes against those who genuinely pose an “imminent threat,” US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior aide told the premier that the rationale should not be widely interpreted, the official says.

To the frustration of the Board of Peace delegation, Netanyahu insisted the strikes against participants in the October 7 attack would continue, according to the official, who added that no agreement was reached on the matter.

A second source briefed on the meeting confirms the official’s account.

Hours after Kushner left Israel, the IDF carried out one of its deadliest strikes in months, targeting what it said was a gathering of senior Hamas operatives. At least six people were reported killed, including a minor, and over 10 wounded in the strike.

In addition to violating the Board of Peace’s stalled disarmament plan, the policy laid out by Netanyahu could go against Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war, which the premier accepted in September of last year.

That proposal states that Hamas members who “commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty.”

The official present at the Monday meeting says Kushner also took issue with Netanyahu’s refusal to allow recruits for the new Palestinian police force to leave the Strip for training in Egypt.

The Board of Peace disarmament plan envisions Hamas handing over its weapons to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza’s new police force, in a process facilitated by the International Stabilization Force.

Kushner said Monday that he wants Hamas to begin handing over its weapons within a month, but without a sufficient number of already trained police recruits, there won’t be anyone for Hamas to give its weapons to.

A WhatsApp group chat used by activists of the UK’s far-left Green Party featured a member discussing “killing Zionists,” with others calling antisemitism “understandable” or characterizing British Jews as a “weapon” for Israel, according to The Times.

The UK publication reports that the chat, named Greens Against Imperialism, is used by members for organizing, and to discuss foreign policy. Sophus Magill, a Green Party local official, created the group, The Times reports.

The chat features several instances of anti-Israel rhetoric and speech denigrating Jews, according to The Times.

In one instance, when asked if he wants Israel “wiped off the map,” Magill responds, “Yes, I would like that.”

He added afterward, “Obviously I believe Isreali [sic] citizens who are not war criminals and who agree to peacefully coexist with Palestinians have a right to live in Palestine as everyone should have the right to live where ever they want in the world so long as they are not a threat to the safety of others.”

In another instance, a member called Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “part of a national liberation movement,” and said mass Iranian anti-regime protests in January, which were unarmed, were “instigated and armed by the Americans and the Zionists.”

In another exchange, someone wrote, “Its unfortunate but British Jews are a brilliant weapon for the israeli state to help with the use of antisemitism as a justification in the UK, one of they’re [sic] strong allies.”

Another person replied to that comment, “I suppose an extreme anti-zionist [position] could mean that you support killing Zionists,” which they called “wrong but not necessarily racist.”

That person added later that being “anti Jews, lumping all Jews in with the majority of Israeli Jews as Genociders,” is “wrong but understandable.”

A third person then wrote, “I can tell you if a state in the name of an ethnic group destroyed my village and killed my family, I might want to plough into a group of them too.”

The Greens’ leader, Zack Polanski, who is Jewish, is an outspoken opponent of Israel, and multiple Greens candidates have faced antisemitism allegations.

A Green Party spokesperson told The Times, “We do not comment on internal party forums or discussions on WhatsApp groups that are not official party group channels.”

The US Department of Justice announces federal hate crime charges against Larry Montes, who allegedly disrupted a New York City synagogue service on Friday.

Montes allegedly shouted at congregants during a Shabbat service at the Reform Central Synagogue in Manhattan, assaulted a congregant and a guard, and destroyed synagogue property.

He was previously charged with hate crimes in a New York City court.

The Department of Justice says the federal Southern District of New York court has charged Montes with two counts of committing hate crimes, each carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

He is also charged with one count of damage to religious property resulting in bodily injury, with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

The federal statement says that Montes said during a post-arrest interview, “Fuck the Jews,” “I will never affiliate with no filthy fucking synagogues, either here or in fucking Israel,” and that the incident at the synagogue was “a racial thing” and “all religious motivated.”

He also hurled a racial slur at a Black security guard during the incident, the statement says.

Israel has become the latest country to withdraw its support for the reelection of Gianni Infantino, the embattled chief of the global soccer body FIFA, over fallout from his controversial plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors, the Guardian reports.

Several other countries have withdrawn their support for Infantino’s reelection, and the group’s COO, Kevin Lamour, was fired after criticizing the plan.

Israel’s withdrawal was stated in a letter from Moshe Zuares, who leads the Israel Football Association, according to the report.

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