In the context of the return of Israeli communities to northern Samaria, a new illegal compound has been discovered in Area C. The Regavim Movement has exposed a new recreational compound and public park built in 2025 in the village of Silat ad-Dhahr in northern Samaria. Part of the compound is located on Israeli state land in Area C, near the renewed community of Sa-Nur.
Constructed less than a year ago, the compound includes an impressive entrance gate, a broad access road, benches, a pergola, playground equipment and a light- construction utility structure. According to official signage at the site, the planning and construction of the compound and access road were funded directly by the European Union.
The site was discovered during a routine field inspection conducted to assess the condition of state land and governance in the area, against the backdrop of recent steps to restore and expand Israeli communities in northern Samaria. Upon further investigation, Regavim’s regional coordinator learned that the project was constructed without permits and in violation of existing agreements. The illegal compound is part of a broader pattern of encroachment on open areas and state land in a region that the State of Israel abandoned for two decades in an attempt to achieve a peaceful resolution of the Arab Israel conflict.
Photo courtesy: Regavim
Roi Druker, Regavim’s Judea and Samaria Regional Director, said:
“The facts on the ground do not lie. Wherever there is no Israeli presence and no settlement, a vacuum is created that leads to rampant encroachment and an enormous loss of state land. This is an unprecedented act of audacity by the European Union, which imposes sanctions with one hand while, with the other, violates international law and Israeli jurisdiction in Area C.
“It is time to stop looking the other way. It is time to look the problem in the eye, and to demand that both the Palestinian Authority and its European benefactors live up to their obligations and obey the law. We demand that the enforcement authorities and the Civil Administration act immediately to demolish the illegal compound and restore governance and order to the northern Samaria region.”
The fire came from the valley below, and by the time it reached the hilltop community of Gilad Farm, there was nothing to stop it.
Local officials are calling it what residents already knew standing in their driveways, watching smoke rise from Kedumim during Shabbat lunch: a terror attack. Seventeen families lost their homes completely. Fourteen local businesses were destroyed. The community’s water pipes, the very infrastructure firefighters needed to fight the blaze, were themselves consumed, leaving crews without enough water to hold the line.
Samaria Governor Yossi Dagan told me on camera, “This fire was started by terrorists. I saw the video. For me it’s clear, it’s sure, this is a terror attack. Every summer, our neighbors, the muslims from the ‘Palestinian’ Authority are doing [things] like this. This is a terror attack, it’s clear. We are here to build again, bigger than ever.”
What’s left is a landscape of ruins and ashes. A washing machine sits burnt to nothing in the charred wreckage of a home where a family did routine chores until last weekend. Seventeen plots of land with missing houses stand gutted, with nowhere for the people who lived in them to return.
But return is exactly what they intend to do, and quickly. Every resident interviewed in the aftermath repeated some version of the same demand: get us back into our community without delay. That urgency comes from experience. Gilad Farm’s families know that waiting on government process can mean waiting months, even years, while a community remains in limbo.
Photo courtesy: Marni Harow
So they are not waiting. American Friends of Judea and Samaria arrived on the ground within day to ask residents directly what they need and to begin building an urgent fundraising campaign around those answers. It is a recognition, shared by the organization and the families alike, that state authorities may take time to formally classify the fire, secure funding and begin reconstruction, and that Gilad Farm does not have that kind of time to spare.
Yigal Dilmoni, co-founder of AFJS, said, “Unfortunately, maybe the government will decide that this is not caused by terror attack and will not help the community. That is why we came here today. To find a way to help them – we are starting a campaign to help the people here. We don’t want to wait for the government.”
The stakes go beyond one community’s rebuilding timeline. If the state does not move decisively, both to imprison those responsible and to restore what was lost, it risks signaling that arson against Jewish communities in Samaria carries no real cost. Residents here have already lived through that signal once. They are determined not to live through it twice.
Samaria Governor Yossi Dagan vows to build back a bigger community in Chavat Gilad (Gilad Farm)
For now, the work is manual and immediate: clearing ash, cataloguing what can be salvaged, deciding where the first new foundations will go. Gilad Farm was built once already, family by family, on this same land. Its residents say they intend to do it again.
An exclusive recording obtained by Channel 14 reveals the step-by-step plan of Democrats party leader Yair Golan for the day after the elections. At a closed activists’ conference held in Kiryat Ono, Golan left no room for doubt and admitted he intends to return Israel to the days of the Oslo Accords. In his remarks, Golan claimed his potential partners from the right, Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Liberman, will stand with him and agree to his planned moves.
The moments of the signing of the Oslo Accords | Photo: Avi Ohayon, GPO
In his speech, Golan detailed three principles that he says are acceptable to him and to Bennett, Liberman, and Eisenkot “as early as tomorrow morning.” The first is declaring war on young communities and expelling outposts in Judea and Samaria, stating that “we won’t leave a single illegal outpost on the ground.” Additionally, Golan drew an equivalence between murderous Islamic terror and what he called “Jewish terror,” promising to wage an all-out war against both.
The speech came to a head when Golan revealed the political umbrella under which he plans to operate, based on the same principles that brought the Oslo disaster upon Israel. In the recording, Golan is heard saying that if they agree on these principles, but add one – of pursuing an arrangement in the spirit of the Oslo Accords – it will be possible to reach regional security arrangements.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed rumors circulating recently about his health, dismissing reports that he’s battling a serious illness. During a conversation with podcaster Avi Shushan, he also responded to criticism of the media and discussed his personal situation.
When Shushan told him, “You look excellent. You look good, thank God, no evil eye. Because Channel 13 published cancer, they published things. I see you, I see a guy in full energy and strength,” Netanyahu replied: “Yes, you said it right. There are propaganda channels with some fictitious reality and there’s reality. You’re seeing reality.”
Asked how he’s doing, he answered briefly: “Excellent.” Later, when asked if his health is fine, he added: “Yes. I exercise, sleep, eat. I’d like to sleep a bit more, but overall it’s fine.”
״אני מרגיש מצוין ואין לי סרטן״ – ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו הודף את השמועות על מצב בריאותו
מתוך ראיון להכול פתוח – הפודקסט של אבי שושן
הפודקסט בחסות קבוצת הנדל״ן קבוצת דוניץ אלעד Dunietz-Elad Group
Later in the conversation, the interview took a more personal turn. Shushan told Netanyahu: “You know, in small talk between us, I have to tell you, you’re very nice.” The prime minister responded that he hears this reaction often: “You know, people tell me when they meet me or Sara, they say: ‘Wait, this is so different from the image on television or on the channels.’ I say: ‘Of course, that’s the truth.’” According to him, the gap between the public image created for him and personal encounters with citizens repeats itself time and again.
Netanyahu ended the interview on an amusing note. After Shushan told him, “Like, you’re a hugger. Like, you don’t imagine Bibi as a hugger, but you’re a hugger,” the prime minister replied with a smile: “What exactly do you want me to do? Be platinum? Stand like this, not move?” The remark capped an interview that focused not only on his health but also on Netanyahu’s attempt to present a different image rom what he says is reflected in media coverage.
Jerusalem District Police have completed preparations for Tisha B’Av events taking place July 22-23, 2026, across the city, with emphasis on the Old City, the Western Wall and holy sites. Hundreds of police officers, Border Police fighters and volunteers will work to maintain public security, public order and freedom of worship.
Photo: Haim Goldberg, Flash 90
As part of the deployment, the city will have both visible and undercover forces, technological measures and special units. Police said the forces will work to enable prayers and events, direct traffic and respond to unusual incidents.
On the eve of Tisha B’Av, Wednesday, July 22, the “Women for Israel’s Future” march will take place in the evening hours, with a planned route from Independence Park to Dung Gate. Starting at 8:30 p.m., the following streets will be closed and reopened according to the march’s pace: Gershon Agron, King Solomon, Hatzanhanim, Sultan Suleiman, Jericho Road, Ophel Road and Ma’ale Hashalom.
Tisha B’Av at the Western Wall, Archive | Photo: The Western Wall Heritage Foundation
On Thursday, July 23, during sunrise prayers between 4:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., Ophel Road and Ma’ale Hashalom will be closed to traffic. As the fast ends, Sultan Suleiman, Jericho Road, Ophel Road and Ma’ale Hashalom will be closed intermittently between 4:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.
Public transportation to the Western Wall will operate normally throughout Tisha B’Av. Police are asking drivers to follow officers’ instructions, use alternative routes and rely on navigation apps to plan their route. The public is asked to act responsibly, avoid violence, provocations and disturbances, and report any unusual incident or concern about public security to the 100 hotline.
New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov sent a sharp letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio following Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s threat to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his expected visit to the city, the New York Post reported Sunday.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio | Photo: Chaim Goldberg, Flash90
In the letter, Vernikov demanded the State Department examine whether an attempt to arrest Netanyahu would violate U.S. law, and called for considering legal action against Mamdani:
“I respectfully request that the State Department issue a serious warning and provide its opinion on whether such an act would violate U.S. law in a manner that would lead to prosecution or criminal action by the federal administration against Mayor Mamdani.”
Vernikov added that “Mamdani’s threat to issue an illegal arrest warrant must have consequences,” arguing the mayor is overstepping his authority and interfering in foreign affairs outside his jurisdiction.
Zohran Mamdani | Photo: Shutterstock
The controversy erupted after Mamdani told the New York Times he’s exploring legal options to arrest Netanyahu when he arrives in Manhattan ahead of the UN General Assembly this fall: “I believe Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” adding that “active discussions” are underway on the matter.
His remarks drew sharp criticism from politicians in New York and across the United States. New York State Assemblyman Kalman Yeger called Mamdani “delusional,” while Democratic Senator John Fetterman called him a “clown.”
The IDF is on high alert following yesterday’s (Sunday) launches from Iran toward Jordan, the closest fire to Israeli territory in recent months. Israeli security officials estimate that the risk of escalation in the near term has risen significantly, amid the possibility that the United States will raise the threshold of strikes against Iran.
The interceptions yesterday over the skies of Eilat | Use according to Section 27A
Before the launch, the Americans passed advance warning to Jordan. In Jerusalem, officials view the fire as Tehran’s attempt to test the boundaries of the sector vis-à-vis Israel and the region, but at this stage the assessment is that both the United States and Iran still seek to avoid a full regional war.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military continues to reinforce forces at its bases in the Middle East, including through fighter jets and refueling aircraft. Israel maintains ongoing dialogue with the Americans, and security officials are preparing for a range of scenarios, including possible Israeli involvement or an unexpected Iranian move.
An American warship in the Strait of Hormuz | Photo: U.S. Central Command
The IDF Chief of Staff addressed the developments last night during a visit to Judea and Samaria, saying: “We are closely monitoring the developments and maintaining high alert. We are ready to return immediately to combat and will act forcefully against anyone who harms us.”
In discussions at the political level, an assessment emerged that an American decision to intensify strikes on Iran could materialize soon. Alongside the military effort, envoys of U.S. President Donald Trump are trying to advance a return to agreement talks, in an attempt to prevent further deterioration.
Witkoff and Kushner with the Omani Foreign Minister during the round of talks with Iran, archive | Photo: Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Security officials fear that the American force buildup in the region could lead Iran to make an uncalculated move, dragging the region into miscalculation and broad escalation. An Israeli official said that “we are preparing for all possibilities and building immediate and strategic operational options. If the Americans decide to escalate or involve Israel, or if the Iranians make a move against us, we will be ready.”
As of now, the central assessment in Israel is that despite the rise in tensions, the United States and Iran are still avoiding breaking point. Nevertheless, the IDF and security establishment are maintaining high alert, fearing additional launch attempts or an unusual Iranian move that would require a response.
As we first reported, two Arab suspects were brought into custody today (Monday) on suspicion of involvement in igniting the giant fire in the Gilad Farm over this past Saturday, which caused damage to dozens of structures and vehicles. The two were transferred to the station for further investigation, contrary to initial police assessments that a cigarette butt had led to the devastating blaze.
Fires in Judea and Samaria | Photo courtesy: Israel Fire and Rescue
Following a police announcement about the arrest of Arab suspects in the massive fire at Galad Farm, police issued a clarification stating there was a “clerical error” and that the suspects are being investigated for “causing a fire”—not arson.
As reported by our Judea and Samaria affairs correspondent, Eliya Aviv, terrorists from the village of Jit arrived at the scene and simultaneously lit four different fire hotspots in order to cause maximum damage and harm human life. Firefighters, along with security forces and many volunteers from the area who were rushed to the scene, managed a heroic containment battle for long hours against the walls of fire.
Photo: Israel Fire and Rescue Services
Due to the complexity of the incident and the immediate danger to homes, eight firefighting aircraft and a scouting helicopter were scrambled to the campaign to assist in directing the forces from the air. Only after long and nerve-wracking hours was control over the flames achieved, but the images revealed as the fire died down were unbearable and pointed to an immense scope of destruction: 26 residential homes of Jewish families were completely burned, and four local businesses were severely hit and suffered heavy economic damage.
During the firefighting and life-saving efforts, five people were injured by smoke inhalation and burns—including four firefighters who were injured while shielding the residents’ homes with their bodies, and one civilian who was lightly injured. All victims were evacuated to hospitals for further treatment.
Photo: Yael Shevach’s X page
One of the volunteers who operated at the scene stated at the time in a conversation with C14: “The pioneering settlement in Samaria suffered a painful blow, but the spirit of Gilad Farm cannot be burned. In the face of the barbaric terrorism trying to expel us from our land, the Zionist response will be clear: we are staying here, we will rebuild the ruins, and we will continue to deepen roots in the land of our ancestors.”
Samaria Governor Yossi Dagan responded to Israel Police announcements about the arrest of suspects in the arson at Gilad Farm and demands: “Put an end to the saga and determine what is self-evident: this is arson. The Government of Israel must enter into rehabilitating the community. Gilad Farm will be rebuilt, will flourish and will be even greater”
Dagan continued “I commend the Israel Police, Border Police and Shomron Brigade on apprehending the suspects in the arson at Gilad Farm. I call on all the authorities to put an end to the ongoing saga, and to determine the obvious – that this is arson which miraculously did not claim many lives, and caused severe damage to a legitimate community in the State of Israel.
The Government of Israel must immediately enter into rehabilitating the infrastructure that was destroyed and the houses that were burned as a result of the arson, and act together with the Shomron Regional Council and together with the community council, to return life to routine. Gilad Farm will grow and flourish even more, with the clear Zionist spirit and the wonderful and special community of Gilad Farm. Gilad Farm will flourish and will be even greater,” Dagan’s words.
Late on Friday afternoon (July 17, 2026) residents of Givat Ma’ale Tadhir, a Jewish community near Gush Etzion, spotted a suspicious figure emerging from the nearby ‘Palestinian’ village of Sa’ir and moving through the dry brush. The area’s security coordinator launched a security surveillance drone to the location and captured real-time footage of a woman holding a burning rag and igniting one fire after another.
In the footage, the woman is seen throwing additional dry thorns into the flames to intensify the fire and direct it toward the outpost, using the wind to spread it. When she realized the drone had spotted her, she fled back to the village. Residents rushed to the scene, called security forces, and managed to extinguish the fire before it spread and caused disaster. As of now, no arrests of the woman or other suspects have been reported.
Fire at Gilad Farm on Saturday, July 18, 2026 | Photo: Haim Goldberg, Flash 90
“The Security Establishment Must Wake Up”
Officials at Givot HaHazit (Frontline Hills), an organization representing several communities in Israel’s heartland of Judea and Samaria, noted that the drone used was supplied to the outpost just two weeks ago as part of a thermal drone donation program. “Already last weekend, residents used it to thwart an arson attack in real time,” the organization said.
The arson at Gilad Farm | Photo: Haim Goldberg, Flash 90
The organization emphasized the critical importance of the documentation: “Without the drone footage, there would still be those in the security establishment claiming this wasn’t deliberate arson, but once again it’s been proven that this is terrorism in every sense of the word.” They added that last Shabbat an entire settlement went up in flames and that only by miracle did that incident not claim lives. The organization called on the security establishment to treat the arson threat with full severity.
Police were on high alert in Samaria this weekend after an arson attack ravaged the Gilad Farm (Havat Gilad) community. Today, the Police spokesperson’s unit published what might look like a mundane announcement to the untrained eye – but is in fact, a dangerous piece of anti-Israel propaganda. Here is the police statement (along with the attached photo):
“During a patrol by Border Police fighters in Judea and Samaria near Kedumim, three Israelis were spotted at a gas station filling fuel in containers and aroused the suspicion of the officers. Upon inspection, assault weapons, face masks, and license plates belonging to another vehicle were found in their car. The suspects were transferred for interrogation at the police station in the Samaria District and at its conclusion were detained. Tonight, during an operation by Border Police fighters in the Kedumim area, after fires that raged in the area, the force noticed a vehicle that aroused their suspicion at a gas station, after it was observed filling several containers with flammable material.
According to the three, aged 18-20, residents of the area, they did this for the purpose of filling fuel for agricultural equipment, however they could not explain the findings of the search in their vehicle in which Border Police fighters located assault weapons, masks, a knife, and two license plates of another vehicle that had previously been taken off the road. The three suspects were arrested and transferred together with the seized findings for interrogation at the Ariel station of the Samaria District and at its conclusion were detained. Today the suspects will be brought before court.
Israel Police together with the security forces condemns violence wherever it may be. We will continue to act to arrest those rioters, the violent extremists, we will interrogate them and bring them to the full extent of the law.”
Screenshot of a machine translation of a police announcement published on July 19, 2026
In fact, these are people who fought the horrific fire at Gilad Farm on Saturday afternoon. They came to the gas station to fill jerrycans for the blowers with which they fought the fire. They had face coverings in the vehicle because they were fighting the fire, in a storm of smoke like most firefighters. They also had a Leatherman multitool in the vehicle which the police statement calls an assault weapon. They were driving their yeshiva’s vehicle, standard practice for people in religious communities who share transport.
An “assault weapon” according to the Israel Police, Leatherman multitool pocketknives | Photo: Shutterstock
The court understood all of this and released them to one-day house arrest with the consent of the police after the judge made it clear to the police that this case was going nowhere. But in the meantime, another piece of news about ‘settler violence’ has taken hold – and the damage has been done.
You have to understand what the “settler violence” campaign actually is. It is a strategic effort to criminalize the presence of Jews in Judea and Samaria, and every antisemitic outlet that runs with it, at home or abroad, leans on the same claim: that the Israeli state itself backs the violence. The police and the IDF know this, and they are desperate to prove otherwise. So they go looking for scalps to bring in. Three teenage firefighters filling jerrycans became the scalps this weekend. And in producing that headline, the police handed the very propagandists they claim to oppose their next piece of raw material – and here’s why it’s so dangerous.
Photo: Police Spokesperson
That material does not stay in a police blotter. It becomes the data point cited three steps later in a UN dashboard, a sanctions memo, an antisemitic European Commission foreign policy chief’s press release. Consider what Professor Eugene Kontorovich of George Mason University Law School and Naomi Kahn of Regavim’s International Division found when they finally got their hands on the raw data behind the UN agency OCHA’s “settler violence” dashboard, after the UN refused to release it and Regavim obtained it through a French criminologist instead.
Of more than 8,300 incident reports on settler-related violence spanning seven years, over 2,000 turned out on inspection to be Arab violence against Israelis, filed under the wrong heading entirely. Of the roughly 6,300 that remained, Kontorovich and Kahn found that more than 95 percent either did not involve settlers, did not involve violence, or did not take place in Judea and Samaria at all. What was left, mostly, could not be distinguished from Israelis defending themselves against Arab terrorists.
The category itself is built to inflate. The UN’s own fine print counts a Palestinian shot while attempting to murder Israeli civilians in their home as a “victim of settler violence.” Vandalism and graffiti make the list. An Israeli walking up to the Temple Mount makes the list. Meanwhile, actual attacks on Israelis are filed under a separate “nationalist crime” category that only registers when someone dies. And the two independent sources OCHA claims to draw from turn out, per Kontorovich and Kahn’s review, to be the same single source appearing twice under different names.
None of this is academic. The Biden-era Treasury sanctions program built on this data targeted, according to Kontorovich, exclusively Israelis. An entire IDF unit was placed under sanction before the designation was walked back. The EU’s parallel track has gone after Regavim itself, an organization that does litigation and construction advocacy, not violence. And because Israeli banks and credit card companies fear losing access to the EU market, groups like Regavim now find themselves frozen out of ordinary financial services at home, with no Israeli law requiring any of it.
This is the machine a police statement like this feeds. A false “settler violence” accusation is not a local embarrassment that gets corrected in a courtroom two days later. It is raw material for a data pipeline that ends in sanctions, in banking restrictions, in the argument that Israel cannot be trusted to govern its own citizens in Judea and Samaria, let alone extend sovereignty there. International pressure, more than any legal or logistical obstacle, is what has kept Israeli law from ever being applied to Area C since 1967. Every fabricated “settler violence” story is a brick in that wall.
This weekend, the three young volunteer firefighters from Kedumim were fighting a fire that local politicians implied that Arab arsonists set, while Israeli reporters said local Arabs fired flares at the aircraft trying to extinguish it. Nearly thirty homes were ravaged by fire, and over 110 families were displaced. But the police spent their weekend building a case against the Jewish firefighters.
